UMASS/AMHERST 312066 0308 0418 5 FIVE COLLEGE DEPOSITORY This book may be kept out TWO WEEKS only, and is subject to a fine of TWO CENTS a day thereafter. It will be due on the day indicated below. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY J INTENDED TO PROMOTE --i/iiSl(#t ;_ \^^-^^SQU8E. THE INTEREST OF THE FARMER; TO DEFEND THE DIGNITY OF THE AGRICULTURAL PROFESSION, AND ENCOURAGE THE PRACTICE OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY. BY ISAAC HILL. Vol. 1, for 1839. CONCORD, N. H. PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM P. FOSTER, FOR THE iEDITOR. / 'cr VM.Sh INDEX TO THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR 1839. Agricultural cheniistrj, 134 " fairs in N. E. for 1839, 71 " Geology, 134 " improvement, 92 - *' occupation, dignity of, 2 " observations, 90 " publications, 7 *' report from Coos, N. H. 158 " survey of the editor, 113 138 Agriculture, communication on, 51 ** connected with publica- tions, 9 '* spiritof improvement in England, 14 173 Address before Cheshire Ag. Soc. 147 Admiral l^Iosier's ghost, 143 Apparatus for boiling food, &c. 186 Apple and fruit orchards, 162 Arnold's escape, 165 172 Ashes, remarks on, 20 60 Ashburnham, Mass. 82 Atwood's planting machine, 174 Bank note table, 112 128 160 176 Bartlett, N. H. IIS Battles v>'ith the Indians, 117 Bees, treatmeiit of, 75 Bee, economy of the, 88 Bee, houses and hives, 88 89 90 91 Beer, spruce, 75 Beet, sugar, 2S Berkshire breed of liogs. 9 161 Birds, wanton destruction of, fi8 Birds and insects. !)4 Benefits of association, 148 *' certain information 149 *• root cultivation, 1.50 Black sea wheat. 150 Black rust. 157 Blasted cnions. 120 Bone manure, 45 150 175 Boscawcn Plain, N. H. 43 Bote in horses. 75 Bread stuffs. GO Brick and tile machine, 160 Breeding- cattle. 13 British colonial possessions, 79 Broom corn, 5 71 Brown corn. 25 1.50 Brown's Improved Almanack, 175 Buck wheat, 63 Building, deficiencies in, IS Buildings, form. 24 25 Buel Judge, notice of, 182 Buel, Judge, death of, 159 Buried c\t,y, 111 Butter, making of, 70 California, desert of. 63 Calves, rearing of without milk, 79 Canal tolls in Ohio, 100 Canterbury, N. H. three farms in, 42 Capen, N. Esq. letter from. 8 Carrots, 8 Carrol, K. H. 139 Cash book. 12 Cattle, high prices of 133 " improved breeds of, 123 " treatment of in winter, 54 " water them in winter. 24 Cheese press, self acting, 124 Chinese breed of hogs. 9 Chinese tree corn, 150 Chittenden, Mrs. 62 Chocorua rcak. 116 Clarkson, C. S. address of, 121 122 123 | Conn, river Talley, 39 140 Commerce of knowledge. 124 Common School Journal, 19 Common schools in Tenn. 112 Common School Library, 46 Conant J. Esq. address of, 177 Conway, N. H. 116 Cooking potatoes', 120 Cork, 48 Corn, Brown, 25 Corn planter, 77 Corn, raising ofin New York, 135 " remarks on. 52 Cotton, first introduction of. ;31 Country, state of. 124 Cow, remarks on. 8 Cows, curry them. 24 Crops, 112 Cruelty to animals. 145 Cultivation, 41 Cultivation of the soil. 93 Cultivator and Gen. Farmer, 184 Cut worm, how to destroy it. 110 Dead branches. 126 Devonshire cattle. 185 Diminution of cattle in Vt. 144 Disasters at sea in 1838, 31 Diseases of horses and cattle, 112 77 Draining, 136 151 Durham cattle, 44 155 107 Dutch butter, 101 Early rising, 78 144 E. D. communication from, 33 Education, 19 79 Education of Farmers, 85 101 106 125 342 157 Eggs and poultry, 12 England, elTcct of war on, 71 Erie canal, 32 European kings, 103 Evening sketch, 68 Exhausted lands, 148 Experiments, 41 Fairlee, Vt., mountains in, 141 Farmer, 68 Farmers, a hint to, 30 " life and duties of, 11 Farmer's glory, 173 " lot, 92 " wife, 126 " song, 146 Farming interest in N. England, 164 Farms, improiied cultivation of, 36 " in the mountains of N. H. 115 Fattening cattle, 3 Feeding cattle, 183 110 " cows in summer, 110 Female influence and energy, 23 Fences, &c., 165 Ferry, H. Esq. letter to the Ed. 36 Fine crop, 165 Fine wooled sheep, 184 Fire, prevention against, 29 Fireside amusements, 5 First Flower, 33 Fish, statistics of, 31 Flax, culture of, 157 Flour, test of good, 27 Flour and wheat, 100 Foreign exchange, 32 Form and shape of cattle, 185 Franklin, Dr. 95 159 Fragments, 93 Frugal Housewife, 6 22 46 56 74 86 Fruit trees, 132 60 Lake Erie, Lakes in America, Lancaster, N. H. notice of, Lapland, a season in. Large hogs, Leanto, foj cattle. Lightning, effects of, Lime, on potatoes, '' '' use of, ■ 20 80 152 111 37 20 124 174 110 1.53 Roots compared to hay, " sugar, t^c. Rough lands, improvement of, Russian Empire, Rutabaga, for fodder, " and the garden flea. Rye, N. H., Editor's visit to, Rye, to prevent blast in, 103 55 83 61 10 145 33 34 Fryeburg, Me. 116 Future hfe, 30 Gap in chickens, 60 Geologist, letter to the Editor, 146 Geologists, a fact for, 37 Geology, 4 " letter from J.W. Weeks on, 70 " of Maine, 13 26 45 57154 166167 Goodrich, C. letter to the Editor, 109 Good roads, value of, 151 Gofistown, N. II. notice of, 162 Granite mountains, value of, 2 " roads and bridges, 157 Grass lands, top dressing of, 158 "■ seed, sowing of, 12 Happy condition of N. E. Farmer, 14.8 126 141 189 111 53 155 103 76 29 132 11 34 83 32 :39 187 Hay making, Haverhill, N. H., High compliment, High prices, cause of. Highways in New England, Hints, Hints for July, Hoeing corn, Hog pens. Honey bee, v,'onders of, Hops, Hops, culture of. Hops, inspection of. Horse, cost of keeping idle, Horses, harnessing, of Horses, diseases of, *' liniment for, " treatment of wounds on, Howe, Dr. Z., letter to the Ed., Husbandman's song, Ice, Illinois, description of, Important facts. Improved short horned oxen, Indian corn crops, Insanit}', Interesting facts. Internal improvements, Jackson, N. H. Jaffrey, N. H. Jarvis, L. Esq., latter to the Ed. Journey of twenty -seven hours, Kearsarge mountain, Keent , N. H. new road to, Kentucky, cattle in, Kitchen gardens. La Fayette, wife of Lines, by Dr. O. W. Holmes, 106 " to a cricket, 158 Live stock, choice of, 101 London, statistics of, 62 Loudon and Gilmanton, N. H. 114 Lovewell's fights, 131 Low land in the mountains, &c. 156 Maine, finances of, 25 Maine flour, no " Geology of, 13 26 45 57 Mammoth hogs, 59 Manner of dividing an ox for table, 186 Manufactures, domestic, 59 Manure, 15 22 Markets,&c. 16 48 64 80 96 112 128 144 160 176 190 Marl, its nature, &c. 74 Masons, hints to, &c. 125 Meat, corned, &c. 6 Mechanics' fair at Boston, 174 Merrimack Go. N. H. farming in, 42 Milch cows, treatment of, 102 Milking, ]03 Mississippi valley, 31 Monadnock mountain, 156 Moosehillock mountain, 102 Moral code of Dr. Franklin, 62 Mountain farming, 4 Mountains in New England, 81 Mount Vernon farmer, 4 Mowing, 101 Mulberry, 20 57 Mulberry trees, forcing of, 29 " how to cultivate, 78 Multicaulis, not adapted to N. E. 149 New England, 67 133 New Hampshire, a hill town in, 141 New Hampshire farmer, 177 " view of from Vt. 97 " wealth of, 141 New husbandry, principles of, 182 New York, banks of, 32 " common schools in, 31 Notch of White mountains, A.C. 118 Nowell, S. letter to the Editor, 69 Oats, 63 " exportation of from Maine, 63 Ohio, agriculture in, J21 Old facts, new tiieory from, 3 Orchards, ]43 " effects of lime on, 23 Ovens, brick, sy Oxen, treatment and fattening of, 24 Ox, remarks on, ° 1) Ox, Olympus, p5 Parents, advice to, ;i~ Fearing and burning, 144 Paris, quarries under, 62 Pattern farming town, 33 130 Peabody, communication on hops, 34 Weeds Saco river, 117 Salisbury, N. H , com. from, 1 Salt, value of, 151 Saving money, remarks on, 96 S. C, communication from, 92 Scarborough, Me., farmers in, 31 Schools of agriculture, 187 Season of 1838, 45 Season of 1839, 189 Seed, influence of climate on, 158 Seed sower, improved, 40 Shakers at Canterbury, N. H. 71 " enterprise of, 141 Sheep, fine wooled, 35 Sheep, rearing and keeping of, 17 " statistics of, 77 Slate in Maine, 1]2 Snow covering near the bear ground, 188 Silk, American, 20 " culture of, 30 " farm Concord, N. H. 38 '* French, 71 Soils, analysis of ' 4 Spring work, hints for, 59 "Steamboats, 63 Steam boilers, for potatoes, 10 Stetson A. Esq., letter to Ed. 188 Stoddard, N. H. 1S8 Sugar from beets, 181 28 150 " manufacture of maple, 80 123 Sugar tree, Swallows, Sward lands, preparation of, Swine, Tea, Texas, ogicial salaries in. Things that I have seen, Thistles, Thorn hedges, Thread, Tilling the earth, Tornado at New Haven Ct. Peas, Peas, to destroy the bug in, Penn., coal trade ofin 1839, Phenomenon of tlie atmosphere, Philadelphia, commej-ce of. Pierce, Gen. Benjamin, Pin making, improvement in, Pittsfield and Earnstead, JJ. 11. Ploughing, best time for, 1681 Pleasure carriages, 48 Ploughs, Popular errors, Potatoes, Poultry, management of. Pray witiiout ceasing, Prescott, Dr. W., letter to the Ed. 46 Prices current, 16 32 48 64 80 128 144 Prospectus for Visitor, 1 Prussic acid, 63 Public officers, &c. 93 Rail road from?4e. Ihro'N. h. & Vt.116 Recipes, &c. no 126 Regulation of diet, 160 Report on swine, by W. Lincoln, 180 28 81 77 67 3 ■183 181 73 161 69 ill 174 117 1.56 109 55 64 156 23 37 62 52 68 32 113 29 49 144 115 48 104 40 11 31 41 11 94 Trees by the road sid " grafting and inoculating, " transplantino-. Tripe, method of curing. United States, commerce of, " public lands of^ Useful animals destroyed. Valuable cow. Valuable emigrant, Vegetable matter for manure. Vegetables, " decomposition of, Vermont, snow in, v., letters frfiin, Wayward Editor, Weather at two places. 79 100 9C 9 62 31 188 94 84 85 111 60 167 168 Revolutionary army, Revolution, heroes of the. Revolutionary reminiscences, Rhubarb pies. Rich man's daughter, Roads, repairing of, Rohan potatoes. 78 69 130 85 77 103 150 159 162 77 43 167 147 127 32 127 87 184 76 59 96 95 107 132 104 175 extraordinary change of, 21 129 143 151 Wetatick mountain, Mass. 62 West Cambridge, Mass. 169 Western States, patrons from, 17 Wheat, crop fi:ir 1839, 129 " crop of in light ssil, 184 " culture of, &c. 51 53 146 Egyptian, 188 " European, 189 fly, 107 " great crop o.*", 174 " in Conn, river valley, - 54 " in Maine and Mass. Ill " Odessa, 111 " smut in, 23 Whitefield, N. II. 139 White mountains, visit to, 118' White washing, 125 Wilderness far west., ]g6 Wild lands in Maine, ' 20 " value of, 66 Wingate, J,, letter to the Editor, [87 W^nnipisseogee lake, &c. 115 Women, society of, 189 Wonders of Horticulture, 188 Wool in Vermont, 14 " raised by J. Barnard, 158 Woodbury Levi, letter to Editor, 17' Worn out lands, , 17 Working dress for farmers, ' 103 Writing ink, 127 Y'earling calf, 72 Conducted by ISAAC HILL. Published by WM. rOSTEIt. ' Those tc/to labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, ichu^e breasts he has made his peculiar dcposite far substantial and genidne virluc."-}trriLis.aoi> VOLUME I. CONCORD. N. H., JANUARY 15, 1839. NUMBER I. PROSPECTUS cr. It is proposed to publish nt Concord, ?tr. H, a l>eriodicul Journals to toe entitled The Farmer's Monthly Visitor. This work will be devoted to the exclusive ben- efit of the fanning Jnd producing interests, and will contain^ i. Original essays and communications, em- bodying such suggestions of improvements in cul- tivation, in agricultural implements, and in gener- al domestic economy, as may by the conductor be considered worthy of insertion. O' I" t'li" d'-'- partment, every practical man may have an oppor- tunity to contribute his mite. For every original communication, ichich shall be deemed leorUnj of in- sertion, the writer and author shall be entitled to receice, after publication, at the rate of one dollar for every thousand tcords, on application at the of- fee of publication. 2. All such information contained in other ag- ricultural publications and scientific works in Eu- rope and the Unitt-d States, as may be useful to cultivators of the soil. Under this head will lie embraced suggestions of improvements in agricul- tural implements, in the construction of farm- buildings, in the application of chemistry to the general purposes of agriculture, in the destruction of insects injurious to vegetable life, in the eradi- cation of weeds ; the discovery of new varieties of grain, and other vegctaldes useful to man, or for the food of domestic animals ; useful informa- tion in regard to the management of woods for fu- el and timber ; information relative to the best breeds of live stock, and the various methods of preventincT and curing the diseases of cattle, sheep, piors and poultry ; and such articles as are adapted to encourage and recommend all measures calcu- lated to improve the education of those who de- pend upon the cultivation of the soil for their sup- port. 3. A monthly table of the prices of agricultural productions at the various principal markets of the United States, together with such other statistical tables of foreign, and domestic production and wealth, as may be interesting for future reference. 4. Each number to contain at least four engrav- ings illustrative of some implement of agriculture, some method of building or constructing farm- yards, enclosutcs, or other improvements, or some animal deemed to be useful for its superior breed and qualities. ICJ" The number of engravings, which will be expensive, will bo increased, if the patronage will warrant it. The value of a well conducted, cheap agricul- tural publication, such as it is designed to make the F.\rmer's Monthly Visitor, may be made to be many times greater than its cost. It is not in- tended that this publication shall interfere with any of the useful religions, political, or literary periodical publicai.ioni;, which are, or may be be- fore the public, nor with any other kindred agri- cultural journal published in this or any other State. With the present patronage extended to them, there^will be ample room for ours. If every farmer in the country should become a subscriber to a work like ours, we feel bound to say, that not one, at the end of the year, will have reason to re- gret the expense. For less than one dollar, includ- ing postage to any part of the country, he ^dUI ob- tain an amount of informatioii, that may be irorth many dollars. And hy preserving and binding the numbers into a handsom? volume, at the end of the year, he will have oa hand what is of much more value than the original cost. It is not un- frequently the case, that a s niple, single sugges- tion, contained in a work of this kind, will be worth much more th^in the price of subscription. The Visitor will be published, once a month, on a sheet of superior paper, measuring "27 by 37 inches, consisting of si.xtoen pages, containing each three columns, and will be printed with a power press, on a new and beautiful brevier and minion type, procured for the purpose. A single number, the price of which is only 6 l-'t cents, will contain, of fair and legible print, very nearly an equal amount of matter with a number of the ordinary monthly Magazines, whose price is fifty cents, and five and six dollars for a year of twelve numbers. On a calculation by counting, it is found that a number of the Visitor will contain about ffly-ihrce thousand words, and the twelve numbers six hundred and thirty-siz thousand words- Wallet Scott's novel of "The Antiquary," in two volumes, contains less than one hundred and eighty thousand words : so that seven volumes of Scott's Wavcrly novels, which are no where procured at less than fifty cents, and from that to two dollars tbr volume, will not contain more reading matter, and much less valuable in.'"ormaticin, than the Mo.NTHLY Visitor will contain, at an expense of only seventy-five cents ! The Visitor will be one of the cheapest publications, for tlie amount of matter it will contain, ever published ; it will even cost less than the condensed inibrniation of the common newspaper, and will be presented in a form which will not be less convenient for preser- vation than a bound book. The price to subscribers will be Seventy-five cents a year, or for twelve numbers, payable in advance. No subscription will be taken tor less than a year, and payments will, in all cashes, be made at the time of subscribing: no subscriber will be furnish- ed beyond the time of his subscription and pay- ment ; and every person who fails to procure all the numbers, which shall he directed to him through any post-orfice, shall be entitled to receive the number or numbers missing, or be refunded the money which he has paid. Single numbers may be had for twelve and a half cents each. The Monthly Visitor will be under the direct personal management of ISAAC HILL; and all conimunications through the post-office Cpostnge paid) may be directed to Wu.Lmi P. Foster, Concord, N. H., at the publication office, whose receipts will be evidence of payment, and who will receive all remittances, and make all disburse- ments, connected with the publication. The post- age will be one cent a number, to subscribers with- in tlie State ; and one and a half cent, to those re- siding more than one hundred miles from the place of publication. . •.. The Visitor will be published hereaftcr%n the fifteenth of each month. [CJ' Subscribers in any month of the year may receive the hack numliers, an extra number of which will be printed. January 15, 1839. IVarner, K. U. Kov. 26, 1838. De.ih Sir : — It is with much satisfaction I learn that you are about commencing the publication of an agricultural paper. It is the very thing needed in this section of the country ; and I have no doubt but it will be popular under your management, and that it will obtain a large subscription. It ought to have a subscription of ten thousand. Certainly one fifth of the voters ofthis State ought to patron- ize it. Reading is nearly as necessary to the farm- er for the successful prosecution of iiis business, as to the jirofessional man. Professors of religion must have "line upon line, precept upon precept" to keep them in the path of duty, or they are apt to go astray. The politician must have his weekly nevv'spaper filled with all kindsof inflammatory matter, to keep up his zeal, or his patriotism will flag. And the same causes gen- erally, produce the same effects. If our farmers can be induced to take and read an agricultural pa- per, it will stimulate them to greater exertion in Iheir Labors; it will make them more amljitious to improve their farms, more contented with their sit- uation in life, and finally, better Iiusbands, fitthers and neighbors. I have been a constant reader of the New Eng- land Fanner for over sixteen years, and think I can speak from experience. I think I know in some measure wliat is needed to effect ^ radical cham-'e in our agricultural department. Some of the first steps to be taken to effect an improvement must be to inculcate the importance of increasing the ma- nure heap, by every possible means. The more ex- tensive and general cultivation of roots for the feeding of cattle and swine, and perhaps the intro- duction of new kinds of grasses (new to this sec- tion) viz : Lucerne, orchard grass, and the tall meadow oat grass, all of which I have tried upon a small scale, and intend to enlarrre upon. .Although you and I do not sec "eye to eye" in political matters — in this thing you shall have my hearty cooperation. In pioughraan's phrase, " God send you speed." 'yours with much respect, LEVI BARTLETT. Hon. I.JAAC Hill, Concord, N. H. Salisbury, .V. 11. .Xov. 30, 1S38. Sir : — Your Prospectus for the Farmer's Monthly Visitor is raoeived. I accept tlia agency with pleas- ure. A publication of the kind has been wanted in this State for many years. I have no doubt it will receive very cstens.ve patronage, and become the most influential periodica! ever published in this State. Please send me two or three more sub- scription papers for diffm-ent parts of this town. Very respectfully, 'i'our obedient servant, . ■. . MOSES EASTMAN. Isaac Hill, Esq. Extract of a letter from an tminent Scholar and Divine, dated ,Dcc. 10, 1833. " I shall hope to afford you some papers, ccca- sionaUy, hereafter. The object is excellent. 1 cm think of nothing almost mere promising of good to the people of Nevi' Ilampshire. I rejoice that you have taken it in hand. 'Vour facilities, your tastes, you'" « » s » gjyg yg,j advantagBS which no other man enjoys to e.tcile and direct the yeomanry of the State in a matter of great impor- tance to all their interests. Nothing could be wis- er, or mope dignified, or useful. * '* ' *■ " I ani for all interests : — the learned professions, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, &c. &c. and am for keeping them all in fair proportion to one another. Agriculture has not had its chance and place in the past history of the cotfntry. But it ia cominrr up, and when it shall attain to its proper re- lation it will keep all other departments in due con- sistency and order. " Please to put mv name on y-iur subscription list Lowell, Mass. Dec. 7, 183S. De.ir Sir ; — I received, a few days since, the Prospectus of "The Farmer's Monthly Visitor," ac- companied with your letter, requesting me to act as agent for Middlesex Co., &c. There is no doubt that agricultural knowledge is deemed of infinitely too little importance in New England, and finally every where else on this insignificant planet of ours. It is the nature of man to neglect the culti- vation of the earth to engasre in the "chase, in fish- ing, in lumbering, in the professions, in trading, and speculating, in every thing in heaven, earth, an York, liar- risburg, Sunbnry, NorthumberlaniJ, Danville, Wilkesbarre and Montrose in Pennsylvania, and Binghamton, Oxford, Norwich and Coope^sto^yn in New York. Much of the lower and fertile re- gions of Pennsylvania was settled originally by the Germans ; and as well in that State as in the State of New York it is remarkable that both the High Dutch (Germans) aud Low Dutch (Hol- landers) struck upon no other lands for settlement than the rich alluvion or secondary soils : from the first they have never ventured upon the high, rough grounds. The vnlley of the Wyoming, on the east branch of the Susquehannah, and north of the first Pennsylvania settlements, was originally settled by Yankees from Connecticut : it vhis, in the time of the revolution, when the barbarous massacre of a great part of its population took place, an isolated settlement, being separated by mountainous tracts from the other Pennsylvania settlements. This valley, consisting of several townships, was originally and contmues to be abun- dantly fertile, and presents to the eye in the vernal season the most delightful landscape. The valley south of Wilkesbarre is a wheat country, linie ev- ery where pervading the soil : in the region of Co- lumbia covmty near Danville, the crops of wheat waving in golden richness, almost ready for the sickle, seemed to cover half of the cleari?d land : and here the soil was even too light to produce hay or good pasture for cattle. Leaving the Susquehannah to the north of Lu- zerne, we come to the cjunty of Susquehannah, of which Montrose is the capital. This county was settled under the auspices of Doct. Robert H. Rose about twenty-five years ago. The Doctor then ad- vertised for settlers in the New Hampshire Patriot and other newspapers, and several settlers went from this region to the "Silver Lake township" which lies on the line of the Stiite of New York, north of Montrose. The settlement had not pros- pered as might be supposed : ba'riis aud houses, which .had been erected at an exponje beyond that usual for first settlers in New Eno-land were in some instances deserted by the in- habitants— an expensive turnpike passintr the county from South to North remained without re- pairs, the bridges having rotted and given wav, so that in 1832, carriages were obliged to ford the streams beside them. Doet. Ro.sc continues in the vicinity, and, as we were informed, remains almost the only man of property in the Silver Lake township, which de- rives its euphonious name from n no less remarka- ble "pond" than is found in almost every Nev/ England township. When p.issing this tract of country it struck us as much reseiiibling the most elevated and rougii ridge townships situated in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, between the Merrimack and Connecticut rivers. The growth of timber in this region tor many miles on the line of New York aud Pennsylvania identifies it with the land.s of New England of the primary forma- tion ; the maple and beech, red oak and white pine on the stronger, and the pitch pine and the shrub oak on the lighter soils, abound — the sweet fern al- so Uiarked the more ii'rtile pasture grounds : " the rocks, the brooks the trees" Were the same. We mark this identity for the purpose of intro- ducing the following chemical analysis of the soil and subsoil at Montrose in Pennsylvania, furnished by Dr. Rose himself, which the editor of the Gen- esee Farmer says "may be taken without essential modification for the general character of the soils and subsoils of the southern slope of the State of New York. The soil and subsoil or hardpan were in a state of nature, and the soil taken twelve inches below the surface." Soil. Hardpnn. Silica, 67.8 73.6 Alumina 7.8 12.2 Carbonate of lime 1. 2. Oxide of iron . 7. 7.4 Vegetable and animal matter lost by calcination 8.0 0. Magnesia 6.2 4.2 98.7 99.4 By the foregoing analysis it will be seen, that divested of the vegetable and animal matter, the hardpan has more of the elements of fertility than the upper soil — the quantity of lime is double. Al- thougli this is what may be called a hard faced country, the scientific writer from whose essaj^ we copy the analysis, is of opinion that the composi- tion of this surface is such as to render it, by prop- er cultivation and treatment, one of the most fer- tile, as well as one of the most easily farmed dis- tricts in the great State of New York. If the facts apply there, why will they not apply to much of the soil q^ New Hampshire whose growth is identical with that region .'' We are anxious to procure the results of different chemi- cal analyses of the soils of New Hampshire. The soil of Connecticut river valley diifers materially from that of the Merrim.ack river valley and other vallies :it the east; the first probably contains more lime. The composition of the alluvion of the riv- ers differs from the soil of the high grounds ; and the subsoil at one point of the liigh grounds dif- fers essentially from the subsoil at other points. We will propound questions to be answered bv scientific gentlemen wno maj' have opportunities to ascertain facts : 1. The composition of the soil and subsoil on the low alluvion grounds at one or more points on the Connecticut river and branches .'' 2. The same on the Merrimack and its branch- es ^ 3. The same on' the Piscataqua and its branches ? 4. An analysis of the hard ground in Ports- mouth, Rye or other tovvnsnear the sea, which dee- pens in soil and increases in fertility the more the subsoil is Tiprooted nnd exposed to the air. ^ and whether this subsoil partakes of the nature of marl .' 5. An analysis of the soil of the hard pine plains adjacent to rivers and smaller streams where there is no pan, and wherein these differ in the elements of fertility from the same kind of land with a gravel or clay pan .' 6. An analysis of those ;*!iit,e pine plain lands adjacent to swamps and low meadows and near streams of water where the upper soil is light and the subsoil is clay, or clay mixed v/ith sand or oth- er substance .' and whether the clay subsoil par- takes of the nature of marl .' 7. An analysis of the upper soil of peat and oth- er swamps and meadows that maybe drained ? and where there is a pan of gravel, sand or clay, the nature of the composition of each, and the effect of the subsoil on the cultivation for a series of years .' Like answers relative to the roils in Maine, Massachusetts, (especially tiiot-Q of Cape .A-nne and Cape Cod) Rhode Island, Connecticut and Ver- mont are respectfully solicited of gentlemen who can find leisure to make the experiments. Answers to these several queries may elicit in- formation that would be of inestimable value to the practical farmer. The want of a perfect chemical analysis of our soils leaves many an owner of land in utter ignorance of its intrinsic value. It is not more than three or four years since the discovery of the immense beds of marl pervading the lower half of the State of New Jersey, the whole of Del- aware, and portions of Pennsylvania, Marylandand Virginia, was made. This article, after being dug from its bed, and exposed a sufficient time to the air, has been found capable of imparting the ut- most fertility to a soil which, from its aridity and barrenness, had been considered as next to useless. We should be highly pleased to make our hum- ble monthly paper a medium for communicating to the farmers of New England that particular knowledge of the grounds which they cultivate, enabling them at once to apply in the best manner whatever shall cause the earth to yield her great- est increase. This knowledge may be attained through a perfect chemical analysis of the different soils. There are scientific gentlemen at Hanover, at New Hampton and in other towns of this State, who are able to make the experiments we have named. To as many of these as shall peruse this article we make the appeal for information. Every man who .makes the attempt successful may not only do our publication and the State a service, but may obtain for himself a reputation which shall re- pay him for his labor. Mountain Farming. • Mr. StephenTowerofCummington, has furnish- ed the following specimen of mountain farming in hi.^ corn crop of this year. The facts are interesting and valuable, as connnunicated to us by a friend. The field contains, by accurate measurement, one hundred and fifty square rods, and his culture was as follows : 55 loads of yard manure spread and plowed in. The corn was planted the 18th day of May, without any manure in the hill, light furrow- ed, in rows 3 feet apart, with the hills 18 inches dis- tance from each other. The corn was dropped by two small boys, and covered by Mr. Tower in one day, The field was hoed twice in the season with- out hilling the corn, his object being merely to ex- terminate the weeds. The top stalks were cut the 3d dav of September, and the crop was harvested by cutting up early, in October, and husked and put into the granary, with 8 days v/ork. It has since been shelled, and measured 102 bushels of prime sound corn. Mr. Tower saj's (and few men are better judges of feeding), that the stalks and husks are sufficient to winter two cows well. W. Korthmiijiion Courier. ' [nrCummington is situated on the Green Moun- tain Ridge west of Connecticut river in the State of Massachusetts. Geology. [A " second report on the Geology of the State of Maine" has just been placed incur hands. Un- der a resolution of the Legislature of that State, Doct. Ch.irles T. .Tacklion of Boston has beenap- pointed Geologist for the State. This second re- port presents abundance of information interesting to the farmers of New England, aud from it we in- tend to draw libarally for this and the future num- bers of the Visitor.] Introduction. Few subjects have, for many years; more strong- ly excited public attention, than the Science of Geology ; and we may justly attribute this general interest to the improved condition of the science, and its numerous applications to useful purposes. Formerly, rude conjectures, imaginary hypothe- ses, aud vague theories, wTiicli natually arose from an imperfect knowledge of the subject, owing to the imperfections of the collateral branches of Nat- ural History, caused many intelligent persons to consider the whole science as uncertain and chi- merical. This state of things has, however, been succeeded b)' more sound and perfect knowledge, and no longer is Geology reproached with being merely visionary and speculative. It has now assumed the rank of an accurate and certain science, adapted to the physical and intel- lectual wants of an enlightened comnmnity — re- vealing to us the situations in which are found our valuable metallic ores, quarries of building materi- als, beds of hme 'stone, and a thousand other arti- cles of daily use. It traces out the precise situa- tion in which we may expect to find fossil coal, and gives us a knowledge of the means of making rational explorations for that valuable combustible. Soils being mainly composed of the detritus of rocks, and those materials having been spread out on the surface of the globe, in conformity to regu- lar geological laws, a just knowledge of their min- eral components, and their order of distribution, serves to direct the farmer in the selection of his THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. farm, and the cultivation of the earth. It would be easy to trace out many other good results, which are attainable by this science, but so general has now become a knowledge of the subject, that it will be unnecessary for me to enter into minute details. To the quarryman, architect, engineer, metallur- gist, manufacturer, merchant and agriculturalist, this science is of vast and almost incalculable util- ity, and serves not only to direct many of their op- erations, and to furnish them with the articles of their several professions and trades, while it pre- vents their being imposed upon by artful impos- tors or ignorant pretenders. Enormous sums of money have been wasted, in every section of our country in digging for treas- ures— mines of gold, silver, or coal, in situations where a geologist would have in a moment decided such substances could not be found ! Pyrites has been and now is frequently mistaken for silver or gold, black tourmaline for coal, or an hidicatioii of that combustible, while to the geologist it is a most certain proof that no coal will ever be found in its vicinity ! Ores of brass and pewter are talked about as if any such ores really existed! Iron ores are warranted to contain from 8U to 9U per cent, of that metal, while the geologist and chemist know, that no sucii ores can possibly exist. Yet companies are organized, and such pretensions are palmed otf up- on the community. Some farmers run out the soil, instead of enrich- ing it — cursing the earth witii barrenness, instead of rendering it fertile — and then emigrate to some new district, to render that barren also ! Are tiiese things as they ought to be ? Shall we not attempt to do something to relieve the present state of this most important of arts .'' When we feel that we are in error, if we are wise we shall endeavor to correct ourselves, and eagerly embrace any plan that promises us sure relief. Sci- ence, embracing the great principles of all arts, combining the experience of all ages, indefatigable in its researches, strict and philosophical in its rea- soning, tenders to us its aid, and furnishes us with the principles and the means for our improvement. With such knowledge, nature opens to us her illu- minated page, and invites us to read her great and eternal laws, and by following her mandates, the elements become subservient to our will. Look back into the history of the arts and sciences but half a century, and contemplate their present state, and you will be astonished at the results already at- tained. The history of the past presages the fu- ture, and as much greater will be the improve- ments, as our means of knowledge are advanced. Problems, obscure and incapable of being solved by our ancestors, are now easily explained. Knowl- edge, which formerly gave to the person who pos- sessed it, th(; proud rank of philosopher, is now the common properly of school-boys. Chemical ex- periments, that would a century since have been considered magic, and brought the operator to the stake for witchcraft, are now the mereest juvenile recreations, and boarding-school girls are familiar with the laws of chemical affinity. The course of science is onward, and who will now dare to limit the future.^ Knowledge is pow- er, subduinir all things to our will, provided, we understand the laws of nature, and are obedient to their precepts. Collect facts, for they are the links of the chain of reason, by which we may mount to the causes of things. A single fact, taken by itself, appears to an unphilosophical mind extremely in- significant, and he who makes such a discovery, is instantly assailed with questions as to its uses. What is it good for ? What can he done with it ? &c. &c. A philosopher, at Amalfi, in Italy, long before our nation had existence, was intent upon the ex- amination of a curious property exhibited by a l>iece of iron ore. It attracted particles of the same kind of substance, and iron filings. In one of his experiments, l^e suspended the piece of iron ore by a thread, and found that it pointed towards the North star, and when turned in another direction, and set free, it instantly turned to its North and South position. This was a curious property, and I doubt not, if the experimenter had mentioned it, that he would have been asked, of what use is it > What can you do with it ? and perhaps how much money can be made by it? To all these questions he would reply, I cannot tell to what uses it may be put, but I do believe every law of nature is use- ful, and this, among others, will be applied to some useful purpose. Impressed with such an opin- ion, he wrote to the Academies of Florence, and forthwitli the curiosity of those philosophers was aroused, and they too tried experiments with the iron ore, and presently discovered, that its mao*- netic properties were transferable to hardened steel. Behold the results ! The mariner's compass was invented, and served to guide Columbus across the pathless ocean. A new world was discovered, and soon became the abode of civilized men. Our great nation now extends its arms from the St. Croix to the Capes of Florida, and westward to the Rocky Mountains, and the Columbia river, and is destined to cover this wliolc Continent. All this is to be attributed to the discovery (jf one curious property of iron ore ! Let us then learn to attacli due importance to all facts we discover recorded in the book of nature, for however obscure they may at first sight appear, be assured that they will most certainly serve to ad- vance human civilization. Geology is a science composed almost entirely of facts, and the theories serving to exjilain them, are but the rationale of those facts. Such, at least, is the modern aspect of the science, and the more rigid are we in our deductions, the more imperish- able will be the results. Hypotheses may be ex- ploded, theories are subject to continual modifica- tions, according to the light that may be shed upon their subject, but facts are in their nature' immor- tal. Fire-side Amusements. Say what we will about the want of taste in mu- sic of those who have gone before us, there is a charm in the musical compositions of Billi.ngs, and Kimball, and Holden, and otlier American composers of "old lang syne" that we have never felt upon us in listening to some of the ever-chang- ing and forever lifeless tunes which are sung in the churches of the present day. A more refined taste at first passed sentence of universal condem- nation against those composers ! We have heard Oliver Holden condemned as one too ignorant of good music to be able to seta single note in a prop- er relation to its next neiglibor in the fastidious days which first cast him and his compeers out of the synagogue of the true musical faith. And yet we find Lowell Mason (the present Monarch of musical fasliion in New England) adopting "Coro- nation" as one of his choice tunes. If Holden had never composed other tune than that same Coro- nation, he would deserve more credit as a musical composer than all the mawkish pretenders who have succeeded him ever earned in their attempts to put down a false taste. There can be nothing more joyous and exhilira- ting at the farmer's evening fire-side than the per- formance of church music, in which all who have a voice, both young and old, male and female, can unite. The praises that are there lisped to the Almighty, (without duly understanding, it may be in children) fasten themselves upon the memory afterwards to be always understood and never for- gotten. We can remember forty and forty-five years ago wlien the Psalmody of Billings and Hol- den was wont to resound in our houses and our churches; and if there is a pleasing recollection in the prattle and innocence of childhood, it is reviv- ed with more force in the repetition of these old tunes, such as Coronation, Greenfield, Wuhurn, Paris, Chester, Worecster, Invitation, 4-c. than in any other event which may occur. Mr. Jenks, editor of the Nantucket Inquirer, has a happy tact at bringing forth and describing both old things and new. He is not, we believe, quite so old as we are — he probably is not old enough to re- collect Billings, Kimball and Holden, as venders and teachers of their own music in Boston, Charles town and other towns of the vicinity. We can re- member one or more of them — Billings was a little before our recoUection^as leaders of a sinuincr choir to a congregation where every youno- man and woman in the parish having a voice participat- ed. The impressions, the musical impressions of that time, are indelible ; and we at any moment would travel far on foot to unite with any " Billincs and Holden Society" in performing Coronation, or even Lenox, or Korthjicld, or jYew Jerusalem. The Nantucket Inquirer gives tlie following graphic reminiscences of the Singing Masters of old time ; "There is a psalm-singing sodality in Boston, cal- led the Billings and Holden Society — associated for the purpose c*' practising what its members denom- inate,' ancient music;' that is, Yankee psalmody, manufactured by the composers, whose names are immortalized in the Society's title, and who flour- ished, the one so very long ago as the revolutionary war — the other during a somewhat later genera- tion. " Billings constructed some few tolerable tunes, and produced also an abundance of trash — perhaps a bushel of chafl" to a grain of wheat. For many years, in the towns of Boston and parts round about, he was quite a popular teacher of wliat the Italians call solfeggio, a term which some of our worthy and learned ancestors translated into ' solfamiza- tion,' or 'solmization.' The other gentleman — the junior in this posthumous copartnership — if we mis- take not, dwelt in Charlestown, where he fabricat- ed sundry passable ditties, still preserved among the ' 'Village Collections' of sacred music. He ex- changed the antiquated goose-toned pitchpipe for that most dulcet of all screaming windpipes, the clarionet— the wliicli he blew melodiously, though Sam While and other envious bassoon-blowers us- ed to insist Upon it that his A was always too sharp. Indeed, they poked fun at his very face, which be- ing rather acuminated and apeak, they declared was whittled away by the sharpness of his notes, or blown to a point by the blast employed to deliver so many semibreves in a breath. Others still more naughty, alluding to his habit of looking simultane- ously at both elids of the 'tune,' a peculiarity usu- ally expressed by the phrase 'cross-eyed,' vowed that he saw nothing but sharps — while he, on the contrary, turning both his optics and his wit upon them, asserted that he could see nothing but flats ; thus gently rebuking them for perceiving his motes without confessing their own beams I "There was another memorable instructerin the mysteries of crochctology — one master Mann, who at divers times oversaw most of the Boston sing- ing schools. He was a cotemporary of Holden, and was the author of numerous pieces still extant, pub- lished under the significant and comprehensive ti- tles of No. 13, No. 21, No. 3'J, &c. His mode of teaching was efFectivej though abounding in singu- larities, and his manner prompt and earnest. It was his custom, while teaching the choir attached to the Barry street Church, now Mr. Channing's, after having selected a tune for-practice, to vocif- erate a part of the first line of the stanza to be sung, as a signal for all hands, all throats, to commence in concert.' One evening a young clarionet play- er, ignorant of this custom, and ambitious to give the 'pitch,' incontinently undertook that task with- out waiting for the accustomed cue. In his zeal, he produced one of those shrill and piercing squeaks so apt to be emitted by inexperienced performers on that perplexing instrument. A thrill of consterna- tion penetrated the whole assembly, at so careless and sudden an outbreak; while master Mann quick- ly turned upon the hapless culprit, his very specta- cles seeming to dilate with astonishment, and with- out utteting aught else, pronounced with extraor- dinarj' emphasis the leading words of the hymn — ' Lord ! what a thoughtless wretch !' It is needless to add that the tune (Greenfield) was so badly exe- cuted, that a repetition, for the sake of amendment, was exceedingly expedient. " While Billings' compositions were in the zenith of their popularity, certain publishers acquired no small income from their sale. One of these, at his shop in Cornhill projected a signboard into the street, bearing on either side the simple inscription ^ BiUmgs' Music' A wag of the older school, hav- ing no taste for the fugitive and rambling innova- tions of the day, in which he affected to hear noth- hig but discofd and jargon, determined on inflict- ing a practical satire upon the prevailing mania ; and selected the luckless music seller's sign-board as the bearer of his indignant joke. He according- ly provided himself with a couple of stout speci- mens of the feline race, and with a yard of strong codline tied them togetlier by their vertebral term- inations, vidgo tails. Thus accoutred, he proceed- ed at midnight to the scene pf action, and threw his burthen across the offending protrusion, in such manner that the teeth, whiskers and claws of the two cats came in contact just below the sign, while their inverted nether extremes were held inextrica- bly by the string above. As may be imagined, a most delectable duett was the consequence, com- prising all sorts of variations — mewing affetuoso, hiiing agitato, spitting staccato, and scratching piz- zicato^-whicli endured until sunrise. At that hour the passers by were greeted with this mischievous illustration of the words upon the sign-board — but the owner soon stepped forth and removed both textand commentary." Josiah Stevens, Esq. New Hampshire Secretary of State, raised last season on one acre of lio-ht soil upon his farm in Newport very near thirty bushels of the common bearded wheat. He sowed upon this acre four bushels of dry slacked lime made at Wethersfield, Vt. Mr. Stevens is of opinion that his crop of wheat was doubled in consequence of the application of the lime. One bushel and a half of seed was sowed. To prevent smul in wheat. — Dissolve two ounces of blue vitriol in one quart of water, and apply this to every bushel of seed wheat at least twenty-four hours previous to sowing. The application has been never known to fail. THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. THE FKUGAL KOUSFWIFH. O.ld Scraps for the Economical. If you would avoid waste in your family, attend to the following rules, and do not despise them because they appear so unimportant: "many a lit- tle makes a mickle." Look frequently to the pails, to see that nothing is thrown to the pigs, winch should have been in the grease-pot. Look to the grease-pot, and see that nothing is there which might have served to nourish your own family, or a poorer one. Sec that the beef and pork are always under brine; and that the brine is sweet and clean. Count towels, theets, spoons, &c., occasionally; that those who use them may not become careless. See that the vegetables are neither sprouting-, nor decaying ; if they are so, remove them to a dri- er place and spread them. Examine preserves, to see that they are not con- tracting mould ; and your pickles, to see that they arc not growing soft and tasteless. As far as it is possible, have bits of bread eaten up bef ire they become hard. Spread those that are not ea'.en, and let them dry to be pounded for pud- dings, or soaked for brewis. Brewis is made of crus'B, and dry pieces of bread, soaked a good while in hot milk, mashed up, and salted and but- tered like toast. Above all, do not let them accu- mulate in such quantities that they cannot be used. With pioper care, there is no need of losing a parti- cle of bread, even in the hottest weather. Attend to all the mending in the house, once a week, if possible. Never put out sewing. If it be impossible to do it in your ov/n family, hire some one into the house, and work with them. M ike your own bread and cake. Some people think it is just as cheap to buy of the baker and confectioner : but it is not half as cheap. True, it is more convenient; and therefore the rich are jus- tifiable in employing them ; but those who are un- der the necessity of be.ngoconomical, should make conven'ence a secondary object. In the first place, confectioners make their cake richer than people of moderate income can afford to make it ; iu the next place, your domestic, or yourself, may just as well employ your own time, as to pay them for theirs. When ivory-handled knives turn yellow, rub them with nice sand paper, or emery ; it will take off the sp jts and restore their whiteness. When a carpet is faded, I have been told that it may ]ie restored, in a great measure, (provided there be no g:e"ise in it) by being dipped into strong salt and wat-r. 1 never tried th's ; but I know tliat silk pocket-handkerchiefs, and deep blue factory cotton, will not fade, if dipped in salt and water, while n''vr. An ox's gall will set any color — silk, cotton, or woolen. T have seen the colors of calico, which faded at one washing, fi.xed by it. Where one lives neir a slaughter-house, it is worth while to buy cheap fading goods and set them in this way. The gall can be bought for a few cents. Get out all the liquid and cork it up in a large phial. One !ar)Te spoon.*ul of this in a gallon of warm water is suffic'ent. This is likewise e.xcellent for taking out spots from bombazine, bombazet, &c. After being washed in this, they look about as well as when new. It must be thoroughly stirred into the water, and not put upon the cloth. — It is used with- out soap. After being washed in tliis, cloth which you want to clean should be wasiied in warm suds, without using soap. Tortoise shell and horn combs last much longer for having oil rubbed into them once in a while. Indian-meal and rye-meal arc in danger of fer- menting in summer; particularly Indian. They should be kept in a cool place, and stirred open to the air, once in a while. A large stone put in tlie middle of a barrel of meal is a good thing to keep it cool. The covering of oil-flasks sev/od together with strong thread, and lined and bound neatly, makes useful table-mats. A warming-pan full of coals, or a shovel of coals held o\'er varnished furniture, will take out white spots. Care should he taken, not to hold the coals near enougli to scorch ; and the place should be tubbed with flannel while warm. Spots in furniture may usually be cleansed by rubbing them qu ck and hard, %vith a flannel wet with the same th'mg which took out the color; if rum, wet the cloth with ru.'n, cVc. The very best restorative, f r defnced varnished furniture, is rrit- ten-stone pu'.vjrised, and rubbed on with linseed oil. Sal-volatile, or hartshorn, wiU restore colors tak- en out by acid. It may bo dropped upon any gar- ment without doing harm. Spirits of turpentine is good to take grease spots I should be kept in pickle twelve or fifteen days ; if out of woolen clothes ; to take spots of paint, &c from mahogany furniture ; and to cleanse white kid gloves. Cockroaches, and all vermin, have an aversion to spirits of turpentine. An ounce of quicksilver, beat up with the white of two eggs, and put on withafrathcr, is the clean- est and surest bed-bug poison. ^Vhatis left should be thrown away : it is dangerous to have it about the house. If the vermin are in your walls, fill up the cracks with verdigris-grcen paint. Lamps will have a less disagreable smell, if you dip vour wick-yarn in strong hot vinegar, and dry it. Those who make candles will find it a great im- provement to steep the wicks in lime-water and salt-petre, and dry them. The flame is clearer, and the tallow will not "run." Brittania ware shold be first rubbed gently with a woolen cloth and sweet oil ; tiien washed in warm suds, and rubbed with soft leather and whit- ing. Thus treated, it will retain its beauty to tlie last. Eggs will keep almost any length of time in lime-water properly prepared. One pint of coarse salt, and one pint of unslacked lime to a pailful of water. If there be too much lime it will eat the shells from the eggs ; and if there he a single egg cracked, it will spoil the whole. They should be covered with lime-water, and kept in a cold place. The yolk becomes slightly red ; but I have seen eggs, thus kept, perfectly sweet and fresh at the end of three years. The cheapest time to lay down eggs, is early in spring and the middle and last of September. It is bad economy to buy eggs by the dozen, as you want them. New iron should be very gradually heated at first. After it has become inured to the heat it is not as likely to crack. It is a good plan to put new earthen ware into cold water, and let it heat gradually, until it boils, — then cool again. Brown earthen ware in par- ticular, may be toughened in this way. A handful large, four or five weeks are not too much. They should be hung up a day or two to dry, before they are smoked. Lay them in an oven, on crossed sticks, and make a fire at the entrance. Cobs, wal- nut-b;irk, or walnut-chips, are the best to use for smoking, on account of the sweet taste they give the meat. The smallest pieces should be smoked forty-eight hours, and the large legs four or five days. Some people prefer the mutton boiled as soon as it is taken from the pickle, before it is smoked ; others hang it up till it gets dry thorough- ly, and eat it in thin slices, like hung beef. When legs of meat arc put in pickle, the thickest part of the leg should he placed uppermost — that, is, stand- ing upright, the same as the creature stood when living. The same rule should be observed when they are hung up to dr^' ; it is essentia! in order to keep in the juices of the meat. Meat should be turned over once or twice during the process of smoliing. The old fashioned way for curing hams is to rub them with salt very thoroughly, and let them lay twenty-four hours. To each ham allow two ounces of salt-petre ; one quart of common salt, and one quart of molasses. First baste them with molasses ; ne.\t rub in the salt-petre ; and, last of all, the com- mon salt. They must be carefully turned and rub- bed every day for six weeks, then hang them iu a chimney, or smoke-house, four weeks. They should be well covered up in paper-bags, and put in a chest, or barrel, with layers of ashes, or charcoal, between. When you take out a ham to cut tor use, be sure and put it away in a dark place, well covered up ; especially in summer. Some very experienced epicures and cooks, think the old fashioned way of preparing bacon is troub- lesome and useless. They say tliat legs of pork placed upright in pickle, for four or five weeks, are ]ust as nice as those rubbed with so much care. The pickle for pork and hung-beef, should be stronger than for legs of mutton. Eight pounds of salt, ten ounces of salt-petre, and five pints of mo- of rye, or wheat bran, thrown in while it is boiling, lasses is enough for one hundred weight of meat ; will preserve the glazing, so that it will not be de !■ troyed by acid or salt. Clean a brass kettle, before using it for cooking, with salt and vinegar. Skim milk and water, with a bit of glue in it, heated scalding hot, is excellent to restore old, rus- ty, black Italian crape. If clapped and pulled dry like nice muslin, it will look as well, or better, than when new. Wash-leather gloves should be v.-ashcd in clean suds, scarcely warm. — Mrs. Cliild. Meat corned, or salted, Hams, &c. When you merely want to corn meal, you have nothing to do but to rub in salt plentifully, and let it set in the cellar a day or two. If you have pro- vided more meat than you can use while it is good, it is well to corn it in season to saye it. In sum- mer it will not keep well more than a day and a half; if you are compelled to keep it longer, be sure and rub in more salt, and keep it carefully covered from cellar-flics. In winter, there is no difiiculty in keeping a piece of corucd beef a fort- night or more. Some people corn meat by throw- ing it into their beef barrel for a few days ; but this method does not make it so sweet. A little salt-petre rubbed in before you apply the common salt, makes tlie meat tender; but in summer it is not well to use it, because it prevents the other salt from impregnating; and the meat does not keep as well. If you wish to salt fat pork, scald coarse salt in water and skim it, till the salt will no longer melt in the water. Pack your pork down in tight lay- ers, salt every layer ; when the brine is cool, cover the pork with it, and keep a heavy stone on the top to keep the pork under brine. Look to it once in a"-ivhile, for the first few weeks, and if the salt has all melted, throw in more. This brine, scalded and skimmed every time it is used, will continue good twenty years. The rind of the pork should be packed towards the edge of the barrel. It is good economy to salt your own beef as well as pork. Six pounds of corrse salt, eight ounces of brown sugar, a pint of molasses, and eight oun- ces of salt-petre are enough to boil in four gallons of water. Skim it clean while boiling. Put it to the beef cold ; ha^-e enough to cover it, and bo careful vour beef never floats on the top. If it does not smell perfectly sweet, throw in more salt ; if a scum rises upon it, scald and skim it again, and pour it on the beef when cold. Legs of mutton are very good, cured in the same way as ham. Six pounds of salt, eight ounces of salt-petre, and five pints of molasses, will make pickle enough for one hundred weight. Small legs water enough to cover the meat well — probably, four or five gallons. Any one can prepare bacon, or dried beef very easily, in a common oven, accor- ding to the above directions. The same pickle that answers for bacon is proper for neat's tongues. Pigs' tongues are very nice, prepared in the same way as neat's tongues ; an abundance of them are sold for rein-deer's tongues, and, under that name, considered a wonderful luxury. Neat's tongues should he boiled full three hours. IC it has been m salt long, it is well to soak it over night in cold water. Put it in to boil when the wa- ter is cold. If you boil it in a small pot, it is well to change the water, when it has boiled an hour and a half; the fresh water should boil, before the half-cooked tongue is put in again. It is nicer for being kept in a cool place a day or two after being boiled. Nearly the same rules apply to salt beef. A six pound piece of corned beef should boil full three hours ; and salt beef should be boiled four hours. The suiter meat is the longer it should be boiled. If very salt it is well to put it in soak over night; change the water while cooking ; and ob- serve the same rules as in boiling tongue. If it is intended to be eaten wJien cold, it is a good plan to put it between clean boards, and press it down with heavy weights for a day or two. A small leg of bacon should be boiled three hours ; ten pounds four hours ; twelve pounds five hours. All meat sliould boil moderately ; furious boiling injures the flavor. Burt'alo's tongue should soak a day and a night, and boil as much as six hours.~^/?-5. Childs. Broom Corn. The manuficture of Corn Brooms appears to be introducing itself into the middle and southern States. By " introducing itself," we mean to say, that some Yarikecs have established the culture of this crop at Georgetown, near Washington, and al- ready have shipped ten thousand to New York. It is a lucrative business, and like every thing else, if diligently pursued, will yield a good compensation. Some ol' our young men from old Hadley, where they turn out two or three hundred thousand a year, without winking at it, — have been on to Georgetown to show them how the Yankees do it. They say southern broom brush is longer than the northern, but it is coarser and does not command so good a price. Perhaps in no place in the Union, within the same extent of territory, is broom corn grown so extensively as in the neighborhood of this town. The extensive meadows in Kaitield, Had- ley and Northampton, in the season of it, contains vast fields of this crop. Hundreds of thousands of brooms are annually sent to all parts of the Un- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. ion, and the brush is bought and made up exten- sively in otlier places. The Shakers buy large quantities nf Connecticut river broom brush. — J^orthampton, Ms. Courier. It is believed that the soil of other parts of the country may be made to produce the broom corn as well as that on the region of Connecticut river. In a journey westward last .\ugust we saw large fields of the broom corn on the alluvion meadows of the Mohawk, and fields of it were frequent in Michi- gan on ground where the common Indian cprn of no unusual size grew side by side. We do not see why the broom corn may not be produced in abun- dance upon the alluvion corn land on Merrimack river as well as upon the more elevated granite hills of our State producing common Indian cgrn. To the old Hadley farmers the raising of the broom corn has been for many years a highly lucrative business. The soil where this is raised should be deep and rich, and the preparation should be as careful as that of a garden. When New England farmers can raise grain sufficient for their own bread stuffs, the attention of those who have suita- ble grounds may, as a matter of profit, be turned to the production of broom corn and the manufacture of brooms. Agricultural Publications. There are no periodical publications more inter- esting to us than the agricultural papers whicli have fallen within our view. Interesting news of the day is always the first thing to be read : this we get in the conimon newspaper; but to the common newspaper, after the heads of pissing news have been scanned, we do not sit down with the same appetite as to a good agricultural newspaper. The oldest agricultural paper in the country, we be- lieve, is The A'cw England Farmer. This paper was es- tablished seventeen years ago at Boston by the late Tiiosus Green Fessenden. We knew Mr. F. as a political editor on the borders of our State be- fore he went to Boston : he failed in his political chair, but he was eminently successful as the editor of the Farmer.. We have been an almost constant reader of that paper. It has undoubtedly contribu- ted much to the agricultural improvement of New England ; and the labors of the editor were not confined to that publication alone. He has compil- ed and furnished valuable books on farming and gardening, which will build a monument to his fame. Mr. Fessenden was a scholar, a poet and a wit. Since his death the New England Farmer is continued and is now published by Joseph Breck & Co. whose extensive Agricultural Ware House we may notice hereafter. It is a weekly single quarto sheet of eight pages, and is furnished at $'2,.50 per annum, in advance. A present valuable contributor to the F.armer is Rev. Henrv Colman, the Ag- r.cultural Commissioner for the State of Massachu- setts, who unites talents of a high order with much acrricultural experience. Tlie Yankee Farmer is published simultaneously at Boston and Portland ; it is a larger sheet than the N. E. Farmer, and contains besides agricultural in- formation, miscellaneous matters and sketches of news. It has furnished for the last two years much valuable new information. We shall proba- bly hereafter have occasion to draw upon it for the use of our columns. S. W. Cole of Portland, is editor, "assisted by the experience and observations of the best practical farmers in the country." The Cheshire Farmer, a.i Keene, N. H. This paper was first published once a fortnight, and is now continued once a month at the price of fifty cents per annum. It contains less reading than our sheet ; but it is a well conducted and useful publication, and has already had a fine effect in in- spiriting the farmers of the western part of the State. An association of farmers in Cheshire county have taken the Farmer under their patron- age. Several practical farmers have furnished the editor with information of great interest. Of these communications that of John Conant, Esq. of Jaf- frey in relation to the reclamation of his meadow swamp by draining, elearin.^ of trees and roots, breaking up, planting and sowing, is worthy of no- tice. Mr. Conant has here demonstrated that at an expense of one fourth at least of its value thou- sands of acres of swamp land in this State, and per- haps hundreds of thousands in the New England States, may bo made as valuable for hay and per- haps for tillage as the best alluvial soils, which are selling from one to two hundred dollars the acre simply for cultivation, We hope the enterprising Cheshire farmers will continue to patronize our brother Cook ; and that as many as can afford it, will take both the Cheshire Farmer and the Month- ly Visitor. The Genesee Farmer, \mh\\f,\\eA at Rochester, N. Y. both weekly and monthly, has gained that ex- tensive circulation to winch its merit justly enti- tles It. The monthly publication has more than ten thousand subscribers, and the weekly several thousands. Mr. Tucker has elicited much knowl- edce of aorlculture by offering a premium to all contributors for his paper. Willis Gavlord, Esq. of Otiscn, N. Y. wlio resides at the distance of many miles from Rochester, is a principal writer and contributor for the Genesee Farmer. The Cultivator, conducted by Judge Buel of Al- bany, has a circulation of twenty thousand. It is published monthly on a large sheet of sixteen pa- ges of quarto size, at one dollar a year. There are few publications, for the price, containing intbrma- tion of so much value as the Cultivator. Judge Buel, as a farmer embracing both theory and prac- tice, probably has no superior in this or any other country. His farm consists of about sixty acres, of which in a late address before the Fulton County Agricultural Society, he presents the following ac- count : " One of the best farmers of the age, a man of science and extensive practical knowledge in farm- ing, has affirmed, that by doubling the expense, in labor and manure, he has, upon the same land, been enabled to treble his profits, and to quadruple his products. I allude to Van Thaer, who has for twenty-four years been at the head of the great ag- ricultural school in Prussia. If I might be permit- ted, without being charged with egotism, to cite my own experience in the business of improve- ment, I would point to my farm, on the Albany bar- rens, which many of my hearers liavo seen, I pre- sume, in its present and former state — as a further evidence that we ran improve our lands. Twenty years ago, my soil was poor, very poor, and my farm a part of the commons — a waste. It is now as pro- ductive, and its culture affords as liberal a profit, as any of the lands in yonder fertile valley. It is wortli, for farm cultiire, the interest of two hundred dollars per acre ; and this year the product has been greater tlian I have named, altliough but or- dlnarv labor was bestowed in the culture. It may be said that I have expended capital in my improve- ments. This is true. I laid out extra money and labor to put it into good condition, and I am now re- alizing compound interest upon the amount of the outlay. For having put it int6 good condition, I am enabled ioheep it so, and to cultivate it, witli as lit- tle expense as I could cultivate poor lands that would not yield me a third of the profit that I now realize. Capital is useful to its owner in proportion to the income which it brings him ; and if by vest- ing it ii> farm improvements, it is made to yield as much as it would yield in bank stock, or loaned on bond and mortgage,, it would seem to be prudent, if not wise, so to vest it." The Farmer's Cabinet is a large sheet of thirty- two pages of octavo size published in Philadelphia; it is conducted by a practical gentleman of fine taste and talents, and has most extensive contribu- tions from some of the best farmers of the United States. Its pages are better adapted to the farming of the middle than of the northern States. Its cir- culation is ten thousand, and its price one dollar the year. The Boston Cultivator is a new weekly paper "de- voted to farming, mechanic arts, literature, and news of the week," edited by William Bucicmin- STER, Esq. a practical Massachusetts farmer, at two dollars per annum. We have seen only a sin- gle number of this paper; from the specimen, we liave a good opinion of the talents of the editor, and think his paper will he a useful one. The N. E. Farmer says JVIr. Buckminster is " a veteran far- mer" of Framlngliarn, and " is the inventor of a corn-planter which performs its work accurately, and of a grass-seed sower, which bids lair to prove useful." There are several other periodical weekly or monthly publications devoted to .Agriculture in the United States. Even the new territory of Wiscon- sin, but yesterday a wilderness, sujiports its news- paper devoted exclusively to agriculture in addition to several political newspapers. In the foregoing sketch we have noticed only such papers as we h.ave been in the habit of perusing. a practice of some years for the Trustees of that Seminary to grant the free use of a small lot of ground for cultivation to such of the Professors as have families. And lately, when the venerable Professors Adams and Siiurtlefk voluntarily retired from the arduous labors which will long be recollected witli gratitude by many who have gone forth into various parts of the country to be among the "burning and shining lights" of the land, asa mark of respect each of them was continued in the gratuitous posscs'-ion and use of the piece of College land which he had before improved. With the great increase of the recent classes at Dartmoutli College, every thing about Hanover seems to be improving: tlie location of the College buildings, with the splendid lav/n, or common, in front enclosed, is indeed beautiful, as is the loca- tion of almost every village on the banks of the Connecticut. When the new buildings contem- plated to be commenced the coming season shall be finished, still more enchanting and lovely will become the location of this Seminary. Coming out of town in the month of October last, while a north-east storm had just set in, we saw Profes- sor SnuRTLEFF in the field superintending the ploughing of his ground. Profi^ssor Hadduck, Idiewise, has much improved his own ground as well as tlie land alloted by the Trustees, by scien- tific cultivation. The example of these gentlemen and that of a few others, is not only beautifying that part of the town v.here the College buildings are located, but is increaLing greatly the value of all the soil fit for cultivation in the vicinity. There are also first rate farmers in tlie distant and back parts of Hanover, who have become wealthy and independent from the cultivation of the soil, and Lebanon, more contiguous to the College than the body of Hanover, itself, is among the first for en- terprise and thrift of the farming towns in New England. The President of the CoI!.?ge, Rev. Dr. Lord, also devotes a portion of his leisure time to the profitable cultivation of land. He furnished us, when lately at Hanover, with specimens of Dutton corn and with potatoes, the seed of which was ob- tained from Novia Scotia, resembling tlie Rohan potatoe though not quite as large — all of which were raised and gathered on his own premises. Having a highly interesting and promising family of eight sons, the oldest of which graduated at the late commencement, Dr. Lord says it becomes him "to do with his might whatever his hands find to do" that may be useful. In pursuit of some pasture land in the vicinity of the Cardigan mountain, he was shown the Burleigh farm on the high grounds of Dorchester, which having gone out of repair in buildings, fences, &c. and been aban- doned by a resident, was ofiered him very cheap. This farm he purchased, and he not only found the neglected soil rich, but he found many loads of manure covered up in the weeds and grass about the yards and barns. He hired a man with a family to carry on tlie farm, and spends some of the days of vacation in personally directing its operations. Every step taken is calculated to im- prove its cultivation and increase the capital in- vested. The farmers of that part of the State have hitherto derived largo profits from raising sheep in the sale of the wool. Flocks of one, two, three, and more hundred are very common. In some seasons there has been risque and loss in keeping breeding ewes : the fine wooled merino and Sa.xony breeds require the most delicate treat- ment and the close personal attention of the own- ers. Doct. Lord, at the close of the late season, discovered his superior sagacity in the purchase of two hundred healthy wethers at two dollars the head. The wool from these at the next shearing will probably average five pounds a head ; and the sheep well kept for one year will in all probability increase one third in value. A flock of two or more hundreds of sheep may be kept on this farm to clear profit, paying probably from ten to twenty per cent, annually upon the investment, with the farm continually improving, wliile the ordinary produce otherwise niay be made to pav for all the labor. Dr. L. has twenty acres prepared for a crop of wheat upon this farm the next season. Good Examples. The example of men engaged in liberal trades and professions who embark in' agricultural im- provements tends to the elevation of the class which cultivates the soil. Such example merits public notice and public approbation. The Corpo- ration of Dartmouth College, among other property, own several lots of land in tlie immediate vicinity of the College buildings at Hanover. "It bae been Nature of Soils. According to Chaptal's Chemistry, arable soils are composed generally of silica, Hme, alumina, magnesia, oxide of iron, and some saline substan- ces ; and the various kinds of soils arise from the different proportions in which their several parts are combined. Vegetable and animal matter gives character to the soil upon the surface ; from five to ten parts in a hundred are only necessary to change the appearance and render sufficiently fer- tile this upper soil. Lime is an ingredient that THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. contributes much to til? fertility of the soil ; wherever it exists, it is Sjelievcd to be in greater volume in tlie subsoil than in the upper eoi! ; and for this reason ploughing below the or- dinary depth increases the capacity and fertility of the ground. If six or eight percent, of vegetable matter suiiicc, probably three or four per cent, of lime will be ample to bring into action the salutary powers of ai:nost any soil. Some suppose that in light sandy soils the value of manure is lost by filtrating in the earth, and passing off below : we are inclined to the opinion that t'.ie fact is not so ; but that the value of the application passes up instead of down, the compo- sition of the soil being incapable of holuiji^j it. Gypsum applied to such a soil as this is valuable, because it enables tiie earth to hold ito moisture and its strength. In most cases, clay applied to such a drj' nurfaee will not only enable it to hold its strength, but, put on in considerable quantities, will change the coli;r and apparently the nature of the soil. Even if there be no pan, there will, a.''tcr such a change, be little danger of the strength of manure filtrating through the pores of the cartli. The v.llage ofAmliei.it, in this St.xte, is situated upon a very level plain of the Lghteat soil, with its base a perfect sand bank. la any season of tolerable v/etntss, the Plain was a beautiful green; but in dry, parched summers vegetation deserted it as it would the sa:icU of Arabia. Thirty years ago it wag the general opinion that .vegetables could not be prodyced on this Plain, and few of the inhibitants atlcm-isted to cultivate a g.ardcii there. They depended on the richer grounds at a distance fi.r a supply. The late Co!. Robert Means, under the idea that all the virtue of the land went into the ground beneath, was at the ex- pense oi' digging over his garden and laj'ing a bot- tom of clay ol' c"nside.jable depth, carefully plac- ina: a rich soil upon the ton of tlie clay. Probably o.ne half the quantity of clay laid upon the surface and mixed withtiie superabundant soil v,-ould have answered a better pnrp'"j.==e. He succeeded, ht^w- evcr, in vnaUing a beautifully fertile garden, which we believe couliiuies to this diy. Other persons, since that tone, by some means, and w.thout laying a hard clay pan at the bottom of the soil, have succeeded in .niaiti.ng good g.arciens and in raising fine crop.^ o:i Amheist Plain. Without doubt, this has been effected by the application of continued stimulants, and repeoted euUivation strengthening and renovating the soil. If the strength of the manure had paascd off as through a seive, down- ward, no application^ however powerful, could have improved that soil. Our light soils, even our comparatively barren pine plains, may by the simplest process become gome of our most proEtable lands, because they are easiest of cultivation. A great change is al- ready felt in the successful cultivation of much of the.se lands. The frrnier, by a perfect analysis of the soil, needs only to understand what is necessa- ry to be applied, to avail himself of a probable cheap means of making such soil bear its due pro- portion of produce necessary fortlic subsistence of man and l)ea.5t. Carrots. Mr. Samuel Bla'cc, senior, who is one of the most thriving if not the fattest farmer in the town of Concord, and who has adopted the maxim that tliere is no danger thj farmer can plough, sow, plant or raise to j anucli ; informs us, that he raised this year on sixteen square rods of ground one hun- dred and seven bushels of carrots, being at the rate of one thousand and seventy bushels to the acre. Carrots are a rich cseuk-ntfor family use ; they im- part a fine ilavor to various kinds of soup — tbey are good with fresh or preserved meats boiled or roa.sted, as is the common beet, turnip or parsnip ; and they make as good a pyeas the pumpkin or squash. The ino^enioub practical iarmcr covild undoubtedly raise carrots with as much facility as he could raise ruta baga. They may be sowed in ridges or rows from one t.a two feet apart. It would perhaps be prefer- able that th:^ rows, especially if thej' shall hot much exceed a foot apart, siiould run north and south, that the ground may have the advantage of the sun. The ground should be well manured — a strono- and deep, but light soil should be selected, so that the root shall have a fair opportunity to en- ter the ground deep. Some are of opinion that carrots are not good for fattening cattle ; we v.-ish the experiment might be tried ao as to leave no doubt, for, as at present advised, it is our belief that tliev are as good, if not better than potatoes. At all events, we think they will enable tlie milch cow to turn out more milk than almost any other kind of vegetable. THE COW. The profits of the dairy, in the production of butter and cheese, are often sufficient to secure com- petence to Ihf farmer. A gentleman in Barro, Vermont, with a farm of about one hundred acres and nineteen cov/s, assii;ted by one hired man and v.oinan iii the family, sold butter and pork in the year ld37 to the amount of twelve hundred dollars in cash, sustaining his family and living well on the same larra. The hogs were kept and fattened on the milk and buttermilk from the cows. There are larger farmers in the country who have made fortunes by keeping dairies. Col. Meacham, who lives on the shore of Lake Ontario in the county of Oswego in New York, keeps one hundred and fifty cows; we saw a cheese from his dairy presented to Gen. Jackson at V/ashington, weighing more than a thousand pounds. Col. M. originally cleared his farm, and has drawn liis wealth from its bosom. Mr. Brown of Oppenheim, Montgomery county. New York, keeps the immense number of two hundred and fifty cows ; and from tlie. butter and cheese which lie sends to New York market, derives an immense personal revenue., - Butif the, profits of the dairy be great ^\■]len the milk is coWverted into butter and cheese, still more tempting are. the gains when, fromliving near the market, the milk can be sold from four to six cents the quart. A pound of butter cannot be cbtiiined from less than sixteen quarts of milk ; and this at two cents the quart would make the butter cost thirty-two cents. A cow that will average ten quarts of milk a day through the year will yield one hundred and forty-six dollars in that time. Many of our com- mon New England cows, well fed, do more than this. A good cow, well attended and kept, in her milking time affords half of the sustenance of some families. But cows of improved breeds may be made to yield much more milk than cows of the common breed. The passion for the imported short horned Durham Cattle is little less than was the Merino sheep fe- ver some twenty years ago. Mr. Vv''olbert of Philadelphia, in the Farmer's Cabinet, reports the sale at auction at Philadelphia on the fifth and sixth of November last of sixteen imported Durham cows and heifers wit.h prices ranging from S-'-IO down to $185 each : an imported Durham bull sold for $550. The e.'ctravagance of price in Kentucky for the Durham full bloods is still greater. Henry Clay, jun. is reported in the late papers as having sold a Durham cow at Lexington for the enormous price of two thousand dollars ! Fevr farmers in New England can afford to pay these high prices for cattle of any sort. The price of our own cows, nov,- ranging from 25 to 50 dollars, and calves of ,^i.x months at nine and ten dollars the head, is suiHciently enormous. We shall, in the course of a few years, be able to improve the breeds of our cattle without paying the high prices. The Shakers at Canterbury and Enfield, who are generally in advance in almost every kind of improvement, have already obtained tlie improved Durham cattle. We lately saw a beautiful bull and a heifer calf at Canterbury, one of v/hich weighed more than six hundred pounds before it was six months old. Of these hereaf\er we intend to present pictorial represen- tations, if they can be obtained. We preso.nt the following figure, which must strike every one as giving the points of a first ra'.e cow, with the description taken from the .Albany Cultivator. [Figure No. 1.] "This, says the author of British Cattle, is a fair specimen of one of these cows, the character of the Holderness and Durham beautifully mingling. These constitute almost exclusively the stock of the London milkmen, and the numbers there kept to supply the metropolis with milk, amount to about nine thousand. They are celebrated alike iijr their milking and fattening properties. They are kept in houses, fed upon hay, turnips and brewer's grains, and milked without being suffered to go to the bull, till thev no longer yield a profit on their keep, when they are dried off, and in a few weeks turned into good beef They axe said to give in some cases thirty, and even thirty-six quarts of milk per day. Loudon states the average product for the entire year .at nine quarts per day — Britisli Husbandry the leverage quantity given by each cow (i>rol;ably when they are flush in milk only,) at twenty-two to tv/enty-four quartj. Tlie good points of these cows arc said to be well expressed in the following dog- grel lines, from tin; Farmer's Magazine : — " She's long in her face, she's fair in lier horn. She'll quickly get fat without cake or corn. She's clean in her jav.s, and full in her cliine. She's heavy in Hank, and wide in her loin. Slie's broad in her rib.'s, and long in her rump, A'straight and flat back, without ever a hump, She's tvide in her hips, and calm in her eyes, She's fine in her shoulders, and tliin in her thighs. She's light in the neck, and small in her tail. She's wide in the breast, and good at the pail, She's fine in her bone, and silky of skin, — She's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within." Several of the Yorkshire cows have been imported into our country, en board of the London and Liverpool packets, to supply milk on the voyage, though not under their proper distinctive name — having generally been classed with the Improved Short Korns. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. From tlie same bo fattened still p publica resents on wc give all the prorni THE OX. tile picture of an ox of the Devonshire breed : this ox begun to nent points of that breed : [Fig. No, 2.] The author of British Husbandry says — "Where the ground is not heaving, the Devonshire oxen are unrivalled at the plough. They have a quickness of action wliich no other breed can equal, and which verv few horses exceed. They have also a degree of docility and goodness of temper and also stoutness and honesty of work to which many teams of horses cannot pretend." The Devonshire oxen were introduced into the county of Berksliire, Mass. several years ago: they are considered as admi- rably fitted to cross, for working cattle, with some of our native breeds. Althouijli great attention has not been paid to improving our breeds of cattle, the hills of New-Hamp- shire present some as fine working and fattened oxen as we have seen elsewhere. The HuniuRD ox raised in Clarcmont (of which we hope hereafter to present some account) is the most beautiful and the largest animal of the cattle kind we have ever seen : his superior, we believe, was never raised in tliis country. No part of America can furnish liner specimens of cattle than are annually driven from the hills of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts to the Brighton market. They reiurn abundance of money to the farmer. What animal is more profitable tha.i tlie ox, which, after having faithfully served his master, yields this return .' The docility of this animal is wortliy of admiration : the well instructed ox performs at the plough with a sagacity scarcely less than human. SWINE, That there is a great diflferenee in the different breeds of swine, and perhaps sometimes a differ- ence between individuals of the same breed, and a still greater difference between the two sexes, we have reason to believe. There has been a breed of hogs in high repute in this vicinity called the Sha- ker BKEED — they are of great length of body, but small of limb and fair proportion : they have thin liair and are of a sallow dingy color. If we can procure a drawing, we will hereafter present a fig- ure of this kind, although we are not quite sure they ought to be recora.r.ended. One year ago in the last da} .s ;jf December wc engaged a pair of hogs, abariov,' and a sow — -they were brought, and the sow weighed ISO and the barrow about 120. In the passage about twelve miles, the hip of the bar- row was dislocated, and he wa.^ slaughtered by the owner, leaving us with only one. To supply the deficiency we made inquiries of the butciier in our neighborhood, and found tliat he would sell from his flock only one inferior looking, stunted, dirty barrow pig ; and this weighed only fifty pounds. The animal was placed in the same pen with the sow: she proved to be as haughty, do:nineering and discontented, as the smaller pig was quiet, pa- tient and peaceable. If the hogs at all times had not enough to eat, the barrow w.''.s always the sufferer; for whether fed at one or two places, the tyrannical superior would not suffer the inferior to eat until she had completed her meal. Both hogs were slaughtered in the same week one year from the time in which they were placed in their pen ; and it was found the barrow had become tlie larger hog — he weighed when slaughtered 3.52 and the sow onlv 340. They liad been carefully attended, although not higlily fed. With the same feeding, we are of opinion that two liarrows kept together of the same contented disposition of the small one would have weighed at the time of slaughtering at least toUT hundred each. The discontented sow at the commencement e.xeoeded the barrow one hun- dred and tliirty pounds. The latter jjroved to be a clean, white skinned animal, of beautiful limb and proportion. Among the various articles of live stock,' few are more profitable than swine. In the western and southern country they are kept in droves and fed upon clover fields and grass pastures. A farmer in Washington county, New York, told us he had two hundred liogs which he intended to drive to Bos- ton market after they had fattened tliemselves in a field of a dozen rieres of peas, which he could not spare the time to thrasli and gatlier ! Farmers with large dairies can raise and fatten hogs to good ad- vantage. But since the failure and uncertainty of crops of corn in New England, it is not perhaps good policy for a common farmer or mechanic to keep more swine than the natural wash of the kitchen will feed in the season before fattening. At all events it will be well to select and keep that kind of hogs wliich will yield the most pork with the least feeding. Siys tlie Philadelphia Farmer's Cabinet — "The Characteristic w«r/isof agood hog, are a moderate length as to the carcass in general ; the head and cheeks being plump and full, and the neck thick and short; bone fine; quarters full; the carcass thick and full ; his bristly hide fine and thin ; tlie symmetry or proportion of the v.-liole well adapted to tlie respective breeds or varieties; and above all, a kindly disposition to fatten earlv.'' We present in this number pictorial representa- tions of two kinds of hogs, the first of which is undoubtedly familiar to many of our readers [Fig. 3.] "The CiiiMnsK Bheed, (says the Cabinet,) of the general appearance of which, the above is a tol- erable correct delineation, when fit, was originally obtained, as their name imports, from China. Of these there are two nearly distinct kinds : the white and the Much : both are small ; and although of an extraordinary disposition to fatten, will seldom ar- rive to a greater weight than si.vteen or eighteen stone, of fourteen pounds, at two years of age. The former are better shaped than the latter ; but lliey are less hardy, and less prolific. They are liotli very small limbed ; round in the carcass; thin skinned and fine bristled, and have the head so bed- d(^d in the neck, that when quite fat, the end only of the snout is jierceptible. Tliev are tender and •lifiicultto rear, and the sows are bad nurses; yet, from their early aptitude to fatten, they are in great esteem with those wiio only rear young porkers. The flesh is rather too delicate for bacon ; it is also deficient in lean; and their hind quarters beinf small, in proportion to the body, they cut up to dis- advantage when intended for ham ; they, however, possess the valuable properties of being very thrif- ty, and of fattening on a comparatively small qu;in- tity of food. There is also a mixed breed of this kind, being white variously patched with black ; some of v.'hich have prick ears, like the true breed, which tiiey otherwise resemble in form, and others liave the ears round at the ends, and hangintr down- wards. These last are in every respect coarser than the former; but they are remarkably prolific; are good nurses, and, with proper care, will bring up two litters within the year. Tliey are, howev- er, only valuable as breeding sows and roasters ; for they are very indifferent store pigs, rarely attaining any great weight, and infinitely more difficult to fatten than the original stock." [Fig. 4.] "The excellence of the Berkshire breed of hogs, (saj's the Genesee Farmer) consists in eurhj ■maturity — viaif he fattened at any age — quick feed- ers— very prolific — good nurses — returning a great- er iptantitij of flesh for the amiiujit o^food consumed^ superior quality nC park and larger hams in pvo- portion to the carcass^ than any other breed I am acquainted witii. Loudon in lis " Encyclopedia of Agriculture," says "they are excellent to cross witli the slow-feeding sorts, is the sort mostly fat- tened at the distilleries, feeds to a great weight, is good either for pork or bacon, and is supposed by many, as the most hardy, both in respect to their nature and the f od in which thev are fed." Tliey are distinguish:ible by their color, being invariably' black, with white spots, and no bristles — ears of medium size, thin and very little hair on them — long and round in the body — broad on the back^ heavy in the fore qua ter — heads of medium size, and when in low condition appear rather coarse — legs not large, but of suitable size to support them when fattened. They will improve any breed by crossing. In tliis country the pigs have been in such great demand, very few have been fed. Some have been made to attain from .500 to .5.50 lbs. A sow tliat got injured in the back, was slauglitered, and when dressed weighed nearly 5.50. In Entr- land they have been made to weigh from si.x, seven and in one instance, 904 lbs." A pair of fine Berkshire pigs, sow and barrow, have (juite recently been lironght from New York by thelower family of United Brethren at Canterbury, N. H.; and if the breed proves to be what is above represented, there is no doubt that society will take measures soon to give them an extensive spread among the farmers of this State. John Eayrs, Esq. of Nashua, (after losing two pairs on the M*ay,) has at length succeeded in bring- ing a fine pair of tiie English Berkshire pi^s from Albany, N. Y. Fit the F-Trnii-r's .Munthly Visitor. Agriculture, This most important branch of industry bco-in.i to be estimated according to its true value, among tlioso, who arc immmediately concerned in its transactions, as well as the whole Community. The maxiui, that the man, who makes two spears of grass grow, where but one grew before, renders more essential service to the public, than the whole race of politicians since Adam, is somewhat oracu- lar and gains credence with the people. Tlie dim- inution of ruinous and unprofitable lav/ suits and pettifogging, augurs well to the manual labor sys- tem and the productive classes. That a monthly paper devoted exclusively to the cause of agriculture, to developo its resources and 10 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 'o advance tlir art nf agriculture to its utmost de- gree of pcrfcL-lioii, is wanted in this State, secms^ to be admitted almost by the unanimous voice of an enlightened and intelligent community. It is true, there are a lew scattering objections made against the present proposal. Some indulge the fear that it may degenerate from its legitimate end, and become a mere political machine. This objection can be obviated in no way, so well, as by taking the paper and testing its char- acter for one year, at the end of which, each sub- scriber %vill have a neat volume of 200 pages for the trifling e.\pense of 67 cents for paper and post- age. To this every farmer may safely add the great ad vantage to be derived in reading at his leis- ure hours on subjects relating to his profession, the benefit and pleasure afforded to every individual of his t'lmily, and the agreeable and useful topics fur- nished in every paper for interesting and profitable conversatinn witli his neighbors. Others object and say, that an agricultural paper is of no use, because it does not contain the infor- mation wanted, and it is not adapted to our system of husbandry, and often publishes many articles, which have a tendency to mislead farmers and put them upon useless and expensive experiments. This objection, if weighed in the just balance of common sense, will be found of no weight. Every farmer will have a large sheet of sixteen pages monthly. These will be spread before him for his careful and diligent reading, for his critical e.tamination, and upon which he is to e.xercise his sound discretion and mature judgment. And will the farmer say, that this exercise of the faculties of his mind may be of no advantage to himself, or some members of his family .' Let him consider it, if he qualify himself to judge correctly on these subjects, it will enable him to do the same on other subjects of equal, or of infinitely higher importance. No man, in the exercise of sound discretion, after ma- ture delibcratioi^vill enter upon a course of ex- periments, unless the probability of success should greately preponderate in his mind. Others say, that an agricultural paper is of no use, because we know more on the subject of farm- ing than these editors, and can write better articles from our own experience than is generally commu- nicated. This is a sound and rational argument for the establishment of a paper of this description. The design of this paper is to promote the success and prosperity of the farming interests, and thereby the well being of the whole community. Every benevolent, philanthropic man professing this su- perior experimental knowledge, desiring "to do good and communicate," will take an agricultural paper, and make it the channel through which to communicate his superior knowledge to his less knowinsr neighbors, and thereby encourage, aid, and assist them in attaining the honorable distinc- tion of good farmers. It is ordained by the Author of our existence, that man should secure his own happiness and in- dependence, and promote that of his fellow men by the labor of the field. This is the design of prov- idence. A most beautiful illustration of the infin- ite wisdom and beneficence of the Deity is found- ed in the fact, that as the population of the earth advances, the means of subsistence are found to in- crease in an equal, or even a greater proportion. In the earlier periods of the world famines were frequent and terribly destructive. In modern times such calamities are seldom known. The population at present is five or six times greater than in the periods alluded to. The reason of this happier state of things is to be attributed to a more general diffusion of knowl- edge, a more improved and productive system of husbandry, and the introduction nf new vegetables and plants into general use as articles of food. Maize or Indian corn introduced into Europe im- mediately after tlu' discovery of .\mcrica has made the circuit of the globe and furnishes food for mill- ions. The potato(' succeeded, as a gift from the new world, adapted to latitudes where corn will not grow, a most palatable and nutrieious food, and has nearly doubled the means of subsistence. In this extensive agricultural country, land hold- ers and practical farmers, in order to take their proper rank in society, to promote their own inter- est in the highest degree and that of their country, should and must be intelligent. Intelligence, and that too of high order, is the trait of Amer'^can character. And why should not farm- ers possess it equal to any other class of citizens .' There can be no reasonable apology for the absence of it. Our means are abundant. Facilities for rapid and remote intercourse with all parts of our country are unequalled. We lack but the resolu- tion and the determined will to be informed in all that appertains to the husbandry and the welfare of the community. 1 shall begin this year by becoming a SUBSCRIBER. Jan 1, 1839. For the Farmer's .Monthly Visitor. Steam boiler for Potatoes, &c. Mr. HiLi.,— From a hint in the Genesee Month- ly Farmer, I constructed a box of two inch plank, tlie sides and ends halved togctlier, the corners strengthened by a strip of sheet iron nailed on— the box about the length and width of a sheet of Russia iron— a sheet of such iron being the bottom of the boiler nailed on in two rows, nails about an inch apart, a strip of thick paper being placed be- tween the wood and iron to make all tight; the box is placed in a wall of brick, so that the wood part will be about two and a half inches from the fire on each side ; the wall of such height as to al- low a fire to be made under it — the flue for the smoke to pass og", carried about a foot beyond the end of the box ; the end at the flue to be done up close to the box with brick and mortar to prevent burning ; take a board rather smaller than the in- side ; nail three cleats on it about three inches thick, the middle hollowed out so that the ends only will touch the bottom ; bore a number of holes through the boards for the steam to pass ; the top to be fit- ted with a tight cover. Two pails of water will steam four bushels. I have used it as a boiler, and also as a steamer. The steaming process is the best, as the work is performed in less time, with less fuel, and the food is neater and more healthy. The water drawn oflf after the process of steaming is very fetid and bad. It is suggested by many farmers, that the water in which potatoes are boiled should not be given to swine. The steam board should be taken out and the boiler cleaned for eve- ry third box full. A box can be made to steam ten or twenty bushels at a time, according to the num- ber of swine to be fed. I think it better to steam every day for fatting hogs, as the food is more pal- atable and nourishing. I have steamed potatoes, apples, ruta baga, the common English turnip, car- rots, the sugar beet, parsnips, pumpkins and oats at the same time. All these mixed together form an agreeable, nutritious compound, which the swine devour greedily, and show that they are gormands and animals of good taste. I will suggest one or two improvements, which farmers will find very convenient in practice. After the process of steam- ing is over, two slides of sheet iron, one to close the mouth and the other the throat of the flue, will retain the heat for forty-eight hours and a good de- gree of warmth for three days. This will be found very convenient in cold weather in feeding store hotrs. The box also, if made of sufficient size, will be "found very convenient for scalding and dressing the hogs. This may be done by fastening four pul- lics above the box in which two ropes may play and serve to let down the hog into the box and raise it out of the water, and a board of sufficient size slip- ped under the hog, will serve as a table to dress it on. A space of ten or twelve feet square in ashed adjoining the hog pen will afford ample room for these operations. I need not remark how much time and labor will be saved to the farmer in the use of this simple, cheap apparatus contiguous to his piggery. Every farmer should have a convenient yard about his piggerv, and in the warm season, supply it plentifully %vi"th muck, turf, and straw, and the hog will become a working animal and pay liberal- ly for his board and lodging, so tliat the farmer, in the end, will save the whole hog and his bacon in- to the bargain. M' !•• Salisbury, Jan. 7, 1S30. Kuta Baga. This is an article so easily produced, that we are surprised it is not more generally attended to by farmers who rear and keep stocks of cattle. With less labor than was bestowed on the same quantity of pntatoe ground producing not more than one hundred bushels, we raised on less than one acre of ground, between four and five hundred bushels of Ruta Baga or Yellow turnips the pres- ent year. Every thing was done to prepare the land after the tenth of June, when the planting of Indian corn and potatoes had been completed. The lio-hter sandy soil, manured principally with soil talien from ditches mixed with lime the season previous, produced the most luxuriant growth, some of the turnips weighing twelve to fifteen pounds each. Much more might have been raised on the same ground, had the ^seed all come up, or had nottlie dry weather of the last summer at the proper time prevented the effectual transplanting on the vacant space. Tile rows were made by ridging the ground two feet apart with the com- mon plough ; and from inability to manage one of the Shaker seed-sowers, the sowing was done by hand entirely— the rows having been furrowed di- rectly upon the top of the ridge with a sharpened board, leaving a straight mark from one to two inches deep, and striking off" the pointof the ridge. After the dropping of the seed, the covering was done with the common hay rake. All of it was accomplislied so expeditiously, that the saving of labor in sowing one or more acres with any im- proved machinery would hardly compensate for the expense of borrowing, much less of purchasing such machinery. The advantage of ridging and sowing in this manner is, that the apex of the ridge Ts an invariable index for the row of young plants, so that the ground every where else, may be moved, and the weeds eradicated either by the hand hoe, the plough, or the cultivator. For the purpose of more conveniently feeding out roots to cattle, we constructed in a barn erect- ed on the side hill during the last season, a cellar which will hold six or seven hundred bushels : we wish this cellar had been made to hold double the quantity. This cellar was stoned only on the out- side of the building — it was constructed with boards filled in with tan all around, and is so per- fectly close that although above ground on one side it is as warm as a cellar under ground, and so air tight as not to cause either sweating or sprout- ing of the vegetables with which it has been filled. For the last two months the editor of the Visit- or had not, up to the time of writing this article, missed a morning in repairing to the cellar before it was light, and preparing by cutting with the common shovel upon the barn floor, three or four baskets containing as many bushels of the ruta baga. This he has fed to oxen, cows, and younger caUle, all of which will stop eating every other kind of fodder while this is preparing before them. Oxen fed with this once a day, with the aid of the coarsest intervale hay, have worked well nearly every week day and continued to thrive ; and cows fed with the same and corn butts and oat straw have yielded milk abundantly— much more than they would have done if fed exclusively on the best of hay. One or two circumstances transpired about the time of the gathering of this crop, which have in- duced some already to look upon ruta baga with distrust. A neighbor (George Kent, Esq.) this year had a fine yard of ruta baga, which was gath- ered about the time he disposed of a cow to the butcher: this cow having eaten freely of the tops, a strong turnip taste entered into the composition of the meat after she was killed, and every person who happened to have a piece of the meat reported to his neighbor that ruta baga was ruinous to fat- ting cattle. The wife, also, is in the habit of dis- posing of her milk, by which she is enabled to re- mit her calls for pocket money from her husband. The cows ranged in the fields after the ruta baga had been gathered, and the milk increased in abun- dance ; but alas ! word came from the landlord of the Eagle, who was the largest customer, that no more milk would be taken so long as the cows were kept on ruta baga. The truth was, the eating of the tops of the ruta baga made both the meat and the milk taste ; but the abundant feeding of the root itself to fatting cattle and to milch cows, not only communicates no disagreeable flavor, but contributes much to the flesh of the one as it does to the richness of the milk of the other. A single pound of ruta baga seed, whichmaybe purchased for seventy-five cents, and raised at even less expense, sowed by a careful hand, will be sufticient for two acres of ground. We recom- mend that the laud be prepared by spreading and ploughing in either summer or winter manure on a light rich soil. The plants may stand from six to twelve inches apart in the rows, and the rows two feet distance apart. After the plants get fair- ly under way, they will soon grow so large as to cover the ground. Planting between the 10th and 20th June, they will be much less likely to be de- voured by the fly. The sowing and gathering of this excellent root may be so timed as not to inter- fere with any other part of the farmer's business : our crop of ruta baga was gathered after every other article on the farm had been harvested. Ruta baga may be made to save many tons of hay to the former ; milch cows, with the aid of this vegetable, may be n^fde to produce nearly as much milk in the winter as in the summer. Calves and yearlings, fed by it in moderate quantities, will not only subsist, but tlirive well, upon that and straw, corn butts, or inferior hay. Judge Buel, in his excellent paper. The Cultiva- tor, menlions that his neighbor Bement of .Vlbany, kept twenty hogs of the Berkshire breed, mostly full grown breeders, from the first of November to the fifteenth of February of the last winter, upon ruta baga and buckwheat bran, at the rate of six THE FAKMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 11 bushels of roots and ono of bran each day — fed them each day tivo raw meals and one warm boil- ed. " Wiienhe began to teed with the roots, the hogs were low in flesh ; at the termination of the three and a half months, they were too thrifty for breeding, and sonie of them fit for the butcher. The owner estimates that four quarts of corn to each hog per day, for the time they have been fed with the roots, would not have brouglit them into abet- ter condition than they now are." One pound of good white beans contains more nutritious matter, and will do more to strengthen the body, than three pounds of beef steak. The dif- ference in price is about twenty-five cents — the beef costing about 10 cents per pound nnd the beans but 6 cents. 100 pounds of wheal contains 85 pounds nutritious matter ; 100 do rice 80 do do ; 100 do bar- ley 83 do do; 100 do beans 89 to 90 do do; 100 do peas 93 do do ; 100 do lentils 94 do do ; 100 do meat average, 35 do do ; 100 do potatoes 26 do do ; 100 do beets 14 do do; 100 do carrots 10 do do ; 100 do cabbage 7 do do ; 100 do greens do do ; 100 do tur- nips 4 do do. — Cleureland Herald. A Farmer's life and a Farmer's duties. If we were ever envious, and to be honest, read- er, we have been and that too often, it was of the farmer, the intelligent, independent and happy far- mer who owned his land, and his house and his barns ; who was free from debt, whose family was growing up prosperously around him, upon whom God seemed to have smiled and blessed in. his bas- ket and in Tiis store. We have seen such a farmer and could point to a hundred such in our State ; and in sober truth, we know of no man so happy, and no business so permanently profitable, none indeed, that makes the owner so independent, and places him so far above board. To begin with an independent farmer : He has his house to live in, it is his own, he has earned it by the labor of his hands. He has granaries filled with the produc- tions of his farm, his barns with the stock reared, and hay raised upon his farm. His cellars are fil- led with his potatoes, and half a hundred kinds of the necessaries and lu.^uries of life. Almost every thing necessary to feed him and his family, grows up around him. He may lead his o.x to the slaugh- ter, raise his own pork, fatten and kill his own sheep, eat his own poultry — devour his own eggs — live upon his own home grown and home made bread — weave his own cloth — raise his own wool — and his own leather — knit his own stockings, through tlie agency of his wife and daughters — af- ter all the two most necessary appendages to a good farm and independent farmer — make his own but- ter and cheese, in short, live like a prince, and dress comfortably, without going from his own homestead. All this is no fiction, and it is the fact there is no fiction in this picture that makes the farmer the most independent man in the commu- nity. Fairly in business, he wants less money than almost any man to pursue the even tenor of his way, because his business is of a character to re- quire less money than any other. An independent farmer, however, is not alto- gether independent of the community where he is, or of any business profession ; and the more intel- ligent a farmer is, I lie more readily will his inde- pendence be felt and acknowledged. He is only more independent than his neighbor of another profession, but by no means altogether indepen- dent of him. For example, he could not consume all that he produced, even if he fed a whole school district instead of his own family. He must have labor in seed time and harvest, and through the summer, to give him a helping hand in the pro- duction and harvesting of his crops. His labor- ers must have money. He must have a hundred little nic nachs at home, all of which cost money, and which money is to be had only in the produc- tions of his farm. Taxes must be paid, for the most part in money. Iron does not grow every where, and his tools must be bought and paid for. Horses and o.tcu want shtieiug. There must be ploughs, and axes, and nails, and a hundred other implements which are cash articles, and which are to be bought with the very money received for the produce carried to market. Again children are to be educated, and in the establishment of good schools begins the first duty of a good farmer. The farmer who is indifferent to education, nei- ther knows his own interest nor cares a penny for the interest of his children, or his neighbor's chii- * dren, or the community, or posterity, or any body but himself now or hereafter. Education then costs money, and a good farmer will give abundantly, if he is able to contribute to the support of all the purposes of education. The most independent farmer then in the land. may be more independent than his neighbors of another profes.-jion. To be happy and to make his life a useful one, he must be intelligent — in posses- sion of the means of knowledge — especially that kind of knowledge which relates to his own pro- fession. He must use the means which God has given him ; and we have shown that his gifts are abundant, to be happy Iiimself and contribute to tlie peace and comfort of those around. In justice to himself he will employ his evenings in the ac- quisition of knowledge. He will be a reader of useful books, and a liberal supporter of the public press. Such a far.ner as this we have seen ; and one v.ho in his life fulfils all his duty to his God and his fellow man, is the happiest, the most inde- pendent and among the best o{ men. Porthtnd Eveninir .idr. A JVIuNii'icENT Present. In the absence of the editor a few days ago, Mr. John Brown, iid, left at our publication oflice one half bushel of seed corn. Mr. Brown's farm is upon Long Island in Winni- pisseogee Lake, within the limits of the town of Moultonhorougli, Strafford county. New Hamp- shire. We had almost distrusted the agricultural reports from the county of Strafford, v^'hich pre- sented crops of shelled corn of 13G and this year as high as 147 bushels of corn to the acre ; but when we come to see tlie samples of ears and shelled corn presented by Mr. Brown our surprise was at an end. The kernels of corn exceed any for size that we have ever seen — the ears are so compact that the shelled corn will fill at least an equal space with both the corn and the cob before it shall be shelled. Mr. Brown brought the seed of this corn from Poplin, Rockingham county, fifteen years ago, where it had been raised by liis grand-father forty years ago : he has improved this seed constantly by selecting the largest and earliest ears. The present year Mr. Brown raised 105 bushels 19 quarts, as measured by a committee of the Agricultural So- ciety. Doct. Prescott of Barnstead raised of the same kind of corn the almost incredible quantity of 147 bushels to the acre, and obtained the Socie- ty's premium. Three years ago, Mr. Brown took the first premium of the Strafford Society for 136 busliels to the acre. Both Barnstead and Winnipisseogee lake are sit- uated north of the 43d degree of north latitude : the soil of the islands upon Winnipisseogee lake is of the same primary formation as that of the surrounding country — it is like the hills of Gil- manton, Meredith and Sandbornton. There are beautiful farms on islands of the Winnipisseogee lake in the towns of Gilford, Wolfeborough, Moultonboro', fzc. &c. Mr. Brown's corn was planted on tile last day of May, and was ripe on the first of October. ^y As there will be a great demand fortius kind of seed corn, we invite a more particular statement of the manner in which the land was prepared, and especially the distance at which the hills were pla- ced apart, and the number of stalks in the hill. Mr. Brown says there is no particular name by whicli this corn has been designated : we propose that it be called the " BROWN CORN." WoRTHV OF THE ATTENTION OE F-IUMERS. A correspondent informs us that during the past sea- son. Col. B. Barron of Peeling, in this county, cul- tivated four acres of hops, and sold the proceeds in Boston for scren hundred nnd thirteen dollars, leav- ing, after defraying all expenses, a profit of three hundred and Jifty-six dollars and fifty rents I We ever feel a pride in recording the success of the farming interest, especially when such good luck as the above, falls to the lot of our friends in the small but patriotic town of Peeling. — llarerhill, X. H. Republican. Because Col. Barron has this year made a profit much exceeding the value of the land cultivated, we would by no means recommend all our farmers to go into the raising of hops. Tlic effect of tlie present year's high prices will be as similar exam- pies have been heretofore, to set so many farmers into the cultivation of hops as to render the crops two years hence probably less valuable than a crop of corn. Nevertheless we would not recommend Col. B. or any other farmer who has a hop field al- ready planted to plough that up and substitute other cultivation. In the cultivation of hops for the last thirty years it will be found tliat those who have steadily pursued the business year after year have invariably done well — some years they have gained great profits, as Col. Barron has this year : gener- ally they have made it a good business : in a few instances they have not been paid for their labor. Those who have been most avaricious and gone in- to the planting of hop fieldj the next year after the most abundant harvest from high prices, have com- monly been the greatest and only losers in raising hops. Col. Peabody, who has a fine alluvial farm on the Souhegan river in Milford, has steadily pursued hop raising for several years ; he probably manages the business with more system and a better economy than any otlier hop grower in the State. We do not believe he lias made it a losing business in any year, which can hardly be said to be the fact in re- lation to any other cultivation whatever. We in- vite from that gentleman an account of his prepar- ation of the land, the nature of its soil, his proceas of cultivation and curing, the amount he has raised for the several years, with the expense of labor and the prices. The success of Col. Barron is but an earnest of what every industrious farmer may do. If he can- not raise hops, he can make such preparation of al- most any arable land that will hold the strength put upon it as to cause it to yield a profit equal to the interest of two to three hundred dollars the acre. The simple crop of hay on one acre at ten or even eight dollars the ton will sometimes pay this interest ; wliile he who travels over six or eight acres for the same quantity of hay will at tlio same price scarcely get pay for the labor of gather- ing his crop. "Pray without ceasing." Although the principal business of the Visitor is connected with the things of time and sense, for both present and future good it may be well to re- gard tile sacred injunction standing at the head of this article. Pray withont ceasing. If that Being to whom we pray does not directly answer all our prayers, he regards our good intentions so far as to render unto those whs ask of him all that is proper and profitable for them. Pray icitliout ceasing ; when in answer to prayer the earth shall yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall give us In, bk'ssing. The heart that honestly and habitually prays to the Al- mighty cannot long be disingenuous or dishonest. Pray without ceasiyig : keep always God before your eyes in every thing you do: pray to Heaven in the midst of hilarity and joy as well as when sorrow and adversity surround you, so shall the mind be alike prepared for the pains as well as the pleasures of life. Pray without ceasing ; and let not your prayers be like those of the hypocrites who love to pray standing in tiie synagogues and at the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men ; but pray to God in secret, in the closet and upon the pillow, and the God who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Pray withoiit ceasing. Pray for all mankind — pray even for your enemies and persecutors. So shall the social principle prevail over the self- ish— the generous over the mercenary ; and man shall labor as zealously for the good of others as for his own good. Pray loithout ceasing. Praise God with grateful hearts, that he gives us seed time and harvest — that he furnishes to all their food in due season — that he has endowed humanity with tile use of reason, and placed man above all the creatures which surround him; above all, that He has endowed him with an iMiVioRT.\L MIND tliut shall exist after the body shall return to its mother earth. Frriin the Genesee Farmer. Popular Errors. That it is good policy to burn green wood in win- ter ; or that farmers do not find ample remunera- tion in providing wood-houses, and securing wood from the weather. That there is no danger in sowing chess with wheat as chess does not grow. The truth is, chess will, and does grow, and is a hardier plant than wheat, which accounts in fact for its occupying the ground so extensively wlicre the wheat has been winter killed. That if a farmer is obliged to keep his cattle on a 'limited allowance,' or on inferior food, it is bet- ter to stint them the early part of the season, or give them the poor food first. The reverse of both these propositions is the truth. That farmers in putting their crops into the earth should pay attention to the phases of the moon. — On land well m.anured, well tilled, and the seed put in in good season, the moon never does any in- That the Canada Thistle does not vegetate, and hence is not injurious in grass or other seeds. — Canada thistle seed leill vegetate, and he who knowingly sells this seed with other seeds, is as richly deserving a place in the penitentiary as the man who tires his neighbor's barns or stacks. 12 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. That it is betlpr to liold on to things a fanner may have for sale, after a fair remunerating price is of- fered, in tlie hope of obtaining extravagant rates. The eliances are ten to one tliata loss is sustained. If you wisli to sell, sell ; if not, never put an arti- cle into the market. That it is a good plan to undertake a great deal more work than can be done in season ; or that he act reasonably who requires six weeks of Indian summer in November to complete his autumn^vork. That it is saving to use tools half made and of in- ferior kinds, because they are called cheap. Such implements are much the dearest in the end. That cheap Laborers on the farm, or cheap teach- ers in the school, or cheap professional men, are al- ways the be.=it. A good thing of any kind should always command good prices ; and the sixpence saved here, is frequently a very dear one to the persrn saving it. Tliat it is better to borrow tools required by the farmer, than to own them. It cannot be expected that the farmer sliould possess all the tools requir- ed by mechanics ; but he should own all the im- plements necessary to his business of cultivating the earth. That it is better to beg fruit from neighboring farmers than to be at the trouble or expense of pro- curing from the nursery new trees or grafts of the kinds of fruit desired to furnish the requisite sup- ply at all seasons. That a good education is not necessary for a far- mer. To simply read and write is well ; but it is not enough. A knowledge of men and things is necessary to a i^ood cducatioii, and this knowledge can only be acquired by study, observation and ex- perience. That science is useless in agriculture. There is scarcely an operation in farming in which science is not valuable, either in teaching UB to avoid er- ror, or explaining the relation between cause and etfect in the process of agriculture. That porkers ^ire Tiaturally unclean animals. — Such a supposition does gross injustice to the pig, who maugre his want of reason, if he only have decent opportunities, is often a far more nice and cleanly animal than he who assumes to be its own- er. A clean pen and new straw is as much relish- ed by the pig as any other bon vivant ; and if there is a 'sufficiency of material* it is known by an ex- tra kink of the tail. It is well known that very many worthy intelli- gent farmers are careful to preserve an accurate statement of all tlieir worldly concerns, duly ar- ranged in proper form, and such rarely find "a hole in the purse." But there are many others who would at once plead guilty, or, if they did not, could readily be convicted on responsible testimony, of totallj' neg- lecting to keep any intelligible series of entries in a book, of their ingoings and outgoings, and these are the persons who often complain of " a hole in the purse," and yet they are not careful to have it repaired in due season. ABR.tHAM. " The Improretl .llmanack, Mcmnrandum and Ac- cnunt Bonk for IS^O," published in Concord, N. H. by John F. Brown, is precisely the article for the entry of accounts and other memoranda : it may be conveniently carried in the pocket, as a s\ibstitute for the common pocket-book, and entries at all times made eitlier with pen or pencil. This Man- ual in its simplest form contains calender pages and a blank space for entries every day in the year. Besides this an edition is published containing iifty blank pages ruled for keeping accounts, done up in leather in pocket-book form. The person who procures this pocket memorandum and carries it about him cannot well help gaining the habit of keeping accurate accounts. Frntii llie Pliil!i(itl!ilii:i F:uiner'3 Caliinet. Cash Book. A Utile car<: prevents much ciloti. 14 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. n single mountain, or mine, or coal-pit, or any im- jiortant manufactory, and occupied by a population ;ilnioet exclusively agricuKural. " Lot us suppose these three strangers to meet at tile termination of their journeys, and to compare their respective observations ; how different would be the results to which each would have arrived, respecting the actual condition of Groat. Britain. The first would represent it as a thinly peopled re- gion of barren mountaijis; the second, as aland of rich pastures, crowdi>d with a flnurishing popu- lation of manufactures; the third, us o greatcorn- field, occupied by persons almost exclusively en- gaged in the pursuits of husbandry. "These dissimilar conditions of three great di- visions of our countrj-, result from differences in the geological structure of the districts througli which our three travellers have been conducted. The first will have seen only those nortli-werstern j>or- tions of Britain, tliat are composed of rocks belong- ing to the primary and transition series: the second will have traversed those fertile portions of the new red sandstone formation wliich are made np of the detritus of more ancient rocks, and have beneath, and near them, inestimable treasures of mineral coal: the third will have confined his route to worlds of limestone and downs of chalk, which archest adapted for sheep-walks, and the production of corn. "Hence it appears that the numerical amount of our population, their varied occupations, and the fundamental sources of their industry and wealth, depend, in a great degree, upon tlir geological char- acter of the strata on wliicli they live. Their physical condition also, as indicated by the dura- tion of life and health, depending on the more or less salubrious nature of their employments; and their moral condition, as far as it is connected with these employments, are directly affected by the ge- ological causes in which their various occupations originate." From Ihe Alhpnv CnliivalMr. Spirit of AgricuHnral Improvement in England. The spirit of agricultural improvement seems to have been awakened in England in an eminent de- gree, and a zeal to pervade all classes, particularly tliose of the higher orders, to give to this primary branch of labor, every stimulus and encouragement to improvement, as the great business which consti- tue:; the basis, of national prosperity and greatness. Not only has a national society been organized dur- ing the last year, but several county societies have gone into operation, under the most flattering pros- pects of usefulness. We make some extracts be- low, from the proceedings of the Yorkshire socie- ty, at tlieir first annual show, as well to show the spirit that prevails there, as that our readers may profit by tlie information and suggestions which they contain. After the exhibition had closed, which was remarkable for the great number of fine animals, and new and useful implements of hus- bandry, whicli were shown, twelve hundred per- sons sat down to dinner, which being finished, and the health of the royal family drank — the Chair- man, Earl Spencer, rose to explain tlie objects of the society. "This being the first dinner of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society," he remarked, "I fi'el that it is my duty to call your attention to the objects we had in view in establishing this society. Tliose objects are, to promote agriculture in all its differ- ent branches — to render the cultivation of the soil, and the breeding of stock, as improved as the present knowledge of the country can make it — wliat I mean by improvement in agriculture and good farming is, to cause the greatest amount of produce at the least possible expense. It is not that we %vish to encourage farmers iu extravagant expenses to m.ake their farms like gardens, when that will not answer the purpose of their pockets — but to employ their capital judiciously, so as to im- prove the land, and obtain as large a return as they can for the money they lay out. On this, the first occasion of our merting, we have had a good ex- hibition of stock, and now, I am happy to say, a full attendance of members. The exhibition we have had to-day, I need not tell you, is admirable as to the quality of the animals shown, and the number w.as very great indeed. But the object of tliis meeting is not merely the exliibition of stock ; it is collecting together a body of the farmers of Eno-land, in order that they may, by communicat- ing^with one another, and by what they see and hear, improve themselves in "the profession in which they are engaged. When 1 address this large as. seinbly, in tliis I can also say, that wo have been successful. It is not necessary for me to tell you what the advantages are of improving tlie breed of cattle. I do not recommend to iV- lers of small capital to attempt to buy females of great value, and lav out large sums to produce male animnlsfor the benefit of others; becaupi nothing is more es- sential in farming than that a man should consider the capital he has, before he engages in any under- taking; but it is for persons of large capital to en- deavor, by taking pains themselves, to produce male animals, fit to improve the different breeds of do- mestic cattle in this countrj'. These exhibitions are of the greatest advantage, not merely to per- sons of the class I have described, but to all farm- ers whatever. Although I would not recommend any extravagant expenses, depend upon it, if you be careful in the selection of your male animals, you will, even with more moderate females, farm to greater profit. This society also seeks to im- prove the cultivation of land. I need not tell such a meeting as I am now addressing, that the throw- ing away manure upon the growth of weeds is not a profitable way of farming; that leaving land un- draincd and growing rushes instead of grasses, is not good farming ; tliat getting out the heart, by neglecting land, and not applying a proper degree of cultivation is unprofitable — because depend up- on it, that money laid out in improving is the mon- ey tliat will come the quickest back again into your own pockets. With this view, the society has given premiums for the best cultivated farms. By so doing, I am quite sure, we are not only giving those good farmers new information, but we arc encouraging them in doing their best. Besides those, we have given prizes for publication's on agricultural sul)- jects. It is our intention that each member shall receive a copy of the prize essays gratis, on apply- ing to the secretary. I have stated the objects of this society, and the modes by wliicli we intend to promote it — our object is to produce the food of man in the cheapest manner in which food can be pro- duced. I think the society deserves the support of not merely landlords and farmers, and those con- nected with agriculture, and the value of land, but also of the commercial and manufacturing classes of the country; it is also good for the laborers of the country ; in short, a society whicli has for its professed object, food at the cheapest rate, is good for every one who eats." P. B. Thompson — "One of the first objects of tliese meetings, in addition to what had been so ably stated by his noble friend, was to keep up an open, unreserved communication, between gentle- men and farmers, wliich he trusted that meeting would promote to the utmost of their power. It was not by speeches, but by jdain, honest, unre- served conversation, that he thought these meetings ought to be sustained ; and if any person knew any thing more than his neighbor, he was bound to state it. Well, then, yesterday morning, he re- ceived a parcel of wheat from Berkshire, which he thought likely to be serviceable if grown in this country. It was found three years ago, growing on the mountains of Switzerland ; since then it had been grown in England, and the sample he produe- ed was grown in Berkshire, it was sown on the firsfof February, called Royal standard wheat, the crop had now (2;ith Aug.) been reaped a fortnight and was supposed to be at least seven quarters [;j() bushels] to the acre. .Another subject worthy their attention was the application and formation of ma- nure with the least possible waste ; next year hi' hoped to he able to give them some useful informa- tion upon this point. He never enjoyed a greater pleasure tlian in v.-itnessing the cattle thatday. He never looked over so good an exhibition of female stock as he had witnessed that day — indeed 200 guineas [.$032] had been oiTered forone of the cows shown. That was a practical proof of his noble friend's observation, that money came back again to the farmer's pocket. ' J. W. Childers, Esq. M. P.— "He believed that an exhibition such as he had that day witnessed, had scarcely ever before been seen in England. But he thought that only a beginning, when he saw that within a month or two, tiic .society had doubled the number of its subscribers, he felt that the societv would go on increasing from year to year, until its extent was only equalled by the Highland Society, on the model of which it was formed. The Highland Society numbered 3,000 members, and seeing that they had reached SOU, He had verv little doubt th:it they would also reach 3,000." Mr. Childers said he vras about to propose as a toast — "the cultivator of the best farm" — and proceeded to say — "he trusted in time that every farm in Yorkshire would be raised to the state of this prize farm. He believed it was considered al- most a garden, being in such fine condition, and ho saw no reason why the country should not teem with farms of this description. What was it that trave this farm such a superiority .' its soil was nat- urally good, but so was the soil of a great deal more laud in Yorkshire — it was science and capital. united, that gave those fertile and beneficial re- sults." W. R. C. Stansfield, Esq. M. P.— proposed the health of Mr. James Roberts, the tenant who, with- in the last five years, had drained, in the most ef- fectual, judicious and economical manni.n', the larg- est quantity of land in proportion to his occupation. He had the greatest satisfaction in calling their at- tention to what ire conceived was one of the most im- portant branches of the society's operations — drain- age he considered the foundation of every thing. Unless they had the means of preparing the soil for the manure and seed, all was wasted. He fear- ed this subject was little considered, either in Eng- land or Scotland ; if he took his own neighborhood as an example, a mountainous country, witii a nu- merous and very industrious population, the means of improvement by draining had scarcely begun. Without draining, land was unfit for turnips or seed husbandry — it was. unfit for human occupa- tion." Mr. Bates, a successful competitor, on his health being drank, made a handsome acknowledgement. He drew a contrast between the condition of the cattle now and fifty years ago; and proceeded to say, that " The interests of agriculture he considered of permanent national importance; it wa,s a science to which clicmistry and all other branches of natural philosophy ought to give place. He alluded to the propo;rms might be made to exhibit. It was not merely the love of gain but the love of beauty, and the love of praise from their neighbors, who were alike gratified in aft'ording it. It could not but be gratifying to them to see almost all the gentry of tiie country collect- ed together here to view and admire their produc- tions." Wool and Manufactures in Vermont. We have been furnished by the author with a cojiy of the address of Heskv SrEvE.Ns, Esq. at the Caledonia Cattle Fair tiolden at St. Johnsbury.. Vermont, September 27, 1S38. We very much ap prove the general spirit of this production. The following quotation presents facts interesting no! only to Vermont, but to New Hampshire and the whole country : " I propose to show the amount of wool and wool- len goods, imported from foreign '^^"■ntries into the THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 15 United States for the year ending Sept. 30th, 1830; " To show the probable amount of woollen goods of foreign production and manufacture, consumed by tlie inhabitants of this State ; "That if all the wool which was shorn from 1,166,^34 sheep, the number stated by the general list in )S37, could have been sold for all it would then have sold for at our dwellings, it would but about pay for that portion of imported woollen goods consumed the past year by the inhabitants of this State. That if the present quantity of wool shorn in this State, could be sold for fifty-cents per pound in cash, a further sum of 1,500,000, would be necessary to furnish the year to come ; " That the present quantity of wool in Vermont will but about supply the inhabitants for the com- ing year ; "That capital for manufacturing and mechanical purposes can be vested in the interior of a country with a greater prospect of success than on the sea- board ; " That it is as necessary that Vermont should pur- sue such a policy in relation to her manufacturing and mechanical interest to render her indepen- dent of the sister States, as is proper for the United States to render themselves independent of foreign governments." Mr. Stevens concludes as follows : " Can it be possible, that tlie farmers of this State will continue to pursue so ruinous a policy as they have lieretofore pursued — sell their wool and buy the manufactured article.^ I wish that the guardi- an angel of our country would write, in great capi- tal letters, on the outer door of every husbandman — Thp. iromati icho maitufacturcs for Iter own housthold and one piece of goods 'o sell, doth wore to retain the solid coin in our Utatc than all the banks or the greatest financiers. ' ' The manufacturing establishments of New Eng- land have nominally reduced the price of many manufactured articles : cotton, wool and fla.x are no longer generally spun and wove in the farmer's families. The young women, tlic da\igliters of our farmers, instead of spinning and weaving at home, are either employed in the large manufacturing es- tablishments, or are more tenderly kept at home. If they can earn at home what would be a sub- stitute for tile original household productions, there would be no harm in the change which has gone over the daughters of New England. But the maxim of the farmer should be to raise and produce all his fainili/ consajncs, so far at least as tliat all hands shall be kept employed. It is even better to manufacture cotton and woollen cloth in the family when it maj' seem to cost more than the factory prices, than to do nothing towards earn- ing tlie money to pay for it. And we would think it lietter for the farmers' d.-ughters to be kept at home than tJiat more money than that they earn at the fiictory siiould be paid out for articles which miglit be made at the domestic fireside. The young woman is certainly mucli bettor fitted for the social and domestic duties who is instructed in the whole domestic household economy, than slic wlio acts as the automaton in the mechanical movements of the spinning jennies and the loom. Mr. Stevens will perceive from the fact to which he adverts in his address, that the duties paid on the foreign woollen goods imported into the Unit- ed Stales amovn! to the iimnensc ram of fifteen mil- lion of dollars annually, tliat the high tariff instead of protecting the farmer and wool grower is not a less severe ta.\ upon liim than upon every other wearer of foreign woollens. He will, hence, learn that a system o? legislative bounties and proliibi- tions, although they give a momentary spur to any particular manufacture or article of agricultural growth, in the end operate a general public injury. spoke to her father in the Spanish language Cher mother is a native of Spain, and the child was born in the island of Minorca) about a deceased brother who died a few months ago. " Eddy (she said) was three ^ars old, and I am five — I see Eddy up there now." The imagination was undoubtedly active and the mind wandered while the destruc- tion of the physical system was going on. We mention this unusually melancholy occur- rence in this paper, more particularly for the pur- pose of directinir the community to the danger of fe- males'and children's clothes taking fire, a :iubjectof frequent occurrence. Willi a light dress there is almost a moral certainty, if it take fire so as to burn up, that the wearer must pay the forfeit with life. Frequently, wliere the burning is much less severe than in tiie case v/e have alluded to, the pain and suffering is greatly increased, and tlie life lost in the end. The fire place at which the child was burned, projected from a cast iron frame into the room, and in front there was no fender. Fire fenders are a most excellent article for the protection of young children especially ; and they are a safe- guard even to grown up people. They likewise protect the floor from fallen brands^in the fire place. The cost of a common fire fender is a mere trifle compared with the loss that tiie want of one may produce; and if they did not almost entirely guard young children from accident at the fire place, the safety they give to an insured house would be an inducement for any office in which such house was insured to furnish a fender for each fire place. THE FARMER. Of all pursuits by man invented. The ploughman is the best contented; His calling 's good, his profits high. And on his labors all rely. Mechanics all by him are fed, Of him the merchants seek their bread; His hand gives meat to everything. Up from the beggar to the king. The milk and honey, corn and wheat, Are by his labors made complet;'. Our clothes from him must first arise, To deck the fop, to dress the wise ; We then by vote may justly state, The ploughman's rank among the great — More independent tlian them all. That dwell upon lliis earthly ball. All hail, ye farmers, young and old ! Push on your plongli with courage hold; Your wealth arises from your clod, Your independence from your God. If then the plough supports the nation. And men of rank in every station. Let kings to farmers make a bow. And every man procure a jilough. AjIKtllC.^.N F.\RMER. The recent death of an interesting child of Capt. Ridgeway of the United States navy, the next door neighbor of the editor of the Visitor, has been mentioned in the newspapers as liaving occurred from [icr clothes taking fire. It happened on the first morninn- of tlie new year, when liberty liad been given for the brother and sister to spend the holiday by tarrying fVom school. The dress had been altered by taking' off an outside garment of wool and substituting one of cotton. At the time she took fire, the mother and the attendants were in a room below, and the fire had done its work be- fore they arrived at tiie scene of distress ; so in- tense was tlie fire about the body in the region of the vitals, tliat the sufferer was rendered almost in- sensible of pain. Tlie buoyant spirit, which com- menced the morning of the year all animation and sprightliness continued till tlie candle of llfewent out. Tlie child lived twelve hours; and not one hour before its death, in the simplicity of innocent prat- tle, wished tliose who weejied around its bed, "a merry Christmas and a Ilajipy New Year." She From the PfiilaJdphia Farmer's Cabinet. Maiiutp. Feeii y^Hir plants anit they will feed you. It is a subject of much regret that more vigilance anil care is not taken by many farmers to increase the quantity of their manure. It is the very base of their prosperity ; without it little can be achiev- cd that is important or valuable ; with it, every tiling can be accomplished that is within Iheir reach. By tlie use of lime applied to grass lands, and great caie in bringing all decomposable articles into the dung heap, the quantity on some farms has been doubled in seven years. After it has been obtained it requires a little skill and judgment to preserve its most valuable parts from being drenched and washed away by frequent rains; for although it is net best to keep it too dry, yet it is much mort^ fre- quently suffered to become so frequently wetted with drenching rains as lo wash away the most nu- tritious portions of it. Dung that has remained under open sheds where it was but partially expos- ed to the elements, has been found to be much richer in quality than tliat whic'i was entirely ex- posal to rain. \\\ some situations, much is lost by water running through b-irn yards during heavy showers, and in some cases they are jierfect quag- mires for half the year, rendering it disagreeable, if not dangerous to apjiroach a stable door. This state of things constitutes an absnhite nuisance, and ought to be provided against by every farmer who has a proper sense of propriety, and a due re- gard for tile female members of his family, who are obliged twice a day to Irudge through wet and filth to milk the cows. A shrewd old gentleman of Montgomery county estimates the importance of a farmer by the number of loads of manure hemnkes annually. A fifty load farmer is rather a small ar- ticle ; one of a hundred loads stands a little stlfTer; one of 150 loads holds up his head pretty well and liegins to be qiiile ri-.:peetalile ; and the''.!00, •^."lO, and 300 load farmers are entitled to have the word Mr. as a prefix to their names, and the letters Esq. placed after it. These are the solid yeomanry, in his estimation ; the men of substance and st.nmina, out of which, in his opinion, any useful article can be manufactured, even up to a congressmen or gov- ernor. Wlietlier he is altogether right in his way of estimating farmers I must leave others to judge; but one thing is pretty certain, that it is a good thing for every farmer to have an abundance of manure to furnish nutriment to his crops, and this he won't be likely to obtain unless lie is very in- dustrious and manages well. An Jlgricultural and Horticultural Stale Societij has been organized in Michigan, Hon. Joshua Howard, president. Tliey have resolved to petition the legislature to establisli a board of agriculture, to make appropriations for tlic support of a State agricultural paper, and county societies — and to au- thorize school districts to draw their quotas of the school fund in agricultural works and pulilications, to such an amount as tlie finances of the State, and the school fund, will warrant. We are happy to find our young sister thus early engaged in looking to the substantial wants and permanent interests, of her growing family. We hope she v,'ill prove a kind as well as a wise motlier in these matters, and teach her children to earn, that they may know the true luxury of enjoyment. — Cultivator. Rohan Potatoes. — Last spring, we sent to Mr. Sheplierd, P. M. Northamjiton, Mass. a peck of Ro- han jiotatoes, to be jiresented to our patrons in tliat town. We see in the account of the October fair, in that county, what we deem to be some of tin' products of tliis seed. W. Clark, Jr. raised from one potatoe, '2 \-2 bushels ; Mr. E. Mitchell, from 4 lbs. of seed, raised Ibbushels, weighing 1,173 1-2 lbs.— «, From Ifie .Tnurpal of Coiiinieice. American Commerce. I.MPORTs A."6 1833, 10^,118,311 1S34, 126,521,333 1835, 140,8115,742 1836, 180,060,035 1837, 140,060,217 1838, 112,000,000 36 THE FARMER'S MONTr^LY VISITOR. SPECIE. The Report of the Secretary of tlir Treasury on the finar.ccf, contains tile follovvinsr statement of the inipoi t and export of gold and silver for the fiscal year ending September 30th : . IMPORTED. Bullion. Specie. Gold. Silver. Gold. Silver. $:i:;G,220 :iril,35G 11,4(11,755 5,.170,6]1 EXPORTED. 1837, 4tli quarter, jJd.SOO .«:i73,'2so .•}; 1,249,168 1838, 1st quarter, ")l(3,2:'.:i 1.58,037 2d quart-r, 171,531 455,165 3d quarter, G":,337 6S3,5L)3 $2,500 $726,383 $2,515,963 Total imports, $17,450,542 Total exports, 3,274,816 Excess of imports, $14,175,606 Treasury department, Nov. 29, 1838. From fliis statement it appears, that there hns been a clear <»ain ofupwards of $14,01)11,000 of spe- cie in tlie last iiscjl year, without counting the pro- duct of our own gold mines, and the innum.erable sums, small in detail, but large in the aggregate, which are brought in by emigrants, and travellers, and which come over land, from Canada and Mex- ico, and which are never entered on the custom house books. Counting these sums, and also the importations since the end of September, and less than 20 millions cannot be computed as the clear gain of the precious metals for the year 1838. Add thesi? 20 millions to what was in the country be- fore, and it will make upwards of 100 millions. Tlie amount of specie in the country in 1832, was stated not to exceed twenty-five millions of dollars. HEMP. Imports in 1838 in the Uirted States were 3900 tons and 1837 2700 difference, 1200 » SrKKM AND Wh.ILK OiL. Tile followiuj IS tlic amount of sperm and whale oil imported into the United States the last ten years. Bhis. Sperm. Bbls. n'lialc. Arrived in 1830 106,629 86,294 " 1831 ] 10,532 113,948 1832 79,067 179,241 1833 113,171 1.59,166 1834 129,824 122,292 " 1835 175,130 125,000 1836 131,921 133,0.50 1837 ]82,.569 21.5,120 1838 129,400 228,710 Of the 223 whale shl])s and barks arriving in the United States during 1d38, 92 belonged to the port of New Bedford in Massachusetts : These brought in 77,600 bbls. sperm, and 84,100 bbls. wliale oiF MOLASSES. Procured from Cuba and other West India island, Molasses comes into the country in exchange for lumber and other products of agriculture. The State of Maine carries on an extensive exchange traffic in which molasses and sugars are procured : these two articles enter into the necessaries of subsistence scarcely less than In- dian corn and other grains. No. casks imported in 1838 79,263 " " 1837 65,660 1836 62,235 MACKEREL. — Returns of Mackerel packed in the State of M.assachusetts, in the year 1838, all the jtackages reckoned in bbls. Also, the number of vessels, tonnage, men and boys employed : — Bbls Bbls Bbls No. No. No.men Ports No.l.No.2. No.3.Vessls.Tons.&.boys. Gloucester 11582 6S54 5796 245 11699 1631 Boston 5301 4307 6128 162 9761 1315 Newburyport 3709 3000 4316 99 4876 772 Hinn-ham 3040 3218 6188 .51 8051 522 Wcfifleet 3314 360!) 3617 73 2777 449 Cohasset 2052 1729 6665 47 2637 439 Provincetown 22113 17!t7 4748 70 3492 .546 Barnstable lOO!) 1365 1.533 11 739 129 Truro 677 800 1645 1!1 638 119 Scituate '781 502 10!)1 95 1632 225 Yarmouth 470 539 6.59 10 697 106 Salem 748 309 275 11 690 104 Plymouth 340 305 472 7 240 58 Dennis 391 605 913 6 335 62 Chatham 223 127 103 7 301 46 Du.xhury 110 1.59 80 * 284 40 Marblehead 76 40 52 5 425 55 Beverly 33 63 32 1 60 9 Ipswich 2 13 9 1 4(; 6 38054 29341 44320 85: 1837, 26830 61940 .52.541 1838, 54015 60569 58883 Total for 1838—111,715 l;bls. 1837—141,311 " " 1836—173,468 " 443.-11 683:; GR.MN. ThequantHy of grain Imported into the port of Boston in 1837 and 18:18 is as follows: — Corn. Rye. Oats. Shorts. 1,574'036 102,473 443,650 49,082 1837. 1,72-5,4:36 86,391 405,173 48,634 151,398 16,0.83 38,484 448 excess in '37. excess, '38. excess, '36. excess, '38. COTTON CROPS FOR 1838. Tlie Natchez Weekly Courier says — The follow- ing estimate, from the best evidences we cau obtain, will not be very wide of the true result of the cot- ton crop of 18:38 ; — Virginia and North Carolina 20,000 South Carolina and Georgia 450,000 Florida 90,000 South Alabama 255,000' Louisiana and iM!ssissii>]>i 4.50,000 North Alabama and Tennessee 70,000 Total bales in U. States 1,335,000 Stiitement of Brishton Market for 18.38. 25,8:!0 Beef Cattle — sales estimated at$l,317,330 9,.573 Stores, " " 315,909 104,640 Sheep, " " 261,600 26,164 Swiu", •' " 163,165 1837 $2,058,004 33,664 Beef Cattle 1 llo;206 fZl: ,!- Sales estimated at $2,449,231. 17,(I5:> Swine, J 1836. 38,504 Beef Cattle, 1 ^ Ihee": ^Salesestimatedat $1,858,202. 15,GG7 Swine, J 1835. 51,0% Beef Cattle,^ J|lGO stTeep; ^^^'^''^ estimated at $1,878,032. 23,'l42 Swine', J Boston Daily ,idrcrtiscr. MAKKETS. BOSTON MAIIKGT, IAN. 6, 1839. ASilES— rut li) (ito 6 i-1, I'eurl 7 cts. Return of Pot and Pearl nslit^s jns|itcietl in ftl:is.>achiisetts (or the jear 18;)6 ex- hiliiliii llie lollowiiii; icsulls :— Pots, 7U'J, casks. 3:i'. ,&JU Ihs ; Pearl, IL»51 do 7H,'!ti.T do. U hole number casks "JToU ; casks weighing -IrJ tDtii, 15 tut, 1 qr, 27 ilie. BKt^SW AX— :ii> a 36. CAXOLKS— mould Ma 15— speni) :J5 a 3(i. COAL- — Aiiihr.icJte 7 a §8 per ion. [The importation of lureijrn coal in l5Ja at Ito^ton was •J7,OJ5 bushels — in I0.i7 11 u as -li,- bu\ liiisliels. 'I'he importalinn ul Philadelphia anlhiucile in JSiiS was 71,31)4 tons— in I«:t7 bU,.Vi7 tuns : oE tvichmond cohI 1838, 107,G-25 bushels— in I8;i7, Jli9,'~>75 bushels.] COF- FEE—Mocha and Java 12 to 15— t-t Doiuinfio, tec. \} t« 10 cts. 4*0 flON— New Orle^ins, Upland and Alabama 13 I0 1G3-4. MACKKKEL— A" I, 10,75 a 13 ; Nn 2, 11,75 a 12 ; No 3, 7.25 a 7,5U— Cod Fisii Urainl Bank 3, .u niiinlal. FEATHEliy— live j;cese35 a 4U.Uii»sia 15 a 33. FL..1A Russia 10 1-2 a 12— American U a 12. FLOIj' li— ^f rioci- 9,25— Howard street ^fi'i a ft, 75- [ lite impoiis have been lor I83S, 379,li;)4 hhls, and in 1:^27 (hey were 423,241); diirL-reuce -'3,452, at ihe close. Holders are It-ss disposed to sell ut, (or mer [inces. m conse (]ueiice ol' the ne^?* Ironi Kiigl.md,] GKA1\— Corn, iiurilietii y,j a9l els, white dit 92— Kast- ern oals 5G cts— live 1,12 I 2. W IH lE BEANS— 1,2.) a 1,37. an>ES— H. .Ayres Ifi a IG 1-2— Uoal^kins 23 a 2.j. HOPS— first Si. rt 17 a 18— second sort 15a Kj. IR.0.\ — old sab'e $ln.S per tt.ii— Sweden DJ-I'it: Smich 41 a42--Ainer lean pi^ 34 a 3e. UKEF— mess IT u I7.5U— No 1, 15 a 15,. ."iO. i'OHK— clear2tia27— nieTPE- TRE— crude li I 4— do reliiied 8 cl3. IS t'f^ A K— Havana, white 10 a 12— dn hrown. Porto Rico, &.c. 7 aO— do lump and loaf 15 a 18. TEAS— Mvson 60 a 70— yonrig Hyson liO a 70. WOOfj— Merino 55a i-'i— lamb'd 48 a .50 — Smyrna 2.J a 3i). FriiS— red fo\ -^I a 1,25— cross do 2,25 a 3, )iO— mink ."IS a 4j_innskrat G a 8. UAV- per 2 (lO ihs pressed $13 a I6— best Enylish 18 a 20. MOLASSES— |per gallon 29 a 30— LIME— hest sort, cask 85 a Di cts. TA LLO W— tried 12 a I3ctrt. Herds grass seed 2, ti3 a 2,75. Red lop 80 a 1,00. FIa.\sfed 1,87. PORK— whole hrigs, 10 a 1 1 els. BUTTER— tub and lump 20 a 28 cts. EGGS— 34 cis (loz. POTATOES— I,50a$?, bbl. APPLES 1,75. CIDER— 2,00 a 2,25. CATTLE .MARKET- RRrGHTON, Jan. 7, 1839. CBicea. Bep.f cattle : first quality $7,25 a 7,50; sec&nd quality i',5() a 7,10 ; ihird qualny •"',25 n ti,50. Sheep.— s:\\kq at §2,75, 3,00, 3,50, .1,75 and ?5- Sicine. — h^tssold al (i and 7 cenis — at retail G 1-4 a 8. NEW VORK CATTLE .MARKET, Jan. T.-Al market 900 Beel Cattle, 30O0 .sjiecp. Demand lor Bed Ian, and last week'.- prices lor food, while ci'mmon ami i :i lei lor sold ai a small reduct.on. Sales 550 iif.ail at 7 lo «^1 1 ; average 9 1-4 the lOOIbs.—yheep— Supply larjre for the demand and prices iiiher lower than iaai week ^ 2iiOU taken at 2 J-2 to 4 1-2, and good at 5 to 5 1-2 each.— ^wur. Cum. COWS AiND CALVES. —Latest prices at Philadelphia, SI6a4u— BalIimore3Ua 46— New York »3 a 45— Boston 30 a 37. - NEW YORK MARKET, Jan. 8, 1839. The latest foreign news has had no effeci on Ihe market- Holders of Hour a>k an advance of 25 ceni< on the barrel. 1000 bnsheU Lancashire (foreign) potatoes sold at 55 cts the bushel— 7H lilids New Oi leans sugar sold at ti 3-4 to 7 1-4 cl», at four month?. PRICE>. COTTON— New Oilcans. &c. I2a](; 14. FLOlR — We.-tern Canal e,75 a 9. FLAX— Anieijcan 8a9. Gli AE\— Rve. nofiliein I,2.>a 1,25— vellow corn, norih90 a94— Barley $1 a LOrj— Iteans 2,12. FLKS— red r«x 85 a 1,40— Mu.'0 a 83 cts— Sp«im, summer95— wioter 1,10 per gall. LEAD— White English dry 8 1-2 cts per lb. C!J ALti— iicr Kin -^A a 4,50. BEEF— iMess per b. t 15 75 a $ir;_rriiiie JJ,50 a 12,00. PORK— -Mess 23 a 23.5il bbl— Prime do 19. HOGS LARI>— 13aI5 cts. liJLITTEK— (inshen dairy93a26 cts— Philadelphia do 18 a20. CHEESE— American 8 a 9 CIS. IIAM.-^— smciked I4cts. PLAISA'EK PARES— 3.50pertou. RAGS— foreign 5 a 8 cts. SALT— T. L, Isle ot May, &c. 35 cts bushel— LiveiponI ?.-2. STEEL— German 11 cis— Eniilish 13 cts. SfG .1 KS— Havana wiiile 10 a 12 eta— St Croix 8 a 9— lump and loal 14aH^. "WOOL — Saxony 55 a C5— Merino 45 a 55. EXCHANGE.— Billson London CO days sight $4,85 a 4,87 per pound sierling — Boston, siglit par— I'hi! idelphia par —Baltimore 1-4 a L2 dis— Richmond 1 a 1 l-4dis— Charles- ton i a 2dis— Savannah 2 a2 1-2 dli— New OrlPans 1 1-4 a J 3-4 dis. Anierieaii gold 7 per ct premiiini— Si»anisli dollars 4a5peirt prtiniiini. Houhloons Ji;,i)5a 16,75— do Patriot 15, 'O. I 15,75. rOaiillKEEr.SIE.Jan.-^..- WOOL— Pales of 10,000 lbs at oGc, fur a fair lot of fine fleece. In piiPed nothing ttanspi- red } et. It is held liiglier than Iieretrtioie. NEW ORLE.ANS, Der.27, J83S.— The rnorket is in a very unsettled state, as all de pen lis on the slaie of the i ivers, hol- ders are unwilling to reduce prici ?, ;inii hiij ers will i (it pur- chase more than lor imniedinte w ant?. Money mai kei still very tight, the raict for good notes are 2 a 2 L2 per cent per month, and 12 per cent per annnm for moricnge |iaper 'ihe resumption of specie paxmenis by the banks, Iihs gone olt (juietl>. Exchange on London, 9 a9 3-4 — on New \oik at sight, para 1 percent. Weaiher e.i:tremeiy rhangeahle, on Sunday night ice made In tlie thickness of half an inch, and since, we have tiad it waim.cwld, dry and rainy, which was ine case vvlien we closed these remarks. COTTON — A good demanil ihionghoi t the week, sales about 13,ii('0 bales ; prices as last quoted, Hie r.inge lo' J-mu. and Miss, is in in 10 1 4 a Itic. some small fanrt crops :»old a< high as 17c— Noith .Ma. and I'enn. have not arrived m suffirient quantities to admit of paiticiilar quotations. 'I'tie e.vporis siiil remain short to Liverpool, and a large excess coastwise, we should therefore conclude that a sihal) proportion ol Ihe purchase's were for the English market. Sl'GA ti — A cood deniaml. We c(uole good and fair It a G 1 2c pi lb : ord. lo middling. 5 a 5 3-4. Sales of lite wcfk 100 hhds. 500 of which were on ■J'hursday. MOLASSES — A good demand at 29 a30r per gallon. Sales have neaily eqnnlkd ihe receipts, besnle-s about 50,0 0 gaWoiis sold on plantation at 21 a22c. FLOt'R — $9 I 4 n 9 1-2 per bbl. s..nie are " illing to take ?^-> if takm from the Icvee. COKX— 93ca gl per bushel, gofd supply. PROVISIONS — No material change in prices, whicli are too high for large purchases, sales very Iimiled, stock rom- paraiivelv liuht. Freiglits — Ahcni the same as hist week — ^zy to Liverpool 9-li d ao-f^d per lb ; to Havre I 1 8d a 1 l-4ci to D"Ston 5 8 a 3 4 ; New York 5 8. 'J'wosh'ps taken up this week for Liverpool at 5-8. None jeem disp^^scd to take less. There is now in poll 153 ships and barks, and Hi biigs. o( Hhicli there are l^^shiosand harksand IBbrijsloading. — Bet. Uiicurrait bilifi attUe SufVuUi Bnvlr, Bnstnv. Jan. \t, 1839.— Kilbv, Fiauklin, Lufayelle. Cominninvt-ali h and Fulton [{anlisol BostiMi. Naha'nt. at Lvon. ( iielsva, .Middlesex at Cambriil'.'r, Bank of Norfolk. Ro.xbury, Ko,\h;iiy. at do, Far- yiei's and ftlechanics at South Ariams, ?n J)Iass/ichu.''Ctts. Wolfeborougli Bank in New llaiiiiisbire. t^t. Alb.in-s, Mau- cheiJier. E.'sex at liiiildhaM, and Windsnr C;:nks in Vermoni, Asi ieullural, at Brewer, Old Town at (Jrr.no, Si. (?roix, at Calais, Calais, VVa'=;liin2ton Conniy, PtilU* nter Canal Bank, Lafayette. Commercial and Clobe at Bangor. Frankloit and Westbrook Banks in Maine. Stamford and Bridgeport B;inks, in Coiivceticut. Ceniral at East Greenwich and Scituate llnnks in Iifi,.dfi J.-^Ifml. THE FARIVIER'rS MONTHLY VISITOR, fa published ahoni ilie middle of enc-h monlh at Concord, N. H. Each nuMiher will contain sixteen jiages ot quarto size nil p;ipt*r calculated for prtsi rvation and on a fiir and bcaii- tii'iii I' |)fi. The subjects will be illustrated with engiavinps. 'I'heterms will he srrpvhi five, cnitsfi. ve-.irpuynbh always in ad- raitrr. For all subKcrilierVh-s-' t ban 24, Agents will be allowed a deduction of 85 cents eiich- for all nver 24 subscribers on any line ftgencv 12} c^fi's mch will bf allow df. Thus, for .^i\ ■subscribers four ilollars- 1 welve. eicbt dollar.^- eiL'hlef n, twelve dollars— twenty-fonr. Iirt»"en iloilars,will be remitted. Single numbers, twelve and a half cents each. All subscri- bers will coinnieaco with the first niimbet ot the year. g::;;)-=C"mmuniratinn9 bv mail, will he directed to WIL- LIA.M P. FOSTER, Concord, N. H J\'on-siibsrrihcrs receiving tliis tiumhcr^ and icfto maij approve of it^ arc rcspcctfullif solicited to act as agents ; or if this is inconvenient^ engage some ac- tive man lo do this service. The value of the paper will he renj mnrh incrcvscd hy every increase of its snhscripiivn. Conducted by ISAAC HILL. Published by WM. FOSTER. " Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breasts he has made his peculiar dcposite fnr substarUial and genuine rir^wc. "-Jefferson. VOLUME 1. CONCORD, N. H., FEBRUARY 15, 1839. NUMBER 2. THE VISITOR, In no enterprise of life, in no employment, has the editor of the Visitor had so much cause of self satisfaction as in the experiment thus far of pub- lishing this little montlily journal. From the ex- perienced practical agriculturist not less than from the inexperienced, from men in high statioiis as well as from those in the private wnlks orfj'rfe., from the rich man as from the day laborer wiio loves to spend iiis evenings in reading and instruction, the Visitor iias elicited praise. Our subscriptions and advance payments, as well from afar as at home, come in upon us almost as fast as our publislier can dispose of them. Our only fear is, that our lium- ble pretensions may disappoint our readers in lu- ture numbers. To supply our deficiencies, our best readers must become our bist writers and contribu- tors. So far as selections are concerned, we pledge ourselves to give the best matter according to our better judgment. Amoncr Uic many testimonials we have received from abroad, without asking it of the writer, we take the liberty of publisliingtlie following com- pliment, as beautiful as it is just, to the New Hamp- seire Yeomanry from a son of the Granite State, more eminent, and who has occupied a station in the government next to the highest in the gift of the people longer, than any other native citizen in this State : " Washington, 25th January, '39. "Dear Sir: — I have received the first number of your Monthly Visitor and beg to he considered a subscriber. I find many matters of great interest in its pages. The early pursuits of my busy life are recalled to memory and numerous gratifying associations have crowded upon me while perusing several of tJie articles. I really envy your occupation. The Farmer's independent employment is the true otiiim cum dis;- nitate. How many of those, whom Jefferson re- garded OS God's chosen race, have we both known for many years in the Granite State, who are mod- els of industry, honesty and sterling patriotism .' Lonn- may the race be preserved, and long may you be enabled, by your "Visitor" as well as your e.\ample, to encourage tlieir virtuous efforts and to throw new light in tlic paths of them and tlieir fam- ilies while seeking an houorable and useful inde- pendence. Respectfully yours, LEVI WOODBURY. His Excellency Isaac Hill, Concord, N. H." reporting bills daily which when passed come fundamental laws of the territory, of the numbers we perceive that although another place is fi.xed on for tlie future seat of government, the new town of Burlington is expected to double its dwelling houses and buildings the next year. ."Vt tiie land office in Burlington, in one week of the month of December last, $280,000 were received for the entry of the public lands. fffira borders on the Upper Mississippi south- westerly from ll'iscoiiidn, whose eastern line is along the west slmre of Lake Michigan. Both ter- ritories are stated to be exceedingly fertile and fea- sible land, and much more healthy than Illinois and the new country farther south. will be- I ed that what sliould bo given By one spread over several acres to a single acre is Patrons from the CTtreme West. The growth and increase of the Great West outstrips all knowl- edge to be obtained from books, and seems to us like a dream. A judicious emigration of young men from this section to that would benefit the one without injuring the otlier. The sons of our contemporaries in this State are already in the new States among the most distinguished men. A young man from the town of Hill, self-made and self-supported, who left this State only three or four years since, liolds already, we believe, the of- fice of Attorney General in Illinois. It is about three years since Wisconsin was known as a place for settlement ; that territory is already divided, and witiiin two years from this time each division will begin as a new State with a population of one hundred thousand. A promising young man,a native of Deering,wholeft alawotKce in thi's State about two years since, happens to re- side in Burlington, the first seat of the Legislature and Government of that portion of Wisconsm known as the territory of Iowa. As Burlington had acquired in two years a population of about two thousand inhabitants, it occurred to us tiiat we would send our young friend Grisies a subscrip- tion paper for the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. That paper has been returned witli fifteen names as sub- scribers, comprising about half the members of tlie two branches of the Legislature of Iowa, and witli it two numbers of a newspaper containing pro- cee lings of the Len-islature, by which we perceive that Mr. Grimes is not only a member from his County, but Chairman of the Judiciary Committee " M'oru-out lauds." The tracts of land in this country tliat may be called worn out lands are becoming more and more extensive. There are thousands and tliousands of acres in tiie United States, and much of it in parts of the country which were originally most fertile, that are now considered as not worth cultivating. The very best soil, that shall not he renovated by natural means, as periodical overflowing and receiv- ing the wash of other grounds, is most apt to run out, because when such soil is first cleared its occu- pants contemn the use of manures as useless. Tlie inevitable effect of cultivation, without renovation, is to render the best alike with the most indifferent soil useless. Generally in most parts of New England the lands have not been considered too good for the use of manure ; but even among us much land is suf- fered by the owners to become "worn out." Such land is skinned by exliausting crops till it becomes too sterile to pay for cultivation. There is no ue- cessitij that any land icliieh has a hard pan for its fovndation should sii§'r.r deterioration. Tlie man who tnkes from the ground more of the fructifying prin- ciple than he carries back, is preparing the way for that kind of poverty as a farmer which will drive him to obtain a liv(?lihood either to the forests of the west or into some other calling. The farmers of New England ought to be con- vinced that it is far more feasible to obtain inde- pendence and an easy living from a farm that is continually improving, than from one that is con- tinually deteriorating. In every neighborhood may ho found those who constantly improve, as there arc those wlio continually impoverish their lands. And it may be laid down as a general rule, that the improving farm, independent of the additional val- ue whicli such improvement yields, furnishes the iireater immediate profit. The smallest farmer has it in his power equally witli the largest to make continued improvement. Let him begin with a single acre, if he have an acre capable of retaining the strength of what he applies to it. If he can obtain the means of keep- ing at first two hogs, tliese two animals, with tlie aid of one or more cows, may be made to furnish manure that will answer very well for this acre. The application for one year will prepare the ground in the first instance for a crop for three years, until two other acres shall hf prepared nud treated in a like manner. If the soil of this land be dry and .^aiidv, let clay bo applied wliere it can he procured liandily : if it be wet and heavy, let sand be cart- ed to it, and let it be thoroughly drained. The means for making manure may be found in almost any direction : tufts of grass and the ujiper soil from the road-side, deposites in brooks and wnshings into mud holes, leaves from the forest, straw, weeds, decaying vegetables, chips and scrap- ings from door yards, cinders, and many other kinds of'rubbish, may be thrown into the liog yard. In the manufacture of manure these animals may be made almost to earn their living. Tliere is much land in New Hampshire nomin- ally valued at from ten to twenty dollars the acre, but which would hardly at any time sell for so much as that, which yields annually not over half a ton of hay to the acre. This land, if it ever has been ploughed, is suffered to run fifteen and twen- ty years "without the plough until it becomes I'.und down : when it is broken, tlie surface is merely skimmed over, and the manure \Ti so divid- The same land that yields half a ton may be plac- ed in such a state of cultivation as at least to pro- duce two tons of good hay to the acre, and a suc- cession of crops in nearly the same ratio. For example, apply at one time forty loads of ma- nure to the single acre, and ten loads each to four acres. The first year, with, nearly four timfs thft work, you will have about double the quantity of corn or potatoes on the larger that you have on the smaller field. Say the one shall yield twenty- five, and the other fifty busluls to the acre. The addition of stalks and huts will pay for the addi- tional labor; and with corn at one dollar a bushel you will get tlie value of the highest price for the additional manure for the year. The second year will give you a crop of oats, or bailey, equal to that of the first compared with that of the last. Take the three succeeding years in tlie product of hay, and the one acre will probably yield an equal amount each year with tlie whole four acres ; and at tlie end of that time the land receiving the great- est quantity of manure will be ilia condition, with ten loads of manure to each, to produce double the amount per acre of the land which had the smaller quantity in tlie first instance. With manure applied in this ratio of four to one, it will be seen that the profits where the larger amount of manure is applied will be far greater than on the smaller application. But compare the larger amount with that where there is no applica- tion of manure, or where with a small amount the land shall be ploughed not oftener than once in twenty years ; and it will be seen that ten acres of land will ill a few years become of more value than a hundred ; and that while the farmer will grow rich on the one, the man who can hardly deserve to be called a farmer will starve on the other. It is hardly possible to run out land that is well manured and well cultivated ; and it is possible and even easy to renovate land that is considered to be worn out. This may be done without manure by summer tilling : even liglit worn out soils may be made highly productive by ploughing in green clover or buck wheat. There is land about seven miles out of Boston that wo can remember as hav- ing produced the largest crops more than forty years ago : that land still produces the largest crops, and would now sell for cultivation at the rate of three to four hundred dollars the acre. Forty years ago there was land along side of it that produced only half a ton of hay to the acre, and other lands that were considered worn out. Since that time, the worn out land has been renovated ; and low mead- ow lands in the vicinity have been ditched and drained, so that almost the entire neighborhood ap- pears as a garden. Handsome estates have been made on that same land. Situated so near a vege- table market, this land has an advantage over lands further in the country. But far in the country, at a time when almost every kind of produce sells for cash and a high price, there is every encourage- ment to the farmer to spur him on to the attempt to increase his products by increasing the fertility of his soil. Let every farmer keep in mind that for all land that he brings into the highest state of cultivation he is doubly paid : in the first instance, he obtains a greater quantity of produce for the same labor and expense : and in tlie second place, he doubles and often trebles his capital by adding tlic full val- ue to his farm. Reaving and Keeping Sheep. The late Counsellor Miller of Hanover for sev- eral years before his decease on a farm of medium size made his principal business the raising and keeping of sheep. To this business through the year and especially hi the winter season and in the time of yeaning he gave his close personal atten- tion. At the time we had conversation with him on this subject, three years ago, he informed us that of between one and two hundred lambs, he lost only two that season. Without close attention and system in feeding and keepin;;, the rearing of fine wooled sheep will probably be a poor business ; and even now the reverse in the sale and price of wool has induced many farmers to sell their flocks, and 18 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. some of them even at a sacrifice. Mr. Miller and other gentlemen in the Connecticut river region have intonned iis, that the same hard labor of both males and female.'* is not requisite in keeping Hocks of sheep as in keeping a dairy and flocks of cattle; and that they, therefore, of choice, would prefer keeping sheep as a main business to almost any other at the same profit. It is now reduced to a certaintj* that wool, which is an article hardly less important than cotton for our home consumption, may be produced in the northern States to almost any given amount. The county of Dutchess in New York, situated about midway between the cities of Albany and New York and extending some forty miles on the east shore of the Hudson to the line of Mas.sachusetts, is probably the most wealthy agricultural territory of its site in the United States. Upland farms in the interior of that county are valued and readily sold at from sixty to one hundred dollars the acre for cultivation. This county produces more wool than any other county — it turns out so much of this article that Poughkcepsie, its capital town, has become one of tlie greatest wool markets in the United States. The wealth of the farmers and the high value oi" the farms in Dutchess have proba- bly resulted from the early attention paid to grow- ing sheep and the perseverance in pursuing this calling. Success in any kind of business depends not more on the prospect of demand for the article produced than upon the steadiness with which the business is pursuec. A man who frequently changes his pur- poses will fail even tiiough he shall take hold of a profitable pursuit at each change ; more is often wasted in the alteration of plans than the entire profits of the work. We do not doubt that those who shall take up the sheep raising, as well as those who have steadily pursued it, will find that as good and as profitable a pursuit hereafter a they can take hold of. Espe- cially farmers who have or can procure hill and mountain pastures on which to summer their sheep where they may be often looked after, and who un- derstand the best methods of keeping the fine wooled sheep, will do well in the sheep raising. The native sheep of New England are more hardy and less liable to disease than the Sa.T.ony and Me- rino ; and we are not quite sure that flocks of the former may not be kept at as good advantage as the latter. Two of the most successful wool growers within the knowledge of the writer areSxEPHENSiBLEy and Joseph Barsakd, Esquires, living in the immediate neighborhood of each other in the adjoining town of Hopkinton. These gentlemen, from the choice flocks which they possessed, have been able to sell their wool at their own doors at high prices when the ordinary wool could hardly be disposed of at auy price. Mr. Sibley has a mountain pasture ex- tending over the back of old Kearsarge which he has recently cleared : from ten acres of it the last season he had a fine crop of rye, which he carted fifteen miles in the straw to his own homestead. Below is presented a letter from Mr. Sibley, which we find in a Maine agricultural paper pub- lished three years ago, and in which he describes at length his method of feeding sheep on browse in the winter. We have no recollection of before hav- ing seen this letter, although we have had a simi- lar description from the mouth of Mr. Sibley. — This gentleman may be relied on as a safe adviser, because he has had many years successful practice in the rearing and keeping of sheep. His system of browsing, we believe, is continued at the pres- ent time. His letter contains valuable hints to wool growers : Hopkinton, A'. H., Oct. 25, 1835. Mt dear Sir, — On the return of your uncle I was told you wished to know my method of browsing sheep. ♦ * * ^g soon as the ground is covered with snow I browse ray sheep daily. I go to the woods and make one or more temporary cribs by placing two poles parallel 18 or 24 inches apart upon two handfuls of brush or billets of wood. Between the poles 1 place or set my boughs of hem- lock or hard pine — [probably spruce, fir, or cedar will do as well] — thrusting the but ends into the snow and having them lean the same way. I extend my cribs till they well accommodate the number of sheep I wish to feed. I then tread down the snow about the cribs so that sheep can easily pass by those that have reached the browse and are feeding. I then turn my flock to the cribs, and my work is done. In the latter part of the winter, when the snow is sutficiently hard to bear up the sheep, I thrust the boughs, when cutoff, into the •tiffeaow, in rows without poles, but so close to- gether as to prevent the sheep passing through them. Three winters ago when I began to browse my sheep, I cut my browse and threw it about at ran- dom, but I soon found my sheep too nice to feed in that slovenly manner. They would run over it and leave it. I took the hint of arranging in the way I liave mentioned from nature, for I have ob- served where boughs pendent from the trees were sufficiently low to be reached by the sheep, they would go directly to them and feed more freely than in any other way. Sheep arc not pleased with having their food touched even by the hand of man. The advantage of browsing sheep is no longer doubted here. It gives them exercise, fresh airand green feed during the whole winter. I drive my sheep in flocks of from fifty to one hundred nearly a mile every day, unless the weather is very tem- pestuous, and they heed cold weather as much as the deer or moose that range about the White Moun- tains. A farmer in this town wintered about seventy- five sheep wholly on browse and a gill of corn a day to each. His flock were not at the barn dur- ing the winter, and they came out of the woods in the spring in fine order. He was fortunate with his lambs that season, and the following fall sold his wethers to the butcher for four dollars a head. I believe he had a slight covering to protect his sheep from storms. I give no grain of any kind to my sheep, except to my lambs the first winter, or to a few old ones that may be feeble ; to these I give at the rate of a quart daily to twenty -five. To my breeding ewes I give half a gill a day for three or four weeks before they yean. I keep my stalls dry and airy, and daily brush every straw they leave from their cribs. For the last three winters I have wintered 274, 367, and 275, and have lost but two during tlie three winters. Mv breeding ewes last winter numbered 127 — of which seven proved barren. I had two lambs killed bv a fox — two died by taking cold after castration ; one from being trod upon when very young, and one came too feeble to live, and died — loss in all six. I have since disposed of five, and my lambs now number 109; and a more plump, healthy and beautiful flock I thialv cannot be found in New England. I have lately sold 68 of my old sheep, and my whole flock now numbers 311. I have brought up my flock mostly from merino ewes, and they are now from full blood Saxony to those made nearly so by breeding from the finest Saxony bucks for nine years. My fleeces averaged 2 lbs. 6 oz. and sold at 75 cents. My store sheep sell from 3 to 10 dollars ahead. Yours, &c. STEPHEN SIBLEY. P. S. Since the foregoing article was put in type, Mr. Barnard has exhibited at our office a beautiful silver medal of the New York American Institute with this inscription on one side : ^^ Awarded to Barnard and Sibley for the best .imcrican IVool. 1836." The other side contains the arms of the State of New York, surmounted with the words "Ameri- can Institute." It is much to the credit of Messrs. Barnard and Sibley and honorable to the Granite State, that these gentlewicn should have exceeded the wool- growers of any other State in the quality of their wool ; that they should give to our State the name of producing, at the extensive exhibition of the New York American Institute — which has become an Institute for the whole United States — "the BEST American wool.." During the year 1837, Mr. Sibley disposed of a- bout one hundred and fifty of his fine wooled sheep for exportation to Buenos Ayres in South Ameri- ca, some of ichich were sold after their arrival as high as serenttj dollars each. .These sheep were a- bout 7-8 Saxony blood crossed on fine wooled Me- rino : they were sold at a time of great depression in tho price of sheep in June, when the prospect for wool was poor indeed. Mr. S. obtained five and a half dollars for the unsheared, and four dol- lars each for the sheared sheep. His finest wool that year was sold at fifty cents the pound. Berkshire pigs are getting into as high repute among swine, as the improved short horns have be- come among neat cattle. We had heard, in several cases of individual pigs being sold at fifty to eighty dollJirs. The Franklin Farmer, of the ISth De- cember, informs us of the sale of a pair of Berk- shire hogs, at the extravagant price of $;500 I The purchaser was William P. Curd, Esq. and the sel- ler .lolm R. Bryant, of the society of Shakers, all of Kentucky. Deficiencies in Bnilding I There is no knowledge so valuable as that which is gained by experience ; and if man had a right to complain of his condition, this would seem to be a most prominent item, that he can only effectually learn what is the better way by encountering the evils of some other way ivhich is not right. Much of our business in life is of a kind that we do not expect to perform it but once. When a man gets married, he at least hopes that no untoward event may occur which shall render it expedient to repeat the ceremony. And when a man builds a house where he calculates to spend his days, he hopes not to be obliged to build again. As he "builda for himself only once, his own knowledge with the utmost vigilance is unable to detect in every case what is wrong. He would not be likely to know how deep in the earth the foundation should be laid — what width of stone or brick, or what strength of mortar would be necessary for the walls — what should be the size of the timbers — what should be the composition of sand, lime and hair for the plas- tering— how thick it should be laid on — how great the space between the lathing, &c. &.c. If it cannot be expected the inexperienced owner of a house or other building should know precise- ly what is required ; how much greater the neces- sity that the professed mechanic to whom the con- struction of a building is left, should be a perfect master of his business. If the legislature had any right to regulate the transactions between man and man, it ought to provide against the evil of suffer- ing mechanics who were ignorant of the art or trade which they profess to abuse the confi- dence of their employers, by compelling them to make good the damage which had resulted from bad work which could be attributed either to care- lessness or want of knowledge. Our own experience has reluctantly led us to the conclusion that many of the mechanics of our country who consider themselves masters of their trades are too deficient in knowledge of their trade. We say this not by way of reproach for their ig- norance, but with the view of inducing them to take more pains to inform themselves of what their business requires. Let us suppose a farmer has a wish to build him a brick house, which, as it will be more expen- sive, he hopes will be more comfortable and lasting than a house built with wood. He employs, in the first place, a stone mason to lay the foundation. How miserably will he be disappointed, after he has laid out a large sum of money to complete his house, to find that the foundation has been upheav- ed and the house rjiit from top to bottom, because the mechanic he employed was so ignorant, or stupid or careless, as not to know or consider that the bot- tom stone should be laid below the frost .' There are two cases connected with brick build- ings which have been mentioned to us — and we will afterwards mention a third — where lives have been in great danger from the simple failure of the mechanic to do his duty. An industrious farmer of an adjoining town w'as an.xious to have a very good brick house. For this purpose he procured the best of materials, and sent a considerable dis- tance to obtain the man who had been considered the best bricklayer in the county to do his work. His house had progressed, but was not completely finished, when in a high wind a few weeks ago the entire of one gable end fell inward, taking every thing with it till it reached the floor directly above the cellar. There happened to be nobody at that time in that end of the house, so no one was killed. On examining the real condition of the building it w.as found, eitiier as the fault of the bricklayer or carpenter, or both, that the wood and brick parts were not bound at all to each other, so that a slight wind or slight touch would prostrate the end of the building in either direction. The owner had no suspicion of the condition of the building, nor ought he to be accountable for it: his loss in this case was at least two hundred dollars, beside the pain and mortification he encountered of seeing work which had cost him so dear so badly and so care- lessly done. Another similar case was, where a snug two story brick building had been erected for the C bank. The directors had just left their table at one end of the building and retired to the cashier's room at the other end,when the irable end in like manner was precipitated through two floors and fell directly on the spot where they had been sitting ! The fault in this case was the same as that we have before described — the wall running up the width of onlj' a single brick was not bound to the roof of the building. The third case comes a little nearer to ourselves. Twenty -tour hours ago, we were writing in the precise spot where we now sit; and if anyone had then told us that without the aid of fire, or water. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Id or wind, thr pleasant well finished room we occupy could liave born marred and lives endangered, we should have been slow to give them credit. We left the house about eight in the morning; a young lady sat near where we now sit at her needle ; nnd our youngest boy of eleven years was reading before the fire. We had been absent scarcely half an hour before a messenger arrived at the printing office saying the young woman had been seriously injured by the falling of the plastering directly up- on her head. Returning and seeing the amount and weight of this plastering, which was a treble coat of nearly one inch in thickness, we were amazed that she was not killed — the plastering fell with such weight that it struck a hole directly through the bottom of a flagged chair. Looking over head wc see at once the difficulty which the experienced masons who laid on the plastering ought to have seen and remedied at the time ; and that was, the spaces between the laths were too narrow to permit ihi" mortar to cling behind them, and in this particular room perhaps the sand mixed in the plastering was too fine to give tlie proper te- nacity. If tlie work had not been so abundantly done — if instead of three coats of an inch in thick- ness there had been only one coat of one half inch — in all likelihofjd the plastering would not have fallen. This tlie mechanics who did the work sho^ild have been taught and known before they undertook it. They ought not, as masters of their trade, to have left a finished room in such a condi- tion that lives should be in danger from their fallmg work . We introduce this matter here as a subject prop- er for this journal. Our object would be to induce master farmers and mechanics to more thorough instruction. When the right way to do any thing is ascertained, it is quite as easy, and a thousand times more pleasing, to do riglit than to do wrong. We are confident tiiat most men have it in their power to mend on this subject. In the matter of constructing buildings in this country, there is great imperfection. We have been induced to be- lieve that generally the buildings of farmers in the country at a mucli smaller expense are more tho- roughly constructed and better adapted to the com- fort of their occ\ipants, than tlie expensive struc- tures of the cities. The cipitol at Washington has been erected at the expense of millions to the na- tion, and ought to be incombustible : yet only three winters ago, in a very cold day when more than usual fire was required, it was found that wood in immediate contact with the flue of one of the chim- nies, which ought never to have been there, had taken fire. If this had caught at night instead of the dav time, the conflagration would have spread to the ruin of the building. tween the North and the South : it is carried to | years than he would have been had he given bio Mobile, to New Orleans and to many of the West master his whole time. Tradesmen's apprentices India islands from the ponds and rivers near the sea coast. Fresh pond, in Cambridge, near Bos- ton, has several buildings on its shores constructed like a merchant's store house, for the taking in and forwarding ice in the winter. The shipping of ice into latitudes where no ice is formed is a business of profit to the merchant. Wc believe ice has been shipped as an article of commerce from the United States around the Cape of Good Hope to the East Indies. I'laccd in a position not to be affected by iieat — packed around with any non-conductor of the air, ice will retain its solidity in any climate. Ice houses, again. Few of us are too old to learn, and many of us ouglit to profit by the knowledge gained every day. We said something about ice houses and the pres- ervation of ice ill the last number. Since that wc have put up a few ox loads of the most beautiful chrystalized ice of Merrimack river, being the sec- ond crop taken from the same spot that ice h;idbeen before taken this winter, and of course much clear- er than that which grew from disturbed water, and when the ground was open so as to admit the blown sand upon the surface of the river. The ice was pack- ed in solid blocks, the interstices being filled with smaller pieces of ice so as to leave little room for the air : rye straw was laid upon the bottom, which is a plank floor a few inches above the ground, and the same article crowded in at the ends and the sides of the cellar between the brick wall and the ice. In this manner wo liope the ice will be pre- served through the hot season of June and July. But we have found that an ice house may be much better constructed either upon a side hill or entirely above ground, tlian by digging into the earth. If the ground is naturally wet, or water in- troduces itself into tlio cellar, the ice will not last as long below as above ground. On inquiry of our friend Gass how he constructed his ice house, he informed us that he hud built it in the wannest place on his whole premises — above ground, at the southwest corner of the stable attached to his tav- ern. Under cover of a shed, the house is construct- ed with a close plank bottom laid down in tan — the sides are made wilh boards or plank filled in with tan three or four inches tliick, and the top overlaid with a floor, in which is a trap door for the entrance, shutting out the air. Beneath and around the ice rye straw is pressed in. The tan beneath the floor and around the sides of this ice house being a non- conductor of heat, and of moisture, renders the house above ground a much' better preserver of the ice thin a house under ground. In.' '\as become quite an article of commerce be- Education. The common idea of education is the knowledge obtained from instruction and study in schools and academies — in learning to spell, to read, to ascer- tain the meaning of words, to write, to cypher, and to obtain generally a knowledge of languages. This kind of knowledge is highly beneficial, be- cause without it we should be deprived of the best facilities for usefulness and business. But there are other qualifications of great use to every individual in society, whether he or she be rich or poor, in high life or low life, which are no less indispensable than the learning ofth? schools ; and these are the faculty to knoio am! to do whatev- er pertains to the eommon business of life. Without this knowledge both man and woman may be set down as among the poorest and most pitiable of dependent creatures. Neither wealth nor distinc- tion can compensate for the want of this everyday knowledge. Suppose a young lady with an immense fortune educated in all the blandishments of tile fashiona- ble world — to receive company, to dress, to attend the parties and levees of the great — to dance and play upon the harp and piano. Without the knowl- edge of every day business, what could be her en- joyment at the head of a family with offspring a- bout her who must be taught to protect themselves while abroad and to take their parts on the theatre of life .' A woman utterly destitute of the capacity to tell how the common business of her family ought to be performed with a great estate, is of far less value to herself and her friends, than the wo- man who has no other fortune than her hands, with a capacity to direct in the management of her whole family affairs. If the rich female destitute of the usual qual- ifications be so poor an instrument of life, how much more miserable and contemptible is the rich man's son whose education in the common alTairs of life has been utterly neglected — who has never been taught to manage for himself in the ordinary transactions of the world ? Such a young man may inherit a million ; the chance is, if he shall live to be fifty years old, that he will become, before he gains that age, that being most of all to be piti- ed, the "poor gentleman ;" that is, one who, while wasting a great estate, has not learned to live on the means which will be .lulficient to support the poor man. It is a fact fully demonstrated by looking round on the generation which has grown up within the last thirty years, that the children of those men who are called independent in point of property are not as likely to succeed well in after life as the children of men who are more indigent. 'Fhere is certainly more danger of failure to be apprehend- ed from' the youth who depends on others, who re- lies on the help of wealthy parents, than on the youth who almost exclusively relies on his own ex- ertions. How often do we find the poor man who has struggled hard to feed and clothe a numerous family of sons and daughters meeting in his latter days his best days of enjoyment from seeing those "dear delights, " now grown to men and women, able not only to live themselves, but to furnish for their needy parents all comfortable sustenance .' We wander in some degree from the topic on which wc started ; and that was the education in the common arts and trades of life as distinguished from the common education of the schools. it should be the object of every individual to be not behind the best in his trade or calling. In the mechanic arts, in the common trades, there is a o-reat deficiency at the present day. This deficien- cy results from several causes, on two of which at this time we will make it a point to ds'ell. First. The growing habit, in those who Jindertahe to learn trades, of r/uitting their masters bifure they are of aire, to undertake as journeymen or masters thrmsetres. We have rarely ever known an instance where an apprentice who either has taken or pur- chased his time of a good master who, besides fail- ing to perfect himself in his trade, has not been lioorer when he arrived at the age of twenty-one arc indulged far beyond what they were twenty and thirty years ago ; yet it is believed that where there was then one there are now at least five who leave their masters' service before their time is ex- pired. Many of the young men leave their trade for what they consider more genteel employments; others leave because thpy believe thai a service of one or two years has made them perfect in learning a trade which requires a practice of from five to seven years. Humble as is the occupation of a barber, the man who is perfect in all the branches of that trade ought to be considered moro respect- able and more useful than the physician or the lawyer wiio is a bungler at his profession. Of the useful trades in a community of farmers, how great is the advantage of every man who fully under- stands his business — the blacksmith, the shoemak- er, the tailor, the wheelright, the saddle and har- ness maker, the carpenter, the mason, the brick maker, the miller, tlie baker, the chair maker, the cabinet maker, the painter .' A man who well un- derstands and applies himself constantly to busi- ness in any of these trades seldom fails to succeed; but tliere are hundreds who have been too indo- lent to learn their trade, or who leave their mas- ters before they had completed it, that never can and never will succeed in business. Second. Another ground of tiio deficiency of the tradesmen of the present day is tlie fault of their masters in failing to render the requisite in- struction. The obligation of master and apprentice is mutual : it is the duty of the one faithfully and thoroughly to instruct, as it is of the other with fi- delity to serve. Those masters who h.ave not a knowledge how to instruct never ought to under- take it. In many instances it will not be expect- ed, as the master only half learned his trade, that he will be able to give his apprentice the requisite knowledge. The tax on the whole community from sacrifices made in the use of imperfect articles is much great- er than we are apt to imagine. The suffering of em- ployers of mechanics who only half do what they undertake has become so frequent, that complaint has very little weight. It has indeed become com- mon for some who know how to do well, to slight their work for the sake of making their articles cheap. Thoy gloss over that work so it presents a fair outside ; but it proves to be of little value. We have abundance of cheap furniture, cheap boots and shoes, and cheap clothing, which like Pe- ter Pindar's razors were only made to sell — they are a sad cheat. And when every tradesman shall be bro\ight to realize that worthless articles must sooner or later run down the manufacturer and maker, then will he become duly impressed with the necessity of turning back to the old practice of apprentices serving out their time with their mas- ters, and masters faithfully instructing apprenti- ces, and both manufacturing in the best manner the articles of their trade and calling. We have been furnished with two numbers of the Common School Journal, published at Boston by Marsh, Capen & Lyon, and also at their store in this town. The design is the improvement and elevation of the character of our public schools. It is conducted by Horace Mann, Esq. of Massa- chusetts, an experienced and beautiful writer. It is published in an octavo of sixteen pages once a fortnight. In the second number the editor thus humorously describes the condition of not a few of our country school houses : " About a dozen years ago it was our fortune to travel upon the principal thoroughfares, over al- most all parts of the State. Lately we have had occasion to repass substantially over the same routes. The churches have changed : the school houses remain. Th pareii''.3 have taken care of themselves ; few have been fouiv ' to take care of their children. It is now a rare event, to see a for- lorn, dilapidated, weather-beaten church. They seem new, commodious, attractive. They have belfries and bells ; all are painted outside, and ma- ny arc cushioned and carpeted within. The minis- ter speaks from a mahogany desk : he reposes his hands upon its covering of scarlet velvet, his fin- gers play with the silken tassels ; if need be, he reads by astrals, from his gilt hymn book. But tlie school houses : — alas ! the wrath of the elements has been poured out upon these without stint or measure. The wood-colored clapboards dangle by a nail ; the moss covered shingles flutter in the wind ; the chimney bends with the infirmities of age ; a rail, borrowed from a neighboring fence, props a hingeless window-blind against — we know not what. We forbear ; it is vsoiOiy of Ossiau and there needs ng ghost to do 111" fchiieking." 20 THE FARMER'SMONT[]LY VISITOR. The Mulberry. We say but little in relation to tlie cnltivation of the mulberry, because from the experiments alrea- dy made, we are not quite sure that the common white mulberry, much more that the Morus Mul- ticaulis or Chinese mulberry, will succeed in this northern climate. In various positions, where great pains Iiad been taken to rear the common mulber- ry, we liave seen them killed down to the ;^round year after year, and it remains to be proved to us that tl]ey can be sustained to full growth in this climate. As a substitute for the common mulberr\', the Morus Multicaulis has been introduced, and this is said to be peculiarly valuable from the circum- stance tliat it will yield abundantly from tlie cut- tings and grovv'th of a single year. We very much doubt whether leaves can be produced in abund- ance and cheap from the growth of one season. We consider it a fortunate circumstance that the Morus Multicaulis fever has not yet reached New Hanipsliire : it is raging equal to an eastern land fe- ver at the South, and not fartlier south than Mas- sachusetts. We somewhere have seen it mention- ed that a person sold a hundred very young trees for four hundred dollars ! A few trees will furnish a sufficient number of buds to count a thousand dollars ; so that a trader in the Chmese mulberry may carry his fortune in a pair of saddle bags ! A vender of mulberry trees recently called on us: wc suggested to him the difliculty of our cli- mate. He assured us there was a kind, tiie Alpine mulberry, which would certainly stand tiiis climate. We shall be glad to be informed if any of our readers have tried and proved this Alpine juulber- The silk growth is an important one tor the country : to produce here what annually costs the nation in money sent abroad twenty millions of dollars, is worthy the best efforts of our couiitrv- men. There are cases of the successful produc- tion of silk in this State for a succession of years ; we mention the instance of Mrs. Kimball of Hop- kinton, N. H. who has produced it in all its varie- ties from the cocoon to the manufactured garment for the last three years. We might also mention the little town of Mansfield, in Connecticut, which within the last icw years has increased its produc- tion of the best of sewing silk, much of which is retailed in New Hampshire, from $^.5,000 to ^69,- 000 per annum. Such examples should encouraire all to persevere in the culture of the mulberry as far as prudence will allow. Hon. Rufus M'Intire of Parsonsfield, Me. says in a communication published in the Yankee Far- mer, he brought two of the young Morus Multi- caulis from Baltimore to Maine si.T years au-o, and after repeated trials with new cuttings he has but a single root left, and that was cut down to the ground by frost last winter. He cautions the peo- ple of Maine not to calculate confidently on rais- ing silk from feeding on this species of mulber- ry- American Silk. The signs are most auspicious that we are aliout to make a very important addition to the number and value of the products of American industry, by adding Sil/i to the list of our staples. As a measure tending to embody and diffuse widely and most efficiently all information to be gathered on the growtli and manufacture of silk, from the best sources at home and abroad, the late Convention at Baltimore unanimously recommended the estab- lishment of a Journal to be devoted to these ob- jects; and happily, as we think, for the success and usefulness of the measure, they have solicited Mr. Skinner, the founder of the American Farmer, and of the Turf P^egister, to become the editor of this national work. A portion of the Silk Journal, which is to consist of thirty-two pages monthly, will be set apart for the kindred subject of agricul- ture, horticulture, and rural economy. The price is two dollars per annum. ; Mr. Skinner, expressing his conviction that the culture of Silk is destined to be, and that speedily, an object of profitable employment for the now unproductive laboring ca- pacity of the country, and to add very larcrely to the wealth of the nation, has accepted the invita- tion of the Society to conduct the Journal with all his ability and attention, " consistently with a strict discharge of his official duties" as postmaster. The first number will appear in the course of the present month. Another striking sign of the success of the silk culture is the offer of a wealthy house of Glas- gow, in Scotland, to establish in Virginia a manu- factory which shall demand annually $100,U00 worth of raw silk — J\'ational fntcfli'rcnccr. [nrHere is something tangible in relation to the Morus Multicaulis; A Mr. Olmsted of East Hart- ford, Conn, while on a visit at Augusta, in Geor- gia, exhibited to the editor of the Georgia Consti- tutionalist samples of sewing silk, twist, and raw silk of various colors, of tlie best qualities, and which were raised and manufactured on liis own farm during the last year. Tile editor says — "The samples exhibited to us were parts of the product of an eighth of an acre of ground, planted as an experiment. — We were informed by Mr. Olmsted that the trees from v/hich the worms were fed, were planted between the 15th and SOtli of May last, in rows of three and a half feet apart, on land culti- vated the preceding year, and of a sandy loam ; ploughed up about the middle of September. He commenced gathering the leaves and feeding about the 10th of July. The quantity of leaves gather- ed amounted to 11C4 lbs. The number of silk worms fed, 3'.2,O00 ; and the quantity of cocoons produced nine bushels, vicflding nine pounds of silk, waste silk and floss 1 lb. About .5U00 of the worms were fed on 180 lbs. of leaves, and the pro- duct of them was two bushels of cocoons, or two pounds of silk. This establishes the fact that 'M lbs. of leaves of the Morus Multicaulis are suffi- cient to produce one pound of silk. He commen- ced plucking the leaves when the trees were 3 and 4 feet high, leaving four or five leaves at the top of the tree. He thniks the produce of the eighth of an acre would have been more than 1200 lbs. of leaves; but being short of worms he had \ise for no more than 1164 lbs. If we take the estimate of 1200 lbs. of leaves to the eighth of an acre, as a ba- sis, the produce of an acre would be over 100 lbs. of silk ; but allowing even 100 lbs. to the acre, the silk, as manufactured in sewing silk, being worth §10 per pound, the produce of one acre of land would be $1000, besides multiplying the trees for market." The Chinese Mulberry will be as valuable in New Hampshire as in the South, if its profitable culture can be effected from the buds of the same year. All sorts ofknavery are practised in regard to this new stock of Mulberry : let every man ful- ly ascertain facts before he venture on much ex- pense. Jlslics are supposed to be of a drying nature and to operate best on cold and wet ground. This is a mistake: the practical editor of the Boston Culti- vator says ashes will keep dry grounds moist lon high and dry and free from the water were killed the last season THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 21 — tlie oak, tlie elm and other hard wood trees died after having leaved out. At Fort Niagara on Ontario, where in 1626 we saw the site of a beautiful gar- den with the cottage and outhouses of the ferry- man across the mouth of the stream, the whole was several feet under water, and the buildings were moved from their foundations. On the whole southern shore of Erie,the lake is annually making inroads : a rise of ten feet more, it is said, wovild throw the Canada peninsula between Erie and On- tario under water — a rise of fifty feet would del- uge the greater part of tlie western country. It has been suggested by geologists that the rise of the water in the lakes may be a consequence of internal volcanoes throwing up the surface of the ground at the bottom of those lakes. That there has been a rise of ground for many hundred miles on the coast of Chili and tho shores of the Pacific ocean in South America, seems to be established by concurrent testimony. May not a similar cause, operating to upheave the waters of the great lakes already several hundred feet elevated above the level of the ocean, at this time, have so affected the temperature of those waters as to prevent their icy congelation f Mr. Jacob Blodget of Canterbury, sold ayoke of oxen to the Messrs. Blakos of this "town, in Jan- uary, weighing each between ilOO and 1000 lbs, which are among the best and fattest that have been here slaughtered during the present year. These oxen were fattened, with the exception of only a few days before they were killed, on ruta baga exclusively : they were kept at work almost daily until the commencement of winter. Mr. Blodget is of opinion that these oxen thrived as fast on ruta baga as they would have done on any other article whatever. There is nothing more unerring than the instinct of most animals : the rat, when it has a chance, in- variably chooses the richest food. We have found during the present winter, on our premises, that rats have not meddled witli Indian corn and other grains to which they have had access ; they have left the potato and English turnip, and tliey liave rarely touched the red beet and the carrot. The ruta baga they have taken hold of with appetite; hut most larcnous of all have tlieij levn on the sugar beet. To our mind thi:; is conclusive evidence of the value of ruta baga and sugar beet as the best roots for cattle and perhaps for horses and hogs. It is said fifteen tons of the sugar beet is an ordin- ary crop to an acre well prepared ; this fifteen tons of beet we are of opinion will go farther in win- tering a stock of cattle than half that weight of the best English hay. E.xtraordiuary change of weather. Thursday morning, Jan, 24th, the Thermometer in the open air was fifteen degrees below zero : not the atmosphere alone, but the ground, slightly covered with snow and ice, seemed to be fixed in immovable frost ; the cold continued through that day into Friday evening, when there were indica- tions of wind from the south. Before morning we heard the dripping of water from the roof of the house : on Saturday, a cold rain opened in the morning with wind nearly due cast, and a prospect that it might change to snow ; at noon, the wind southeast with the rain increasing : at five, P.M. the wind blowing a gale : at seven, the gale in- creased almost to a hurricane, breaking down gates and batlustrades and tearing Uj) shingles and zinc from the roofs of houses, with no abatement of the rain. On Sunday morning at day-light the wind changed to the west, and the fallen water, without perforating the frost, had almost entirely discharg- ed itself into the larger streams. The ice of the Merrimack river directly in sight, on consultation, it was thought presented too great a barrier to be broken up ; but after breakfast it was seen briskly moving down the stream. At noon, when return- ing from church, we perceived the water had back- ed up so as to cover the low intervales : it contin- ued to rise during the hour's vacation, but not so much as to be immediately alarming. Returning from tlie afternoon service, the rise had been at least a foot an hour ; the main channel of the river had become blocked with ice, and the current seemed to be turned to the foot of the hill near the main street. Mere we found boards and rails laid, as we supposed, at a safe distance above the common freshets, floating off: set to vrork to rescue them from danirer by throwing them upon a ridge three feet hio-herthan the water. While this was doing,in the space of fifteen or twenty minutes the water fell, as marked by the trees and fences, at least six inches ; and the hope and expectation was, that it had gained its utmost height. Soon after dark at this particular point it took a rise in one half horn- of more than two feet, and before nine in the even- ing the materials that had been rescued and taken, as was supposed, out of harm's way were again a- float in the stream. Monday morning, nearly the whole of the extensive intervale in sight was like a vast sea — a portion covered with interfering cakes of ice and a portion with the smooth expanse of water ; and at the time of sunsetting while we write this article, the covering of water continues, havino- fallen a very few inches. The damming up and breaking away of the ice yesterday and last evening produced the most extraordinary ri.se and fall of vvater that has ever been noticed on this river. As might be anticipated with certainty from such a winter freshet, the three bridges which cross the Merrimack in this town have been either carried off or disabled. Sewali's falls bridge, lately erect- ed, four miles from the village, was carried off ear- ly in the day : the bridge leading from the north end of the village suffered the loss of a pier in the afternoon : tlie bridge at the south end stood thro' the day and its stone piers encountered several successive blows from immense cakes of ice until about nine o'clock in the evening, when one piece, forced down the stream with more povvfer than the others, in an instant struck out the mass of rocks composing tlie western pier and precipitated that portion of the bridge resting upon the length of two sets of string pieces into the stream, leaving at present no passage between the two parts of the town. At this time (Monday evening) the cold has again returned, the wind blows severely from the northwest, and the thermometer is down well towards zero. Never, in the winter, did we witness changes so sudden and so frightful. Now that the waters have subsided, the ice on the extensive intervale fronting Concord main street presents a singular appearance. Much of it rests upon the top of fences and among the limbs of trees several feet above the ground about it. Bridges as far up as Ilolderness have been brought down and are jambed into the ice upon our inter- vales. The bridge at Amoskeag was carried off : that at Hooksett stands. Parts of the dams above Hooksett falls and above Garvin's falls were carri- ed off, leaving much to be done in the spring be- fore boats and rafts can pass the canals at those falls. The Federal bridge in this town has now (Feb. 8) been so fir repaired as to be passable with carriages. The bridges at Bo.scawen and Franklin are carried away — that at New Chester stands The damage on the Merrimack, upon the whole, is not so great as it has been in some other places. A similarlreshet, in which the water rose higher, breaking up the ice which was several inches thicker,' occurred in March ISiii. Then as now the ice rested upon the ground to the depth of several feet. At that time the bark was stricken from the trees to the height of ten feet from the ground ; and then, as at this time, it took many Iiands several days to cut a palli over and through the ice from Horse-shoe pond to the Federal Bridge in this town. Tlie water rose on Connecticut river higher and more suddenly than upon the Merrimack. At Hartford, Ct. a bridge was carried off, and the ice and water floated through the streets of the lower part of the city. At Bellows Falls the water is stated to have risen twenty feet above low water mark. All the bridges from Lancaster north to the head of the river were carried away. On the Kenncbeck and Androscoggiij in Maine, the water rose eleven feet in the course of three hours I The mills at Brunswick were swept away. At Hallowell the water was four feet deep in the main street. Houses and barns were blown do%yn. But, as a very important item, the Great Dam at Augusta constructed by Col. Boardman of Nashua, resisted the force of the descending ice and stood well. On the Saco river from its head to Fryeburg, Me. the bridges were taken off. The sudden rises of water have made frightful work on tho White mountains at the sources of the Saco and Ammonoosuck in former times. On the Hudson, at Albany, damage to the amount of nearly a million of dollars was sustained. The great steam boat North America went down with the ice and is a total loss. The whole pier in front as well as the lower streets of the city, were cov- ered with water and ice. At New York city the water flooded the cellars on the water side, and the damage was great. Tho rail-road south from Philadelphia to Wash- ington was rendered impassable. The waters of the Schuylkill have not been known so high for twenty years. The houses of many poor men on its banks have been swept off. The New Hampshire Gazette contains an ac- count of the truly appaling situation in which the keepers of three light-houses were placed during the storm : these three lights are nearest the har- bor of Portsmouth. "Whale's Back" is some five miles from the town, and is a ledge of sunken rocks visible only at low water. A large rock join- ing the lower tier of the foundation was carried a- way : the sea broke over the building in a similar manner to that represented in the Penny Magazine over the famed Eddystone light house. The sea struck on the Whale's Back as with sudden and heavy blows. "White Island" light is on one of the Shoala further out to sea : here the sea made a breach over that part of the island where the light house stands lorty feet above low water mark — eighty feet of covered way from the keeper's house to the light were carried away. At "Boon Island" light house, the sea covered all the ground about the buildings, and entered both the dwelling and the light house, to the elevated part of which the family retreated. Laisge rooks in front of the build- ings were washed off. Such storms as that of the 26th January on the islands and coasts of the sea, and near every stream as it flows from its source to the ocean, are bringing about those changes which cause the sea to become dry land and land to become ocean. The change is trivial during one hundred years or the age of one man ; but a succession of storms, hurri- canes and earthquakes, has undoubtedly since Creation, revolutionized not the face of the earth alone, but changing climate with change of loca- tion has produced successively new creations of beings. Man, more intelligent than all others, is one of the most recent beings created by that Power, v/hose word brought all things into exis- tence in the six figurative days, embracing time beyond human calculation or ken anterior to his own creation. [O'Rochestor, in New York, v.-esterly of this say 3.50 miles, was the scene of an old fashioned snow storm soon after the great rain and freshet further east. The snow there fell and laid upon the ground to the depth of three and four feet. Philosophy of the late storm. The reasons for the changes of weather, and the philosophy of the atmosphere, are quite as well un- derstood by the man who watches for the signs in the clouds as by tho student at his books. The strata of clouds beneath and above show the differ- ing currents of the air sometimes passing in two or more directions, quite as plainly as the changes in the course of the inflated balloon as it rises into the upper atmospliere. Yet few people seem to realize that v/hile we have at the surface of the earth a fair wind from the west, a strong easterly wind maybe gaining over head until a changed blow shall reach the earth. Wh}' does a long and cold and severe northeast storm generally succeed a warm sun and pleasant wind from the southwest, and begin in the south.' Because the warm humid aii rushing for- ward till it reaches and is overpov/ered by the cold vacuum, whirls over at a higher elevation, and re- turns with a discharge to the earth, it may be first in sleet, and afterwards in clear and more dry snow. How will the reader account for the storm of the 26th of January, which was discharged all along the Atlantic coast in a copious rain, and the same storm, from twelve to twenty-four hours afterwards at Rochester, N. Y. a distance of three hundred miles from the ocean, discharging a dr}', drifting snow to the depth of three and four feet.' It will be GXpluined on the same principle that we have stated of the northeasterly storm. At Rochester a dark cloud first came from the wesi, discharging sleet — afterwards it changed to northwest, north and north cast, the wind being so still as almost to suffer a perpendicular fall of snow a part of the time. The strength of the blow from the coast carried the warm air and rain beyond the usual dis- tance— the warmed atmosphere from the south rushed into the cooled atmosphere of the north un- til overpowered by the latter when it reached the region of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, where it was arrested and returned by whirling over at a high elevation in a contrary direction : first the colder air came from the west while the moisture of the clouds became sleet, and as the cold air gradually preponderated, the course of the wind changed from a direction westerly to the north- east when the whole volume of humidity which the milder climate had drawn into the air from the ocean and land was discharged in flakes of snow piled up until the roads were impassable. This great amount of snow there was an increased a- mount of rain here ; and when it is considered that all must be discharged to the ocean, tlie frost not suffering tlie ground to retain any portion ofit, by the smaller into and through the larger streams, 22 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. we can no longer wonder that the immense force of ice and water should carry away bridges, and riee suddenly almost beyond all former example. THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE. Odd scraps for the economical. The ofloner carpets are shaken, the longer they wear; the dirt that collects under them, grinds out the threads. Do not have carpets swept any oftener than is ab- solutely necessary. After dinner, sweep the crumbs into a dusting pan with your hearth-brush; and if you have been sewing, pick up the shreds by hand. A carpet can be kept very neat in tins way ; and a broom wears it very much. Buy your woollen yarn in quantities from some one in the country whom you can trust (if you can- not furnish yourself). The thread-stores make profits upon it, of course. It is not well to clean brass andirons, handles, Ac. with vinegar. It makes them very clean at first ; but they scion spot and tarnish. Rotten-stone and oil are proi>er liiaterials for cleaning brasses. If wiped every morning with flannel, they will not need to be cleaned half so often. If you happen to live in a house which has mar- ble fire-places, never wash them with suds ; this de- stroys the polish, in time. They should be dusted; the spots taken off with a nice oiled cloth, and then rubbed dry with a soft rag. Featliers should be very thoroughly dried before they are used. For this reason they should not be packed away in bags, when they are first plucked. They should be laid lightly in a basket, or some- thing of that kind, and stirred up often. The gar- ret is the best place to drv them ; because they will there be kept free from dirt and moisture : and will be in no danger of being blown away. It is well to put the parcels, which you may have from time to time, into the oven, after you have removedyour bread, and let them stand a day. If featlier-beds smell badly, or become heavy, from want of proper preservation of the feathers, or from old age, empty them and wash the feathers thoroughly in a tub of suds ; spread them in your garret to dry, and they will be as light and as good as new. If you wish to preserve fine teeth, always clean them thoroughly, after you have eaten your last meal at night [or the first thing after rising in the morning.] Rags should never be throv.'n away because they are dirty. Mop-rags, lamp-rags, *fcc. should be washed, dried, and put in the rag-bag. There is no need of expending soap upon them : boil them out in dirty suds, after you have done washing. Linen rags should be carefully saved ; for they are extremely useful in sickness. If they have be- come dirty and worn by cli'aning silver, &.C. wash them and scrape them into lint. After old coats, pantaloons, &(•. have been cut up for boys, and are no longer capable of being con- verted into garments, cut them into strips, and em- ploy the leisure moments of cliildren, or domestics, in sewing and braiding theni for door-mats. If you ar.? troubled to get soft water for washing, fill a tub or barrel, half full of aslies, and fill it up with water, so that youmay have lye wheneveryou want it. A gallon of strong lye put into a great ket- tle of hard water will make it as soft as rain water. Some people use pearlash, or potash ; but this costs something, and is very apt to injure the texture of the cloth. If you liave a strip of land, do not throw away suds. Both ashei.' and suds are good manure for bushes and young plants. When a white Navarino bonnet becomes soiled, rip it to pieces, and wash it with a sponge and soft water. While it is yet damp, wash it two or three times with a clean sponge dipped into a strong saf- fron tea, nicely strained. Repeat this till the bon- net is as dark a straw color as you wish. Press it on the wrong side with a warm iron, and it will look like a new Leghorn. About the last of May, or the first of June, the little millers which lay moth-eggs begin to appear. Therefore brush all your woollens, and pack them away in a dark place, covered with linen. Pepper, red-cedar chips, tobacco, — indeed, almost any strong spicy smell is good to keep moths out of your chests and drawers. But nothing is so good as camphor. Sprinkle your woollens with cam- phorated spirit, and scatter pieces of camphor-gum among them and you will never be troubled with moths. tDome people buy camphor-wood trunks, for this purpose ; but they are very expensive, and the gum answers just as well. The first young leaves of the common currant- hush, gathered as soon as they put out, and dried on tin,ein hardly be distinguished from jree« tea. Cream of Tartar, rubbed upon soiled white kid gloves, cleanses them very much. Bottles that have been used for rose-water, sliould be u.sed for nothing else ; if scalded ever so much, they will kill the spirit of what is put in them. If you have a greater quantity of clieeses in the house than is likely to be soon used, cover them carefully witli paper, fastened on with flour paste, so as to exclude the air. In this way they may be kept free from insects for years. They should be kept in a dry, cool place. Pulverized alum possesses the property of puri- fvino- water. A large spoonful stirred into a hogs- head of water will so purify it, that in a few hours the dirt will all sink to the bottom, and it will be as fresh and clear as spring water. Four gallons may be purified by a tea-spoonful. Save vials and bottles. Apothecaries and gro- cers will give sometliing for them. If the bottles are of good thick glass, they will always be useful for bottling cider, or beer ; but if they are thin French glass, like claret bottles, they will not an- sv.'er. Woollens should be washed in very hot suds, and not rinsed. Lukewarm water shrinks them. On the contrary, silk, or any thing that has silk in it, should be washed in water almost cold. Hot water turns it yellov.-. It may be waslied in suds made of nice white soap ; but no soap should be put upon it. Likewise avoid the use of hot irons in smoothing silk. Either rub the articles dry with a soft cloth, or put them between two towels, and press them with weights. Do not let knives be dropped into hot dish-watet It is a good plan to have a large tin pot to wash them in, just high enough to wash the blades, icitli- o>it wettini[ the handles. Keep your castors cov- ered with blotting paper and green flannel. Keep your salt-spoons out of the salt, and clean them often. Do not wrap knives and forks in woollens. Wrap them in good, strong paper. Steel is injured by lying in woollens. — Mrs. Child- Village Lighted by Natural Gas. The village of Fredonia, in the western part of the state of New York, presents this singular phe- nomenon : The village is forty miles from Buffalo, and about two from Lake Erie : a small but rapid stream called the Canadoway, passes through it, and after running several mihis discharges itself into the lake below ; near the mouth is a neat small harbor with a light house. While removing an old mill, which stood partly over this stream, in Fre- donia, three years since, some bubbles were observ- ed to break frequently from the water, and on trial were found to be inflammable. A company was formed, and a hole, an inch and a half in diameter, being bored through the rock, a soft fcetid limestone, the gas left its natural channel and ascended thro' this. A gasometer was constructed, with a small house for its protection, and pipes being laid, the gas is conveyed through the whole village. One hundred lights are fed from it, more or less, at an expense of one dollar and a half yearly for each. The streets and public churches are lighted with it. The flame is large, but not so strong or brilliant as that from gas in our cities ; it is, however, in high favor with the inhabitants. The gasometer, I found on measurement, collected eiglity-eight cubic feet in twelve hours during the day ; but the man who has charge of it told me that more might be procur- ed with a larger apparatus. About a mile from the village, and in the same stream, it comes up in quantities four or five times as great. The contrac- tor for the light-house pn'"chased the right to it, and laid pipes to the lake, but found it impossible to make it descend, the dilierence in elevation being very great. It preferred its own natural channels, and bubbled up beyond the reach of his gasometer. The gas is carboretted by hydrogen, and is sup- posed to come from beds of bituminous coal; the only rock visible, however, here, and to a great ex- tent along the southern shore of the lake, is foetid limestone. — Breicsler's Journal. might derive from their manures. We lose in the first place by neglect of gathering it together — sec- ondly, by suffering it to spoil iji the heap, for want of proper mixing — and thirdly, by a wrong applica- tion of it to the soil. The liquid portion of it is al- lowed to be as valuable as the solid, and this in ma- ny instances is wholly lost. We often suffer a mass to dry up or evaporate by lying thinly spread over a yard. We often lose by heaping it together and sufiering it to burn. We lose much by spreading on the surface of the field green manure that can- not be covered with the harrow — and we lose more by laying it out in small heaps of one or two shov- els full to a hill, and planting our seeds in those heaps. We lose in winter by heaving it out at the windows and suffering it to freeze in a scattered sit- uation. We assert with the utmost confidence that we can by taking proper care of our means make every part and paicel of our farms rich — that is, so rich that one acre shall feed one cow through summer, and another acre shall give us sixty bushels of corn. And this without buying a single load of manure from the stables. This matter must be better at- tended to by us who occupy a soil that has been cropped, and mismanaged tdl much of it now hard- ly pays the expense of cultivating. — Boston Culti- vator. Manures. Brother Farmers, we shall have much to say to you on manures. We shall often interrogate you as to the best modes oi'mnking, preserving, and a/j- plijing manures. These are three important con- siderations in our calling. It may be thought by some of you that enough has already been said on the subject. Many, truly, have written upon it, and some have written truly. But let us have the sentiments and the experience of practical men. From our observations of the practice of Farmers in New England we are satisfied that on En av- erage, they lose one half of the advantage they From llio Clieslilte Farmer. Mr. Cooke, — In looking over your December number of the Cheshire Farmer, an article head- ed, the "Soil a decomposer," led me to reflection, which induced me to give you some of my own experience ; and if you see fit you may give it to the public in any shape you please. With regard to making manure, I think there is a wonderful negligence among our farmers. This is the all important article, and if I can give the least impulse towards arousing the attention of farmers more generally to it, my object will be at- tained. I have attached to my hog-honses, yards, say 25 feet square, with a door to each, that the hogs may pass in and out as they will. In commencing, af- ter cleaning out the last year's manure, I throw in plentifully of straw at the bottom and cover it over deep with soil. I then let on the hogs, when com- mences the chemical operation of making manure. I calculate to add as much as one load of soil, and one of hor-se or yard manure or corn cob, once a week through the season, or any vegetable sub- stance is good for this purpose. I will here remark that I have never made manure of this kind too weak ; it is stronger, and will show its effect more tlian long yard manure ; I believe almost any quan- tity might be made in this way. 1 am also confi- dent that hogs supplied in this way, might make manure which would be of more value than the hogs would sell for wlien well fattened. The hogs are more industrious than I am, and will work out a great profit if kept in employ in this way. I can- not tell how much manure they might be made to make in a season, but I think 25 cart loads to a hog v.-uuld be a low estimate. Now if I am right in my estimate, a farmer may make more manure in the summer than in the win- ter, whereas by the old way he does not make half as much. The matter in tlie hog yard will decom- pose much faster in warm weather than in cold, and it is necessary to add soil, &c. the faster; and to assist the hogs in dry weather, I turn a spout from the pump and saturate the whole bed with water, which is of great service in warm dry weath- er. Shelled corn occasionally thrown in with the soil will encourage the hogs and prevent their dig- ging too much in one place. Now if these are realities, it is in the power of al- most every farmer to add hundreds of loads of ma- nure to his farm, and I have not the least doubt but a mine of wealth is thus within his reach. If farm- ers would attend to this matter, what an impulse would it give to the agriculture in this section .^ We should hear no more of the importation of foreign grain, to the shame and disgrace of our country. There are great advantages attendant upon the enriching of land. It is a j)rogressive work. The facilities and means are constantly increasintr. Ev- ery one knows that animals in fle.=:h are more easily kept than those that are not — so it is with lands; those that are rich are easily kept so, while those that are poor, give a small profit for the labor be- stowed. My richest lands will now give six crops with once manuring ; whereas, they would but three for- merly, and less by one third or more. I am now practising upon a ihret course system, which is, say first with corn on a clover lay, well manured with long manure from tiie yard, sj^read and plowed un- der deep, and as soon as possible after taien from THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 28 the yard ; then rolled down well with a good big roller, whicli every farmer ought to have. I steep my seed 24 hours in a strong brine, with salt petre added if 1 have it— if kept cold it will not hurt in soaking fifty hours — if kept warm, a few hours will be suflicient. The change of tempera- ture from a warm steep to a cold soil, is the cause of a failure generally. I sliould not recommend a steep at all if it was not for the worm and crow. I think it a good antidot*' especially against the wire worm. The crow will take but a few hills. I prefer planting close, say 3 feet by 2, and a less quantity in the hill — three stalks is a plenty — any over four will cause a failure. My next crop is oats — sown in .^pril, harrowed well, then sown to clover and herds grass and roll- ed well. I use the southern clover, which for me is much the best, both for hay and seed. My third crop is clover and herds grass, as big as I want. I apply one bushel of Plaster Paris per acre, broadcast, in the spring. Mow the last of June — add Plaster again, half a bushel per acre. The second crop for seed or hay as I choose. An average crop of seed is 150 lbs. — 300 an extreme crop. My fourth crop will be corn again without ma- nure. I add another bushel of Plaster broadcast in April before plowing. Steep and plant as early as the ground will admit — the earliest planted is generally the best. Add anotlier bushel of Plaster on the hill after the first hoeing. My lifth crop will be oats as before — seeded and rolled in the same way. My sixth crop will be hay and seed with Plaster as before. My seventh, corn loith manure as at first. You will see by this course, that as I have 75 acres, I have 25 acres in each crop yearly, and that 1 am a'ale to manure from 12 to 25 acres yearly at 35 loads to the acre. Now I do not say this is the best course for all lands, but I think it in for mine, and 1 am sure it is for all land where there is little expense in chang- ing from one crop to another. Some may think the system may be improved by mowing two or three years successively. I answer, in the first place you would get a turf you could not subdue by one year's hoeing, which is all-irnportant — in the second place your land deteriorates — and third- ly, you have a plenty of worms, which in a three course system will rarely trouble you. I have followed the altenuilwn system, for the last 22 years on the same land. Formerly I added rye the third year, which made a four course sys- tem; but since tlie grain worm has come, it has not been so profitable a crop, and I have cast it off, which I tliink is quite an improvement. Rye left my land hard ; it is, however, a surer crop to seed clover with than oats; yet by rolling well there is little risk in seeding with oats. I have found itall important to roll spring seeding. My lands are continually improving. As an ev- idence of this, in referring to my books, my sales have increased, since I adopted this system, as 2 to 10. I do not wish to be understood that I think my system perfect, for I do not. 1 expect to increase my corn crop from fifty to an hundred fold and other crops in proportion, within the next twenty years, provided I may live so long. To make these improvements which are evidently in our power, is a duty which every man owes to his country ; and if he will do this duty, he may be as rich as he pleases — so rich he can look any man in the face without owing him a dollar. I have written more than I intended, but the field opened so wide, I could not say less. If what I have written, shall cause to make but one load of manure, it will do some good, for it will make ma- ny blades of grass grow where none grew before. I hope other and abler pens will take up the sub- ject. This, to my shame, is my debut. THOMAS WHITE. Putney Meadows, Vt. Jan. 10, 1839. bout tlie 25th of May ; and I never discovered a smutty head in either kind, nor did it mildew or rust. Some other pieces of wheat sown (without the above preparation) in the same neighborhood one week earlier, and about the same altitude, were very badly mildewed. I do not undertake to say the course I adopted, is a sure remedy against smut or rust, but merely state facts, wliich prove, that under some circum- stances verv smutty seed wheat will produce a good crop perfectly free from smut. Last season, for the first time, I tried the field culture of the ruta baga, upon one eighth of an a- cre of ground, which was managed very much as yours was. At liarvesting 1 had one hundred bush- els good measure. In feeding them out this win- ter to a voke of working oxen, my experience I'ul- ly corroborates your statement. The real value of them needs only to be known and then Merrimack county would soon exhibit more acres of them, than it did of Indian wheat last season — and we then could have more beef, and less slap jacks. 13. Cattle in Kentucky. From the Franklin Farmer published at Frank fort, Kentucky, we condense the following state- ment of prices, procured at a public sale of cattle raised on the farm of the late Gen. James Garrard near Paris in that State. The sale was the ordina- ry one for the settlement of the estate. The cattle were from crosses of the Durham breed, being de- scended from the celebrated cattle San Martin and Tecumseh imported from Europe in the year 1817. From the published statement we infer tliat the cattle were all produced on the farm. The profits on these thirty cattle to the owners could have been not much short of ten thousand dollars after paying all expenses and interest on the use of the farm ! Bulls. No. 1, Exception, five years old, full blood §1830 2, Eclipse, bull calf six months old, do. 6rf8 3, Bull calf five months old 7-8 blood Female Influence and Energy. I have observed that a married man falling into misfortune is more apt to retrieve his situation in the world than a sing-le one ; chiefly because his spirits are soothed and relieved by domestic endear- ments and hia self respect kept alive by finding that, although all abroad be darkness and humiliation, yet is still a little world of love at home of which he is monarch. Whereas, a single man is apt to run to waste and self neglect ; to fancy himself lonely and abandoned, and his heart to fall to ru- ins, like some desertsd mansion, for want of an in- habitant. I have often had occasion to remark the fortitude with which women sustain the most over- whelming reverses of fortune. Those disasters which break down the spirit of a man and pros- trate him in the dust, seem to call forth all the ener- gies of the softer se.\, and give such intrepidity and elevation to their character, that at times it ap- proaches to sublimity. Nothing can he more touch- ing than to behold a soft and tender female, who had been all meekness and dependence, and alive to every trivial roughness, while treading the pros- perous path of life, suddenly rising in mental ibrce to be the comforter and supporter of her hus- band under misfortune, abiding with unshrinking firmness, the bitterest blasts of adversity. As the vine wliicli has long twined its graceful foliage a- bout the oak, and been lifted by it in sunshine, will, when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunder- bolt, cling around it v/ith its caressing tendrils, and bind up its shattered boUjxhs ; so is it beautitully ordered by Providence, that woman, who is the or- nament and dependant of man in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace v.'hen smitten with sudden calamity; winding herself into the the rug- ged recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting the drooping head and binding up the broken heart. Washington Irving. 4, 6, do do 82 07 50 G6 81 do do do seven, do 15-16 blood do 7-S blood six months, 13-lG blood Cows AND Heifers. No. 1, Cherry, nine years old, full blood 2, Matilda, three " do 3, Fanny Kemblc, calf seven months old, full blood 4, Maria, four years old, do 5, Melvira and calf, two years, do 6, Marchioness, one year, 7, Moss Rose, nine years, 8, Tulip, fourteen years, 0, Beauty, seven years, 7-8 blood 10, Red Champion, twelve years, 7-8 blood 81 11, White Rose do do 55 12, Lady Morgan, one year, 15-16 blood 550 13, Snow Drop, a calf eight months, 15-16 blood 14, LuciUa, one year, 15-16 blood 15, Julia Jackson, one year, 7-8 blood 16, Rosette, a calf six months, 7-8 blood 17, Lily, four years, 7-8 blood 15, Josephine, two years, 7-8 blood 16, Red Beauty, two years, 7-8 blood 20, White Lily, one year, 11-16 blood 21, Young Nell, one year, 7-8 blood 22, Red Exchange, five years, 3-4 blood J 125 920 880 551 1005 407 375 130 476 23, Drone, four years, 7-8 blood 24, Caroline, three years, 7-8 blood 325 340 105 155 190 205 275 105 140 121 1.55 140 $11,845 50 Liime your Orchards. The effect of lime on orchards and on grounds in which fruit trees are planted ie stated to be very beneficial ; it improves their hoaltli and promotes their growth, and it is said to improve the quality of the fruit. The food or pasture of the trees is in- creased in quantity, and improved in quality by the appliciilion, and it is doubtless an important agent in destroying the grubs and worms which are so de- structive to fruit trees by the wounds which they inllict, as well on the tender, absorbing fibres of the roots, as on the brancbes and trunk. The good efiiects of lime- on apple and peach trees are perceptible in a short time, and it is believ- ed equal benefit will be derived from its applica- tion, by all other kinds of fruit trees. Let us try it without delay, for it is universally known that good fruit is never produced by an un- healthy tree. — Farmer's Cabinet. For Itie Farmer'a Monthly Visitor. I observed a recipe to prevent smut in wheat in the first number of your paper : 1 have no doubt but in most cases it is a preventive. Last spring I bought one and a half bushels of Tea wheat for seed which had much smut in it. I also sent to Boston for half bushel of Dantzic wheat. When I received it I had much doubt about sowing it, as it was the smuttiest wheat I ever saw, and at least one quart of oats in it. However I had somev/here read that washing in a strong brine would remove the oats. I made a brine strong enough to bear an egg ; which floated all the oats and unbroken smut; thoroughly washed both kinds — drained off the brine, and mixed nearly slacked lime so as to separate the kernels, and sowed the same day — a- The learned Blacksmith. We have seen in the newspapers an account of a learned Blacksmith, who was acquainted with more than fifty languages, ancient, modern and oriental. By an article in the Observer of Satur- day, we learn that this Blacksmith is Mr. Elihu Burritt. He is a native of New Britain, in the town of Berlin in Connecticut, where he learned his trade. He has resided a year or two past, at Worcester, Mass. principally on account of the ex- cellent library at that place, of the American Anti- quary Association. Ho now does regularly every day a journeyman's day's work, at the Blacksmith business. Connecticut, and the village of New Britain in particular, has reason to be proud of such a son ; ai«l we trust the Young Men's Institute of Hartford will be so successful in the establishment of their library, that they will ofter sufficient in- ducement for Mr. Burritt to return among us. They certainly cannot desire a nobler incentive for effort. — Hartford Cmcrant. Crime in Massachusetts. By the reports of the district attorniesit appears that there have been procured, within the last year, eight hundred and filty-two convictions for crime in the court of record of the Commonwealth. Of that number 2'j7 were for larceny, 196 for viola- tion of the licence laws, 100 for nuisances and 37 for forging and counterfeiting. Of the convicts, 128 were sentenced to the State Prison. The county of Suffolk furnishes more than • third of tlie State. The whole number of convic- tions during the year was 303, of which were for larceny, 151 ; assault and battery, 44 ; forgery, 25; houses of ill fame, 21 ; violation of license law, 3. In Middlesex and Essex, [composing the north- ern district] there were for violating of the license law 53 convictions ; larceny, 47 ; nuisance, assault and battery 18. Total 205. In Middle district [composed of the counties of Worcester and Norlblk] there were 122 conric- tions; for violation of license law, 42; larceny, 32; nuisance, 13 ; assault and battery, 7. In the western district [Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin and Berkshire counties] there were 61 convictions ; of which there were for assault and battery, 30 ; larceny, 13; violation of the li- cense law,9 ; nuisance, 3. In the southern district, comprehending all Bris- tol, Plymouth and the remaining counties, he whole number of cases was, 161 ; on the licence law, 86; larceny, 42; nuisance, 15; assault and battery, 11. — Worcester Aegis. Cheerfulness and activity do not often accompa- ny vicious habits. The ale-house is the resort of the person who knows not what else to di> with himself. The promotijig innocent and meaning a- musements, is part of the schoolmaster's most ttri^ ous business. — Central Society of Ediieation. 24 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Watering Cattle iu Winter. Perhaps it would e-xcite the surprise of many of our readers, should we assert that cattle generally sutfer more t'roin thirst in winter, than during the heat of summer. Yet there is strong reason to be- lieve that this is to a great extent the case. Cat- tle whose winter food consists entirely of hay, straw, and other dry materials, need a plentiful and frequent supply of pure fresh water. This many do ncit obtain, as nearly all running streams are covered with ice, and cattle are obliged to wan- der a considerable distance from the yard to the watering pKice, through deep snows or over a slip- pery path, exposed to the annoyance of dogs, or to be gored by other cattle, and rather tlian endure this, they often suffer much from a want of water. It has been ascertained that a bullock, who has wa- ter at command, will drink it eight times a day. It should always therefore be of easy access to cat- tle at all times; and not on a distant part of tiie farm, or in the open road, so that in order that your cattle may help themselves io it, you are obliged to leave your gate open, or barn-yard bars down, and thus your yard is thronged with vagrant colts and other ill-bred animals, who take possession of wliat- ever fodder they can lav tiieir mouths upon, and pay no regard to the rights of inciivi and ttcum. Dr. Anderson says that lie knew a man who became very rich by being great in littie matters, that is, attending carefully to things whicli other men con- sider of too little consequence to claim their no- tiee; and this man aUvays made it a point to see that his cattle, particularly his milch cows, should have a constant supply of pure water. — Far. Cabinet. From tlie Philadelpliin Farmer's C.iliinet. Curry your Cows. The price of butter is such as to offer encour- agement to farmers to try the effect of extra keep on their milch cows the present winter; and in ad- dition to keeping them warm, clean and comforta- ble, it would be well to trj' the effect of currying them. Horses and fatting cattle are well l;nov.-n to thrive much better where this operation is thorough- ly and regularly performed, and the celebrated Dr. B. Rush, in a lecture delivered in 1S07, upon the duty and advairtages of studying the diseases of domestic animals, and the remedies proper to re- move them, states that there is an improvement in the quality of the milk, and an increase of its quantity, which are obtained by currying the cow. If some of oyr farmers would make trial of it as soon as they commence stabling their cows, and carefully note the result, and make a conmiunica- tion of it to the editor of the Cabinet, (Visitor) it would much obli.ge an Or.n Subscribed. Brick Orcn.i. — The Cultivator gives the follow- ing directions for building a brick oven: — It should be so built that it will long retain its heat ; there- fore the covering must be thick. — It sliould be readily heated, and therefore the bricks must not be contiguous. A very thick wall made wholly of bricks will be long in heating and will require too much firewood. We therefore wish you to cover our oven with one course of bricks. This gives a thickness of four inches. Then put on a covering of sand, made so moist as to keep its place, and not less than four inches in thickness — then you may lay one or two courses more of bricks for an outside covering, according to your room in the chimnev. Now you have given us a thick wall for a cover- ing which will retain the heat as long as if made wholly ot bricks — and it may he heated in one half the time, because we have onl3' to heat eno tier of bricks instead of three. The coating of sand be- ing a nonconductor, it will not commrmicate the heat of the oven to the outside walls or covering; but will serve to retain the heat in the oven, and apply it when we want it to the baking of our loaves. The bottom or hearth of the oven must have a similar construction. Feeding Infants.^— A young lady with whom we are acquaiirtod, gave birth lately to ber first child. The little one was about a fortnight old when we asked a l;tdy how it and the young mother were. "The mother is doing well,'' she ansv/ered, " but the child is very cross; and indeed it is not to be wondered at, for they are so pleased, they seem hardly to know what they are about. The mother feeds it, and then the sister feeds it, and than the grandmotlier feeds it, and then the nurse feeds it, and thus they make the child ill." Our friend was right. We should like to have shown the vuuno- lady the stomach of a new born infant now in our museum. It would not hold more than three table spoonfuls, and yet they were trying to cram food down the little jnnocerjt's throat by teacupfuls. — ..V. "', MedifO'l Eiaminer FARM BUILDINGS. [To give the readers of the Monthlv Vi.Mroit an idea of the convenience and perfection of Farm Bnildinn-s erected and occupied by some of the independent farming gentlemen of Pennsylvania, we procure^engr-avings for the description and illustration taken from that excellent agricultural journal, the Philadelphia Farmer's Cabinet. Such a barn as that of Col. Smith would cost for its erection nearly the price of a good New England I'arm. Nevertheless its completeness and convenient ac- commodations will furnish patterns for constructing a barn or parts of a barn at far less expense ; and consequently we consider this model to be not less useful than would be a model of an improved New Eugknd barn. , i r We invite our agricultural friends who are experimental judges to furnish us plans of larm buildings, yards, gardens, laying out of fields, &c. for insertion in future numbers.] Col. Smith's Baru, Pesiu Township near Philadelphia. [Fig. 5.] .\. Waggon House, CO hij 40/1. B. Cow stables. C. Horse Stables. E. Carriage-House, 20jt. F. Hay Mow. G. Granary. The barn which if5 represented by tlie above engraving, was built in 1S34, by Col. Ke.vderto.n' Smith of Penn Township, in this (Philadelpliia) county. It is of brick, 150 feet in length, by 40 feet in breadth. The main baru is three stories high and 70 feet long. The basement story S feet 6 inches high, and is divided into horse and cow stables. Along the front is an entry throe feet wide, which extends the whole length, upon which there are doors to prevent the cattle or horses from p.issing from one stable to another" or from the stables to the entries. The horse stable contains twelve stalls— they are fifteen feet cjeep, and the stalls are five feet wide. The cow stables are 13 feet long, and the stalls four feet wide. There are sixteen stalls. At the northwest corner of the barn there is a feed-room with boxes, trough, &c., for the cattle; it is 8 by 13 feet. At the northeast corner there is also a feed-room for the horses, 10 by 1.5 feet. These communicate with the stable on one side, and the entries on the other. The entry between the horse stables is fi feet wide, that between the cew stables is r> feet. The doors are double, which serve to give light and air, and prevent the cattle from getting into the stables when it is desirable to have them in the barn yard. They are lined at the bottom with tin to prevent them from beincr cut by rats, — and so complete is the barn in this respect, that a rat has never been found in it. [Fig. 6.] ( 1 - :' w=^ I \ ^ 1 1 __^ 1 1 2 1 ■>™.. >._«. ^^=. ,..^«- — -=» =^ Hj __ L=^ ^^— 1 , I. , ^""^"'i ,^"^T. 1 1 r— ,, 1 1 I i 1 • 1 " " , Ti 1 1 1 1 ' ' The Joists of the floord are embedded in broken stone, and these are covered with mortar as lii^rh as to tlie tloor, b}' which means the floors are rendered more firm, and there is no harbor afforded for rats. The sills of the doors are all of dressed stone. There are funnels extending from tiie topw of tJie mows into the entries, through which the hay for the horses and cattle is dropped. This saves mucii labor, prevents tJie barn floor from hcing lumbered up with hay, and the funnels act as flues to take off the foul air from the stables. On the east of tlie main barn is a carriage house 20 feet wide and 40 feet deep, over which is a frranar/ with hatchway, block, tackle, &c. On the west of the main barn is the arched building 60 feet lon^ii; by 40 deep, 2 stories high, the lov.'er story is used for a wagon-house, and tiie second story is a mow, which will hold 30 tons of hay. The second story of the barn consists of mows and barn floor. The mows will probably contain about one hundred tons. The barn floor is 1(5 feet wide, and is provided with a closet for tools, and fun- nel to pass grain into the lower story to the entry between the horse stables. There is abundant room for nine horses to thrash upon it at ^ time. This story is well ventilated with Vent-tian blinds which can be opened or closed at pleasure. There is much advantage from having them made in this way, as they draw much air into the mows when open, and when closed, shut out the effects of storms. In the rear of the burn is a ramp leading to the barn doors, which open inwardly, and are contained in a house built for ilie purpose. This gives greater extent of barn floor, prevents the door from being in- jured by the wind, and protects the wall of the barn from being injured or pressed inwards by the earth in the ramp. The whole buildin^,' is provided with gutters and spouts to conduct rain water, so as to prevtrntit from going into the barn yard, and thereby washing away the strength of the manure there deposited. Tl)e v.-hole is surmounted by a lightning rod, and no farmer should consider a barn finished until this protection is furnished to his building, as it is very probable, considering the many barns that have lately been struck and burnt, tiiat tjie gas from hay and grain, when in the sweat, acts as a conductor of electricity, and a rod should be ready to pass it into the ground, and thereby prevent the sorrowful consequences often visited upon farmers for neglecting this precaution. Last, though not least, when we consider the perlVct manner in which this building has been plan- ned and finished, embracing every desirable comfort without any waste of room, and tlio nrrungement of which precludes all waste of labor, we cannot omit to notice the flagged pavement e.\tending along tbe whole front, 12 feet wide, and the pump in the centre. The horses can thus be led to water in THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 25 Bear view of the Darn, shewing Iho Rivmp and House for B:irn Doors.- wafl filled throughout with produce ComroiinlcateJforthePhiladelpliU Farnici'i A RASP, (Fig- 8.) In universal use for the purpose of crushing the hoet roots throughout the sugar making '^'-i^'f^f France. It is put in motion either by .team, water, horse, or hand power, and it P^Pff,.'^^ the rate ' ._-'... iTxcelleut, too, tor crushmg apples lor the raakmg "The Brown Corn," Mmilluiihuruu<;h, I-'eh.Glh, 1839. De.vr Sir :— I have noticed in the first number of the Monthly Visitor some notice made of the seed corn which I left at your publication oflice, in which you invite a more particular statement of the manner in which the land was prepared, and the distance at which the hills were placed apart, and the number of stalks in the hill. There are many farmers whose intelligence and skill in agriculture we respect, who greatly duubt that there can be up- wards of one hundred bushels of Indian corn grow upon one acre of land. They say that their soil is good ; that they manure it high ; but they cannot raise such great corn, and they do not believe that others can. But my own practical experience and improvement in agriculture have proved not only to myself but to all wlio are conversant with the following manner of cultivation, that there have been such crops of Indian corn raised as reported by the Stratt'ord Agricultural Society, and can still be greater crops raised. In order to raise a groat crop of Indian corn as well as all other crops, deep plougliing is indispen- sably necessary, and to plougli in a coat of manure at each ploughing, which should be done in order to mix the manure well witli the soil, observing at each time of ploughing to go equally as deep or deeper tlian it had been ploughed before. When I calculate on raising a great crop of Indian corn, I begin to prepare the ground the year before. The first year I draw en fifteen or twenty loads of ma- nure and spread it on sward land, and plough it in, and after a thorough harrowing plant it with pota- toes. After the potatoes are dug in the fall, I draw on fifteen or twenty loads of yard manure to the a- cre, and then plough it. The ne.vt spring, after harrowing, I draw on twenty or twenty-five loads of green barn manure to the acre, and a few days before planting, I plough it in. This last coat be- innr left under the furrow, will bring the corn to maturity in the last stage of its growth, while the other coats, being well mi.\ed with the soil, will start the corn with the greatest lu.xuriance in the first stage of its growth. After the ground is well levelled with the harrow, I then open for planting, the rows three fi et apart, and the hills two feet a- part, and have four or five kernels put into a hill, but at the first time of hoeing, select three of the most thrifty stalks in each hill to grow, and pull out the rest. When the stalks are four or five in- ches high, I commence hoeing. The first time I have it done with the greatest care and neatness. After this 1 only hoe to keep the weeds down with- out making any hill. My time of planting is any time from the twentieth to the thirtieth of May. I select my seed when I harvest the corn, and se- lect the best and forwardest ears, and as much as I can from stalks containing two or more, and sometimes five ears. If farmers would consider and consult their best interest, and would cultivate their farms in some way similar to the above statement, they would not only raise their corn with half the labor, but after the land is laid down to grass will cut double the quantity of hay to the acre; and it will hold out three times longer than land cultivated in the or- dinary way ; for no good fanner would half starve his cattle or swine, neither should he half starve his land. Yours respectfully, JOHN BROWN, 2d. Hon. Isaac Hill, Concord, N. H. NOTE. As you have proposed a name by which my corn may be designated, I wish you to publish in the next number of the Monthly Visitor that it may be had for seed in any quantity by applying to James Molineaux, Esq. Meredith Bridge, Straftbrd County, New Hampshire. J. B. 2. The plunger, by which the arti- of 800 revolutions, makes 64,000 cuts in a minute of cider; or potatoes for starch making. REFERENCES, Fio' 1 The rasr>, containintc eighty saws, half an inch apart. - - , = ■ r • ^i •■ i . cles Sre forced down to the sawl, and kept there while crushing. ;i. The box to contain the articles to be crushed. 4. The openin-^ in {he receiving, box by which the artxles, when crushed, are aken out by a wooden, copper, or L shovel, (not iron,)" to be placed in cloths tor pressing, o The imme or ta- b" 6 The strap by which it is propelled. 03= The frame should be made very stvong and firm. In fixing the machine, great care must be taken to do it very securely, as the inct.on, during the ope- ration of crushing, is very great. • • Th-'sraspincr machine is an admirable article— can be used for various purposes occupies hut little room, and costs but a trifle, compared with its value to the agriculturist. lor crushing apples or cider it is ikvaluable-and the entire apparatus for the pressing of the beet, will answer equally well for the nressino- of the apple pomace. We are also of opinion that farmers would find it highly ad ranta- ceous for crushino- roots, which, mixed vith cut straw, witli the addition of a little Indian meal, would form a most palatable, cheap, and nutritious food for stock— especially neat cattle. The cost, we think, would not exceed twenty-five dollars. ,. ,t r. , i tc ,i „ =„™r h<.,.t We hope to see this French rasping machine extensively used in New England. If the sugar beet is cultivated, it will be highly useful ; and for other purposes it must bo cheaper and more portablejtl.an cider mills orlother machines for which this may be a substitute. Finances of the State of Maine. From the Treasurer's Report it appears that the money in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1838, was ^45,421 74. During the year there has been received $418,654 23, making a total of $464,075 07. Within tile year there has been paid from the Treasury, )J448,li)0 08, leaving a balance on hand of $15,.^75'!)0. The funded delit, which the State now owes, is j{!.")84,250 26, payable at different pe- riods during the next ten years. The present lia- bilities of the Treasury are, $70."),73M 21, while the resources of the State are estimated at ^367,764 08. The amount which will be required to pay the bounty on wheat and corn, the Treasurer estimates at from $125,000 to 150,000. The ordinary expen- ses for the coming year, are estimated at $.560,842 47, and the ordinary resources $134,723 82, leav- ing a balance of $426,118 25, to be provided for. The State debt, at the close of the year, will be $1,000,000 — exclusive of the bounty on whaat and corn, if that should be continued. .36 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Geology of Maine. BY ClIARLKS T. JACKSON, M. D. Geological origin^ distribution^ chemical composi- tion and capabilities of soils. Considering' the vital importance of a correct knowledjrc of the science and art of agriculture, upon which man depends for liis daily bread, we shall willinijly avail ourselves of any information that may throw light upon the principles, by which we are to be nruided in practical operations. It cannot be concealed that agriculture in this country is far below the standard attained in Eu- rope, and that by their more scientific methods, the Frencii, German and Italian farmers are enabled to raise larger crops, so as to supply us with many ar- ticles of agricultural produce, at a lower rate than we have been able to grow them upon our own soil, and this too has been effected by people whose soil costs vastly more than ours. It is well known, that for several years past, large quantities of wheat, barley, Indian corn and beans, have been imported into this country from France, Germany, Vcnitian Lombardy, Tuscany and Egypt, while at the same time, orders have been sent out from France for the purchase of our refuse bones ; and the bone black of sugar refineries — substances used in that country for improving the soil. Thus, strange as it may seem, the French farmers send out to this country for manure, and supply us with bread, while many remain ignorant of the value of those very substances so eagerly sought for by our foreign brethren I European science has been brought to bear upon tlie art of agriculture, and hence the improvements are rapidly progressing there; while we have as yet done but little towards the development of this most important of arts. I know that many intelligent farmers decry "book farming" as useless, and tlicir remarks are certain- ly worthy of our attention, and we may perhaps remove their objections. Good books on this sub- ject record the experience of many excellent prac- tical farmers, and concentrate all the informa- tion that is scattered in various parts of the world; Ti'hile at the same time they give general rules by •which we are to be guided in practice. Where then is the objection that has been raised against such knowledge.'' It will be found that there are few such books in existence, although there are materials enough on record to furnish a good trea- tise, and those books that have appeared, are defi- cient in some of the most essential particulars, or they are so technical that those who are unacquaint- ed with the elements of science cannot understand them. There are also imperfections in the certifi- cates and rules, owing to no analysis having been made of the soils in question. So also our own farmers are unacquainted with the composition of their own soils. Hence we account for the uncertainty of the results obtained by those who make trials of new methods of farming, and we ought not to be surprised at their frequent fail- ures. If, however, all the conditions of the problem were understood by both parties, farmers would readily join hands with their scientific co-laborers, and tlie art of agriculture would soon become as certain as any other art, while, by the application of scientific principles, the business would become of a more exalted charactor, and assume its true rank in the consideration of all men. In order to make rational experiments in farming, it is essential that the composition of the soil should be known, and then wg can act understandlngly in our operations. In order to amend a soil, that knowledge is absolutely necessary, otherwise we might destroy its fertility, by the processes intend- ed for its amelioration, and thus be subjected to dis- appointment and chagrin. Mineralogy, geology and chemistry come to our aid, and serve to indicate the nature of the various soils, while sure indications are readily discovera- ble for the amendment of those which are sterile. Agriculture is of so great importance to the com- munity, that we should not allow our knowledge of it to rest upon mere empyricism. It oughi. to be exalted to the rank of a true science, and then it will become one of the most honorable, as it is one of the most useful of arts, and even the most high- ly educated men will then be proud to rank as scientific farmers. Let us now examine the subject more in detail, and ascertain how much light we may obtain from the science of geology, that jnay serve to guide us in our researches. We have first to consider the geological origin of soils. Every attentive person must have observed, that solid rocks, exposed to the combined action of air, water, and different degrees of temperature, under- go decomposition and disintei^ralion, so that they crumble into powder, and that some rocks decay more rapidly than others, owing to their structure, or mineralogical composition. If a rock is porous, or stratified in its structure, water infiltrates into it, and on freezing, expands with such power, as to tear the surface of the rock to pieces, so that it rea- dily crumbles. When fire runs through the for- ests, it heats the surface of the rocks, and by the irregular expansion produced, they are shivered in- to fragments. The action of running water and friction of stones, also serve to grind the rocks into powder, by attrition of their surfaces, and the detritus is borne along by the streams, and deposited in low lands, or along their borders. When a rock contains iron pyrites, or sulphuret of iron, that mineral, by tiie action of air and wa- ter, decomposes, and forms copperas, or sulphate of iron, and the sulphuric acid of that substance acts powerfully on some of the ingredients of the rock, and causes its rapid decomposition. Any person, who has been on the Iron Mine Hill, in Gardiner, will fully understand how rapid Is this operation, and may there see its results. The oxidizing pow- er of the atmosphere, also, acts powerfully upon the surface of those rocks, which have for one of their components, the prot-oxides of the metals, iron and manganese, and as those oxides take up another portion of oxigen, they increase in bulk, become brown or black, and the stone falls into fragments. These are a few of the causes now in action, which modify the solid crust of the globe, and it appears that their effects are far more important, than we might at first imagine. Whoever looks upon the muddy waters of the Mississippi, Ganges, Po, the Rhine, and the Rhone, or reads the calcu- lations respecting the enormous quantity of matter brought down from the mountains by those rivers, will at once appreciate the modifying influence of those causes which are continually wearing down the solid matter that forms the mass of our moun- tains. Geology teaches us, that such causes were for- merly in more powerful operation, and that the an- cient world was, from its infancy, subject to vio- lent catastrophes accompanied by powerful inroads of the sea ; oceanic currents and tumultuous waves having for many successive periods rushed over the land, and beaten the loftiest crags of the highest mountains. We should then naturally expect, that the earth would present ample testimony of the ac- tion of these powerful causes of disintegration of the rocks, and we do observe that a large portion of the loose materials upon the surface, bear proofs of aqueous action and mechanical abrasion. By thos« ancient convulsions, the detritus of the solid rocks was prepared, and forming the various soils, which we observe, the earth was rendered capable of yielding its rich stores of vegetation, on which a large proportion of the animated creatures de- pend for their food. From the foundation of the everlasting hills, the Creator, began to prepare the world tor the habitation of his noblest crea- ture, man, and converted a portion of the solid rocks into soils, which were given as the field of human labor, and to the progenitor of our race it was commanded that he should till the soil. If we take up a handful of earth, and examine it attentively, we shall readdy discover such min- eral ingredients, as denote the rocks from which it originated. Thus we discover in a soil numerous spangles of mica, grains of quartz, and white or brown earthy looking particles, which are felspar ; besides which, we remark a considerable portion of fine brown powder, which being examined with a microscope is found to be composed of the same minerals, more finely pulverized, and mixed with the brown oxide of iron. It will be at once under- stood, that such a soil arises from the disintegra- tion and decomposition of granite rocks, and that the oxide of iron was derived from the pyrites, or the prot-oxide of iron, contained in that rock. A soil arising from the decomposition of gneiss, possesses similar characters, only the mica is more abundant. aoils from mica slate are made up of a large pro- portion of mica, mixed with grains of quartz. Sienite, and hornblende rock, produce a dark brown soil, in which there is but little quartz, and a i^reat deal of feldspar, and decompo.sed hornblende. Greenstone trap-rocks form by their decomposi- tion a brown soil, which contains pieces of the un- decomposed rock, but the component minerals in the soil itself, are rarely so distinct as to be discov- erable. This soil is a warm kind of loam, soft and spongy, easily compressed into smaller dimen- sions by the pressure of tho hand, but not adhesive like clay. It is peculiarly adapted to the growth of p-'tatoes, and is a luxuriant sod for most of our ordinary produce. Slate-rocks forma soil of a blue color, in which numerous undecomposed fragments of the rock may be discovered. When transported by water, it is deposited in the state of tough blue clay. Limestone forms various colored soils, according to the nature of the impurities it contains. They are generally of a light yellowish brown color, from admixture of a certain proportion of oxide of iron. This is especially the case with those soils deriv- ed from the argillo-ferruginous limestone. Calcareous soils, if they are rich in carbonate of lime, may be distinguished by their effervescence with acids, and the quantity of this siibstance may be estimated by the loss of weight which indicates the proportion of carbonic acid, that has been expelled, and since the carbonic acid always occurs in the ra- tio of nearly 44 per cent, to 5G per cent, of lime, it is easy, by a proportional calculation, to ascertain the quantity of that mineral in the soil. It more frequently happens, that there is so mi- nute a quantity of carbonat, of lime in the soil, as to require a minute chemical analysis for its detec- tion, and few farmers have either leisure or means for such an operation. Examples of such analy- ses will be presently laid before you. Talcose slate rocks, when decomposed, form a light brown soil, in which particles of the rock are discoverable, and on analysis, a considerable quan- tity of the silicate of magnesia is found, which is one of the chief components of talc. Red sandstone, on disintegration, forms soil com- posed almost entirely of grains of quartz, with ox- ide of iron, and clay, with a few spangles of unde- composed mica. Grau-wacke, or conglomerate, when disintegrat- ed, produces a light grey soil, full of smooth rounded pebbles, which originate from the undecomposed components of the rock. Red porphyry is very slow of decomposition, and forms a bright red fine powder, filled with angular fragments of the rock. I have thus distinguished and described the ap- pearances which characterize those soils that arise immediately from the decay of solid rocks, and vari- ous characteristic specimens of each variety may be seen in the cabinet arranged for the use of the State. Let us next consider how soils are distributed on the earth's surface, and see how their qualities de- pend upon their situation. In various sections of this report maybe seen re- corded the proofs of diluvial transportation of rocks, far from their parent beds, and we have every rea- son to believe, that this removal was effected by a tremendous current of water, that swept over tho State from the North 15 d. West, to the South 15 d. East, and we have adduced in testimony that such was the direction of the current, numerous grooves, furrows or scratches upon the surface of the solid rocks, in place, and have shown conclu- sively, that the rocks which we find thus transport- ed, proved to be portions of ledges situated to the North of the localities where their scattered frag- ments are found. It is a matter of surprise, that such enormous masses of rock should have been moved so far by an aqueous current ; but when it is remembered, that a rock does not weigh but half so much when immersed in water, as it does when weighed in air, owing to the support given it by the water around; and when we reflect on the fact, that a rock is still more powerfully supported under the pressure of deep water, it may be conceived, that if a flood of water did once rush over the land, it might have removed large and weighty masses of rock, such as we find to have been the case. From the observations made upon Mount ICtaidn, it is proved, that the current did rush over the sum- mit of that lofty mountain, and consequently the diluvial waters rose to the height of more than 5000 feet. Hence we are enabled to prove, that the ancient ocean, which rushed over the surface of the State, was at least a mile in depth, and its transporting power must have been greatly increas- ed by its enormous pressure. It will be readily conceived, that if solid rocks wore moved from their native beds, and cj.rrled for- ward several miles, that the finer particles of soil should have been transported to a still greater dis- tance, so we find that the whole mass of loose materials on the surface has been removed south- wardly, and the soil resting upon the surface of rocks, in place, is rarely, if ever, such as results from the decomposition of those rocks, but was ev- idently derived from those ledges which occur to the Northward. If an attentiva observer examines th» soil in the THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 27 city of Portland, he will discover, at once, that it is made up from the detritus of granite and gneiss rocks, while the ledges in that city are wliolly composed of the argillaceous, talcose, and mica slate-rocks, and granite and gneiss occur in great abundance to the Nortliward. All the markings on the surface of the rocks, and the scattered boulders of granite and gneiss, ■which abound in that soil, indicate its origin to have been in the North 15 d. or 20 d. West. I merely quote the above locality, on account of its being a spot where most persons will have occasion to examine the facts stated. Tlie various sections of the State present ample illustration of the same fact, and every one who will take the trouble, may convince himself of its reality. The tertiary deposits of clay, sand and marine shells, were evidently produced in tranquil water, since their strata indicate, by their situation, struc- ture and beds of shells, that the clay was gradually and slowly deposited, allowing time for the propa- gation and growth of the various shell fish in its several layers. Not so was the diluvial matter de- posited, for we find it to bear marks of sudden and violent transportation and deposition, the various pebbles, boulders and erratic blocks of stone being mixed in great confusion. I have formerly men- tioned a locality, in Bangor, near the court-house, where, it would seem, there are proofs of a gradu- al subsidence of the diluvial current, the various particles becoming smaller, as we ascend the em- bankment, until we come to fine clay, which must have subsided from tranquil water. We observe, then, that the tertiary deposits were cut through by the diluvial waters, which have ex- cavated deep vallies, and heaped up long ridges^ called horse-backs, and the general direction of these vallies and ridges, coincides with the direc- tion formerly indicated, as the course in which the current swept. Although we are informed in the scriptures, that the Deluge was ordained for the punishment of wicked men, it is certain, that there was mercy mingled witli lliis dispensation, for the soils were comminuted, transported, and mixed in such a man- ner, that their qualities were improved, and ren- dered more suitable for the growth of plants, so that the surface of the globe was not only purified, but new and more fertile soils were prepared for coming generations, who literally reap advantage from the Deluge. Besides the ancient aqueous current, we see ev- ry day the action of water modifying the surface of the globe, transporting fine particles from the mountain-side, and depositing them in the valleys and along the margin of running streams. Espe- cially during fresliets, when the rivers burst their narrow confines, and spread out over the intervales, do we see rich deposits formed ofallucial soil. Such currents, arising amid decomposing vege- table matters, transport an infinity of fine particles of such matter, and deposit it with the various earthy ingredients, which form our richest mead- ows, and luxuriant intervale soils. Thus are form- ed many of thoae bottom lands, which occur along the river courses of the Western States, and the banks of rivers in Maine, under similar circum- stances, are found to be composed of like soils. A river, coursing its way amid various rocks, carries down and deposits fine particles of every kind, which it meets with in its way. If the rocks above are limestone, we shall have calcareous soil brought down and deposited by the river. So on the banks of the Aroostook, we find a rich alluvia! soil, equallmg in fertility the famed regions of the Western States, and capable, even under a less genial clime, of producmg crops of wheat and otlier grain, fully equal in abundance with any soils of which we have any recjrds. That river, with its wide and fertile intervales, is destined to become the granary of the Nortli, and whenever the policy of the State shall complete the roods, and offer facilities for settlement, we shall turn the tide of emigration, populate a fertile district, and I trust forever place that portion of Maine beyond the power of foreign aggression. Soils are powerfully modified by the circum- stances under wliich they are placed, and it will be useful to consider, how this may be affected by their order of super-position. I have had occasion to examine two portions of a field, in the town of Saco, where the superficial soil was uniformly composed of a light brown san- dy loam, and in one part of that field, the Indian corn iTowing upon it, was tall and luxuriant, while on the other, it was short and feeble. The several parU of this field were treated with tlie same kind of manure, and planted with the same grain, in the same manner, so that their circumstances were ap- paj-ently alike. On searching into the cause of this difference of fertility, it was discovered, tliat in the luxuriant part of the field, there was a deposit of clay, from one to two feet from the surface, while in the other, it was four feet below. Hence it would appear, that in the first instance, the clay served as a retainer of moisture and of manure, while in the other, these indispensable requisites for healthy vegetation, sank beyond tlie reach of the corn. Tlie remedy was at once apparent, for it was only necessary to mix clay with the barren soil, to make it retentive. It frequently happens, also, that we observe a farmer toiling upon a tough clayey soil, which it is in vain for him to attempt to keep loose, for with the first rain, the clay is washed down into a slimy paste, which by the ardent sun-beams, is soon bak- ed into an impermeable mass, wliich prevents the free germination and growth of the seed. Now, hard by, occurs a hill of sand, that nature seems kindly to have placed at his disposal, and he is on- ly required, after ploughing his clay soil, to cart a quantity of sand into tlie furrows, and harrow it in, in order to produce a soil of good texture, which may then be manured as required, and will pro- duce well. In such cases, the sand may be added every year, until there is a sufiiciency. Such soils are hitfhiy retentive of manure, and arc worth the labor of reclaiming, and I should denote the neigh- borhood of Bangor, as a suitable field for such im- provements ; and I doubt not, that the market of that city would, by its demand, amply repay the la- bor and mone}' expended. Froiu till! Southern Literary iMessengBr. Superiority Conferred by Science. A shop keeper in China, sold to the purser of a ship a quantity of distilled spirits, according^ to a sample shown; but not standing in awe of eon- science he afterwards, in the privacy of his store- house, added a certain quantity of water to each cask. The spirits having been delivered on board, and tried by the hydrometer, was discovered to be wanting in strength. When the vender was charg- ed with the intended fraud, he at first denied it, for he knew of no human means which could have made the discovery ; but on the exact quantity of water which had been mixed, being specified, a superstitio^fc dread siezed him, and having confess- ed his roguery, he made ample amends. The above is one instance among many which miglit be mentioned, of the advantages scientific knowledge gives its possessor over the ignorant. Whilst the pliilosopher in his study is engaged in the laborious investigation of abstract truth, the question is often asked " <■«! bono?" [For what good >] But when the results of his investigations are applied to the affairs of real life, their benefits are at once evident. Perhaps one or two more in- stances may set this truth in a stronger light. On mount Philatus, near lake Luzerne, is a val- uable growth of fir trees, which on account of the inaccesssible nature of the mountain, had remain- ed for ages uninjured, until within a few years a German engineer contrived to construct a trough in the form of an inclined plane, by which these trees are made to descend by their own weight, through a space of eight miles from the side of a mountain to the margin of the lake. Although the average declivity is not more than one foot in sev- enteen, and the route often circuitous, and some- times horizontal, yet so great is the acceleration that a tree deseends the whole distance in the short space of six minutes. To the spectator standing by the side of the trough, at first is heard, on the approach of the tree, a roaring noise, becoming louder and louder ; tlie tree comes in sight at tlie distance of half a mile, and in an idstant afterwards slioots past witli the noise of thunder, and almost with the rapidity of an arrow. But for the knowl- edge of the inclined plane, which the German en- (vineer had previously acquired, such a work as this would have appeared impossible. The chronometer, a species of watch constructed to go with great accuracy, has been applied to the purpose of determining longitude at sea. " After months spent in a passage from South America to Asia," sayj Arnott,"our captain's chronometer an- nounced that a certain point of land was then bear- ing east from the sliipat the distance of fifty indes; and in an hour afterwards, when a mist cleared away, the looker out on the mast gave a joyful call, 'land ahead !' verifying the report of the chro nometer almost to a mile, after a voyage of thou- sands. It is natural at such a moment, with the dangers and uncertainties of ancient navigation be- fore°the mind, to exult in contemplating what man has now achieved. Had the rate of the v/onderful little instru'.uent changed even a little, its an- nouncement would have been worse than useless— bnt in the night, and in the day, in storm and in calm, in heat and in cold— while the persons around it were experiencing every vicissitude of mental and bodily condition, its steady bent went on keep, ini' exact account of the rolling earth, and of the stars ; and in the midst of the trackless waves, it was always ready to tell its magic tale of the very spot of the globe over which it had arrived. In one point of view, this result appears to arise from the perfection of the chronometer's mechanism ; but had not the men of science determined the exact figure of the earth, and its rate of motion around both its own axis and the sun, the clironometer could have given no information respecting the lon- gitude ; it would have told its tale indeed, but with- out science as its interpreter, the tale would have remained wrapped ia the mystery of an unknown tongue. From tliB riiilaJel|)lH:i Fanner's Catjinel. Agriculture of the Ancients. "Hate not hii.5bandry, wllicll llie .Most High li.illi (,riliilned." Columella, who wrote an elaborate treatise on husbandry, in twelve books, more than 18U0 years ago, and which was translatjd and printed in Eng- land about a century since, observes, " Tliat the bodies of cattle ouglit to be rubbed down daily, as well as the bodies of men ;" and says, "it often does them more good to have their backs well rubbed down, than their bellies well filled with proven- der." The work of Columella appears to un of the pres- ent day as most extraordinary. It treats most elab- orately and sensibly of many matters connected with husbandry, down to tlie rearing of poultry. The diseases of animals engage a due share of no- tice, and in regard to the care of sheep there is scarcely any thing new could be written at the present day. And what is remarkable, many of the common practices, opinions, and notions prevalent through the country at the present time, arc so ac- curately depleted in his work, as to render it cer- tain that tliey have been handed down to us from that remote age of the world. In regard to making hay, he says, "But it is best to cut down hay beforo it begins to wither ; for you gather a large quantity of it, and it affords a more agreeable food to cattle. But there is a measure to be observed in drying it, thj.t it be not put togetlier over dry, nor yet too green ; for in tlie first case, it is not a whit better Than straw, if it has its juice : and, in the other, it rots in the loft, if it retains too much of it ; and of- ten, after it has grown hot, it breeds fire, and sets all in a flame. Somctlincs, also, when wo have cut down our hay, a shower surprises us. But if it be thoroughly wet, it is to no purpose to move it while it is wet ; and it will be belter, if we suffer the up- permost part of it to dry with the sun. Then wa will afterwards turn it, and, when it is dried on both sides, we will bring it close together into cocks, and so bind it up in bundles : nor will wo upon any account delay to bring it under a roof ; or if we cannot conveniently either carry the hay in- to the manor house, or bind it up in bundles or trusses, it will certainly be proper to liuild it up in ricks, whatever part of it shall be dried in the man- ner it ought to be, and to form them into very sharp points ; for thus the hay Is commodlously preserv- ed from rains ; and, though there should be none, yet it is not amiss to maku the aforesaid rick, so that, if there be any moisture in tlie horbs it may sweat out, and be dried up in tke stacks." I have copied out the above to show the farmora of the present day what was known 130U years ago about making hay, which you may print in the Cabinet, if lt°is thought of suflicient Interest. C. Test of Good Flour. Mr. John Babcock, of London, gives tlie follow ino- rule to ascertain the quality of flour : "Flour which is pure and unadulterated, may bo known by your seizing a handful briskly, and squeezing it half a minute; it preserves the form of the hand in one piece, although placed rudely on the table. Not so with that which contains foreign substances ; its adhesive property is weak, and falls to pieces immediately. The wliiteness of flour ia no evidence of its goodness ; the different materi- als used In adulterating flour, have a tendency to whiten it." Advice to Parents. There is nothing so destructive to the morals, and we may add, to the peace of any community, as the neglect of parents, rich or poor, to teach their sons the importance of being early engaged in some active employment. Too many of the citizens of every place, under the influenco of false pride, suf- fer their sons, after quitting their academical stud- ies, to lounge about tlie p^h'ic oiHcea and taverns of their place of reaidence, rathsr than eeuse-theoa 28 THE FARMER'S MOiNTHLY VISITOR. to engage in some important branch of the mc chanical art, or t'orco tlieui by the dint ol'tlieir own industry and energies, to seek their fortune in some other pursuit. Nothing is more detestable in onr eye, than to see a healthy good looking youth breaking loose from the restraints of honorable in- dustry, returning to his fathers domicil for support, and loafing it about, ratlier than be pursuing some occupation which will not only support himself, but give gratification to his worthy parents. We would say to every fatln^r who has such a son. be he rich or poor, rather drive him to "cu' his cord of wood a day," than suffer him to spend his time in idleness. "An idle head is the devil's work shop." That youth, therefore, who has nothing to do, is very apt to become a tattler^ a slajiderc7\ and a liar^ or some- thing worse, and make himself the pest of the com- munity in which he may reside. Fred. Times. Beet Sugar. It will at no time be an object to theeditorof the Monthly Visitor to encourage expensive experi- ments where there is*, risque of failure. No fann- er who cannot afford to lose, or who cannot lose without ffreat inconvenience, ought to make exper- iments where he is ignorant of the certain results. It remains to be ascertained whether the beet su- gar cultivation can be profitably carried on in this country. When we read of the attempts of Na- poleon twenty -five years ago to introduce that cul- tivation into France, we were of opinion that he would never succeed ; we supposed it to be a state stratagem to deceive the people of France into the belief that they might obtain their sugar even though English supremacy on the ocean should deny them the benefits of exterior commerce, and to impress the enemies of France with the belief that she had the means of independence upon her own soil. Some ten years ago, we were first sur- prised with the progress of the beet sugar produc- tion in France. Since this production in that coun- try has overcome all obstacles and is likely to su- persede entirely the West-India cane sugar which can be produced only in warm climates, we have very little doubt that the same article may be intro- duced into the United States ; and if it shall not succeed in New England, we are quite sure that it will succeed in the Middle and Southern States, with the advantage over the cane of Florida and Louisiana, that while the latter must depend on the labor of slaves, the former will be best accomplish- ed by the labor of free whites. The experiment may be made in this country without great expense. We need no acts of incor- poration, nor even legislative bounties, to accom- plish the object. The sugar beet, like the common garden beet, is an article easily raised, and when it is raised it is not less useful than the mangel wurtzel or rutabaga for feeding cattle. The ground on which it is cultivated should be well prepared; if the ground is very rich, it will be covered with the growth where the rows are placed one and a half and two feet apart so as to pass through with the plough or cultivator. Should any farmer raise five hundred or a thousand bushels, he will do it at a profit even tliough he makes no attempt to ex- tract sugar from them ; for in proportion as they have more of the saccharine quality than the com- mon beet so they are more valuable for feeding cat- tle. Milch cows can be fed on them once a day during the winter with decreasing the quantity of hay and generally increasing the milk : they are also valuable for working o.xen and for young cat- tle. We are not yet informed whether there is a dif- ference between the sugar beet raised in the north- ern and a southern climate : can any reader of the Visitor give us the information? The Commissioner of Patents has had the good- ness to send us the copy of a memorial lately made to Congress by Ch.irlks Lewis Fleisciim.\-'(iN, Graduate of the Royal Agricultural Institute of Bavaria, who is now employed in the Patent Otfice at Washington. This memorial treats of the man- ufacture of beet-sugar and contains much interest- ing and authentic information. The memorial, al- though highly interesting, is too long for insertion entire. The following is a condensed summary of some of its most important contents, taken from the New York Herald : '^This is on the manufacture of beet sugar. The first discovery of chrystallizable sugar in the beet root, was made by a German chemist, named Mark- graf, in 1747, which was communicated to the Roy- al Academy of Sciences at Berlin. This discovery remained without further experiment until 17%, when Achard repeated the experiments, and erect- ed the first manufactory at Kunnem, in Germany. The process of Achard was rc-e.\amlned, simplifi- ed, and made more practicable, in France. From various causes, such as the costliness of the manu- factories, the unproductiveness of the soil, and the scarcity and high price of fuel, &c., the results were not satisfactory, and the opinion generally prevailed that the extraction of sugar from the beet, though correct in theory, was impracticable on a large scale. The political events of 1812, how- ever, hastened the developementof this new branch of industry, and the French governmeatgave great encouragement to the manufacture of beet sugar, by establishing four large manufactories and five chemical schools for the purpose of making exper- iments and teaching the best method of extraction. In 1814, the progress of these manufactories was suddenly checked by the peace of Europe, which allowed the importation of the colonial sugar into France. New efforts were, however, soon made, and chemistry assisted to simplify the process, (a creat desideratum) and discovered the mode of re- i-iviiig animal charcoal, so as to admit of its being repeatedly used, while the improved apparatus aid- ed to economize labor and fuel. The cultivation of the beet has had a most beneficial influence on agriculture. During the last year, more than 80,- OOU acres of land were planted in beets, producing about one million of tons of the root; and as rota- tions generally of four crops are adopted, it brought at least three millions two hundred thousand acres of land under the highest cultivation. To show the rapid increase of manufactories and the quan- tity produced in France, the following table is given : In 1823, 103 iinnuf!iclorie», ino, 000 Iha. beet sugar produced. 18:il, 200 " 'J-20,000 " " 183B, 54:) " 9M,000 " " " 1S37, fiOO '■ 1,0011,000 " " " In 1S3G France imported only 7.5,120 tons of co- lonial sugar, which was a diminution of 15,630 tons in one year, occasioned by the increased production of the indigenous sugar. The French colonies have taken the alarm, and have petitioned for a diminu- tion, of duties on the French colonial sugar of fifty per cent., and the French government have deter- mined to impose the same duty on both. England has followed the example of France to a certain ex- tent, by establishing refineries in different parts of the kingdom for purifying beet sugar. Russia has also established large manufactories ^T beet sugar, and Bohemia, Austria, Hungary and Switzerland, have large beet sugar factories in the most flourish- ing condition. The Germans, who first discovered the crystallizability of sugar in the beet root, made very little progress in its manufacture till 183G,but have finally brought their own discovery of the ex- traction of sugar from the beet to perfection. This haj been accomplished by Mr. Sehuctzenbach, who modified the experiment of Markgruf so as to pro- duce, with less labor and ex])ense, eight pounds of white refined sugar out of 100 pounds of the raw beetroot; and this improvement the memorialist thinks will, in a short time, exclude all the colonial sugar from European markets, as well as our own, and will also change the condition of millions of men in the colonies. "The. importance of Mr. Schuct- zenbach's discovery," says the memorialist, "is at last proved by chemical analysis and examination of the physiology of plants." This analysis of the beet root shows that 100 parts of the root contain SO. 3 parlsof walcr, 10.0 pnrls of cryslnl'ble sugar, 3.2 " fibrous matter, 0.3 " mucilage. By the new process the water in the beet is evap- orated, and there remain only 13.7 parts of dry sub- stances, which consist of the sugar, mucilage and fibrous matter. The sugar dissolves in cold or warm water almost instantaneously ; the mucilage is in. dissoluble in w'ater, and the fibrous matter is indis- soluble and h.-.3 no injurious influence. The mucil- ao-e is the only substance which causes all the dif- ficulty in the extraction of sugar. The principal process consists, then, in the separation of the mu- cilage from the sugar. Raspael, a Frencli chemist, has made the following microscopic experiment. "When," says he, "a thin slice of the red beet root is brought under the focus of a microscope, it will be observed that the texture of the beet is formed of hexagonal cells transparent and of a pur|)!e col- or. These cells are crossed by white ones four or five times longer than the purple cells ; this tissue of white cells is again crossed by bundles of opaque cylinders of a gray color, through which the spi- rals are observed. From this it follows that purple cells enclose tlie coloring matter, and the mucilage and opaque cijlinders the sugar in its jnire state. Thus the mucilage in the beet root is separated by nature from the sugar, and mi.xed by the manipula- tion which caused all the dilficulties of the extrac- tion in the old process, when the mucilage was com- bined with the sugar in grating, pressing, and even in defecation. The now process acts entirely in conformity with the results of scientific investiga- tion, and tile whole process is reduced to a single operation, which gives a sure gain of eight per cent, of white refined sugar from 100 pounds of the raw beet root. The beets are now cut into slices, dried before any fermentation can take jilace, ground to fine powder, so that all the cells are broken apart and mi.xed with water, which dissolves the sugar before the mucilage begins to swell. The pureun- colored liquor obtained is evaporated, and the syr- up brought into moulds to crystallize. These state- ments prove the practicability and infallibility of the new improvement, the introduction and adoption of which in this country will be of the highest impor- tance to the welfare of its population. The manipulations at present in Europe are re- duced to a process much simphr than that oP hrcio- ing rommon tahJeheer., which can be comprehended and performed by every one. The period is not distant when farmers will produce their own sugar, or at least raise or dry the beet ready for the manufacturers. The memorialist proves that Amer- ica overbalances with her physical advantages, the low price of labor in Europe, and that she is able not only to provide herself with all the sugar want- ed for home consumption, but also to supply other countries. By the adoption of this new branch of industry, he thinks, the sums now paid for import- ed sugar, viz ; about thirteen millions of dollars, would, in a short time, be a gain to the country. Its agriculture would be improved, and thousands of acres of exhausted and deteriorated land would be again taken up and improved. To procure the necessary manure for this purpose, the farmer would be obliged to increase his live stock, which would find, during the winter season, plenty ot* food in the residuum of the manufactory. It would increase the consumption of sugar among the less wealthy, and make their condition in life more comfortable, and of consequence, greatly extend the population. The beet requires a deep soil, suf- ficiently provided with decomposed manure. An acre of good cultivated land yields, on an average, twenty tons of beet root — or a ton of beet root yields, when treated after the new method, 180 pounds of white refined sugar. The cost of manu- facturing a ton of beets into sugar would be, at a very high estimate, iJG; 180 pounds of refined beet sugar would cost $11, or 6 1-10 cents per pound — for which we no%v pay, at the lowest rate, 16 cents. A Mr. RiUieux of New Orleans has recently in- vented an apparatus for reducing saccharine hquida, which surpasses any other invention of the kind, not only in simplicity and cheapness, but also in the arrangement in the boiling of sugar, agreeably to the principles of science and economy. The production of indigenous sugar in France was one of the main pillars of Napoleon's continen- tal system, and the successful extraction of sugar from the beet V\'as relied on as the surest guaranty of its stability. This Is the substance of this val- uable memorial, which communicates a mass of in- teresting information, and may, when made public, be the instrument of producing much good to the country. Were some of the surplus capital in the United States to be invested in sugar beet estab- lishments, it would not only yield an immense profit to the proprietor, but add a new branch of industry to the country, and contribute greatly to tlie agricultural prosperity of the United States.'' From the Genesee Fanner. Treatment of Wounds on Horses. Mr. Tucker; — In the 5th number of the cup- rent volume of the monthly Farmer, I noticed some remarks upon the "Treatment of Wounds on Hors- es, ' and although the treatment there recommend- ed, would undoubtedly, under certain circumstan- ces, prove highly beneficial ; yet as that article seems to direct it as generally applicable in every case, and in every condition of wounds, while in many, and indeed iu most cases, it could not fail to prove injurious, I beg leave to offer for your con- sideration, a fev/ observations upon the same sub- ject. It is truly painful to see an animal, possessing such claims to our kindness and care, as the horse, so oflen subjected to empirical and cruel treatment, when Laboring under disease. This arises from the prescription not being directed by any rational pliyslo'ogical and pathological principles; every one feeling at liberty to prescribe whatever remedy he may have heard of, or can invent, and tile more bold and novel, the greater the merit of suggesting it. Attention to a ^e\v well established principles, would prevent the fatal errors into which many are unwarily led, and preserve many a noble and valu- able animal from ruin. Experience has abundantly proved that those general principles of physiology and pathology, which are applicable to the human subject in health THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 2f) and disease, are also applicable to those animals that are taken from tlie hand of nature, and sub- mitted to our care and nurture, and tliat similar diseases require in both similar treatment. The principles, therefore, that would guide the skillful surgeon in the treatment of a surgical disease in man, should also direct the veterinary surgeon or farrier in similar diseases in a horse, or other ani- mal. In relation to this subject, tlie surgeon may well adopt, as his motto, lines that are perfectly adapted to every other, of which your paper pro- fesses to treat. "Take rs'ature's path :uid mail opinions leave." The two processes by which nature accomplish- es the healing of wounds, are 1st, Union by the first intention, as it is technically called, or in oth- er words, the uninn of the divided parts immedi- ately, without the formation of matter, and ^d, by granulation, in which the immediate union of the parts is not affected ; but by accident or improper interference, are kept asunder, and the chasm has to be filled up, by the formation of new flesh. By tlie first process the cure is soon accomplished, with little trouble, with little or no pains, and little risk of leaving an unsiglitly scar. By the second, the cure is often protracted, and interrupted in its pro- gress, and more liable to leave a permanent disfig- urement. The principles by which the one or the other of these results is produced, are these: 1st. If the sides of a recent wound, made by a rulting in- strument, be simply brought into perR'Ct contact and retained there from three to five days, a perfect union will take place, witliout the formation of matter. 2d. If the divided parts cannot be brought into perfect contact, or before contact have been irritated by improper applications, immediate un- ion will not take place, but matter must be formed, new flesh must be interposed to compact the parts, and subsequently to be removed by the slow prog- ress of absorption, to accomplish the same ultimate object. The first process is nature's own sponta- neous effort to eftecl a<;ure, and the course which she would always pursue untier favorable circum- stances, if left to iierself, or gently and judicious- ly aided by art. The second, is that to which she resorts from necessity, and when interrupted in her salutary process, by the rude and ill-timed inter- ference of art — the first result therefore, should al- ways be aimed at, as not only the most favorable, but also as attended by the least risk and trouble — to attain which, the principles just referred to, dic- tate the following course. As nearly as may be, free the wound from-all for- eign substances, as dirt, gravel, hair, &c. '&c. in the most gentle manner, by means of a soft sponge and simple warm water, then bring the sides of the w»und into perfect contact, retain them there by means of adhesive plaster, or stitches, or both, ac- cording to the circumstances, and over the whole, apply a pledget of soft lint, which should remain until the cure is effected. Nothing more is requir- ed, unless inflammation should run too high, when keeping the parts constantly wet iu cold water is the best application. Indeed, the numerous cleans- ing and healing nostrums so frequentl}' resorted to, never fail of being hurtful by disturbing the saluta- ry operations of nature. With this mild and simple treatment, nature al- wa3fs produces that degree of infiamniation which is necessary to effect a cure, in the best possible man- ner; but by the officious a])plication of plasters, blue stone, detergent oils, Otc. &c.. her salutarv of the soil will increase in a corresponding ratio. A double amount of labor will give a double pro- duct. The farmer may sell half his farm, and pay his debts, and still with the same labor obtain an undiminished product. He may again divide, and on a moiety with the same labor, still obtain his usual product. He may double his labor, and he will double his product. This will hold true to an indefinite extent. Again as necessity presses, and the demand for the product increases, invention will step in, ex- periment will perform her work, new and great discoveries will result, and to this there can be, there will be no end. But the earth is first to be run over as with fire, and the soil skimmed of its native fertility, before the pressing hand of necessity will push us to pry into, and unfold the hidden secrets of her resour- ces. In our own country, the wilds of the east and of the west, are to be plundered of the gold dust scattered upon their surface, before the deep mines are penetrated, and their valuable stores brought forth to supply the wants of man. But we are spinning too long a yarn upon this subject. When we commenced it w.ts our inten- tion merely to name some things which can be done, and which should be done by us of old Chesh- ire— how that we should continue our beginning in the work of improvement, and persevere in that beginning. We should continue to think — ^to ex- periment— to communicate. What science or art is not susceptible of improvement when the power of mind is brought to bear upon it.' Whatbrancli of knowledge is clouded with so great ignorance, as that which explains the process of vegetation — the uses of the different ingredients of the soil and the sources whence the plant derives its food — the nature of the different plants, and the kind of soil adapted to their constitution and growth — all these mysteries of ignorance to which the miiid of man is but just beginning to be directed. Stern necessity is beginning to rivet our attention to the subject, and the more heartily we enter into it, the better it will be for us, and those who shall succeed us. The future millions of inhabitants destined to people this country, who shall be better sustain- ed than the present population, will thank us for our beginning in the course of improvement. The might}' PKf;ss, is the yneans by which it shall be ac- complished— the all conquering influence of jund, the cause. had assembled long before the hour appointed for lighting the mass of old furniture, wood, shavings, and other combustibles, placed in the ground floor, a careful examination of the premises having been previously made by the high constables of Man- chester, the conductors of the fire engine de- p.artments, and of the police of that place, Liver- pool, Bolton, Stockport, and other places, and ma- ny of the leading manufacturers of the neighbor- hood, who all appeared extremely anxious to ascer- tain the result. Shortly aft,er three o'clock the ma- terials on the ground floor were sot on fire, and the flames spread rapidly around the floor, enveloping the ladder staircase, covering the ceiling, and con- suming the window frames, and all other ])ortions of wood material unprotected by the cement. The fire having nearly exi>ended its fury on the ground floor in half an hour, without having been commu- nicated in the slightest degree to the floor above, the combustibles in the latter were ignited, by a person ascending on a ladder from with.iut, and a similar result followed. On after inspection by the local authorities, it was found that, whilst the com- mon plastering was partly destroyed, and the un- protected wood work utterly consumed, complete access to flame had been cut off from one floor to the other, th" cement ceiling was uninjured, and the ladder staircase, rafters, joists, lintels, bind tim- bers, &c., protected with the cement, entirely pre- served, ."ill parties expressed their satisfaction at the tests to which the cement had been submitted, and the consequent proofs of its applicability on the largest scale — English Pujnr. Forcing Mulberry Trees. The rage for growing Mulberry trees excites the most sober people. A number of large green hous- es, conservatories, cocooneries and other establish- ments have been fitted up in this town for growing tliese costly trees during the winter months, and the culinary departments and even some of the la- dies' parlors contain the germs of future forests of Mulberry trees. In three or four large establishments there cannot be less than two hundred thousand cuttings out, part of which have sprouted beauti- fully, and by the month of April they will amount to something eonsider.able in the shape of trees. The purposi> is to increase the shrubs in size, so that when the spring opens they will answer to lay down or put out in the shape of cuttings. A box two feet wide and four feet long, with a foot of earth, will contain over one hundred cuttings, which can be placed in any warm corner. In three months, they will have grown sufKcient to multi- plv, by laying them down, into nearly a thousand operations are disturbed, too much inflammation is I trees, by next autumn. — Vurtha}nj>lun,.Vs. Courier. excited, and she is compelled to resort to tht» slow- er, more laborious and imperfect process, of heal- ing by granulation. D. Sacketts Harbor, Aug. 15, 1838. From Ih9 Cliealiire Farmer. What can be done ? Many farmers seem to be aware that, under their present management, their farms are deteriorating every year, and the inquiry is 'what can l.»e done r' Many incline to the belief, that there is no remedy for this — that land must and ^viU *run out' by till- ing, and they come to the conclusion, that they will 'make the most of it,' wliile it lasts, and when it shall become reduced to utter sterility, they will 'pull up stakes' for another location. 'What can be done .'' We answer, much. Every branch of industry is susceptible of improvement to an indefinite extent. The science of agriculture is yet in its infancy. Its maturitv will develope the fact, that every font of land in our country, from the barren sandy plain to the mountain sum- mit, may be brought to a state of great productive- ness. But to do this, will require generations. Ne- cessity is the great inventor, wh'.?h will bring it about. As population increascij, the productions Preventive of Fire. At Manchester, on Tuesday, an experiment was tried witli the new cement, which, as a substitute for the common lime plaster for ceilings, partitions, &c., or as anon-conducting medium to cover wood- work, is assumed to be cap.able of limiting the rav- ages of a fire to a room or floor, when, under oth- er circumstances, the whole premises might be destroyed. On the occasion referred to, a building of two floors, each with three windows, prepared, by having the rafters, joists, lintels, and other tim- bers, covered with the cement in coats varying from one to three-eighths of an inch in thickness, as well as the ladder staircase connecting the two floors. The ceilings were also covered chiefly with the ce- ment, portions having been plastered with lime to show decisively the action on each; and, in order to prove still more evidentl}' that the ignition might be cut oft' between the two floors, the contents of one being in flames, whilst those of the other, al- though equally inflammable, remained untouched, a sub-floor, covered on both sides witli cement, was placed under the flooring of the upper portion of the building, ami a trapdoor, cemented flo\vn, over the aperture of the ladder way. An immenoe crowd Hog-pens. Every one that keeps hogs should see that they have a good warm, dry, comfortable pen for cold weather ; then if they are well fed, they will thrive through the winter and consume less food than those kept in a cold place. If hogs are kept cold, and wet, and filthy, as many are, they will eat a great deal during winter, and perhaps be no larger in the spring than in the fall. There is often a crreat waste of time and food for want of a little care. There should be a warm, dry apartment, with a good bed of straw, leaves, or the like, and the stye should be so constructed that this place can be kept in a comfort.able state, and the manure re- moved as it accumulates, that it may not be carried into this part, nor into the trough, nor slick to the hogs and dry or freeze on them. Rotten wood and charcoal are good for hogs when they are confined, and they should now and then have a little pure earth. — Yankee Farmer. Sugar. This is the most nourisliing substance in nature. If affords more nutriment than meat. It enters into the composition of most vegetables, and a- bounds in the beet, melon, apple, and others which are the most palatable. It seems requisite for the sustenance of animal life, and sailors who are conl- pelli'd to subsist only on salted meats, without veg- etables, are afflicted with disease. Crews of ves- sels subsisted on it, during times of scarcity, and in such cases it has cured the scurvy. The first settlers of this country, in order to obtain it, used to boil up the chips of tlie walnut trees, which they had cut down. The Indians, on their long jour- neys, prefer it to any other food, because it will not corrupt, and they mix it liberally with their pow- dered Indian corn. The juice of the sugar cane is so pleasant, healthy, and nourishing, that all per- sons in the .loutli employ it. The healthy negroes become robust, and the feeble recover their health by its use. Cattle, to wliom the tops are given, grow f'at, horses thrive upon it, and are said to be fond of it, while pigs and poultry fatten on the re- fuse. It is said that the plague has neverappeared in those countries where it is most used. It is of great use to correct the acidity, and acerbity of other articles of food. It should be used with tea, esiieeially by the nervous, the weakly, and seden- tary, to prevent its deleterious effects. Loaf sug- ar, the finest of sugars, is frequently ordered by physicians, as a nutritious substance, and we have known individuals, who, like Cassius, had a lean and hungry look, to correct their habits by the use of sweet articles, and become corpulent and heal- thy.— Trarellcr. Commerce of Philadelphia. — By a statement of the number of arrivals at Philadelphia for the last fifty years, it appears that the number of foreign arrivals now is no more than in 1788. About the beginning of this century there was a small in- crease. The number of coasting arrivals has in the same time increased to nearly thirty times what it was ; that is, from liyO vessels in X7&7, to 10,800 ill 1838. m THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. niannfacture of Itlnple Sufar. There is no tree whose shape and whose foliage are more beautiful, and whose presence indicates a more generous, fertile and permanent soil, than the Rock Maple : in various cabinet work its timber vice with black walnut and mahogany for durabili- ty and beauty ; and as an article of fuel, its wood equals the solid hickory- In passing through the Franconia and White Mountain Notclies two years ago, we were surprised to see the Rock Maple spontaneously springing up in a rapid growth on the sides of tlie road and in other places recently cleared where cliffs of rock occupied a large por- tion of tlie face of the soil. Tile maple is a tree natural to our forests ; and wherever there has been opportunity for a second growth, this tree attains to a considerable size much sooner than might be im- agined. In the course of ten or fifteen years the maple becomes of a size to produce sugar. The trees which have come \ip since the first clearing produce sap that v'elds much more sweet than the original forest maples. Few farmers in tlie habit of making maple sugar will be taught by any instruction of ours. The work begins usually about the first of March. The tree will yield the liquid long before vegetation ap- pears from the bud : frequently the most copious flow is before the snow disappears from the ground. The cl»ar day following a night of freezing is the best time for running sap. Some persons have a camp in their maple or- chards where large cauldrons are set in which to boil down the sap to the consistency of a thick syrup : others take the liquid to their houses and there boil down and sugar off. The process begins by the preparation of spouts and troughs or tubs for the trees : the spouts or tubes ar,^ made of elder or sumac or pine, sharpen- ed to fit an auger hole of about three fourths of an inch in diameter. The hole is bored a little up- ward, at the distance horizontally of five or si.\ inches apart, and about twenty inches from the ground on the south or sunny side of the tree. The trough, cut from white maple, pine, ash or bass- wood, is set directly under tlie spouts, the points of which are so constructed as completely to fill the hale in the tree, and prevent the loss of the sap .at the edffes, having n small gimlet or pith hole in the centre, through which the imtire juice discharged from the tree runs, and is all saved in tlie vessels below. The distiuce bored into the tree is only about one half an inch to give the best run of sap. The method of boring is far better for the preser- vation of the tree than boxing, or cutting a hole with an axe, from the lowor edge of which the juice is directed by a spout to the trough or tub prepared to receive it. The tub should be of ash or other wood that will communicate no vicious taste to the liquid or sugar. The sap is gathered daily from the trees and put in larger tubs for the purpose of boiling down. This is done by the process of a steady hot fire. The surface of the boiling kettle is from time to time cleansed by a skimmer. The liquid is prevented from boiling over by the suspension of a small piece of fat pork at the proper point. Fresh addi- tions of sap are made as the volume boils away. When down to a syrup, the liquor is set away m some earthen or metal vessel till it becomes cool and settled. Again the purest part is drawn oft' or poured into a kettle until the vessel is two thirds full. By a brisk and continual fire the syrup is fur- ther reduced in volume to a degree of consistence best taui'ht by a little experience, when it is either put into moulds to become hard as it is cooled or stirred until it shall be grained into sugar. The right point of time to take it away from the fire may be ascertained by cooling and graining a small quantity. The sediment is strained oft' and boiled down to make molasses. A cold and dry winter is followed with a greater yield of sugar from the maple than a season very moist and variable. Trees gro%ving in wet places will yield more sap, but much less sugar from the same quantity, than trees on more elevated and drier orround. The red and white maple will yield sap, but it has much less of the saccharine quality than the rock or sugar maple. There are several towns in the northern sections of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont that pro- duce more than suflicient sugar for the consump- tion of tlieir inhabitants. A lot of good sugar trees will average four pounds to the tree in a favorable season. iVlany farmers have orchards that will yield five hundred to a thousand pounds of sugar in a year. As this is made at a season interfering very little with the other business of the farm, the sugar that the farmer makes is as so much clear gain. There is on almost every hill farm some place favorable for the growl". J' s Kny'.L Drchard— some rocky spot yielding little grass and impervious to the plough. Such spots may be favorably chosen for the growth of a maple orchard ; and whether the increase be used for manufacturing sugar and molasses, or for timber or fuel, the proprietor of the land will find a profit better than money at interest in the growth of this beautiful tree, which will spontaneously propagate itself in many positions. The CDlture of silk. There has been a large meeting in Philadelphia, of persons friendly to the culture of Silk. The resolutions confidently express the belief that silk may be produced in all the United States, not only for domestic purposes but as an article of commer- cial export; that the soil and climate of Pennsylva- nia are better adapted to raising silk than those of Italy and France, and that no project has been started of late years, "so well calculated to melio- rate the condition of the industrious poor." An Iitdustrions Woman. Mrs. Gross of Readfield, during the last four months, has woven 343 yards of plain cloth, spun 180 skeins of yarn, besides weaving 8 Holland shawls 3-4 and six 10-4, and has taken care of a family of four small children. The average price of weaving the cloth was 11 cents per yard ; 8 of the shawls .'Jl 00 each, and six of thorn $1 50; to- tal $54 73 for weaving. Mrs. G. supports her fam- ily, and clotlies them neatly and comfortably, by her own unaided industry, having been left a wid- ow a year or two since. In the year 1837, from August 20 to Dec. 4, she wove 465 yards, spun 5*21 skeins, did sewing to the amount of 10 76, besides making winter clothing for her family. What a contrast is here between this industrious woman, who works much too hard, and thousands of others who not only never earned so much in their whole lives as would find them in bread for a week, but who more«ver require the aid of others to dress themselves while their blood stagnates for want of muscular exercise .-' Mrs. Goss took the premium for Highland shawls at the Winthrop Fair. — Kennebec (Me.) Journal. Rr.nts.-Ona of the front rooms in the new building of the United States Bank, in Wall street, has been rented for a term of years at $4,000 per annum, and there is another tenant ready to taffe it at the same price if the first should be inclined to with- draw. The suit of rooms together constituting the office, measure in the whole, something like sixteen feet by five and thirty. At the same rate, what is the rent of a fisli cart or a potato wagon in the better position right in front .■' There is a gre.at rush for stores and offices in the most central po- sitions and advances of twenty -five to a hundred per cent, are paid on the prices of last year. In some instances more has been obtained than in any previous year. Rents in Wall street around the Exchange are much higher than ever before, if we except the momentary rush caused by the great fire. — Xcw York Journal of Commerce. FIRESIDE AMUSEMEPfTS. THE FUTURE LIFE. BY W.M. CLLLEN BRVANT. How shall I know thee in the sphere which keeps The disembodied spirits of the dead, When all of thee that time could wither, sleeps — And perishes among the dust we tread.' For I shall feel the sting of ceaseless pain If there I meet thy gentle presence not, Nor hear the voice I love, nor read again In thy serenest eyes the tender thought. Will not thy own meek heart demand me there .'' That heart whose fondest throbs to me were given? My name on earth was ever in thy prayer, Shall it be banished from thy tongue in Heaven? In meadows fanned by heaven's life-breathing wind In the resplendence of tliat glorious sphere, And larger movements of the unfettered mind, Wilt thou forget the love that joined us here ? The love that lived through all the stormy past. And meekly with my harsher nature bore. And deeper grew, and tenderer, to the last. Shall it expire with life, and be no more ? A happier lot than mine, and larger light Await thee there, for thou hast bowed thy will In cheerful homage to the rule of right, And lovest all, and rcnderest good for ill. For me the sordid cares in which I dwell. Shrink and consume the heart, as Iieat the scroll; And wrath has left its scar — that fire of hell Has left its frightful scar upon my soul. Yet, though thou wear'st the glory of the sky. Wilt thou not keep the same beloved name. The same fair thoughtful brow, and gentle eye, Lovelier in heaven's sweet climate, yet the same? Shalt thou not teach me in that calmer home, The wisdom that I learned so ill in this — The wisdom that is love — till I become Thy fit companion in that land of bliss ? Hint to Farmers. — It is said that spirits of Tur- pentine is a deadly enemy to all the insect tribes, and consequently will destroy the bug or worm which is found to prey on wheat or other grain. With a watering pot, finely perforated in the spout, a person may sprinkle a field of ten acres, without using more than two or three gallons. The ex- periment on a small scale may easily be tried. Mercantile Journal. There leas imported into Boston, during the year 1838, the following gallons of spirits and wine : — Rum, 133,994 gallons ; brandy, 100,548 gallons ; gin, 157,9()4 gallons; whiskey, 4:21 gallons ; cordi- al, 54 gallons ; wine, of ditl'erent kinds, 396,198 gallons. The importations during the year 1837, were:— Rum, 10U,8;29 gallons: brandy, 73,802 gal- lons : gin, 118,427 gallons ; whiskey, 404 gallons ; wine, of different kinds, 408,391 gallons. Boston Post. The Royal Libraries and the other public reposi- tories in Paris, according to the latest reports, con- tain 1,823,500 volumes, 189,000 manuscripts, 100,- 000 coins and medals, and 1,600,000 engravings and prints. Silk Bounty in I'ermont. — The Legislature of Vt. have passed an act, oft'ering 25 cents for every pound of cocoons hereafter raised in the State ; 25 cents for every pound of raw silk reeled from co- coons ; and the same sum for every pound of sew- ing silk manufactured therein. — Bridgeport Farm- er. From the .New York .\merjcan. Mammoth Steam-Ship. A friend has sent us the dimensions of an Iron Steam-Ship, now building in England, to run from Falmouth to Calcutta, which voyage, it is expected, will be performed in thirty days ! "The Queen of the East," which is the name of the vessel, is to measure 2,617 tons — her engines are to be of 600 horse power, with cylinders of 84 inches di.ameter, and 9 feet stroke. Her drafl of water, at the greatest immersion, 15 feet. Dimensions. Extreme length, 310 feet. Length of main deck, 382 do. " between perpendiculars, 270 do. " of principal cabin, 123 do. Width of beam, 45 do. Depth of hold, 30 do. There will be 16 private rooms for passengers, and 400 berths. There is now running an iron steambo.^t between London and Antwerp, The Rainbow. She has per- formed the distance between Blackwall, her point of departure, and the quay at Antwerp, in 16 hours and .50 minutes. Her engines are of 180 horse power, ,50 inches cylinder, and 4 1-2 feet stroke. Her dimensions are as follows : Tonnage, .580 Length of deck, 198 feet. " between perpendiculars, 190 do. Breadth of beam, 25 do. Depth of hold, 12 do. Russia, with a population of 50,000,000, has a standinir army of 1.000,0011; ,\ustria with 30,000,- 000 has an ariny of 400,000 ; France with 32,000,- 000 has 3:50,000 ; China has a staniling army of 1,200,000; and Great Britain willi 24,000,000 in- habitants has a standing army of 109,000 : Prussia, with a population smaller than either, maintains a strong military force of 250,000, with a iaudwhcr or reserve of 350,000. The United States of North America has astand- ing force of less than ten thonsand men : this last comparatively small number is more than has been always useful. Our army, as authorized by law, is 12,.539 officers and men :" its entire force at present is only 8,653, leaving an expense for ofticers equal to the full numb»r. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 21 The following table, attached to the interesting Re- port of the Comptroller of the State of New York, shows what progress some of the States of the Union are making towards contracting; a per- manent debt. The bank investments, which are principally confined, we believe, to South Caroli- nia, Kentuckv, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas, may not be considered an absolute expenditure : the "internal improvements" have not only expended the present investments, but in most instances will ask and require more. STATEMENT Of stocks and bonds issiied by the several States, with the rate of interest, and the objects for which loans have been made. Disasteis at sea in The subjoined we find in the STATKS. 1 Piv(^ [lerrenis. | Six pf r Cf ii s. 1 'lolal. AlAine, S43a,u;b44 $1,5,001) UU $554,971) 44 • N«w ilaiDpshire, • Vermont, WdHsachiisptts, 4,290,000 Oi' 4,290,000 00 •RhodH Isl.nnd, *OniiltPc-tlcut, New Vcirk, 9,907,632 31 648,520 53 10,456,152 84 *New Jerspv, Pennsylvania, 34,140,003 35 24,149,003 32 Delaware, Marvliuui, 5,491, 9i0 73 3,0-30,000 00 8,511,980 73 VirKinJa, ."j, z>\ and 6 per cenf, 4,129,700 0(1 4,129,700 00 Nnrlh Carolina, owns norteb' South Carolina, 4,750,000 00 1,003,770 ]■; 5,753,770 12 Ohio, 5-35,000 00 .1,570,900 0(1 (i. 101 ,000 00 Kentucky, 3,185,000 00 3,185,000 00 Tennessee, 0.19,100 or. 1 50,000 OO 789,16()li6 Loirisinna, 19,S25,000 00 510,080 0(; 19,735,1100 00 ,\labania. 111,800,000 00 10,SOO,(i00 00 Mississippi, 7,000,000 00 7,000,(100 00 Indiana, 5,333,000 00 100,000 0'' 5,439,000 00 Illinois, .1,479,000 01 5.179,000 00 MisBoiiri, 2,500,000 00 Arttaiisas, 3,000,000 00 3,000,000 00 Michigan, 1 ,840,1100 1)0 * None. ^12.1,703.750 00 1838. 'Sailor's Maga- zine," and it gives a record which has been careful- ly kept during the year IS.^S, of marine disasters, which have been published in various newspapers in the country, of which publication has been made in the Sailor's Magazine froin month to montli . Those only have been selected which resulted in a total loss of the vessel. The greater part of the^ vessels were American, and a large propsirtion of the disasters took place near the American coast. The total number of vessels wrecked in the year, was4'27. Ships and barks, I'^i Brigs, 147 Schooncrs, IGd Sloops, Steamboats, Classes of ves- sels unknown, The whole amount of sU^ck and bonds issued and authorized to be issued by eighteen States, amounts to, $141,'26'J,002 Of this amount, the proportion for internal improvements is, $84,856,243 For banking, 5),31."i,n00 Miscellaneous, 5,097,75'J $14],2fi9,002 No rsturns have been received from the State of Georgia or Delaware. The States of New Hamp- shire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey have not issued stock of any kind, atid North Carolina owes no debt. Of these vessels there were lost towards the close of the last year, but reported in this, 45. January, 39 July, ~ February, 31 August, 4 March, 17 September, 108 April, 36 October, 32 May, 14 November, 17 June, 25 December, 3 Precise time unknown, 2y In addition to these known losses, there have been reported 27 vessels missing, concerning which, there is very little doubt but they are lost, with all on board. In the above named vessels there were reported the loss of 753 lives. This does not prob- ably include all the lives lost by these disasters, but only those mentioned with certainty. Many of the wrecks were fallen in with at sea, and the fate of the crews was wholly unknown. Undoubtedly the loss of life has been great, and many a crew has been wholly swallowed up, and no one spared to tell the melancholy tale. Surely " there is sor- row on the sea," that never will be fully disclosed until the sea shall give up its dead, and the myri- ads who repose in the caverns of the great deep shall rise to judgment. Students in N. E. Colleges. The number of students in several of the prin- cipal colleges in the United States is stated in the last number of the Journal of Education as fol- lows : Harvard University. — The number of student:) in the university, is 396 ; in the divinity school 10; in the law school 78 ; in the medical college 82 ; undergraduates 217 ; seniors 72 ; juniors 44 ; soph- omores 54 ; freshmen 55 ; resident graduates 2 ; and university student 1. Yale College. — In the theological school 74 ; in the law school 32; in the medical college 46 ; of the undergraduates 411 ; seniors 05 ; juniors 102 ; sophomores 106; freshmen 103; total 55^1. Dartmouth. — The number of undergrailuates is, in the senior class 61 ; junior 56 : sophomore 83 ; freshmen 101 ; total 301. The number of medical professors is 6 ; and of students 78. Amherst College. — The recently published cat- alogue of this institution, gives in the list of stu- dents, 3 resident graduates; 56 s"niors; 48 juniors; 47 sophomores ; 37 freshmen. Total 192. Williams College.— The catalogue gives, seniors 37; juniors 31 ; sophomores 38 ; freshmen 2!). To- tal 135. The University of Vermont. — Contains 102 stu- dents ; 34 pursuing the studies of the first year ; 25 of the second, 20 of the third ; and 23 of the fourtli. Alleghany College. — This college contains 173 students. Seniors 8 ; juniors 11 ; sophomores i52; freshmen 66 ; and in the preparatory department 66. The number of properly members of college, is of course 107. 13 Mississippi Valley, — An idea of the immense productive wealth of this valley may be formed from the annexed table of articles shipped down the river during the year 1837. It is compiled from authentic sources, and the aggregate value of these products is estimated at .•J20,000,00n. 200,000 bales of cotton, 40,000 hhds. tobacco, 300,000 bbls. flour, 150,000 bbls. pork, 12,000 hhds. bacon, 5,000 hhds. hams, 50,000 cwt. bulk pork, 200,000 kegs of lard, 50,000 pieces bagging, 50,- 000 coils rope, 200,000 bbls. corn, 400,000 bushels corn, 10,0i)0 bhls. beef, 300,000 pigs lead, 5,000 bbls. of whiskcv, 100,000 barrels coal, 3,000 bales buffalo robes, 20,000 Iviles hay, 2,000 packs deer skins, 2,000 kegs shot, 500 baies fur, 2,000 tons pig iron, 500 casks flax seed, 400 bbls. linseed oil, 600,000 staves, 25,000 bbls. apples, 3,000 bbls. corn meal, 500 casks cheese, 2,000 bbb. cider, 800 boxes candles, 2.5,000 bbls. oats, 15,000 bbls. potatoes. Potatoes, — 1,000 tons of potatoes had been ship- ped in the Thames, Eng. in October, for the Now York market. The value of the potatoes sent from Maine to southern ports has been stated at $300,- 000. Five hundred barrels of Irish potatoes arriv- ed at New Orleans on the 18th November. The price there was %'J per barrel, or fifty «ents per dozen. Premium Butler and Cheese, — The Massachu- setts Agricultural Society awarded, in December, the following premiums for the best butter and cheese exhibited for tiietr inspection. $100 to L. Chamberlain, of Westborough, Mass. for best butter. $50 to L. B. Hapgood, Shrewsbury, Mass. 2d best. $30 to W. Barhop, Barnet, Vt. 3d. best. $•50 to D. Lee, Barre, Mass. for the best old cheese. $30 to T. Fisher, Burke, Vt. for the best new cheese. The premium butter sold from 33 to 47 cents per pound, ll was mostly exhibited in stone pots. Cotton — its first Introduction and Cultivation. South Carolina first commenced its cultivation in the Union, in 1785, and Georgia immediately after. The Saw Gin, for separating the seed from the cot- ton, was invented by Eli Wliitney, a native of Mas- sachusetts, in 1703. This improvement or inven- tion produced an astonishing revolution in the cul- ture of cotton. As a proof of this, it is only ne- cessary to remark that in 1790, the exports of this article were 400,000 lbs., in 1791, 200,000 lbs., and in 1792, 150,0110 lbs. This indicates great despon- dence »n the part of cotton growers, but in 1795, after the invention of the "Gin," the exports were 6,250,000 lbs., being an increase of nearly forty- two fold over '92. In 1S;55, the yearly export was 336,500,000 lbs. '. and in 1836, 423,000,000 lbs. ! Owing mainly to an inflation of the paper curren- cy and corresponding contractions, as well as to the temerity of the credit at different intervals, the price of cotton has been extremely variable. Com- mon qualities jold in 1819 .at 22 cents per pound, and for a number of years thereafter, from 8 to 14 cents, but in 1836, it went up to or exceeded the prices at and preceding 1819, but fell in 1837 to a- bout 9 cents in Liverpool. The stimulus to this un- natural vigor became spent and a general exhaus- tion followed. It should have been added above that the average price of cotton in 1618, wss 34 cents per pound, and in the latter part of 1819, only 10 cents ! Such are some of the incidents in the history of cotton growing in the U. States. The cause of its vicissitudes will be;readily seen by a reference to our banking history during the same period. — Jloch paper. The Countess of Haddington, in 1705, sold her jeipels that she might be enabled to plant her estates with valuable and ornamental trees : we think she possessed both good sense and good taste in h(?r choice of ornaments. The Farmers of the town of Scarborough, Cum- berland county, Maine, received the present year from the State treasury .$742 72 on 1000 bushels of wheat and 15,179 bushels of corn. The number of seamen registered in various ports of tht> United States, during the year com- mencing in October, 1837, and ending in Septem- ber of the last year, as is shown by the returns made to the oilice of the Secretary of State, is as follows ; — Maine 867, New Hampshire 140, Massa- chusetts 2,5-54, Rhode Island 253, Connecticut 104, New York 9.82, Pennsylvania 523, Maryland 300, District of Columbia 27, Virginia 206, North Caro- lina 71, Alabama 45, Louisiana 382, Florida 39. Total 6,493. Official Salaries in Texas. — President, with house furnished, 10,000. Vice President, 3,000. Attor- ney General, 3,000. Post Master General, 2,000. Commissioner General of the Land Office, 3,000. Treasurer, 2,500. Auditor, 2,500. Secretaries of the Navy, Army, State and Treasury, 3,000 each. Chief Justice 5,000. Associate Judge.', 3,000 each. Members of Congress, $5 per diem. Speaker of the House |!7 per diem. Foreign Minister, for out- fit, I, .500; .salary per annum, 5,900. llit^hest point in Maine. — The true altitude of Mount Ktaadu above the level of the sea is five thousand three hundred feet, or a little more than one mile perpendicular elevation. It is therefore the highest point in the State of Maine, and is the most abrupt granite mountain in New England. Common schools in jVcio York. — It appears from the annual report of the Superintendent of Common Schools, that the number of such schools in this State, on the 1st of July last, was 10,583, from 9830 of which reports were received by the Commis- sioners. In the schools from which reports were received, the average period of instruction in 1837 waseight months. The numberof children in the 9830 schools reported, was 529,113 in 1837; being 4725 more than in 1836. The whole number of children between 5 and 16 years residing in the same districts on the 31st Dec. 1837, was 539,747 ; being 10,634 more than the number at school. The present productive capital of the Cotnmon School Fund on the 30th Sept. last, was $1,929,- 707, having been increased during the year end- ing that day, 10,060, chiefly from sales of State Lands.— j\'. Y. Jour. Com. From the statement of the General Chamber of Canton we learn that the quantities of tea export- ed into the United States, from July 10, 1837, to June 12, 1838, were black teas 36,757 peculs, 63,- 041 chests; green teas 77,131 peculs, 120,059. The following is the amount of Fish inspected in Baltimore during the year 1638 ; bbls. Herrings, 35,475 Shad, 2,673 Mackerel, 7,112 half bhls. 320 115 274 We subjoin the inspections for the preceding eight years : Inspections of Wheat Flour in Baltimore. Years. bbls. half bbls. Total in bbls. 1830 587,875 10,8.59 597,804 1831 .544,373 21,537 555,141 1832 518,674 ]7,.544 527,446 1833 524,620 18,072 533,6.56 1834 480,733 17,264 489,365 1835 516,600 21,333 527,266 1836 393,924 13,592 400,730 1837 391,676 14,777 399,06 1 32 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Public Lunds of the United States. The follnwintr abstract, is niadp from a communi- cation recently transmitted by the Secretary of the Treasury to the House of Representatives, in re- lation to tlie lands ceded to the United States, the quantity surveyed, &c. Estimated quantity of land ceded to the United States in each of the States and Territories, acres, 319,r.3(;,23xi Quantity of public land surveyed, 290,803,232 Ofvvhicli there was sold, on the 30th September, 1^3e', 77,134,821 ITnsold, exclusive of private claims, 2l3,(if)r',4Ul Estimated quantity unsurveyed, in- cluding private claims, 105,807,431 Granted for colleges, academies, and universities, 484,320 Granted for roads and canals, 2,535,711 Granted for salines, 329,699 Quantity granted to States and Terri- tories, exclusive of lands for com- mon schools, 3,365,050 The l-30th part of the lands in each State and Territory, granted for common schools, 9,305,2i37 Grants out of the nett proceeds of sales, $3,967,358 "Total quantity of lands granted to each of the "States and Territories, 12,690,338 The quantity of public lands within the territory of thi' United States, as laid down on Tanner's map, pub- lished in 1823, and to which the In- dian title has not been extinguish- ed, is estimated at acres, 766,000,000 Of which 548,000,000 acres lie east, and 128,- 000,000 acres lie west of the Rocky mountains. *Tlie Ptfite-? and Territorips to wfiicli grants of land and money have been made, are, Ohio, Indiana. Illinoia, Mi.s3otl- ri, A!abain:i, Mi>ifi5sipj)i, Louisiana, Michiyan, Aikansaa, Florida, Wisconsin and Iowa. The Ooal Trade of Pennsylvania for 1838. The following is the quantity of Coal shipped from the ditlerent regions in 1837 and 1838: 1837. 1838. Schuvlkill, 523,152 431,719 I.ehigh, 192,595 152,6!I9 Lackawana, 115,387 78,207 Beaver Meadows, 33,617 44,966 Hazlcton, 14,221 Laurel Hill, 864,751 2,001 723,813 723,813 Decrease in 1838, The consumption certained, was in 1831, 1832, 1833, ■ 1834, 1835, 1836, 1837, 140,938 tons, of Coal, a3 near as can l)e as- 177,000 329,000 413,000 457,006 5.56,000 682,000 664,000 Annual increase. 150,000 83,000 41,000 100,000 126,000 decrease. Creation of Weahh hy the completion of the Erie Canal. — Oflicial valuation of the real and personal frroperty of the State of New York, as per Ruggles' Report to the Legislature of that State, dated March 12, 1838 ; 1815. Real Estate, .$239,667,218 Personal property, 41, .587 ,905 " — $281 ,255,123 1825. Real Estate, Personal property, 1835. Real Estate, Personal property. 199,.->33,47l 63,803,875 363,427,346 403,517,585 12.5,0.58,794 She has resolved to do this in the shortest possible time, viz ; within five years — and it is calcmlated that the revenue of the enlarged canal will pay for its cost, principal and interest, before 1865. _ PRICES CURRENT. 528,.576,379 Foreign Exchange. Table of Foreign Exchange on England, as rec- ommended by the Chamber of Commerce, giving us tiie value of a pound sterling in Federal money : s $4 66 s 4 67 s 4 68 s 4 70 s 4 71 3 4 72 s 4 73 s 4 74 s 4 75 3 4 76 5 4 77 s 4 78 3 4 80 3 4 81 s 4 82 s 4 83 s 4 84 s 4 35 3 4 86 s 4 87 3 4 88 3 4 90 s 4 91 s 4 92 s 4 93 3 4 94 3 4 95 3 4 96 3 4 97 The existing value of the pound sterling in New York is four dollars and eiglity-six cents, (109 1-2,) which is in a language every body can understand. At 5 per c ent. premii At 5 1-4 do do At 5 1-2 do do At 5 3-4 do do At 6 do do At 6 1-4 do do At 6 1-2 do do At 6 3-4 do do At 4 do do At 7 1-4 do do At 7 1-2 do do At 7 3-4 do do At 8 do do At 8 1-4 do do At 8 1-2 do do At 8 3-4 do do At 9 do do At 9 1-4 do do At 9 1-2 do do At 9 3-4 do do At 10 do do At 10 1-4 do do At 10 1-2 do do At 10 3-4 do do At 11 do do At 11 1-4 do do At 11 1-2 do do At 11 3-4 do do At 12 do do jVf w Yorh. — The Comptroller reports, th.at up to the 9th inst. the number of liankf which hate filed certificates under the General Banhiu!; Law is fif- TV-FOUK. Capital subscribed, is $12,319,175 To what amount the capital may be increased, 487,080,000! UXThere cannot be a doubt that the propensity in trade and speculation to increase the paper cir- culation of the country is immeasurably injurious to the agricultural interests of the Union : steadi- ness and stability in the circulating medium will produce a steady and stable prosperity for the farmer. INSPECTION OF HOPS. The following is the official returns of Hops in- spected under the authority of the Commonwealth of Massaclnisetts, from January 1st, 1638, to Jan- uary 1st, 1839, at Charlestown, by Samuel Jaqucs : 1087 bags, 208,109 lbs. first sort, 623 '° 119,049 /bs. second sort, 175 " 32,834 lbs. refuse. 1885 bags, 3.59,992 lbs. Refined Surrar. — There was exported from Bos- ton, during the year 1838, 2,948,734 pounds or re- fined sugar. Thus showing that the whole amount of the whole real and personal property in the State of New York, was doubled, in the ten years, which followed 1825. Eio'hteen hundred and twenty-five is the memo, rable year of the completion of the Erie Canal, which has already, paid for itself and now gives $1,100,000 a year nett revenue to the State Treas- ury- But that canal, great as have been its results, is found inadequate to accommodate its immense bu- siness; and New-York State has determined to en- larn-c it seven fold, at an expense of .«; 15,000,000. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A MOSTHLV NFWSPAl'F.R, IS PUBLISHED BV WILLIAM P. FOSTER, rjill's Brick Block, Coucord, .V. //. JAMES BURNS, 104, irashington St., Boston, Ms. The Visitor is issued on the fifteenth day of each montli. EACti nmiil)er will rontain sixteen pages o( quarto .size on p.iper calculated for presservaf ion and on a f;iir and Iteaii- liful ti pe. Tlip subjects will he THustraled with engraving--*. 'I'lie terms will he .,\a.IS, ton PORK, whole liogs, fresh " middlings bbl. RICE. 101) lbs. S.\LT. Turks Island best hhd. S--VLTPErilE. cruile lb. SEEDS, llerdsi^iass bushel " Kedlr.p " " Flaxseed " " Clover lb. SII KKTINKS, Am. rot. 57 in SHIRTINGS, ■■ 311 " SPKiiM OIL. wiuterbest SPIRITS TfUPEX.. tall. STEEL. Ens. be-t &. Oerinaii Sr(;AR. loaf best {ti. " lirowii " " T.VLLOW.lb- TEAS. Hyson & Y. H. best \VOOD, per curd best ^VOOL, .Merino, best SpEcir: AT PHtL\nEi.PHi\, Feb. .S. American Gold \ per cent prem. Spauisli doubloons 10 :)0 ; En2li>h f:inne:is .'iO.'i ; Sovereigns 1 SS; Spanish nulled dnliais 103; .Mexican do. 1 01 i Head Pistareens 20 els. Old Pisiarcens 17. PRICES OF fLOUR. New York,. Ian- 31 SS S7 Cincinnati, Jan, 23 (i !« Philadelphia, .Ian. 30 SM Cliarh-ston. Jan. 19 9 60 RalTimore, Jan. C'J 8 12 Midiile, J.in. ID 0 00 Richmnnd, Jan.a7 8 12 New Orleans, Jan. 19 8 BO From the midtlte of November to the 1st of February 91,- OOU loon .New York, 22,000 from Phil ulelpbia, 90,000 from Baltiuiore, and 10,850 barrels Hour fiom Richmond, liav« been e.\ported to Great Biilain. '1 he ship Columbus, which sailed from New York on the 2d inst, was laden " ilh flour. DOMESTIC EXCHArfGKS AT r 40 a 87 40 a 85 8 .'sr 5.5 65 00 Boston, only brokerage Philadelphia, do Raltimore, do Rii-hmond 2 to 5 Charleston U Kentucky 2 FEB. ; Georgia \\ to 2 Alabama li New Orleans ,'"to I Slississij'pi 4i Ohio 2' Indiana aiidlllinois 2 jVon-subscrihcrs receiving this nvmher, and who maij approrc of it, are respectfullij solicited to act as agents ; or if this is inconvenient, cngatre some ac- tive man to do this service. Th ' lahie of the paper toill be vcrij much increased hij r 1 irij increase of its subscription. The following is a table showins the highest and lowest ratesof exchange on Loudon troin 1832 10 183H : — 1832 1833 1831 1835 18313 1837 183S 75 a JO.V 5 a 8S 2a7,U;.ialO 6; a 10 7ia22 4^ a lOJ Fani-uV H.ill .nirkct Hoslon, Feb. 0.- Potatoes, bush. 75cts — Turniiis. 34— Beets, 7.5— Carrots, 7.5— Parsnips, 75-Onions 1 .2.7— Cabbages, do/,. l,0fl— Celery, root, 15— Pickled peppers 50— Pickled Cucumbers, 2.5— Apples, bush. 1 .00- Pears, 1,50— (Cranberries, 2,.50— Lein-His, 1I07.. 25— Oranges, .'I'l- Grapes, 10 30- Prunes, lb 8— dried apples, lli .5— Almond.s, I9\— Fil- berts, 0— W'nlnuls. bush. 9,00— Chesniils, 2,00. Hay, hundred, 90 els— Siraw, 60. BRIGHTON MARKET. FEB. 4, 1839. Beef Cattle —nnring t'le month of January the price has gradually advanced. First qnalily. I'inin n,.50 to 7,.50 a 7.75 to 8. Second i|iialitv, from l.,50 lo 7,50. Third quality, from 5,25 to 0,. 50— avenge 50 cents ii|>on the hiiiidied. Sheep.— "Dull" on Hie lirst of Januai-j, at from 2 lo2,33, have advanced and are "quick" from 3 to 7 dollars e.ach.— an average of more than one dollar per head. Eiglit extraor- dinary cosset xvethers sold about the middle of January, lor $125. NEW YORK CATTLE .MARKET, FEB. 4, 1839. IIeef Cattle.- Priceslmproved : all ofl'cred this day, tn ken at Iroiii $9 to .me lesein- blance to the roof of a house'. The conse(}uence is, that the fruit grows in the shade and single instead of in clusters, soft, green, feeble and deficient in strength. It also makes the picking slow and troublesome and the labor of the boi-tenders much more severe. The opening and dressing of the hills is another important epoch of the season. I begin as soon as the frost is out of the ground by back furrowing lengthwise and crospwi:,e with a strong team, u.su-, ally two pairs oxen, and two bouts in a row. Then come the men with the prong hoes, throwing off the soil from tlie top and sides of the hill and haul- ing up the sprout rents, as they come to them, and opening the hill, as I'ar down as they can, without injury to the ground roots. Wo take pains to make tlie liiU soft and suitable to receive tlie rains. The trimming is next in order. This operation is always performed witli a knife, cutting the sprout roots two or three inches from the slump, taking care to amputate tlie old snout, i. e. the stump of the old vine do\\'n for two sets of e^'es and even more, ifit will admit.. Cutting olfthe old snout should never be omitted ; as vines from the eyes of it never prosper; and an additional reason is to keep the hill, as low down as possible. The "nannring of a bearing field mnslhc .attended to. The manure is applied in various ways and at various times, according to the taste and judgment of the grower. Some manure in autuum, la\-ing one or more shovels full on the top of the liill, with- out any covering. This is an old tashioned prac- tice, and as I view it, a very indiscreet one. If the owner should not 'lose more than one half of h is ma- nure, he may con.sider, himself well off. Another method is to spread the manure in the spring and plough it in. This plan 1 consider very judicious, if Ihe planter have a good supply of the article ; -and in that case, no matter how strong tire manure. One old way was to lay the manuTe on the top of the hill after trimming ofi" the Sprout roots in the spring, and then covering, with soil. But this is bad. In the first place, the requisite quantity of soil to cover the manure to a projjer de]iih inakes tlie hill too liigli and troublesome. Another incon- venience is, that the j-oung hop blades find it diffi- cult to penetrate the covering, and many are com- pelled to find their way out of the sides. For the last eight or ten years, I have invariably laid my manure, generally two shovels full to Ihe liill,(and 1 prefer old or good compost) round the hill in tlie circle made by the hoes in opening. Thus apjdied, I consider it better for the hops, giving a better shaped bill also, better saved, as it is covered deep- er, and better every way ; in fact, the best way, ex- cept perhaps spreading. This being done, then cover the hill and the manure : the top of the hill two or three inches and the sides will get co-rered necessarily double that thickness, as they should be. Selling the poles is the most laborious part of the whole work. I always have my own poles laid out between two rows of hills, four together and the biitts opposite the two hills in which they are to be placed, and so on tiirough tlie field. The hol- ing, (which is a previous step to setting the poles,) is done with iron bars. Here let me observe, that the Mili'ord hop growers have invented a new and much improved bar for that purpose, which greatly facilitates the operation. For a few years, I hare had m}' pole holes all made toward the diagonal corners of the hills, placing them as near together as ■::Ircumstances will admit to keep the -hill con- veniently saiall, and leaning them, as all!ioppolo3 must lean, towards the Iiiila diagonatlit opjioaile. For this method of setting poles there are strong reasons. First the space between rov.'s is equidis- tant each wav. But the principal reason is, that ife gives more space between poles, so that the vines shall not reach across and interlock. When th« rows are eight feet, the distance gained for the poles, compared with the old way, is about four feet. Tiling the vines to the poles \s an indispensable part of the operation. It requires care not to in- jure the tender shoot. If injured, break it off and let the stump throw out another. The tying should be repeated as often as circumstances require. In Milford we continue to apply our strings as occa- sion may require, till the vines mount near to the top of the Doles, using hop ladders. Old j^woolicn stocking legs furnish the best tie yarn. After the bind has run near or quite to the top of the pole, some in Milford go through the yard with ku:ves, trimming off near the main vine or bind, all arms, as high up as they can reach, as such rarely bear fruit. This operation is done upon the same principle, that suckers are cut from Indian corii. It leaves the sap, that would naturally go to support the lost arms, to be bestowed wholly tor the .benefit of the bearing arhis. .1 have tried the ex- periment for two or three 3-ears, but have notpcrse- verirgly followed it. Jjt the fist hoeing^ the useless \-ines should all be killed To prepare for hoeing, I always plough two bouts in a row each way, sometimes from and sometimes to the hill. I never plough from the hill more than once in a season. Atthe second or third hoeing, 1 frequently hoe from the hill, or rather down the hill. 1 settle. the hoe into the ground to the depth of one and a half inch, aiid as near the pole and vine, as safety to the latter will admit, drawing the hoe down to tlie furrow, and skimming off the "top of the hill to that depth. This plan kills weeds equally well, lightens and opens the ffvound, and abates that nuisance to all liop growers, viz: an overgrown hop hill. Hop yards are kept up so many seasons, as to be much exposed to weeds. The most eminent grow- er in Massachusetts, now deceased, once informed me, that his practice was to pasture his horSe at times in his hop field to reduce the -weeds. And I have repeatedly known the growers to go into their fields with scythes and shorten them in that way. Years s'ince, when I was suffering with these diffi- culties and the weeds Avere carrying on ojien hos- tilities against me, and the cfuestion must be set- tled who should fall and who survive, I had the presumption to plough and hoe my Imps, as late as the middle of August. On the succeeding year there was scared v a vestige of a weed. And I have repeated the practice, a.s occasion required. On my first experiment, I did it with trepidation, as' on examination, I found the ground near the surface exuberantly interlarded with capillarv hop roots. The operation destroyed all my vegetable enemies for that and some succeeding years; and as 1 judged did the field as much good (and pcriiaps more) by getting rid of so many dcjiendants and loosening thf^ ground, as harm bv deslroying the capillary foots. At any rate, I had a noble cro]i that year. I ^lo not recommend it for general and annual practice. ' BufI do recommend it as indis- pensable, on certain occasions. There is little more to be done to hops, at hay time, but occasionally to set up -windfall poles. On the 25th of July you will find them in full blossom. Success in this crop depends more than any oth- er, upon the care and skill of man. Hops must be picked when they are ripe, and upon no consideration before that tune. All other business must be made to accommodate itself to hop picking; as the whole labor upon thein is lost or saved by timing this matter with much precision. I believe that there have been more hops darttaga/d THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 35 by tlie hand of man in picking too early, tlian all other ways put together. When hops arc ripe, the seeds are black, the fruit (the calices) approach more or less to straw color, and being rubbed in the hand, give out a strong and fragrant odour. To settle tlie question of the time of picking may demand long experience. Let those who are inex- perienced, guide by those whose hops are annually reputed the best. Fields differ, no doubt, somewhat as to the time of ripening. After twenty years of experience up- on the subject, nine of wliich has included the du- ties of inspector, I believe that few hops are truly ripe and fit for picking before tlie lUth of Septem- ber. 1 find a memorandum in my inspection book of 1833, in these words, " among the hops inspect- ed this year, I find those picked from the 10th to I'lth September, to be best." There is one gen- tleman in Milford, wlio was for years distinguished above all others for the excellence of his hops. I remembor that one year he did not begin his pick- ing till the l-Itlior loth day of September. When he ordinarily begins, I know not. Hops should not be picked when wet. Being picked with the dew on is some slight injury, I never suffer my hop pickers to go out till after breakfast. Ho^}s should be pir/icd clran of stems and leaves. If any one thinks that tlioj^e extra ingredients are of little consequence, let him pick them separately o.nd mak'e his own small beer and yeast from that stock, and send the clear, clean, dry picked, well dried, ripe fruit to those wlio are ready to pay cash and the highest price therefor. It is due to the market, and due to the inspector, to present your crop, of as good a quality as Providence has given, and without deterioration from the hand of man. Self interest ought to induce much care, as the ar- ticle must pass the ordeal of inspection. But I tliink that ijispectors, (some of them at least,) are not apt to exercise due vigilance witli respect to dirty iiops. Al'ter a very varied practice of tra7ispor*ing hops from the fields to the kilns, there is now a pretty well established custom of puttii^g them into bags ibr that purpose. I have for some years practised this mode. My bags are si.\ feet long, and so wide as to have them emptied from the bo.\ into the bags with bushel baskets. This is a convenient size tor a m.Tu to handle. The green hops should not be trod into the bags. It is almost impossible for me to enumerate all the ways of damaging this article. Green hops cannot lay long in boxes or thick piles, and es])ecially in bags, without injury. Hops sJiould be laid liirbt upon the^ kibi cloih. Mine are always handled over, after they are emp- tied, and laid as light as possible upon the kiln cloth. If they are allowed to lay as they are enij)tied, in a dense mass with no operation except (hat <»f level- ing, they never dry even, and never dry well. The process of dri/ing is generally considered the mostdiilicult part of hop business. There are va- rious ways in whicli hops maybe spoiled or damag- ed, after they are well grown, well picked and well laid upon the kiln. Three quarters of a pound when dry, to a square foot of kiln *:loth, is enough. 1 should prefer one half a pound to a square foot. When Ihin, they come off brighter. They should be allowed to la}' upon the kiln about or quite twen- ty-four hours. If nmdcration is expedient at any time it is in hop drying. The fire at first should be moderate, and after the hops are well warmed, it should be increased to a pro]>er degree and kept as even as possible till the work is finishefl. If- cir- cumstances ^^'ill admit, it is best to let them cool down ui)on the kiln before removing. In v/hich case, fhey are not so dry and husky, and are less liable to lose a portion of that part, which solely constitutes their \vofth, viz. the Lnpulin, common- ly called the flour. In shoving theiu off when dry, more or less of that flour shakes out and sifts through our thin, strainer-like kiln cloths, and is lost in the kilnb"low. There is one gentleman in Lyndebo- rougli, v.-ho takes the precrtulion, after the hops are dry and before removing, to suspend a Burlap cloth beneath his kiln cloth, to save the flour. The Bur- lap is then removed, emptied, and tlie kiln prepared for fresh hops. His kilns are so constructed, as to be easily entered by a door. Hoi)s are sometimes over dried, but oftener under dried. If scantily dry, they should not be laid promiscuously in large piles but by th-cmselves, and tliin, an.d where they can have air. In such case, it may be necessary too to shovel them over. But after Jiops are once dry and laid away, I prefer not to be linder vh^ necessity of moving them until they are haggled, as I consider repeated exposure to air by shoveling over, of soirie injury to the color and no doubt lo the flavor. Dry hops should not be laid where they will feel the heat or the steam of the hot kilns. If they feel the continued heat from the drying kilns, the drying process is still unnecess:irily and injuriously continued, and they consequently lose a part of that excellent flavor and fragrance which constitutes the properties of first sort. They are also liable to become chaffy. If they lie within reach of the rising and drifting steam of the hot kiln.^, they will be colored and injured by tlie steam se'tlling down upon them. After hops are dried and removed from the kilns, they should be allowed to remain in a cool place, neither too close nor too airy, for a week or fort- night, to go through with an after process, common- ly called toughening. It is the same process, through which hay and the straw of grain and all such products pass, after packing away. After hups are removed from the kiln and sufficiently dry for that purpose, there is still some moisture left in some of them, either in the core or the thick part of the leaves, which will escape by nature's law of evaporation, some of it lodging iu the leaves, that are now dry, rendering the whole mass tough, and some portion escaping into the air. After hops have laid long enough to be fit for bag- ging without risk, the sooner it is done in my ojiin- ion, the better; as they waste less in strength and flavor after they are screwed into bags, than they do when lying loose in bulk. There are a number of varieties of the hop,, Jlii- muhis Lupulns. Beside the male hop, I know of but three varieties, viz. the long whites, the French and the teasel. Mine are the long white, as are most of the hops raised in this vicinity. This is also esteemed the best, both as to its productive- ness and the quality of the product. About a dozen years since, the male hop was in- troduced on the urgent recommendation of a dis- tinguished hop Inspector of a neighboring State. The male is used now about in the proportion of one hill to a thousand hills of female hop?. We know the effect to be, handsomer colon.'d fruit, and we fully believe with a greater yield ; and wo trust without any deterioration of tiie quality. Ifpon the last point, however, we are at issue with the consumers of the article, they believing the male to be injurious in its effects. Wlicthcr their opin- ion is the result of indisputable facts, they have not informed us. As to the diseases of hops, it is unnecessary to go into that subject on tins occasion. Suifice it to say, that they are less numerous here, than the En- glish writers would induce us to suppose they are in Kngland. As to the hop market, I have not much to say. The production of every commodity raised for sale should bear a strict proportion to the demand at home and abroad. Tlie Brewers at Philadelphia and in the State of New York have for a series of years pursued a liberal policy ; having established their contract price at fifteeir cents per lb. for first and fourteen for second sort; and from which they do not vary-, whether the fickle hop market be high or low-. William Blanchard, Esq. of Wilmington, Mass. Agent for all the principal houses in the above na- med places, has at the present time contracts to fill at the above prices. In one respect hops are an exception to the fari- naceous and most other kinds of agricultural crojis, as neither by fermentation, distillation, or any oth- er process, can they be ni^-tde to jirodiice an intoxi- cating liquor. Th.ey are a strong antiseptic, and are used to preserve yeast and beer of all kinds, and perhaps other materials. The quantity of hops raised in this country has varied from year to year, ranging from one million to three million pounds. An average crop in Great Britain is about f'jrty-four million pounds. The a- mount of our crop for the hoit year or two has exceeded a million ; ajrd perhaps has come up to a million and a half. When the shippers find it a good article of export, our hojJ growers find them- selves very liberall}' paid for their long crmrse of care and labor in growing and curing the article. The estimated number of inhabitants in the Uni- ted States is fifteen millioris. Allowing five 'indi- viduals to a family, which was about the average in New Kngland at the last census, the quantity of heps raised in the couiltry would give about half a pound to a family through the nation. This is ev- idently a small supply, for yeast and small beer, to say nothing of the bakers, Avhoare regular and free consumers of the article. However, much of it goes with a far greater quantity of barley to be consumed by tlie brewers of pale ale and porter. S. PEABODY .hnherst, March 6th, li-'39. 7'o prevent blast or rust in ri/e and wheat. — A rope drawn across the field early in the morning after a fog or heavy dew. l-'ertlie F''tiriiit;r'fl .\lijliltily ViMJtor. Fine woolled Sheep. Hopldnton, March I, 1839. Df-AU Sir; — I have seen in the first number of the Fanner's Monthly Visitor, page seventh, an ac- count of tlie purchase and stocking with sheep of the Burleigh farm in Dorchester by President Lord of Dartmouth college. In the account given a very unfavorable allusion is made lo the fine Meri- no and Saxony sheep, as requiring the utmost care and the most tender treatment. I also find in the second number of the same work, page eighteenth, a declaration that the native New England sheep are more hardy and less liable to disease, than the finer breeds ; and that an opinion is suggested that they may be kept at as gofid .idvantage. I am not prepared to say that the native sheep of this coun- try may not be raised by the farmer at a profit, if they can be found; but I know of none that are not more or less mixed with the finer kinds. I greatly misjudge, if the advantage is not very much in fa- vor of the finer breeds, and the finer the greater the advantage and the greater the profit. I am also extremely deceived if they are not kept through the3'ear at as httle expense as the natives, and at much less trouble. Native sheep are uniformly tall, long, lank, and coarse wobled ; untame, great rac- ers and expert jumpers ; vexing their owners, and frequently the whole neighborhood by visiting ev- ery field and enrlbiaure tiiey wish. The Saxony and Merino sheep, which produce the finest wool that is known in this or any other country, are shor- ter legged than the native breed, more round and plump in every part of them, and easily fattened. They are more quiet and peaceable in their disposi- tion, and with ordinary care of fences, seldom if ev- er stray from the pasture where they are jiut. They afford mutton equal to any other kind ; their quar- ters being round and full, mild, tender, and fine fla- vored. They are the smallest sheiq; I have ever known. This I consider an advantage rather than a disadvantage. They are not like our oxen requi- red to perforin labor. They are kept Ibr their flesh and fleece only, and from long observation I am convinced that it requires the same quantity and quality of food to make a hundred pounds of mut- ton or a hundred pounds of wool, whether it be giv- en to small or large sheep. As regards diseases of fine sheep I know of none that may not be visited upon the natives which arc equally liable when brought together in as large flocks. In my own flock I have never known any contagious disease, if I may except a flock of fine sheep of one hundred arid twenty-one, which I took in the fall of is27, for the term of one yeiir. When I took this flock they were all diseased and lame with the foot-rot.. I found them extremely poor, and some of them unablo to walk, and feeding up- on their knees. During the year I lost nine of them by poverty and disease, and two by casualty. At the expiration of the term I divided equally with the other owner one hundred and ten old ones, and at the thirds thirty six lambs, all perfectly healthy and in good order. With this exception, I have never known any contagious di-ease to trouble any sheep I have had the care of. I seldom lose one in any way, and am equally fortunate with my lambs, when not troubled by foxes. At the 3-eaning season of 1837, one fox killed from my flock and carried to her young, .seventeen lambs in four days and nights. I had a number killed at other times, and my loss in lambs by fo.\es that season was from fifty ^to sixty dollaj's. I am one of those who believe things should be told as they are. I should feel hurt were I to lead any one astray from his interest by any thing that I have said, and as some proof of the truth of the forc'Toing, 1 here give an account of the income of my own flock. My average number of sheep at the shearing seiusou in eight years, from 1831 to 1838 inclusive, has been two hundred and forty-one. 1 have received in ca.sh for sheep and wool sold from my flock during that time, four thousand, five hun- dred eighty-four dollars and seven ^ceiits ; giv- ing a yearly income of five hundred seventy-three dollars and one cent, or at the rate of two dollars thirty-seven cents and afraction a head, a year. AVhen it is considered that six small fine sheep may be kept on the same Ibod that would be re- quired to keep five large coarse ones, which I have no doubt is short of a reasonable estimate ; a prefer enoe for the fine flocks will be more apparent. i shall be likely to retain my partiality for fine slieep till some one gives an account of a more profi.table flock of coarse ones of an equal number. STEPHEN SIBLEY. Farming lands, in Michigan, when improved, sell atl") to :i5 dollars per acre, wild from 5 to 8 dollars. 36 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Ftir Itie Farmer's Monthly ViBitnr. Csncord, March 5, 1S39. To the EfUior of the Visitor : We have had the pleasure of reading the Visitor. We think it would be welcome to the fire-side of every firmer in New Hampshire. You have es- poused the higiiest interest of the Granite State. Vonr walks among- lier mountains, hills and rivers will he interesting- and instructive. There is a rich variety in her native scenery, which will not es- cape your notice. Your great object is to bear the means ofstill greater improvements among the cul- tivated fields and meadows, orchards and wood lands, and to every household ; and while you come home to the interests of all in regard to agriculture, you will speak of those customs and prejudices that come in the way of improvements. Ycu may stand at the head of a successful revolution in society. Change must coine. It will raise up thi? heads of many, and lower the heads of a few. Time was, when the lines seemed broad and deep. But you have measured the distance between the difierent occupations ; and they are placed on a level. In every department, you find industry and persever- ance of more importance than affected dignity and the trappings of wealth: And what have been cal- led the higher walks of life, will 3'et be found a- mong well cultivated farms. Here will be the seat of the true philosopher. His summer walks will be among trees that give iruit as well as shade. His theories vv-ill rest on experience and will be suited to the practical operations of life. Go on with the means of light and reform, and nullify the power of college faculties to confer deeds uf privilege. At leasts we whould sf e A. for Agjiculturist, and M. for Mechanick in the spelling books for our chil- dren, as well as A. M. t"or Master of Arts. Thcv must know the diifercnce between Doctor of divin- ity and Bible divinity — betv.-een Doctor of laws and equal laws or customs. We wish to see the rough places made smooth — the vali;es raised up, and the mountains brought low. We ask what is right, and we will submit tonotlnng wrong. You may hear again from Hic Yovng Farmer of the Mountains. For the P;irr-:ei's Monthly Visitor. Korlhavipton^ Mass. March 4, 1S39. Hon. Isaac Hill — Dear Sir.—l have received the first two numbers of the Monthly Visitor this day, and given them a h;isty perusal, and am satis- fied that 1 shall be able to give them a thorough re- perusal with both pleasure and profit. I am pleased that you have commenced in earnest to call tlie at- tention of the farmers of the Granite State to the subject o? Root Crops. I have fed them all winter, and have an abundant supply to carry me tlirough, and could not think nf keeping stock witliont them. Although for the last two years I have raised both sugar beet and ruta bagas, 1 am not decided whicii to give the preference. I am inclined, however, to give it to the bagas. I consider them equal to the beets, and they are raised with about half the labor. As to the inquiry in your last, which is best for the sugar beet, a northern or a southern climate, I have conversed with several scientific gentlemen who are acquainted with the business, and who agree that the hccts arc found to cuntahi mure saccharine matter in the north than in the south of France. We have a factory in operation in this town on a limit- ed scale. As the gentlemon concerned have been at the expense of a tour to Europe for information, &c. they i)old " secret sessions," in hopes, if they succeed, that the public will remunerate them, as they ought, for the expense they have incurred. They have from fifty to one hundred tons of beets on the works, nnd I am in iiopes to see some of their sugarin market soon. On the subject of sheep, I see no notice of anv in the Visitor but the fine wool. When meats were low and wool high, these were undoubtedly best, for those who raise wool to sell. But at the price of meats for the last three or four years, I think the Bakewells decidedly the most profitable for the far- mer who keeps only a small flock. They shear from five to ten lbs — the wool sells for thirty-seven and a Iialf cents at the carpet factories, but I con- sider it worth more than fifty cents to work into eatinelts or other goods. I have a full blood buck. His weight is 230 lbs ; also fifty half blood ewes. They are very hearty sheep. I have never lost one by disease. I wear the cloth from this flock both in the barn-yard and at cliurch, and should continue to do Ro if the "protective .system" was abandoned. Vnurs respectfully, H. FERRY. Improved Cultivation of Farms, [From a Report made by the Kditorof the Monthly Visitor, on Farms, to tlie Merrimack County Agricultural Society, Oct. 18, 1838.] In the rapid march of improvement exhibited by the United States of North America the cultivation of the ground is the first great moving cause. Com- pared with this, every other occupation sinks into insignificance, because without this all others would wither, droop and die. Disasters and failures liave recently been round about and among us : but in all the mutations and changes, in all the blastirrgs of disappointed hopes, few who have relied on real production, en procuring wealth from the soil, can be said to have participated. Our agriculture is yet in its infancy; it is but as the bud which is to grow into a tree of many branches. Our purpose should be to cherish and nurture the tree, wliich in our day may bear much useful fruit, and in the days of our children will undoubtedly yield in all desirable abundance. Wo need not go beyond the limits of our own Granite State — so named for Its soil of rough unc- venness — to find all those desirable elements which cause the earth to "produce in abundance, susten- ance for man and beast. No ether country of the* world — not even the fertile tracts of the recently settled and fast settling West — furnishes greater inducements for the former than does this State. Shrewd and calculating men who have pursued other professions than that of the farmer — the wis- est of our learned men, our merchants, mechanics and sermcn, purchase land and lay hold of its cul- tivation v/ith a zeal which shows that interest as well as the gratification of a laudable desire of im- provement prompts to the undertaking. In this most desirable of employments, let the motto and the march of the County of Merrimack be "onward." We can scarcely realize in imag- inary anticipation the means of wealth that lie be- neath and upon our surface : Not a foot of our ground but may be adapted to some useful and profitable purpose — not an effort of our hands but may be applied to some laudable use. The farmer will best consult his own present good, not by wearing out his land by an exhausting crop, but by raising the best present crop having in viev.- the preparation of his land for an improved future crop. A few simple principles will be found to have led our best farmers onto victory in the occupation which has distinguished them. When I speak of a good farmer I mean a man, whellier he be a large or a small faringr, who procures a livelihood from the ground wliich he cultivates, and who shows that ground each succeeding 3'ear to be improving m its condition. In regard to cultivation the sim- ple principles to which I have alluded may be laid down under three heads; and the suggestion will i:ot be esteenii'd more ligiitly for liavlng come from other and wiser heads than mine : Tht^e tln-ee heads are, 1. Keep the soil wkll fed. 2. Keei' it CLEAN. 3. Keep it dry. 1. Keep the soil iccll fed. It is perhaps a mis- taken notion that just so much aliment must be put upon the soil from year to year as shall be taken otf ; that if a bushul of wheat, or Indian corn, or ton of ii;iy be abstracted, the same or an equal a- mount of nutritive matter shall be returned. If th's were the fact, tlie expense of increased pro- duction might amount to the full value of the in- crease. On the contrary we find the most steril worn out soils capable almost of self renovation. The principle of self rennvation is seen in most newly cleared lands, for tliese ncwlv cleared lands from the decay of their own vegetation become e- q'.ially fertile with the most hlglily manured soils. We see the same lU'incijjlcbpcrating from summer tilling land which is comparatively light and barren by ploughing in STiccessively a crop of clover or other growth. Renovation of the soil kept up will not require the application in kind of an amount of richness e- quul to the substance taken away. Many of the excellent pastures upon our hills to the tops of our mountains are none the poorer for turning off fat cattle year after year where even- the plough can- not be npplied for the purpose of improvement. That soil may be said to be well fed whose latent powers are brought into action by the application of such substance, whether it be manure from the yard or stable, or of animal, mineral or vegetable matter, as shall be best adapted to it. It is well known that some kinds of soil are much stronger than other kinds. A sandy soil will not as long re- tain the use of manure from the barn yard asastiffer cla}- soil, or soil of deep vegetable mould ; but it is very likely that by adding clay or some other sub- stance to the soil which is so deficient in that pe- culiar quality, the sandy soil may be made to pro. duce and retain the value of the manure equal to the stifter soil. There is scarcely a doubt in my mind that there are beds of soil beneath the sur- face bearing a resemblanre to clay, by some de- nominated marl, that may be applied to much of our sandy, light soil, and alter exposure to the air of one or more seasons will make that among our most productive, as it generally is our easiest soil for cultivation. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated by gentlemen in my own neighbor- hood, that the application of simple sand witli a coat of straw or hard wood chips has turned a bar- ren morass into a fine mowing field producing from two to three tons of the best English hay to the acre. It is thus evident that feeding of the soil is not simply tlie application of ailment in kind of the a- niouut taken away ; non'^ of our soil requires this, although it is evident enough that most kinds of animal and vegetable matters in volume arc greatly beneficial to all lands. Plaster^ pulverized honc^ lime^ marl and ash- es, are great feeders of the soil. Plaster acts with more potency alone on a light, than on a heavy soil: it is believed that it will act with no less pow- er on a heavy soil when that shall receive the ad- ditional stimulant of stable and other v/aruiing veg- etable manures. Lime and perhaps pulverized bone best acts on tJiat soil most infused with vege- table and other matters, which without a caustic ap- plication will not easily undergo fermentation. The same principle in marl operating on the soil produces fertility ; and ashes probably cause the earth to which it is applied to become light and permeable so as to throw off a greater quantity of vegetation. Deep pl'jughing., which in my opinion may be re- commended in all soils, ma}' be even treated as a feeding of the soil ; for however this deep plough- ing may turn up an npparently more barren sub- soil, as gravel where the sub-soil is pan, and a more yellow mould where there is no pan, it is evident that much of what is cnlled worn out land may be renovated and renewed by deep ploughing alone. The new soil may not, and probably does not dis- cover much good effect the first year ;, but if the operation be closely marked, it will, I think, be found in the second and subsequentyears, thatnew life and vigor will be imparted to vegetation on the worn out soil. I have seen in a late agricultural publication tlie pictorial representation of a plough, calculated without turning it over to act on the sub- soil below the mould or upper soil ; and I have somewhere seen it mentioned that the stirring up this sub-soil Is found to liave a most salutary effect on cultivation. Thus it will be seen thn.t feeding of the sail me^ns not simply the applicatlcn of the common forcing manures, but any and every application which shall be calculated to bring into action the powers of mother earth, to the depth of twelve or even twenty inches. It may be, and I think will be hereafter demonstrated, that worn out lands as they are called, which have never been ploughed deeper than four, six or eight inches, have all the elements of their original fertility in the next four, six and eight Inches beneath. 2. The soil should be Kept dean. Tender this head I am sorry that my own premises presented to the gentlemen associated with me on the viewingcom- mittee no very commendable example ; and it pains me, gentlemen, to inform you that at the time of harvesting, my corn and potatoe fields exhibited some hog-weeds and Roman wormwood whinli if they had been cultivated for that purpose, might have been entitled to a premium. The fault in my case was that of four fifths of our farmers — the- hoe- ins icas ''^ot thorough — the infant weeds were not hoed up, pulled up, or covered over, so that some escaped each and every time tlie ground was gone over. I would gladly set the example myself, and infuse into my workmen the spirit lo eradicate in my cultivated fields the enemy which without do- ing other benefit than propagate its kind takes an almost equal amount of aliment from the ground as the crop which is of value. If I could be present all the time, I would make it a point to "reprove, re- buke and exhort" on this subject till the weeds were extirpated. In so doing, I should not only do my own premises the most essential service, but I should consider the example worthy of an exhibi- tion to tlie farmers of my neighborhood. I may be indulged to say, that my own kitchen garden, nearly if not quite exclusively under the cultiva- tion of my own hands, while engaged daily in the duties of the public office I now hold and In the sitting of the legislature, consisting of nearly half an acre, was during the summer of 1837, kept quite clean of weeds, so tliat none went to eetid ; and THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. S7 that, until my absence about five weeks at tlie West soon after the examination of farms in Au- gust, tile same premises were by myself kept in like condition the present summer. It will be no disparagement to tlie soil or the in- dustry of the American people, to allude to the fact that tlie cultivation in the island of Great Britain is much superior to ours. The proprietor and own- er of the farm tiiere is not generally the occupant : the farmer lives in his own hired house, and cultivates his own hired ground. Tlie rent of the ground and the ta.tes there would equal the price of thi* entire ordinary crops raised here. Tka cul- tivator is enabled to make liis way only hy the in- creased amount witieh Tie raises on tlie same land; and many fanners there who pay to their landlords, and in ta.xes the almost incredible amount to which I have alluded, live and grov/ rich under such a system. The price of labor there is greatly below tlie price here ; and this perhaps enables him to carry his cultivation rnucii beyond our.s. Not on- ly are no weeds suffered to grow in any ground where the hoe is used here, but in England, Scot- land and Ireland tlie wheal and other grains sow- ed broad-cast or in drills are carefully divested of the weeds and grasses which spring up. One principal means of bringing up our cultiva- tion to the standard of British farming will be the entire eradication of weeds, and useless vegetation from our cultivated fields. This, in the progress of agricultural improvement, I do not doubt, will be done. The example of every individual farmer may do much in this behalf. I cannot doubt the labor will be much less than is generally supposed; and when one man does it, all the neighbrtrs who pass his field will be ashamed not to "go and do likewise." It is now generally considered to be of little consequence to cleanse the ground after the month of July, the usual season of hoeing, shall have passed. The practice of eradicating weeds after this time, where the pulling will not affect tire principal article in cultivation, would undoubtedly be beneficial. In most of the towns near the sea-board, the gard' ens and fields are of much neater cultivation than further in the interior ; and consequently there is a much greater crop, and better profits are obtained from an equal quantity of ground. I am happy to observe that there is improvement in this respect in our own State ; and that the farmers here are far in advance of the farmers of the famed fertile West, where the land is so fruitful that the manure accumulates as an incumbrance in the yards and about the apologies for barns which are there so common. The etfect there in a few years will be to run out their lands witli a redundancy of the growth of weeds. Much land where wheat has long bCk'n raised has become comparatively barren in places of as long settlement as that of New- England from the circumstance alone that the use- ful crop is choked out by the growth of weeds. This is peculiarly the case in Maryland and Virginia, in Delaware and parts of Pennsylvania. Cleanliness of the soil, as a means of improve- ment of cultivation, is scarcely less requisite than feeding of the soil with the appropriate manures. Let every farmer present, who is not already as perfect under this head as the nature of his case will admit, go home determined that he will make all proper eft'orls to arrest tlie enemy in his fields who does them more real damage than his own or the unruly cattle of his neighbor. Tlie greatest profit from farming is produced on that land where there is the greatest production ; and the increas- ed production is only where the field is kept clear of weeds. A rich soil increases the crop of weeds as well as the more useful article wliich is the ob- ject of cultivation ; and by so much as the expense has been increased to make the land rich, so should be the exertions to prevent the growth of every thing useless that takes so mucli from the growth of what is useful. The value of growth and profit upon a single a- cre in one year may be made far to exceed the val- ue of that acre. Mr. Whitney of Concord in a small plat of ground raised this year Iweiily bushels of onions, the land yielding at the rale of elevenhun- dred bushels to the acre ; ho has partially lost the use of one hand by an accidental gun shot — yet he thinks he can very easily, by devoting a few hours in each day at the proper season, prepare the ground, sow and take care of an acre of onions. Onions are now worth a dollar the bushel — deliv- ered ou the bank of the river for the market at Amoskeao-, Lowell or Boston, they will at all times be worth seventy -five cents the bushel. Raising such a crop, large pay must bo afforded for the la- bor after paying for the use of the land. A small farm of fifty and even a hundred acres is scarcely thought to be sufEcientfor an enterpris- ing young man. Without improvinj, he continues to run over this quantity, ambitious, if he gains any thing, to purchase additional land, and make his farm larger. He raises not more tlian half a crop, because he plants too miicli ground for his manure, and from the hurry of going over too much ground, the weeds usurp one fourth or perhaps one half of the strength and aliment of the ground. The land thus cultivated is stocked down, and this in consequence t.f tlie mode of cultivation produces not more than half a crop of hay. It must be ob- vious at the first blush, that the man who culti- vate.s only half the ground I have been describing, bestowing on it the same expense for manure and the same amount of labor judiciously applied, vnll obtain an equal amount of crop, and make his land of at least four times the prospective value. The celebrated Nurseries of the Messrs. Win- ships at Brighton, Mass., which of themselves are an independent fortune, cover no more than twcn- five acres of ground. Most of the plants usually cultivated in gardens and green houses, and all the shrubs and ornamental and fruit trees known in this country, are there found. Such a place, in the green and bearing seasons, has more enticemciitB than tlie splendid palace, or almost any other earthlj' location. It is tlie more beautiful because it is use- ful to the public, and profitable ta its proprietors. If the stranger who visits these Nurseries and Garden feels himself transported to an imaginaiy Eden, how great must be the mental gratification of the hands which projected and brought them to their present beauty and perfection. Having detained the society too long in the con- sideration of the two first heads, I now pass to the last proposition, which is 3. Keep the ground dry. The subject of drain- ing wet and heavy lands, as yet but little practised in New England, seems not to be fully understood and appreciated. The most of us have seen pieces of low ground, bogs and quagmires as well as mead- ows producing t!ie coarse and useless wild grasses, made fruitful with the best of hay simply by ditch- ing and draining after ploughing and cultivation. There is much ground besides the low meadows that may be wonderfully improved by draining. The mode of draining in some places is the digging of ditches in spring)' ground, filling up with small stones and covering over the surface. In other cas- es, open ditches to drain and carry off the redun- dant v/ater are resorted to. In others, flat and heavy fields are benefitted by leaving at intervals a low furrow turned out !-y the plough in completion of the land struck out for the turning of the team. Much of our richest soil is comparatively of no value for cultiv.ation purely in consequence of the effect of wet either upon or near the surface. I have in vain attempted to raise a crop of potatoes the last year, and of ruta baga the present year, on some half a dozen square rods of the richest soil on my premises, because the wet weather of the sprino- and of each rain during the summer remained so long as to check the grovjth of the vegetable, in most cases before the seed had sprung up. That ground, 1 do not doubt, may be made highly pro- ductive by under-draining in the proper place. Under-draining is extensively resorted to by the farmers of Europe, and its value is beginning to be understood in this country. Every farmer who cul- tivates heavy land becoming less and less produc- tive by being baked down to hardness in conse- quence of the presence of water for too great a length of time, would do well to commence tlR; tri- al of under-draining. In some places, where the right kind of flat rocks cannot be procured, burnt tiles of clay manufactured like bricks, are used. The principle of draining grounds is undoubtedly practically better understood by many other gen- tlemen than by myself Spongy and muddy land niav be made entiiely dry by diggi u; below the hio-her springs which usually appear on or near the surface, and carrying off the water in a passage left under ground for the jmrpose. The sources of the springs thus cut off at a point from which the v.'a- ter descends, will leave the ground below so dry that it will readily yield all that the best soil is ca- pable of producing. The hard baked ground which suffers fiom the presence of water in the wet season is even sooner aflected by drought than the drier permeable soil, so that it encounters the double d sad vantage of wet and drought in the same season. This land when properly drained will become soon so light as to re- tain all the warmth necessary to promote vcgeta tion, and yet retuin sufficient moisture to prevent injury from drought. It is land prepared and kept in this manner that is intended by my third propo- sition. A Fact for GeoIogi!>»s. On the Rye beach in New Hampshire, at a con- siderable distance beyond where the sand and grav- el commences, at extreme low water, the stumpii of trees are discovered in positions where they grew. These stumps must have stood there several hund* red years ; as since the first settlement of the coun* try the sea has been kno.wn to advance on the coast but a short distance. We are curious to find out how great a length of time these rooted stumps would stand covered withsalt water without rotting or petrifaction .' We would likewise be gratified to learn, whether there are similar appearances along other parts of the coast directly exposed to the sea, indicating that old ocean is making a steady inva- sion of the land on the eastern or Atlantic shore .' Large Uogs. Capt. William Graves of Andover in thia county, in the month of January, slaughtered a bar- row hog eighteen months old, which weighed sercn hundred and seventeen pounds, of as hand- some proportions as any ordinary three hundred hog. Four days previous, Mr. Joseph E. Fellows of the same place, killed a sow of the same litter with the above, whose meat and fat weighed six hundred and fifty-six pounds. Thc'last animal had a litter of pigs when a year old, one of which Mr. Fellows slaughtered at the same time of the sow, and this last weighed, when killed, three hundred and fifty pounds. These hogs were of the same kind that have for several years been raised by the farmer.^ of Andover — being entirely white, of a thin skin, and beautiful proportions. Mr. Fillows describes the keeping of the above sow, as follows : He purchased the sow and pig on the first of June, of Capt. Graves: from that time the animals were under the peculiar care of the good lady of the house. For the first month they were fed daily, twice a day only, on the skim- med milk of two cows with one quart of Indian meal per day, added to the slops of a small family. For the second month, the same feed with the ad- dition of one pint of meal per day: from August to September, same feed with two quarts of meal dai- ly. In September commenced giving them new boiled potatoes mixed with about the same quantity of meal, as much as they would eat. The quanti- ty of meal mixed with boiled potatoes was some- what increased until the month of December, after which they were fed constantly on scalded Indian meal, into which was thrown so much salt as to render it palateable, until the day they were slaugh- tered. We have been thus particular in our inquiries about these hogs, because we recollect of seeing no account of hogs slaughtered the present season in any part of the country, which of that age weighed so much. Mr. Fellows paid, as might be supposed, a high price for the two hogs when he purchased them in June, viz. nineteen dollars ; but as the same sized pork has been sold in this town the present winter, they would have amounted to lb* srim of $190 72 — a handsome premium, after paying for the whole material which they consum- ed, for the regular attention which was paid to their feeding. It Ta a fact undoubted, which we have ascertained as the sum of all our inquiries about large and profitable hogs raised the present year, that the profits depend more upon the preparation of feed and the regularity with which they are at- tended and fed, than upon the quantity of feed giv- en them, ,,< ■•' -; . Fioiirtlle Pluliiil Panneis' Cabiiift, Kitchen Garden. /} well cultivated garden indicates care, industry, and thrift. A good garden furnishes a large amount of sus- tenance to a family ; and although its productions may not assume a money value by being converted into cash, yet they are not the less valuable on that account, as every good housewife knows, who re sorts to it daily, in order to procure a supply of wholesome and nutricions esculents for the table. Many farmers do not duly a|ipreciate, but disregard and neglect the garden, and throw the burden of its care and cultivation too much on the female branches of the family, who are oftentimes suffi- ciently burdened with other cares and duties of an imperious character. All good husbands, or young men who are susceptible of being converted into that article, are careful in looking after, and attend- ing to the cultivation of the garden. As soon as spring opens and the ground is in a fit state to be stirred, they are up and doing, being fully aware of the vast importance to the comfort and interests^ of a family, of having an early and good garden, fur- nishing a copious sujiply of vegetables, the best of their kind in due succession. It would be unnecessary to inform any person of common sense, that the soil of a garden should b« rich, and that it should he dug deep, and be thor- 38 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. ouglily pulifoiized, in order tliat the fibres of tlie roots of the plan'3 mioht easily penetrate^ it in all directions in search uf their appropriate food ; for without an abund;ince of nvitriinent, vegetables can no more grow and thrive than animals. Be care- ful to procure tlie purest and best seed ; for there is no more labor or care required to cultivate plants of the best varieties than to produce those possess- ing interior qualities for human subsistence. Let them be committed to the ground under circum- stances the most favorable to their growth, and then with a little careful attention from time to time, whlcli may rather be termed pleasure and rec- reation than labor, with the blessing of Providence on your labors, you may reasonably hope to reap a rich reward for your careful attention to this interesting and useful branch of domestic econo- my. Peas, beans, and all other seeds that are -planted in drills or hills at an early period in the season, should have the earth well raised on the north side of them for protection ; and the reflection of the rays of the sun from the raised earth, warms the soil where they are planted, and causes them to vegetate sooner, and the increased heat ati'orded by. this simple means accelerates their growth. Cu- cumbers, cabbage, and various other plants which it is desirable to forward early, will come up much sooner by the adoption of this plan, tlian if they be planted on a flat surface without the earth be- ing drawn up on the north side of thenr. Some place an upright board on the north side of, and near to, those plants which they wish to bring for- ward at an early period, to gain the reflected heat, and to protect them from the nortli wiuds. If some one of tiie young people ^3^^^ The Cultivator is an implement tliat is coming into very general use, and]beets, &c. and is very valuable for the cultivation of hops serves in many cases in lieu of hoeing. The teeth are so constructed as to saving machine lighten the ground and effectually root up and destroy the weeds. This in- strument runs beautifully between rows of corn, potatoes, ruta baga, carrots, We obtained one of the above Cultivators of Stephen Greenland, N. H. They may be had of Ellis & Bosson, B Hutchins, Concord, N. H. It is a great labor- Pickering, Ksq. of oston, and of Levi Experiments. All the practical and useful arts are founded up- on facts. Agriculture is pre-eminently so. All true science in agriculture in the process of induc- tion consists in inferences drawn from well ascer- tained and established facts. Theories in this case, however elaborate and fine-spun, are of little or no value, excepting as the application or proof of them may lead to the eliciting and multiplying facts, which tljemsclvcs will lead to important practical rules. As the great orator of antiquity said, in regard to the importance of action to the public speaker, so we say of the importance of facts to tlie farmer. If he would excel in his art," if he would extend the knowledge of his art, if he would advance its pow- er and productions, let him remember that facts, facts, facts, must be the great object of his inquiry. Now experiments are so valuable in agriculture that we do not fear to be thought by the intelligent too iianort"j;riate in continually urging tliem upon liie farmers. It does not require a large farm or a great capital to make experiments which might prove highly instructive and useful. The smallest farmer may make on his premises experiments from which the greatest benefits may flow to the whole community ; and in respect to some of the most important experiments yet to be made in agricul- ture,on which the solution of great questions in re- lation to crops, seeds, manures, modes of planting and cultivation, modes of harvesting, saving and use ; a farm often acres or even less, may be as sufficient as a hundred or a thousand acres. In deed, any intelligent farmer upon reflection will perceive at once that every agricultural operation whicli he performs, is in itself an experiment. In preparing, manuring, and sowing his fields with any crop in any season, he is making an agricul- tural experiment ; and if he will carefully observe and note every step in the process of cultivation, and the progress of vegetable growth, the facts which he observes may prove highly useful, and may elicit some valuable truths. Much discredit has been brought upon what is called experimental agriculture from circumstan- ces which ought to be avoided, or should be more considered. In making an experiment, the first point of importance is to attend to all the circum- stances in the case, by whicli the result can possi- bly be aftected. In the application of plaster, for example, we want to know the quantity, the con- dition of the plaster, the mode of its application ; for example, whether it is to be applied on the sur- face, under the surface ; on the top of the plant ; at the roots of tiie plant alone, or mixed with ash- es ; if so, cruJe or spent ashes, or with manure, if so, v.-hat kind of manure ; what kind of soil, wet or dry ; what the season of the year ; what the state of the weather; what the condition of the plant to which applied ; what kind of plant ; what the ef- fects observed ; much or little ; immediate or late, what the character or effect ; increasing the growth or stalk ; increasing the amount of rain ; forward- ing or delaying the ripening ; cost of plaster ; q\ian- tity used; expense of its application, and other in- quiries which will at once suggest themselves. Then again, we wish to know whether the i-xperi- ment has or has not been repeated ; and if so, whether the same or different efllects have result- ed; and we wish to know whether the effects rep- resented to have resulted from its application have been tested by leaving a part of the field and crop in the same circumstances, to which plaster was not applied, and with which the plastered part might directly and fairly be compared. An enterprising farmer took us into his wheat field this season to show the powerful and benefi- cial effects of lime, which he had spread upon it, and wished us to compare his wheat with a neigh- bor's field near at hand. But now what were the c-.rcumstsnces of the experiment, and how far were they conclusive ? Here was a growth of Italian wheat ; this could not be denied ; and the field of his neighbor was clearly much inferior to it ; but this did not decide the efficacy of the lime. Was this field manured the previous year.' yes, abun- dantly with barn manure ; was the lime applied a- lone ■" no, mixed with wood ashes ; was there any part of the field which was not so dressed.' no, it was all served alike ; was his neighbor's field ma- nured for I the present or preceding crop .' not known ; was the same quantity and the same kind of wheat sowed by his neighbor as himself.' the same kind, but judged only half tlie quantity to the acre. We pursued the inquiry no farther. The experiment, though deemed so decisive, in fact proved nothing ; and the important questions whether the superiority of the product to that of his neighbor was owing to the previous crop, or to the lime, or to the ashes with which thalime was mixed, or "to the greater quantity of seed, were en- tirely unsettled. We give this example by way of illustrating the subject. For tlie K.iniier's Monthly Visilor. Df,,ir SiK ; — I have seen the first number of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, and hail it as a work well calculated to exert an influence favorable to our agricultural interests. While farming has been universally acknowledged to be a business of para- mount importance, there has hitherto existed a ve- ry strong prejudice against bouk farming, and this prejudice has prevented our periodicals, which have been devoted to the interests of agriculture, from receiving that attention and patronage which many of thcin°have justly deserved. But I believe this prejudice is becoming somewhat weakened, and that many of our farmers are becoming convinced that complete perfection in every part of their art has not yet 'ueen attained. Several have ventured to acknowledge tliat the art of liusbandry may hare been improved.'withiu the last fifty years, and that it is possibly suscf j>Uble of etiU further improve- ment. I have known some few, who have even dared to deviate from the steps of their fathers and grandfatliers, and who have been rewarded for their temerity. I have known one man in my neighborhood venture to plant corn upon a piece of pine-plain land, whose father had interdicted every other crop but rye, and had reaped that grain from it for nearly forty years in succession. And what was the result .' Many truly had prophesied that he could not get his seed. But the harvest- ing of seventy-five bushels of corn from the acre, in the end, proved them to be false prophets. True, some manure was carried upon the land. But this was as much an innovation as the planting it with corn, for it had never before received any, and it had been supposed that all manure carried upon such land might as well be thrown into the lake. But I did not take my pen to descant upon the comparative advantages of different methods of husbandry, nor upon the importance of periodicals devoted to agriculture. Mine at the present time is a much more humble office. It is to offer a few remarks upon the Manageineut of Poultry, particularly Hens. Tlie convenience of having fresh-laid eggs in winter may be estimated, by most families, by con- trast— that is, by the want, and by the difficulty of obtaining them. While most families are in the habit of keeping hens, very few are so fortunate as to get any fresh-laid eggs from them after about the first of October till Marcli, and sometimes not until April. Now there are two causes which ope- rate to prevent hens from laying during this peri- od. First, the early part of autumn fowls moult, or cast their feathers, and till they are reproduced, n» feeding or attention will cause them to lay. But the interruption from this cause is of short dura- tion. Their feathers will be reproduced in a few weeks, and, with proper attention, they may bi*cx- pected to commence laying some time in Decem- ber, or, at latest, by tlie" first of January. In some cases they will commence laying in Novem- ber. The second cause, or that which operates to prevent their laying after their feathers are regrown, is of a different nature, and relates wholly to their keeping. In the first place, the ground is usually covered with snow during this period, and fowls are, consequently, prevented from gathering pebblos,bones, and other calcareous matters, to fur- nish materials for shells, without which they will not lay. To remove this obstacle, gravel, bones burnt and broken into small pieces, old lime mor- tar or plastering beaten up, should be placed where the fowls may have easy access to it. Besides this the shells of all the eggs used during the summer, should be saved to be fed to the hens during the winter. They prefer them to lime in any other state, and will eat tlu m to a certain extent in pref- erence to corn, or any other food. Without access to lim6 in some shape in greater quantities than it 42 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. exists in the grains usuaHy feci to hens, they will not lay. Another cause, which prevents hens lay- ing in the winter, is their short keeping. The scanty pittance of a handful of corn or oats, once or twice a day, altiiough it may keep them alive, will not answer tlie purpose. Hens will not lay when very ])Oor, and to keep tiiein in order they should have food constantly before them ; and they should not only have food, but ilrink too. If they have not constant access to water, viarin water .should be set liofore tliem at least twice, ortlirice a day. Hens sliould, also, be kept durinfr tlie win- ter under a warm shelter. As good e^gs would freeze and bijr.sl open, nest-eg^s should be provided for the winter, by blowing out the contents of sev- eral eggs and replacing them by sand, or ashes, and then paste white paper upon the ends. During very cold weather, the nests should be visited sev- eral times in llie course of the day, that the eggs may be taken away befere they are frozen. Hens will never eat their eggs if they are properly fed and watered. If you wisli to hive fresh eggs during the fall while your hens are re-producing their feathers, yoa iiave only to save some of your chickens whicli come out in March or April, and keep them well, Ml J as they do not moult the first year, they will !i ive sufficient age to begin to lay as early as your (dd liens cease laying. In this way you may se- cure for your family fresh-laid eggs during the whole year. Besides the convenience of having, fresh-laid eggs at all seasons, more attention to our fowls generally, would be a matter of economy. If trea- ted as I have recommended, I venture to say, (for I speak from experience,) that twice as many eggs would be had from the same number of liens in the course of the year, as are obtained witli the ordi- nary attention, while the expense of keeping would be but very little enhanced. That the theme of this communication is a hum- hie one, I am well aware, and yet I flatter myself that it is one which is not eutirely destitute of in- terest to the lovers of good pies^ cakes, and pud- dino-s. T. Burlington, Vt. Jan. 24, 1S3[). P. S. Since the above was written, I have again had an opportunity of seeing the first num- ber of the Farmer's Visitor, and have read an arti- cle wliicli 1 did not before see, on the subject of eggs and poultry, and I am happy to find tiie views of the writer so fully in accordance with my own. Farming in Ulerrimack County. [From fluv. Hill's Report on Farms.] A history of the rise and progress of each and every enltivated plat of ground in the country, with the time of its commencement, the various crops it lias produced, and the profit that has been derived, would lie interesting to tiie present gener- ation and to posterity. Such a recital would teach us what our country has been, what it is, and what it may become. I should myself be pleased to read in a printed book, a minute account of every culti- vated farm in this goodly county of Merrimack ; for hard, and rocky, and uneven, as is the face 'of our soil, tliere is not a town in the county that can- not present farms whose owners have become inde- pendent purely .from the cultivation of these lands. To many gentlemen farmers of Uie cou,nty it is no unpleasant consideration to be able to say, that not their least profitable lands have been those which have been cleared and improved upon and amidst our IfiL'hcst -lulls, and where even rocks seem to have usurped tlie greater portion of the surface. Tlie committee on Farms the present year were caWed to no more than twenty-three farms, gardens and particular fields, cultivated by as many indi- viduals ; and the towns from which the applications came embj-aced but a small portion of the county. To some of the committee it would have been a pleasure to travel in the delightful occupation of viewing crops and improvements within tlie limits of the county for a month. The spirit of generous hospitality with which such committees have al- ways been greeted, the information in tlie business of cultivation, and tlie gratification derived from viewing the prosfresa of improvement, afli.ird a three fold remuneration for the labor and fatigue of travelling the county. The committee devoted three days early in tlie month of August, (1838) to the task assigned tliem. Tlie time happened to be at that period when the State, especially the southern part of it, was sulTer- ino- under the severe drouglit of the last s.ummer. On some of the very best cultivated grounds shown them, the ultimate crop was materially lessened by tliis drought; and this consideration should cone into view in estimating the comparative mer- it of the improvement. A Concord Farmer! I Tlie first ground viewed was land owned by Jf.remhii Pecker, Esq. near Federal Bridge in Concord. Mr. Pecker has a pretty large farm con- sisting of intervale and upland, on whicli he cuts much hay and pastures many cattle. The land he more especially shewed to the committee was a square plat of eighteen acres of intervale. Of this land 4 ]-:i acres was planted in Indian corn, 2 acres was potatoes, 4 acres oats, little more than one acre of wheat, and over throe fourths of an acre of bar- ley, with about six acres producing English hay. Tlie corn ground, ploughed up last fall from the sward, was considerably Injured by the cut worm ; but four hundred bushels of ears were produced making at least two hundred bushels of shelled corn, principally of the early small kind ; and the same ground produced in the hills divested of corn bv the worm, ten bushels white beans; and four- teen stout ox loads of pumpkins were taken from it. Had the worms been avoided as they undoubt- edly v;ould have been by taking ground which had been ploughed for the second season, and had the smaii corn been planted three hills to two on this very ground, we do not doubt at least seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre with less "labor would j have been the yield. The potatoes were very fair in their appearance. Mr. Peck-er deserves much praise for tilfing his ground well, which he does with his own hands ; he also wonld deserve a pre- mium for practically teaching his workmen how to extirpate weeds. ' His tilled field was more free of the nauseous enemy tlian almost any field of equal extent ever entered by the chairman of the com- mittee. His oats were stout, but somewhat lodged —his barley was good. The acre of wheat sowed on the first" day of April was of the kind recently introduced called the Blacksea wheat : it sutt"ered from mildews, as did most of the wheat the present year on low grounds and on the margins of streams of water : two bushels of seed was sow?, and the product was twenty-two busliols of wheat. The hay, which was cut and housed previous to the day of viewing, averaged about two tons to the acre. In preparing his ground, like most of the owners of land on Merrimack river, Mr. Pecker plants and cultivates the ground for corn and potatoes but a single year. He applies to his ground about twen- ty-five stout ox loads of stable or barn yard manure to the acre — then stocks down to grass with a crop of oats or other grain sown broad cast, and contin- ues the grass crop from four to sixyears. Mr. Pecker likewise exhibited his kitchen and ornamental garden abounding in shrubbery, roots, and fruits, and no less neat and free from .ViCeds than the field which we have been describing. For tlie management of this garden he claimed credit as belonging to tliat " better half," who, within doors, evinced to the committee that " she looked well to the ways of her household." A new beginner. On a subsequent day of the same week the Committee again met on the premises of tlie Chair- man of the Committee, (Mr. Hill.) Thereis noth- ing extraordinary in any improvement on the ground wliich he cultivates. His crop of corn and potatoes the present season is mainly pr'oduced on land which has been reclaimed from ground either covered with water, with bushes, or other entirely useless growth. A considerable portion of his hay is cut on ground similarly reclaimed. On thirty acres of grass land, lie thinlis he has obtained nearer sixty than fifty tons of good hay : he plant- ed aboutjiine acres of corn all of the small and early kinds^-one acre was drowned ouf by tlie wa- ter, and either planted .with beans or sowed late with Indian wheat: the crop he tliinks, will be a- bout three hundred bushels of sound yellow corn. Three acres of oats will yield about one hundred bushels ; and one acre of mixed, oats and peas, thir- ty bushels. On one acre of barley, there will he thirty to f"orty bushels. Four acres of potatoes planted in drills have yielded six hundred bushels. These were early planted on ground well prepared, and were snfficienfin number to have made with a full growth double the quantity in measihre. A portion of the Indian wheat was blasted or injured by drought : the small quantity sowed in July pro- duced four times the amount and of a better quali- ty than that sowed a month previous. Four acres of winter rye on well cultivated intervale app.:'ared remarkably well till the time of the growth of the kernel in the head ; the amount of straw was great, but instead of seventy-five or eighty bushels the crop will not exceed fifty bushels. Two acres of spring rye sowed early on the same kind of ground will yield at least thirty l)ushels. One acre and one fourth of ruta baga, looking well with the ex- ception of two small spots the one too wet and the other too dry and sandy, may produce from three to five hundred bushels of that esculent. One fourth of an acre planted <3n a light sand without other manure than the application of plaster, produced five bushefj of beautiful p-a beans; and about the some quantity planted with a larger early bean tur- ned out five and a half bushels. Three bushels of onions, ten of parsnips, twenty of carrots, twenty each of the blood and sugar beat, with the forego- ing detail, constitute the main articles of the pres- ent year's product. There must be an annual im- provement, since three barns averaging aliont forty feet square each are this year tolerably well filled, where last year two barns only sufficed. Eleven acres, manured at the rate of twenty-five good loads to the acre, are stocked down the present year; these the next year, if the season be good, will add nearly two tons to the acre of good En- o-lisli hay to the present product. Nine acres of re- claimed land, where the corn was raised, are in the cjurse of preparation to be laid down to that most profitable crop, Englisli hny. From ten to twenty acres of swamp and plain land where the wood and timber have been principally taken away, is in preparation for future cultivation, and a portion of this land is equally good with the most fertile bot- tom lands. These are the first results of an at- 1 tempt to make something useful grow where noth- intr useful grew belore by one who can claim as a farmer but little of that valuable knowledge which results only from e"xperience. Three Farms in Canterbury. About half a mile westerly from the premises of Mr. Trueworthy Hill in Canterbury, on more ele- vated ground, is the farm of TnoM.vs Ames, Esq. to view which the committee were called They found neither Mr. Ames nor any other person at home ; but there was no difliculty in identifying his cultivated grounds, from a former description we had of them. A vast labor had been perform- in clearing the arable and grass land of stones, and neat stone walls parted the ground into convenient lots. Two or more acres of the Black sea wOieat of great evenness, beautifully waved in the Ineeze ; a piece of oats and Indian wheat appeared also promising. One field of corn and another of po- tatoes were also vigorous. All was remarkably clean and neat, scarcely less so than the farm in Concord which was first visited. The garden also, surrounded b}' current bushes yielding bushels of that useful berry, was In the true taste of a farm- er's garden, containing an abundance of whatever Was useful for t'amilv consumption. Just as we were about leaving, Mrs. Ames returned from at- tending a sick family and invited our further tarry to tea and the return of her husband, who perhaps with the assistance of .02£...pr more sons has- per- formed and continues to perform the principal la- bor upon his farm. We were regaled with a glass of beautiful currant wine before leaving, the man- ufacture of the faniily ; and met Mr. .Ames, of whom we requested an account of his wheat crop to exhibit with this report. The farm of Mr. L.'B.in MonniLi. is situated two or three miles northwest of that of Mr. Ames. Here it may be proper to remarlt, that if we* had found on most of the places we had visited some- thing to commend, Mr. M-orrill's premises exhibit- ed every thing worthy of praise. We went out of the way and up a steep hill to arrive at the place, but we were riclily paid for all the trouble. The farm of Mr. Morrill is that which was occupied by his father, Mr. Samuid A. Morrill, who h.as been long known as "No. 1," in Canterbury from the better manner in wh'-cli he managed Iiis farm and his business. The elder gentleman still lives, bow- ed down not simply by the infirmities of labor and age, but from the misfortune of being maimed by a tree- falling upon him a few years since. The old gentleman would be ou!, of his element if he l"ailed to cultivate the ground ; and accordingly a great portion of the labor upon the farm has been and continues to be done by the father and the son, who is truly a "chip of the old block." Mr. Morrill's farm consists of two liundred acres of land situated on the southern aspect of the high grounds which border on Northiield, eleven miles from Concord, and some portion of it in full view of the steeple and buildings about the capitol. There is one field of forty acres whose smoothness and freeness from stone would indicate any thing biit its former roughness. This and two or three adjacent fields present the most admirable arrange- ment for convenience of communication to and from the house and barn. The several pieces are ncaily enclosed with durable stone wall, and the redundant small stone are carefully laid in cause- ways, or used in under-drains to carry off the stand- ing water. There are six hundred rods of stone fence enclosing the premises, and not a solitary THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 43 stone pile is found encumbering the flolds. Mr. Morrill observed that a great portion of these stones liad been moved witli his own hands. The ar- rangement of the barn and barn yards is admira- ble ; a t'ranary, built proof against rats, constitutes one apartment of the barn. Any attempt to de- scribe the conveniences about the barn and house would be futile ; it suffices to say, that no gentle- man upon the committee could suggest any con- siderable alteration wliich would be an improve- ment. Mr. Morrill had several varieties of wheat growing — the Black sea wheat, the Tea wheat and a kind resembling barley. His fields of corn and potatoes were not stout, but remarkably clean. His land being all of the elevated kind requiring manure would be benefitted beyond measure if he had the stable of some extensive tavern to which lie might resort. He has however done every thing in his power to increase the manure on his own premises. The yard of his barn saves every thing that comes into it; and the arrangement of his hog habitation is admirably well adapted for the increase of the material for crops. If the man who owns tliis pattern farm deserves much praise, the lady within doors, who happens to be the youngest daugliter of one of our respec- table ancient Concord families, should likewise come in for a full share. Just at the point of clos- ing a rapid day's work, the hospitable gentleman invited us to partake as a beverage of his 'told or- chard." This was followed up by the lady to an invitation to tea: tlie invitation was accepted on condition that it should be on the table in fifteen minutes. Every thing, under her own direction, was as it should be in that time ; and before an en- tertainment far better than we find at the Tremont or AstOr hotels, because instead of skimmed milk diluted with water, we had sweet cream, and in- stead of stale bread made from sour flour we had newly risen cakes made from barlej'-wheat grown on the same premises, was finished, the good lady gave us the information that every item of our bill of fare, with the exception simply of the tea brought from China, was tke product of their own •farm from the labor of their own hands. The committee proceeded to the farm of S.mith S.iSBor.N, Esq. Mr. Sanborn although of the com- mittee, was necessarily absent in pursuit of his lost health. The farm of this gentleman, besides pas- ture and woodland at a distance, consists of 103 a- cres of intervale on the east bank of the Merri- mack. When this farm came into hia possession about four years ago, it was considered to be what is denominated a "v.-oru out farm." It is a lighter soil than much of tlie intervale below in the town of Concord, and lience is considered more di*licult of renovation. A portion of it, so light and sandy as to yield little or nothing, Mr. S. is bringing to heart by summer tilling, ploughing in crops of oats, and thus far has succeeded well. Another portion of low land bound out to wild dwarf grass, ho has reclaimed by ditching and draining. When he came upon the ground, scarcely half a dozen tons of good English hay were produced: twenty- five acres have been so inproved as this, year to turn out more than fifty tons of the best English hay. The whole farm has yelded this season more than eighty tons of hay. Four acres of the small early corn will have yielded according to compari- son with other fieldi, seventy-five bushels of shelled corn to the acre, and probably from fifty to an hun- dred cart loads of pumpkins. This cornfield lias had the present year double the usual quantity of manure — say fifty loads to the acre. Mr. Sanborn thinks the additional quantity of manure will be more than repaid in after crops. He has four a- cres of wheat : one and a half acre sowed April 35, was apparently much injured with wevil ; two and a half acres, Lowed May 25, although aliected by drouglit in some places, looked well, and had not been touched by the wc.vil. It can scarcely be anticipated, aUhough great .pains were taken in the preparation of ground tor this wheat, that the crop will compare with other pieces on higher grounds where there, was no extraordinary preparation. Mr. Sanborn had also ten acres of oats, better than or- dinary for the present year — also ^ne and a half a- cre of potatoes, more than an aero of beans, and a considerable field of peas. It is to be hoped he may give the Society a more particular account of the product of his farm. He certainly deserves the highest commendation, abundant in property as he is, for the spirit and energy with which he has commenced and carries on the business of farming. His example is worth much to the farmers of Mer- rimack County. His dwelling house, his barn and other out houses may be presented as a model for the farmer v/lio is able to erect just such buildings as may suit, and who may wish to place himself a- longside of one who is doing the utmost he is capa- ble for the benefit of his species. Two Gardens on Boscawen Plain. The Committee were introduced to the truly el- gant garden of Worcester Wdkster, Esq. late the property and estate of Hon. Ezekiel Webster, deceased. Our entertainer was mistaken if he sup- posed tlie beauties of Nature displayed in this p;ir- terrc would not be our suflicieiil temptation to re- main for its full examination : we v^ill not accuse him with transgressing the bounds of rational tem- perance, for his arbor opened upon us with an exhi- bition of nothing stronger than vinoua fermenta- tion ; but lie had well nigh encroached too much on tiie d;iy's work which was before us by minis- tering to the palate when he ought only to have feasted the eyes. The garden, for the laying out and construction of which the credit is due to an esteemed citizen and civilian now no more, but for the clean keeping and present beauty of which himself deserves al'l the praise, is thus described by its owner : " It contains about two acres laid out in the form of an oblong square : three parallel walks, one in the centre and one on each side with intervening plats for cultivation. Borders arrang- ed with numerous species of choice flowers and a great vai-iety of selected fruit, such as the quince, pomegranate, bine and white gage, English and tame cherries, English gooseberries and superior engrafted apples The principal garden lies about eight feet hnvcr than the main street of Boscawen plain with stairs communicating with each walk. At the lower e.itremity of the oblong square occu- pied as the garden and over the central walk is e- rected a summer house of lattice work, covered with an abundance of various kinds of grape vines." It was in this place, "solitary and alone," that the entertainment introduced itself to the Committee ; and since that, as if he, could not be suflnejently tempted, the Chairman and his family have been furnished in samples of beautiful gages with re- newed evidence that the like to the garde:, of Mr. Wr-bster may not possibly bo found within the limit.^ of the criiinty. Not a weed was to be seen : the varieties of flowers were so extensive that more or less of them., appear beautiful from April to No- vember. The example of Mr. Webster, we hope, w'M be followed by every gentleman of taste who like himself can afford the time and expense. Returned to the tavern of Mr. James West, and partaking of a bountiful breakfast to which our ap- petites had been sh;irpened by our early morning expeditioiij we were shown to his garden, situated on Boscawen plain, which then seemed to be more sensibly aft'ected by drought than any other point %ve had visited. The garden was all it should be, and riiuch more than could have been expected of it in that position: it was more particularly a kitchen garden. The onions were larger and the niusk- niclons more numerous on the vines than we had seen elsewhere. The cabbages, ruta baga, beets, carrots, &.C. ^vero very fine. Under the influence of the natural heat of tho sun,. jVIr. West had cu- cuni^bers in this garden on the lOtTi of June. An- other oominendable quality^. ^^as that this garden was entirely free of weeds. How plain and simple is the instruction contained in these two answers ! What child tliat is taught them at a tender age can ever forget them .' and what adult who has them duly impressed on h'n mind when young that can pursue a course of pro- fligacy and sin without horror ? The duty of every man who has a family is to nurture carefully and tenderly his family of child- ren as he would cultivate the tender plants of his garden or his field — to preserve the purity of his own offspring from all offensive associations as he would the young shoots or scions of his orchard from noxious vermin. Let the children of our far- mers be taught to "remember now their Creator in the days of their youth" — let them be tiuglit their dvity towards God and their neighbor in early life ; and most assuredly they will not depart from the right way when they shall become old. Teaching by example should be the great rule of parents. How can the father " who is not true and just in all his dealings," who " bears malico and ha- tred in his heart," who does not " keep his own body in temperance, soberness and chastity, "or who does not do his " duty in that state which it has pleased God to call him" — expect of his young son, who watches and imitates him at every step, any better fruits of this life than he shows for himself? How can the mother, who does not rigidly abstain from evil and from the appearance of evil, claim from her daughter that behaviour which puts her own lite to the blush P The rule of the parent should be, not to do that himself which he would forbid in his child — to prac- tice no other amusements than such as his children may innocently pursue — to indulge in no practice that he would deny to them : above all to conceal no hab.it of life, no recreation or indulgence, which he would be ashamed to have come to their knowl- edge. Cornwall Bridge, Ct. Jan. 24, 1839. " On stepping into the Post Office yesterday, X saw your prospectus and also the first number of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. Additional publica- tions of this kind are precisely what the whole pop- ulation of this growing country needs. An effort must be made to induce farmers to assume and maintain their true standing in the community. Publications of this kind should be circulated and supported liy the farming interests generally. I am liiippy to say that your paper is likely to circu- late in this vicinity ; seven subscriUers were found on demand. — A few yea^s since the iarmers in this ])art of the' eonntry carried their rye, wheat and corn to market : now thousands of dollars are paid for flour t>om New York. Our lands are neg- lected— even the system of farming formerly prac- tised has been suff'ered to retrograde. We must remedy this, and I can think of no more succeea- ful method than to give circulation to your paper." " Train vp a chilcL-in'tkc way he should go." We cannot do a more acceptable service to our readers, confining our eff'orts merely to their terres- trial welfare, than to copy into the Visitor thaj part of the ( "ateclilsm of one denomination of christians which is contained in two questions and answer.*, and in which is summarily comprehended "THE MORAL LAW." '^ Quest. What is thy duty towards God .^ JIns. My duty towards God is, to believe in him; to fear Uim ; and to love him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength ; to worship him ; to give him thanks ; to put iny whole trust in him ; to call uj>on him ; to honor his holy Name and his Word ; and to serve him truly all the days of my life. Quest. What is thy duty towards thy neighbor.' Mns. My duty towards my neighbor is, to love him as myself^ and to do to all men as I would they should ilo unto me : To love, honor, and suc- cor my father and mother : To honor and obey the Civil Authority : To submit myself to all my gov- ernors, tcachertl, spiritual pastors, and masters: To order myself lowly and reverently to all my bet- ters: To hurt nobody by word or deed : To be true and just in all my dealings : To boar' no malice or hatred in my lieart: To keep my hands from pick- ino- and stealing, and my tongue from evil speak- ing, lying, 'and slandering: To keep my body in temperance, soberness, and chastity : Not to covet nor desire other men's goods ; but to learn and la- bor truly to got mine own living, and to do my du- ty in that state of life ui^to which it shall please God to call me." From tile Pliilad. F.iinier3' Cittiinel. Planting Trees. Those who won't dig must beg, and those who won't plant should not be permitted to partake of the fruits of other men's planting. All of us have partaken of the fruits of the la- bors of those who have preceded us, and we are all under obligations to render some service to those who may succeed us. ■ The labor and expense of planting and rearing a few fruit and ornamental trees, and shrubs, is so trifling, that no one would suppose that the most indolent and penurious person in the community could be deterred by it from procuring and setting out a dozen or more the ensuing spring. There is a pleasure and satisfaction connected with the performance of such a duty as this, which furnishes an ample compensation for the expendi- ture of musele and money, independent of any benefit to be hereafter derived from it. No person, it is believed, ever planted a fruit tree, or grape-vine, without feeling a secret con- sciousness that lie had rendered a service of an im- portant character either to his own family, or to others that might come after him. It is the peculiar characteristic of the truly pious and good, t© take pleasure in promoting and in- creasing the comfort, the happiness, and the inter- ests of their fellow men. " There is no part of husbandry which is niore commonly neglected than that of planting trees, without which they can neither e.xpect fruit, orna- ment or delight from their labors. But they seldom do this till they begin to be wise, that is, till they begin to grow oJ:d, and find by experience the pru- dence and necessity of it. When Ulysses, after a ten years absence, was returned from Troy, and found his aged father in the field planting trees, he asked him, ' Why, being now so far advanced in 44 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. years, he -vfloiild put himself to the fatigue and la- bor of pl.intintj that, of which he was never likely to enjoy tlie fruit.' The good old man, taking him for a stranger, gently replied, ' I plant against my Bon Ulysses comes home.' The application is ob- vious, and instructive both to young and old." Determine now without delay the trees and shrubs yon will set out in the spring, ascertain where the best and handsomest can be obtained, and suffer no ordinary circumstances to prevent you from executing so important a determination, as that of doing some good in the world before you are calh-d upon to give upyour stewardship, which may possibly be before another annual period of planting trees comes round. Let parents encourage their children, and child- ren plead witli tlieir parents, to progress with the good work of |)lanting fruit and ornamental trees, siirubs and vines, as soon as the spring opens ; and then our farms and farm liouseswill soon exchange that dull, comfortless aspect, which is so obvious in many places, for a moPe cheering and exhilirat- ing exhibition of the fruits of industy, care and good taste, and travelers as they pass by will en- quire, Who dwells in thisiielightful plafe, Distlnguislied for its f effect grace.' u. For tlie Farmer's .Monthly Vis-ilor. Durham Short Ilorus. Mr. Editor; — I saw in the last number of your journal some articles on stock; and the field of improvement in this respect is so broad in New- England .ind journals so silent, having given great attention to the subject, and believing tliat we may have here as fine stock as there is in the world, by adopting a successful root culture ; and finding by actual experience and examination the Short Horned Diirh.im breed superior to any other for early maturity, disposition to fatten, and deriving the most nourishment from a given quantity of food ; hardiness, docility, quality and quantity and goodness of milk, quality of flesh, and fitness for labor ; I have taken jjains to com- pile some evidence in tlieir favor, for your journal, that our farmers may purchase them and prevent their being taken off west by speculators, where they bring from $.'iOO to $;;,000 a head. I shall confine myself to American testimony. A letter from Edward Lloyd, Governor of Ma- ryland, to John Hare Powell, Esq. dated May 3d, 1825, contains the following passages i " Many of my half breed Champion short horned heifers, now two years old, have had calves this spring, and contrary to my expectation are fifty per cent. superior for milk to any breed I have ever had. They have had only the common fare of cattle on my estate. All of my mixed bloods are BO superior to my common stock, that I consider myself well paid for my purchase by tlie mixed bloods alone which I have reared. I have given my mixed Devons a fair trial with my mixed short horns. In size and form there is no comparison, and the short hctrns are vastly superior for milk tni size." In a letter from Gharles A. Barnitx, Esq. of New York, to John H;ire Powell, Esq. " Early last sum- mer I obtained from a neighboring fanner a l;eau- tiful heifer of the native stock, of the finest shape and promise, and the same age with my short hor- ned Durham Hebe. I kept them upon the same feed tiUnewyear, when the difference was so great that Hebe appeared at least two years a head in improvement." — " The great difficulty of obtain- ing them and the high prices they command, will for some years retard the progress of tli,e full blood, but even the half blood, which almost every far- mer may obtain, must make a sensible improve- ment in the «oursc of two or three years." Mr. Alexander Reed of Pennsylvania, having paid $2IJ0 for a bull of the Durham short horned breed, expresses his satisfaction as follows: — '' The object 1 had in view was the improvement in my- own stock. I am now perfectly satisfied that this will be accomplished equal to my most sani^uinc e2pcctations. I have the additional satisfaction of seeing my neighbors' stock rapidly improving. I attributed the fine appearance of your stock to ex- traordlniiTii keeping. The experience I have had iscalculated to do away this impression. I have sold every calf I could spare to experienced farm- ers for from six to eight times the price of common calves^ and reserved the best." Joseph Kersey, of Chester county, Pennsylva- nia, to John P. Milnor, Recording Secretary of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, writes — " Tak- ing this breed in every point of view, I consider them better adapted to the use of farmers than any other breed I am acquainted with. They arrive at maturity early, are good milkers, and are exceed- ing kind and docile — they have more weight in the most important parts, viz. the standing ribs, sur- loin, rump, &c.". At a ineetingof the Pennsylvania dairy farmers, they gave tlieir opinion as follows ; *' We have examined the Durham sliort horned cattle. We have never seen animals better f\Hec\ for the yohc. In girt, the bull although appearing heavy from his round shape, moves with vigor, and pUtres his feet so accuratchj that the track made by his fore feet are occapied bif his hind feet, as he advances. We are all dairy farmers, and have visited Powelton at our own suggestion, to satisfy our minds as to the dai- ry properties oi' the females. We do not hesitate to say that they have all the appearance of great milkers, having also yellow skins. We think the heifers excel in these points, all that we have seen." This certificate is dated January 10th, 1626, and signed by Lloyd Jones, Isaac W. Roberts, Paul Jones, David Robe.rts, John Roberts, Joseph Tra- sel, Geo. W. Roberts and Isaac Heister. An extract from a communication made by Levi Lincoln, Governor of Massachusetts, and Presi- dent of the Worcester Agricultural Society: "With nineteen of the short horned Durham breed in my possession, I can safely say that my most confident anticipations have been realized. I have now seven heifers in milk, four of them three years old, three, two years old, and for richness in quality, and abundance in quantity they are not excelled by the very best cows of any r.ge of the native stock. A heifer of three years old with her second calf, has not been dry since she dropped herftrst^ having given four quarts on the morning of her second calving. Next to the merino sheep I consider the intioduction of the short horns in the blood of Dentow as the ricliest acquisition to the country which agriculture has obtained. For the dairy and tlie stall I speak with the utmost confidence of their pre-eminence. One of the heifers gives from sixteen to twenty quarts of the richest milk by the day since calving, the other a little less, from the circumstance of having been in milk continually for more than a year; but her milk is in no degree inferior in quality. The last season, she gave eleven quarts at a milking with grass only, and this not unfrequently. They keep as easy as the native stock and are as hardy." Mr. Lincoln says also, in a letter to Col. Powell, that his " stock of short horns was kept wholly on meadow ha^' and barley straw — no re ots or English hay was allowed them," that *' the result was high- ly favorable to this breed of animals, and would appear to establish another link in the chain of evi- dence in their favor. It proves that in hardihood they are not inferior to our native cattle." He has also a pair of steers of this breed, which in strength and docility are not surpassed by cattle of any breed. " The only objection against them lies in tlieir color, which being light renders any soil or stain conspicuous, and suggests an idea of their lieing less hardy than those of deeper hues." — Lawrence however siys, "the color of cattle seems wholly immaterial in view of utility. The old prognostics drawn from color are truly nonsensical. Treatise on neat cattle." I cannot close this evidence without adding the autliority of the Hon. John Welles of Boston, w'hn is tlie oldest and has been the most careful breeder of the Durham short horned cattle in America, and has made hinisdf in this, and many other respects eminently useful to the agricultural interest of this and neighboring States. Public spirited and be- neficent, limiting his munificence to nn party or denominatinn, the agricultural interests of the whole country have been promoted b}' his efforts. Far distant must the traveller be, who can see no traces of his usefulness in some descendant of CcEi.EBS, De.nto.\', Admiral; Sir Isaacs, or Cor- net, or otherwise. Mr. Wells' present breeding has crossed his stock with the different importa- tions of the Durham stock, and probably has it as perfect as any man in New England. I have compiled this evidence for the Durhams because the farmers in New England do not now seem to be awake to the superior claims ©f this breed of cattle, and are thereby relapsing, while speculators are seeking the purest and best of the stock and driving to the West and Soutli. In the years 1825, 6, 7, and 8, much was written on this subject, and farmers began to open their eyes to the light, but little having been written re- cently, the subject has passed away from the pub- lic eye and should be brought forward immediately, and kept there, till every New England farmer rev- olutionized his little stinted stock. If any person is inclined to pursue this matter further, and ascertain the merits of the difterent breeds of neat cattle, I would refer him to »n essay on the subject in 0th vol. N. E. Farmer, also Rees' Cyclopojdia, and other volumes of the N.E. Farm- er. TEWKSBURY, Mass. Feb. 10, 1839. For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. Treatment and Fattening of Oxen. To the editor of the I'isilor. — Dr.AR Sir:— As you have* been pleased to publish some few facts in regard to fatting cattle, drawn from an incidental interview, in the first number of the Monthly Vis- itor, you will excuse me if I trespass upon your time by giving in detail my own views and method in regard more particularly to that noble animal the ox. And one reason moving iiie to do it is, I know there is a great mistake with many in regard to the increase or profits to be derived when a. right method is pursued ; and I have regretted exceedingly that so many have been led by mista- ken policy to substitute horses in the ordinary labor of the farm instead of that of oxen, to point out all the injurious results of which would be depart- ing from what was intended at this time, and occu- py too much space, should you think this worthy a place in your useful paper. It is a well known fact that there are not half the number of working oxen inthisregion of coun- try there formerly was : this is one reason for the extra price of ordinary cattle without any beneficial effect to the farmer. I suppose I could have per- formed the labor upon my farm in the usual meth- od of exchange, &c. by keeping one pair of oxen together with the help of the horse, one of which is a very useful and necessary creature upon a farm. Notwithstanding it was my practice to keep two pairs on the scale of economy or profit — which were usually sold, and replaced in the course of the year by others at a profit in cash of from thirty to fifty dollars a pair, besides doing all the work of the (arm, including getting up wood, fenc- ing stuff, and more or less lumbering during the winter season. In selecting, when about to purchase, several prominent points were to be observed. First, the age, from four to six: — second, the form to be well made, what is generally termed square built, smooth and thrifty, tlesh ordinary, and free from blemishes and overstrains ; — thirdly, well matched and uni- form in color, pleasing the eye (or fancy) so as to secure the greater price either for work or slaugh- ter. Next, attention and feed, (the former to me was a luxury,) lieside the ordinary time necessary to place the fodder before them, which should be o"iven in small parcels and often ; one half hour at least should be spent in the morning and anoth- er at noon carding the oxen, and at other times whc=; not at work very much is gained in gently carding and removing the old coat in the sj)ring. My cattle will very soon follow me in the yard or pasture, they like it so well. My mode of feeding perhaps was not much different from that of others until about the l:ist of February or first of March, when oxen need more salt than you can yet into them in the ordinary manner either by salting the hay, or keeping it in a trough where they can come at it, for they will not eat it in sufiicient quantities in a crude state, and you cannot get enough into the hay, which led nie to try some experiments, and finally I hit upon the following which has fully answered my most sanguine expectations ; Preparation : Take for instance a half bushel even full of potatoes; divide them into two equal parts, chop them fine, add then about one gill of pulverized salt to each ; mix them well tegether ; then add to it Indian meal sufficient to absorb the moisture. 7Vi(j>- c/nantity given to each pair twice or three times o trech has done viors towards increasing the fcsh and bcuatij of tlie animal than any other feed hoiccrer costly. Some care is necessary in regard to the looseness of the animal which may at first be produced, which ii very easily checked or regulated by feeding with meadow hay, &c. Following this course through the spring work and fjr some weeks alter they are lurued out to pasture, my oxen have uuifornily become quite fat by the middle of July. The preparation is to be given immediately on preparing it, or the salt drives all the moisture out of the potatoes: if it stands any considerable time, it turns a redish color and the ox will refuse it. I have usually done my feeding in the morning because of uniformity, whicli I con- sider of some importance in this as well as other matters. At that time of day the cattle are cool. It is not good to give provender to a creature when it is heated by labor. This kind of feed has anoth- er advantage over any other within my knowledge, viz. correcting tliose disorders to which cattle are subject. It gives them a good appetite for their common fodder and also for water. Cattle fed iu this manner are not apt to stand long over the THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 45 trough before they drink lioarty. The ox should have a dry floor well bedded with straw or poor hay; and in this way the quantity and quality of the manure is greatly increased. But I f?ar I am trespassing by the length of this article, and will therefore only say if any one should derive any advantage from the foregoing sugges- tions, it will be to me a sufficient reward. Yours, &c. M. C. PILLSBURY. Concord, Feb. 28, 1330. rroin the Plyniuutli Ruck. Bone Manure. In this section of the country, where nature has not been profuse in the distribution of fertile fields, rich alluvials, or verdant prairies ; and where we h.^ve no overflowing Nile to meet the drafts annu- ally made by the husbandman, on the soil he culti- vates, it is a question of no small nnportance to the farmer, how he can, with the least expense and in the most permanent manner, restore his fields to their wonted fertility. This subject has engaged the at- tention of many able writers in^the agricultural pe- riodicals of the day, with incalculable benefit to the community. Lime, plaster, ashes, marl, salt, &c. have each their advocates, and there remains no doubt that they are all valuable as a manure, when properly applied. But as my object at this time is to treat on bone manure, I will confine my- self to that subject. Having seen many favorable notices of bone ma- nure, I was induced early lait May to send to the manufactory of Mr. Ward, at Roxbury, and pur- chase twelve bushels, in order to test its utility on crops. It was too late in tlie season to expect any satisfactory result on wheat or grass land, and the severe drought which nearly destroyed my corn, rendered it impossible for me to judge of its etfica- cy on this crop. But of its good eftect on mangel wurtzel, ruta bagas, beets, beans, &c. I can speak with confidence. In order that the bone manure might acquire a degree of heat, about a week before applying it I mixed four bushels of crushed bones with an equal quantity of ashes, and having sprinkled it sufficient- Iv with water, let it remain in a heap. On the 2iid of May I selected about one fourtli of an acre of light sandy land, and after giving it a liberal dress- ino- of good mud compost it was ploughed, rolled, harrowed and drilled for mangel wurtzels. The preparation of bone manure in the incipient stage of fermentation, was strewed in small quantities in the first row (a single handful for the space of three feet) and omitting it in the next, it was placed only in alternate rows ; the seed was then planted and carefully covered With a hoe, which, owing to its being gathered before it was perfectly ripe, did not germinate well, there was not half plants enough where the bone manure was applied, and where tliere was none, not half as many ; in due season tlie vacancies were planted with ruta bagas. These came up well, but through the season of drought those rows which received a. ■sprinkling of bone ma- nure, exhibited a decided superiority of appearance, — although its long continuance had nearly destroy- ed my hopes of a crop worth harvesting, whan on the 2.5th of August, we were favored with a boun- tiful shower of rain and hail, and although the hail made sad havoc with the leaves, which had the ap- pearance of having been in a pitched battle, yet trom this time their growth was very rapid, at har- vesting we had four l)ushels of mangel wurtzels, and two bushels of ruta bagas in each row where the bone manure was applied, and in those rows where it was omitted, we had but one bushel of each, and tliis diflVrence was uniform through the whole. My whole crop measured about one hundred bush- els ; iny deductions from tliis experiment are these: Had I applied bone manure to the whole crop which would have cost in addition about one dollar and fifty cents, I should have raised fifty bushels more of those vegetables, which would have cost me three cents per bushel, and which are worth at least twenty-five cents per bushel for stock ; mak- ing a diftercnce of eleven dollars, on this small patch. A like difference was observable where ap- plied to beets, French turnips, and beans. In all these experiments the effects were truly astonish- ing, and established in my mind the fact, that " bone manure is one of the most povt^erful stimu- lants, that can be applied to the earth as a manure." horacp:: co;.lamore. Pembroke, Ms. Jan. 21, 1830. whole United States ; and the same may be said of September, with a few exceptions. Large quanti- ties of rain fell in the spring, seriously retarding and injuring the crops. A frost was felt more or less severelv over almost the whole of the northern and middle States, as well as the western ones, on the third of September ; in many places severe e- nough to destroy the potatoe and melon vines, and injure corn that was not beyond its reach. Octo- ber was remarkable for the quantity of snow that fell during the month, the whole being more than two feet. It fell more or less over the whole coun- try north of the thirty-fifth degrees of latitude ; and in elevated districts lay for weeks. The coldest day ever known in this country in November, oc- curred on the 2.jth of that month. At Otisco, On- ondaga county, at 7 o'clock the mercury was at 0, at New York"l2d. at Philadelphia •>> il., at Balti- more 18 d., at Boston 7 d., at Susquehannah, Pa. .^ d. below 0, and in a number of other places from 3 d. to^7 d. below zero. The coldest days that have occurred in fifty years before in November were in 178fi, 18 d., and in 1707, 17 d. What the efl'ect of so severe a frost, on wheat and other plants when unprotected by snow, will be, remains to be seen. Gcficsfc Farmer. The season of 1S38 will be remenibered as one singular in many respects. January was compar- atively mild; February was severely cold, and March was in proportion more mild than April or May. The summer months from the middle of June were remarkably hut and dry throughout the Geology of Maine. nr cnjiRLES t. jackso.v, m. d. Capabilities of soils — Vegetable Physiology. It is evident that plants are not endowed with creative powers, and consequently are unable to produce any new elementary substances ; hence the various substances which enter into their com- position, must be derived from air, water or earth. All the saJine and earthy matters which they con- tain are readily traced to their origin in the soil ; while the carbon, hydrogen, oxigen and nitrogen that exist in them, are elements which they draw from air, water, and the animal and vegetable sub- stances used as manures. The atmosphere is composed chiefly of the two gasses, nitrogen and oxigen, mixed together in aeriform solution, in the proportion of four-fil'ths nitrogen, and one fit\h oxigen, besifles which gass- es there is always a certain proportion of carbonic acid gas, amounting to 1-10000 part, and variable proportions of aqueous vapor. From the carbonic acid gas of the atmosphere, plants derive a large share of their carbon, which IS the basis of all vegetable matter. Some of it is also furnished by the fermentation of vegetable and animal substances, which decompose in the soil, and this gas is either decomposed by the leaves of vegetables, or is carried into their roots by aqueous solution and absorption. All fresh growing plants decompose the carbonic acid of the air, take up its carbon, and exhale oxigen gas, and tliis operation goes on more rapidly while the sun shines upon them. In darkness, plants give out carbonic acid, but the quantity is relatively small, when compar- ed with that which they absorb during the day. So that if a plant is grown under a bell glass, contain- ing air mi.xed with this gas, the carbonic acid is soon removed, and replaced by pure oxigen. Thus vegetation is continually removing a sub- stance deleterious to man and all animals, and re- placing it by pure vital air — a gas absolutely ne- cessary for their respiration. This beautiful law of nature should never be lost sight of by the farm- er, n«r should he ever forget the relation which the green woods and fields bear to the healthful- nessof the country. Seed will not germinate, without the joint action of air, water, light and heat. Without these es- sential conditions, the germ remains, as it were, asleep for an unknown length of time. Seeds, taken from the tombs of ancient Thebrs, in Egypt, where they had remained in a dry, dark and s**- questered spot for more than three thousand years, were found still to possess their vital properties, and when planted in a botanical garden in London, sprang fortii, to flourish in the present age. How long a seed, tlius immured in darkness, shut out from all the causes which would produce germina- tion or decay, would remain alive, is wholly un- known ; but from the known facts respecting spon- taneous rotation of crops and of forest trees, it would seem that the si.-ed remain buried in the soil for enormous lengths of time, before the circum- stances necessary for their putting forth, arrive. Dead leaves of tlie forest shut out light, and pre- clude, in some measure, the influence of the at- mosphere, while the sombre foliage hangs over the soil, and serves, by its shade, as an additional cause preventing germination. Thus, I suppose, the seed, buried in the forests, remain dormant un- til the removal of the shade trees, or the burning of the leaves, gives free access to the causes re- quisite for germination and growth oi the hidden plants ; and we consequently perceive a new growth almost invariably follows the removal of the primeval forests. According to Decandole, plants exude from their rootlets certain substances, which have the property of eventually eradicating their own species, while they are not a preventive of the growth of other plants ; hence he accounts for natural rotation. It is probable, also, that one kind of vegetaliles may exhaust their proper nutriment, and thus render the soil inca]>nble of supporting their kind, while there are other principles left, suitable for the support of diiferent species. This subject is, however, the most obscure department of vegetable physiology, and one which demands the labor of modern chemists and botanists. Thus much we know, that the conditions above stated are es-^ential requisites to healthy vegetation, and that the soil must furnish certain eubstanccs ni;.t attainable alone from air and water. W^hen we an- alyze a plant, we always find a certain quantity of silex, alumina, lime and potash, forming a large proportion of the ashes which is left on burning the plant. All these matters are contained in the soil, in greater or less proportions, and some of them are essential to the growth of the plants. The coating of wheat, rye and barley straw is sil- ex, and gives the necessary strength and hardness to the stalk. The analysis of the grain of wheat gives a large proportion of the carbonate and phosphate of lime, and we know that this grain only thrives upon a soil containing calcareous matter. It was long ago observed in Massachusetts, and is also seen in certain districts of Maine, that wheat straw grows very well, but the grain does not fill and present a plump and solid appearance, but looks wilted, and is not heavy. This was formerly sup- posed to be owing to the climate, but on more care- ful examination, it is found to arise from the want of lime in the soil. Many animal manures contain a little of this substance, and it accordingly ap- ])ears, where a farm is well manured, that wheat will grow well upon it, but a large annual expenditure is required for the purpose. It is ob- served, that all the grain regions of the cauntry have soils more or less calcareous, and we fiiui, that by adding lime to the ssiil, we may produce br art the material wanting ; and it appears by the a- nalyses here presented, and by the results of cer- tain experiments, which have been made in France, and repeated here, that a very minute proportion of lime is aiHply sufficient for the purpose. Thus one or two per cent, of carbonate of liine will answer the ])ur])Ose, and this small quantity costs so little, that any farmer can well atford to apply it to the soil. Indeed, I do not see how he can afford to do otiierwise, since he will be a loser, and his more skilful neighbors will be enabled to supply the market, whili; he will not be able to recover his seed. It is a great mistake to suppose, that wheat will grow in any soil, for I know, that in many instan- ces, the crop raised the past season, which has cer- tainly been very propitious, did not equal in value the seed sown ; and these instances all occurred where the soil was destitute of lime, and was not largely manured. Unless you wish to waste your labor upon barren and unproductive fields, attend carefully to the na- ture of your soil, and supply those elements which are wanting, in order to vender it fruitful. When lime is moistened with water, it becomes hot, swells, and falls into bulky white jiowder, cal- led by chemists the hydrate of lime, it Ijeing coin- posed of water combined with that sub.itancc in a solid state. This powder, if the lime is of good quality, will amount to nearly three times as much as before it was slaked, so that one cask of lime will fill three casks witli hydrate, or water-slaked lime. If, on the other hand, the lime is exposed to tile action of the air, it will attract carbonic acid gas, and become air slaked, wiiich operation re- converts it into its original chci;*.ical state. The hydrate also attracts carbonic acid iVom the air, and is likewise converted into the carbonate, which will weigh nearly twice as much as the quick lime, from which it is made. I mention these evident facts, in order to assure the farmer, that when he buys a cask of lime, it will make about three of the article which he uses as a manure, and consequently, that it is not so expensive as he might imagine, since it increases in bulk, and will cover a considerable surface. Moreover by a skilful management, the farmer may, by the use of lime, form a vast number of valua- ble composts, and may destroy, or not, as he pleas- es, the seeds and insects in his compost or barn ma- nure. It also has the power of decomposing ani- mal and vegetable substances, the extent of which operatiohs, a skilful hand can regulate at will, and 46 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. a great variety of valuable siilino compounds, the most active manures, may be formed. There are many cases, also, where the combijiing power of this substance can be taken advanlaoe of, in the neutralization or removal of deleterious matters, and by judicious management, those very princi- ples may bo converted into valuable manures. The following table shows the relative strength of several different kinds of limestone found in Maine during the jjast season; 100 grains, being the weight of each stone analysed. PurnPELPHiA Rf.pqrter, Counterfeit Detector, Phihidclphia Price Current and Gcncrul Jidvcrtiscr. — This is the title of a new monthly publication of 16 pat^es, issued from the Press of tjie Farmers' Cabinet, No, 45, North 6th street, Phila. by John Libbey, at one dollar a year in adviince. From a perusal of the first number, we liave no hesitation in saying it is all its title imports. It contains a complete list of spurious and counterfeit bank bills in every State in tlie Union, witli a great variety of other information. For llie Fiinner's Mniltlily Visitor. Mr. Hill, — Dear Siii: — I was much gratified to learn, by an article in the N. H. Patriot of tile !2Sth ult, taken from the first number of tlie "Farm- crs's Montlily Visitor," that yon had called on the farmers and scientific agriculturalist'! of New Hampsliire directing their attention to the analysis of various soils in the State. Tliis subject has hitlierto been almost entirely neglected, whicli, in a great measure, is to be at- fibuted to the circumstance, that its importance has not been duly appreciated. Tlie agricultural chemist, the scientific farmer knows, that, to ensure a good crop, tlie soil to be cultivated should consist of a mixture of a due pro- portion of silica, alumina and lime, with more or less of decompos'jd organized (aiiinul and vegeta- ble) matter. To liim, the analysi.s ofthe soil will be considered a subjectof iiaraniount importance. By this he is able to ascertain whicli essential ingredient exists in too small, and which in too large, a quan- tity, and will consequently know liow to apply a ttiiiedy ; when a soil is rendered unproductive by the existence of a deleterious substance contained in it, he can, by acertainlng the nature of the nox- ious substance, apply a corrective that will neu- tralize or destroy it. ,vAs a specimen, suppose a farmer has a piece or "patch" ef land which is barren or unprodnctive, and he wishes to ascertain the cause of its sterility; and suppose farther, that upon a careful analysis it should prove'lo contain sulphate of iron (copperas) which, althougli it may give an impetus to early Tco-etation, will most assuredly letard or prevent the crop from coming to maturity, provided it ex- ist in any considerable quantity. The remedy or corrective in this case would be carbonate of lime; ■tlfc process would be, wliat in chemistry is called double elective affinity ; tlie sulpiuiric acid of the oulphate of iron (copperas) would ilnite with the lime, and form sulphate of lime (Plaster of Paris) a Well known fertilizer of many soils, while tlie car- bonic acid of the carbonate of lime unites with the exide of iron and forms the carbonate of iron, a comparatively harmless substance. Thus a sterile soil, after obtaining a knowledge of the cause ofils sterilitv, may be rendered productive, and the nox- ious substance, caaisirg the sterility, converted in- to a fertilizer. This knowledge can be obtained by ^lo other method than by a careful and correct "a- nalysis of the soil." This substance is formed from the sulphuret of iron (Pyrites) and may be suspected wherever rock are seen of a brown, redisli brown, or yellowish brown color. The siilphate of iron (copperas),!; formed during the disintegration of such rocks, as sisted bv moisture and atmospheric agencies.— Gneiss and mica slate formations are generally most impregnated with Ibis substance It, may be seen in many places in the County of PtrafFord, N. H and probably in many other parts of the Stale, Th' proper remedy for such soils would be from three to four casks of lime to the acre. It should be slaked with water and exposed for some time to the atmosphere to allow it to absorb carbonic acid before sowing it upon the ground.^ Such soils are not much improved by the use of Gypsum until corrected by the carbonate of lime. Henc5 the utility of the analysis of soils, and hence too, the importance of a correct geological and agricultural survey of your State, an object of paramount importance to the farming interests, and one which it is hoped the legislature will place in a state of forwardness at the earliest opportuni- tunity. Respectfully, Your obedient seri'dnt, WILLIAjM PRESCOTT. ■ Lynn, (Mass.) Feb. 20th 1S39. *iMarl is ngood siibslitulc wlicn ilcan beabtaiiied. Boston, Fob. 12, 1830. Mv Dear Sir: — I have just risen from the pe- rusal of your valuable paper — devoted to ngriciil- tnre, &c. and find it full of interest and well calcu- lated to do good. I have requested the agent of the work to deliveE me. a copy of it — so long as it shall continue — which 1 hojie and trust will be ?««- nij years. Although (lent up in the city,— I talvp great pleas- ure in contemplating the beauties and privileges of the country. I cannot but regard the country as the Paradi^e of the Earth, — and the cultivators of the soil as the real lords of it. And, if I may speak of the agricultural classes — jwJitirdily — I feel that the ultimate salvation of our Free Institntions will dejiend upon their integrity and discretion. They are necessarily scattered over the land — and have no motives to congregate, but for impor- tant purposes in reference to the good 'of all. I be- lieve that it is in the nature of their avocation to make them a moral and religious j^eople. You must excuse these remarks — because if I am "in love" with any one calling more than all oth- ers, it is that of the Farmer. And, if my life be long spared, I trust that I shall end my days a New England Farmer. Your most obedient servant and friend, NAHUM CAPEN. His E.xcellenc}- Isaac Hill, Concord, N. 11." Common School I/ibrary. The Board of Education, of the Cominonw'calth of Massachusetts, has decided to cause to be pre- pared two series of volumes, particularly adapted to the capacities of the young — to be entitled "The Common School Library." The plan contemjilates that these series shall consist of .50 volumes each ; One to be of 12nio. size about 400 pages each voluiue, and the other Lo be of 18mo. size about SSO pages each. The publication of these volumes has been un- dertaken \>y Messrs. Marsh, Capen and Lyon of Bos- ton, and a number of volumes of both series, are in press, and will be ready for delivery in the course of a few weeks. Individuals, distinguished for their learning, su- perior judgment and moral excellence, of diifereiit political parties, and religious denominations, and residing in various sections of the Union, have been engaged to prepare and superintend these works, and when it is stated that every volume must he approved by each individual member of the Board, — that the board is composed of gentlemen conspicuous forlheir talcntsand possessingin a high degree the confidence of Ihe respective parties and denominations from which they were severally selected, — it is not onlj' a sufficient guarantee to tlie public that nothing short of works of the highest order will hi? sanc- tioned, but also that Uie series will contain nothing objectionable to ttli'e'fticmbers of any sect or party. A law was passed by the Massachusetts Legisla- ture ]2t]i of April, 1837, authorising an expendi- ture by eacli School District in the Coniiuonwealtli for the purchase of a District School Library. The North American Review thus speaks of the Library : "It is understood 1 hat a series of volumes, approved by the Board of Education as suitable for Conunon School Libraries, is about to be published and sold at a moderate rate, plainly and substan- tially bound and placed in cases well iidapted tbr convenient trauspartation, and afterwards to serve as the permanent pl.ice of deposit'.'. " It is highly desirable that every School District should avail itself of the law. These books, being fitted for common use, would pass ffoiii the scholar into the family, and increase the interest of parents in the better education of their children, by giving them new views of its value." The works are to be stereotyped in a uniform style, and the type will be large and clear. The paper is to be manufactured expressly for the se ries, and made of the most durable materials, and the binding will unite the important qualities of strength and beauty. Five or ten volumes of each series, will be deliv- ered at a time, and the publishers are under obli- gations to furnish the whole at the lowest jiossible price. There will be numerous Cuts and Engravings in those volumes requiring such illustrations, and no expense will be spared to render the series equal, if not superior to any published in the world. The same publishers are also preparing to pub- lish a series of volumes under the title of "The Teachers' Library." This will embrace standard works, original and selected, on the important subject of Education, embodying a mass of information valuable to In- structors, and interesting to all desirous for the dissemination of correct knowledge and sound prin- ciples among the rising generation. THE FRUGAL HOUSE'»VIFE. Odd scraps for the economical. Suet and lard keep better in tin than in earthen. Suet keeps good all the year round, if chop- ped and packed down in a stone-jar, covered with molasses. Pick suet free from veins and skin, melt it in water before a moderate fire, let it cool till it forms into a hard cake, then wipe it dry, and juit it in clean piijjier in linen bags. Preserve the backs of old letters to write upon. If you have children who are learning to write, buy coarse white paper by the quantity, and keep it locked up, ready to be made into writing books. It does not cost half as much as it docs to buy them at the Stationer's. Do not let coffee and tea stand in tin. Scald your wooden ware often ; and keep your tin ware dry. When mattresses get hard and bunchy, rip them, take the hiiir out, pull it thoroughly by hand, let it lie a day or two,, to air, wash the tick, lay it in as before. Thus prepared, they will be as good as new. It is poor economy to buy vinegar, by the gallon. Buy abarrel, or half barrel of really strong vine- gar, when you begin house-keeping. As you use it, fill the barrel with old cider, sour beer, or wine- settlings, iVc. lef>. in pitchers, (lecanters, or tumb- lers, weak tea is likewise said to be good : nothing is hurtful, which has a tolerable portion of spirit, or acidity. Care must be taken not to add these things in too large quantities, or too often : if the vinegar once gets weak, it is difficult to restore it. If possible, it is well to keep such slops as I have mentioned in a diffi;rent keg, and dravi' them off once in three or four weeks, in such a quantity as you think the vinegar will bear. If by any care- lessness you do weaken it, a few white beans drop- ped in, or white paper dipped in molasses, is said to be u.seful. If beer grows sour it may be used fo advantage for pancakes and fritters. If very sour indeed, put a pint of molasses and water to it, and two or three days after put a half pint of vinegar ; and in ten days it will be first rate vinegar. Barley-straw is the best for beds ; dry cdrn husks slit into shreds are far better than straw. , ^ Straw beds are much better for being bo.xed at the sides, in the same manner upholsterers prepare tick t; for feathers. Ba'ass andirons should be cleaned., done up in papers, and put in a dry place, duirlw^'the snuinier season. If you have a large family, it is well lo keep white rags separate from colored ones, a.rid cotton separate from woollen ; they bring a higher pi'ice. Paper brings a cent a pound, and if you have plen- ty of room, it is well to save il. 'A penn_\ saved is a penny got.' Always have plenty of dish water, and have it hot. There is no need of asking the character of a domestic, if you liave ever seen JiOr wash dishes in a little gre;..-sy water. When inolatses is used in cooking, it is a prodi- gious improvement to boil and skiui it, before you use it. It takes out the unpleasant raw tasti?, and makes it almost as good as sugar. Where molas- ses is used much for cooking, it is well to prepare one or two gallous.in.this way at a time. In winter, always set the liaiidle of "your pump as high as possible, before yougotobed. Except in very rigio weather, this keeps the handle from freezing. When there is reason to ajiprehend ex- treme colli, do not forget to thi^w" a rug, or horse- blanket over yttur pump ; a frozen pump is a com- fortless preparation for a winter's breakfast. Never allow ashes to be taken up in wood, or put into wood. Ahvavs have your tinderbox and lan- tern ready for use, in case of sudden alarm. Have THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 47 imporlaiit papers all together where you can lay your hand on tliem at once, in case of tin. . Keep an old blanket and sheet on purpose for ironing, and on no account suffer any other to be used. "Have plenty of holders always made that your towels may not be burned out in such service. Keep a coarse broom for the cellar stairs, wood- shed, yard, &c. No good housekeeper allows' her carpet broom to be used for such things. There should always be a lieavy stone on the top of your pork, to keep it down. This stone is an excellent place to keep a bit of fresh meat in the gunnner when you are afraid of its spoiling. Have all tllte good bits of vegetables and meat collected after dinner, and minced before they are set away ; tliat they may be in readiness to make a little savory mince meat for supper, or breakfast. Vials, which have been used for medicine, should be put into cold ashes and water, boiled, and suf- fered to cool before they are rinsed. If you live in the city, where it is always easy to procure provisions, be careful and not buy too much for your daily wants, while the weather is warm. Never leave out your clothes-line over niglit ; and see that your clothes-pins are all gathered into a basket. Have plenty of crash towels in the kitchen; nev- er lot your white napkins be used there. Soap your dirtiest clothes, and soak them in soft water over night. Use hard soap to wash your clotlies, and soft to wash your floors. Soft soap is so slippery, tliat it wastes a good deal in washing clothes. Instead of covering up your glasses and pictures with muslin, cover the frames only witli cheap, yellow cambric, neatly put on, and is near the col- or of the gilt as you can procure it. This looks better ; leaves the glasses open for use, and the pictures for ornament; and is an ett'ectual barrier to dust.as well as Hies. It can easily be re-colored with satfron tea, when it is faded. It is easy to have a supply of horse-radish all winter. Have a quantity grated, while the root is in perfection, put it in bottles, till it with strong vinegar, and keep it corked tight. It is tliought to be a preventative to the unheal- thy mtlueiiee of cucuiubcrs to cut tlie slices very tliiii, and drop eaeli one into cold water as you cut it. A few minutes in the water takes out a large portion of tiie slimy matter, so injurious to health. They should be eaten with high seasoning. Wliere sweet oil is much used, it is more econo- mical to buy it by the bottle than by the flask. A bottle holds more than twee as much as aflask,and it is never double the price. If you wish to have free-stone hearths dark, wash them with soap, and wipe them with a wet cloth ; some, people rub m lainp-oil,once in awhile, and wash the hearth faithfully afterwards. This does very well in a large, dirty family; for the hearth looks very clean, and is not liable to show grease spots. But if you wish .to preserve the^ beauty of a free-stone hearth, buy a quantity of free-stone powder of the stone cutter, and rub on a portion of it wet, after you have washed your hearth in hot water. "When it is dry, brush it oif, and it will look like new stone. Bricks can be kept clean with redding stirred up in water, and put on with a brush. Pulverized clay mixed with redding makes a pretty rose color. Some think it is less likely to come off, if mi.xed with skim milk in- stead of water. But black lead is far handsomer than any thing else for this purpose. It looks very well mixed wTth water, like redding; but it gives it a glossy a]q)L'ar,ince to boil the lead in soft soap, with a rilt!(> water to keep it from burning. It should be put on with a brush, in the same manner as redding ; it looks nice" for a long time when done m this way. Keep a bag for all odd pieces of tape and strings; they will come in lise. iCeep a bag or box, for old buttons, so that you, may knoW v/here to go when you want one. Run the heels of stockings faithfully ; and mend thin places as well as holes ; ' a stitch in time saves nine.' Toke-root boiled in water and mixed with a good quantity of molasses, set about the kitchen, the pantry, &c. in large deep plates, will kill cockroa- ches in great numbers, and finally rid the house, of them. The Indians say that Poke-root boiled into a soft poultice i.= the cure for tlie bite of a snake. I have heard of a fine horse saved by it. A little salt sprinkled in starch while it is boiling, tends to prevent it from sticking ; it is likewise good to s'.ir it with a clean spermaieeti candle. A few potatoes sliced and boilinir water poured over' th"m makes an excellent pieparation for cl»ansing and stiffening old rusty black silk. Green tea is excellent to restore rusty silk should be boiled in iron, nearly a cup full to three quarts. The silk should not be wrung, and should be ironed damp. Lime pulverized sifted through coarse muslin, and stirred up tolerably thick-in. white of egg makes a strong cement for glass and china. Plas.ter of Pans is still better ; particularly for mending brok- en imao-es of the same material. It should be stir- red up by the spoonful, as it is wanted. A bit of isinglass dissolved in gin, is said to make strong cement for' broken glass, china, and sea- shcUs. . . .- , The Lemon Syrup, u.iually sold at fifty cents a bottle, may be made much cheaper. Those who use a great quantity of it will find it worth their while to make it. Take about a jiound of Hava- na sugar, boil it in water down to a quart ; drop in the white of an egg to clarify it; strain it; and one quarter of an oz. of Tartaric acid, if you do not find it sour enough, after it has stood two or three days, and shaken freely, add more of the acid. A few drops of the Oil of Lemon improves it. If you wish to clarify Sugar and water you are about to boil, it is well to stir in the white of one egg, while cold ; if put in after it boils, the egg is apt to get hardened before it can do any good. Those wligare fond of soda powders will do well to inquire at the apothecaries for the suitable acid and alkali, and buy them by the ounce, or the pound, according to the size of their families. Ex- perience soon teaches the right proportions ; and sweetened with a little sugar, or lemon syrup, it is quite as good as what one gives five times as much for, done up in papers. The case is the same with. Rochi'lle powders. — Mrs. ChUds. IMPROVEMENT. I.N WHAT SHALL WE IMPKOVK.' As We liave begun another year and are already thinking a- bout making preparations for another ugriculturn( campaign, we are led to inquire in what shall we improve; and at this thought sulijects innumera- ble are presented to our consideratiom Ask the best scientific and practical farmers in the country, those who have long excelled, in what (/icy can im- prove, and they will say that they consider almost every department iu agriculture, and all the vari- ous branches of economy connected with it, as sus- ceptible of great improvements ; that still they have subjects new and interesting, on which they wish to learn by experiments, observations and reading, ill order to get more information, which will enable them to conduct their affairs to better advantage; and this want of information, which they feel is not ow- ing to a want of intelligence, but to their becoming so°cnlightened as to see their need of more knowl- edge, while others feel not their deficiency, bee.ause they have never yet dreamed of thase subjecis, which their brethren more advanced feel anxious to investigate. Now if our best farmers canimprove, is there not much room for others to follow on and learn from their examples, and by various other methods that may present themselves. Every branch may be improved from the most trivial to the greatest, from the feeding of fowls or setting them on eggs that will produce the desired gender in the ott'- spring, to tiiose important subjects that seem des- tined°to make a revolution in our trade and add millions and tens of millions annually to the wealth of the n.ation by new sources of industry, without impeding our usual progress in other branches. We will°naine a tew of the most important subjects for improvement that claim our attention. Bcr.t Sugar.— IC beet sugar is not a subject to which we ought to give our att.'ntion, sugrfr beet surely is, for "though we are not acqudnted with the niethod of making sugar from, beets, we can sultivale the beet for stock, for which it is very valuable, and with this business it is necessary that we should become acquainted before beets can be raised suliicicntly cheap for making sugar. But iuw know much about raising beets to advantage on a large scale. We musl learn the best kind of soil, the'best and most easy modes of culture, the right kind of manure, and" the best machinery for sowing seeds, weeding, &.c. &c. before we can raise the beets, and all this we may practice to ad- vantaH-e as we can give the crop to our stock with profit." A.") beet sugar is made in abundance, and w-ith profit in other countries, our peojile, who are equal to any other in the world for ingenuity, will soon learn them out, and we have no doubt that ere king vast ouantities will be made in the north- ern States. On this subject fanners need all the information that can be obtained, that they niay know in what manner and how fast they may with propriety proceed in this business. .S'i'/A;.— This is a hew business in the country ; but It few have attended to it, and that few have done but little, yet what has been done is sufficient to show that it will be profitable in the families of farmers, and that a knowledge of it is no more difficult to obtain than that of the usual concerns of domestic and rural economy ; and those who have attended to silk raising have by experience acquired valua- ble information that others can cheaply obtain through the medium of books and papers. Every farmer should give attention to this subject, learn the method of raising tree.< and managing silk worms, ai»d then consider whether he is properly situated to pursue it to advantage. This will be- come a great business, and there is no danger of its beino- overdone, for 2li iiiillions of dollars w'irth are now need'-d to supply the United States, and the demand will increase as the business progresses, and finally, like cotton, it v/ill be maiiufactured for exportation. Imphmcnts. — (xreat improvements have been made within a fev/ years in implements of hus- bandry, from the most simple and small to the most complicated and important ; but these have not generally been introduced among our farmers. By these improved implements larmcrs may, in many kinds of work, save from one-fourth to one-half, and sometimes three-fourths of their labor. The simple, pronged hoe saves one-fourth the labor in digging potatoes, and in some other operations. Improvements in ploughs save one half the ex- pense in wear, a great deal of labor in the draft, -.nd much is gained in the superiority of the work. By a horse rake hay may be gathered on smooth ground, as fast as five or six men. The cultivator 's as good to a farmer during the hoeing season as a good hand, and it will cost only about as much as he will have to pay for a week's labor, and it will answer for other purpo.ses and last several years. With a good corn-sheller, a fiirmcr can shell corn enough to load his horse, v/liile his "bet- ter half is prcjiaring his breakfast; this would be a good day's w.nk, in the usual way. 'With good seed sowers and corn planters, seeds may be sow- ed and planted with less than one-fourth the labor required in the common method. This subject might be continued to great length but we only name a few articles to show how much the farmer may save by improved implements. Rrdnimhig luin lauds. — Low lands that produce nothing but weeds and bushes, may be reclaimed at a moderate expense, and made to produce abun- dant crops of giod English grasses. These lands are enriched by the Vegetable substances that have been accumnl.ating for ages, and rich by surface soil from the high lands, and when properly re- claimed they are the most productive m grasses of any among us. In season of drought they yield large crops when high lands generally fail. Renovating lands. — Old lands that appear to be worn out and worthless, can be so renovated that in few years the crops will pay all the expenses and the land will be in a fertile state. Many a field that once afforded but a scanty supply of herbag^ for the grasshopper, has been 90 improved at a small expen..e that it has yielded large crops of grain and grass. Routs for ■'it.ock. — By raising roots for stock our lands can gens! ally be improved, and a large quan- tity of food produced from a small space, and by feedinir stock with roots in winter arc kept in a healthy state. The land is improved not only by the root Crop being more ameliorating than grain ; Irut'yielding a far greater amount of food, the fann- er is enabled to keep more stock and of course lie will have more mannre for his land. A good crop of roots is usually worth four or five times as luucli for stock as a Crop of.grainfrom the same land, and cattle kept on green succulent food in. winter, are in a more healthy and growing; condition than when fed on dry fodder and grain ; and cows fed with rosts will give as much ipilk as in summer, other circumstances being equally favorable. We have remarked on only a few subjects, hun- dreds of others claim our attention, and among thein there aresome of impel tance with those wc have naihed. ' The improven>ents ^le have men- tioned as practical in the agricultural interest, do not exist merely in theory, a matter of speculation only, but they exist in the practice of our best farm- ei-s; their accounts in these improvements prove to 'a demt'iistration the great j-rofits arising from them: and after a few years we find a balance in their favor, to which is added a handsome sum annually. Every prudent farmer will see the importance of availing himself of every opportunity ef gaining informa- tion that will er^able him to manage his .affairs in the most judicious manner. He will read, reflect, observe, praclic", and improve. — Yankee Farmer. Temperance, open air, easy labor, simple diet and tpr, are good lor a man all his life. pure 48 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Ashes.— Of all things to make grass grow, ashes beats; tliis you may depend upon, for I have tried it often, and it has never failed. Just collect as much of it together as you can— the more the better— and spread it over your grass ground, and see if I am not correct in my assertion. It is said by some people, that it is the potash which is in it that produces the etl'ect, and I strongly suspect they are right in this matter ; for two years ago, suspecting that to be the case, I procured some potash from an apothecary ; whicli cost five cents a pound ; and dissolved it with water, and put it over the ground with a watering pot, just for an experiment ; and you would liave been surprised to see how lu.xuri- antly the grass grew where it was put. Now, 1 should like some of the intelligent farmers, who take your paper, to try an experiment with potash this spring, and inform your readers of the result through the Cabinet. Some say it is excellent for Indian corn. My object is to make plenty of grass grow ; for I find, if we can do that, we can accom- plish every thing we desire in agriculture, because with that we can feed stock, and by that means make manure. What cannot be done by industri- ous and intelligent farmers.-' I say industrious and intelligent, because without these two qualities a man had better quit farming at once, and try to find out some business soon, tliat can be carried on to profit without these indispensable qualifications to a farmer ; and when the discovery is made, I hope it will be communicated through your paper, for I should like to embark in such business, as I am well adapted to it by nature. — t'liriner's Cabinet. Cork. — Many persons see corks used daily, with- out knowing whence come these exceedingly use- ful materials. Corks are cut from large slabs of the bark of the cork tree, a species of oak, which grows wild in the countries of Europe. The tree is gen- erally divested of its bark at about fifteen years old, but before stripping it off, the tree is cut down, as in the case of the oak. It is taken while the tree is growing ; and the operation may be repeat- ed every eighth or ninth year, the quality of the cork continuing each time to improve as the age of the tree increases. When the bark is taken off, it is singed in the flame of a strong fire ; and, after being soaked for a considerable time in water, it is placed under heavy weight, in order to render it straight. Its extreme liglitness, the ease with which it may be compressi-d, and its elasticity, are properties so peculiar to this substance, that no effi- cient substitute for it has yet been discover- ed. The valuable properties of Cork were known to the Greeks and Romans, who employed it for all the purposes for which it is used at pres- ent, with the exception of stopples— the ancients mostly employing cement for closing the mouth of bottles or of vessels. The Egyptians are said to have made coffins of cork, which, being spread on the inside with a resinous substance, preserved dead bodies from decay. In modern times, cork was not generally used for stopples to bottles till about the close of the 17lli century, wax being till then chiefly in use for that purpose. The cork imported into America, is brought principally from Italy, Spain and Portugal. The quantity annually consumed amounts to several thousand tons. Grafting and Inoculating. Grafting is a mode of propagating varieties of frnit of es°teemed quality. Grafts may be cut at any time after the fall of the leaf in autumn, and before the buds begin to swell in the spring. They should he of the preceding year's growth, and are best from bearing trees and exterior limbs. They may be preserved by imbedding their larger ends in clay, a potatoe, or in moist earth, in a cellar in winter, or in the open ground, partially or wholly covered, in the spring. Grafts are frequently sent across the Atlantic. The great care shoufd be, that they are not kept too warm or too moist, so that the buds swell before they are wanted for use. The rationale of grafting will suggest the time and the manner in which it should be done. The scion and graft are to be so adjusted that the sap wood of the stock, by which the sap ascends from the roots, comes in contact with the sap wood of the scion ; and a like adjustment must be observed between the inner bark of both, through which the sap de- scends from the graft to the stock, aRer it has been elaborated in the leaves. Without the first precau- tion, tlie sap will not reach the graft, which will consequently shrivel and die. W'ithout the last, the graft, cannot knit or unite to the stock ; for it is the descending sap wliicli-.forpis the new wood, and which indeed causes the graft to send its roots down into the earth, upon the out«ide of the wood, but under the bark of the stock. The union can only take place after the sap has begun to circulate in the stock, which is when the buds are bursting. The clay or composition is applied to exclude the drying influence of the air and sun, and also rain, from the wound, until a complete union has taken place. The graft does not become injured by be- ing somewhat shrivelled before it is inserted ; but if it appears too much so, it may be buried a few hours in moist earth before used. The composi- tions used as substitutes for clay are many. A good one is one part tallww, two parts beeswax, and four parts rosin, melted and incorporated like shoe- maker's wax. If the weather is cold this will re- quire to be softened by immersing it a time in warm water. A thin layer of this covering the end of the stock and the slit, will suffice. With the ad- dition of a little more tallow, the composition may be spread upon linen or cotton cloth, when warm, and the cloth cut to the required size for a graft, and applied with less trouble in the form of a pre- pared plaster. The diffisrent processes of grafting are so generally known that we need not detail them; our object being only to throw out such sug- gestions as may tend to render the success of the operation more certain. — Pliiladcljihia Farmers' Cabinet. When is the best time to plough .' — In a late number of your paper you copied an article from the "Maine Fanner" with the above interro- gation ; and which, as therein stated, is a question of no small importance. But the writer makes one admission, which as a general rule should not be adopted, vir. : thaffarmers should embrace the op- portunity when their leisure time will allow." It is true the proper time for ploughing depends in some measure on the condition of your land. The ques- tion will arise — is your land in sward or tillage .' Is the soil silicions or argillaceous.' If your land is in sward and you intend it for corn, potatoes or any autumnal ripening crops, the best time to plough itis in the spring, afew daysbefore you put in your seed. Draw out your fresh unfermenti'd manure, spread it on the sward and immediately plough it under; by this process you save all your manure and much labor ; for by this time the grass begins to show itself, and on good soil indicates vigorous vegetation, which turned under at this season of the year, the vegetable matter covered with the soil in its green and succulent state, com- bined with the manure, readily undergoes fermen- tation and forms a most fertilizing substance for the crop. As a general rule (and one to which I know of no exceptions) plough no sward lands in the fall, but always in the spring just before you are ready to put in your seed. But if your soil is argillaceous and in tillage, plough in the spring, sjimmer, fall or Avinter, "when your leisure time will allow ;" only be sure to plough in the fall, that the frosts of winter may pulverize it — plough it a- gain in the spring, that the influences of the sun and atmosphere may warm and invigorate it for the succeeding crops. — YanUec Farmer. C. Mattakees, Plymouth Co., Jan. 1838. JVctc York Salt Springs. — By the annual report made to the Legislature by the superintendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs, we learn that there have been inspected in the town of Salina during the year 183d, 2,575,033 bushels of salt, bei!ig413^- 745 bushels more than were inspected in 1837. The amount of duties collected during the year was $154,501 98 ; the expenses of llie pumps, &c. were $7,762, and the amount collected for pump- ing was $4,849 79. The whole number of manu- factories engaged in the salt business is 144, of which 80 are in the village of Salina, 22 in Syra- cuse, 27 in Liverpool and 15 in G^ddes. Liniment for the galled baclrs of Horses. — White lead moistened witli milk. When milk is not to be procured, oil may be substituted. " One or two ounces sufficed for a whole party for more than a month." — W. II. Keatinii. PRICES CURRENT. THE FARMER'S MONTHIiY VISITOR, A MONTHLY NEWSPAPER, IS PUBLISHED BV WILLIAM P. FOSTER, HilVs Brick Block, Concord, JY. II. JA.MES BURNS, 104, Washington s'., Boston,Ms. The Visitor is issued on the fifteenth day of each month. Each niimbpr will coulain sixteen pages nf quarto size 011 p:iper calcul-iteri for prfservalicn aiiri cm -a frtir and lieau tiful type. The subjects will be illustraleil with enfravinss. Theleriiis will he serenty.Jivc centra year p'Ujable always in ad vant.e. For all subscriber.; less I ban 24, A gen Is will be allowed a deduction of f J cents each— for all over 24 subscribers on any one agency 12.^ cents each will be allowed. Thus, for six ..iiibscribers four dollars— twelve, eight dollars— eighteen, twelve dollars— twenty-four, filleendollars, will be remitted. Single numbers, twelve and a half cents each. All subscri- bers will commence with the first number ol the year. i)5°Commiintcalions by m.-\il, will be directed to VVIL- I IJAM P. FOSTER, (Joncerd, N. H. Boston. N.Vork. Phllad. March 11 Mar. 7. Mar. 5. AliUM, American 5 54 Si ASHES, I'oni ICO 11". 5 7.'. 5 6;: " fearl ■' 8 Oi. BEANS, bushel 2 2.1 2 00 1 87 BEfcF, mess bbl. 23 50 16 00 BEES'i'V'AX. yellow lb. :o 2f 27 m:TT.':K,lumplb. 2."' 2C 18 CAIVULKS, sperm lb. Hfl 3'- 38 mould '■ 16 1(. 15 CHEKSE. lb. 9 Ill 9 COAL, Anthracite ton 8 50 8 Qi ■' New Casrie chaldron 11 7,, 10 i,0 COFFEE, best lb. i:; h 15 COPPEKAS, lb. 21 2 IJ COTTOX, be-llb. IH n '3 FEATIIEKS, liveg^eselb. 42 4.'i ■' Russia lb. 14 a 3-2 15 17 FISH, Mackerel No. i!, blil. 13 (HI 11 S:5 13 50 " Vod,(;rand Oank quintM 4 a:, 3 75 3 87i FLAX, lb. 12', :u 7.; Fi:iiS, foxred ] 5U " ftluskrat 12 15 6 GRAINS, iiC.FIour best bbl. 9 00 9 0: 8 00 " Rye flour 5 50 5 76 5 50 " Indian meal 4 25 3 t7 3 75 '■ Wheat basliel 1 73 " Rye 1 10 1 2.0 1 13 " Corn " 90 98 9J " O.its " 5^ 60 46 " Barley *' 95 I 01, 1 19 HAMS, lb. 15 11 13 HAV. best 100 lbs. 1 00 75 90 " pre.csed HIDES, liuenos Ayres 17 16 16 " Goat skins 30 a 35 37 a 40 HOPS, first sort lb. 15 17 19 IRON. Swedes Ion 100 on 102 (HI 100 00 " V\^ ton 40 0(1 42 50 3tJ 00 LAUD, lb I2i 14 13 LEAD, white lb. S 11 11 LEATHER, lb. 2f 27 23 LIME, cask 9(1 1 25 biiBh. 25 LINSEED 0;L, gall. 95 8J 91 LL'M BER, Hoards in.N'o.S.M. 28 00 35 00 S5 00 " Tiniher ton 4 50 sq.ft. 311 MOL.VSSES, best pall. 32 3.- 34 ■' Philad. S. house 54 NAILS, cut lb. 7 7 7 PLAS S'ERP.VRIS, Ion 3 25 3 ar PORK, whole hogj, fresh 11 " middlings bbl. 27 00 29 00 22 50 RICE, 101) lbs. 4 75 4 n 4 87 SALT. Turks Island best hhd. 3 25 hush. 35. 36 SALTPEi'ElE, crude lb. "i H 7 SEEDS, Horiiagrass bushel 2 5' 2 00 3 50 " Kedlnp 1 .50 " Fl.nxseed " 1 X- J 31 1 90 " Clover lb. 20 11. 2.1 SHEETINGS, Am. cot. 37 In. II 11 13 SHIRTINGS, '• 3.1" , winter best 1 11' 1 on 1 15 SPlHkr.>» TERPEN., gall. 40 37 39 STEEL. En g. best & German 12 13 13 SUGAR, loaf best lb. 15 1.'. 161 " Brown " " !i 8 12 TALLOW, lb 12 11 TEAS, llvson & Y. H. best 45 a 6(1 ■10 a 87 10 a 1 00 \VOOD, perCKrd best 8 50 WOOL. Merino, best 5."i 55 t2i " Smyrna, xvashed .-iO " " unwashed 12 Specie at Philjidelphi i, March 5. American Gold i per cent, preiii. S(tariish riuublonns H» 25 ; Patriot doubloons, 15,- 6U; English guineas 5 05; Sovereign!- 4 68 ; French crowns, 1,08 ; Five Franc pieces, 94 cts ; t^panish nulled dul'ais 1,03 ; Me.\ican do. 1 Oi ; Head Pislareens 10 a 20 cts. Uld I'ista- n-ens 17. SPECIE m .Vfir York^March 9— The ratp of hills on London does not admit of iiny export ; and eo Icnp as EAchnnge is at its' present point, there will he no demnnd. Our hanks are well euppfied with ppecie. — A'. }'. Eriiress. DOMESTIC EX^II\^■0E1 AT Boston, par a \ (Miilndelpliia, do R;itliinf>re, 4 ^ j nirhiiioiul i a 1.^ Charleston 2 a 2V Cincinnali 2| a y Augusta 3 NfcW rORK, MARCH 11, *39. Savannah 3 niotiile 9 tsew Orleans par H 1 Nashville 4 a 5 Nairh^'r, A\ a 3 Lonisville 2i a 3 5t. L.Miis 3n 4 lietrnii 4 a 5 NEW VORK MARKF.T— Beef, IbPa 12 a 14— Pork, 12— Veal, 10 a 12— Mutton, g a 13— ,!'pc?,do7,. 25— Potatoes, hush 75 a too- neett!,7*— Tunups,75— Carri'ts, 87— Onions, 2,«0— Apples, bbl 2 a $5. FantuV. Hall Market Bosion-~Vf'v^.e3. Bref, Ih 12 cts- Pork whole hos-^, per Ih, 10 a II clf—Pcullrv, li»II n I-.3— Hutter, tub IHa 25— l!:;gs,doz IS a Cn- INriairt ^, Clipiianco, i)n.«h. G.'i, white 55— Apples, bbl badlwin ansl russets, i UU a 2,50— Cider, :j,00a3,e."). NBW VORK CATTLK MARKET, MARCH 4, iPliP. Fat C.itll'', tlif price coniiniies to udv;iiKe: Fir>;t quality sold at $13 per hhd , second at $11,50 ; thud at $;9,50; fourth at $7.51*. Cows and Calves at $.(5 to -18. Sheep, rroin 3,50 to $6. BRIGHTON CATTLE MARKET, MARCH 11, 1839. The prices of Fat Cattle, which had fallen foi a month past, have again advanced. First quality $8,75 ; second 8,- 25; third, 7,50. Cows and Calves, Dull— selling for less than the cost in the country. Prices from 30, 35, 42, 55, and $60 Sheep, dull, from 3,75 to $5,.5D. PB1CE9 OF KLOl^R. Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 25, $6. New Orleans, Feb. 97, 7,50. Savannah, Feb. 25, 10,50. Natchez, Feb. 17, 8,50. Galvea- ton, Texas, Feb. 22, $19. Poughkeepsie, N. Y. March 6. 60,000lb^ Saiony woolisold at 6fl cents cash- BmaM^MMmiHi.1 i'l i^i. Conducted by ISAAC HILL. Published by WM. P. FOSTER. " Those icho labor in ike earth are the chosen people of God, whose breasts he has made his pecuHur depositefiir substantial and genuine tiiV/uc. "-Jefferson. VOLUME 1. CONCORD, N. H., APRIL 15, IS39. NUMBER 4. Gov. Pierce entered the army near the com- mencemen: of the war of tlic revolution, at the age of nineteen yeara. Having served until the close of the revolution, as a corporal, sergeant and sub- altern eommissioned ofHcer in the Massachusetts line; he commenced with many other soldiers of the revolution, in what was tlien the wild pari ul Hillsborough County, and located himself in the town of Hillsborough. He tlien had no family, and pitched his own tent in the woods at about the age of twenty-seven years. The first intimation he had of any aquaintance with public men in the State, was the reception of a commission from the Governor of the State as Brigade Major, for the brigade then composing the county of Hillsbo- rough ; for which office he afterwards learned he was^'indebtcd to a distinguished General officer oi Massachusetts, who informed the E.xecutive that Bueh a man had removed into the county. Hills- borough at that tJr.ie was classed with Hennikcr in the choice of representative to the General Court. Maj. Pierce attended a meeting of the voters of the two towns at Henniker, and, although a stranger in the colleague town, was at once elected a member of the State Legislature. From this time he rise in his military office to the rank ot Br gd.cr General; and in the civil department he was soon made a magistrate, and after being representative, was a inember of the Council, Slierifl'of his County, and finally terminated his public career by retiring from the otKce of Chief Magistrate of t!ie State in 1K30. Now at the age of eighty-one years.he has been suf- fering ur.der partial paralysis for nearly two years, resigned and hajipy in the rellection that he may at any°momenl be called to give up that life which for more than eighty years has been spent in a career of usefulness, of which few men of any age can boast. The enthusiasm with which Ihis veteran enters on everv subject connected with his former life, is to us a matter of admiration and wonder. A fanner, who in the midst of other labors and cares in high public employments has always applied his ownliand to the work, he takes up the subject now with all the vivacity of youth. The following letter leads us back in imagina- tion more than half a century, when its author fell- ed the trees of the forest with his own hands — when he sought and obtained a competence from the labors of the field, enabling him to e.xtend a irenerous hos])itality and to open his doors to ac- quaintance far and near. This point in the charac- ter of a man who stands second to none in usefulness that has ever preceded him in New Hampshire, is by no means inferior to any other constituent of his high character. It required a portion of that courage which never quailed in tlie presence of a\i enemy to penetrate tli) forest — to clear off its lieavy growth and to prepare the waste places to yield food for the susten- ance of man and beast. In this behalf, Gov. Pierce has done his full share, besides attending to every public duty that had been devolved upm him by the partialitv of his fellow citizens. He basset a worthy examjde of an almost unlettered youth, unlf-taught, qualifying himself to discharge the dif- ficult duties of various public offices ; and at the same time being behind none of his neighbors as a practical cultivator of mother earth. Let h:s zeal oj! tliis subject be an exemplar to every young man whose ambition shall prompt him to deserve well of his country by acquiring from the productive fruits of his own labor real independence. Hilhborough, March 26, 1833. My Dear Sir :— I have been highly gratified by listening to the perusal, (being myself too feeble to fead much) of portions of the three first numbers of your Farmer's Visitor, i am rejoiced to learn that you are engaged in so useful and important an enterprise, feeling confident, from my knowledge of your tastes and* habits, that you will, by means of this publication, greatly advance the agricultural interest. I have been a practical farmer ever since the termination of our revolutionary struggle, and was a member of the Hillsborough County Agrl. mltural Society, during its existence. One year I raised five hundred and one bushels of potatoes upon one acre of ground, for which the committee iwarded me the highest premium, although 1 con- fess, that to procure so unusual a crop, 1 was not sparing of my manure. Farming, of the various professions of life, is most congenial to my feelings, and whatever is calculated to promote its interests, has ever been a source of deep interest to me ; and jjer.'i'i^is what attaches me more to this class of orir population, is the consideration, that it is the bone ind sinew of this nation. Upon them we depend, whenever the enemies of our country dare trespass upon our soil, to meet them at the point of the bay- onet and force them to commence a retrogade march. This icc have always done, and I believe :ind trust shall ever continue to do. ^ * ^ >* I wish every farmer of New Hampshire might read your valuable periodical, and hope your pat- rons will continue to increase in the same propor- tion that they hove done since your first number was issued. Place my name on your subscription list for three copies commencing with the January number, sending me the nine back numbers if you have them on hand, and Franklin will advance you the subscription money. Yours, very truly, BENJ.\MIN PIERCE. His E.\celleiicy Isaac Hill, Concord, N. H. We print the foregoing letter with the preliminary remarks precisely as they were prepar- ed and already in type on the 1st of April. That day was the hist in the eventful history of the sol- dier, the civilian, the patriot, the farmer, v.dio has filled up his life in usefulness to his country, and who has participated, at first humbly, and at lasta- mong the foremost, in every struggle encountered by patriots and brave men to propel this great na- tion in her miirch to honor, glory, immortality. Gen. BENJAMIN PIERCE died April 1st, 1839. at llio good old age of eighty -one years. As the events of his life, interesting to all, are more pecul- iorly so to the farmers of his adopted State, of whom he was a pioneer, we need make no apology for ii-ivinchimin the columns of our humble month- ly journal a more than usual notice. His exam- ple cannot be lost on any mm whose eye shall pe- ruse this notice — his virtues will be remembered by every man to whom he was personally known. Tlie subject of tkis article was born at Chelms- ford, Massachusetts, December 2.5th, 1757. His fa- ther, Benjamin Pierce, died wlien the son was six years of age, leaving a family of ten children, of whom he was tlie seventh. From the period of his father's death he was placed under the care of an uncle, Robert Pierce, a yeoman of the same town, and continued with him engaged in agricuUur.al pursuits for more than ten years. He was plough- ing in the field on the U'th April 1775, when the nelvs arrived that Americans had been shot do«'n by the British at Lexington : leaving the field im- mediately, he took his uncle's gun and equipments, and marched to Lexington, as did hundreds of oth- ers within the sound of llie discharging cannon and nnisketry, or within the reach of the report of the first spiliuig of blood. The British troops hav incr fallen back, he pursued his march toward Boston that night, and the next morning enlisted in Capt. Johi-iFord's company, and was stationed for the time at Cambridge. With this company he was in the battle of Bunker Hill. Alluding to the perfidy of Gen. Gage to the people of Boston, in detaining their goods after stipulating to let them n-o with their effects — to the defeat of a large body of his troops "by the country people at Lexington" to the action at Bunker Hill, in which the Brit- ish troops were twice repulsed, and at the third on- set "gained a dear victory"— Doct. Franklin v rote his friend Doct. Joseph Priestley, then in England: "F.noun-h has happened, one would think, to con- "vince'your ministers that the A- lericans will " fight, and that this is a harder nut to crack than '■ they imagined. We have not yet applied to any " foreign power for assistance. And we have now " an army on the establishment, which still holds "yours besieged." Young Pierce was ot this ar- my ; and he was one of the few who having enter- ed at the commencement, continued in the service to the end of the wnr of the revolution. His regiment was that of the late Col. John Brooks of Medford, afterwards Governor of Massa- sachusetts, in whose personal friendship he long participated. We have not at hand the means for stating with precision all the actions in which the subject of this notice was engaged. The gallan- try of his rnginient was particularly conspicuous in the battles at Bhemis" Heights on the 2'.!ri Septem- ber, and gth October, 1777, which preceded the sur- render of the arm}' of Burgoyno, Oct. 17, 1777. Doct. Franklin wrote to Gen. Gates from Passy in France some time afterwards, saying "The pride of " England was never so humbled by any thing as "by your capitulation at Saratoga." Young Pierce was in tliese hard fought actions, as well as in the many otiiers in which his company and regi- ment participated during eijrht years service. He served to the end of all fighting in the war of our Independence, and after the peace was retain- ed in the regiments which went with Gen. Wash- ington to take possession of the city of New York. He continued under arms until the last troops were disbanded at West Point in February 17S1, going through the several grades of common soldier, cor- poral, sergeant, ensign, lieutenant, and leaving the army inccmniand of a company. Although he received under the roof of his uncle all the kindness and home bred afiection that he iniglit have met in his own father's house if the latter had lived, yet his means for obtaining an ear- ly education were exceedingly limited. Towns like Chelmsford, being then almost the outside of the new settlements which lingered year after year without much improvement and with comparative poverty to a majority of the inliabitnnts, had very limited advantnges f)r instructing the youth : in- deed there were few men or women in the country towns who were qualified to instruct. English grammar, the higher branches of arithmetic, geog- raphy, and other studies, now common in all our schools, were not taught at all in the country towns: such a book as a dictionary explaining the meaning of English words, would be found in the hands of no family, except perhaps in that of the clergyman of the town who had received a college education. Dilworth's spelling book and the Psalter were the only books for reading and spelling; and most of the males, and very few if any of tlie females, ad- vanced l^urther than to write and cypher. Three weeks schooling in a year with such advantages as these, was all the education originally received by young Pierce previous to his entering the army. When advanced to be an officer, lie chanced to fall upon a school master in the army, to whose instruc- tion he has frequently remarked he was more in- debted for improvement, especially in arithmetic, than to all other sources. We may observe here that Gen. P. was much more sensitive to Iiis want of education than others had occasion to be for him. His good sense was, however, more apparent in all his productions than his correct orthography. With a very slight change of grammatical construction, his productions were always fit for the press : he never put upon paper a sentence that was unfit for the public eye. Since his partial paralysis, he has generally carried on his written correspondence by an amanuensis; and Ije,^ we have his ideas as accurate as the move- ments of the clock. He returned to Chelmsford at the termination of his service, but in consequence of the depreciation of continental pajjer money, in which lie had re- ceived pay for about nine years' wages in the revo- lution, he' soon found himself nearly destitute of funds. He w:is employed in 1785 as an agent to explore a tract of land in New Hampshire, owned by Col. Stoddard, now known as the town of Stod- dard in Cheshire county. Having accomplished that business, as he was passing homeward on horseback down the northwesterly stem of the Con- toocook river called "the Branch," he called at a log hut in the woods. Here he purchased a tract of land of about fil^y acres of the owner, and re- turned to Chelmsford, where he passed the winter. In the spring of 178(5 he returned to the ground he had lately purchased, and there in his hut, "sol- itary and alone," commenced the clearing of his 50 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. farm. Here lie cocked fcr himself, slrpt upon a blankot, and lived as best he might. He married probably in 17c;7, and Una now living as the eft'- spring of his first wife, an only cjuld, tho wife of Gen. John M'Ncil, who is the sgn of anotlier sol- dier of the revolution bearing his patronymic, and who died about two years ago. The brother of Gen. Pierce's first wife, M;ij. Andrews, a revolutionary soldier of njore thnn fourscore years, attended nis funeral on the 3d April. In the auLumn of ]766, the militia of the county of Hillsborough were first organized and formed in- to a brigade. President Sullivan, for whom and his descendants Gen. P. by act and profession, has constantly shown the strongest affection, found out the soldier then far in the woods, and induced a gentleman of his Council in the soutli part of the county to accept tlie office of Brifcadier General on the condition that he was to be furnished with a Brigade Major capable and able to take any prelim- inary step for the perfect organization and -fUsci- pline of the several regiments. Besides move than eight years service in the ro^ular army, he served in Massachusetts and New Han>pshirc twenty-one years in tlie militia, leaving it m the capacity of General of the brigade composing all the regiments of his favi'rite county. For many years he com- manded that regiment which furnished a Miller, M'Neil?rid several otlier highly valued oITicers and soldiers who have distinguished themselves in tiie public service. Up to the year 1605, a strong po- litical feeling prevented his advancement : that year he was, finally promoted by Gov. Langdon to the office of Brigadier. Thirty-four years ago, we remember distinctly of seeing Jiim as the reviewing officer of the Fifth Uegiment on Amherst Plain; at no subsequent time probably has that or any oth- er regiment in the State appeared to better advan- tage than this regiment with their General on that occasion. Every person who has seen Gen. Pierce upon parade must give him credit of having been behind no man in those graces which become the military officer. He was the bcuu ideal of an oni- cev of the revolution, than whom it is difiicult to conceive of manners of the gentleman move perfect, with enough for true discipline of tliat pride which distinguishes the superior from the subaltern. Gen. P. was attached to the militia from princi- ple, believing it to-be the only, sure arm of defence: he patronized and encouraged its continued orwan- ixiition and dir-ciniine through life, beyond any otli- er man in the -State. He wasof thorx- who distrust standing armies as the principal reliance, believintr tliey might be used here as they have been in other countries as int;truments in the hands of arbitrary- power to destroy the liberties of the people. Oi the first division of political parties the act to cast him into the shpde oa the cue side was the reRisul to accept the conimiasionaf -Colonel, although arms had been his profesijlon, in the army autJinrized by Congress in ]7;td. Gen. P. then replied to the oi- fer which was tendered by saying he could accept no appointment in an army which seemed to him to be raised to subvert the very principles for which he had fought rinring the revolution. In J789 he was f r.st elected a representative to the General Court of riew Hampshire, for tiie classed towns of Hillsborough and Hem^iker, and continued to representeither those towns classed or Hillsborough singly for thirteen years in succession. As a legislator he generally took a part in the dis- cussions, and was auiong those men who for many years preserved the esprit de corps of the militia in all its departments. He likewise had a tact in all matters of public interest — in the municipal reo-u- lations of towns, in the arrangement of courts of justice, in the general administration of public af- fairs, and in subjects generally pertaining to legis- lation, which made him a leading member. In 1803 hr vv-as first elected to the Council for Hillsborough county, aa the political opponent of the late Col. B.obcrt Means of Amherst, bctwee: whom and himself there had always been stron:] personal friendsiiip. Tliis was the first success ol" the democratic party in that county; his prede- cessor in the Council wns Hon. Robert Wall-ico of Henniker, who was of the federal partv, and had recently been appointed Judge of the Common Pleas — a truly amiable and excellent man. Gen. P. continued in the Council from 1803 to 1801)— the five last years as the Counsellor of Gov. Langdon, by whom he was appointed Sherift'of HillsbOTOugh. In the office of Sheriff he continued until 1813, when in a time of high excitement he was address- ed out of office by a majority of both braTiches of the Legislature, for adhering to the old Court in- stead of the new, which had been established by the same Legislature. At the first election tlie people of Hillaborono-h district again returned him to the Council in isf-l, to which office he was annually re-elected until he was a_gain appointed Sherlfi' of the county in ISIS. From the office of SherilTin 1827, he was transferred to that of Governor of this State, to which last office he v.'as again elected in the year lSi^9. His last public office was Elector of President in 1832. From 1775 to 1830, with the exception of only a- bout two vcirs, lie was always in some public em- ployment. Indeed taking the whole time, either as a inngistrate, a town officer or in some military ca- pacity, lie was out of public employment scarcely a single year. No man, probably, has preceded him in tlie State of equally extensive pei-sonal infiuencc from ex- aiTiple and precept: no man ever lived in the State v."ho was more respected within the circle of his acquaintance. He was one of a class always help- ing others forward, and seldom or never who asks helj> for himself. In every public enterprise, whe- ther for charity or general utility, he was the first to move, as habit had taught every body about him to move first upon him. Without the appcnrance of dictation, he was ever ready to advise, and his advice was invariably foUov/ed. Wanting nothing for self, every thing desirable concentrated upon him and his; and nnbody was dissatisfied that the general sentiment wns most of all in his favor. He never moved without some object of utility ; and he liad the happy art, while mr>ving himself, to bring in auxiliary aid more extensive than his own. An instance may be mentioned which occurred very near his death. A poor man, a revolutionary soldier, had lost his only cow by death from some disease. The Friday before his death, he lay in a state of apparent delirium or insensibility. The conversation of his m.nn and another gentleman in attendance was the poor man's cow. The General started as if awaking from sleep and asked whose cow T/as dead. On being informed it was that of old S C , he bid them call the young wo- man who had attended him in his decrepitude ma- nv mohths, and who had the custody of the ke}-- that locked up his money. " Go to my desk, (said he) take out three dollars — give it to Mr. M , and he will take that and add to it by the contribu- tions of the neijrhbors enough to replace tlie cow. I may not live till to-morrov.'." The father of the two Decaturs who when young officers fought the barbarian Turk;^ of Tripoli, en the African coast of the Mediterranean, with an intrepidity almost witiiout a parallel in history — himself a navy officer of the revolution — when he received news of the tragical butchery of his gal- lant son James, simply remarked tliat '* our chil- dren are the property of the country." Gen. Pierce, in relation to his owm family, practically adopted the same sentiment. His second wife is the moth- er of five sons and. two d:iughters : two sons and the tv/o daughters with the mother have gone be- fore him to the world of spirits, the three last with- in tv.'o year.s of his own death. The mother was a daughter of the late venerable Benjamin Kend- rick of Amiicrst — the elder daughter was tlie wife of Gen. Solomon M'Niel, nnd the younger, the wife to Hugh Jameson, Esq. Gen. P. at the com- mencement of the late war with Great Britain, entered with his whole soul into that contest. In 1814, he used to attend the meetings of the Coun- cil, carrviuu" his side arms and pistols ready to turn ou! should the enemy attempt to execute tiic threat of attacking the town of Portsmouth and its navy vard, which contained several public vessels of war and material'^ for ship building. His sons, Benja- min Kendrick and John Sullivan, the youngest of M'hich was in his minority, by a«lvice of their fa- ther at once entered the military service. The el- der remains still in the army, having advanced to the rank of lirutenant colonel: the younger died in the service in t!ie western country some fifteen years ago, leaving two daughters, who were taken to their grandfather's home, and have by him been educated. These yonng men distinguished them- selves in various service during the war; and the one who still lives stands hitrh in the estimation of •his superior officers and of the country. The re- cent melnnclioly death o^ young Scott M'Niel, by thr- bloody hands of t)io Seminole Indians, a few months after leaving the residence of his grandpn- rent, wiien announced to the veteran on his couch of decrepitude, was treated as an ordinary casualty. During the last four months, while the General has been vibrating between life and death, all the time he has taken a deep intei"cet in jmblic affairs. The mortification of his extremities actually com- menced several weeks before his final exit, and the physicians pronounced that he could live but a few days. His son Franklin in the Senate of the United States wrote home to know if it was not his father's wish that he should be present to sooth his few remaining liourp. The j General returned for answer tliat he wished him to stand to tlie post of public duty: his fellow citi- zens had confided to him a high public office. The present was a moment when the people of New Hampshire expected their Senators and Ptepresen- tatives to act on every question regarding the in- terest of the country — theirs was a duty of solemn moment. His own life (he said) was of little con- sequence; and he wished him to remain. The Senator did tarry till the whole proceedmgs of Con- gress were closed on the 4th of March, and after having first visited his father, in the course of three weeks was twice sent for by express to this town to be present at the closing scene. At no time was the property of Gen. Pierce a- bove mediocrity. He added to his first purchase of land until he owned several small frirms beside that on which he lived. His chiiilren were all v.'ell educated, and no necess'-ry expense was spar- ed on tliem. His farms were always well managed, and ir.s pecuniary conuems were looked after with the vigilance characteristic of every prudent New Kngland farmer. There was no public charity in the town or neighborhood, in which he did not par- ticipate. He not only supported the clergyman, whose ministrations he constantly attended when in health, but he contributed liberally for the sup- port ©f all other societies and denominations of Ciiristian.s, especially in his own town. The poor and needy never wont away from his door empty : it was his practice to seek out and relieve ob- jects of charity. A single instance of his noble generosity; — When sheritf of the county, a poor man, a revolutionary soldier, had laid in the gaol at Amherst confined for debt, totally unable to bo extricated by the law because there was no one to pay the expenses of commitment and the cost of his subsistence, for some eight or ten years. Fruit- less attempts were made to raise a iew hundred dollars by subscription ; when Gen. P. first dis- charging the whole debt from his own pocket, went to the prison, turned the kej-, and told the poor man," Go breathe the free air.' From the vast increase of business travel and f?onsequent estal?lishmcut of good and convenient inns on all our public ronds, the old fasluoned hos- pitality which at first characterized New Hamp- shire and Vermont, especially in the valley of the Connecticut, has fallen into disuse. But the de- ceased, until the evening of life, kept up the old custom of gratuitous entertaiimient ; and he and his amiable lady, whose decease preceded his own but a few months, and who always presided with great elegance and propriety over the festivit-es of their numerous guests, contributed largely to form for'the Granite Stale that high character for hos- pitality whicli her citizens, particularly her intelli- gent yeomanry, have always sustained. Tliis vir- tue in Gov. Pierce v/as not like the pride and vani- ty of those city nabobs v/ho occasionally fill their dining halls merely to show their guesta the gor- geous splendor of the plate and furniture, but was practised from a generous desire to give his visitora rest, and <;omfort, and wholesome fare, without os- tentation or parade. And his frank and ceurteous manners made his guests feel easy and at home, because they knew and felt that they were wel- come. Col. Cnrrigain, who more than a quarter of a century ago repeatedly traversed the State to pro- cure the surveys and identify the localities upon his map which Wiis then considered a chr:f d.'aurre^ and often spent days and nights under the hospita- ble roof of the deceased, was probably influenced to have engraved in a marginal note upon that map, by the generous example of the deceased in that be- half, the following note : " Tlie extrenx* eoldne'j.s of the v.'jnter is allevin.ted by the convlvUd hospituL- itijof the season, and more th;in compensated by the salubrity oftlie air and other delights of summer." Up to the very close of his active life Gen. Pierce enjoyed the innocent recreations aud pastimen which were more frequent in by-gone years, and for which the inventions of fashion have either found more extravagant substitutes, or which hay." been partially proscribed by the ascetic habits of those who take the opposite extreme. His neigh- bors, whether affiuL nt or poor, were alwa^'s taken and treated, so many as behaved with propriety, as his equals. The vivacity of youth found in him a congenial spirit that readily participated in what- ever wns innecently playful or exhilirating ; and the nioro staid sobriety of age never had cause for reproach that he did not treat thinge serious with a suitable gravity. Other distinguished men, tiie objects of jealousy or envy to sonie and of grati- tude to otiiers, have bitter enemies and decided friends, fieii. Pierre Iiad no enemies ; nnd all the world of mankind, so far as Jie \vas known, were his fri(.nds. Until his last sickness, he enjoyed general and THE FAIlAiER'S iMONTHLY VISITOR. 51 almost uninterrupted g-ood health. Robust in con- stitution, he eacountei-cd fitigue and exposure without apprehension of c.onscquennes ; and at tile age of seventy-five years he exhibited the ability of tlie strong man in middle life. From that time he had a presentiment, from certain indications, of that disorder which finally terniiuated his life. Stricken with partial paralysis upon his entire left side, he encountered a state of intense sufferiui»; for a portion of the time, nearly two years prior to his decease. Tiiis he enduredwith the phiL:.sophy and resignation of the true christian, never com- plaining that life v/as a burden, but always evinc- ing his readiness to de])ait when it should please hisiVIaker to tirko the life of his own creation. IIi.s reason remairied to hiin in alm^ist uninterrupted vigor until tlie last three or four clays of his mortal existence : that and sensibility almost entirely left him for the last two days. He died, having arran- £red and settled among his children and grand-chil- dren what remained of his earthly estate, and pre- scribed that the burial of his mortal remains-should be without parade or show, directing that not even a fujioral sermon sliDuld be j>rcached on the occa- sion. At the funeral on the 3d April, hundreds cf his neighbors and acquaintances, male and female, were collected ; all of them looked upon the face that v/as wont to impart animation and joy wher- ever it was seen, now inr'.ntled under the icy hand of death. Alter praj'ers a short address, recounting some of the events of tlie interesting life of the deceased, was made to the people collected ; and his dust was committed to tlie mother earth, there to sleep until the morning' of the resurrection, when we have the authority of Scripture for the assurance that many, like him dist!ngui.5lied for every virtue that enno- bles rmnkind, shall "awake to glory, immortality, eternal life." The editor of the Visitor believes that in his ca- jiacity of conductor of a political journril some twenty-five years ago, he first introduced to the public one of the most highly gifted anfl accom- plished fein.ale authors of the country, Mrs. Si- R.Mi Jane Hale. In the last number of the Visi- tor was presented two communications from a lady of Plaiiifiold, whose identity he ha 5 not yet ascer- tained. He is not surprised to be told that but "few articles" from her pen have ever been submitted to the public, when the modesty of the writer impels her to form the opinion that the following produc- tion,written "perhaps too hastily," "may be very — very faulty." Our unhesitating opinion is that there are few productions of any v.'riter which con- tain so much poetry and so much truth as the fol- lowing half a dozen stanzas : Plainjidd, 5th Jlpril. Vox III? F.irmHi's .Mt>ii'-lily Visitor. Song of the Husbandman. New En:rland's soil our hnppy home, The land of hardy worth, Where plenty crowns the social board, And love lights up the hearth ; The land of rook, and mount, and glen — Of noble streams that sweep Tiirough vallies rich with verdure. In gladness to the deep. Blue are the arching skies above, And green the fields below. And Autumn fruits, and Summer flowers In wild profusion grow. The towering oak, and ancient pine, Our noiile forests bear — The maple bough its blossoms Flings on tlie scented air ; And flock, and herd, and waving grain. Each slope and upland crown — And Autumn winds from laden bough The mellow fruit shake dov^n. The fragrant clo',' only of the 116 grew ; being less than two pounds, and those were in 24 hills ; which produced five bushels, on soil similarly cultivated to that where potatoes of common kind grew, which yielded one bushel to forty-five hills. I might have raised more li.ad I put two sets in a hill ; for in one hill where only one grew it produced five potatoes weighin,? eight and a half pounds; the largest weighed'2 3-4 lbs. the next best 2 1-2 lbs. The land should be ploughed deep, for their roots descend deep, and their vines are strong. They should be planted early, for they are a late kind. However, they ripened well and were not aft'ected by the rust. They are good for the table, and as Judge Buel says, "if not the very best, they are very good." If the facts I have submitted relative to the farni- inof interest and the cultivation of bees, are worthy a place in your valuable paper, you are at liberty to publish them, orsuciipart of them asyou may deem proper. The seed of the above articles can be furnished to some extent to those who may want. Very respectfullt' yours, J. SEARLE. Franklin, April 1, 1839. We thank the gentleman, not less for his present of new and useful seeds and the jar of honey, than for his communication for the public eye. We hope that he may be amply remunerated for all his extra labor in identifyins and furnishing the best quality of the first rate seeds as well in the products of his own fields as in the increased price which such seeds ought to command. The jar of honey, being an original deposite by the bees themselves in a transparent glass vessel, holding ])crhaps three pints, is a great curiosity, Mr, Scarle has obtained a patent for his improved bee-house, which we believe to be an improvement upon all previous methods of keeping bees. The fact of a single swarm ichich came, out in Julij furn- ishing one hundred pounds of honey more than was sufficient to supply them with food for the winter, is an intereslino^ illustration of his improved mode of treating the little animal which presents so many instincti\'C good qualities fit for the imitation of man. We remember when a child, the homely poetry which is probably older than the art ofi)rint- ing, having been handed down from parent to child in memory alone ; A swarm of bees in May Is worth a load of hay. A swarm of bees in June Is worth a silver spoon. Jl swarm of liecs in July Isn't u'orth one fij. The Rohan Potatms exhibited at Hopkinton last October by Mr. Searle, were the only potatoes of that kind we have ever yet seen ; and they were decidedly the largest of the potatoe kind whe-li ev- er met our view. We w.nnt a half a peck or peck of Mr, Searle's seed fur planting this spring, and ask him to send thein by the first opportunity, for which we will pay his price. Shawnee Run, Mercer Co., Ky. March 19, 1839. Dear Friend : — I was a short time since perus- ing a number of the Monthly V'isitor, in which I find some account of a new species of corn, which you call Brown corn, it being improved by a Mr. John Brown of your State. My object in writing, is to obtain a few grains of the said corn by mail, if on- ly half a dozen, as I v/ish to get the beu'-fit of friend Brown's improvement. Your attention to the above will be cheerfully reciprocated at any time. I see you have given a short sketch on the value of the "improved Durham cattle and Berkshire hogs, botli of which our Society have in great per- fection, and find them greatly superior to all other stock that have ever been introduced into this coun- try. I sold one pair of these hogs for ^oOO, and can sell any number of pigs for ij.^0 a pair at seven weeks old. The cattle command prices from JjrinO to l?)2,000, in tiiis State. I purchased a Bull a short time since, imported from England, for $1,- 100, for which I would not take $1,800. Respectfully yours, J. R. BRYANT. Friend WdliamP. Foster. If we do not mistake, the writer of the foregoing is of the Society of Shakers, who in Kentucky as in New England, are pioneers in whatever is use- ful in the production of the earth, and every me- chanical improvement, not less tlian in the moral reformation which distinguishes the present age. We will willingly comply with the request of forwarding the corn. We are, however, apprehen- sive that t1iis highly improved corn will not be a- dapted to the crnnate of Kentucky, any more than the celebrated " Baden corn" shall he adapted to this climate. The Brown corn, earlier than the D>Lt- ton corn, and a little later than the small Canada corn, is well adapted to the ordinary seasons of the New Hampshire climate. Any corn which would come to maturity here would not be deemed the best corn for Kentucky — it would be too diminu- tive for that climate. As you proceed from North to South, the stalks of corn increase in size. In the northerly parts of New England that kind of corn only is sure which will become ripened in ninety days from the time of planting: the stalks of this kind are usually placed as four for one of the Virginia cirn — the ears are formed at no great distance from the ground. In the South, the hills are placed further apart, with a less number of stalks in the hill, and the ears grow so high as al- most to be out of the reach of cattle. It is highly probable that the corn of either climate will adapt itself to the other after a series of years, and in be- coming acclimated will grow larger or smaller. In New England, corn cannot be raised to any extent without careful hand cultuie. It is usual to pass over the ground, after running the plough or cultivator between the rows, three times with the hoe. In the South and V.'est, the whole work, of cultivation is done with the plough. In the fertile valleys and prairies where no manure is requ.red at present, li'ts common far a single farmer to plant more than a hundred acres of corn in a season : the labor of producing is there perhaps not a fourth part of the labor here. Indian corn there formerly was from ten to twelve and a half cents the bushel, and is rarely now half the price of the same article in New England. Indian corn, on account of the humidity of the atnios])here, cannot be raised on the island of Great Britain: tliat country, from the circumstance that the thermometer never ranges very high or very low, is sure for crops of the small grains, as wheat, barley and rye ; but Indian corn, requiring a warm- er sun and a drier atmosphere, will not come to ma- turity, although the climate may be said to be more mild than in New Knglnnd. A warm and dry sea- son in New England is nhvays a good suininer for Indian corn; luit the best Indian corn 3'ear is sel- dom a good year for wheat, rye, barley, oats, peas, and for Knglish hay. If we were at all limes cer- tain what would be the season, we might sow or plant what would be most productive. It is per- haps a no less wise dispensation of Providence, tliat we arc ignorant of what will be the season, than that we do not know the precise length of our lives, the day and hour in which we "shall surely die." The vicissitudes of seasons do not more af- It'ct us at the North than they do the inhabitants of the South. The cold year of l)?lt> drove many of our nurthern farmers to llie AV'est and South* THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 53 yet in that year, wliich entirely destroyed Indian corn, tliere was almost a doul)Ie crop of rye and wheat. As often are tlie crops adapted to their cli- mate cut down by the late and early frosts in Geor- gia, Alabama and Louisiana, as in New England ; as fatal to the hopes of producers there are the va- rious causes of cutting down production as they are here. So that move where he will, the farmer or planter is destined to casualty : the same wind that wafts him health may also bring disease — the same elements that cause the growth of animal and vegi'table life may destroy animal and vegetable life in lightning, tempest, or eartliquake. In mov- ing to wliat we suppose a better, a more auspicious climate, we shall undoubtedly encounter other in- conveniencies and evils that will fully counterbal- ance those we would avoid. Highways in New England, Tlie first settlers of every new country well com- prehend the want of good roads. Like the stumps and hillocks and rocks of their recently cleared fields, are the highways over which tliey pass. A wheel carriage of any sort with them is seldom broviglit into use — a carriage of pleasure for the transport of persons is out of the question. Not only are the first highways of a country rougli and uneven, but as the better grounds for making path- ways are the higher lands, so in the first settlement of "New England the zig-zag roads were almost in- variably carried over the highest hills. Those of us who can cast back forty years, remember full well that rarely was a cliaise, and never was that pres- ent convenient vehicle, a gig waggon, used as a carriage of pleasure. Generally in the hill towns twenty and more miles from the sea-board, the one Congregational church was situated on the highest bilinear the centre of the town; and, with saddle and pilion, the horses old and young above three years, sure of foot from the habit of climbing and descending steeps and feeling the ground by places of danger, transported double, to the house of wor- ship, such of the family as were not competent to wend their way on foot. More rocky and more hilly than any other por- tion of the United States, it is a compliment to the industry and enterprise of New England farmers, that their roads are better than the roads in any other part of this country. In the New England States, law and custom have conspired to improve our roads. If a traveller suffers injury from any defect of the highway, the town where sucli high- way is located is indictable for its negligence, and public opinion sanctions the assessment and pay- ment of damages. In New Hampshire if a road is left in such a state as to render the passage over it inconvenient, practical travellers generally take so much interest as to go before tlie grand inquest of the county ; and the authorities of the town, as the most ready method of avoiding expense, pro- ceed at once to make the road of easier passage. Of late years, such has been the passion for im- proving roads, for evading had hills, shortening dis- tances,' and turning travellers by particular loca- tions, that burdens almost "grievous to be borne" have been thrown upon some towns. Wo have known an inexorable and unfeeling road committee lay out a road longitudinally through a town where a farmer of two or three thousand dollars would be deemed a rich man, and carry the travel directly a- way from the business places of the town, which was obliged directly to incur an expense of three, four, and sometimes six, eight or ten thousand dol- lars to make the improvement. The consequence of this passion for improving roads has been their actual improvement to an extent beyond what the first settlers fifty and sixty years ago would have anticipated. Travelling directly among our mountains seem- ingly almost impassable, v/e find smooth roads with an elevation and depression rarely exceeding four to six degrees,winding through the vallies, and car- rying you towards your point of destination with- out the halting of your horse from a steady trot. It is indeed pleasant and delightful to travel upon such roads in those seasons of the year when they are either settled and dry after Ihe frost of winter is ex- tracted, or when, covered with snow, the steel or iron shod sleigh glides over the well trodden path. The St.ites of the South and the new States of tlie West know not the good and convenient roads of New England. Our cross roads in our by-towns are generally in a better condition than our larger travelled roads : that highway which is not rounded up so as to drain otf the water which falls upon it, if it be in a soil with a hard pan, would not be considered wortiiy the name of road. We well remember the time when an oval or rounded road was unknown here, and when most of the country wheels were covered with sod and interrupted with stumps and rocks over which every wheeled car- riage passed with a jolt. In the Southern States — we are quite sure this is the case in Delaware, Ma- ryland and Virginia — there is little mending of the public roads other than what is done by the wheels of the carria'i-e cutting f.own and levelling the inroads made by frosts and rains. Excepting the turnpikes and bridges on which heavy tolls are generally ex- acted, there are few roads in tlie Southern States that deserve the name. At some points, in wet seasons, where the deep clay mud becomes abso- lutely impassable, the carriage is taken out of the road into the adjoining fields, and a new track is formed either in the open ground or among the trees of the forest. The seasons of fall and spring never fail to make the New Entrland roads bad, especially in our deep- est hard wood soil. Until the frost of the spring is entirely broken up, deep mud for several days and sometimes fir weeks cannot be avoided : a sudden freezing, after roads immersed in rain have been poached by travel, makes our roads extremely hard of tr.avel : so also a long sucoession of rains, with the frequent passing of heavy wheeled teams at a- ny time of year, makes our best roads very bad. Yet so much has travel increased, so great is the transit of heavy goods, as well as of many travel- lers to and from the interior and sea-board, that at the worst period of the roads there seems, if possi- ble, to be most travel. We have observed an improvement in the most springy and spongy lands that is worthy the atten- tion of the superintendents of roads. In almost every vicinity of such roads,there is plenty of small round stones, weighing from one to twenty pounds As the cheapest method of making a road scarcely less easy of passage at all times than a M'Adaui road, lay these pebbles for the space of twenty to twenty -five feet in the centre of the road, rounded up in turnpike position — let the bottom of the stone be still liigher than the gutter on each side which carries off the water, giving opportunity to drain the ground under the travelled path, so that the frost^shall not shove the rock.^ from their places : the pebbles should be packed into the ground to the depth of six to twelve inches— upon the top let gravel be placed, and the whole will be speedily trodden into a mass that cannot be easily displac- ed. A road with stones twelve inches tliick, it is believed, will resist for many years the heaviest teams. Such a road at all times will be compara- tively dry ; and the season of frost coming out of the gronnrl, or the season of much rain, to teams or carriages heavy or light will hardly be consider- ed an inconvenience. Sooner or later — and the sooner the less expense — must our principal roads be treated in this way. The improving ami improved roads of New Eng- land are bey on d question of great value to the people. Every rod of road improved so that the same team can draw two tons with the same strength that it could before draw one ton, adds something to the value of each acre of land whose products .ire to be transported over that road. Even the rail roads, which from the nature of thi'ir management can be considered in no other light than as monopolies, which shall lessen tlie cost of transportation to and from the principal markets, can be considered in no other light than as valuabk to all that commu- nity and that soil which either supplies or is sup- plied from such markets. Much labor is thrown away on our roads from want of skill and science in the application of labor. The mere shovelling and laying on of the sand and gravel is often money spent in vain. Our road su-^ perintendents should bo trained and instructed, if not as civil engineers, as men vvho can unite theo- ry and practice. We have observed in some parts of the country — and we name a new road leading from Fitchburg to Worcester, Massachusetts, as one instance— roads constructed on what we deem the true principles. The method of constructing canals and rail roads applies to the common roads. If the former are to be graded on a level or very near a level, the latter may be graded so as never to exceed in the rise and fall so many degrees or so many feet to the mile. If the one is constructed so as to carry off the redundant water without injury, so should be the other— carefully guarding against the effects of water upon the surface, or water un- der n-round, having all the courses so located as to be assured that every obstruction shall be carried through and out of the way without injury. Again, the inaterial of which a travelled road is made should be of that kind not only to stand against wind and water, but to present as little friction as possible to tlie passing vehicle. If the citizens of our towns most interested in in the future construction and improvement of roads — if they would employ well instructed and well trained men as superintendents of roads — if indeed regulations or law.s could be adopted de- fining scientifically die method of constructing and repairing roads on same general scale — we do not doubt that their rapid improvement would follow, and that ultimately one half the money now ex- pended on roads might be saved. Iriishurgli, Orleans Countij, Vermont, April 1, 1839. To the Editor ; — I have read a part of three num- bers of the Monthly Visitor, in which you ask for information from farmers. In the year I7ii6, I lived with my father in Rye, N. II. whose farm is about two hundred rods south of the old Congregational meeting house. A part of this firm is low swamp. We applied sea weed at the rate of twelve loads to the acre, and sowed carrots and beets. The carrots yielded six bush- els and the beets ten bushels to the square rod. Of the carrots we raised 287 bushels. On the 15th August, lily father weighed ten swine, three of which were yearlings ami seven pigs ; and to these and twenty-one geese, we fed out the carrots until we consumed 140 bushels. Then he weighed again and said he had gained seven hundred pounds of dressed pork. The geese, when dressed fit for cooking, weighed eight and a half pounds each. We had a very poor cow sixteen years old : left off milking her about the first of November — llien gave her fifty bushels of carrots, and killed her at Christ- mas : she had ">0 pounds of rough tallow, and the beef was very fiit. My business that season was, beside the ordina- ry farm work, to attend the hogs, geese and cow, as well as to weed the carrots, beets and a field of about 20O0 cabbages : this extra work I did night and morning generally before sunrise and after sunset. The swamp I have spoken of, where the carrots and beets were grown, I think might be made to produce one thousand bushels of carrots or other root crops to an equal amount; yet I be- lieve the owners do not make much use of these lands. WILLIAM LOCKE. Note. — We have some of the Locke family in our own vicinity, who originated in Rye: they carry with them the habits of industry and enterprise, demonstrated by the appear,anee of that pattern town for farmers. As the editor has probably vis- ited Rye since the writer of the foregoing letter, the information that the farmers of Rye are fa.st bring- ing into profitable cultivation their swamp grounds may be pleasing to the aged gentleman whose homely letter will bo interesting to many young farmers. was UUKliOWll IICIC, ailU V\ in. 11 lllUJl. Ui 1,11.- ^^^>.y.Lj ~. -41 ■ * ir nn roads which were not traced with the ruts of the I good roads would unite science with mtelligence Moullonhorough, March 2Stk, 1339. Hon. IsA.tr Hii.r, — Dear Sir: — Permit me to compliment you on the merit of the Monthly Vis- itor. In this part of the State it seems to give more life and spirit to agriculture, than any thing that has been done amongst ns. I am confident that, when more generally read, it will result in the greatest good to the agricultural conamunity. A ni.NT FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF "^HE GROWERS OF WHE.AT. Smut in wheat has become very prevalent within a few years; and to ascertain the true cause would be a great discovery, and might lead to the discov- ery of a remedy to prevent it. It is doubtless a lack of some necessary ingredi- ent of the soil which prevents the wheat from com- ing to maturity. It has been suggested by men of science, that lime is a very important ingredient for the growing of wheat. It has been also ascertain- ed by analyses that the lower soil contains double the quantity of lime of the upper soil. When wheat is sown on land exhausted by frequent and shoal ploughing, it will produce smut, or the straw will rust, and the kernel blight. 1 have noticed, and more particularly last summer, that where wheat was sown on land cultivated under the usual prac- tice of shoal ploughing it was very smutty ; and tliat where it was sown on land where the usual practice was deep ploughing, the wheat was free from smut. If this should be the case on further observation, it would be evident that lime is a great preventive against smut; for by deep ploughing it turns up the lower or sub-soil, which contains the greatest quantity of lime and gives a greater facility to the growth and brings it to perfection. But when land is ploughed shoal the lime lies in- active. I have given these hints, that some scien- tific growers of wheat might make the same obser- vation and give us the result of their research. JOHN BROWN, 2d. 54 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Raising Wheat ia the Connecticut Hirer Valley. We take pleasure in layinu- bcfbie tlie readers of tire Viaitor the following essay froui our old friend, jVI.nj. JoiiM \V. Weeks, whose example as a cul- tivator of the soil is no Jess worthy of imitation than his courage and noble daring during the last war with Great Britain, particularly on tlie Niaga- ra frontier, are worthy of the thanks and gratitude of his country. Maj. Wcekr-, wliile not engnged abroad, cither in militarj' or civil life, has long pur- sued tlie honorable profession of .a firmer: his farm is situated in the upper region of the fertile valley of the Connecticut, probably three hundred miles from its mouth, on whose meandering banks are some of the most proliiic meadows in the United States, and in the rear of which to the top of the mountains the lands are of almost equal fertility. Farmers of so much judgment aud diserimination as Maj. Weeks, who have watched the progress of vegetation in all the variety of seasons, arc able to furnish more useful information than the mere the- orist : May the following be but the comraence- jnent of a series of essays in the Visitor from the same hand. Lancaster A". II., March 31, ld39. Hon Isaac Hill, — Dear Sir : — I have been a wheat grower in small quantities for thiity seven years, and during that period, have endeavored to discover the causes of disease in that grain, and otli- ers of the small kind, but with less success than could be wished. The many essays, theories and opinions oti tliis subject, published in our agricultur- al papers, have been even more unsatisfactory, which induces me to hazard what 1 believe may be true, yet possibly may not. It is probably apparent to all observers, that soils of a calcareous character, with a due proportion of decomposed vegetable matter, are best adapted to the growth and perfection of the whe.it crop, with- out much regard to latitude, and limited only, by the scorching rays of a tropical sun, or the 'frin-id reg'ions of the iSorth. The cause of smut, it is believed, has bafiled ev- ery enquiry ; its cure has not been so unsuccess- ful. Seed wheat washed until it gives no color to the water, and undergoing a small degree of fric- tion, from the hand or in some other wav, so as to be sure it is perfectly clean, tlien mi.\-pd with stronn- wood ashes, in such quantity that each kernel may become coated, is probably the most cheap aud elfectual remedy. With regard to rust, without controverting the chimerical idea of animalcule urged with so much zeal by certain writers in Maine, and mnny other theories equally destitute of even plausibility. 1 shall at once state what is believed to be correct on that subject. When, during the vicissitudes of most climates, about the time the kernel is formino', the growth is unusually propelled by a succession of verj' humid and warm days and nights, t!ie nutri- tive lluid, of course, passingwilh much force, and the stalk being very tender, it will burst into many small apertures, through whicli the sap will jiass to the outside, ami when dry, form what me call rust, tliereby leaving the kernels without that nourish- ment essential to their developement. Farmers distinguish a red and black rust, both having the same cause ; but tlie latter actitiT v.'ith more force, is injurious in the same ratio. Old farm- ers can judge by the weather when the wheat is injured by the rust, without e.\ainlning the stalk. Blight is probabl}' occasioned by a want of lime in the soil. I have not been able to even fancy tlie cause of Mildew. About thirty years ago, wheat was very much in- jured by the Hessian fly ; it commenced operations as soon as two leaves were out of the ground. 1 have found them where the sprout was attached to the kernel, but much more frequently at the first joint of the stalk. In both cases, by depriving the root of its food, it changes color, withers and dies. But the great destroyer of wheat lately, is what is perhaps improperly called the wcvil. Its ap- pearance, nature and operations are identical ivith the Hessian fly, except tlie wcvil (as it is calledj in its chrysalis state is deposited by its parent in the hull, at the time the wheat is in blossom, and the hull open for impregnation. The fly and its chrysalis has been so often accurately described, that I shall say nothing on the subject. I have seen twelve of the young craft in one cell, where the kernel should be, and nearly in that ratio thromrh- out the head. Their depredations cease the mo- ment the kernel is "out of the milk," or becomes hard, so that if but one is in operation on tlie same kernel, something may be saved to the farmer, per- haps half a kernel, one or two thirds, accordin"- to the health and voracity of the animal. This, how- ever, is contrary to the opinion :% of a writer (I think in the iS'ew England Fanner) who contended that these depredations were carried on even in the mow, and that his cars were so acute, he had heard tiiem feeding. The story reminded me of two Irishmen, who were walking within half a mile of a very liigh steeple. Says one to the other, "Can you see tliat horse fly on the top of yon steeple .•"' "No, fath," replied tiie other, "but I can hear him step." In the spring of 1630, my wheat ground was in- undated by Connecticut river, till ne.ar the first of June. On that day my wheat was sown. The croj) wa? great : no wevil to injure, or early froot. Since that year we invariablj' liave sown between the 25th and 31st of May, and have suffered com- paratively nothing from the wevil, receiving from eighteen to twenty-nine bushels from the acre, on our alluvial lands. Our hills, v/hicli are elevated two or three hundred feet, produce wheat in great- er perfection; the north side being preferable to the south, owing to the wind being usually in that quarter. This drives away the flies, scatters an un- due quantitv of hninidity, and equalizes the tem- perature of the air, Vhich is very essential v/h'.le the kernel i.s forming. These grounds produce from tv/enty to thirty-five bushels to the acre, v/eighing si.xty to sixt3'-two p lunds to the bushel, and yielding forty pounds of fine flour. I have known in two or three instances forty bushels grown on the acre, but such cases are very rare. Animal manure, in soils having little or no lime, is essential to the wheat crop ; but if laid on in large quantities, it will produce an abundance of straw, fatal to the wheat. This, however, is an evil not often encountered. That proportion usu- ally found on old pastures is perhaps about right. My mode is the following; after haying we turn over the green sward, the later in the fall the bet- ter, with as even a surface as possible. The next spring, after harrowing lengthwise of the furrows, sow v/ith oats ; reap when many are rather green. Tiien cross-plough immediately. The ne.xt sprino-, again cross-plough and harrow well. Then in the hill and by spreading, use twenty or twentv-five loads of n-ood nranure. Plant to corn and potatoes, hoe the first three times without raising much of a hill; the latter twice, raising a hill of some size ; the last hoeing to be before tlie potatoes begin to set. When tlie crop is off, again plough, and a- gain in the spring. Then liarrnw ; sow somethino- short of two bushels of wheat to the acre, (prepar- ed :is before mentioned) then cross harrow and sow one peck of herds gr.ass seed and four pounds of clover seed to the acre. Again harrow and roll. Trust Providence, who has not disappointed me. I have sowed the white bearded wheat twenty-five years ; j'et often trying samples of other kinds, but thus far, have reverted back to the old stock. A kind of Siberian bald wheat on poor soil does well, and if one must sow early, is less injured by the fly, but it is more likely to crinkle and lodge. In England, six hundred years ago, eight and ten bushels to the aero was considered fair. Two hun- dred years since, the culture of wheat there was much as it is here now. Yet at this time, in some counties, forty bushels to the acre is an average crop, weighing sixty-three pounds to the bushel, and with so thin a hull, that it affords more than fifty pounds of flour. And will not the Anvn-ican people improve their wheat crop, with such induce- ments before them.' My 'yarn' has unconsciously been 'spun' to a much greater length, than was anticipated when I sat down, but you will do with it as you please. With high respect,! am, sir. Your obedient servant, JOHN W. WEEKS. Treatment of Cattle in Winter. Jlmlorc-r, March Vt, 1830. Dear Sir: — Many expedients have been resort- ed to for the purpose of keeping cows and other cattle clean in winter. The first I ever noticed, was tried in a village of Holland, celebrated for the neatness of its farmers : they tied up their cows' tails in such a manner that they could not reach the floor. This would only effect it in part, and that too wlih considerable trouble. The next I now think of was the plan pursued by Mr. Wm. Bart- lett, on his farm some ten miles out of Newbury- port. The occupant, Capt. Joseph Brown of this town, informed ine that it was quite a task to obey the old gentleman's orders in this respect, which were peremptory. He would have his cattle look right when he rede out to see his farm : it v.-as no matter about the profit. His manner was to drop one jilank behind the cattle, perhaps four or six inches; aud as some of the cattle were shorter than others, I cTpect tills was somcv.hat difficult. I think he also put straw under them. Another plan recommended by Esq. Searle of Franklin was, to keep cows in stalls, a.j team horses are now kept, with beds, fastened with length enough to stir themselves. This would be a good phin, but too expensive to be likely to be adopted by a large portion of farmers. Then the recommendation in the Visitor for Feb. 183:t,headed "cattle leanto,"all can see. I will only mention what I think excep- tionable. And first, I think the floor or bed recom mended if there was enough of it would make ma- nure well, but no better than my plan ; and, sec- ► ondly, it would destroy all idea of the cleanliness unless there was a large amount of bedding. Any one would readily see that a creature placed more than half the time for six months in the same spot would require considerable attention and hibor to keep them clean as they are in summer. Thirdly, if gentlemen farmers should visit each other and should be invited to look at the stock, this kind of floor would not be so nice as a clean barn floor of plnnk or some other material for tiiera to walk on. My leanto for the cows is fii'tcen feet wide. Fourthly, I do not think it a good plan to have cat- tle, and especially calves, kept confined close for so much of the time during our long winters. A part of the time they may be fed abroad in the yards; but when the snow is falling or it is very bluster- ing, many farmers put up their cattle early and let them remain until late the next day, thereby de- priving them of water too long, and of an opportu- nity to stir about, lick and rub as they generally do. The recommendation to keep cattle in cellars or basements, is the best plan, so far as it goes, that I know any thing about, and the only reason why I have not pursued it, is because mj- barns and sheds were built before it was thought of, and on level ground. They are now so arranged that the sheds are directly behind the leantocs. But there are objections to the plan as it is laid down in the Visitor, which I am unable to over- come ; first and smallest, the cows are more un- wilf nir to be troubled for their milk in winter than in summer, and it is more iiecessarj- to confine them when tliey are milked. Secondly, I can think of no way to prevent the older and stronger ones from takino- the best ])laccs and best locks of hay or other fodder, and if there should not be quite a plenty at all times, from driving away those we would wish to have fare best. Thirdly, and last I shall now mention,is the impossibility of feeding them as they should be with tlie rut:i baga and carrots, which you all know must not be d.spensed v.-ith. I rais- ed one hundred and twenty bu.shels of the above roots in my garden the last seascn. I understand they have been raised at the rate of one thousand bushels to iiie acre. This information I received from Mr. Loomis of Fairlee, Vt. who had himself rai,5ed tliem, t tliink year before last. Beets I have not tried; tiiey may be better yet. Now for my plan, very simple, easy and cheap. I go to the barn in the morning, throw some hay in- to the floor, then open the door, and the cattle will be in their places almost as soon as I can convcn- ientlj' place the hay before them. A light touch of the fork to each sf-ntlal and they are safe. Some rough bo»rds are placed between them in such a manner, that each has its separate propor- tion, and the otliers cannot rc.b him. Here, if I find that one needs a better lock of hay or a larger amount of roots than anotiier, wliich is, I may say, always the case, I can easily make the difference. When they are properly fed, being clean as in autumn, they are curried or carded nice, for this is the most profit of any thing we do, costing almost nothing : it in fact gives us some employ, which is rather a blessing than a curse. For this purpose I have a pair of common wool cards, in order to rub them together for the purpose of removing the hair and dust from both. Then comes the time for obtaining the milk, and if vour cows are well fed as above, you will be able by milking them clean, at intervals of about tvv'olve hours, to have milk all the year without any farrow cow. The caltle are now loosed. V.'e throw orts, straw, &c. into tlie yards, when they are clean by being frozen and covered with snow. Something of this kind should be put under the sheds for lit- ter, but it can be dispensed with in case of a scar- city. About 5 o'clock, P. M. we again invite our herds into the barn, which invitation is very readily ac- cepted : they are again fed and turned out, aud seldom, if ever, lie down in the barn. The manure is now a second time nicely removed from the floor, and of course is never frozen down, and as they have been in the barn only long enough to eat, this will be found a very light task compared with that when they arc kept in eighteen hours. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 55 My cattle generally go strait to tlie potash kettle placed in the fence between the two yards, suppli- ed by an aqueduct from one of tlie best fountains in the world. No freezing at any time. This is a privilege which but few liave or can have. If it is cliilly, this is the time for a high scrape, and it is diverting to see them play. 1 have sometimesclos- ed the door between them and the sheep, to prevent injury to the latter, and in order to s.ober down some of the high strung ones. I have not allowed them to be put into the leantoes for a number of days at a time the present winter. Now, Brother Farmers, this is my plan, and I think it the cheajjest and easiest of any w^y. Af- ter 3'ou liavc erected a shed or slieds, according to the amount of your stock, which may l)e done by placing posts in the ground very cheap, all I think may adopt the plan next winter, which I have fol- lowed for years, and 1 am confident it would give general, if not universal satisfaction. I h.rve sep- arate ajiartments for my sheep, where they have a plank floor under their feet, which is brushed or swept out every d,ay when used; and when the yards are clean we feed them out, and th(*y lay with the cattle. Mr. Editor, if you think the above would be of any use to the public, so that I can see it in the \^isitor, 1 should be amply rewarded for the trouble of writinfr, Kespecti'ully, IIEHOD THOMPSON. Roots. — Sugar Beet — Manufacture of Sugar, liumucy, Feb. 19, 1339. Governor Hill: — I have been for some time talkino- about raising the sugar beet, and for want of information I have delayed. You will oblige me by o-iving information respecting the culture, the kind and the soil, and where I can obtain the best seed, and how much is wanted for an acre, and how to plant it — also the cost of the seed, and how much sugar can be obtained fronr a middling crop ; and how many bushels from an acre. By giving this information you will oblige your friend, 'SAMUEL HERBERT. ANSWER. Without regard to the production of sugar, we consider the Sugar Beet, as a root for feeding stock, to be hardly less valuable tlian Ruta Bnga, or Man- gel Wurtzel, or Carrot. It is our intention the present j-ear to occupy two acres of light intervale on the bank of the Merrimack as follows, viz : one acre with Ruta Baga, and also one iialf acre each with the Sugar Beet and Carrot. We also, by the aid of our friend Whitney, intend to preserit a field of three-fourths of an acre of Onions, from ground on a southeastern slope, which will be in early preparation to receive the seed. The two a- cres were planted with corn last year and received about twenty loads of manure, part from the stable and partly a compost of lime and soil taken from the bottom of a pond. We will again apply about the same quantity of green manure, spreadmg be- fore the land shall be ploughed ; and it is our in- tention tlie land shall be ploughed twice and har- rowed. The preparation will be the sa:ne for tlie Swedish turnip, the carrot and the Sugar beet. Af- ter the land shall be prepared in the manner men- tioned, ridges with the horse plough will be fori-*.ed say at two feet distance from each other — the top of these ridges will be taken oft", possibly, if it shall work Vv-ell, with a roller pas.^iingover three or more rows at once. In the centre of the ridge thus flattened, the seed will be sown, dropping them three or four inches apart, and covering them at the proper deptli. We shall be most certain of the requisite number of seeds dropped by the hand ; but if a drill harrow or seed sower can be procured that will work sure, that may be adopted. For our use the present year, we have been fur- nished by Friend Caleb M. Dyer at the Enfield Family of United Brethren, with two pounds of V.'hite Silesia French Sugar Beet seed at 7.') cents per pound — 6 ounces of the same imported and 4 ounces of Yellow French Sugar beet — the two last at the cost of $'2 02. There will be a fair opportu- nity to ascertain whether the foreign seed is pre- feralile to the domestic. From the same quarter, we have received two pounds of Ruta Baga seed, imported, at 75 cents per pound; 1 1-2 lb. Red On- ion and 1-2 pound Yellow Onion seed at .$2 50 per pound. We have no expectation of manufacturing sugar from any portion of the Sugar beet raised the pres- ent year. Our intention is to make use of it for feeding stock and perhaps fattening hogs. For yielding Sugar, the Silesian beet is recom- mended as the best and most productive. This beet will come to maturity in all parts of the United States up to the 'loth degree of north latitude. The soil said to be most congenial to its growth is a light sandy loam, of gooil depth, the better if Iree of stones. The alluvial meadows on the Connect- icut, the Merrimack and other New England rivers are sa'd to be extremely v/ell adapted to the growth of tills root; lint the cultivation need not be con- fined to our vallies — there is l+nd well adapted to this beet in all our hill towns. The seed may be sown to better advantage early than late in the sea- son either broad cast or in drills. They should be kept free from weeds — at the second hoeing they should he thinned out so that one plant shall be left in a hill, and the plants,- if broad cast, from twelve to eighteen lushes apart — if in drills, from eight to twelve inches apart. The average yield of the beet in well selected, well prepared and highly manured ground may be made to reach at least twenty tons to the acre. It is said that thi.-s amount of beet will yield three thousand pounds of sugar — that the cost of manu- facture will he about four cents to the pound, leav- ing all above that sum for which it may be sold nett profit. This calculation would seem aimnst beyond the bounds of probability : before extraor- dinary expense shall be incurred by any farmer, we recommend that he do not rush into this business with the superficial information we shall give him. In th- extraction of sugar, the beets are tTrst cleansed by washing or scraping, and all the de- cayed parts taken off with a knife. The rasp (a cut and delineation of which may be found in the Visitor for February, page 25) is in universal use ill France for the purpose of crushing the beet roots. By this rasp they are reduced to a fine pulp. This pulp is put into cloth bags, and the juice is express- ed by means of a screw press. In France a hy- draulic press is used for this purpose ; but a cider press or almost any other press may be used. The juice after it is extracted must undergo four distinct and difterent processes. The first process is the purification of the juice, by extracting the acetic acid, wax and mucilage, be- fore the process of evaporation commences. This is done bj' the milk of lime, prepared by slaking quick lime in hot water, and reducing it to the con- sistence of cream: about 4G grains troy weight of this to the gallon of extracted juice when heated to about 160 degrees Fahrenheit should be thoroughly mixed by stirring. Then suflercd to rest, it must be heated to the boiling point, which will throw all impurities upon the surface in the tbrinof skum. Thus purified, the juice is drawn oft" or the akum taken away in a manner completely to detach the pure from the impure part. The next process is the boiling away ; and this may be done much in the same manner as the juice of the maple is boiled down. If there is an excess of lime left, it may be extracled by means of sul- phuric acid and water. The juice should bo boiled down till it is reduced to about one-fiftli or one- sixth of its original quantity in pans and kettles. As the water evaporates, flaky substances will separate from the juice and collect on the surface in white foam : this must be skimmed oft'. The liquid may be prevented from boiling over in the same way as is sometimes practised by the maple sugar boiler, by using tallow, lard, or a piece of fat pork suspended. The next process is clarification. The liquid or syrup is in that thin state that it may be filtered throUL'h animal charcoal, or burnt bones broken to gralnJ. The charcoal is placed directly over the strainer, and covered with another strainer: the juice or syrup turned into the vat, and let oft" by a cock. The charcoal must be often changed — but it may be waslied and reburnt and used ijntil it is en- tirely consumed. The next process is concentration, or "sugaring off." To accomplish this the purified syrup, must be again evaporated by boiling until it is brought into a proper state for chrystillizatlon. The rules to be observed here are the same as are used in completing maple sugar ; and the same method us- ed as that for separating tlie sugar from molasses in that case. All the information asked by our correspondent, within our means, is embraced in the foregoing. JS'cwport, Jlpr'd '2d, 1830. Gov. IIiLL, — Dear Sir : — You are doubtless well acquainted with the fact, that vines will not bear until they have run the same distance that tlie pa- rent vin>; had from which seed wjs taken ; that is, if seed be selected from a vine ten feet from the root, that seed will not produce, until the vine has run the distance of ten feet. This is true of pumpkins, squashes, melons and cucumbers. The seed taken t"rom the blow end of the cucumber will produce abundantly of fine cu- cumbers, while those from the stem end will pro- duce but few, and those small and ill shaped. I have for a number of years 9a.v»d my own seeds, and think them much better than any I can purchase. I select for need the best cucumbers and that grow near the root. I cut the cucumber trans- verselyin the middle and save the seed from the blow end. (See Silk Culturist, Vol. Ill, page 23, June 1837.) I have forwarded to you by F/sq. Stevens, some melon and cucumber seeds, selected and secured as they ouirht to be. Please accept. Yours, ALEXANDER BOYD. A .journey of t\i cnty-seven hoiiM. A journey at this season of the year, even though vegetation has not yet s|.rung from tlie ground, is not destitute of interest. The first notice of the death. of a long tried friend met us at sunrise, on April 3d, the day on which his funeral v/as ap- pointed atone o'clock in the aftcrnnoon. At seven, we v.'ere on our way to the late residence of the deceased, tv.'enty-five miles distant. The frost had not yet left the ground, and the road was mud for more than half the ditt.once. Our course was up the Contoocook from Hogklnton, which has its rise on the Monadnock, about fifty miles south west, and enters the Merrimack near the northerly line of Concord. The road running transversely from the direc- tion to the seaboard, has usually been considered a cross road ; yet in the fust seven miles we met four- teen teams with four times as many oxen and gen- erally two horses to each, heavily loaded with val- uable lumber, such as boards and planks, sawed joists, clapboards and shingles, on their way to be rafted on the river for Amoskeag, Lowell or Bos- ton. The farmers had no where begun ploughing; but all of them were busy either in cutting up for the fire their ample piles o{ wood, preparing posts and raiU for fences, carting manure from their yards, or in some other early preparation — every one seemed to be diligent, as if preraonishedby the steady sun and bland air that the time was fast approaching for committing the seed to the ground. As the whole distance may be taken for a medium specimen of the State, we might mention that for the first seven miles in the last tliirty years, then well settled, there has been in nearly every in- stance gradual improvement; the dwelling houses are invariably better than they vvere then— some new ones have been built and most of ilie old ones repaired. It is pleasaiit to meet frequently new and enlarged and well finished barns offromfit'ty, sixty to eighty and a hundred feet ; and the fields are even more productive now tl»n they were then. A neat village at Hopkinton, the ancient half- shire of Old Hillsborough county, is seven miles ■from the point of starting: at this place are three churches, one recently erected for the Baptists, a neat o-ranite edifice for the Episcopalians, and the Congregational church of ancient form : in the im- mediate neighborhood are some fifty dwellings, the most of which are painted white, fronted with yards which are adorned with maple and other trees neatly arranged. We had not been westward of Hopkinton in that direction for about four years. The first object that attracted our attention when leaving the village was tlie Rev. Mr. Chase's newly constructed bee- house (as we supposed from its shape) on the plan of Mr. Searle of Franklin — then witliin the dis- tance of only a few rods was presented to view the fine fresh meadow westwardly of tlie beautiful res- idence of Judge Harris, which for as many as fif- teen years has yielded a large annual crop of good English hay, having bceir reclaimed from a mere morass by ample ditches in various directions. Here we were glad to observe a gentleman retired partially from his profession and from high public oftice pursuing, as the most grateful occupation, the business of a farmer, and that in the right way. The spare room on the main road was occupied as a place for preparing compost from the mud of al- luvial depofiites taken from the low grounds; and along tlie road was a low of flourishing grafted ap- pletrees. Half a mile out of the village our attention was drawn to a thrifty orchard of the white mulberry tree, which we had noticed at the last time of pas- sinn-. And it was a matter of some surprise to find tint this orchard had not apparently suft'ered i"rom the severity of the late v,-inters. The buds had not yet begun to spring — but the trees appeared to be all alive and thrifty. The owner of this orchard could inform us whether the trees have been check- ed in their growth by the cold, and how he has preserved them from the injuries that have befallen the mulbeny in other places. This orchard the present year will furnish food for maiiy thousand silk worms. , ,■ 66 THE FARMKR'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Passing along two niik's furllior, llie ni'.tt olijcct of particnlar notice was the ice ol' the C'ontoocook thrown up by the sudden atorjn and iVcsliet ol" Jan- uary last, which storm of a if^w iiours was in rain the substitute for the usual quantity of snow of the last winler. The high ground of the vicinity was dry ; but the cakes of ice higher than the travelled road were still resting on the ground; and the bark was riven by the force of the ice Iroin young and thril'ty trees several feet more elevated than the banks of the present running stream. About a mile this side of tlie village of Henni- ker is a singular peninsula near the confluence witli the Contoocook of a considerable streaju from tlu- north. The bed of each of the streams is out deep into a soil of entire alluvion from thirty to forty feet, and on the side of one or butli at the eleva- tion of the lowest bank is a strip of intervale. The road passes the more elevated level on a ridge so narrow as to leave little space on each side beside the patli, from which we look down upon both ■treams where t^ie waters of either seem to be near enough to soak their way tluough the bank of sofl Boil to the waters on the other side. Eelow and ex- panding each way from haJf a mile to a mile is a flat level of some hundred acres of very good land forming the greater ponion of the peninsula. The entire soil is but a formation washed from the hills above — over the higher level afterwards the waters must have flowed lor many generations ; and viit more recently the waters have cut deeper the banks leaving another plat on each side some thirty feet more depressed t'lan the higher formation. On the Merrimack and it is believed most of the other streams in New England do wc observe a higher level of alluvial soil, indicating that these streams once discharged water in much a renter vol- ume and followed a track of much higher elevation. Thirty and forty feet below this higher surface, logs and pieces of wood in good preservation are sometimes discovered : below the same surface rocks evidently worn by the long attrition of wa- ters are also found. An economical mode of constructing fences, worthy the attention of all farmers in the vicinity of granite quarries, is pursued by the enterprising citizens of Henniker. The Henniker granite, af- though not as perfect as that drawn from the bosom of our own Rattlesnake, near the banks of the Merrimack, being mixed with sicnnite, is rived even more easily than the pure granite. I'osts from the rock are split with ssarcely less facility tlian from logs of wood. These are readily drilled for the re- ception of a wooden plug, into which ordinary boards are nailed. Three boards or slabs from ten to twelve inches in width fastened transversely to uprights of granite will make the best of fence. The stone posts, once procured,will always remain,' and fence thus constructed after continuing good for years may be easily renewed at a trifling ex- pense. So quick is the growth of the sapling pine that a new wood will grow up while wood of the old fence is consuming. The best of clear boards are made from pines which have sprung up on ground cleared long since the recollection of some who are now liviuf. Another improvement evincing the generous en- terprise of an interior town of iVew Hampshire, is the beautiful granite bridge thrown over the Con- toocook in two arches at Henniker village : this bridge which in some situations would have cost ten times as much, was constructed by the town of Henniker about three years ago at an expense of 3,300 dollars. Like the stones of the temple of Solomon, tlie stones of this bridge were all measur- ed and numbered at the quarrie°s from which they were taken, and every one suited to its place. Near the bridge a village of great beauty and con- siderable business, with three new meeting houses, has grown up principally within four years. Tlie value of real properly hero has been much increas- ed by a fine road running in a transverse direction also constructed at the expense of the town, over which stages pass to and from Boston every day. A mile and a half further on is another flourishinn- Village in Henniker with several mills for clothin? and other works. Here again has been construct"- ed another bridge over tlie Contoocook, beino- one erf Col. Long's patent bridges with a sino-k'span thrown over a hundred feet. The n.ranitJ bridtre was proof against the late violent fresliet, although It had to encounter an immense weicrht of ice and water, proving that undermining only can destroy It : the wooden bridge, in a position of less dantrer, was likewise sustained without injurv. ° There are many excellent farms in Henniker, ■ome of which are perched among the stony hills' and others on the alluvion of the°Contoocook and Us tributaries. Judge Darling has for twenty year.-; ««*«Q known as a good practical farmer and patron of agrieiilture ; and there are many others at least, his equal. ^Ve recollect, while on the connnittee of farms some twelve years ago, within the bounds of Henniker, visiting a farm in an amphitheatre between two hills, to gain which V\'a3 like mount- ing up the steep roof of a house, where wc discov- ered one of the very best farmers in the county, v.'hose fields had almost literally been dug out of strata of rocks and land which seemed to be nearly impervious. South of the river all the way to Hills- borough and Deering lines, v.'here a portion of the Society of Friends are located, are said to be first rate farms : among these were the late residences of the Wallaces, Robert and William, known as public men for man}' years in this State. Mr. Alirl Conner raised and sold principally in this Village the last season, about seven hundred bush- els of superior grafted apples from his own little farm in Henniker, at seventy-five cents the bushel. The fiirmers of Henniker have distinguished themselves for raising fine cattle : we observed in parsing along cattle of the improved breed with long surloins and broad and stout backs. The towns of Weare to the south and Deering on the south- west are among- the best farming towns of the St.ate. Six miles from the upper village in Henniker, passing by and in view of good farms :]nd buildings and improving cultivation, as well as various me- chanics, we arrive at the neat village of Hillsbo- rough Bridge. Here is a waterfall giving srieat power for machinery, on wliich a cotton factory and various other establishments have been con- structed. The cascade of waters compressed with- in the distance of a single span at the stone brido-e makes a sublime appearance from below. The buildings at the village, consisting of neatly built dwellings painted white, seem to have increased three fold in the last four years: a new ineetinfr house connected with the Congregational church of the town, has been erected just without the vil- lage on the west. A short distance above the Bridge village near the foot of a considerable mountain, the main body of the Contoocook running from the southwest unites with "the Branch" running in from the north side of the same mountain. Over both tiiesc streams as a main road from Amherst througli Frances- town, &c. to Claremont, runs the Second New- Hampshire Turnpike, completed in 1801. Two miles and a half from the Bridge upon this turn- pike is another village embracing the mansion and farm of the late Gov. Pierce. Between the two vil- lages on the Branch there is a factory we supposed of potatoe starch, various cabinet manufactures, &,c. Observing large piles of bush alder of the size of a man's wrist and smaller, we inquired their use ; and found them to be intended as hoops to powder casks, the staves for which were sawed by water power, and the casks furnished in quantities. To the north of Gen. Pierce's on the turnpike road is another meeting house erected for the use of the Baptist society of the town. In full view of this turnpike at the distance of three miles is the old town meeting house at the centre of the town, and a beautiful amphitheatre from three to five miles over, presenting various farm houses and other buildings, among which is the splendid farm which belonged to the late Nathaniel Johnston, Esq. now the property of Mr. Jones, an enterprising citizen and native of Hillsborough. Rough as is much of this land, the large isolated rocks spreadai >■ over the ground down almost to the river, wo were grat- ified to see the new stony ground carefully cleared up for pasture or mowing, and enclosed with first rate stone wall. Having attended to the duty of paying the la.^t honors to the remains of the illustrious dead, we returned on the evening of the same day of leaving home over the very muddy road, a portion of the time aided only by star light, to Henniker, ten miles ; and the next morning, being the day ap- pointed for the annual fast, proceeded to Concord in season to attend public worship. It was indeed as a Sabbath morning, and we felt during a greater p.art of the day, although it seemed to be a work of "necessity" to be on our way for the sixteen miles, that our engagement might be of pernicious exam- ple to those who knew us. But this journey is no- ticed that we may draw the attention of the reader to the perfect contrast of that morning with the preceding. None of the farmers who were so busy on the preceding day were abroad at their labors — none of the children were engaged in their playful gambols; even the dumb beasts, just released from then- stalls and yards, seemed to observe the day in seriousness. Approaching nearer home, we be- gun to meet or to overtake well dressed men and women on their way to the public religious servi- ces. But mark the contrast between the country and the town — between the farmers and the vill.i- gers ! No sooner did we approach the confines of our own orderly village, the inhabitants of which take the lead in temperance and other reforms on paper, than the air resounded with the noise of full grown and half grown men and boys engaged in sports which would be uncommon upon the week days, and which were as wide from follov.'ing the annual example of keeping a proper fast as the play going people who attend the theatre at New Orleans on Sundays, are from cont'orming to our ideas of keeping the Christian Sabbath. If such be the dift'ercnce between the village and the coun- try, how much better will be the future genera- tions of farmers who bring up their children under the influence of salutary example, than the future generations of mechanics, merchants and others who congregate in villages, and who condemn not the violation of all the rules of our forefathers which have made us a serious, a reflecting, and a civilized people ? It THE FRTIGAL HOUSE WIFE. Common Cooking, is necessary to be very careful of fresh meat in the summer season. The moment it is broutr-ht into the house it should be carefully cov- ered from the flies, and put in the coldest place in the cellar. If it consist of pieces, they sliould be spread out separate from each other, on a large dish, and covered. If you are not to cook it soonj it is well to sprinkle salt on it. The kidney, and fat, flabby parts should be raised up above the lean, by a skewer, or stick, and a little salt strev/n in. If yo8 have to keep it overnight, it should be look- ed to the last thing when you go to bed ; and if there is danger, it should be scalded. Vcal. — Veal should boil about an hour, if a neck- piece ; if the jneat comes from a thicker, more solid part, it should boil longer. No directions about these things will supply the place of judgment and experience. Both mutton and veal are better for being boiled with a small piece of salt pork. Veal broth is very good. Veal soup should be slowly stewed for two hours. Seasoned tlie same as above. Some people like a little sifted summer savory. Six or seven pounds of veal will roast in an hour and a half. Fried veal is better for being dipped in white of ^g^, and rolled in nicely pounded crumbs of bread, before it is cooked. One egg is enough for a com- mon dinner. Calf's head. — Calfs head should be cleansed with very great care ; particularly the lights. The head, the heart, and the lights should boil t'uU two hours ; the liver should be boiled only one hour. It is better to leave the wind-pipe on, for if it hangs out of the pot while the head is cooking, all the froth will escape through it. The brains, after be- ing thoroughly washed, should be put in a little bag, with one pounded cracker, or as much crum- bled bread, — seasoned witii sifted sage, and tied up and boiled one hour. After the brains are boiled they should be well broken up with a knife, and piepared, salted, and buttered. They should be put upon the table in a bowl by themselves. Boiling water, thickened with flour and water, with butter melted in it, is the proper sauce ; some people love vinegar and pepper mixed with the melted butter; but all are not fond of it ; and it is easy for each one to add it for themselves. Beef. — Beef-soup should be stewed four hours over a slow fire. Just water enougli to keep the meat covered. If you have any bones left of roast meat, &c. it is a good plan to boil them with the meat, and take them out hall an hour before the soup is done. A pint of flour and water, with salt, pepper, twelve or sixteen onions, should be put in twenty minutesbefore the soup is done. Be careful and not throw in salt and pepper too plen- tifully ; it is easy to add to it ; and not easy to di- minish. A lemon cut up and put in half an hour be- fore it is done, adds to the flavor. If you have tomato catsnp in the house, a cup full will make soup rich. Some people put in crackers; some thin slices of crust, made nearly as short as common short cake ; and some stir up two or three e^gs with milk and flour, and drop it in with a spoon. A quarter of an hour to each pound of beef is considered a good rule for roasting; but this is too m-jch when tlie bono is large, and the meat thin. Six pounds of the rump should roast six quarters of an hour; but bony pieces less. It should bo done before a quick lire. The quicker bcef-st-eak can be broiled the better. Seasoned after it is taken from the gridiron. , Jllntnof/c hecf. — Tie up a round of beef so as to keep it in shape, m.ike a stufling of grated bread. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 57 supt, BWeel ht'ibs, quarter of an oUnoe of nutmeg, a few cloves pounded, yolk of an egg-. Cut holes in the beef and put in tlie stutKng, leaving about half the stulling to be made into balls. Tie the beef up in a clotli, just cover it with water, let it boil an hour and a half; then turn it, and let boil an hour and a half more. Then turn out the li- quor, and put some skewers across the bottom of the pot, and lay tlie beef upon it, to brown ; turn it that it may brown on both sides. Put a pint of claret, and some allspice and cloves into the liquor, and boil some balls, made of the stulBng in it. Million and lamb. — Six or seven pounds of mut- ton will roast in an hour and a half. Lamb one hour. Mutton is apt to taste strong; this may be helped i)y soaking the meat in a little salt and wa- ter, for an hour before cooking. However, unless meat is very sweet, it is best to corn it, and boil it. Fresh meat should never be put in to cook till the water boils; and it should be boiled in as little wa- ter as possible; otherwise the flavor is injured. Mutton enough for a family of five or six should boil an iiour and a half. A leg of iamb should boil an hour, or little more tlian an hour, perhaps. Put a little thickening into boiling water; strain it nice- ly ; and put sweet butter in it for sauce. If your family like lirofh, throw in some clear rice when you put in the meat. The rice should be in pro- portion to the quantity of broth you mean to make. A large table spoonful is enough for three pints of water. Seasoned with very little pepper and salt. Bummer savory, or sage rubbed through a seive, thrown in. Porh. — Fresh pork should be cooked more than any other meat. A thick shoulder piece should be roasted full two hours and a half, and other pieces less in proportion. The slight sickness occasioned by eating roasted pork may be prevented by soak- ing it in salt and water, the night before you cook it. If called to prepare it upon short notice, it will answer to baste it with weak brine while roasting, —and then turn the brine ofF,3and throw it away. Roast pig. — Strew fine salt over it an hour before it is put down. It should not be cut entirely open; fill it up plump with thick slices of buttered bread, salt, sweet marjoram and sage. Spit it with the head next tlie point of the spit; take ofi" the joints of the leg and boil them with the liver, with a little whole pepper, allspice, and salt, for gravy sauce. The upper part of the leys must be braced down with skewers. Sliake on flour. Put a little water in the dripping-pan, and stir it often. AVhen the eyes droj out, the pig is half done. When it is near- ly done, baste it with butter. Cut off tlie head, split it open between the eyes. Take out the brains and chop them fine with the liver and some sweet mar- jorajn and sage ; put this into melted butter, and wlien it has boiled a f(?w minutes, add it to the gra- vy in the dripping-pan. When vour pig is cut open lay it witli the back to tlie edge of the dish ; half a head to be placed at eacli end. A good sized pig needs to be roasted three hours. — Mrs. Child. For llie Fanner's Jloiitlily Visitiir. Dear s?r : — Feeling a deep interest in all that tends to elevate, succeed and prosper the agricultu- ral community, and to obtain all the intelligence I may from any source on this vital interest of our country, I subscribed for the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, believing that your talents, perseverance, and industry would contribute largely to the difi'u- sion of some of the most practical intelligence up- on the subject. Being myself a " booL farmer'' I find it much to my happiness and interest, to avail myself of all the cost, labor and experience " of my predecessors ;" tlie result of which has been, that the information I obtained from the "Cultiva- tor," (edited by Judge }i\n'\) the last .reason cn:i\>Wd me to realize a profit upon the cultivation and sale of a 7IE1P hind of rcgftaldc variety, sufficient to de- fray the expense for five years of four such period- icals as yours, and leave a very liberal balance on hand, besides the satisfiction of being the instru- ment of introducing it far and wide this season, among the cultivators of the soil. So much for book farming. And this is not a solitary instance of the benefit I have derived: — Another year, if p'rovidence spares my lif^ I v/ill tell you a story about reclaiming light, sandy, and worn out soils. It shall he facts m the iletail, whether for or against me, the jiublic shall have the account. What I now offer for your consideration, is to encourage every farmer to subscribe for every agricultural paper they can afford, if he would improve his' mind and increase his happiness by the light and intelli- gence they contain conducive to this end. In your second number, you ask for some infor- mation respecting a new variety of the mulberry, called the Alpine. You are aware that this town has been among the foremost in this enterprise. It has been pursued for a number of years by some I of our most intelligent and practical citizens on an extensive scale. Their object has been to cultivate all the varieties, with a view of selecting the best for permanency and utility for feeding of worms, and the raising of silk for manuf icturing. We have two silk factories here ; one with a capital of i%100,000, which is partially suspended for want of the raw material ; the other, on a smaller scale, is in operation, but not fully so, for tlie same cause. In this, sewing silk equal to any imported galloon, silk braids and twist are produced, and I saw a few days since a piece of silk weaving of a fabric su- perior to any of the French Gio de Naples. The raw material was raised by a lady from Charleston S. C. under her own care and supervision, which would surprise the most sceptical. To go on suc- cessfully on our own hook, we want every farmer to appropriate a patch of mulberries, more or less, as an appendage to his farm. It will produce him more for his labor than any thing he could other- wise appropriate it to, with a certainty of finding a ready sale for rus/i for every pound raised at five dollars and upwards. I have thus digressed from what I was going to say about the Alpine. It is now confidently estab- lished by three or four years experience, that it possesses the properties of enduring the rigours of our New England climate, is easily propagated, has a vigorous growth, produces foliage in size e- qual to any other, is more nutricious and healtliy for the feeding of worms, and produces a better staple of silk ; consequently it is fast taking prece- dence of the Mullicaulis, by those whose interest it is to select the best variety for a permanent plan- tation. The Canton and Asiatic are al.^o a very ex- cellent tree ; some consider them equal to the Al- pine. But at present the demand seems to be in favor of the latter. Either of these will produce superior foliage, and is excellent for worms. .Northampton, Ms. March, 1839. C. C. N. P. S. Perhaps I should say of what this variety of vegetable to which I allude is. It is the liuhan potatoc. I raised the last season, notwithstanding the unfavorable weather, sixteen and a half bushels from about a peck, cultivated in the customary way. The information I first obtained from Judge Buel's Cultivator, that the seed were to be obtained from Mr. Thompson, of Catskill, New York. I sent to him, and obtained the seed, for which I paid him six dollars for a bushel besides the expense of trans- portation. I have sold them to the farmers in Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and various sections of this State at six dollars, t!ie same as I gave per bushel. Then you see I am pretty well paid, and have been the means of dilTusing them, and can well afford to pay for the information, and carry to the account of booh hnoiclcdgc a pretty handsome balance for a small operation in farming. Another gentleman of Northampton writes us as follows: — " I am not sufficiently acquainted with the mul- berry to attempt to give you any information in regard to the Alpine mulberry, altliough they are raised within a stone's throw of my dwelling house. The tree originated here, or rather is produced from seed procured by Mr. Wliitmarsli of this town from the foot of the Alps. From this circumstance it takes its name. The seed was sown lliree years since — two year old seedlings are many of them sold as Alpines — but the seed sold by Mr. Whit- marsh two yeais ago produces atree with a smaller leaf. Whether another year will bring them out as large, remains to be seen Since writing the above, I have examined some Alpine trees that have been out three winters. Thev are from six to eight feet high and are ' well wooded. ' The buds begin to swell, and I think there can be no mistake about ' standing winters,' as they have stood some of the hardest since my mcmorv." Geology of Maine. BY ClIABLES T. JACitSON, M. D. It is a common practice among farmers to make use of peat, pund mud, or muck, as they call it, and 1 have observed instances in which it was evident that the soil v; as greatly injured by its application. In one instance, I observed in Waterford, that a portion of tlie field on which this substance was placed, presented a dwarfish and sickly yellow crop of Indian corn, wiiile that part of the field not treated by it, was covered with a most luxuriant and healthy urowth of the same corn. The opera- tion was tried experimentally, in order to ascertain the value of prat alone as a manure. If it had first been made into a compost, with an- imal manure and lime, it would have presented very different results. Lime alone on piMt merely renders its acid properties inert, and then it an- swers pretty v\'ell as a manure. But if laid down in layers with barn-yard manure, night soil, dead fish, or any oilier animal matter, and then each layer is strewed with lime, a most powerful fer- mentation will take place, and a vast quantity of ammonia will be disengaged, which combining with the ulmic acid of peat, will form iilmate of ammonia, a most powerful manure. Carbonate of ammonia, and many other salts, will also result, which convert the whole mass into the very rich- est kind of manure, forming what may be properly called a universal compost. If the farmer is desirous of destroying the seeds and insects in barn-yard manure, let him heap it up in alternatejayers, with fresh quick-lime, and the heat gcnernted will effectually destroy them. This operation produces a number of soluble salts, and therefore il should only be done, wliere the manure is soon to be used, for the rain would re- move them in solution. If a soil is charged with sulphate of iron, it is best to use quick-lime in powder sprinkled on the surface of the soil, for its action is the more rapid and powerful. Generally, however, it is proper to slake the lime with water, and then to expose it freely to the air, in case it is to be sown broad- cast, so that it may become carbonated, which renders it more permanent, it being less soluble in water. In general, it may be stated, that about four casks of lime are required for each acre of land, and according to the experience of Mr. Puvis, this quantity, in many cases, was found amply sudi- cient. If the soil is loose and sandy, without any clay bottom m ir the surface, it is evident that an- nual renewals will be required, until the desirable quantity is obtained. The followiii!^ tables shew the amelioration of soils in France where limeing has been very suc- cessful; and where it has been found that 3 per cent, of lime in the soil, was amply sullicient to render it extremely luxuriant. It will also be re- marked tliatthe beneficial eft'ects of this treatment were even more strongly marked on the rye crops than on those of wheat. It is found, also, that lime succeeds best when used in the compost of animal and vegeuible matter, and where this method is pursued, tiie soil becomes annually^ richer, in- stead of bein"- exhausted. Krom the N. V. Eve::ing Pusl. Mr. Editor — How many bones are in the body of a man, and how many nerves .' As you seem will- \m to answer questions, will you inform me ; ^ QUERIST. Answer. — There are 240 bones, 400 muscles and tendons, 100 nerves, lUO cartilages and ligaments, and 9 kinds of articulations or joinings, in the me- chanical structure of the human body. Bones are composed of gebitinous fibres in net work of earthy salts— as phosphate, carbonate, and sulphate of lime. The gelatine ptevails in young aninnils, and hence their bones are more flexible. In tlie fietus the bones are gristly, and ossification commences at their centres. Bones have blood vessels. Table ofprodurt of the do-\\ Table ofprodtift of tht do- main of La Cioisette. \\ main of La Burronne. BV ^' 1 \V II ,.\T Tti CU n n a. a. :^ IcSi IIU GO ' 34 140 18-2.1 III! 7i'l 54 130 \&i\ lit 7i 1 24 l.iG 1395 107 4U.I 27 i.il isa.j lOG »7u S8 ■JIO 1827 imi 511 30 ai!l lesd llJ c:m 3& :i9l 1629 S5 ai^- 48 :)li9 18:j'l (in 3'I7 60 ::.9 ]b:il 78 3.51 40 417 18:12 55 478 68 816 183:) 61 .W.I S-i Mh 9 TiTi 7 o ■ 505 2-2 IKl 64:i 22 lie r.i;a 21 lO-.' aos ■i-l nil nio :is 1117 546 34 98 606 31 84 6118 4;) 91 ;«9 59 9-' 411 40 7(1 512 SO 7f .511 .51 1811 \:» 149 2.V2 137 BO 4 213 2.4 374 295 649 471 ~ Marl may be used in the same manner as air slaked lime, and it is found to possess similar prop- erties. Sea-slirlls may be used when broken to piece? by the nelion of fire, or by frost, and great benefit is gained by such a dressing. Shells owe their fertiltzini!' properties to the carbonate of lime, of which ihvy are chiefly composed, but their com- pact texture requires to be broken down in the manner alluded to. Burnt bones contain a small quantity of carbon- ate, mixed witli a large proportion of the pjiosphate of lirae, and may be advantageously used. Bones ground to powder have also a very powerful and desirable influence, forming one of the most valu- ablo top-dreEsin.j9 with which we arc aquaintcd. &s THE FARMERS MONTHLY VISITOR. The refuse bone black, from sugar refineries, is also extremely powerful, ami is one of l!ie warm- est and strongest manures knuv/n. IL is hitflily prized in France, and I have formerly mentioned the f:ict, that orders \verc even sent to this country for this article. It may be made into a compost with other matters, since it is too stronir to be used alone. Gypsum is said to operate well as a stimulant to vcffctation, and acts powerfully wliere the soil.s are crilcarL»ous. In Pennsylvania, it is sov/u broad- cast upon their limestone soils, and operates pow- erfully, favoring' the growth of grain and grasses. In Maine, it is the general opinion of farmers, that this mint-ral does not succeed upon the sea-coast, while it answers a good purpose in the interior of the State, i am not yet prepared, however, to re- port upon the subject, since I have not been able to gather the requisite number of facts. 1 will venture to say, however, that gypsum will prove an advantageous dressing to the soils near lloulton, New Limerick, and along the \vhole course of tlie Aroostook, while, if it should be re- quired, the Tobique river, opposite the mouth of the Aroostook, contains upon iti banks an inex- haustible supplv- It will, however, seldom be ne- cessary for many years to apply any maiiures to the Aroostook soils, for the farmers there only com- plained that the soil was too ricli at first, and wlien reduced by several years cultivation, was more ea- sily managed. 1 have no doubt of the truth of this observation, for upon Mr. Fairbanks' farm, on that river, I observed gigantic wheat stubble, one straw of which measured 1 1-3 inch in •circumference, and Mr. F. remarked that new crops were fre- quently laid by their weight, before they were ready to reap. I have no doubt, that in the course of time, it will be found advantageous to burn the Aroostook limestone, for the treatment of the soils, where they are devoid of it, and every advantage is there presented for this purpose. The limestone of Newfield, Norway, Paris and Buckfield, may be advantageously used as manure and can be burned by means of peat or wood. On the sea-coast it will be more economical to pur- chase Thomaston and Camden lime, unless it sliould be found, tliat lime-burning can be carried on on a large scale by means of peat of hard coal. There are so many localities of peat in Maine, that I have hardly thought it necessary to de- scribe them, but I would, however, point out the localities. 1st. On the rail-road route in Bangor. 2d. AtBluehill. 3d. Near tlie Maiih quarry in Thomaston. 4th. In the town of Limerick, in York County. 5th. In the town of Waterford, in Oxford coun- ty, on the Coolidge farm. These localities are among thu most abundant, and may be most advantageously wrought for fuel which may be us'. d for t!ie burning of hme and for domestic use, besides which it may be converted into a powerful manure, adapted admirably for loosening and enriching clayey soils. Artificial meadows formed upon the surface of a peat bog, are always exempt from drought, and they are remarkably fertile. They may be made by carting soil upon them, and will amply repay the labor. Any person who is desirous of seeing a fine example of an artificial meadow of the kind I have mentioned, is referred to the rich farm of Benjamin Bussey, Esq. Jamaica Plain, Uoxbury, Mass., where tliat enterprising agriculturalist has formed an almost evergreen meadow, of the kind alluded to above. I may remark in general, that all the soils be- tween Bangor and the mouth of the Kennebec, ev- idenily need liming to greater or less extent; and the vicinity of Richmond, Gardiner, Vassalbo- rough, Unity and Dixmont, evidently would be highly improved by its judicious application. When we have learned b}^ chemical analysis, the compositiun of the most remarkable soils of the State, we may be enabled to give specific direc- tions tor their amelioration. Much light might be gamed respecting their rel- ative fertUity, by the agricultural returns made uu- der the orders of tlie Legislature, and if due atten- tion is paid to the filling of the blanks, sent out to the treasurers of the various towns, we shall have an admirable statistical view of the relative value of the various soils in dltierent parts of the State. It win be useful to send out printed blanks for other iiuids of produce besides wheat, so that we may learn what are the present agricultural capa- bilities of the State, and in another year we can furnish more extended and accurate information on this very important subject. Geology and chemistry are capable of furnishing powerful aid to the farmers, and if we are allowed sullicient nioans to accomplisli the work in a satis- factory manner, immense benefits will necessarily accrue to tlie citizens of Maine. RespoctfuUy submitted, B\^ your obedient servant, C. T.JACKSON. A correspondent wlio lias recently travelled over a large part of Rockingham, StralVurd, and Merri- mack, and conversed with intelligent men hi those Counties, and in various other parts of the State, has ascertained that unprecedented quan'itles of hay must he over after the consumption of the past winter, and tlie present s])ring, as surplus stores for another season. During a large part of Feb- ruary and March, young cattle, sheep, and colts, on account of the extraordinary mildness of winter and want of snow, have gleaned a great part of their subsistence from the naked fields. And besides, farmers never before had such reduc- ed stocks of neat cattle, or were they ever before so enormously high ; milch cows geiling from thir- ty to fift}' dollars each, and working oxen from one to two hundred dollars a yoke. This superabundance of hay, may be in some measure attributed to the increased culture of the Ruta Baga and the Mangel Wurtzel(species of the turnip and beet) and the excellent potatoe, which, rather than bread, should be called the staff of life. Indeed the p-vtatoe is bread itself, or a perfect sub- stitute. To these may be added also the new kinds of the Indian and Black Sea wheat. The increase of these productions and of oats, has greatly di- minished the necessity for hay, and its consump- tion. It is ver}' desirable that the Root and Grain cul- tivation should be more and more extended the en- suing season, and in all seasons : this improvement in agriculture requiring less land, and furnishing a far cheaper fodder for cattle and horses. C. Wc have received from the author, the Second Report on the Agriculture of Massachusetts, by Rev. Henry Coi.max, Commissioner for the Agri- cultural survey of the: State, which we have pe- rused with high gratification and delight. This gentleman, under the employment of the State, is proceeding ta a surve}- of the several counties. The Second Report for }l^3^, presents a full de- scription of the County of Berkshire, more distin- guished for its early improvements, than any other tract of New England soil. Of the many interes- ting items of this report, we take the liberty in this number of the Visitor, to present the Commis- sioner's description of tlie Rise^ proj^ress, and present condition of a 31assachusetts Farmer. " I hope it Will not be deemed inconsistent with the proper gravity of my report, if I here refer particularly to an individual case of dairy farming in this vicinity, which much interested me, and holds out a beautiful and encouraging example of the success of industry, perseverance, frugality, and good management. This farmer has now a dairy of 24 cows ; and they produce a cheese per day, weighing about 100 lbs. Supposing that it requires a gallon of milk to produce one pound of cheese, this would give 400 quarts of milk per day, or at the rate of IG 2-'S of a quart to a cow. His average product of ni:\v milk cheese to a cow in a seaaon, is be- tween 500 and GOO lbs. Last year the actual yield was 508 lbs. lo a cov.* . Of his ;i4 cows last year, two were heifers of two years old, just come in. Four years since he was the owner of a cow, whose milk in the best season amounted by actual weight to 70 lbs. per day. During the time of her great- est yield, she was ted with four pails of cheese whey, and some rye nieal. She was of native stock. Tills farmer has a heifer from her, which gives, as he supposes, t)0 lbs. of milk per day. He gives an opinion, which from his successful expe- rience certainly deserves attention; that heifers which "come in" with their first calf at two years old, do better than wlion their coming in is delay- ed imtll three j-ears old. Their millting properties arc in this way improved. Probably he is right in this matter ; but the general experience of the best fanner:* recommends that, if a Iieifer comes in at two years old, she should not be allowed to have another calf, under at least eighteen months from this time. The establishment of this farmer Is substantial and independent. As far as the common comforts of life are concerned, little more seems lo be de- sired. Good air, good water, plenty of bread, plenty, of fuel, plain and substantial clothing made by the hands of his own family, and the product in a great measure of their own flocks and fields; an estate which he can call his own with truth, be- cause it has been purchased, not by fraudulent speculati.iu upon other people's earnings, but by the healthful toil of his ov/n muscles and the sweat of his own brow; luxuriant pastures filled with those beneficent animals, who are nourished by his kindness, and settle their bill in the most honorable manner every night and morning ; and a clean dairy room of ample dimensions and exem- plary neatness, wltli its numerous shelves, b.aded with the richest produce, and speaking as well for the in-door as the out-door manageioent ; the.se features combined in this picture, present one of tiiose beautiful examples of rural independence, and the bountiful rewards, with which a kind Pro- vidence is pleased to crown industry, frugality, and good management, with which I am liappy to say the County of Berkshire is every where sprinkled over, even on its high mountain summits, as well as on its fertile alluvions, and in its peaccfvil and secluded valUes. The independent proprietor of this establishment is now sixty-six years old. At the age of nineteen he was not the owner of a dollar. He now admits himself worth thirty thou- sand dollars ; and all this, with the exeeption of less than fifteen hundred dollars, is the produce of his own farming Industry, as he has never been en- gaged in any speculation whatever. A Jiigher good than all this is found, in tlie fact which he added with an honest pride and enviable pleasure, that he had brrnuglit up eight children in habits of hon- est industry ; and not one of tliem had ever dis- graced his parents. The standard of dollars and cents is a very im- perfect standard, by which to measure the prosper- ity of such a man. It is a'prosperity which money cannot measure. It is a prosperity flowing from deeper, purer, and more enduring sources ; from a competency for the evening of life, earned by hon- est labor ; a mind unembarrassed by the fear of want, and the vexatious caprices of trade and speculation ; and a grateful sense of the kindness of that just and beneficent Providence, whose blessings have rendered his peaceful and unpreten- ding labors successful." Domestic Manufactures. An old friend in Massachusetts, who disagrees with us perhaps only in the point that a system of legislative prohibitions, bounties and premiums, is indispensable to the growth and prosperity of Ame- ican industry, in a hasty letter has furnished us with interesting facts, in embodying which below we hope not to have done him injustice. Our doc- trine is, to buy nothing uhich tee can produce our- sch'cs^ except ice can make the exchange by the pro- duction of somethini( else which shall cost us less. Casting behind us all legislative acts which go to prohibit the introduction of any article, and which give a premature encouragement by premiums paid on one object ef industry over others, we would have trade as free as due regulations between dif- ferent commercial nations can make it. With- out prohibitory municipal regulations we are con- fident that every department of domestic industry may be duly and truly encouraged ; and we hope and trust that both our friend, who is our senior, and ourselves, will live to see a high dc. AC IliLi. ; — Dear Sir, — I notice in the last '^iVIonthiy Visitor" inquiries from Mr. Stephen Stone of Conn, about the Herksliire hogs. His 5th inquiry is, "Is there any of the Berkshire breed of hogb for sale in your vicinity .'' If so by whom, and what price do tliey bear .'' ' Now I would an- swer that I have the Berkshire hogs for sale. Three years since I brought a pair from Albany, N. Y. Last year I had fourteen pigs, eight of which I sold at fwur weeks old for ^5 each. I now have six sows and two boars, and should I have good luck, I shall have from forty to fifty pigs this sprin-T, most of which are engaged. Should nay of your readers wish to purchase, I will sell the pair 1 brought from Albany, (now three years old) if applied for soon. 1 will take this opp)rtunity to slate, that I have a full blood Durham Bull for sale. He will be four years old the 1st of July next. At the age of three years he weighed nineteen cwt., and will now, I think, weigh about twenty-five cwt. He has had no extra keeping, and is in every respect a very superior animal. Respectfully, sir, Your obedient servant, DANIEL S?ARHAWK. Fur the Farmer's MoHlhiy Visitor. Mammoth I!ogs. In Andoverin '.'3^, three farmers all of good esStatc, Sat out together with prospects fine, to sec who'd kill the largest swine. Tiie names of these ambitious three, were Wil- liam,* Jam('.^,+ and Joseph E.* The hogs were killed — acknowledged fat, but Wil- liam beat in spite of that. The senior James he doth deny, that he the race began to try — But James the second|| must stand in, although his hog was rather thin — ■ I hope my neighbora'U not think hard, to read a line from me a bard. As it's the first I've undertook, to rhyme the pork before 'twas cook'd. Andovcr, East End, Jan. 30, 1S39. ♦William Graves' 717. f-^aaies Mirstoii'^ 571. Jose]ili E. FlIIi.ws' 05 . |;Jaines M.Uftoii'a, Jr. 49.). [IXTbe following according to the Montreal pa- per, is the population of British America : Lower Canada, 5^i),O0U ; Upper Canada, 350,000, and that of the two races in both provinces at 400,000 French, and 470,000 English. The population of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edwards Island, and Newfoundland, is about 300,000. P.\RSNiP5, Carrots A^D Bef.ts. You should sow vour early crop of either of these deliglitful roots in t!iis month. The best kind of ground for each is a rich loam inclining to sand; but if the ground he well and thorouglily manured, ploughed deep, and pulverized finely, they will grow in any soil. No farmer should omit sowing them, if for nnlhing else, as food for his cattle. They tend greatly to improve the quantity and quality ofboth milk and butter, and are highly healthful and nu- tritious to cows, and serve as admirable food for store-lings, suckling sows and their progeny. Cellekv. Transplant your cellery plants for an early crop. Prepare a spot of ground in beds three or four feet wide, manure and dig it up well, rake smooth ; tlien plant the plants out, about three inches apart, and let them remain for about five weeks, wiien they will be fit to be put out in the trenches. RiiuBAnn. This delicious and delicate tart plant is too much neglected in our gardens, and we once more call the attention of every one to it who has a garden- It makes as good a tart as the gooseber- ry, is more iiealthful, and does not give half as much trouble. The mode of culture is as follows : — Select a piece of rich sandy loam, manure it v.'ell ; trench it two or three spades deep, level and rake it neat- ly, lay it eft" into beds of four feet depth, sow the seed in drills, thinly; keep the ground stirred, clean of weeds, and water well. Tlie first wmter they .sliould be protected by a covering of rush or straw, with a plank thrown over it — after the first winter the}' will not require it. In the second spring vincover your plants, hoe between the rows, lighten the eartii and give a top dressing of rich mould or compost. If yon would enjoy this luxury at once, buy a few plants, say a dozen; they will be sufficient to supply your family with tarts. We would make this remark — no family where there are children should be without a few of these plants ; besides, being a delicious ingredient in the composition of tarts, they are an antidote to the diarrhcea, dysen- tery, and cholera infantum. is THE FLOWER G.4RDEN. As your early hi/a- clnlh? will begin to devclnpe their flowers this month, you must support their stems with small sticks, and to give effect to their appearance, it will be best to paint them green. The same remark will itpply to tulips, with this addition, that wlien the flowers are expanded they ought to be ahaded in order to prolong their bloom and lend a freshness to their respective tints. {i' the weather be dry, your Ranunculuses and Anemones should be watered. When your Auriculas expand their flowers, if the weather be rainy, throw a protection over them, and water them often. Sjw your Dahlia seed, and the plants will be fit for transplanting by the middle of May. /lu^rj should now be transplanted and pruned. Krcrgrccn Shrvhs and vines generally should be set out immediately. Your carnations and pinhs should be shifted. Where they are in frames, they should be frequent- ly aired and watered, so as to enure them to the transition they n.re soon to experience. Vour Pohjanthuscs and Primroses should be at- tended to now. The Jacohcun lily may be planted out towards the end of this month. Your icalhs, ctcrgTcen hedges, box edgings, and gr(u>-s platSj must all be attended to, and in fact your eyes and hands must be busy in every direc- tion, if you design to have a garden of which you mny be proud. Fruit garden, 4S:c. Trees wliich have not burst iiito leaf may in all safety be planted durina" this moUtb. Alter planting them they should receive ag'iod watering which will answer for the two-fold purpouc of settling the earth around the roots, and of causing them to push forth young and vigorous fibres ; and we M'ill Jiere repeat what we have often advanced before, that many valuable trees are an- nually lost for the want of being watered, — what we mean by the term, is not a mere sprinkling of the surface, but thorough soaking applications of water in sufficient quantities to reach the roots. The pruning of such of your fruit trees, as have not before been trimmed, may now be advantage- ously attended to. Currants, raspberries, and gooseberries, may now be transplanted. Attend to your strawberry beds ; keep them clean of weeds, and clear away the runners as tliey may advance. If you should want to maitc a new plantation of strawi)erry vines, let the strongest of the runners remain until June, when they may be taken oft' and transplanted. Grape cuttings and vines may be planted out, if done early this month : and in a word, tlie eye and judgment of the judicious farmer, planter, or horti- culturist,must be busv and actively employed in ev- ry direction on his premises; each must practice in- dustry and economy, and eACercise untiring vigi- lance, for without the exertion of these virtues, the best fields may prove unproductive, and loss and disappointment be his lot, when profit and pleasure should have rewarded his efforts. — Amer. Farmer. Brief Hints for Spring Work. Apply manure to corn and potatoe crops, and not to grnin crops. Let manure be buried as soon as possible after spreading. When rotted or fermented manure is applied, let it be as thoroughly mixed with the soil as possi- ble. Wheat thrown out of the ground by frost, should be pressed in again by passing a roller over it. Ploughing heavy soils when wet, does more in- jury than if the team were standing Idle. In ploughing green sward deeply, the furrows must always be at least one lialf wider than deep, el«c the sod will not turn well. New meadows sJiould now be rolled. All grain fields seeded to grass should bg rolled. Barley should be sown as early as possible, upon a liglit and moderately moist soil, at the rate of one and a half to two bushels per acre, according to the size of the seed. A roller should be passed over it as soon as it is harrowed, to press the soil round it, and smootli the field. Barley seed may be freed from intermixed oats by pouring water upon it, when the oats will float, and may be skimmed off*. Oats require strong rich soil, good culture, and early sowing. Preserve leached and unleached ashes wliich have accumulated during the winter, to be applied to corn, i?i the iiill or row. After the corn is dropped, put in a small handful of mixture of plaster and leaclied ashes. Plaster is always most etTicaclous on light and thin soil — on meadow and clover ground, the ear- lier it is sown the belter. Plaster when applied to cultivated ground, is best when worked into the soil. Sowing it broadcast upon Indian corn after it is up, ha-i increased the crop 25 percent. Every farmer should attempt the field culture of root crops — he may raise as much cattle food from one acre, as from five acres of meadow. Farmers who have rich soil, will succeed beat witii mangel ^vurlzel, those wlio have sandy soil, with ruta baga. TJiey should try both ; and by no means neglect the cultivation of the Sugar Beet. Sow garden crops in drills where practicable, in order that the weeds may be cleared with ahoe. Different varieties of melons and squashes should be ])lanted at the greatest possible distance in order to prevent intermixing and crossing. Loosen the soil with a spade round fruit trees growing in grass land. Examine the roots of the peacli trees and remove all tbe grubs. Their presence is shown by the gum oozing out. Take every opportunity of setting an ornamental shrub or tree round your house or door yard — now is the time — if you have any taste you will never regri'tt it. — Genesee Farmer. 60 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. The Franklin Farmer lias i\n intorosting article on brini)li)tr bread-stufi'^^ (Voni Karo|)'-- to Aitiorica. Uncle Sam is rcpresenti-il as ltcin-23, and for foreign sugar, 12,514,504, it will show an annual balance against him of $28,084,140. Twenty-eight millions, in articles which it Is either his protessed business to raise, or which he can produce by his own labor, and from his own soil. This balance would however he reduced by the value of the silk and sugar which he exported in 1837, to about twenty millions of dollars. If these facts were applied to the aflairs of an individ- ual farmer, we should naturally suppose that the boys were either too proud or too lazy to work, and perhaps both. And wherein does the analogy fail between an individual farmer and a nation of farm- ers. A diminution of crops was among the caus- es of the late national embarrassments; and our sur- plus products liave been relied upon to pay the for- eign balances against us. What would be the conduct of the individual farmer who should find his aftairs thus going to ru- in .^ Would he not instruct his boys in the sci- ence and practice of his business, and stimulate them to labor, by rewards, that tlie farm might produce enough and to spare, to pay oft' his debts, and keep sometliing on hand for a wet day r And if sucli would be the politic course in the manager of a farm, wiiy would it not be wise in the mana- gers of the State, or of a nation? They give mil- lions annually to aid those who add nothing to our national wealth, and which tend to elevate the idler above the man of industry? Why not give for instructing the farmer and mechanic how to double the profits of their labor? We insist, that the highest branches of learning, when blended with practical instruction in tlie useful arts, and particularly in the business of agriculture, are more profitable to a State, than they are wlien applied to the learned professions. Support vouR Mechan'ics. — There is no truth more undeniable than that it is the bounden duty of every cojumunity to support its own mechanics. They are a worthy and indispensable class of men, and we find no town or village flourishing without their aid. Indeed their presence or absence is always a true index of the condition of a place — whether it is advancing hi wealth and importance, or sinking In decay. Whenever we pass through avillaire and hear the frequentsound of the carpen- ter's Jiammer, the clink of the blacksmith's anvil — that villai^e, we say to ourselves, is flourishing. It cannot be otherwise ; for the producers are actively •mployed, and out number the consumera. When- ever and wherever th'-s is the case, tJie people are growing weaitiiy, and are at the same time training up the rising generation to habits oi" industry and morality. Wherea3,if acity or village pursue the op- posite oi'this course, neglects its mechanics and sup- ports tliose of some foreign town — those who can, will be compelled by the force of circumstances to remain, will become idle and profligate — they will cease to produce and be consumers — in afew years tiiey will become beggars, and their children ig- norant and vicious. If there is any truth in the assertion that we ought as a nation, to give the preference to domestic man- ufacture, the fact is equally true with regard to a community — both are sustained by the same argu- ments. If a merchant would have around him sub- stantial customers, let him by every means in his power, support and foster the mechanics of his vil- iaore, and as they become more wealthy, their cus- tom will increase, especially in those article's on which he makes the greatest profit ; for it is unde- niable, tliat as men become more wealthy, they, al- so become more luxurious; and no merchant will deny that articles of luxury always afl'ird the great- est profit. The habit of importing large quantities of cheap and half made articles to compete with our villatre meciianics, is short sighted and wrong, both as regards the meciianic and consumer; and if the merchant would look further into the operation of things, he would find that he crossed the path of his own interest by doing so. Let the merchant bring the case to his own door, and he, perhaps, may better understand it; suppose tliat every indi- vidual wlio possesses tlie means, and wlio uses in his family, four or five hundred dollars worth of goods per annum, should instead of buying of him at retail go to some city wholesale establishment and pur- chase hisyear's suppl}' — would he not in bitterness condemn such an illiberal course, and would he not say to him with truth that he was warring against his own interest, b}' destroying the business of his town and giving it to another; and tliat his little- ness would re-act upon him in double fold by the decrease of his property and business ! So in the case above instanced, could the mechanic- say the same to the merchant. We say then, let ail class- es support each other, and by the mutual exchang- es, keep that wealth at home, wliicli if necessarily expended abroad, tends to destroy tlie business of your neighbor, and which in turn destroys your own. — Anonymous, i AsHFs. — When wood is burned in a position that excludes the air, t!u» product is coal ; ifcombustion is performed in the open air, the produce is ashes. Ashes by being leached, or having warm water passed through them, are deprived of the alkali they contain, and tliis is obtained in the shape of potash or soda, by evaporation. Diflerent wood, and plants, vary much in the quantity oi^ a?hes and al- kali tiiey produce ; tlie fir, beech and poplar, rank- ing the lowest, and the box, willow, elm, w^orni- wood and tumitory the highest. Tlxe leached ash- es of several kinds of grain, were found by Iluck- ert, to be constituted as follows : Silica, Lime. Ahiminc. Ashes of Wheat, • 48 37 15 Oats, 68 26 6 Barley, 6l> 16 15 Bye, C3 21 16 " Potatoes, 4 (^6 30 " Red clover, 37 33 30 Leaclied ashes are found to be an excellent ma- nure applied to soils that are light, or such as are inclining to be sour; the alkali correcting the acid with wiiich such soils, as the vegetation proves, a- bound. In some instances crops of grain, roots and grass have been nearly doubled by their use; and no skillful agriculturist permits their waste. A SPA RAG r?. — A plant cultivated in Gardens, and deservedly esteemed for its value as an article of food, when propcrl}' prepared. Its value is also greatly enha>»t:cd by the early season at which it is produced. It is the young shoots of the plant, as they attain tlie height of some five or six inches a- bove tlie earth, that ar<' used for food, and these are exit slanting upwards, about two inches below tlie surface. Asparagus is usually grown in beds, and requires asoil very rich and deep, and if not so nat- urallv, it must be made so by trencliingand manur- ino" with fine uianure or compost, before the plants, which arc raised from the seed, are put into it. The}' may be s-t in rows eighteen inches distance, and ten inches in the row, or in squares at •ne foot distance. The beds during the winter, are secured from frost, and the plants prepared for an early start, by a covering of straw or litter. The beds must be loosened in the spring, and a coating of mould saturated with liquid manure worked in, has been found a capital drcspln^. A few plants are not cut but reserved for seed, to keep a su]iply of young plants for the beds. In a favorable soil, an asparagus bed when established, ami properly at- tended to, will last many years. The plant.^ are usually allowed to stand three years before they are cut; some, however, commence on them the second year. They are boiled and eaten with but- ter, as are green peas, &c. The asi)aragus offers a striking instance of the effect produced on plants by cultivation. In some parts of Europe it is found growing wild on the sea shore, its stem not tliicker than a goose quill, and only a few inches in height. The cultivated plant is sometimes found throe- fourths of an inch in diameter, and grows to six feet in height. In the neighborhood of cities or vil- lages asparagus is cultivated as a source of great profit; and it should find a place in every kitchen garden. — Genesee Farmer. Fruit Trees. — The new method of raising fruit trees by planting the scions is a great desideratum in the art of obtaining good fruit. It has many advantages over grafting, because it is more expe- ditious, and requires no stock or tree. They may be planted where they arc required to stand, and the labor for one day will be suflicient to plant out enoutrh for a large orchard after the scions are ob- tained. The method of preparing the plants is as follows : — Take the scion, as for grat\ing,and at a- ny time after the first of February, and until the buds begin to grow considerably, and dip each end of the shoot in melted pitch, wax, or tallow, bury it in the ground, tlie buds uppermost, whilst the body lies in a horizontal position, and at the depth of two or three inches- We are informed that trees obtained in this way will bear in tliree or four years^ from the time of planting. We have no doubt of the practicability of this method of raising fruit. A gentleman in this vicinity the last season, plant- ed about twenty scions of different kinds of pears, which appear to flourisli. The composition he used was melted shoemaker's wax. — Cultivator. "Gap" in Chickens. The Farmers' Cabinet being a medium through which much useful information has been dissemi- nated, I am induced to send the following remedy for the '^ gap" in chickens. My little son last spring undertook the management of the poultry, and was much troubled by his young chickens dy- ing off witli the above mentioned disease. He ti- nally discovered the cause by dissecting one, and numerous long worms, about the thickness of a common pin, were found in its wind-pipe. He tlien took a feather, and stripped it except a small tuft on the end, dipped it in spirits of turpentine, and inserted it into the wind-pipe of the alfected chick- en, turning it around two or three tunes before withdrawing it. It was attended v\ith the most complete success, and appeared to give almost im- mediate relief. In a few cases it required a repeti- tion. The disease \yas very ^oon eradicated from his flock, and he afterwards raised more than one hundred and forty chickens. The entrance to the wind-pipe is on the top of tlie tongue, and near its root, and may easily be discovered bv holding tlie chicken's bill open a sliort time. — Farmers' Cabi- net. TILLING THE i:;ARTH. In tilling tiie earth, some people go upon the same principle that regulates their business inter- course with men. They must be sure to get the advantage of the trade ; and if this cannot be se- cured without, they mu-;t clieat and deceive the person with whom they deal. And they think to practice the same artifice upon old mother Earth. Vou will see them on their grounds in tiie spring as sly as dogs, apparently calculating that Earth lias forgotten the exhausted crops that were taken from her the last year — perhaps they will give a sprink- ling of manure, and tlirow it on so as to make the Earth think there is a noble lot of it. Well, they go to work. But the Earth v/on't be cheated. She will r^i ward every man according to liis works, and tell the truth in the autumn. You cannot get the ad- vantage of her, as you can with human customers. Treat her well, and she will reward your expendi- tures and toil; but attempt to cheat her, and slie will make you sorry for it when harvest comes. — Pkilad. Fanners' Cabinet. Arms prepared during 183S. — It appears by the report of Col. Bomford, that during tiie year 1838, the United States Goverriinent have caused to be made, 143 cannon for field artillery, 71 cannon for g;!rrison service, 1.526 percussion cannon locks, 52,- 700 amall arms, 347 ^gun carriages — and for tlie militia, otiier 80 cannon for field artillery and 16,- 600 small arms. ^ THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 61 O^An accident has deprived this number of the usual pictorial representations, which will be made up assuredly hereafter. On the way to the engrav- er, the packet containing a beautiful likeness of the great Calf now weighing more than twelve hun- dred pounds, with its dam of equal size, belonging to Ijcvi Bryant, Esq. of Piainfield, was lost or mis- laid, of wliicli fact we received information only at tile time we expected the plates. If the jiacket shall not be recovered, the animal likenesses will be taken again, so tliat our readers shall not be dis- appointed. The "Brown Corn," in small quantities, may be had at the store of Perkins Gale & Co. Concord. AVhat a Farmer wants. The Farmer wants a stalde mind, A purpose sure and steady, To patient industry inclined — For business always ready. Good careful habits well infixed. And judgment acting clearly. To sift out truths with error mixed, Though it should cost him dearly. He wants a neat and prudent wife. Who when iie earns, can save it; Who kindly soothes the cares of life, (Best gift of him who gave it.) He wants a snug and tidy farm, And health and strength together ; A house and barn to keep all warm In cold and rainy weather. Heaven's blessing then must crown the whole, Or all his hopes are blasted ; But with this resting on his soul. The purest joys are tested. He then enjoys a bliss, unknown To those the world calli greatest ; Known only to the good alone. The earliest and the latest. The Old School-house. BY r.VDI.\ H.SIGOURNEV. Once, in travelling, I observed an old building, which appeared to be falling into ruins. No smoke issued from its broken cliimney. No foot crossed its grass-growing threshold. The casements were gone, and through tlieir vacant places, the winds whistled, and the rains fell. I asked, " what is this building, which is thus suffered to decay?" They answered, "a school- house. But a part of its materials have been used to build a better one, in a more convenient spot, for the village children." So I passed there, a little time, to meditate. And I said to myself, — what a variety of scenes may have passed witliin these tottering walls. Where are the teachers, who in years gone by, sat in the chair of state, and ruled, and gave instructions. In yonder corner, perhaps, was a low bench, for the little ones coniiing their alphabet. Those little ones have grown up, grown gray, and died. The babes whom the}' rocked in the cradle, have shown the same tenderness to their own babes. "One gen- eration passeth away and another cometh." Beneath these windows where that trim old syc- amore looked in with all its show of green leaves, waving and gossiping in the breeze of summer, — I imagine a row of young girls, with ther sunny locks, knitting, sowing, — or listening with serious faces, while the mistress taught them what it was necessary for them to know, when they became women. The snows of winter seem to spread around. The frozen pond, in the rear of the school house, is cov- ered with boys. The cU)ek strikes nine. They hasten to tlieu" school. The narrow entry rings with the jingle of their skates, as they throw them down. One or two, who love play better than Btudy, ajijiroach with more lingering steps. Methinks, I sec their ruddy faces, as they take their seats. The nnister raises a stern eye at their clamor, or stifled laughter, and c^tmmands them t,o | write their copies, and attend to their sums, But | the treatise of .Arithmetic is tliumbled, — and tlie Grammar lessons curled into dog's ears by tixosc whose roving thoughts are among tlieir winter sports. Then there was the long sigh of indolence, and the tears of such as were punished. And there was impatience there, and ambition, and the kiudliitgs ef intellect, and the delights of knowledge. The master endeavors to rule each for their good, as the wise m.^gistrale restrains the people by laws. I fancy that I behold that teacher walking hojne- ward, weary and thoughtful, when the day was done. He felt sadness for those who did, not im- prove, and over others that did, he rejoiced with a peculiar love. Perhaps he repeated morirnfully the words of the prophet, "I have labored in vain ; I have spent my strength for naught." And a voice from Heaven answered in his heart — "Yet surely thy judgment is with tiie Lord — and thy work with tliy God." Old school liouse ! Couldst thou spvak, I doubt not thou wouldst tell me, that eminent men have been nurtured in thee ; ingenious mechanics, on whom the comfort of the community ilepends ■.ath- letic farmers, having the forest low, and forcing earth to yield her increas's ; physicians wlio the sick sull'erer blesses; eloquent lawyers, wise statesmen, holy priests who interpret the word of the Almighty. I wish that tlie school houses in our country were more commodious and tasteful in their construction, more spacious and airy— surrounded with trees, or beautiful with shrubbery. There was once a benevolent man who went to the continent of New Holland. He found multi- tudes of children growing up, neglected and igno- rant. He wished much to have them taught. But there was no schowl house. So he collected them under a spreading tree, whose branches could shelter at least one hundred from the heat of the sun. He hung cards with painted lessons anions the boughs. And there, taught the poor colonists to read, and to spell, and to sing. There are very beautiful birds in that country. Many of them had nests in this large tree. So there they were flying about and tending their young, while the children were learning below, — and the chirrupping of the new fledged birds, — and the warbling of tiii-ir parent." — and the busy voices of the children, learning to be good — made sweet mu- sic in the heart of that benevolent man. Did they not ascend, and mingle with the praises of angels, around the 'Throne .' From Dr. Hninplirev's Tmir. Tii.vMEs Tl'.vsel. Tile great want of a thor- oughfare across the Thames, 'somewhere between London Bridge and Greenwich Hospital, suggest- ed the idea of a Tunnel, under the bed of the river, which was commenced sfryeral years ago, about midway between the two. From various adverse causes it has advanced but slowly and irregularly ; and it was nr.l when I visited it, more than half completed. Two or three times, the sui)erincunibcnt waters have broken through, to the great discour- agement of the company, and even threatening to put a final stop to the enterprise. But by great la- bor and expense, the breaches were stopped, and the water was pumped out. It is agreed on all hands, that if this immense work could bi' finished and secured against the ir- ruptions of the river, it would be a great conven- ience, as the navigation of the Thames will not per- mit the erection of'a bridge in that part of the city; and the river is so constantly choaked up with all kinds of v.'ater craft, that to keep a ferry open w'ould be quite impossible. When the work was first undertaken, it was regarded by many as vis- ionar}' and impracticable ; and the hopes of the most sanguine were nearly annihilated by the first cataract, which drove out the terrified workmen, and in a few minutes filled up the vast excavation. The undertaking has proved much more costly than was anticipated, and for a very considerable time the work v.'as suspended entirely for want of funds. But at the last session of Parliament, a handsome grant was niatle to help carry it forward, and when 1 was there, the long archesagain resound- ed with the heavy blows, and busy hum of the w^orkmen. You can see the Tunnrl as you see every thing else in FiUgland, udiether finished, unfinished or in ruins, by paying your shilling, more or less, at the gate, and buying a jruide book at twice its value — though the latter condition is not quite imperative. A shaft is sunk to the rlepth of fifty or si.xty feet, on the south bank of the river, over which a tem- porary building has been erected, and you descend into the Tunnel by a winding staircase. Befitre it call be opened, llie excavation must of course, be carried out a great deal f'urther from the river, to get a convenient slope for heavy transportation. At the bottom of the stairs the Tunnel commences. It is ten or twelve feet in height, and wide enough for two carriage ways, and side walks, and separa'. ed by a row of iiiassive pillars and arches. T'he bides and transver.se arches, as you stand at tlieen- trance, and by the help of lamp.s, look down these subterranean galleries, being built of the most sub- stantial masonry, have every apjrearaijce of being perfectly secure, as far as they are finished, wdiich IS about G'JO feet, nearly or quite to the middle of the river. Some even now doubt, whether this Tunnel will ever be finlslied ; but I can sec no in- superable difficulty in the w,ay. As I have else- where remarked, our Engl Ishkinsfelk are common- ly much less in a liurrij XUxn we arc; but they pos- sess the virtue of perseverance in an eminent de- gree ; and I have little doubt that some half a doz- en years hence, they will be passing under the bed of their largest river with as much composure and safety as they now pass over London bridge. Whenever that arrives, the Tunnel will be of im- mense value to the lower part of the Metropolis. It does not follow, as I am quite well advised, that, because every Americ in who visits London finds a great many tilings to admire, or to marvel at, he can put them down upon paper so as to m.ako them equally interesting to his countrymen at home. But I have ventured just to mention some half doz- en of tliese trifles as speciinens of the thousand nugae which arrest your attention in your daily per- ambulations of that vast Metropolis. The Police of London ii very numerous and extremely well organized. This useful corps, a- mounting, if I was rightly informed, to fi)ur thou sand or more, are found in the streets at all hours of the day, as well as the night. They are distin- guished by a plain blue uniform, with a little trimming upon the collar. You meet them at ev- ery turn, and judging from my own experience, they are very civil to strangers. As I often found it dlfiicult to make my way from one part of this vast city to another, I soon learned to inquire of the first police man I met, as I was quite sure he would be both able and willing to direct me. If you speak to any other person whom you happen to meet, he may be as much of a stranger as youiself. And if you step into the nearest sliop you may, or may not, obtain the information you want. I oucrlit to say, however, that if those whom you address, can address you, they will. I very rarely received a short and grufi' answer — and not unfrequently would the person spoken to, insist upon going with mi; into the street, or to the next corner, to make his directions more definite. Such attentions in the midst of an immense and bewildering city you can- not but appreciate and reiucmbcr. You have a map, it is true, and j'ou can, if you will, study it so as to get a tolerably correct notion of all the prin- cipal streets and squares of the town, — but I never could have patience to sit down and find the place wanted, just as I was going out to meet an engage- ment— and then, one half the courts and cross streets are not to be found upon the map at all. There is nothing which coois the wrath of coachmen, car- man, and omnibus drivers, so eft'ectually, when they find themselves jammed together, pell-mell, in Cheap-side, or Black-friars, and begin to vociferate and brandish their long whips, nothing brings down their temper, like the appearance of a police man : "Do you stop there, and do you turn a little to the right, and ijou a little to the left, and ijnu, sir, go with me to the offiee yonder." Thus he clears away every obstruction almost in a moment, and the waves roll on as before. Rtissi.iN Empire. — The Russian Empire in Eu- rope has been nearly doubled in little more than half a century. In sixty. four years she has ad- vanced her frontier eight hundred and fifty miles towards Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Par- is ; she has approached four hundred and fifty miles nearer to Constantinople ; she has possessed her- self of the capital of Poland, and has advanced to within a few miles of Ihe capital of Sweden, from which, when Peter tlie First mounted the throne, her frontier was distant three hundred miles. Since that time she has streiehed herself forward about one thousand iiiiles toward India, and the same dis- tance towards the cap:t:il of Persia. The renriment that is now stationed al her furthest frontier post, OH the western shore of the Caspian, has as threat a distance to inarch back to Moscow as onward to Attoek on t!ie Indus, and is actmlly further from St. Petersburgh, than t'rom Lahore, the eapitol of the Seiks. The battalions of the Russian Imperial Guard, that invaded Persia, found at the termina- tion of the war, that they were as near to Herat as to the banks of the Don ; that they had already ac- complished half the distance froii'i their capital to Delhi ; and that, therefore, from their camp in Per- sia they had as great distance to inarch back to St. Petersburgh as onward to th" capital of llmdostan. Progress of Russia in the East. Stock, -=A cow belonging to Mr. Abner Worm- wood, Jr. of Kenncbunk, Maine, had three full grown heifer calves on the llh instant. Apni 6, 1830. C-2 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. TEA. A concspoiK'.cnt of tlif Nl-.v York Transcript dcprcc:itcs tin- excessive use of lea, as calculated to prove greatly injurious to llic nervous system. He states that fie is a dentist, and that in the course of liis practice, he has invarialdy found that the tea- drinkers have the weakest, niest irritable and sen- sitive nerves. He says : In many cases, 1 liave been obliged to discon- tinue my operations, owing to the extreme delicacy and irritability of tlic nervous system. This led ine to make some o.T;periments, the result of whicli I now present to the public. I took a pound of _voung liyson tea, and after steepmg it in soft water, boded it down to half a pint ; this I iipplied to such nerves in the teeth as r.equired to be destroyed, in order to prevent sensi- bility in that part, and thus enable me to operate on the tooth without pain to the i)aticnt. The experiment was completely succes3ful,prov- ing clearly to my mind the poisonous qualities of tea; as heretofore, many dentists have been in the practice of using arsenic for the same purpose, which determined me to try its effects on animal life. I then procured a rabbit of about three months old, and kept it without food a sutUcient length of time to leave the stomach empty, then gave it ten drops of the decoction, holding its bead in a position to cause the fluid to enter The stomach. The animal appeared to be somewhat e.\hdirated for the space of three or fjur minutes, tlien laid down on its side and began moaning as if in great distress, and in aliout ten minutes from the time of my adminis- tering the dose, its struggles ended in death, the limbs being distorted and very stiff. I also tried the effects of this poison on a young cat, of the same age, after makmg another decoc- tion similar fb the first, but rather more powert^ul, as I boiled it dnwn to a gill, which resulted in the same way, but in a shorter time, as the anim?l ceased to breatlie in less than three minutes, altho' the dose was not as large as 1 gave the rabbit, being but eight drops. The Wife of La I'ayette. Extract of a letter written by La Fayette, in the year 1803, after the death of his wife, to M. Latour IVIabeurg, translated from one of the last volumes of the memoirs of La Fayette, lately published in France. "During thirty-four years of a union in which her tenderness, her goodness, her elevation, her delicacy, the generosity of her soul, charmed, em- bellished, did lienor to my life, I was so accustom- ed to all that she was to me, that I did not distin- guish her from my own existence. She was four- teen years old, and I was sixteen when her heart amalga.aated itself with all which could interest me. I thought I loved her, that I could not do without her, but it was only when I had lost her that I was able to discover what remains to me, for the close of a life which had been so diversified, and for which nevertheless there remains no lon^^er cither happines.5 or even content. Though she was attached to me, I may say so, by the most passion- ate sentiment, I never perceived in her the slight- est shade of authoritativenessfr/'c.nVcnrfJof discon- tent, never any thing wliich did not leave ine the entire freedom in all my undertakings. And if I go back to the days of our youtli, I find in her traits of an une.\ampled delicacy and generosity. You saw her, always associated, heart and soul, in all my sentiments, my politic-il wishes, enjoying every thing which might confer honor on ine, still more as she would say, what made me to be v.holly known, and more than all glorying in those occa- sions when biie saw me sacrifice glory to a senti- laent of goodness. Her aunt, Madame Tesse,said to me yesterday, " I never could have imagined that one could be such a fanatic for your opinions, and yet so free from party spirit." Indeed her attach- ment to our doctrines never for a moment abated her indulgence, her compassion, her good will for persons of another party. She never was soured by the violent hatred of wliich I was the object: the ill treatment and injurious conduct toward me, were regarded by her as follies indifferent to her, from the point from which she looked at them, and where her good opinion chose to place me. Hers was a most entire devotion. I may say that during thirty-four years, I never suffered for a mo- ment the sliadow of a restraint, that all her habits were, without affectation, subordinate to my con- venience, that I had the satisfaction to see my most sceptical friends as constantly received, as well be- loved, as much esteemed, anil their virtues as com- pletely acknowledged, as if there had been no dif- ference of religious opinion, that she never express- ed any otlier sentiment than that of hope, that in continuing to reflect, with the uprightness of heart which she knew belonged to me, I should finally be convinced. It was with this feeling she left me her last regards, begging me to read for the love of her, some books, which I shall certainly examine again with new interest, and calling lier religion, to make me love it better, pertc'ct freedom. Slie often expressed to me the thouglit tliat she should go to Heaven, and dare I add that this idea was not suffi- cient to reconcile her to quitting me. She often said to me, life is short, full of trouble, ma}' we meet again in God. iMay wq pass eternity together. She wished me, she wished us all the peace of the Lord. Sometimes she was heard praying in her bed. One of her last nights tliere was sometliing celestial in the manner in which she recited twice in succes- sion with a firm voice, a passage of scripture ap- plicable to her situation, the same passage which she recited to her daughter on perceiving the spires of Olmut!!. Shall I speak to you of tlie pleasure, ever renewed, which an entire confidence in her gave me, which was never exacted, which was re- ceived at the end of three months as at the first dav, which v.as justified by a discretion proof a- gamst all things, by an admirable understanding of all my feelings, my wants, and the wishes of my heart. All this was mingled with a sentiment so tender, and opinion so exalti-d, a worsliip, if I dar- ed so speak, so sweet and flattering, more especial- ly gratifying, as coming from tlie most perfectly natural and sincere person who ever lived." Dr. Franklin's Moral Code. The following list of moral virtues was drawn up by Dr. Franklin, for the regulation of bis life : Temperance. Eat not to fulness; drink not to elevation. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. Order. Let all your things have their places ; let each part of your business have its time. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought ; perform without fail what you resolve. Frvgalitij. Make no expense, but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing. Inilustrij. Lose no ti-me ; be always employed in something useful ; cut off all unnecessary actions. Sinceriti/. Use no hurtful deceit; think inno- cently and justly ; and if you speak, speak accord- ingly. Jtislice. Wrong none by doing injuries, oromit- ting the benefits that arc your duty. Moderation. Avoid extremes ; forbear resenting injuries. Cleanliness. Suffer no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation. Traiiquilliti/. Be not disturbed about trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidal^le. Humility. Imitate Jesus Christ. Bitnminous Wood. Wc perceive bv a communication in a recent number of Sllliman's Journal, that a large depos- ite of bituminous wood has been discovered at T'ort Hudson, on the Mississippi river. The village is situated on a bluff sixty or seventy feet high. Tills bluft" reposes, as the whole country does, on a thick bed of blue aluminous clay, which forms the bed of most of our water courses, and wears very grad- ually by the action of the water. The upper sur- face of the clay at that place is considerably below the high water mark. "The bluff has been long falling in from being undermined by springs, which run out above the blue clay, and by the action of tlie current of the Mississippi; but the blue clay does not wear away near so fast, and f'or this reason it extends some distance beyond the base of the bluff. It seems th.at upon this shelf tlie Mississippi has made a considerable deposite, of the common kind, con- taining a great many fragments, and sometimes en- tire logs ; after this deposite took place a consid- erable mass of e.arth must have fallen, covering the tbrmer one. The remarkably low water, together with the removal of the superincumbent earth form a neiv landing. The smaller logs are often entirely bltuminated and changed into a glossy black coal, in which no trace of fibre can be perceived, still the formation must be vi'ry recent, for in the most psrfectly bitu- minized pieces there are frequent marks of the axe, looking as though it were done but yesterday. The limbs are very much flattened, but olhenvise tlieir external appearance is the same as usual in the spe- cies, which can easily be determined, being oak, walnut, hickory, &c. The larger logs and fragments have undergone the transformation m various de- grees, some being of a soft and spongy texture. Many are in a state of perfect coal at one end, or one side, and have undergone no change except softening at the otlier." Statistics of London. In the reign of Henry II, London contained 40,- 000 inhabitants; in that of William III, the num- ber was 671,000 ; Georce ill, 676,000 ; ditto, 1801, 1,007,000; ditto, 1811, T,304, 000 ; George IV, 1691, 1,.574,000; WllHam IV, 1831, 1,860,000. Of this population there were v.'ithin the bills of mort'lity, in 1821, 660,578 men, and 768,007 women, being o8 women to 33 men. Of this number, according to the census, 88,851 families were agriculturists, 190,'-!02 mechanics, and 116,834 of other profes- sions. Allowing four persons to each family, there were 80O,(;00 persons of the industrious class, and 464,000 without any particular useful profession. In 1836, amonn-st this great population tliere were 60 bankers, 1,680 atock brokers, 300 physicians, 580 chemists, 1,180 surgeons, 131 notaries, 1,150 lawvers, 1,560 merchants, 3,480 commercial agents, 2,100 bakers, 1,800 butchers, 200 brewers, 4,300 public house keepers, 3,000 tailors, 2,800 shoemak- ers, 3d one of the most extensive lakes in this part of the continent. In common with all other isolated lakes of great ex- tent, its waters are strongly impregnated with rock salt, which abounds in the mountains on the east. Tanner's Geographical J^'otes. A Bf.autiful Sr.N'TniF.s-T. — The late eminent .ludge, Sir Allen Park, once said at a public meet- ing in London — "We live in the midst of blessings, till we are utterly insensible of their greatness, and of the sources frmn whence they flow. We speak of our civilization, our arts, our freedom, our laws, and forget entirely liov,- large a share of all is due to Christianity. Blot Chr'.stinnity out of t!ie page of man's history, and what would his laws have been — what his' civilization .^ Christianity is mix- ed up with our very being and our daily life ; there is not a familiar object round us which does not wear a mark — not a being or a thing which does not wear a dilferent aspect, because the light of Christian hope is on it; — not a law which does not owe its truth and gentleness to Christianity — not a custom which cannot be traced in all its holy and healthful parts to the Gospel.'' filatemcnt of the cast in the acf/uisilion and manage- ment of the public lands, and of the receipts aris- ing from the sale thereof, to the 'Mlh Seplcnther, 18'W. The whole expenditure under the head of Indian department, from the coinmeucement of the Gov- ernment to the 30tli of September, 183-^, as far as can be acertained from the records of this of- fice, amounts to $32,047,598 50 By the convention of Franco of the 3d April, 1803, the United States paid for Louisiana, in stock and money .f 15,fl00,000 00 Interest on the stock, up to the time it became redeemable 8,1520,353 43 23,529,353 43 By the treaty with Spain of the 22d February, 1819, there was paid for the Floridas, the sum of $5,000,000 00 Interest on the stock constituted per act of the 24 th M.iy, 1824, to provide for the awards of the commissioners under the said trea- ty, up to the time it was paid off 1,489,768 (>6 6,439,768 66 Fvussic Acid as a Mediclue. It ought to be generally known that prussic aeid or hydrocyanic acid, as it is also called, is a most deadly poison, proving instantly fatal in a very small dose, and that the diluted acid, which is sold The paymeiits to the State of Geor- gia on account of lands relinquish- ed to the United States, including the value of arms furnished that State, amounted to 1,2.50,000 00 Amount of Mississippi stock issued under the act of the 3d March, 1815, and redeemed at the Treas- ury, exclusive of the amount re- ceived in payment for lands 1,832,375 70 There has been paid for salaries and contingent expenses of the Gener- al Land Ofilce 1 , 126,609 S3 For salaries and incidental expenses of the several land oOices, out of the proceeds of sales, while in the hands of receivers $3,227,939 13 For the salaries of reg- isters and receivers, by warrants on the Treasurer of the U- nited States 92,903 39 ■ 3,320,842 52 For the salaries of surveyors general and their clerks, and of the com- missioners for settling land claims, &c. ],0o2,6(;6 80 And for survey of public lands 3,10G,8;iI 94 Cost, including foreign cessions and expense ot Indians 73,736,047 38 The cost in the acquisition and man- agement of the public lands, ex- clusive of the sums paid for ces- sions from foreign Governments, and expenses of Indian w.irs for which specific appropriations were made, amounts to $y8,4.S4 ,0.56 65 Receipts into the Treasury from the sales of the public lands fo 31st September, 1.S38 .$97,900,000 00 fi* THE FARMERS MONI'IILY VISITOR. List of Ilritish Vessels of War tukcn by the Americans in 1813 to l:sl5. JS'avtcs and guns, Giierricre, 40 Macedonian, 40 Java, 49 Now Frigate, 40 Alert, 26 Frolic, 22 Boxer, 18 Peacock, 20 F,pcrvier, 20 Reindeer, 20 Avon, 10 Penguin, 21 Hermes, 28 Cyane, 34 Levant, 21 Dominicn, 16 Highflyer, 4 Laura, 12 St. Lawrence, 15 Pictou, 10 Balahou, S Townsend, 9 Emu, 10 Landrail, 4 Mergiana, 18 Lapwing, 10 Prince AdoIphus,~v o^ Princess Amelia, ^ O Express, ^ >> Maryann, Ann, Manchester. Little Catharine, Hij irjiom taken. Constitut'i'U frigate. United Stales. Constitutinn. Destroyed at York. Essex. Wasp. Enterprise. Hornet. Peacock. Wasp. Wasp. Hornet. Destroyed at Mobile. > Constitution. Priv. Decatur, 7 guns. President iVigate. Priv. Diligt-nt, 10 guns. Priv. Chasseur, 12 do. Constitution frigate. Priv. Perrv, Gguns. Priv. Tom', 10 do. Holkar, Privateer. Syren, do. Saratoga, 14, do. Fox, 7, do. Gov. McKean, do. Rossie, do. Anaconda, do. Gov. Tompkins, do. do. Yorktown, Herald, Princes Elizabeth [» £ g ^ Harpy, do. do.(ano'r.) L.ady M. Pelham Windsor Castle, Swallow, Duke ofMontrose Nocton, Detroit, Queen Charlotte, Lady Provost, Hunter, Little Belt, Chippewa, Caledonia, Confiance, Linnet, Chub, Finch, ' America, Kemp, Roger, do. do. do. do. do. President frigate. do. Essex, do. do. CO M 191 17 I 13 10 i-Lakc Erie. 3 1 6. 39 T 16 '.Lake Chaniplain. "l Duke of Gloucester, 14^ Melville, 14 I Lake Ontario. Juli.i, 3 f Growler, 8 J Nancj', 3 Lake Huron. 62 vessels, mounting 870 guns. List of Merchant Vessels captured front (he British bij Uir MmcricanSy in 1S12 to )l*I5. 354 ships, mounting 2500 guns. CIO brigs, *J-!00 520 sciiooners, (jOO )35 3loopy, few armed, 750 vessels, bcsideB the above, (re- captured,) 2200 62 National ships as above, 370 2422 in all 31 ships of war were lost at sea during the above time, which may fairly come into the ac- count, 2453 vessels, ;b70 800 1'679 guns. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A. MONTHLY NF.WSPAPER, lb TUBM^IIKD BY WILLIAM P. FOSTER, Hifls Brick Block, Concord, ./v. //. JAMES BURNS, 104, Itashinfrtonsf., Boston,Ms. The Visitor is issued about tlie liih^rnth day of each nmntli. Kach nuN^bcr will contain piMeeii pages nf quarto size nn p'lper calciilmetl tnr prt-serv^tii-ji imd on ;i Tiir and beau- tiful ii'pe. The subjects wiil be illustr;iietl v. iili engrnvinps. The terms will be tievcnty-Jivc crnts " >jcarpaij,i!'!c alirnys in mi ranee. Tor all siihscriher* less llinn "-11, Agent- will he allowed a dediictinti ol t*l cents each — for all nver 'J I Mihscrihers on any orse !t;;eiicy IS.; ccfiiB each will he aMnn cii. Thiia, for nix subscribers fiiuf dollars— twelve, eight d-liirs — eighteen, twelve dollars— twenty-four, fifteen ■lc)liars,v\ ill be reinilled, Single numt.er-^. twelve and n half cents* ea(.li AH subscri- hera will cinnnieiice with the tir#I lurnilier nl the year. J):^-Coinnniiii< iUioufi fly ni.iil, will be dueried to WIL- LIAM P. FOf^TER, Concord, N. II. Statement of the value of annual imports into the United States from 178'J ^o 1837, inclusive; the payments into the Trctisurif on tucount of duties arisifig thereon, the cost of collection, and the rate per cent, the cost of co/lertion horr (a the rahte of imports, and tilso on the payments into the Treasu- ry ; and the annual crpcnditures of the Gorcrti- nicnt, erclusirc of trust funds, and payments on account of the public debt. a >, s ,z « a =.?> V 0, > -3 ^~ ~ 1 - = ■£ t ai u •B £ - - 5 'J z'r^ t — = 1 — = er .jj V C ■J *' c 1. 3 i fi 7 li ■ii rt £ = - -.r r J ffl s 1. - ^2 IJulbrs. u D,.il,iis. LiHllacs. Dnllnrs. • I7n' .12,200,1101 4,399,47!; -239,541 5.10 0.45 !,9;9,.589 179; 3i,.suo,itm 3,443,070 101,751 4. It 1.51 1,877, 9;i3 170. 31,10:1,001 4,2 W.;!! 11 188,312 4.3 1.65.5 1,710,079 3i.f)0n,u(i! 4,8o;,(ic: •221,090 4.41 1.63 3..5;i0,546 17!l,i 69,7.5li,2..;8 5..'iSS,4r,. 200,3.59 4.4: 1.37 4,.»0,65S 8i,t38,ii;< l".,.it;7,0--7 291,206 4.24 0.35 2,531,930 1797 7.i,379,'10l 7,449,i;4; 313,431 4 :i: 0.45.5 2,823.590 08, .-JO 1,711' 7,IO(i,Ohl 375.871 5. O.J 1.54.8 4,633,-3-33 171i:i 79,iin8,|.l (i,610,ll! 413,18: 5 81 1..5-3 8,480,166 160:- 91,2.i2.7(;( 9,080.03-; 410,373 4.61 1.49 7,111,369 leaj lll,363,.il: 10,750,77,- 4.52,773 4.-3; 1.48 4,981,669 1809 70,333,33: 12,438,235 493,20.. 3.8;; 1.64 3,737.079 t!*KI o^,fit^(i,^5C' 10,479,417 405,.53l 3.7-, ) 62.7 4,002,821 lt ;3,3i:i,s-jr 411,131' 3.-20 0.82.C 5,592,604 181!: 77,030,000 8,9.58,777 477,721 5.0( 1.62 17,8-39,498 18 1: 22,l'0.'i.0'K: !3,234,|.i;i 414,171 3.2: 1 88 38,083,396 181 1 i2,9.:5,noi 5,S9.-! : 7-2 3.52,561 5.55 2.71.9 :)0, 1-37,686 1815 113,041,274 7,282,94.) 4711,007 6.13 '1.42 36,9,53,.57I isn 147,103,11)1 {I.,30;i,s74 819,03t. 2 20 0 .55.6 23.384,453 1817 99,2.70,00;' >|^283,3°.^ 782,30f •3.8f 0.78.8 15,454,609 18U I2l,750,00(r 17. 170. 38.'. 709.20f 4.-28 ;1.63 13,808,673 181! 87,12.-),0J(. 2n.-2S3,fO 810,-2-2O 3.8 1.SI2.E. 16,3uo,'273 18-7 ' 74,450,000 I5.005,C12 777,76.1 4.9: 1.04 13,131,500 18-2 62..')8.5,72 ; 1:1,004,447 700,5-38 5.1 1 . 1 1 .9 10,72:1,479 182--' S3,21l,.',l! 17,589.761 7-38,96'l 3.97 1.87 .5 9,827,613 \fi 77,.i79,ai.7 9,088, 4:).-< 766,09r 3.81 1 9f.s 9 7^4,154 13i2! 80,.'i49 007 17.878,325 779,73!' 4.17 ).90 9 I5,:i30,144 182." 9i.340,07: 2 1,098 7 W 889,302 4 2: ,1.92 11.490,4.59 81,974,47: .•3.3,13,741 886,990 3.6(. 1.0) 13,162 316 182; 79,434,oi> '!1.712,283 8,--9,8l» 4.31 1.11.!' 12,251,448 183- 8S,,i09,v.T ?3 ,205,52: 932,C'9: 3.8t 1.05 12,.5n5,972 18-r. 74,492..VJ: -22,681, 9S.' 1,013,667 4.2: 1 36 19,651,4.57 18.'((i 70,S7G,9.v !l,9ia,.39: 1,055,11.' 4 .5!' 1.48 I3 230,4!)9 183 103,191,134 -'1,234,411 1,210,00! 47; 1.17 3,863,786 183!: 101,029,26 '^,4i:5.-23: 1,315,975 1.41 1 30 16,5)4,131 1813 108,1 18.3 11 .'9,032,5 It .:15 1 ,54: 4.4' 1.25 12,04!l,a97 18 H la.i ."121,3:!': 10,214,9.57 ,-364,i4.5 7.23 0.99.! 18,420,467 18.1a 149,89.1,74-: 19,391,311 1,3.54,997 6,2 1.85.7 17,00.1,418 )83(. i89.9so,o:i: 11,409,941' l,397.4fi. 5.63 3.73.5 ■39,6.55,244 1837 110,989.217 1 1,169.29; 1,. 193.947 11.711 1.05 8 31, .588, 180 » Kroiii Marcll 4, 1789, li> 'ccerirlier 31, 1791. SpoNTANEors Combustion. — The Worcester Manufacturers" Mutual Fire Insurance Company ha.s issued a circular, stating that several woollen mills have been destroyed by spontaneous combus- tion, arising from the bad quality of the oil eini)loy- ed in oiling the wool, and caution all manufactur- ers from purchasing oil unless it is ascertained by propertests to be perfectly pure. — Bait. Amer. MARKETS. Prices of F.zc.han^t atJ^eyj Ynrk, Jiprit n.— Philadelphin, dis. 1,— Baltimore, .^.— RiohiinnKf, V— Xorlh Carolina, \i\.~ Savannah, 3.— Charlestnii, 31. — Muhile, 9.— New Oi leans', 3J. — Lnuisvillii,:;[.— Nashville, 7. — Xatches. ]»— St. liimis, 1.— Cincinnati, ;).'— Detroit, 5. " The resiiniptinn in the New York hanks gave .«Hch atone tt* I'lihlir opinion that the hanks of the colton growing Stales soon begin to s^ee llie iiecessilv of curtailing tiieir loans: by this operation, the curieitcy beiatiie iniire equalized, anil t;<' ratcp ot evclinnge lell very nearly In par, hiii tlial rrMnni'l inn Iieing prentaiiire aiihes a labie of loans, specie and cir cnlaiion of ihe se\-eral banks in ilie United Slates in the years lt';iT, If:if*, and 1^.19; by which he shi.wa ihccaiipesnf tlie great derangen.enl \\hicht(ink place in the year 1837. The loans iii the niiddle Stales decreased in that year about Twenty-seven iniUions or Id per rent, nf the whole ainniinl: the loaiK in tlie sitiiihwesern Scales increased abmit eiElit millions uf dollars, or about eijjlii per cent, of the former a- nioiint. In the business nf the la^^t year Hie ea-^tern and :-o;iihern sectinns- <. \ the Union have largely ilecreased their loans and circniaiion, the sn',ithwc=tern Stales have in reased ilieirs nearly thirty niilMonsoI dollars, wbtle (heir circulation ha.^ decreased tive milliong. In the middle States the loans have been increased seven inillioni! and the circulation seventeen mUlioiis. l:i llie Soutlnvesiera Slates the dctrea-se of circu- lation has been ow ing to th"* L--inion | to better their cnnitilioii. The table shows cunclu(:ivcly tliut the [iroportion of immediate liabilities tu iniinediale means in the southern and stmthwtstem scct-ons ul the Union is now much greater than at the lime ol tleir suspension, wliile that of the eastern and middle states i--^ much less. The sales o( slocks in the princip.il markets for thu last month, shnw a constant depreciation. II. S. Rmk (*tock ha«i fallen down to lit). Seveia! ol the banks of the South and Southwest have giiapetirif d ppet ie pa\ menis Letters received in New York s ate ihat all the hanks in the Slate of Mississippi, except liie Union Hank of Jackson, have stiTpped payment. The Sia:e stock of Mississippi own- ed in banks is 7,(HiJ,(J0lJ of dnliars. There are no les:i tlian twenty-eight hanks in that Slate; from which the amount of loans was 18,iyi,l)-!7 dollars— ii.o bills in circulation .'»,- 4ijl,9o5 — the deposits due, 3, UM,-2I7 ; specie In banks only .$3^y,127. Hy the latest acconntfl money in Philadelphia is slated to be worth on the best securities 1 lo 1^ percent, a mnnih. BRIGHTON CATTLE MARKET. APRIL 8, 183D, Prices of beef Cattle. First quality, $3,7.'> a 9, seer nd, 8 a S,r>iJ; third 6,'. 0 a 7. Sheep, $l,5u a 0,75. Swine, 9 els. for sows, leu cts. for barrnws. NEW VORK CATTLE MARKET, APRIL 6, 1839. Very lew cattle offi-red in the market. Cows and calves sold fruin $:5 to 5.). Price of llt:ef Cattle from 5^,50 to IJ. Sliee p Pold Iroin $5,50 tu 7. Faneuil Hall Market Boston— Vrh-es. VEGETABLES.— Potatoes, bushel 6J a l.Ui)— Turnips 25 a 37i— BeetsoOa 75— Carrot* 50 a 7.i— Parsnips 75— Oinons 1,50 a 9, (jO— Cabbages doz. 1, 00 — Celery per root, 121 a 05. — Cauliflowers each 25 — ?q'ia«lies per huiid. 2,00 a 4, OU — I'unipkiiis each 5u— Hnrse- radish per lb. 8 a 10— Lettuce per head JO a 12,^— Radishes per buneli 10 a I2.V —Spinach half peck 17 a i' — iJandelinns half peck 37.J — Parsley bunch 37^ — Peppers pickled gallon 50 — ■ Cucumbers d ■ 25. KUUIT — Ajiplia busli. 7oal,60 — Pears (baking) 2,50 a 3,00— CranberriP^ 2,.^0 a 3,90— Oianges do?.. 25 a 50— Grapes per Mi. 20 a 2i— Prunes 6 a I )^Uiiod apple 4ari — Almonds 12i—Fiiberts G— Walnuts pot bushel 2,50 a 3, OO— Chesnuti 2.00 a 2,60. CONCORD VEGETABLE MARKET, APRIL U, liaised princi[)ally at i!te Gaiden of i\lr. Asa Parker, Radishes 10 cts. bunch, ('re ^s G cts. do.; Horse radish (Jets, per lb. ; Lettuce 19 l-2ct9. per hunch ; Cellety i> cts. a root ; Salsify to 40 " Barley '• an P.". 03 HAMS. lb. I.T I'i 13 HAY.be.l 100 lbs. no 75 9J •' pre^-sed go HIDES, Iluenog Ayres r, ir. ii; " Goal skins Qi 30 a 3.1 37 a 40 HOPS, lirst sort lb. 1.' It 17 IRON'. Swedes ion 107 0!' 102 (10 100 ni Pis ton .16 On 42 511 30 00 LARr>,lb. is; 12 M LE.VI). white lb. II 11 LEATHER, .Sual lb. o. .j; 23 LI. ME, rask ii. 1 h bush. 25 LIVSEEDOIL.qill. if 82 84 LLaM HER, Hoards iii..\o.!.M 2^ 0(1 3.i 00 25 GO Timber ton 4 .=.0 .q.lt. 30 MOL.4.SSES, best pall. 32 3.''. 34 ■' Philiid.S. honse ^1 N.41LS, cut Ih. 7 7 7 PLASTER PARIS, ton 3 2.-. 3 37 4 95 PORK, whole hntsf'tsh 11 " middltnj;s bbl. OG 00 20 00 a I .50 RICE, I Oil lbs. 4 7.1 4 r, 4 87 SA LT, Turks Island best hbd. 3 12 bush. 3,1 30 SALTPETRE, crude 11.. 7?^ ''3 s SEEDS, HordSL-rass bushel 3 Ol' 2 50 3 25 " Recltop <• I 1? " Flaxseed " 1 r-; 1 50 1 90 Clover lb. 2'.' 20 11 S!lEKTIXGS,.'\m. cot. 37 in. 1' 11 11 SHIRTIXCS, ' 31 ■ ii ^ 8 SPERM OIL, winter best 1 10 1 On I SO SPIRITS TURPEX., gall. 40 37 39 STEEL, Kng. liesl & German I^ l:' 13 SUQ.ia, loaf best lb. i: l.i 161 " Hrown " " J. s 61 TALLOW, lb. K! 11 li T*;AS. Ilysont v. H. best 4.') a fid 40 a 87 40 a 100 WOOD, per cord best S 50 WOOL, Aifcrino, best r>v 5.) m *■ iSniyrna, washed 1 30i [ " " unwashed 1 12| 1 Condnctcd by ISAAC HILL. Fublishert by WM. P. FOSTER. " Those to/io labor iti tlir. earth arc the chosen people of God, ichosc breasts he has watlr his peculiar dcpositcfor siilislantlal and ircnuine rirtue.."-}T.rrT.RSo«. VOLUMK I. CONCORD, N. Fl., MAY 15. 1839. NUMBEIJ 5. View of Kearsargc Monntnin from Patney's Hill in Ilopkintou, a al!sbtiry strikes about -i mile due east from tlje highest point — tiie soutliwest corner ot' Andovcr is 8'i.;.e liundred rods further up tlie mountain on the north line of Salisbury' touch- ing on Warner — and t!ie easterly line of Sutton hounded on Warner and Wil- mot, crosses the mountain verv near the highest swell in the first curve to the left of the top of the mountain. That part of tlie mountain falling- into Wirner on tlie south and Wilmot on the nortli, was formerly Kearjarge (iore. Wihnot was incorporated in 18U7, and embraces a territory of 15,1)00 acres, of v.'hicii G.OdO v,-ere taki n from the (_iore on the nortli sion llie brook at the lieiglit of nearly three-fourtiis of the wiiole extent, of the mountain, tliere has been ereclcd by tlie proprie- tors of the land a saw mill : poised tluis high in llu- air, there is probably a snlBciency of water at any season for the use of the mill. Tlie foct of tiiis brook near its union witii the Blackwater is the area of the Meloon meadow, wh:cli probably owes its fertility to the sediment from tlie disintegrntion of rftcks aiid the soil continually fl..wing down from the mountain. For more tlinn seventy-Hve years has tliat portion ofthis meadow which is overflowed yielded its annual burden of bay without sensible diminution. This meadow derived its name from Nathaniel Meloon, who was amonff tlie first settlers of the town in 1750. The fertile alluvion lands upon our rivers tempted new settlers from below, whon nothing else would induce thnm to venture into the forest. Concord, tlien called fenacook, was occu- pied in advance of olJier towns on account of its extensive intervales : so was the cast pnrt of Sal- isbury, now Franklin, cmbraciiifr the Web;;tcr and Burley farms — so was Plymoulh and Holderness. The Meloon meadow on the Blackwater is proba- bly eight miles from tiie easterly settlement in the same town on the Merrimack. In 1753, Nathaniel Meloon, living at this meadow with his v/lfe and three children, viz : Sarah, Rachel and Daniel, were captured by the Indians, carried to Canada, and sold to the French at Montreal. Another son was added to the family during its residence with the French, who was baptised Joseph Marie : at^ter four years and a half residence with the Frencli, Mr. Meloon returned to his farm in Salisbury. One daughter died with the Indians. The other d?aigh- ter (Rachel) who was nine years old when slie was captured, returned after nine years, having acquir- ed their habits and manners, and become mucli at- tached to them. In the same year the wife of Ralph Call, one of the firjt settlers, was killed by the In- dians; and Samuel i-'cribner and Robert Barber of Salisbury and Ents Bishop of Boscawen, were captured, carried to Canada and ' old to the French. The summit of Kearsarge is now to appearance a bald rock : within the recollection of many oftlie inhabitants it was covered witii a rrrowth of timber under which there must nrcessnrily have been soil to a considerable depth. From twenty rfive to tliir- ty years ago the fire run over the top or the moun- tain, increasing in intensit}' for several days, con- BUming not only the dead and living trees, but burning up the greater portion of the soil itself. There is still left, where the land has not been cleared for pasture ground, atlilcl; growth of heavy wood, maple, beech, birch, liemJock, ash, &c. on the sides of the mountain. As an indication of rain and storm, the settling of a cloud on the top of the mountain is sure. In the liaylng season tlie farmers look to the top of Kearsarge as to their al- manack. The artist who drew tlie view now pre- sented has placed a cloud horizontally below tlic high point of the inountain on tlie soutlioasterly side. That cloud r.-sts on another projecting moun- tain whicli with the naked eye of a stranger cannot be distinguished from the main mountain itself; it is called Bald hill ; its ape.x is some five hundred feet below the point of the blgliei- mountain, and there is a valley between the two. The s-'uthorn side of Bald hill is for many/iiuudred feet nearly of perpendicular descent, fn the spring of Idl!), a large mass of rocks and eartli of many thousand tons was precipitated from the t.>p of Bald liill, carrying trees, rocks and soil before it for the space of more than forty rods. The concussion of tlie falling materials was felt for a great distance around like an earthquake ; and the track of the avalanche is visible for several miles to the southeast. Tlu- view either from the top of Bald hill or from tlio highest point of Kearsarge to t!ie east and south is highly magnificent. With the exception of the steep ledges and tlie bare rock, the surface of tiit- mountain is all fit for pasture grounds. The land with the southern and eastern declivity is most val- uable, because it has the best advantage of the sun. The crops of rye, v/heat and potatoes, which were raised last year on Kenrsarge, suffered neitlier from drought or blight, although they were in most parts of New England on less elevated lands mate- rially injured. Our mountains undoubtedly contribute to the greater severity of climate ofthis over other covin- tries under the same parallel of latitude. The cold north and northwest winds come as from the moun- tains, where tlie east winds from the icy ocean in Acril, May and sometimes into June, are arrested, and their course changed. Winds and storms prob- ably proceed aot in a direct line, but nearly in a circle, so that what in the interior is^. wind from the north and northwest, nearer to the sea comes from the east. Our cold in the fall is soonest dis- covered upon the mountins : peeple living in the valleys will perceive n storm commence on the mountains h'uirs before it begins with them. The mountains attract vrhatever innteriol of water, or air,or heat, thnt contrllmtes to make the storm. We find the clevatpd country attracting and retaining i^juch more humidity than extended valleys and plains. Extraordinary as it may appear there are probablv two acres of pond and morass in the tov/us ofthis State hav-ng the Ii-ghest elevation, espe- cially the back-bone towns between Merrimack and Connecticut rivers, where there is one acre in the towns of less elevation. The town of Stoddard in Cheshire county, has no less tlian fourteen ponds, some of which are of considerable magnitude — the town of Rindge, tv/enty m'.les south upon the same height of land with Stoddard, has thirteen ponds ; each of these tov/ns has permanent water of more than a thousand acres, wltli probably a greater number of acres of fresh meadow which was form- erly covered with water. As onr mountains from tJielr elevation attract more humidity, so they are more peculiarly the re- gion of thunder, lightning -nnd Imrrlcane. Front- ing the iialf circle of the White Mountains, near the middle of wliich is Mount Washington elevat- ed nearly six thousand feet above the sea, is an am- phitheatre from three to five miles over — in some places a dense forest — in otliers partially cleared by the proslrntioa of the trees. Here it is a matter of wonder to observe the effects of hurricanes. At one time you will pass the track with the trees ly- ing in one direction; very near you will perceive the prostrated trees lying in an entirely different direction : in the same place you v.'ill find tlie rot- ten trees pointing one way, and trees which have more recently fallen lying the other. Whether these violent convulsions are pecnlrcrto the moun- tains of this region we have not the means of as- certain in £?. Kearsrtrge mountain is less than half tlie height of the White Mountain.? range. Yet she is sutli- clently elevated to become the parent of the thun- der and hurricane. In a heated atmosphere soon after the sun lias dispersed the mistS of the morn- ing elsewhere, you will frequently see the cloud resting upon tlie top of the mpuntaln, when about midday it will begin to gatJu'r blackness and take its course like the inflated balloon towards the southeast. East July we were at Flanover — the fog of the morning partially cleared ot^", leaving a cap upon Ascutney and soTiie of tlie higher moun- tains. Towards noon a blank cloud had gathered in tlie soutlieast. Returning home tiirough War- ner tlie next d;iy, we were informed that this cloud burst upon K(iars:jrge, passing over its westerlj' end, and for several miles between that and Merri- mack river did great d-unage. The farm of Mr. Colby situated in Warner, on one of the swells in- dicated in our picture, sutTered an injury of several hundred d'i]la.rs h'y the complete prostration of the crops of wlieat and other grains : about one mile further east in Boscawcn, t!ic farm of Col. Moses Gerrish, sltuattd on another elevation, suffered a similar injury. The course of the hurricane was about half a mile in width. At the moment, it seemed to cut down and destroy every thing it touched. 'l"he wind took up the trees with a pow- er that was almost incredible. But the mr.st appallng hurricane or whirlwind on record in this State was that which, commenc- ing westwardly near Ascutney, pasr-ed tiirough Cornish, Croyd^.n, Wendell, over Sunapce Lake, by New London and Sutton, V-reaking w.th its ut- most force up'>n Kearsarge, a little to tiie left of the first prom iicnce v.'estward of the highest point. From tlic rrV'.u:Ttain there is a rapid descent into what was formerly tlie Gore : in a valley upcn the sou*h, betv.*een the mountain and a high hill, there were seven dwelling houses occupied by as many families. These liouses and the outbuildings at- tached to them were all- more or less injured, and some of them prostrated. The whirlwind next took the house of Mr. Daniel Savary : the bouse seemed to whirl and instantly rose above their heads, while the timbers, bracks, Ac. left behind nearly buried the family in the, ruins. Samuel Savary, father f^f tiie owner, was found dead, his brains dashed out against a stone, at the distance of six rods from the house ; an infant in the arms of its mother was killed in the same house. The house of Robert Savary in tlie same neighborhood, was also torn up, and the family, buried in the ru- ins, almost miraculously escaped. Such was the power of the wind near the Savarys that stones weighing hundreds of pounds were moved from their places. The whirlwind was spcQdlJy out of the Gore and entered neir the southwesterly bound of Salisbury, where it struck the buildings of Dea, Joseph True, and entirely prostrated every thing, without taking the life or materially injuring any one of the nutnerous inmates: an infant seven weeks old was carried more than a hundred feet and found covered with the bottom of a sleigh which had been moved to the same place. So great was the power of the wind near Dea. Trne's that a hemlock log two and a half feet through and thirty- six feet long, half buried in tlie ground, was moved more than a rod out of its place. From this (Corner of Salisbury the tornado again passed into the northeast corner of Warner, over a pond, the wa- ters of wliicii it seemed to draw up to its centre, and finally rose and left the ground soon after it reached Boscawen. Afterwards articles of furni- ture, which must have been taken up many miles to the west, were found several miles to the east of Merrimaclt river. Many buildings were destroyed and much dam- age sustained in Wendell, New London and Sut- ton, before the tornado reached Kearsarge. It is now about eighteen years since it took place; but the track ofthis hurricane, wherever it touched the \vood.s, is plainly to be seen between Sunapee lake and Boscjwen. It passed with the appearance of an inverted pyramidical column, drawing up in it3 bosom vast quantities of water. In Wendell a child was carried with the house in which it was asleep and thrown into tlie lake at the dis- tance of one hundred and fifty rods: the bedstead on which the child v.'as asleep was afterwards found eighty rods in another dlrcctlo:i. A bureau was blown across the lake, two miles wide at that place, artd, exceptintr the drawers, was found half a mile from the lakff, the whole distance being two miles and iliree quarters. The facts respecting this tre- u^endous tornado belong in part to the history of Kearsarge : they are not exaggeration, having been sought ouijht and taken down at tlie tune by a per- son who made it his business to inquire. A more full history ofthis tornado will be found in the first volume of collections of the New Hampshire His- torical Socletv. The valne of v. ihl find roiiijh lands* There are luindreds and thousands of acres of land considered hitherto of little value that are a mine of wealth to its owners. Within the last twenty .years, lots of land within half a dozen miles of the Merrimack have been purchased for a price merely nominal, and all this price was paid exclu- sively for the standing timber upon it. During tlie last fifty years the most shocking waste has been made of the original trees : the woodman's axe has selected tlie faiiest, the larirestand the most comely, leaving all else as mere refuse to be girdled, blown down and rot upon the ground. Now if the earth remained stationary — if it continued in the condi- tion in which man v-'ould sometimes place it — sure- ly tlie calcu ations of man might be taken in earn- est, and it would be good for nothing. But a be- neficent Providence has ])rovided a better state of things. While man destroys, a miglitier Power renovates — what is marred by artifice is restored by nature. Thirty years ago on tlie s'xth of April, having served an apprenticeship of nearlv seven years, at tlie precise age of twenty-one, the edltt>r of the Visitor commenced business foi himself in thl.* vil- lage. If tiie pine timber then stan-i-ng in the val- leys of the Merrimack and its tributaries in New ilampshire were now standing, it wt^uld be worth milliona of dollars. For twenty years, from ]80t> to 1.^2!', the lumber transported down the iMerri- mack very little more than paid for the labor of preparation and transportation : the laborers en- gaged in tlrs imslness hinily did as v.'cll for them- selves as those who labored on their farms with the then poor encouragement of being unable at all timrs to dispose of most kinds cf surplus produce for cash. The lumber itself, wlien carried to mar- ket, was disposed of in barter trade for West India goods, the most prominent item of which was the article of rum; and tiiese goods were brought into the country to be consumed by the population that had earned them, giving sometimes a profit to the shrewd trader who deali them out, and to him a- lone. For tlie Inst ten years, Irom 1820 to ],S30, tJic bu- sines.-i has been better conducted : the stand>ng trees liave been of value to the owner of tlie soil — both the laborer and the contractor have made mon- ey : money has been brought into the country as the avails of the lumbering business. The princi- pal business lias been done in tliat part of the stand- ing forest which before was considered refuse. THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 67 Trees are now wrought into timbers, boards, clap- boards and sliingles, which before were suffered to stand and rot in the forest. In the manufacture of boards, shingled, staves, ifcc. the newly invi'nted cir- cular saw, now extensively used, saves many thou- sand djlliirs. Almost every species of wood is us- ed for some kind of timber: — tubs, firkins, pails, kega, handles to various instruments, as shovels, hoes and rakes— materials for the wheelright, cab- inet maker, itc. &c. are the produce of our wood- lands. If it were not for liie secind growth since the first clearintr, great would be the destitution ef the interior of New England in the materials which most contribute to our wealth. Within thirty years a new growth has sprung up. In sight of our dwelling waves a beautiful growth of wliile pine trees, some of which arc large enough to be manufactured into finisliing boards, wliere the hill; of the corn-field were seen thirty years ago. On the east side of the river in view of tliis village, on the level of its U])pcr bank, is a plain principally covered with a growth of liard pine. Where the first growth of wood had been cut oft' within a mile and a half of the State House, and since tlie Slate House was built in IrilG, some of tliis land has been sold from seventy-five cents to one dollar and fifiy cents the ac]-e. Every acre of this land, di- vested of its wood, is worili at this time tv.'enty dollars ; and capitalists who have no immediate use for their money could not better invest it than by purchasing lands any where between Plymouth, N. H. and Lowell, Ms. 'at from ten to twenty dollars the acre. The most sterile or rough land that is accessible within six miles of the river is worth all that for its natural growth of wood and timber. The town of Concord" at this time has probably more wood standing than any other town on the river : every cord of it will average the value of a dollar before the a.\e is put into the tree. Suppose an acre of the most sterile pine plain has twenty cords standing— and some acres h-.ve thirty, fifty and even seventy cords : the wood alone is worth twenty dollars. Cut that off, and witliin twenty years there will be a growth of at least one cord per acre i-U each year. Consider too the constant rise in the value of wood and tindjer as the demand for it increases. If Amoskeag shall grow up as Lowell has done — if otiier vill-ig''s on the river shall continue to increase as tliey have done, of which there is a moral certainly — the country a- bove will not produce or grow sutKcitnt timber for the consumption before we arrive at tlie seaboard : boards and plank, and clapboards and sliingles, high as is their price at Boston, must be brought from thence into the country. The growth upon the land will far exceed the interest on the price of tlie land — the increase in the value of that growth will pay the interest over again. The owners of rd'ose lands, who have not been so unwise as to part with them, have grov.n wealthy while they have been unconscious of it. A gentleman who pursued the lumbering business on the river with better success than perhaps any otlier individual, from time to time purchased lots of land for the sake of tlie tim- ber, I'aying in no instance a price beyond what tlie timber was considered to be worth; the growth of wood was then counted as of no value. From these he cut down and carried off all tlietimbor con^ider- ed to be of value ; and he always obtained in prof- its on the timber more th:.in a full remuneration for his purchase. Of the same land lie now owns some thousands of acres between 'Boscawen and .Amos- keag ; and his land, considered worthless, and wl:!ch in (iict cost him notliing, would porbably sell at auction for thirty tlious'and dollars. For the mere purpose of growing wood, the same liud in the next ten years will yield the amount of its jire.-ent nominal value in what shall be taken from it, and probably be thc:i worth iloubie and treble that ee- timate. The facts we have brought into view tpeak for themselves. Reasoning from these, we ought to place an estimate upon our soil as of more real val- ue than any oUier kind of property. Ahnost eve- ery thing else is perishable — money, whetlicr invest- ed in stocks or loaned out on interest, takes to it- self wings and flies away — houses and buildings go to decay and dilapidation ; but the land, the solid terra Jinnii,tcinii:ns. If the wild lands do not yield a present income, they are growing into what v.'d! yield an income of more than compound interest. The proprietor of rou;;h and stony grounds, of lands that will not yield either from wetness or aridity, cannot do better than suffer them to grow into forests which may in all future lime be dis- posed of i[uite as advantageously as the highest cultivated grounds. Deep ploughing will ultimately improve the poorest soil ; shallow ploughing will impoverish the riches'. Cherish our own New England I ] Ever since we have witnessed what has been done in some of our towns to increase the capacity and production of our soil, refleelion leads to the conclusion that we cannot do a better service to this whole community than to lay before them the inducements wdiieli offer to our fanners and their sons to improve our own ground. When the pro- ducts of New Engl.and shall be doubled, this will be demonstratinn that the same soil may be as easi- ly made to yield four-fold; and arriving at this point, it will still be seen that this last product may lie again doubled. If we can show that it is for the interest of eve- ry well educated young man who is looking to the new regions of the South and West for fame and fortune, that he will belter consult both, at the same time he will render life and health more secure, to stop short v.itiiin the bounds of our own New Eng- laiifl, we shall d"> an acceptable service to the whole community. If present comfort, if the social en- joyments of life are considered, there cannot be a moment's hesitation as to the locatisn of every per- son commencing business ; and what but present comfort shall induce us to put any estimate upon the mutabilities of the present chi-.nging scene .' To arrest the course of many a wayward youth who overlooks the social privileges, the moral certainty of support and even of abundance of this world's goods as the fruits of perseverance and industry within reach of the eye from his own mountains, for a distant fairy land abounding It may be in the elements of fertility as it consetiuently d-es.in its incipient settlement in the seeds (f disease shat- tering the firme.it constitution as it s'.i'U'tens life — we would oft'er the linguage cf intercession: we would ask him to pause and e.xamine,before he shall strav beyond the hills which overlook the desirable andforlile Valley of the ConneetinH. Of this de- liirhtful region an enthusiastic friend writes — "Re- niember tint it is the Con:iect'eut rivi r Valley, which sweeps through the better part of New Eng- land for four hundred miles, 'giving blossoms to nature and morals to mm,' — for one half the dis- tance on the borders of your own patriotic State — which is my theme. I have travelled the wlrde length of this valley : I have also travelled over a . inorety of the State's in the Union ; but I have nev- er sce'n any thing equal to the Valley, taking all things into the account, morals and physics, land and scenery." We want .all our readers to be better acquainted v/ith the Valley and its inhabitants: we want to show them that this valley, the most fertile as it is the most beautiful region in the United States, from the back boiie range of hills in New Hampshire on the east to the verge of the Green Mountain range on the west, is capable of increas- ini' its iiroductions, its inhabitants, its means of en- joyment, far, very far beyond its present point of attainment, and even beyond the present condi- tion of any other part cf this g^at country. We propose, as well for the present gratification of our readers, as for the pleasure of reader.? who ni.ay take up and read bound volumes of our Visitor twenty, thirty and even fifty years hence, to present sketch- es of the soil, resources, location, character of the inhabitants, and other distinguishing traitis of some of the towns in the Connecticut river Valley. To aid us in the work, we hope for the assistance of our numerous friends on either side of this charm- ing river. There is not a tovrn in the whole range, from Saybrook at the mouth to tb.e ridge on the Canada borders that divides its waters from those of the St. Lawrence, that will not present inter- esting incidents. No matter where the description shall'hegin, whether it be in the 3!itli or 45th de- cree of north latitude, it v>-ill be of sullieient inter- est to tell what hasbuen, what is, and what may be, of any township on eitiier side of the Valley. For the reason t!iat a friend living at a distance from that pbice, as well as because it begins on the line of one of the four New England States touch- in!! the Connecticut river, we propose to call the attention of gentlemen living within its bo.ders to the town of West Springfield, Itf s. We love this town of West Springfield — we have loved it ever since we were in our teens for one rea- son that it may not become us to name in an anrl- niUuritl journal : we venerate that place, because it was tlie residence of a distinguished clergynum who was a bright luminary in the galaxy of New England Divines luilf a century ago, and whose sermons wo have read with interest more than thir- ty years since. The venerable Doctor Jo-^fi-h La- THUor stood for many years in the same relation to the Congregational clergy of New England that the truly apostolic Bishop Griswold has to the Episcojial churches for the last twenty years— both of them have been looked to as ministers and spir- itual guides scarcely less to be relied on than the holy Word itselt'. It is to the credit of West Spring- field that the town with one consent supported, as it was supported by, that great and good man to the day of his death. Dnct. Lathrop graduated at Yale in 17.50, and for a few years was an instructor of youth at Springfield. He was settled in the ministry at West Springfield in 1756, and continu ed pastor of the church sixty-three years. This town, at the census of IrioO, was second on- ly to Springfield in population of the towas in Hampden county : it then contained 3,270, while Springfield contained (),764 inhabitants. In 1637 its population had decreased to 3,297, while Spring- field had risen to !f,23'l. West Springfield is bound- ed on the State of Connecticut on the sruilli, and extends fiAeeii miles on the west bank of the river to the origiuiil line of the Hamptons on the north, being the whole width of Hjimpden county : it falls back fiom the river upon East and South Hainj)- ton, Westfield and Southwick. It is now divided into four large parishes, each with apost office, viz: West Springfield, Agawam, Feedinghills and Ire- land. This is strictlv a farming town ; and such towns make much less noise in the world than those wiiose thrift depends more upon traffic than upon real production. It iii-.s one small cotton fac- tory on Connecticut river directly opposite the South Hadley cannl, employingtwenty-three males !(nd forty-six females, and tuniing out goods annu- ally to the amount of fifty thousand dollars — it has a small woollen factory cin[)loying nine males and six females, and manufacturing goods to the amount of about §20,000 in \9'i~ : it has a paper mill on the Agawam river — three tanneries in different parts of the town employing nine hands and turn- ing out leather per annum worth 12,000 : boots and shoes are manufactured by nine persons worth $4,000. These with a joiner and a blacksmith III each parish, constitute the whole manufacturing population of West Springfield. Its namesake over the river is much more conspicuous — it is the seat of an extensive public armory supported from the treasury of the United St;ites, and of great facto- ries at Cabotsville and Chickopce : the value of the manufactures in Springfifdd in 1S37, exclusive of those by the Un'ted States at the armory, was$l,- 70!),700. The latter town is full of guns, and drums, and sp'ndles, and banks, and lawyers, who make such a clatter as somewhat to cast into the lihade the more intelligent, more virtuous and more happy population of the west side. Although some parts of West Springfield are rough and uneven, and others with plains of gravel and stone — and the less fertile parts ot'a town are by no means the least useful, furnishing constantly an increasing quantity of fire wood and timber — the greater part, especially the alluvial meadows, is land of excellent quality. Westfield river di- vides the town nearly central, running east and west. The scenery in various parts of the town is both wild and delightful. There is scarcely a wastt? acre of land : the poorest pine plain is valua- ble for cultivation ; and every acre in the town is really worth double the amount of the estimate of the farmers in the neighborhood. Such a popula- tion and such a country as that which lives upon and constitutes the area of West Springfield, de- serve to be brought fully into public view. Hon. S.iML'ET. L.iTiip.oi', we believe a son of the eminent divine to whom we have alluded, is a resident of this town — has been a member of Congress, and Lt. Governor of Massachusetts — always an up- right and honest man; and in the decline of life has turned his almost exclusive attention to farming, for which he ever had strong predilections. Among other (rood farmers of that town, Luther Frink, Esq. at Ireland parish, and Rol.ind Burbank, Esq. at Feedinghills have been named. Mr. Pav.ve of Ireland parish has a valuable quarry of excellent Roman cement, which may and will undoubtedly be brought into extensive use in the vicinity. That such a town as West Springfield should de- crease in population during the first seven in the last ten years, is proof only that the great mass of the peojiie have not as well understood their true interests as they may hereafter understand them. The temptations, illusory and false as they will prove to be, presented, to leave off the cultivation of the soil for the purpose of pursuing other occu- pations, to engage in trading and speculations, have caused some of the very best agricultural districts of Nev/ England to remiiln stationary in population. Most of these places have nevertheless increased in wealth. The people of West Springfield seem not to have been sensible of their own advantages. Situated on a navigalile river embracing a distance of iifteen miles ; with every one of its alluvial farms in that direction in sight ef the Armory or 68 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. the Cabotsville or Chickopre factories : its western broadside running; parnilel and wltliin two or tlirce miles of the canal iVom Northampton to New Ha- ven ; there are few places so favorably located to furnish a ready market for the produce of tliu far- mers. Dutchess County itself— now the most valuable agricultural district in the United States — is nut more intrinsically valuable tlian thise.xtcndcd tfiwu of West Sprin^fiL'ld : improvenieiits here will yield a hijrhcr proHt to purchasers than improvements in tlic Tarther country''. Such land is worth settling upon as a farming country, yieldinjr c-^nt. per cent, from any quarter ui' the Union. If the farmers of West Springfield have not duly appreciated their privileges — if thoy liave suffered the neighboring nianul'acturing villages to *'take the shine" from them — there are within the limits of the town many men who well understand their business : there are good farmers there, ami there is abundant territory and means for iiicreasing their number. The Massachus«tta newspapers have heretofore brought to our notice cattle of extra size and qualitv driven from tlie farms of West Springfield to the Brighton market. So particular are some of theye farmers to their breed of cattle, that they will have none that are not of a color cherry-red ; and if a white hair appears upon a calf it is doomed to tiie knife at the age of four weeks. Passing West Springfield twent}' years ago we rec- ollect to have seen, as an evidence of the Icrtility of its low alluvial lands, many acres of hemp grow- ing luxuriantly. Our impression is, that the f:irm houses and other buildings v/ere then remarkably neat, and that the ground teemed with abundant productions for man and beast. Such tovv'ns in New England as this, if they do increase in wealth, ought not and must not remain stationary or decrease in population. Let not the traveller seeking a location in some more favored country, pass such places a-s these, as if v.ith iht- idea that the lajid is all taken up, and that tliere is not plenty of room and to spare in the immediate neighborhood of abundant enjoyments and privi- leges both physical and moral. It must he an in- duceraent for every farmer to locate himself in the neighborhood where he can buy and sell to most profit and convenience. Such a place, of all oth- ers in Massachusetts, is ''West Springfield upon Connecticut river,'" a meagre account of whose beauties and advantages we liope by the aid of one or more of its intelligent citizens to be able hereaf- ter to amend, as we do ta furnish interesting facts of other towns upon the^'Connecticut river valley,'" leading the people of the colder region of the Unit- ed States to tlie conviction that there is no otiier community on earth possessing so many advanta- ges for gaining wealtli, for enjoying comfort and ease, and for training up a new generation "■in the way they should go. " l'>(tni the M line Fariiif r. To destroy the Bug in Teas — Scalding seed Wheat, &c, Mr. Holmes : — If farmers would scahl their seed peas, before sowing them, tiiey would not be troub- led by the bug. This insect burrows in the pea while in the pod — remains in it during the winter — is sown with it in the spring, and arrives at a ma- ture state in season to infect the product of the pea, and thus -n its turn, perpetuates its spec'es. Belbre sowing the peas, scalding water should be poured on them, and immediately after, cold water. Tiiis procedure, it is said, will elfectnally destroy the grub, without injuring the pea in llie lesst. A farmer in Gardiner scnlded his seed wheat last spring, and th^' product is found to be entirely free from the wcvil. Whether this is to be attributed to the scalding the seed, or some other cause, I know not. Butifthe wcvil 'winters' in the wheat, (and some contend that it docs,) this would be as convenient and efficacious a way to get rid of him, as I know of. If not 'overdone,' it would seem rather to assist than retard the germinating pro- cess. The Locust seed, it is well known, should be soaked in scalding water to expedite, or even to in- sure its germination. The Btet Seed, also, may be advantageously immersed in heated water, and' it is said to be much surer than when sown unpre- pared. As to other seeds and grains, I have never" seeu any statements from which we may judge of their capacity for sustaining lieat, without impair- ing or destroying the vital principle in tliem. We may reasonably suppose, however, that most, if not all kinds of seeds, will endure unimpaired, that de- gree of heat which would destroy any insect that may be in or among them. At any rate, a few cheap and simple experiments, (if they have not been tried alread}',) will satisfy every farmer of the degree of heat which each variety of seed he uses can well sustain; and also, the probable utility of hot water in the preparation of the seeds, and as a preventive agamst destructive insects. 11. Salisbunj, A*. //., ^'Jprit 30, 1830. Hon. Isaac Hill, — .S'(r : — I was pleased to learn, by the appearance of "-The Fust Flower, "that your Visitor was not unfriendly to tlie muse. 1 hope we sliall see your very useful sheet adorned with other such flowers hereafter. As for my own hum- ble self,I should be more than gratified to be favored monthly witli a poetical nosegay, trcsli from the garden of the rural muse. I think a sensibility to the charms of poetry, which clothes the beauties of Nature with "moral associations that mnke them speak to tlie heart," may be, especially to the hus- bandman whose days are spent in her presence, a source of improvement and delight; and he who is himself so attuned to natural harmony that he "riiiiLs (niigiics in tree«, liouks in the rtt lining sticrtiiiB, Sermons in sunies, anil gooil in cvt-r> thing," need not envy his brother for his insensibility, whose soul IS not alivp to Nature's inspiration — who can look on her fair scenes witli utHicligiiled eve, or list to her music with indifferent ear. I have transmitted an etfusion of the inexperienced muse of my young i'riond '■'■Jurcnis' to you for publication if it is worthy of it. Yours truly, C. An Evening Sketch, To the vale, the sun is set, But his last rays linger yet On the upland wood and glade : Soon they fade, and twilight shade Falls around, on all below — On the vale and mountain s brow. Day-born tumult dies away. And mild peace resumes her sway- From the field returning slow, Home the weary rusticks go^; There to taste the sweet repast- There to slumber deep at last. Every warbler now is gone To his slumber — ail but one : On the ell that stands before, Shading that low cottage door, Red-breast chants a sweeter lay — Requiem to departing day. Soft and plaintive is the tone — Faint and t'ainter still — tis done ; Now s>he sinks in silence" bower — AVho shall cheer the twilight hour.-' Hark ! the notes of whippoorwill Echo from the wood-crowned hill. The lone cricket's evening song Greets tlie ^ddened car. Along Yonder willou.s bending low O'er tlie brook whose glassy flow Murmurs through the meadow green, Fire-ilies glowing bright are seen — Laden with the fresh perfume From yon whitened orchard's bloom, Light the breath of evening strays O'er the wind-harp. As I gaze Eastward o'er the rising ground Lo ! the ruddy Moon looks round. Grateful twilight ! season bland I iiy sott breathing zephyrs fanned ! As thy red light fades away. Round liie whispering spirits say :- "Cleave with us the easy air — Haste away to worlds more fair." Father ! may my end cf life, "When I go from eartii away, Be ss i-eacefui, free from strife, As tills dying breath of day. G; id 111 lay me down to sleep Till tlie morning Jiglit shall peep. Salisbury, N. H., April 1S30. JUVE.MS. The Fanner. The life of him, who tills the soil, Is blest. What though his lot be toil ? Even toil's a blessing when Health, virtue pure, and peace are his, And plenty round and ruj*al bliss Unknown lo other men. How gladly, as Aurora strews His i>alh with pearl-drops, he reviews His pleasant work again ; While Nature round, as if to cheer His arduous labor, far and near Awakes a blithesome strain. Cheerful the day — and when 'tis past And night draws round, how sweet at last, Deep slumber seals his eyes ; Slumber, that those in pleasure's train, May woo on kingly coucli in vain, Whence deep affrighted flies. No restless visions haunt his bed; Or if lie dreams, he joyn to tread Ry fields of springing grain, Or waving corn, or dowy mead. Or 'mong the rustling sheaves to lead The jocund reaper train. Some sigh for gold, for honors some — Give me a little cottage home, Where I may spend my day. Far from the world's discordant strife. Far f"'"om all that poisons life — From human pride away. Juvems. Salisbury, N. IL, April, l&SO. Wanton destruction of Birds. There are three manufacturers of rifles, gvins, fowling pieces, pistols, and perhaps other instru- ments of death, within our corporate limits. We are much gratified, that in one respect llicse instru- ments are falling into disuse : the shooling of birds is a much less common practice than it was wont to be. The first evidence of the departure of winter is the chirping of the blue bird ; the spring-bird next almost splits its little throat with whistling lo ua "prosperity ;" and, as evidence of returning mild weather, the sv.-ailow and martin in distant air and while under rapid v/ing cliecr us v.ith their twitter. Soon the robin, the precise individual robin that sung in mid-afternoon one year ago, returns us his note.5 with an identity that enables us to declare him to b*: tlie same bird. Where did he keep iiim- self during the long winter.^ and where did the myriads of chirping songsters so suddenly come from, that charm the air after the breaking of day light in a mild -May morning.^ All these it is not alone cruel and barbarous to shoot down, wound and mangle, but it is as injurious as tlie curse of blight, ana mildew, and drougiit. Mvriads of worms or insects destroying the crops of the farmer are destroyed by these birds: the most of these destruc live animals are but the creatures of a dav which die to give place to others after they have done their mischief: the birds only hurry the change before the worm or insect has destroyed that vegetation on which the hopes of the farmer are placed. There are certain kinds of birds whose lives are spared by the consent of all who do not sport with animal life in mere wantonness, such as the swal- low, the martin, the ground-sparrow, the chick- bird, yellow bird, gold robin, &c. There are other birds, of which custom lias taught us that, as they may be eaten, so they may be taken with the snare or the gun of the fowler, as the robin, the lark, the bob o'linkliorn, the mavis, the snipe, the quail and the partridge. There are still others, to take whosa lives is considered laudable, such as t!.ie blue ja^', the red-head woodpecker, the black bird, the crow, the hawk and the owl. Against the two last, which watch for their prey and devour other innocent birds, hens with their young, and sometimes youno" lambs, we feel all the nntlputhy v.'e do for other an- imals of mischief; but tlie crow, against whom our legislators have waged an almost constant war- fare for the last half century and more, we now be- lieve to have been an ol)ject of misdirected ven- geance. There are three crows wiiich for the last three years have been to us a matter of concern and even of vexation. They have their lodgnsent and build their nes'.s, so say srme of our neighbors, some three or four miles distant in the tall pines. Scare- crows, a well shaped man in rags with a flapped hat, strings hung around the field, barrels with a head and hat projecting, gunpowder burnt and strewed over the field, have had no effect on these three crows. The field is on the edge of a pond — the crows come about the shores for fro£rs ; mid leavincr all other corn fields, they first seize on the corn field next to the pond : tv.'o of them work ruanino- from hill *,' hill and pulling it up as fast as the corn appears above ground, while the third sits on a tree at a distance to sound the alarm whenever danger approaches. As if they feared neither the the laws of God or man, they have generally done most mischief on the Sabbatii, knowing full well when every male about the premises lias gone to church. We have been inclined to think that one of the trio, perhaps the leader and instigator, is a THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 69 crow tliat had been domesticated and brought up I in length, averaging nearly nine incheB each, and about some family, and afterwards returned to the forest : while lie seems not to fear the face of man when not near enoug'-. to be dangerous, he taUes especial good care to keep in the position where he can cover a safe retreat if necessary. The one corn field near the frog pond is, we believe, the on- ly corn field th.at has been much troubled with these three crows. They cou-.e straight over corn fields on tlie other side of the river early in the mornincT: they touch not there, but alight first on the field beside the pond. Our corn a: the time of vrriting tliis article had not come up ; but the three identical crowS have made their appearance. We have had much vexation in regard to the crows pulling corn ; but as a matter simply of loss and gain we are inclined to think tliat the law of the State oftering a bounty for the heads of crows was not a wise law. There are but a few days of tlie year in wliicli these birds of ill omen can do dam- age to the corn ; and for the good they do during the remainder of the year, it might be worth while to set the boys to watch the fields where other scare-crows shall be ineffectual. There is not a doubt but one of these birds in the course of the year destroys many thousands of the worms, bugs and insects which greatly injure fields of corn and otlier useful vegetation. It is the belief of some tliat the crow takes away and consumes mass- es of materials which create noxious effluvia and Bometimes generate disease and death. We come to the conclusion,tliat it is sinful wan- tonly to take the lives of any of the hundred kinds of innocent birds which do no injury, but destroy myriads of insects that infest the air ; that we may well spare the lives of others which, although fit to eat, will not pay for the powder and shot ; and that some of those which are considered t»o mischiev- ous to live are on the whole a greater benefit than injury. The following Inies were suggested by reading the biographical sketch of the late Gen. Pierce in the last number of the Visitor. For the Farmer's Montlilj' Visitnr. The Heroes of the Revolution. A noble race they were — the tried, And true, of ancient time; Our glorious Sires, who bled and dy'd For this, our own free clime : — Oh ! hallowed be each sacred name That ti'arless to the conflict came ; And freely, on the battle plain, Pour'd out their blood, like drops of rain. Few are the sculptured gifts of art, A nation's love to tell ; And many a brave and gallant heart, Hath moulder'd where it fell ; — The spiry maize, luzuriant, waves Its long "green leaves, o'er Heroes' graves ; And thoughtless swains the harvest reap. Where our stern Fathers' ashes sleep. But after years the tale shall tell. In words of light reve.al'd ; Who bravely fouglit, — who nobly fell, And many a well earn'd field, Outspread beneath the western sun. Shall live with ancient Marathon ; And Trenton's fight, and Princeton's name. Be liiik'd with old Platea's fame. But the surviving few ! who stand, A remnant weak and old ; — Sole rclicks of tliat glorious band. Whose hearts were hearts of gold : — Oh I honoured be each silvery hair .' Each furrow, trench'd by toil and care : — ■ And sacred each old bending form. That brav'd oppression's battle-storm. Plainfield, 3d May. E. D. ontaininrr./i/'''<'" hundred and ciirldy-four kernels The reason' that the ears are of different complex- ions is that two kinds of corn of different^coinplex- ions were planted on the same piece : of course a mixture was expected. Respectfully, thv friend, SAMUEL NOWELL. Wolfborough, ."J mo., 4, 1839. All the other States of New England and even the fertile regions of the South must yield the palm to the "cold and sterile State of New Hampshire" in the production of Indian corn ; and probably each county of the State must acknowledge that Old Strafford exceeds them all. One hunrlrtd and leven bushels, one HrsDREn and timrtv-six bush- els, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN BUSHELS of shelled corn to the acre, as has been proved to the satisfaction of awarding committees of the Strafford Agricultural Society '. When our friend Brown stated the manner in which he pre- pared his land for the monstrous crop of corn, w could be no longer surprised. There is something in the soil of the Winnipiseogee islands and lands in the vicinity that imparts to it even a higher vir- tue than the common soil made rieli by liigh ma- nuring— it is a quality modifying that rankness of growth that blasts or renders many kinds of veg- etation barren, which fills the giant stock with a giant growth of ears, carrying the whole through the season from the beginning to the end. Mark the preparation f.ir these crops of corn ! It is first broken up from the sward, manured with fifteen ox loads of manure to the acre,ploughed under and planted the first year with potatoes. As soon as the crop is off in the fall, twenty loads more of ma- nure are spread and ploughed under deep. The next spring, as much more manure is again spread on, and tliis again is ploughed under. By this time all that manure can do for the land has been done ; and the repeated ploughing both deep and nearer to the surface mixes tlie manure and soil, and makes the whole field like a garden bed. Land thus pre- pared must yield at least three-fold the usual crop. And yet, counting the cost in manure and labor, we are not sure that the farmer who has thus pre- pared his land be not decidedly the gainer. A suc- cessful first crop will more than repay him ; and the several succeeding crops on many kinds of land will continue in equal proportion for at least five years afterwards. Ten acres kept under cultiva- tion in this way will be of more value than thirty acres cultivated in the usual manner: it will pro- duce more in quantity at a less expense of labor, if not of manure. But our object was to thank friend Nowell for his unparalleled quantity of corn from a single kernel— fifteen hundred and eighty-four for one — at the rate of nearly sixteen hundred bushels from one bushel of seed. We shall plant this pro- duce of one kernel by itself, with no expectation that on ground well prepared our crop will be one half his jiroduct. If it should come up to one third, it will yield at the rate of more than a hundred bushels to the acre. dj'Wo regret that the beautiful " Song of the Husbandman" in the last number, which has at the instant been copied into other journals, should have been marred by the compositor substitutingjn the 8lli line of the 5th stanza the word country for couits, which happened more to injure the measure than the sense. Friend Hii-l, — Observing in the Exeter News Letter of last week an account of the product of a single kernel of corn raised in Stratham the last season, amounting to fourteen hundred kernels, I was induced to take the liberty to send thee for thy inspection, four ears of corn that I raised the last season from a single kernel. The ears thou mayest find by measurement are about thirty-four inches Insanity. Having seen a notice of the singular confession and death of Mr Samiel Drown in several pa- pers, and being convinced from the face of the statement that it was insanity and not crime that produced the confession, we are happy to find the accompanying commentary from the Vermont Pat- riot suggesting the same ideas that had passed in our own mind. Whoever has acquainted himself with repeated cases of derangement, and reflected at all on the subject, cannot fail to be struck with the similarity «fthe case under consideration which has undoubtebly amazed and terrified thousands of readers, with common cases of monomania. This disorder is as yet but little understood even by those who have taken the most pains to* inform them- selves— it consists in the simple, single step of con- verting imagination into reality. It as naturally follows some minds of a peculiar cast as any disease t'oUows its exciting caase — as fever follows severe cold, or colic the obstruction ofthe stomach and in- testines. Insanity is just as likely to charge itself as to charge others with imaginary crimes : it niakes itself Deity, and why should it notconstitute itself a Demon ? A great mistake, in our apprehension, is made frequently even by those who best under- stand insanity— it is, that the effect of it is set down as the cause. How frequently do we hear it said of whole families predisposed to insanity that drunkenness sometimes, and at other times a bad disposition, has made them miserable ; when the disorder running in the blood, according to the cir- cumstances in which each is placed, makes one an ungovernable maniac, another crazy at all times when he comes in the way of liquor, a third with a jiropensity to quarrel, and a fourth perhaps with an ungovernable predispositimi to pilfer.' Each and all of these various propensities, by the philosophic mind, may be traced back to that ancestral blood which niakes of some families maniacs, as it af- flicts others with rheumatism, oi gout, or palsy, and carries off others with consumption when tlieyj_ar- rive at a certain age. No man in this country probably practlijally so well understands Insanity and its remedies as that ex- cellent ]iliilanthropist, Doct. Samuel B. 'Wood- ward, principal ofthe Insane Hospital at Worces- ter, Massacliusetts. And we had been led to the remark relative to the change of effect forthe cause from seeing in the annual reports of the Worcester Hospital ^Ontrmperanee," Disappaint7nent,'' &.C.&C. set down against each name as the primary reason of derangement. Now we have no doubt that ex- ternal causes in almost every case contribute to the developement ofthe disorder: a hurt on the head, irregular habits of life, want of success in business, disaiqiointinent in anticipated or wished for connex- ions, too great a burden of care — one or more of these, may develope the propensity by open de- rangement ; nor do we doubt that the subject him- self, acquainted vi'ith the propensity, may set up a guard and watch against the effects of one or all the exciting causes. There are some cases that may not be developed till late in life : if the individual had died at sixty years of age, he never would have been deranged — living temperate all his days till eighty, the last ten years of his life were a scene of alternate depression and excitement, at one time conversing incoherently and incessantly, at another omitting to speak at all for a week or month ; and having the strongest impressions that the merest illusions are substantial realities. If we do not mistake, the Drown family in New Hamp.'ihire is one in which there has been now and then an individual case in successive generations of heredit.ary insanity. If Samuel Drown be of the same family, and if his confession be the con- sequence of an illusion that had long dwelt on a diseased inind — what injustice is done to his mem- ory, from the imputation which he has seemed to cast upon himself.' We would go far and labor long to reicue the name of a meritorious and prob- ably ft religions man from the infamy which such a story, if credited, will cast upon him. Ed. Visitor. [Ftnni tlio Vennniil Patriot. Confession of Horrid Crime. — A communi- cation under the above caption, and over the signa- ture of Elder Zebina Young, "a respectable and es- teemed minister ofthe Free Will Baptist connex- ion," (s.-tys the JS'urtk Star,) appeared in the St. Johasbury Caledonian two weeks since, and has al- ready been extensively copied. The character of the facts stated fully justifies the application ofthe title prefixed to the article. They are briefly tliese: Mr. Samuel Druicn died in Wheelock, in this Slate, on the 21 st of March, aged 71. He was born in Rochester, N. H., and made a profession of reli- gion at about 30 years of age— about 30 years ago removed to Vt., where he has resided till his death, with the exception of occasional absences for a few months — always appeared much engaged in reli- gion till within throe or four weeks of his death. We quote from the article in question : — "About the last of February he began to inquire of different individuals " if tJieij had heard any bad reports about htm: it seems that his sin began to find him out, and he thought it must be, that the peopU had made the same discovery. It was not long before his anxiety was increased to the most dreadful mental distress, and frequent- ly he said, he "must confess," but appeared unwil- linir to do so. After continuing a while in this sit- uation he exclaimed "I must confess ! ' and began to say he had been "deceiving the people more than twenty years," he had made great pretensions to religion and all the while lived in the practice of gross "sin I He confessed that he had practised theft to some extent and named different articles which he had stolen at different times, and also that he h,\d ! ! but no, for the sake ofthe living I leave it blank, — let oblivion draw her dark veil over this part of his confession. But yet he could not die, nor could he rest; ho stole away from the family where he lived, (his irrand-son's) with a butcher knife attempted to cut his throat, but while his left hand was employed in making his throat bare for the knife, one of his fin- gers was so situated that it received almost the whole force that he applied to the knife, and his throat was cut but little, but his finger was cut nearly half oft'. He continued in great mental distress and said that there was another act of his life which he should have to confess, which was trorse than all 70 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. the rest ! and when lie confessed that, It would "set the world all in an uproar." At diflLTont times he would appear nioie and more uneasy, and a:iy, "/ 7nust confess, 1 bu!st co.nfk?^." lie requested at different times, that one would go aside with him, for the purpose of hearing liini confess, and when there his courage setMueil to fail, and he would not tell what it was, and finally said he never would confess it until th:- d.iy of his execution ! He often spoke of a dreadl'ul Ijuvning he iiad within him, and when asked wiiat lie n.-tunt by it? "O"' said he, '*m// conscience .'"' A short time before he died it seemed n3 though the ALMIGHTY ext'jrted from him a confession of the horrid deed ; he said at a certain time wht^n he was in Cau''da (;d.eu|. i::*^ years ago) near the Three Rivers, he KILLI'.D A MAN. Someone asked him if he rerilly killed'him.' lie said ye.s, "I took up a slake, and struck an awful blow, and kil- led him DEAD." He said he stuck the slake up by the river, and Vruk all his money. While he was makincr tliis confession, and acting over the dreadl'ul inotions, liis eves and his v.'liole visage were frighUul in the extreme, so much did he appear like a di'in 'ii 1 Soon after th's iie beg^in to die, and was dylngoO hours! The olde.st iters^ns pr'^s.-nt, say tiiev nev- er saw such a dyi:rT s-^ene before. He v.'ould e.\- claim, "0, / r(7M/.fJi' r/'e .' I e.^NNOT i>ie ! I I CAN- NOT DIE ! : ! He stni.l:^ riirlit before me staring nie in the face ; liow bi:'.ck iiis f ice looks !" He was attended by pious friends and neighbors, but if they proposed to pray with liim he forbid it, and when any one prayed, it kindled him up into a rage that is past description !" Whatever opinions others may entertain of this matter, we must confess we have doubts as to the accuracy of the testimony which the unfortunate man left against himself, ll seems that llie whole tenor of his life stands in contradiction to it. Had he been sane and felt impelled by the imperious dictates of a guilty conscience to e.ypose to the world the depth and darkness of his crime, would he not have furnished such particulars as would have enabled the world to trace out and estalilish tlie murderous deed, independent of this confession .' Instead of that, we have no particulars. The name, the residence, the occupation and circumstances of his victim are all omitted. Even the inducement to the commission of the act is left to be inferred from the declaration that he "took all his money" — which, for all that ajipears, might have been an after-thought. In short, it would be well to be fully satisfied that a man was murdered at or about the time, and place, mentioned, before we render a verdict against tlie deceased ; for we pretend to s.ay that the whole narrative bears evidence of insanitv, or monomonia, of the individual. Lancaster, May 1S39. Hon. I. Hii.L, — Dear Sir : — Believing a knowl- edge of Geology is more important to the practi- cal farmer, tiian has heretofore been urged, I pro- pose to communicate such hints and suggestions, as may occur to my mind, in the hope, "that our SiUimans, Colmans, Jacksons, Comstocks, and otli- er scientific gentlemen will favor the public with more of their revised researches, on a subject so useful and interesting ; not doubting but the can- dor of intelligent men will be extended to a hum- ble inquirer after truth, even should their respect for his opinions be withheld. It is to be regretted, tliai the human mind, in all ages of the world, has been so prone to tiie mar- vellous; and although strong minds, science and the arts, have in some measure, substituted trutii for credulity, yet tliere still exists a strong propensity towards what is my.slerious and unaccountable, rather than towards the plain truths exhibited by the laws of Nature's God. The great controversy about the means employ- ed by our beneficent Creator, in giving to this earth its present appearance, seems to have been carried on, by some, with an eye to the prejudices of man- kind, and by others, to' sustain preconceived opin- ions, without due regard to the facts scattered eve- ry where before us and p.nrticularly over what is called primitive formations. May we not believe, and will it not in the course o" time be demonstrated, that when "the eaith was without form, and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep ; and the spirit of God moved upon the face of tlie waters," that all tbe solid matter, now composing the earth, was held (in the language of Werner) in "aqueous solution ?" And by the well known laws ot aptitude, affinity or at- traction, which not only govern animal, vegetable, but inert matter, rocks vvere then formed, and dis- posed, not in strata according to their specific grav- ity, but in accordance with the parts first consoli- idated and their kindred liquid matter floating in contact. And that aquatic animals were then form- ed, each after its kind, and probably many, whose species are now extinct. When we consider that law of the Almighty, which gives to fluids their vast power of expansibility and extreme contrac- tion, will it not account, in some degree, for the immense extension of water at the beginning, and its greatly diminished dimensions at the present time .' The magnificent and most minute appearances in our country (and I believe the same is true in oth- er parts of the Globe) all corroborate this doctrine, our mountains (exce]>t those of volcanic origin) lakes, rivers, higli and lov.- alluvial land, and even our ponds and rivulets, the Bay of Naples, remov- al of the sea from Ravenna and many other places in the Mediterranean, the Baltic, Red sea, the withering regions of Afr'.;a, progressive sands in Egypt, the desolation of Edoin, diminished fertilit)' of Palestine, of Syria and of Arabia ; all conspire to prove, that the waters on this ball are receding, or in other words, are constantly changing into oth- er substances, such as marble, cluy, coral, and otii- er solid matter; so that without any change in tiie laws of Nature, this Globe will ultimately be fit- ted for the grand catastrophe predicted and be- lieved. Anal'i-''^8 =^t Clarenion-, where this Ciw was procured, all the definite information Mr.Bryant has been able to obtain is, that the "o-rind- sire of the Calf was a full-blouded D.,rharu short horn. Tlie cow as ne-^r as can be ascertained, is half blood Durham : on the s,ue of the cow has been raised some of the best cattle in Clareni.nt." The weiglit of the cow is a little over twelve hundred pounds-that of the calf very near twelve hundred pounds. His g.rtli is si.x feet two inches : his age is now (April 10) ciiri.teei months. ' / ^ ^" The calf is an animal of the most perfect prnporiions. His form seems 'o nnite tlie ezcellcncies of many breeds of cattle. The splendid ox raised by ISAAC Hl-rbard, Esq. of Clareinont, which was exhibited ■ •■ ■ -■' several weeks about one year ago, was from the sn the same breed with Mr. Bryan-fs steer. That oxi wc believe, when h-re exceeded ,our thousand pounds in weight : he vet at the same age is said not to have weighed so much as this beautiful cnlf now weighs The production ofsucli animals as the Hubbard ox and BVyantenlf is proof that no part of the world can furnish better cattle than "the Connecticut nver valley. 1 he first and second tiers of towns in New Hampshire on the east side of Connecticut nver are invariably composed of first rate lands for rearing cattle and sheep : the hill towns, elevated several hundred feet above the nver, if tliey are not m part marie up of same of the most fertile inler- vale meadows in the world-not to bo exceeded even bv the exuberance of the bottom lands of the rivers of the West— have their advantages more healUiy air of a higher elevation and their freedom from the foo- tunes producing mildew to the grains. Uf all tlie Co Clareraont.situated about fifty miles due west from the political capita! of the Mate, IS considered to be one of the best, if not the verv best. The town of Cornish intervenes on the river between Clr.remont and'riainfield, where the ' ealf andhis dam are now kept ; and these towns for improved as net ' settled as soon as Keene by nearly thirty years. To show the slow pra^re=s made by be first .ettlers of New England, what is now Hinsdale, ti/e south- westerly town of New Hampshire on the Connecticut river, was commenced ' as early as lob2— it was then a part of Northlield in Massachusetts ' W. istrnnsporied about the country as an object more v>-ortby for exhibition than the lion or the elephant, he is so delicately treated as to be carried, rather than carrv as a beast of burtlien. The Bryant steer is yet truly a calf, because ho cont'uuesat the age of eighteen months to nurse his mother. But men of inde- pendent property really do a great service to the public by raising and keep- ing such creatures as these. They excite the ambition of every farmer to raise and keep a good yoke of oxen, a good cow and such young kine as j grow up into the most beautiful and comely of the beast kind. A farmer's I working cattle, which are trained to almost every service requiring strength, I are his comfort and his convenience : a farmer's herd of cows, producing ths , better part of the food wliich his family daily consumes— the emblem of "filial j and parental affection— deserve his constant c.Tie and attention. I To the superior fertility of the soil in the region of the Connecticut river I valley is undoubtedly due their larger, fatter and better cattle. The advan- j tnge of pastur.ige and summer keeping alone will give a better size to cattle; me neir.-1-borbnod „„1 r' V'^ ^'"'"' P'''*''"'''"^ ^°^^^ on tiie highlands and in tlie "valley are much better than me nei^l.horliood and of, Uiosc to the eastward. Nevertheless, the fine working oxen and the superior niilcli cows on the seaboard show that artificial means, and not excellent pas- turage alone, may make first rate catile. Our opinion is, that every where the cattle may be improved by winter keeping. The root culture.the production oi ruta baga, English turnips, beets and carrots, is calculated not only to im- prove our cattle, but greatly to increase their numbers. In ordinary years these roots may be raised at an expense of from six to twelve cents the bush- el. With either ruta baga, beets or carrots, the quantltv of milk may be in- creased from one third lo one half over the quantitv obtained simply irom the best of dry hay— with thc-m, oxen will work and thrive on ordinary hay dur- ing the winter— and with them, calves and young cattle may be kept growinu- not less tlirifly in winter than in summer. The root culture, entered upon nnect'cut river towM<= ' r'"* P'^'sued with sjiirlt, will enable farmers who have hard and dry grounds , .: , '.'..''!?■}=> for the production of hay, with ease to double the numbers of their cattle. If ceil.irs imder tlieir barns can be prepared to keep these roots, it will bo well. With capacious cellars in tlie houses, many hundred bushels of roots inay be kept in safisty : they will not suffer injury from frost until mid-winter It covered deep in a bay of hay in the barn. Some farmers put them under an artificial cover of the side hill of a field so as to be conveniently opened in the winter. in the : some- ' Where pasturage is poor or scanty, its place may be profitably supplied with green feed ; and this is sometimes done. A small field of Lucerne or • lonn -. „ amfield 1,5,-1. The ajricuUural products of Claremont .nl820 were 30,000 lbs. of butter, .-".o.OOO lbs. cheese, 13.5,000 lbs. beef iVo,' 000 lbs. pork, 7,500 lbs. fiax, and 1 1 ,000 barrels of Cider. Corn'sh the same year produced 26,000 lbs butter, G.-5,000 lbs. cheese, J'22,000 lbs" beef loS 000 lbs. pork, 8 300 lbs flax, and IfirQ b„„Hs cider. IMauifield is n^w' abou the^same size of €ornish, and its produce is very little less or more than that The towns which we have just been considering are Inhabited by a popula- tion of farmers which lor intelligence and real indepencence may v'e with any other similar populatioi, of the world. The " cattle upon their thousand hills bear witness of their knowledge and advance in agriculture. That the breeds of our cattle may be much improved by the introduction of improved atock from abroad will not admit of doubt; but not less even deperids on improved breeds than upon the manner in which cattle are kept, and the soil on which they are kept. Every farmer cannot afford to raise and keep such creatures as the Hubbard ox and the Bryant steer. Those animals must be kept more to gratify the curiosity and the pride than to benefit the purs, their owners ; for they are carefully and expensively attended w " the slightest service. The Hubbard here as at Brigliton." " 'rVhat is your price for pair of steers are four years old — ihey girt over passed the street this d.ay (April 30) from Vermont for tlie Brighton market. " Are these exclusively for siaughter, or are they woikino- oxen '" "I havo , both, and had as lief scf ' , wcrking oxen .'' "That seven feet each— I will s.dj them for one hundred and seventy-five dollars ! Th^s pr^cc, v.e confess, does not come up to that of our friend'iJryant of Ken- I tucky, for his Durham short horns ; but if the farmers of interio'r New Eng- land can obtain for a single yoke of steers at four years of age, brought up m the ordinary way, so high a standard price as one" hundred and seventy. five dollars, they may grow rich simply from the growth of their flocks while they aie resting t>om their labors. Cut norm.— A friend inlorms us that he succeeded in destroyincr cut worms by watering ground infested bv them with brine in which liar.rs had been preserved, diluted with a large proportion of water. In his first ap Iihcation he destroyed some of his vegetables, as well as the worms. In con- sequence of using the brine without diluting it sufliclently. In succeediucr thout doing ^ trualshe attained his object, and destroyed the wonn witiiout injuring the ve° of ver worked a day ; and now that he getablcs.— A'. £. Far THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 73 (F.g. 18 ) (F.g. 15.) (FifT. ^ro (Fig. 17.) On Improved Short Horus. From a valuable p:.por on the ^* Points b}? wliich Live Stock are judged," contained in the Edin- burgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, furnished by James Dickson, an eminent cattle dealer, we make the foUowintj extracts ; — " When we survey the frame of a short-horn ox, we liave a straight level back from behind tliL* horns to the top of the tail, full buttocks, and a projecting brisket; we liave, in short, the rectangular form, as represented in a side view by Fig. 15; we Iiave, also the level loin across the hook bones, and the level top of the sitoulder across the ox, and perpendicular lines down the hind and fore legs on both sides, these constituting the square form, when the ox is viewed before and liohind, as represented in Fig's 16 and 17 ; and we have straight parallel lines from the sides of the shoulders along tlie utmost points of the ribs to th'^ sides of the hind quarters ; and we have these lines connected at their ends by others of shorter and equal length, across tlie end of the rump and the top of the shoulder, thus con- stituting the rectangular form of the ox wlien viewed from above down upon the back, as represented by Fig. IS. We have in this mamter, the form of the short-horn ox and heifer in perfect accordance with the diagrams of the rule. Further, I sliould be inclined to assert, although I hava not directed my attention to the fact sufficient- ly to bo able to prove the assertion from examples, tliat the cross of a full fed symmetrical short- horn ox, included wltliin the rectangle, is in length double its depth, and its depth equal to its breadth. Hence, Fig'slG and 17 arc squares, and Fig's 15 and 18oach two similar squares, jtlaced in juxtaposition. The short horn bull deviates from the rule in a rising of the neck, a dependence under tlie brisket, and a fulness of the neck vein ; the cow only a little from the ox or heifer, in a thinness in the buttocks ; and besides this, when aged, in an enlargement of the belly, and mostly, though not always, in ahoUowness in the loins. The form, therefore, of the slmrt-horn breed is perfect accordin;^ to the rule. In its points that for quantity and well laid on beef, the short-horn ox is quite full in avery valuable part, such as along the back, including the fore ribs, tlie surloins and rumps, in tiie runners, Hanks, buttocks, and twist, and in the neck and brisket as inferior parts. In regard to quality of beef, the fat boars a due and even preponderating proportion to the lean, the fibres of which are fine and well mix- ed, and even marbled with ftt, nnd abundantly juicy. The fine, thin, clean bone of tlie legs and liead, with the soft mellow touch of the skin, and the benign aspect of the eye, indicate in a remarkable dc- oree, the disposition to fatten ; while the uniform colors of the skin, red or white, or both, commixed in various degrees — bare, cream-colored skin on the nose and around the eyes, and fine tapering white or liglit-colored horn: — mark distinctly the purity of the blood. The points of blood and quality, and quantity of beef, apply equally to the bull, the row, and tlie heifer, as to the ox. Combining all these properties of points and form, we shall find thit the siiort-horn breed illustrates, in a very satisfactory manner, tiie application of the general rule which has been explained. On account of ita valuable properties, this breed demands further illustration. The external appearance of the short-horn breed is irresistibly attractive. The exquisitely symmetri- cal form of the body in every position, bedecked with a skin of the riclicst hues of red and the ricliest white, approacliing to cream, on both colors, so arranged or comm!vert hoofs, larg-j and much deptli of thr fun- quarter. Not remarka- ble for quantity of milk, but its milk yields a great deal of cream. Variously colored, but generally has a white streak alon^ the sptne. The improved Leicester i:- a variety of this breed. 2d. The short horned. —These include the Hold- erness, Teesicatcr^ Yorkshire, Durham, and JS'orth- unihcrland breeds. They are considered tlic mowt improved kinds, producing the greatest quantity of milk, and arriving at the greatest weight, nnd are generally preferred overall others for the dairy and the shambles. Some individuals have been fed to twenty-one hundred the four quarters. 3d. The middle horned. — These include the De- rort, Hereford and Sussex breeds Tliey do not produce as much milk as the former, but generally fatten well younger. The flesh on the Devon is the most esteemed, but it is not so large a race as cither of the others. — They are all active and har- dy animals, and fine for the yoke. 4th. The Polled breeds.-— The most valuable of these is the Galloway. It is not large, weighing, generally, above five hundred ichcii not recfularly fattened, of a fine form, and ii said to retain its flesh and not to lose weiglit by driving to market. The Suffolk Duns, are a variety of this race. 5th. The Highland breeds. — These are various- ly colored, and generally badly formed, but they are said to yield milk abundantly, and to fatten rapidly. Gth. The Welch breeds. — Of these tliero are two distinguished ; one considered a cros-i from tho long-horned, and esteemed next to the Devon for the draught ; the other is lower in stature, black in color, and well made, and fine for the dairy. 7tli. The Alderncy or Gitcrnsei/, is a small breed, with crumpled horns, and frequently badly formed. In this last peculiarity they have been lately much improved. Thih colors, generally yellow or lig'lit red. The genuine Alderney is described as having the color within the ears yellow, also the root of the tail and the tuft at the end of the tail. Are good milkers and make fine beef. Although the Frcncii have not bestowed the same attention upon the improvement of these animals as the English, they have, however, several fine breeds. All of these have been classed into two di- visions : the first called " Bivfiis de haute erue," or those of a middle or small stature ; have a fierce look, thick hide, large dewlap, black or greenish horns, and live in the mountamous departments." The second are called " Htcfm de nature. ' Stature large or middle sized, In-ad and body small, horns white, hide thin, hair soft, and of a mild aspect. Belonging to the low and level lands, and consti- tute the Cholets, Nantz, Anjou, Marcais, Breton, Mans, Dutch, Cotentin, and Bomtois breeds." We are disposed to consider tlie hardy and active cattle of NffW England as belonging to the middle horned, and probably tlie Devon breed. If so, they have mucli improved in that climate, as they frt^uently develope great size. Attention to breed- ing from those of the best characters and forms of animals, already acclimated and showing propensi- ties to improve, is always a successful course, and is the basis of the improvements in England. For- eign crOEsea from improved stocks are doubtless advantageous, but these should be introduced with caution into climatea differing essentially from that from which the improved stock is derived, and great care should be observed that the stock intro- duced is not of a tender family, requiring much at- tention and stall-feeding, so opposed to the Jiablts of our country, aud so mucli beyond our goueral means, and also from the prices of labor and food, rather an ?inprofitable course. FVoiii ihtj rUilatlelplii:^ Kariiifi'« Cabinet. The Dairy. The properties of a good milk house are, that it be cool in summer, and moderately warm in win- ter, so as to preserve a temperature of about 45 de- drees throughout the whole year ; and tliat it bo dry, so as to admit of it being kept clean and sweet at all times. A buttrr daiiy nhould consist of three apartments — a milk house, a churning house witJi a proper boiler, and other conveniences for scalding and waslnng the implements, which should be dried out doors when the weather will permit. Tho choe;»e dairy should likewise eonuitit 74 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. of tliree npartmcnta — a milk housr, ascaldinff and prfs^ino- liouso, and a salting liousp. To these slnnilil he added a ciieesc room, or loft. A d:tiry for a small family may be formed in a thick walled, dry celhir, havioLf windows on the north and east sides, wliich are jtreferahle for ventilation. In winter these windows should have double sashes, and in summer, a fixed frame of close wire net- ling, or liair cloth, to exclude flies and other in- sects In most places cows are milked twice in twenty- four hours, througliout the year. Where quantity of milk or cheese is an object, tliree times milking must he preferable, but as twelve liours are neces- sary for the due preparation of tlie milk in tlie cow, it must be inferior in quality if drawn more than twice a day. Wliatever be th^.^ times of milking, the milk should be drawn off clear ; otherwise, what is left will be reabsorbed into the system, and no more be generated tlian is requisite to supply the quantity actuliy drawn. The milker, whether a man or a woman, ought to be mild in manners, and good tempered. If the operation is performed harslily, it becomes painful to the cow, who in this case ollen brings into action her faculty of retain- ing her milk at jiloasure ; but if gently performed, it seems rather to give pleasure. When cows are ticklish, tiiey should be treated with the most sooth- ing gentleness, and never with harshness or F '-erity ; and wlien the udder is hard and painful, it .:iiouid be tenderly fom.ented with lukewarm wa- ter, and stroked gently ; by which simple expedi- ent the cow will be brought into gjod temper, and wdl yield iier milk without hesitation. Whenever the teats of cows become scratclied, or wounded, so as to produce foul or corrupted milk, it oKght, on no account, to be mixed with the sweet milk, nor carried into the milk house, lest it should taint the atmosphere, and thus prove injurious to the rest of the milk. Cowssliould be milked as near the dairy as pos- sible, in order to prevent the necessity of carrying and cooling the nnlk before it is jmt into the crea- ming dishes. Every cow's milk should he kept separate till the peculiar properties of eacli are so well known as to admit of their being well classed, when those that are most nearly allied, may be mixed together. Thw very best quality of butter can only be economically made in those dairies where cheese is also made ; because in them the best part of each cow's milk (the last drawn off) can be set apart for tlirowing up cream, the best part of the cream (the first separated) can be taken in order to make into butter, and tlie remainder, or all the real of the milk and cream of tlie dairy, can be turned into cheese. The spontaneous separa- tion of cream, and the production of butter, are never affected but in consequence of the produc- tion of acid in the milk. Hence it is, that where the whole milk is set apart for the separation of cream, and the wliole of the cream is separated, tlie milk must necessarily have turned sour beforr it is made into clieese ; and no very excellent cheese can be made from milk whicii has once at- tained that state. nntion, for at least ten or twelve j'cars, if care be had not to crop it too severely ; while, with all practical precautions, the stable manure must be renewed at least three times in that interval, to maiuLain in the soil a corresponding degree of vig- or. " A specimen of tlie marl from .Thorp's lowest layer yielded me, after reiterated trials, uniformly about the foUowinrr, for its composition : Sllicia 43,40 Protoxide of iron 21,60 Alumni G,40 Lime 10,40 Potash 14,48 Water 4,40 Marl— Its Nature and Effects. The following extract from Professor lingers' late Geographical Report, will give our agricultu- ral readers some more distinct idea of this remark- able, and recently talked off manure, wiiich a- bounds in Monmouth and other counties of New Jersey. Marl, or green mineral, loses nothing of its po- tency by a long exposure, even of years, to water and the atmosphere ; in other words, it is not dis- solved, or decomposed, or changed by the ordinary atmospheric agents which react so powerfully up- on many other minerals, and consequently we are to regard it is nearly tact, with it to effect its de- composition, by the vital power of their organs, and iinbibe a portion of some of its constituent.^. " Mr. Wooley manured a piece of land inT.he proportion of two hundred loads of good stable manure to the acre, applying upon an adjacent tract of the same soil, his marl in the ratio of aliout twenty loads per acre. The crops which were clo- ver and timothy, were much the heaviest up-m tlie section which had received the marl ; and there was this additional fact greatly in favor of the fos- sil manure, over the putrescent one, that the soil enriched by it, was entirely free of weeds, while tlie stable manure rendered Its own crop very foul. *' This being an experiment, an extravagantly large dressing of manure was employed, but not exceeding the usual average application, more than twenty loads of marl surpassed wliat was necessary for it. " Experience has already sliown tliat land once amply marled, retains it« fertility with littlw dimi- 99,68 in 100 grains. In connexion with the foregoing extracts we add a few facts and experiments collected from the gen- tlemen whose names are used : — Messrs. Tunis, and John B. Forman say, that they have used Squancum Marl at the rate of 100 bushels to the acre, on very poor, worn out, cold clay land ; the product of the first year was 'M) bushels of buckwheat to the acre — and the second year (it being sowed the year before with clover and hi-rd) it cut a ton or more of good hay per acre, after which about 100 bushels of marl per acre were scattered over the seed, and it now yields two tons of good hay to the acre. They have also resuscitated mowing ground after it had become too poor to produce a crop, by spread- ing 100 bushels of marl per acre over the sod, and the effect was to mellow the soil, and produce two tons of hay to the acre ; the hay produced was of a superior quality, and free from weeds. One hun- dred bushels of marl to the acre of land, so poor as to have been considered useless, will raise a crop of from 1*2 to 20 bushels of rye per acre, and leave a fine sod of white clover. From three pints to two quarts of marl per hill of potatoes (the hills three feet apart on poor ground) has produced from 200 to '2r70 bushels per acre. They have found tiie marl a superior manure for turnips and garden truck In general. The effect of marling lands planted with apple trees, is as- tonishing in improving the trees and fruit. They have known marl to be spread on a bog mea- dow, and to cause double the quantity of superior hay to be produced. A neighbor of theirs, a few years since, sowed out of a basket, about 100 bush- els of marl, on three or four acres of very poor land, and reaped about 100 bushels of buckwheat. Dr. Forman states, that two or three years a 'o he broke up a small piece of land, which he for 40 years had considered too poor to plough, an acre ; applied 100 bushels of marl per acre ; the land produced a good crop of rye and has cut a ton of clover hay per acre every year since. He also states that Squancum Marl vi'as first used about 30 j^ears ago by Derlck Chamberlain, under the name of crcch mud; it caused tlie piece of land thus ma- nured, to produce double the quantity it had done before, and the effect on the laiid is still visible. — Franklin Mercury. pork should be slashed. Pieces of pork alternately fat and lean, are the most suitable ; tlie cheeks are the best. Tiiev should be just covered with water when put into tlie oven ; and the pork should be sunk a little below the surface of the beans. Bake th ee or four hours. Stewed beans are prepared in the same w?y. The only difference is tli^-y are not taken out of the scalding' water, but are allowed to stew in more wa- ter, with a piece of pork and a little pepper, three hours or more. Dried peas need not be soaked over night. They should be stewed slowly four or five hours in con- siderable water, with a piece of pork. The older beans and peas are, the longer they should cook. Indeed this is the case with all vegetables. Souse. — Pig's feet, ears, &c. should be cleaned after being soaked in water not \ery hot ; the hoofs will then come off easily with a sharp knife; the hard, rough places should be cut off; they should be thoroughly singed, and then boil as much as four or five hours, until they are too tender to be taken out with a fork. When taken from the boil- ing water, it should be put into cold water. After it is packed down tight, boil the ji'Uy like liquor in which it was cooked with an equal quantity of vin- egar, salt as you think fit, and cloves, allspice, and cinnamon, at ths rate of a quarter of a pound to one hundred weight ; to be poured on sccildlng hot. Tripe. — Tripe should be kept in cold water, or it TIIE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE. Common Cooking. Suiisanrrs. — Three tea-spoons of powdered sage, one and a half of salt, and one of pepper, to a pound of meat, is good seasoning for sausages. Mince meat. — There is a great difference in pre- paring mince meat. Some make it a coarse, unsa- vory disli; and others n.ake it nice and palatable. No economical housekeeper will desj)ise it ; for broken bits of meat and vegetables cannot so v.'ell be dispnsed of in any other way. If you wish to have it nice, mash your vegetables fine, and chop your meat very fine. Warm it with what remains of sweet grav3', or roast-meat drippings, you ma^' happen to have. Two or three apples, pared, cor- ed, sliced, and fried, to mix witli it, is an im])rove- ment. Some like a little sifted sage sprinkled in. It is generally "considered nicer to chop your meat fine, warm it in gravy, season it, and lay it upon a large slice of toasted bread to he brouirht upon the table without being mixi--d with potatoes ; but if you have cold vegetables, use them. Bciins a/td Peas. — Baked beans are a very simple dish, yet few cook them well. They should be put in cold water, and hung over th'j fire, the night he- fore they are baked. In the morning they should be jiul in a cullender and rinsed two or three times. Then again placed in. a kettle, with tlie pork you intend to bake, covered with water, and kept scal- ding iiot, an hour or more. A pound of pork is quite enough for a quart of bean?, and this is a large dinner for a common family. The rind of tlio will become too dry for cooking. The water in which it is kept should be changed more or less frequently, according to the warmth of the weath- er. Broiled like a steak, buttered, peppered, &c. Some people like it prepared like souse. Gravy. — Most people put half a pint of flour and water into their tin-kitchen, when they set meat down to roast. This does very well ; but gravy is better flavored and looks darker, to shake flour and salt upon the meat, let it brown thoroughly, put flour and salt on again, and then baste the meat with about half a pint of hot water, (or more, ac- cording to the gravy you want.) When the meat is about done, pour these drippings into a skillet, and let it boil. If it is not thick enough shake in a little flour ; but be sure to let it boil, and be well stirred, after the flour is in. If you fear it will be too greasy, take oft' a cupful of the fat before you boil. The fiit of beef, pork, turkeys and geese is as good for shortenlniTa:i lard. Salt gravy to yonr taste. If you are very paiticular about dark gra- vies, keep your drudglng-box full of scorched flour for that purpose. Poultry. — There are various ways of deciding a- bout the age of poultry. If the bottom of tlie breast bone, which extend^ down between the legs, is soft, and gives easily, it is a sign of youth ; if stiff*, the poultry is old. If young, the legs are lighter, and the feet do not look so hard, stiff, and worn. There is more deception in geese than in any other kind of poultry. The above remarks are ap- plied to them; but there are othersigns more infal- lible. In a young goose the cavity under the wings is very tender ; it is a bad sign if you can- not, with very little trouble, push your finger di- rectly into the flesh. There is another means by which you may decide whether a gouse he tender, if it be frozen or not. Pass the head of a pin along the breast, or sides, and if the goose he young, the skin will rip, like fine paper under a knife. Something may be judged concerning the age of a goose by tlie thickness of the web between the tots. Wlien young, this is tender and transparent; it grows coarser and harder with time. In broiling chickens it is diflicult to do the in- side of tiie tliickest pieces without scorching the outside. It is a good plan to parboil tliem about ten minutes In a spider ort^-Mllet, covered clo^e to keep the stoam in; then put them upon the grldi- nm, broil nnd butter. It is u g<»od plan to cuver them v.'.th a plate, wlitle on the gridiron. They may be basted with a very little of the water in which tliey were broiled ; and if ycu have compa- ny whi) like melted butter to pour upon tJie chick- en, tiie remainder of tlie liquor will be good use for that purpose. An hour Is enough for common sized chickens to roast. A smart fire is better than a slow one ; but they must be tended closely. Slices of bread but- tered, salted, and peppered, put into the stomach (not tiie crop) is excellent. Chickens should boil about an hour. If old they should boil longer. In as little water as will cook them. Chieken-broth made like mutton-broth. A common sized goose should roast full three quarters of an hour. The oil that drips from it should be nearly all turned off; it makes the gravy THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 75 too greasy ; and it is nice for shortening-. It shonld first be turneil into cold water; wlicn Inudcned, it s!iid water is proper sauce f jr boiled lamb, mutton, venl, turkies, geese, chickens, and fish. Some people cut up parsley fine, and throw in. Some people like capers put in. Others heat oys- ters through on the trr'.diron, and take them out of shells, and throw '.hem into the butter. A good sized turkey should be roasted two hours and a half, or threL- hours ; very slowly at first. If you wish to make plain stuffing, pound a crack- er, or crumble some bread very fine, chop some raw salt pork very fine, sift some sage, (and sum- mer-savory, or sweet marjnrum if you have them in the house, and fancy them) and mould them all together, seasoned with a little pepper. An egg worked in makes the stuft'ing cut better; but it is not worth while, when eggs are dear. About the same length of time is required for boiling and roasting. Pigeons may he eitlier roasted, potted, or stew- ed. Potting is the best, and t'.ie least trouble. Af- ter they arc thoroughly picked and cleansed, put a small slice of salt porli and a little ball of stuffing into the body of every pigeon. The stuffing should be made of one egg to one cracker, an equal quan- tity of suet, or butter, seasoned with sweet mar- jorum, or sage, if marjorum cannot be procured. Flour the pigeons well, lay them close together in the bottom of the pot, just cover them with water, throw in abit of butter, and let ihem stew an hour and a quarter, if young ; an hour and three quar- ters, if old. Some people turn off the liquor just before they are done, and lirown the pigeons on the bottom of the pot ; but this is very troublesome, as they are apt to break to pieces. Stewed pigeons ere cooked in nearly the same way, with the omis.sion of the stuffing. Being dry meat they require a good deal of butter. Pigeons should be stuffed and roasted about fif- teen minutes before a smart fire. Those who like birds just wnrmcd through, would perhaps think less lime necessar}^ It makes them nicer to butter them well just before you take them off the spit, and sprinkle them witli nicely pounded bread, or cracker. All poultry should be basted, and floured a f^'W minutes before it is taken up. The age of pigeons can be judged by the color of the legs. When young tlicy are of a pale del- icate brown ; as they grow older the color is deep- er and redder. A nice v/ay of serving up cold chicken or pieces of cold fresh meat, is to make them into a meat pie. The gizzards, livers, and necks of poultry parboiled, arc good for the same purpose. If you wisli to bake your meat pie, line a deep earthen or tin pan with paste made of flour, cold water, and lard ; use but little lard, for the fat of the meat will shorten the crust. Lay in your bits of meat, or chicken, with two or three slices of salt pork ; place a fev/ tliin slices of your paste hero and there; drop in an egg, if you have plenty. Fill the pan with flour and water, seasoned with a little pepper and silt; If the meat be very lean, put in a piece of butter, or such sweet gravies as you may happen to have. Cover the top with crust, and put it in the oven, or bake-kettle, to cook twenty minutes or half an hour, or an hour, according to the size of the pie. Some people think this the nicest way of cooking whole chickens. When thus cooked they should be parboiled before they are jiut into the pan, and the water they are boiled in should be added. They need to be baked fif- teen minutes longer than meat previously cooked. If you wish to make a pot pie instead of a baked pie, you have only to line the bottom of a porridge pot with paste, lay in your meat, season and moist- en it in the same way, cover it with paste, and keep it slowly stewing about tlie same time that the oth- er takes. In both ca.ses it is well to lift the upper crust a little while before you take up the pie, and see whetlier the moistrre has dried away; if so pour in flour and water well mixed. Potatoes should be boiled in a separate vessel. If vou have fear that poultry may become musty before yi 1.1 want to cook it, skin an onion and put cut it up very fine to be put into the gravy, while the fowl.i are cooking ; in this case, the water they are boiled in should be used to make the gravy. Fish. — Cod has white stripes, and a hadduck black stripes ; they may be known apart by this. Hadduck is the best for frying ; and cod is the best for boiling, or for r^ chowder. A thin tail is a sign of a poor fish ; always choose a thick fisli. When you are buying mackerel pinch the belly to ascertain whether it is good. It it gives under your finger, like a bladder half filled with wind, the fish is poor ; if it feels hard like butter, the fish is good. It is cheaper to buy one large mack- erel for nine pence, than two for four pence half- penny. Fish should not be put in to fry until the fat is boiliuThot; it is very necessary to observe this. It should be dipped in Indian meal before it is put in ; and the skinny side uppermost, when firjt put in, to prevent its breaking. It relishes better to be fried after salt pork, than to be fried in lard alone. People are mistaken, who think fresh fish should be put into cold water, as soon as it is brought in- to the house ; soaking it in water is injurious. If you want to keep it sweet, clean it, wash it, wipe it dry with a clean towel, sprinkle salt inside and out, put it in a covered dish, and keep it on the celliir floor, until you want to cook it. If you live re- mote from the seaport, and cannot get fish while haril and fresh, wet it with an egg beaten, before you meal it, to prevent its breaking. Fish irravy is very much improved by taking out some of the fat, after the fish is fried, and putting in a little butter. The fat thus taken out will do to fry fish again ; but it will not do for any kind of shortening. Shake in a little flour into the hot fat, and pour in a little boiling water ; stir it up well as it boils a minute, or so. Some people put in vine- gar ; but this is easily added by those who like it. A common sized cod fish should be put in when the water is boiling hot, and boil about twenty min- utes. Hadduck is not as good for boiling as cod ; it takes about the same time to boil. A piece of Halibut which weighs four pounds is a large dinner for a family of six of seven. It should boil forty minutes. No fish put in till tlie water boils. Melted butter for sauce. Clams should boil about fifteen minutes in their own water ; tio other need be added, except a spoonful to keep the bottom shells from burning. It is easy to tell when they are done, by the shells starting wide open. After they are done they should be taken from the shells, washed thorough- ly in their own water, and put in a stewing pan. The water should then be strained through a cloth, so as to get out all the grit ; the clams should be simmered in it ton or fifteen minutes ; a little thickening of flour and water added ; half a dozen slices of toasted bread, or cracker; and pepper, vinegar, and butter to your taste. Salt is not needed. Four pounds of fish are enough to make a chow- der, for four or five people — half dozen slices of salt pork in the bottom of the pot— hang it high, so that the pork m.ay not burn — take it out when done very brown — put in a layer of fish, cut in lengthsvise slices — then a layer formed of crackers, small or sliced onions, and potatoes sliced as thin as a fourpence, mixed with pieces of pork you have fried ; then a layer of fish again, and so on. Six crackers are enough. Strew a little salt and pepper over each layer ; over the wliole pour a bowl full of flour and water, enough to come up even with the surface of what you have in the pot. A liced lemon adds to the flavor. A cup of To- mato catsup is very excellent. Some people put in a cup of beer. A few clams are a pleasant ad- dition. It should be covered so as not to let a par- ticle of steam escape, if possible. Do not open it, except when nearly done, to taste if it be well sea- soned. Salt fish should be put in a deep plate, with just water enough to cover it, the night before you in- tend to cook it. It should not be boiled an instant; boiling renders it hard. It should lie in scalding hot water, two or three hours. The less water is used, and the more fish is cooked at once, the bet- ter. Water thickened with flour and wafer while boiling, with sweet butter put in to melt, is the j common sauce. It is more economical to cut sal S.ilt fisii mashed with potatoes with good hutter or pork scraps, to moisten it, is nicer the secrind day, than it was the firs'. The fish should be min- ced very fine, while it is v^arin. After it has got cold and dry, it is difllcult to do it nicely. Salt fish needs plenty of vegetables, such as onions, beets, carrots, &c. There is no way of preparing saV fish for break- fast, so nicely as to roll it up in little balls, after it is mixed witii mashed potatoes, dip it into ai egg, and fry it brown. A female lobster is not considered so good as a male. In the female, the sides of the head, or what looks like cheeks, are much larger, and jut out more than thsse of the male. The mouth of a lob.steris surrounded with what children call 'pur- ses' edged with a little fringe. If you put your hand under these to raise it, and find it spring back hard and firm, it is a sign the lobster is fresh ; if they move flabbily it is not a good omen. — Mrs. Child. Fniin llie Genesee r\iinier. Bees. Mr. Tucker— I have noticsd that tlie manage- ment of liees is a subject which has often called forth remarks from subscribers to your truly valua- ble paper, the Genesee Farmer. It is a very in- teresting subject to very many readers, if not to all. Great improvements in tiip management of the honi-ybee have been made within a few years p,ist,which have benefitted both "tenants and land- lords"— and probably still greater may yet be inado liy apiarian philosophers. — But I have no claim to be ranked among the.=ie. My object now is simply to state a method which a friend of mine pursues to obtain, with the greatest possible ease and con- venience, the choicest and most delicious honey in great abundance. Upon this friend I lately called and partook bountifully of his " milk and his hon- ey"— of the honey first, however, and then of tlie milk. This rich "treat I enjoyed at the house of Mr. Nathan Bancroft, about a mile from our vil- lage. Mr. Bancroft's method may not he new to alf, yet it may be to some of your readers. After spending the greatest part of the evening before a cheerful fire in the midst of a social and agreeable family,— " Come," said Mr. B., "let us walk up into my garret"- and with knife and plate in one hand and candle in the other, he led the way and we followed on until we came to the room from which was brought forth "sweetness." This is a tight plastered dark room, of the bigness of a com- iiKin B ze bed room, in which were placed hives for the "busy bees"— being a safe and comfortable dwelling both for summer and winter for the most industrious and frugal creatures of any in the world. In this room, boards about two feet wide, and four feet long, are placed edgewise upon the floor, a little distance from the outer wall of the house, and upon thtse the hives are set; aboard shelf is then placed between an aperture 'n the hive, near the centre of one side of it, to an aper- ture in t!ie wall, over which the bees travel in com- ino- in and passing out. Their house room is suffi- ciently ventilated, a hole bi-ing made also at the top and at the bottom of the hive. Thus, having free ingress and egress to and from their dwelling in all ne'cessary ways, they need not be disturbed or in- jured by man, nor by animal of any kind. When the cold season comes on, they retire to their inner room (the middle of the liive,) where they have in store a plenty of food for themselves— having left undar the shelf and attached to the under part and sides of the hives, as \vell as at the top of the hives, enough of most beautiful white comb, filled with the purest honey, without bee or spot, to satisfy any reasonable creature. Thirty pounds might have lieen taken from the hive we saw, ^yithout disturbing the bees in the least. With one slice from the inside of the hive, we loaded our plate with the finest of honey in comb, and returned to enjoy the treat. J. D. Medina, Jan. 1830. in it ; a'litt je pepper sprinkled in is good ; it should ' pork into small bits, and try it till the pork is bro\yn be kept hung up, in a dry cool place. If poultry is injured, before you are aware of it, wash it very thoroughly in pearlash and water, and sprinkle pepper inside when yon cook it. Some people hang up poultry with a muslin bag of char- coal inside. It is a good plan to singe injured poul- try over lighted charcoal, and to hold a piece of liglited charcoal inside, a few minutes and crispy. It should not be done too fast, lest the sweetness be scorched out. Salted shad and mackerel should be put into a deep plate and covered with boiling water for about ten minutes after it is thoroughly broiled, before it is buttered. This makes it tender, takes oft' the coat of salt, and prevents the strong oily taste, so apt to be unpleasant in pri|served pjll. The same Many people parboil the liver and gizzard, and | rale applies to smokod salmon. Spruce Beer. — Take three gallons of water, of blood warmth, 3 half pints of molasses, a table spoon full of essence of spruce, and the like quan- tity of ginger — mix well together, witli a gill of yeast ; let stand over night, and bottle in tiie inor- nino-. It will be in good condition to drink in twenty-four hours. It is a palatable, wholesome beverage. Bo's in Horses. — A traveller informs us that the stage drivers on their routes leading from Albany to the western parts of the State of New York, in givintr water to their horses on the road, mix a lit- tle wood ashes with their drink, which they say, efliectually preserves them against the hots. 7(3 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. All vegetable raaltcris valuable us Manure. Every tliiiiq; llmt grows or is produced from the earth possesses the quality of fructilicition of the earth. Many articles tliat are tlirown away as use- lesB are still valuable and worthy of preservation. We have often seen tiirowii upon piles of stone, or upon the side of roads, or into streams where it will be swept fit of sight, the pomace of apples af- ter cider is extracted ; and it will not be denied that applied in its crude stale this poinace may be injurious to any crop. But deprive it of its acidi- ty by suffering it to lie a year or more, and we are induced to believe from the nature of its composi- tion that whatever of the substance shall be left may be valuable as manure. It is tlie general opinion that the bark and chips of white and yellow pine, spruce, and perhaps hemlock, poison the soil where they are sutlercd to lie. Thev may at first, on account of their cold, sour or acrid nature, injure or at least not benefit ve- getation; but we are quite sure when the acidity or bitterness shall pass ofTand llie vegetable substance shall change by decomposition, llie soil where it lies will be essentially renovated. In proof of this we will relate a case of appli- cation of the refuse tan from hemlock bark — an iirticle whioli iias been considered so useless in its •■rude state as to lie moved away from all vegetable j>r"v.-th. I-lon. Nathaniel S. Berry, at Bristol vil- i.ii^fe in the County of Grafton, has attached to his homestead on the north side of Newfound river a small lot of land, the more elevated part of wliich was a sand bank, being blown down to the annoy- ance of the inhabitants upon the highway below at every rise of the north wind in volumes of dust. It occurred to him for experiment, having a large quantity of the simple tan of hemlock bark which had laid for some years in his tan-yard, that he would apply it to this mere sand bank. He remo- ved to the space of something like half an acre say a hundred loads of the consuming, rotten tan ; and cffercd to one of his neighbors the crop upon the ground if he would attend it. The first year the crop of corn upon the sand was even better than upon the apparently more rich and better cultivated ground near if ; and wliat is worthy of remark is, thut the application of tan has not only imparted great fertility to llie ground, but has entirely chan- ged its appearance, making a black and rich loam where there was before a yellow, sterile sand. Gov. I. Iln.i. : — Dear 6VV, — 1 recollect when you delivered the address before the Merrimack County Agricultur- al Society one 3Tar ago last October, you made the following remark respecting the exhibition of a Bample of Black sea wlieat by Thomas Ames, Esq. of Canterbury. You said, as near as I can now recollect, 'that if no other benefit resulted from this annual Fair tlian the exhibition of this wheat, each member present ought to think himself well paid for his day's attendance.' And now, to show that yon were not wrong in your opinion, I give you th« following facts, viz; — I purchased last spring two bushels of this kind of wheat at the high price of two dollars sixty-fonr cents per bushel. One bushel I sowed on an acre of land the lOtli of May, and harvested from the tame last fall twenty busliels, worth at least two dollars per buslifl. After deducting all expenses, the |)rofits were $'22,83. I disposed of tlie other bushel to a farmer in Deerfield, who sowed one acre better prepa-ed with manure than the above, and he raised thirty-three bushels. How many others were profited by the exhibi- tion of wheat that day, I am not enabled to say. In my opinion I'anners generall}' do not value these exhibitions as liiglily as they ought. Every farmer of the county of Merrimack should have his name enrolled as a member of this Societ3' before anoth- er autumn ; and not only be a member, but be able to present somelliing yearly to make the day inter- esting and useful. I will only add, that if the attending of agricul- tural exhibitions is important to the farmer, then the taking of good agricultural papers must be more so, as they oftener make their visits, and can be read when most at leisure. I am happy to hear of your success in the jniblieation of the ** Month- ly Visitor," for it certainly deserves patronage. C Concord Silk Farm, April 23,1S;^0. has the appearance of early ripening as that of the smaller Canada corn ; and tlie cob indicates earlier sountiness tiian the twelve ruwed Dutton corn. Planting ground this year that is earlier prepared on account of being lighter, we have selected tiiree Uinds of corn, viz. — -tiie Brown forn raised on Winnepiseogee lake, which is eight and ten row- ed and larger kernel tlian any kind we have yet seen ; tbe Duttoyi coniy wliicli is large and long eared of twelve or more rows; and the Deerlng rorriy which is above described. We venture to pretermit the present season tlie smaller Canada corn, which we planted almost exclusively last year, because the ground planted is drier and bet- ter fitted for the corn crop, and because the signs indicate that we shall have a good corn season in Nev/ England. Mr. Caleb C. Hall, of Boscawen, will accept our acknowldgements for a bag of white '* Penn- sylvania pole beans" represented to be of an excel- lent quality for early shelling, or for cooking after ihey have become dry. The best method for these and all otlicr beans with running vines is to place the poles in the ground at the same time the beans arc planted. Russell Tubes, Esq. of Deering has our thanks for a large trace of fine seed corn: the cars of this corn are eight rowed — filled out well at each end,compactto the cob, which is delicate and small in diameter and of more than common length. It From the Philadelphia Farmer's Cabinet. Hoei n^Corn. TIic objects of hoeing and working the soil a- bout corn, are, first, to destroy all weeds; and se- condly, to loosen the soil at the surface, that it mav the more readily absorb dews and rain which fall upon it, and prevent the evaporation of moisture, which takes place much sooner where t!ie soil is hard, than where it is kept loose and mellow. The pracVice so prevalent, of deep cultivation by tlie plough between rows of corn is not to bo recom- mended. If the ground has been properly prepar- ed before planting, when not too wet, it will not need this additional loosening. After the corn has arrived at the usual size for hoeing, the soil should only be disturbed at the surface. For as the plants increase in size, they send out long fibrous thread- like roots in all directions, which branch every way, and run all over tbe ground; and it is through these thnt they receive a large portion of their nourisliinent. Hilling corn we would always disapprove, al- thougli it is very commonly practised. Not un fre- quently in performing this operation, all the loose mellow earth is scraped away from between the rows and heaped up round tbe plants, forming a sort of roof about them, throwing off the rain, which runs down into the liard soil thus laid bare at the bottom of the furrows, which the first dry weather bakes to the last degree of hardness, so that the roots can receive no moisture here, and little within these artificial pyramids. A reason is assigned in favor of hilling, — that it makes tlie corn stand firmer and more erect and is less liable to be broken down by the wind. This may be the case when the plants are small and do not need any such help : but when they attain a height of several feet and are loaded with leaves and ears, it nmst be evident that a lllth' loose earth piled about the roots is totullv insntlicent for such a purpose. It is the strong bracing roots which radiate from tlie stock which are to support it there ; and to bury those roots deep under the sur- face while tlicy aregrowin^^, and thusshut out from them both heat and air, and render them weak and tender, would only help to bring out the very thing we wisli to prevent. It is important to farmers that this subject be well understood ; for a little knowledge may save many weary steps, and be the means of an abnnd ant crop in the bargain. But if any farmers doubt the accuracy of our reasoning, we would request them to test it by experiment: by ploughing and hilling higii one part of their corn, and using the cultivator and applying tiK? same amount of labor in mellowing the flat surface of the other, and then measure the results. Froiti the Penm-'ylvanin Intelligencer. The Silk ISusiiiess, We are not engaged directly or indirectly in the Silk business — the only interest we feel in it is that which every friend of American manufactures, in- dustry and prosperity, ougiit to feel. Hence we speak without having in view a private "specula- tion,"' when we declare it to be our opinion that the business will do a vast deal of good in our country, by furnisliing employment to many poor people of both sexes, and by keeping in the United Stales an immense amount of money which now annuaJly goes out of them. The " morus muJti- caulis fever-" as it is called, is now happily raging, and the best effects will flow from it. Many persons sneer at *morus multieaulis,' and perhaps shrewdly warn their neighbors against "burning their fing- ers;" but they who sneer are they who are ignorant enough of the tree and silk business to deserve to be sneered at. Indeed many cannot comprehend, for lack of knowledge, why it is that there is so much excitement all at once on the subject of silk; the matter, however, is easily explained. With oth- er varieties of the mulberry it requires sic years to produce an orchard from whlcli to feed worms; whereas, an orchard of morus muUicanlis can be reared almost in six zpccks, and in addition to this property of the plant it multiplies exceedingly well — at least twenty per cent, and frequently in a much heavier fold. The present high prices of the tree cannot be expected to hold out more than two or three years at farthest — they are fictitious, and must ultimately fall, because the increase will in a short time fully meet the demand. Many for- tunes have been and will be made In the business of growing trees for sale, and the man must be ve- ry unfit for any dealings wlio can contrive to lose at it: for when the time arrives that he cannot dis- pose of his trees at least at prices to save himself, he can realize a profit by using them for the feed- ing of worms. For this reason the present "spec- ulation" (and it is a speculation) in the tree grow- ing business, may be regarded as singularly fortu- nate for the country — it must end, not in a general bursting of the bubble, but in the roaring and teed- ing of worms and the reeling of silk for home con- sumption and for exportation also. We cut the tollowing calculation from one of our exchange papers: — " Suppose that out of fifteen millions of inhabi- tants in the United States, one million of them com- pose that useful and worthy class called farmers. Suppose again that only one half of them would devote six weeks every ye-ar to raise a few thou- sand silk worms. Persons well acquainted with the art of silk growing will assure you that the poor- est farmer, having a house, however small, and an industrious wife, may, with the least trouble and without any extra expense, give a crop of at least 100 lbs. of cocoons. This minimum obtained from 500,000 farmers throughout the Union, would give us an annual production of 50,000,000 Ibg. of co- coons, or an average of 6,250,000 lbs. of raw silk, which, at the low jtrice of ^A a pound, would re- alize an annual production of ^'25,000,000 ! "This is not an extravagant calculation, nor one of those ridiculous exaggerations which are often met in certain speeches and addresses, in which tho most fantastical prospects are offered to a credu- lous audience. It is a calculation founded on what happens in every place where the culture cf silk is considered a branch of husbandry and a source of general welfare. " In Italy you could hardly find a peasant, in the months of May and June, whose hut does not con- tain from 50,000 to '200,000 silk worms, by which he will be able to pay the rent of his dwelling and many other expenses incurred during the whole year. There is no doubt that what is done on a small scale by the poorest and most ignorant labor- ers in Europe might be easily and extensively un- dertaken by American farmers, whose resources and better accommodation would afford greater facilities and better success." The Weslevan Ckntenarv Fund. — \Vc learn through the Nev/ York Commeroial, that the col- lections towards the centenary fund of the Meth- odist Cliuroh of England Iiad reached up to the Ist of March, the immense sum of £J(JU,000 ($710,- 400!) At tlie close of February, tbe general com- mittee decided thai it was expe-dientitt oikh,' to form a committee of appropriation. This committee consisted of the president and secretary, and manj' of the treasurers and secretaries of the several funds of the connexion, together with aaiumberof the senior ministers and frentlcmen from various parts of the kingdom. After a long deliberation the following was the result of the ajipropriatlon; — 1. F.irtwo Institution Houses, X55,0u0 ; 2. Mis- sionary preiuises in Loudon, 2)3,000; IL Missionary Supernumeraries, widows and orphans, 21,000; 4. Purchase of a Missionary slilp, 3,000 ; 5. Outfit, stores, insurance, &c. 3,"0(,0 ; 0. Chapel loan fund in England, 35,000; 7. -do. do. Ireland, 2,000; 8. Kingswood and Woodhouse Grove sclfools, 5,700 ; 9. Auxiliary fund debt, l,r)00 ; 10. New auxiliary fund, 9,000; 11. Expenses, &c. 1,800 — being jC1()0,000. The committee farther agreed that out of the sum which may yet be received, £5,000 be appropriated for a centenary monumental chapel In Dublin, and the like sum for the Wesleyan day bchools. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 77 The Corn Planter. (F.g. 18.) This macliim-, recently invented by W. Buck- minster, Esq. of Boston, it; said to be an entirely new article in this conntry ; has hern fuUy proved^ and found to ansiccr comptr.tcbj^ for the j>lantin curry a horse in the stable ; worse in time of these nits, mixing with the food in clerin- ing the curry combs on the trough, instead of which either from irritation of the skin, or from instmct, the horpe bites or licks his hairs, and swallows the greatest part of those nits which soon hatch in his stomach, grow into hots, and fastening upon the in- ner coat often perforate the stomach through. The bots once formed in larger or smaller quantities, sub- ject the animal to pains, tlie symptoms of which differ very little from those of the colic. He looks at his side, lies down, rolls in ngon)' from side to side, and soon dies in most cases, if a prompt rem- edy is not applied. The most eJVicacious that I have found is very simple, and easily found every where. Take two ounces soot, as clean a;? you can get it, that is free from eitlier gravel, lime or plas- ter, if you sweep it out of the chimney, mix it well in n quart of new milk, if possible, but at least niilk-warm, and drench the horse with it through a horn; this drench will immediately relieve him, (if it is bots,) and he must be fed as soon as possi- ble ; the bota are detached from the stomach ou which they were preying, and mixing with thff food will pass with it, and twenty-four hours after will be found in the voidings of tlie horse, either ground by the natural process of digestion or en- tire, and even alive. This simple remedy is also good for all other intestinal worms, although its cftects arc not so iiuniediate, having a Icnglli of intestines to traverse. A liorse is more liable to suffer from tlie bots when he is luingry, for in that case, they fasten on the coat of the empty stomach for want of any other food. \i^^ however, the horse has been over fed or surfeited with clover, green or dry, ill-cured liny, Ac. the structure of the stom- ach is not made to throw up like man ; he only does it, when his stomach bursts, and dies instant- ly : sometimes the main artery bursts and tlie consequence is the same. 1 opened a horse in such a case. The StfiFF.iT ia likewise manifested by colics, the cause of which is generally easily known;, in that case the introduction of any tiling more in the stomach is a pernicious prnctice, and as a horse cannot vomit, emetics would be very useless, to say the least of it. Injections of flaxseed boiled in water, and strained, or mullen water, are eflica- cious. A glister pipe for a horse may be made of strong tin, and must hold a gallon; tiie pipe itself should be long and crooked, for evident reasons TiiK STRA^GURv isauotlier very dangerous and painful disease of horses. Tlie symptoms of this disease are the stretching of his body and the vio- lent efforts of the horse to accomplish the purposes of nature. Injections must be resorted to in order to distend the neck of the bladder and reduce the inflammation; diluting drinks, such as bran and wa- ter, must be given, and his food be ver}'^ light for some days until he is cured ; l>ran, rye meal, chops being the most proper articles of tbod. 1 will mention only two more diseases, easy to cure in the beginning, but very obstinate if they are suffered to go on unattended to; such are the PoLi.-EviL and the Fistula ; both originate often in brutJil blows on the head, and saddles or collars liurting the shoulders. Sometimes the Poll-Evil proceeds from too low a stable door. The parts thus affected must often be rubbed with salt and water only, as soon as the swelling is discovered, until it is perfectly reduced, which will happen in a sliort time, if tlie horse is not used. As to acci- dental breaks of the skin, they must be washed witli soap suds of the juice of Jamestowji weeds, (datura stramonium ;) care being taken that noth- ing rubs the alllicted part, in which case it would be longer to cure. The Rich Man's Daughter. It is often said that the times are strangely alter- ed ; and certain it is the people are. It was once thougiit to be honorable t© be engaged in some honorable and useful avocation — but now-a-days it is thought honorable to be idle. There is com- plaint of the iiigh priees of all necessaries of hu- man existence, and with much truth. But if the amount of idleness could be calculated with math- ematical accuracy throughout our extended Re- public, and allow the drones only half price for ser- vices they might perform, which others arc now paid for, it might not be an unsafe calculation to put down the whole amount now paid for provision and marketing in the United States. Jt is not a little inconsistent to hear parents whine about the price of provisions, while tliey bring up their daughters to walk the streets and expend money. In one of the great commercial cities, there re sides a gentleman worth from two to three millions of dollars. He had three daughters, and he requir- ed them alternately to go into the kitchen and su- perintend its domestic concerns. Health and hap- piness, he said, were thus promoted ; besides, in the vicissitudes of f(jrtune they might, ere they should close their earthly career, be compelled to relv upon their hands for a livelihood ; and he would say thntthey would never hecome wives and proper heads of families, until tliey knew by prac- tical experience, all the economy of houseliold af- f.iirs. One of the daughters is now the wife of a Governor of one of the States (and none the bet- ter for that) — all at tiie head of very respectable families- — and they carry out the principles implan- ted l>y their worthy j)iirent — winning and securinix the esteem of all around them. Let the fair daughters of our country draw les- sons from the industrious of the past. The com- panions of men who fought in the revolution, were inured to hardshijjs and accustomed to unceasing toil — and so did they educate their daughters. Health, contentment, happiness and plenty, sinded round the fannly altnr. I'he damsel who under- stood moat thoroughly and economically the man- agement of domestic matters, and who was not a- frnid to put her hnnds into a wash-tnb, for fear of destroying their elastinity and dimming their snowy whiteness, was s()nglit for by the young men of Ihofie days as a fit companion for life — but now-a- days to learn the mysteries of the household, would nrnke our fair ones faint away, and to labor, comes not into the code of modern gvni'yhty.-.'inonymous. The liushandiiian's ^on^^ Written by CrKORcr, Kf.nt, Esq. of Concord, for the Merrimack County C'attle Show and Agricul- tural Exhibition, at Hopkinton, October J8, 1838. Tune — '■'■AuJd Lang S/jtir." Our bounteous God, v/ho makes his sun On flower.i and fruits to shine, Hascrown'd the year with blessings raro, Like auld lang sync. ,For auld lang syne be sure, For auld lang sj'ue — Well lak' a cup o' kindness yet, For auld 1 mg syne. From nature's purest fount, unmix'd With brandy, gni or wine, (Save "Old October,'") we will quatT, In spite of auld lang syne. The auld man h;id the. blues^ you know — "Blue ruin" — shade or shine — We've nothing "blue" but "noses ' true, And products of the vine. Our Farmers reap a rich reward, And pluck the fruitage fine, With merry hearts, from better cause Than auld l^.ng syne. Our cattle range a thousand kills, Witli "bulls of Bashan" kine — Our sheep turn olT more "golden fleece" Than auld lang syne. The Arts mechanic claim our praise, With manufactures fine — We're proud to make compare with best Of auld lang syne. About our duties we have been "From morning sun till dine'" — And sure it's right we now should sing In "auld lang syne." For auld lang syne, be sure, For auld lang syne — We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syiie. Sheep. — From a work on the subject of "Wool Growing and Manufacturing," compiled by C. Benton and S. T. Barry, and published something more than a year since, we are ennbled toknow the number of sheep in fourteen of the States, and are distributed as follows : Maine, (i2«,G10 New York, 4,200,873 New Hampshire, 4t>5,17i) Pennsylvania,! ,714,640 Vermont, 1,000,011 Delaware, 150,000 Massachusetts, o73,322 Maryland, !:i75,000 Rhode Island, 81,6r2 Virginia, 1,000,000 Connecticut, 255, IGO Ohio, 1,711,200 New Jersey, 250,000 Kentucky, 600,000 Making a total of 12,807,633 It is estimated tiiat the avernge yield of wool per head if) 3 I -2 pounds — although 1 think it too liigh — which would make an aggregate product of near- ly forty-two millions of pounds. The average price paid ^or wool from 1<^27 to 1836 inclusive, was 5t) cents ; this probably is correct, as one of the compilers of the above work was a purchaser of the article. — Cm. Farmer. Trees by the road-piUe. We are often asked "shall we set apple trees by the road-sidf .-*" We answer yes, if you will set tlie right kind of trees. Tlie greening apple treo should never be set here. Its limbs run out horU zontally and soon become a nuisance in the high- way. The Baldwin and some otliers have more upright limbs, and they should always be preferred for such places. We have many reasons for wishing to see rows of trees by tlie road-side. In the first place they are highly ornamental — then they make a pleasant shade for the traveller — they grow twice as fast by a wall near the road-side as in midheld auiong the jrrass — they do not sh;idehalf so much of your field — they kill all the bushes by the wall-side, and tiicy bear more constantly than in an orchard. If your road runs nearly east and west, an ap- ple tree planted close to the wall on the south sido TF^E FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. of the road will not cast half its shadow on to your land — it will not •jct more tlian half its nourish- ment from it. You can well aft'.ird, tiicn, to let the public have a portion of its fruit — but if you want it all, why, have late winter fruit and the public Will not eat niucii of it in the autuuni. You may secure all that is valuable. By scttinir trees thus, you have twice as much fruit on half the usual quantity of land. Y"ou ac- commodate the public, and you kill the bushes by the wall-side. Some people expressed surprise the other even- ing, at the State house, that the earth under a stone ivall should be lighter than that in an open field. They had never heard of it before. But all farm- ers of observation know the fact. 'J hey also know that trees flourish better near a wall. There are various icas.jus for this. The air and the earth are w-.iruier— the earth is richer, for it is never exliaust- cd by producing crops of grain. And where a large wall aifoids a shelter and a shade, it is reasonable to Buppjse that various salts are here accumulated— for instance salt-petre — which is usually found in sheltered situations. Another reason why the soil is foujid richer l)y the road-aide is to be traced in the clouds of dust that are blown from a trav-llcd road and are con- st-mtly lodging in the adjoining fields. (/hi. liucUminstcr, Esq. Tr.iKiD.\D— L.vKE Pircii.— The Trinidad papers contain some interesting particulars relating to an experiment recently made at that island, on board the steauibot Pluto, Lieut. Lunn, in the use of pitch from the like as a substitute for coal, in gen- crating steam. Tho Bermuda Gazette, in trans- cribing the particulars, oflers the following re- marks : "The trial, though marie under many disadvan- tages, proves that this pitch will form a most ex- cellent fuel, and that when used with coal, the proportions should be about two-thirds of the forui- cr to one of the latter. We learn from a gi .itle- nian lately arrived here from Trinidad, that sever- al of the estates, particularly those in the neigh- borhood of the like, have for several months past been using the pilch as fuel in their boilmg hous- es, and that they have found it a most valuable and economical substitute for coal, which article has occasionally, in that island, it seems, reached the enormous price of twenty dollars a hogshead. We also learn that there arc at the present period agents at London and Pr.ris, who are actively engaged in collecting the pitch for transportation, and that several large vessels have already been dispatched to England and France, laden with this novel arti- cle of commerce. One of these companies, we be- lieve the Parisian, has offered the Colonial Gov- ernment the sum of jC'.J:),000 for the exclusive priv- ileo-e of workmg the mine ; but this offer was, it seems, rejected, tlie Governuient deeming it more advisable that it s'lould, for the present at least, he free to all, than be monopolized by any trading com- pany. Guthrie, in his Geography, says that "there ii in Trinidad a remarkable production of nature, being a bituminous lake, or rather plain, called Tar lake, ah nit three miles in circuit. The substance which is here found has the consistence and aspect of pit coal ; it breaks into glossy fragments of a cellular appearance ; a gentle heat renders it duc- tile, and, mixed with grease or common pitch, it is used for smearing the bottom of ships. In many parts of the woods it is found in a liquid state." The Govcrnar of Trinidad has recently ordered a topographical survey of the pitch lake, as also its elevation above the sea, to be ascertained. Al- though immense quantities of the pitch have been shipped, still there does not appear to be the least diminution in tlie size of the lake, and it is as.serted that th?re is a sufiioieucy of it "to supply a whole navy of steam vessels for centuries with fuel." This pitch, for the most part, we are told, is ship- ped in bulk ; that which is obtained in a liquid state is, Inv.'ever, put into barrels; but the utmost care is requisite hi packing, as it dilates much. moment that the approaching power must prove to- tally inadequate to its task. " If tlie character of this noble creature b" con- sidered for a moment with tlint of ahorse, the com- parison is curious. With sutticiint coals and wa- ter in his manger. Which, it must be observed, whenever he travels he takes with him, he can, if the aggregate of his dny's work be considered, carry every day for ten miles at the rate of sixteen miles an hour, the weight of an army of'il,.5v)4 men, of 10 stone 10 lbs. each ; whereas a good horse could not at tUe same pace, and for the same dis- tance, continue to carry every day more thnn one such man. For a distance of eighty miles he can carry the weight of 2,GS3 men, at a rate (sixteen miles an hour) that neither the hare, the antebtpe, nor the race-horse could keep up with him. No journey ever tires him ; he is never heard to grum- ble or hiss but for want of work ; the faster he goes the more ravenously ho feeds ; and for two j'ears he can thus travel without medicine or surgery. It requires however £2,000 a year to support him. We might to 'hese observations add the graver re- flection that, ashy tiie invention of the Ulescope, man lias extended his vision beyond that of the ea- gle, so by the inventinn of the locomotive engine, has he now surpassed, in spc i, every quadruped on the globe ; we will, however, detain the en- ■rine no longer, but for a few moments will, with our readers, accompany the train with which it has now stnrted. "The dashing at full steam speed into the small black orifices of the tunnels — the midnight dark- ness that prevails lliere — the flashes of light which occasionally denote the air shafts — the sudden re- turn to the jovous sunshine of this world — the fig- ures of the company's gi'^n servants, who, as the train whisks past them, stand all in the sauie al- titude, motionless as statues, with v.'hite flags (the emblem of safety) in their extended right hands — the occasional shrill, plaintive whistle or scream, by which the engine, whenever necessary, scares the workmen froui the rolls — the meteor-like meet- ing of a returning train, of which in transitu., no more is seen than of the colored figures on one of the long strips of painted glass, which, after slow exhibition before children, are, by the showman, rapidly drawn across the lens of his magic lan- tern— all these sensations unite in making the tra- veller practically sensible of the astonishing velo- city with wliicli not only he and his fellow passen- gers,each seated in his arm-chair, but heavy goods, can nov," be transported." R.ULROAD EsGisE.— The following grand de- scription of this new and mighty animal, that is now careering through our laud, we extract from the last Quarterly Review : "The London and Liverpool line, of eighteen or twenty huge cars, besides private carriages on run- ners, caravans full of horses, wagons cf heavy goods, &c. &c. The immense weight, upwards of ei(rhty tons, to be transported at such a pace to Eucii a distance, when comijared to the slight neat outline of the esgise, the circumference of whose black fuuuel pipe would not twice go round the neck of an antelope, and wliose bright copper boil- er would not twice equal the girth or barrel of a race horse, induces the stranger tJ apprehend for a The J'uture. — If we were to propliesy that, in the year 1930, a population of fifty millions, better fed, clad, and lodged, liian the English of our time, will cover these islands; that Sussex and Huut- ingtonshire will be wealthier than the wealthiest parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire now are; that cultivation, rich as tkat of a flower garden, will be carried up to tlie tops of Ben Nevis and Helvellyn : that machines, . constructed on principles yet un- discovered, will be in every house ; that there will be no highways but rail roads, no travelling but by steam ; that our debt, as vast rs it seems to us, will appear to our great grand children atrifling incumbrance, which might easily be paid olf in a year or two ; many people would tliink us insane. Yet, if any person had told the parliament which met in perplexity and terror after the crash in 1720, that in a century the wealth of England would sur- pass all their wildest dreams; that the annual rev- enue would equal the principal of that debt wlilcli they considered as an intolerable burden ; that for one man of 10,000/. then living there would be five men of 50,000/ ; that London w-ould be twice as large and twice as populous, and that nevertiieless the mortality would ii.ive diminished to one liilf of what it then was ; tint the post oince would bring more into the excheijuer than the excise and cus- toms had brought in togetiier under Charles! I,; that stage coaches would run from London to York in 24 hours ; that men would sail without wind, and would be beginning to ride Witiiout horses — ■ our ancestors would li.ive given as much credit to the prediction as to Gulliver's Travels. Edinliurirh Review. Early Rising. — " From March to November, at least, no cause save 5lckue33,or one of equal v/elght, should retain us in bed a moment after the sun has^ risen; " so says Ur. GnmviHe, in liis Catechism of Health, upon whose rules however, we cmuol con- sent to act. The following, from Time's Telescope, is more in accordance with our notions; " Whoev- er is found in bed after six o'clock, from May-day to Michaelmas, cannot, in any conscience, expect to be free from some ailineut or other dependent on relaxed nerves, stulTed lungs, disordered bile, or impaired digeetion. Nothing can be dime — abso- lutely nothing— if you do not rise early, except drugging your draughts, a luxury which the indo- lent morning sleeper must prepare himself to pur- chase dearly. We give him )oy of his choice ; bid him good bye, and springing out into the sunny air, we gather iiealth from every breeze, and become young again among the glittering May-dew and "the laughing May-flowers. ' Wliat a luxury do the sons of sloth lose !' says llervey, in his flowery Re- flections on a Flower Garden ; ' little, ah ! little i,s the slugsard sensible how great a pleasure he fore- goes for the poorest o*" all ani-iral gratifications '.' Be persuaded; make an efi'ort to shake oflf the per- nicious habit. ' Go forth,' as King Solomon says, ' to the fields ; lodge in the villages ; ;'c/ vj> early to the vineyards;' mark tiie budding flowers ; lis- ten to the joyous birds ; in a word, cultivate morn- ing pleasures, and health and vigor will most cer- tainly follow." — The Doctor. How to cultivate Mulberry Trees. The best practical men admit that a light sandy loam is best for trees,— all cold, clammy, wet soils to be avoided. The earth should be well ploughed and harrowed, and made as free as possible from ev- ery foreign substance. For cuttings, it is thought that most plants will be gained by having but one bud on each ; but it is optional with the cultivator, as cither way will answer. They should be placed in the earth with the eye uppermost, giving the top a little inclination to the south, crowding the soil closely about it with the thumb and finger, and then drawing over it a slight covering of an inch or two of earth. .Another more expeditious way is to drop the cuttings like corn, with the eye up- permost, ond then pressing the earth upon them with a hoe. L.aycrs should be put down in a trench a few inches below the grnuud ; and the rools,when put out, must have at least one ctir connected with them. When trees are designed for market, they sdiould be about three feet apart and the rows a- bout four feet wide. When put out as permanent trees for feeding worms, the distance should be six feet at least each way. Seed should be soaked twenty-four hours in warm water, and then rolled in wood ashes. Sow it on rich soil, cover it a quarter of un inch, and press the earth. Keep the plants free from weeds, whether they are for seed or cuttings. — J\'vrthampto)t Courier. Revolutio.vakv Aim in an old V'enuont paper . — We rind the following The number of regulars furnished to the revolutionary army were, by New England, 117,'141 ; by the middle States, 56,571 ; by the southern States, 56,!>'J7. It appears by t'le above, that New England, consisting of NewHamp- shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Conucoti- cut, furnished more troops for the defence of the country, than the other '.) States, 3872. The num- ber of troops furnished by SouthCarollna'was 6,447; Massachusetts (J7,907 ; Georgia 2,697; Connecti- cut 31,939 ! Oilessa U'hetit. — Six thousand miles from New York, in the interior of the eastern continent, and in the heart of the most despotic government on earlli, is a city containing sixty thousand inhabi- tants, sprung up where but forty years since only a few fishermen's huts existed, and at the wharves of which now, two hundred vessels are so.metimes seen at a lime exchanging the various products of the east and the west. That city is Odessa ; and the wheat shipped from this plac(> in large quanti- ties to the countries of the Mediterranean, Portu- gal, Spain, Great Britain, and to the shame of A- merican agriculture be it said, to this country olso, is known by the name of Odessa wheal. The whole innnense extent of Southern Russia, inclu- ding the Crimea, is a vost plain, rich in the soil, and wherever cultivated, producing as does the same range of country in Poland, and the north of Germany, the most luxuriant crops. It is divided off* into immense seignorica, or as it would be cal- led at the South, plantations, cuUivated by white slaves of whom some of the proprietors own from twenty thousand to one hundred thousand, and these men clothed in undressed sheep skin, and performing all their operations in the most primi- tive, barbarous manner, arcstUI able to send wheat to tlrs country, and it is said at a handsome pro- fit. To England the trade in Black Sea or Odessa wheal, is an object of consequence ; and now when in consequence of the partial failure of the crop, the ports are thrown open fcr the importation of grain, the supply from this source promises not to be the least abundant in meeting the wants of a half famished population, — .V. Y. Eis. Post. The best f'armers are these who combine the most intelligence with the most practical industry, sound economy, and good taste. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 79 The Sugar Tree. Accoriiin^ to llic statciiiont made by Jonathan K. Smith, "Esq, of the products of the town of Dulilin, Clieshire County, in the Chtshlre Farmer, there were maniiractured '-'1,:*()0 pounds of Mai)le Sugar in that town in the spring of 1838, averag- ing 107 pounds to each family, and being probably suHicient for the annual consumption of the town. By the census of 1830, the population of Dublin was 1218. Tiio Grand Monadnoek mountain, prin- cipally within the limits of Dublin, is in the south- west corner of the town, the whole of which is on the back bone ridge dividing the waters of the Merri- mack and Connecticut rivers: the Dublin meeting house stands on such an elevation that the rain which falls on the west roof runs into the Con- necticut, and that from the east roof into the Mer- rimack. Rev. Edward Stiiague was ordained as tiic congregational minister of that town in 1777, and died in 181G. He left to tlio town as a fund for supporting schools, $8,000; and .■g.">,000, the in- terest of V. h:ch, paid quarterly, to be forever appli- ed to the sujiport of an ordained congregational minister who shall preach in the town. This gen- tleman was noted for many eccentricities in his time, which v. ere in the mouths of the people of his own town and the towns of his vicinity, but which will be forgotten by tlie succeeding generation. The gentleman once took into his head that his beans came out of the ground wrong end foremost, and set seriously about righting tliem over. Dublin is in the natural region of the Sujar Maple, which when most of our hill towns were first settled furnished nearly the whole sugar con- sumed. When tlie lands were cleared and the large oaks, beech, birch, &c. either cut down or killed by girdling, the stately maple was generally left, from v.'liich was annually received copious supplies of sap producing sugar. It was found tliat those trees, when left by the friends which surrounded them, soon fell victims to the winds ; and it was looked upon as a matter of great regret that the farmers were deprived of their means of supplying themselves, at the cost of little more thiui their time when other business did not require their attention, with the r;ch swecten'ng so con- venient and necessary for tlieir families. P'ew of them, then ever so youuT, calculated that the. seeds seattered in their grounds after clearing would in their life time produce a new generation of maples heiter calculated than the original growth to witlistand the scveriiies of the wind and the weath- er ; and of course little pains were taken to cherish and protect their growth. Nature however has dene her work in many places where man failed to dy advance in age, the heating may be gridually dispeii.sed with; and wisps of hay should then be placed before them, in order to induce them to eat. Barley, Indian corn and oat-meal may be given in sin.all quantities in their drink, and increased as they advance in growth. Beets, shredded fine, are said to be excellent f' r calves, when they get four or five weeks old. .'l!l/an:j Cultivator. Rearing Calves without I>Iilk. We have several inquiries as to the most eco- nomical mode of rearing calves. The practice of manv, and we are included in the number, is to take the calf from the cow at three days old, and to give it sweet milk ten or fifteen days, and afterwards skimmed mUk, with a gill of flour or Indian meal, till it is fit to wean, at twelve weeks old. This is the common mode. The following, from the Bath Society papers, is p.-rhaps a better, if not a cheaper mode. "The following is as near a calculation of (lie ex- pense of rearing my calves, without milk, as I can at present assert. In the year 1787, I weaned sev- enteen calves — in 1788, twenty-three, and in 1780, fifteen. I bought, in 1787, three sacks — [three bushels each] of linseed ; I put one quart of the seed to six quarts of water, which by boiling ten minutes, became a gaod jelly ; this jelly is mi.xed with a small quantity of tea of the best hay, steep- ed in boiling water. "Having my calves to drop at different times, I did not make an exact calculation of the expense of this hay-tea; butoutof my three sacks of seed. From the I.onilcli iriinduy 'I'iliie?. British Colonial Tosscssions. At a period when the country is tiireatencd v.ith hostilities by more than one of the Continental powers, the following statistical account of our colonial possessions cannot fail to possess some in- terest. 'I'he Colonial Office in Downing street, at the head of which is Lord Glenelg, (who, notwith- standing the drowsy qualities which he is reported to possess, ought to be "wide awake" with the weight of so important a cliarge upon his hands,) possesses the entire superintendence, manage- ment, and control of the following of oui posses- sions ; — In North America. — Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Novia Scotia, Prince Edward's Ibland, Cape Breton, and Newfoundland, contain- ing an area of 4.55,000 square miles, or 270,400,000 acres, with a population of 1,.500,000 of white in- habitants. In South .\merica. — Denierara, Essequibo, Ber- bice, Honduras, and the Falkland Islands ; contain- ing an area of l(i.">,00(l square miles, or 105,600,000 acres, with a population of 120,000. In the West Indies.— .Tamaica, Trinidad, Toba- go, Grenada, St. Vincent, Barbadocs, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, Arguilla, Tortola, and the Virgin Isles, New Providence, and the Bahama Islands, and St. George's, and the Bermuda Islands ; con- taining an area of 13,000 square miles, or 7,720,000 acres, with a population of^ 1,900,000. In Africa. — The Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Malie, and the Seychelle Islands, St. Helena, As- cension, Sierra Ijcone, the Gambia, Accra, Cape Coast, &c.; containing an area of 850,000 square miles, or 160,000,000 acres, with a population of 350,000. In Australasia. — New South Wales, Van Die- man's Land, Swan Piiver, King George's Sound, South .\ustralasia, Norfolk Irdand, &c.; containing an area of 5aO,OCO square miles, or 320,000,000 a- cres, with a population of 120,000. In Asia. — Ceylon, containing an area of J4,()44 square miles, or 11,771,160 acres, v.itha population of 1,000,000. In Europe. Gibralter, Malta, Gozo, Corfu, Ce- phalonia, Zante, Santa M iria, ItlMca, Paxo, Ccri- co, Ac, and Heligoland, containing an area of 1,500 squ,ire miles, or 1,000,000 acres with a popu- lation of 400,000. Total: 1,750,000 square miles, or 1,120,000,000 acres, with a population of 4,400,000 of " British subjects." Independently of the foregoing, we have to add the following territories, which are " under the management and influenced by the government of the East India Company and the Board of Control in Cannon-row." British territories jin Hindostan — containing an area of 432,483 miles, with a population of 80,- 636,371. Tributary territories in Hindostan. — Containing an area of 363,610 square miles, with a population of 54,271,002. British territories beyond Hindostan. Contain- \ so THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. ii!g a iirrn of 50,1 1" square miles, with a popula- tion of 2;i7,054. Tributary territories bcyon'l Ilindostan. — Con- t lining an urea of 50,000 square miles, with a pop- ulation of 408,000, ^otal : l,OiKi,210 square miles, with a population of Mr),(il-2,r,17. Total In the event of our being again plunged into a war, from the immense quantities of troops and sliipping whieh they will require to enable this country to retain possession of them, and the vast distance which many of these colonies are from the mother country, it is more than probable that the loss of several of them would be the result of lliose hostilities in which, it appears, according to the v.-arliko preparations of the ministry, we are now tlireatened. The next queslio will be, as many of onr colonies do not j)ay tiieir own expenses, wlietii- rr the loss of the least profitable among them would not, in reality, be a real gain to the country. The Lakf.s. — The extent of the Great Lakes is Plated in tlic report of the Michigan State Geologist B3 follows : Mean length. Mcarilircadth. .'Jrca st/. miUs. Superior, 400 80 32,000 Michigan, !;i30 70 22,000 Huron, 240 80 25,000 Green Bay, 100 20 2,000 r:r;e, 240 40 !),(ioo Ontario, 180 35 6,:i'J0 St. Clair, 20 13 3G0 ■JO,OGO The sair.p tabular statement exhibits also the depth of each and the elevations of each above tide wafer: Mean depth. Khvnt'on. Superior, 900 5'.'G Michigan, 1000 578 Huron, 1000 578 St. Clair, 20 570 Erie, 84 565 Ontario, 500 232 It is computed that the Lakes contain more tlian 14,000 cubic miles of water ; a quantity more than Iialf of all the fr-:'s!i water on the earth. The extent nf (.ountry drained by the lakes, from Niagara to tlie n.irtlnvestern angle of Superior in- cluding also the area of the lakes themselves, is estimated at 335,515 square miles. The rise of water at Detroit, from June, 1830, to August, 1838, is said to have been 5 feet 3 inches. The water fell from August, 1838, to February 1830, 3 feet 8 inches, so tiiat it is 1 foot 7 inches above the mark of 1830. — Ohio Transcript. The following memoranda, which we copy from the Cleveland Herald, will sliow tlie periods at which the ports of Buffalo and Cleveland were free from ice : LaUe Erie open at Buffalo. 1830, 6th April. 1635, Sth May. 1831, Sth May. 1826, 26tii A))ril. 1832, 27tli April. 1837, 22d May. 1833, 28th April. 1838, 4th April. 1834, 6th April. A'acigation eommt 1830 need at Cleveland. 1830, 3d April. 183.5, 26th March. 1831, 2:ith March. 183G, Mth April. 1832, 28th March. 1837, 2('th March. 1833, 2inn— in'in Maranlmm nl I IJ, fi nio— -ino MeJifOn at i:ii, 0 iMO— !ino SI. Diiniinsfi'at 111 cenis, r»»li— mio New Or- igins, dry, at I2jr, 6 11.11. Tho iiii|ioila in April were aliiiiit lif.noii. /run— Of Iholnlc imperiK tif Enclish, small sa!c.<; liavf hern iii.idB lothc itn.kMU !)i a 91 per tun, .mil lOtl loin Swedes at 1(17,50, nil b i>r tt ntt) cr. Malnssrs—V\m niaiki I r.nnliniio* very (ir»i, an.l prices arc slill tendmc upwards, tallies ef IQ a Ijuu hhils (■iitia. :il a ;iOc_SHririaiii, :1J a Xit— l.'ul lihdf Purlo Riro, ;)7.— a carpo ot ■Iriiiidrid,.1.5c and Ont.il'iieiii.s, in InlH.ns 1andi-d l.i Ihe Ira.lo 31 c per sail, and; liy alirtli n. l.li| hlids I'l Itico, Si a JOJc perf.ill, 4 UK.— ISO dii do, LH;,'. aHT^c, 4 inn. rrcifv'*»;.<— Tliere is an liclive drnminl for pnik,and an niivancc on clr.«r of nhnnt 5) ceiils pr l.bl, [Innis 9ti:d lard .Tre nl^o in pond fk-iiiand »l full pritt'?. Ik-ct dull, and pri- ces nnclianjed .-incc ll.c Insl if p.^rl. Rire—Mi:\\r ot 209 lia;s India was made, 9c. lonjcasks Carolina, 4 3 4 a:ic pr 111. Sii£r,ir — There lia« teen a pood rfeninnd from Iho Irade and reuiiers, and fiiles or Havana i^nd Trinidad browns liavo ' l.een made, alioiil iliUll lioxi-s, al t> 14 a s:i 4c pr lli; 9(10 lio.\- I .-s do .lo while, 11 a n 1-4 do ; Bt ChiIv, Uc pr I!i ; Hill hllds Porlo Rico, 7.1 a 8 I 4i; do do— and bv atirlir.n, lilO lilitis 70 blild I'oit.. Hic'o, 7o 4a83-ec pi lb; lUO do do, 6 BO a 7 75 pr ion Ilia 4in"a ;('.>f./— Nolhins of ronsprinrnre Iiai been done plieo last reporl, inannlarliircrs and dcilers are iiniiing llie;elTect on the inarUel of the iicKI Bheaili.e— sales I5,0ll0 Ib^ SJasoiiy Hccre at DO a Gosper lb. 90 Being an average of eighty-six years and two months each, and the aggregate excess of the '*time honored thirteen," over fourscore is just eighty years. No deliberative assembly of equal magnitude was ever more remarkable for its virtue, temper- ance, and longevity of its members, than tho one which declared the American colonies free and in- dependent. Whale Fishery. — The annual production of the fisheries of Massachusetts exceeds ten millions of dollars. The amount of the importations of S))erin oil at New Bedtbrd durino- the last five years is sta- ted to be as follows:— 1834, 121,000 bbls ; 1835, 178,000 bbls; ]836, ViifiOO bbls; 1837, 178,000 bbls; 16.38, 129,000 bbls; the importation of 1839 is estimated at 109,000 bbls. PKICES CURRENT. Mill;. — The quantity of this article required for the supply of New York and its suburbs and city of Brooklyn is about 15,000 gallons the day : at 5 cents the quart this would produce )|(i3,750 daily, and $1,500,000 annually. Large quantities of the milk used in New York is brought tVom a distance of 30 miles. MARKETS. NKWVOItK C.\'lTLt; Jl.AKKET, JHV6, IKig. Pales nl :!i)0 beef ciilile al SI 1 to 1.1— average .SiaUie 100 lbs: 120 .Mikh cows ;.i;iS to .55J. Sheep sold al 6 lo .^-7^ each. Hay— -ales 1:8 to 115 1 2 ceiiln per 100 Its. nlUGllTO.V CATTLB JIAKKET. MAY (i, 18.19. Piices of he.r Catlle. Firsl qnalily, S'J a O,.^; «er to e,?.") ; Iliird, 7 o 7,75. V\'orking oxen, sales al §70, -3, b.i, 1(10, find 140 Co« sand rnlves, sales at ir:tl,8(i. 4',', on, 53, and (15. H(\ ine, 8 to 81 rem.-- lorsov\F.y, to y^ for barrows .■ retail from 8 to II cer.ls, ncronling lo qualily. JiTcic r.,Tk, Mny 8, 1M9. THE JIARKET.— Flonr is rather firmcrtlloii|ih diill;sales are making of Oileans ai §7 ; Genesee ;8 held al $7,2.>, and Geori;el..W!i is .$7,51, Willi buyers at .$7,44 a ."in. Bills on England are linnlly as firm ; ihe rale is 8.t a 9 per cl pr inontl) — ~Jinir. nf C'oj'i Sales of U. S. Hank sh-ires. May 7, al ,$11(5. 130,313 108,579 21,734 If these data are correct, they exhibit a decrease of 21,734, in the short space of four years. A gentleman having occasion to manure a cer- tain portion of land lately, the cart bearing the ma- nure passed through a field that appeared one en- Fannnl UM Market Bo.y-.en, .Maij 8.— I'rl es. clieuan-jo, 70 a 75, while do.'iil lo 5.*.— .\piiles lal :),30 a 4,(10, itU9sets,:<,a.J a 3,30— 1,'ider, J, 00 a 3,4.5. Polatoe-, livins bbl BOSTO.V SIAUKKT, .MAY 7, 18.19. Ciylfcc — The mnikcl liii- fiiilltrr iinpioved in eonser^nence of the uniisa-illy li.nited -it;ipli.-s, and s.iies dtiriiic the v^ e. k of ^1. Homing.., have been m.ide al In a 10 i 4 cis — I'orl.. Taliello 11^ a lOr, rtml J;i\-., r2 a |;(c, 13 mo. 'I here was an impi.rl jetk-id.!), of Jlidn M. Hominco. C'ttun — Tlie Iransaclioiis since Ihe last advice* ftoni Ijiv erpool, (whicl' \v<:re of .tli iinfavnrable. h:U!irIrr by the ship per)liave been quite lichl; h.. liters reiiiaiii tii ni al l.trnier qno- laiions, nod sales t.f a few hiindrcd bales, I., supply the ini merliale wants ol coiiMiiiieis, have been made at present qnotalioiis. fV(jur~llul lillle has of lale been done in Ger.esee on ac- eounl of the heavy tiopi.rlalimis of (rhii., and Ihe great dif ference Mini tias prev.-iile.l ii> prices, t^ales of ihe Inner have been lor the usual ileniaiid for consninption al 7 25 a 7 5« lo dealers, cash — an.l Hie lorin'.'r 7 87 a & 01) do do Soulhern Hour has also eiveii way in price, and sales have lieeii made of Richmond ("anal 7 l-^J n 7 05. lloHaid street 7 SO cash — and other kinds 7 :t;^ a 7 50, 4 mo. Grain — Tiiere has !»een a good demand for corn, nolwitli slandinfl the heavy opeinli..iisof last ^\eek, and prices Iiave been lairiy snpi'oiled. Sales ronsisl of al t 30,000 bush- els yell.tw round, 99 a 1 09-doHu, 04 a 95 and white 88 a 00c pel bushel. r^oiillK rn o:ils, -18 a 50, and Ka*tern, 52 a 53c per bnsliel. Rye, Norlliern, I Iti, and bnl little in mar- kel. Ui'lca — There lias been considerable done in the market, chieliy bv inannf.ictnreis, pi former reported prices. Sales consist of lOOOPernaml.ncoal lU a lGc,6 mo— 1000 Cape de Verd al 11, (» m«— 300 iMontevideo at 14i,(} mo— 15'J0 do do al ALil'M* American .i.SIlKS. ro:s 100 lbs. " Pearl *' BK.WS, bushel BSFiF. mess bbl. BKKSWAX. icllow lb. Ut'lT .;R.liim|.lb, CANDLES, spei in lb. mould •• CIIK5r.SK, lb. COA L, Aiilliracile ton ■' .New Castle chaldron COFFEK, best lb. COl'PKRAS. lb. CO I'TOX, best lb. FKATHEKS, live geese lb. . Rnssia lb. FISH, Mackerel No. -2, bbl. " Cod.'ii-in.l Ikink qnint'l FLAX, lb. FITRS, foi red ', Mnskrat GRAINS. *ic. Flour best bbl. Rye Ik.iM " Indian loeal • • Wheal bushel " Rje ■ ( Corn " «t (ills '* " Rarley '• HAMS. lb. HAY. best 100 lbs. .' pressed HIDES, "nenoB Ayies '* (;oat skills HOPS, first sort lb. IRON'.Swe.ks ton ♦* Pig ton LARD, lb. LEA1>. white lb. I^EATIIER.Solo lb. LIME, cask I.INSEED OIL. pall. Lif.MBEK, Boards in.No.S.M. " Tiniber (on MOLAS.SES, best fall. ■' PI. Cad. S. bouse NAILS, cm lb. PI/AS I ER I»A R IS, Ion PORK, "h'.le lo S'.f"-'!' roi.ldl iiiis bbl. RK'T,, lOJ lbs. S \ l/J". T. lilts Island besi blid. .SALTPF-TH;.;. rru.le lb. SEED.S, lleidssiass biisbel " Kedl'p " '* Fi'ivseed " " Clover lb. SIIEETiyfiS. Am. cot. 57 in SlIIKTINGS, '■ -T " SPERM OIL, winter best ■«i'l!H rs Tl IIPE.V., (all STEEL,. Kncbe-t ^i German .Sr(;AK. I ..Tf best lb. " I'rown '* *' TALLO\V,lb- TK.IS. Hvson & V. II. best \»'OOIJ. perc»rrt besI WOOS,. Merino, best " Smyrna, wssbeil | " ■' tinwnslied I Hostoli. N.York. Pbilad. Play 8. May 8. •May B. 5 5 'A 5 5 5 CB 7 I?; ■2 50 2 00 1 87 Ki 00 2.1 50 ib 00 ; 5 3(1 28 ?;• 2( 18 41. 41. 1.' 40 1.1 10 1', » 8 00 7 00 ID 0(. 1.' 10 5I' 1.' 1.^ •21 if I. .if 4v S5 a (.0 SO 1 4 a 3-2 l.-.a4(' 17a3J 14 on 14 75 14 25 4 '2.-. 4 30 4 55 10; 10 n 1 .51 1-2 20 6 8 75 7 2;-. 7 .i'l 5 .51' 5 25 6 50 4 -2.' 4 5' 1 C5 1 2(. 1 H 1 10 9i 9--' 90 .5? .57 41) 8.' 75 S3 12 14 13 9 1." 1 0. 1.- 00 in 2; .■lO a fci' 37 a 40 11 ir 17 107 01 102 100 00 45 01 40 511 3ti 0(1 is; I'- 13 ll 11 9.- 21 2/1 9i 1 25 bUPli. 2.1 9. 8-.: 84 27 00 35 OtI SS 00 4 ;.(. sq.lt. 31 3'2 35 34 54 H 7 7 2 75 3 57 4 25 1 1 20 on 23 on SI .50 4 75 4 87 4 87 3 12 bush. 4. 36 8' f 3 3 01 2 61 3 25 1 (-■ 1 5( I 90 1' 21 14 11 i: 1 11 R 1 2. I no I SO V. 37 1: 39 1:1 17 r, 105 1: Iv % 45 a a 40 a f7 10 a 1 00 8 51 GSi 121 THE FAKMini'S MONTIiLY Vlt^ITOH, A WONTin.V NFWSrArF.H, IS ri'BI.lSHED BY WILLIAM P. FOSTER, HUrs Urick Blocf,-, Covcord^ JV. H. JAMES BURNS, 104, Wnshin^tonst., Boston, ^fs. Tlic Visitor is issued ai)GUt tlie tiftcrnlli day of cacli month. Cnch niiiiibpr will toiirniti siMteii p.Tjrp? of qiiarln size on (t-iper calciilnled Tor prcpprx'niicn and (ui n I'air and lieaii- tiful i> pe. The subjects will be illustrated with enprnvings. Theleriii.'; will he sr-veniij-Jivc cvut^n ijcar payable, alvatf/i in ad- vancc. Fnrall snhscriher* lees Ili:iri21, Ap' iitswUI he '» I hi wed a deduciiun nl" ^.^ ceni.i e.tch-T-rcir all over ^-1 siihscriliers rni any one agency TJJ ccnis each will he ailnived. Thus, for six FUhscnbert? fcmr dtiMarg— twelve, eiphi dollars — ciglileen, twelve ddllars — Iwentv-foiir, fiflfcn iIollaTs,will be remitted. Single iiuinliPrB. twelve ind a lui'f cents each. All siihscri- hars will connneiico with the fir^l niiintie! or the year. {^5" Cnininunicalions hy mail, will be directed t« WIL- LIAM V- ros=TER, Concord, N. H. Conducted by ISAAC HILL. Published by WM. P. FOSTER. " Those who labor in the earth are the chosen penpl c of God, tch06'C TcasCs he has made his pea liar depos 'tefnr substantial and gcmiine »ir/ue. "-jEFFEnsoB. VOLUMK 1. CONCORD , N. H , JUNE 15, 1839. NUMBER G. ■T '"TrT^T**y^-^"^* '^ Bilir.rira, Maij\7, '39. Hon. Is,»Ac: Hii L : — Dear Sir, — Througli the po- Iitene,ss of a New H. imps hire iViend, I lately re- ceived the fourtli number of your Fanner's Visit- or, containing, among otlier interesting articles, an obituary notice of the late Gov. Pierce. I h.ercwith Bend one year's subscription, and request ihe favor of receiving the preceding and subsequent numbers by mail. Although I am not e.-tactly an agricultu- rist, it will aft'ord me niujh pleasure to sec monthly epeciniens of tjiat peculiar style nf compusition which I always seek and read with avidity. Al- though in the splitting up of political parties, we were not destined lo stand on the same side of the fenre, yet you will do nic the justice to believe me "when I declare to you that I have always felt a deep interest in your personal welfare. I am not of the number of those who believe that all tlie talent, all tiie virtue, and all the patriotism, are ccniined to your party or to mine. Who has not seen twenty school boys attemptinj: to sv.'ing on the rack of a passing sti^e coach.' Those who cannot get on, invariably bawl out to the driver, '■ whip behind." Now I do not think it of vital importance to the passengers which of those boys hold sn, or which are lof? sprawling hcl-.ind. Respectfully and truly vours, ZADOK HOWE. If we derived no other advantage from our la- bors in the Monthly Visitor than the pleasure of now and then receiving letters similar to the fore- going, we sliould be well paid for every thing. An old acquaintance of thirty years ago— a shrewd head inquisitive of faults— opposed to our peculiar opin- ions and of course disapproving tlie zeal with which we eniraired in their propagation — without personal intercourse for the last twenty years; we are al- most inclined to the vanity of believing Ihaf he puts a better estimate upon us than we do upon our- selves, and tl!3.t our common place remarks and ev- ery day observations are not altogether void of in- terest. , We remember Docf . How e tor auid lan^syne as one of the only two physicians in this place thirty years a-ro : his oompetiS^, Doct. Grekn, had not only IheMd vantage of greater age and experience, but was eonnected in family relations with nearly^ half of the villaie, now swelled into a population of some tliree tiiou°sand people. It was related of the elder Howard when he set up business in Boston that he had few applications from patients, until, following the advice of some old friend, he contri- ved on Siind^ivs and other public days to be on his way in a different direction from the crowd flock- inn- to churches and places of assemblage. To thfs practice, rathe, than to his early skill, did tiie eminent physician probably owe his early intro- duction to a most extensive business. Twenty-five years ao-o, when every man, woman and child took sides in" favor of one or the other doctor with as nnieh zeal as we have always taken ground in pol- itics, we used to see the good old Dr. G. upon t!ie nun horse which he always rode when called out of the street, bending forward as if it were a case of life and death, meeting all the people while on their way to the only service held in the town upon the Sabbath. Every body tlien went to thi.'s meeting but the sick, their attendants and the doctors ; Dr our lot to fall into the family relationship. The last pill we ever took from the iiand of a physician — it wasanot'.ble pill, which although soon discharg- ed with the contents of a di;iordered stomach was there distinctly felt for many snbsequentyears — was administered by Doct. Green in the month of July in the year ]Sl7. We had been reduced appar- ently to death's door, and were then so uncharita- ble as to form the opiiiion, contrary to that of all friends about us, that the doctoring had done us more harm than good ; and we then promised not again to take doctor's medicine until we should be very sick. The assertion of such a determination required no common assurance — some persons a- bout us jiredictcd that a just punishment for the heretical opinion we had formed of doctors and their frequent prescriptions would follow by uiaking'us glad again soon to take their medicine. That time has not yet arrived ; and we introduce this fact to show that perhaps in one half the cases where physici.ins are called, their services had hotter be dispensed witli. Indeed we know one or rncre physicians in whose skill and judgment we enter- tain great confidence, v.'ho, when called in many cases, advise to the administering of no medicine. In such cases, if the physician loses a more profit- able custom, he probably loses fewer patients. It is a remarkable circumstance, worthy the consider- ation of all who seek the true avenues of iiealth, that those families wliich have no convenient ac- cess to the doctor, enjoy much better general health than those families v.hich have a favorite fami!;,' physician directly at their door. Doctor Hott^e, since he left ua, has attained to eminence as a man and a physician. He reside:^ in an ancient town of Massachusetts, which presents many ctamples of successful farmers who have been in the habit of better cultivating the ground than farmers farther in the interior. We do not remember to have passed that town other than over the Lov>'ell rail road, since 1S33. In the spring of that year we recollect to have seen spread over a mowing field what we had supposed most fanners would not have thanked any body to put on, an al- most entire covering of oyster shells. This was in a field just by a recently erected meeting house, near Concord river, one nfile \vesl of tha Doctor's residence. Krom a dread of rocks and other obsta- cles in the way of the scythe, we at first thought the application must be fatal to the field, us destroy- ing the edge uf the instrument atevcry clip. It has since occurred to us, that a heavy roller might so imbed the shells that the scythe could pass over them without injury. We would like to be in- formed by Dr. Howe or some one acquainted, of the value of the aiiplication to mowing or tillage grounds of oyster and clam shells from the salt wa- ter. It occurs to us here that the roller may be and is used to "real advantage on light and gravelly, or rocky soil, when laid down lo grass, at the time of sowing grain. Small rocks out of the way of the scythe are of much value to a mowing field — they contribute to keep the ground moist, light and warm. A roller made from a solid log of hard wood of very considerable weight will press the small stones so far into liie ground as t.^ put them out of the way ofllie scyllie. Cro; Mo'.iutajns of Xew sincT tiic width of N;iW England, G was the nearest neighbor of the clergyman and j considerable mountain ranges.^ Tiie westerly range was a member of his church; but for all that, if some were so unkind as to suppose there might be policy in bein"- in a hurry to visit patients precisely at half past ten, A. M. or half-past one, 1'. M. on Sunday, nobody will be so cm.?! as to say that Dr. Howe's competitor had not a good and justihable motive Whatever misrlit be the opinion ot the good man who with all the heads of the five fami- lies to which ho was related then living, has since exchantrcd worl Is, there is not one who knew both that will not yield the palm rather to the livnig than to the dceeasrd in the practice of all the "arts of the able physician." We may as well confess at once that Uoct. Green was our doctor— not exactly because we esteemed his competitor less, but because it happened to be commences at the rncks near New Haven in Con necticut, which are to be seen as we pass up or down L')n2 Island Sjund. This range forms the high ground of Litchfield county in Connecticut— the mountains of Berkshire in Massachusetts, and almost the entire region of the Green Mountain State, e-xtending north to Canada. The other rang, may be said to commence at Montank Point in Rhode Island, and composing the rough western exterior of tint little State and the easterly part o; Connecticut, takes up nearly the entire county o Worcester, extending across Massachusetts, enter. New Hampshire on its south line, embiacing- principal part of both old Hillsborough and oh Cheshire — puts on still a more mountainous aspec in Grafton- rises to the highest altitude of any laud in the United States in the north county cf Coos, and may be said even to extend by the head of the longest river (the Connecticut) in New Eng- land, and form that ridge of the highlands which divides the provinces of Great Britain from the United States, in whicli is the point or "northwest angle of No;a Scotia,'' about which there is so much uncertainty and dispute as to involve two great governments in danger of collision and the accumulated expense and bloodshed of v.-ar. Tlie second jilountciin Kan-ge. This second mountain range — the height be- tween the Merrimack and Connecticut rivers — is the subject of cur present attcnti'.m. It cmbrac'ea the roughest of the rough country of New Eng- land. The soil of this range is much harder than that of the western or Green Mountain range — it seems to be an older Ibrmation, the land of the west having been submerged long subsequent to that on the east, being covered liy a series of large and small lakes, extending probably nearly to the tops of the h'giicst hills until the waters nov.' composing tho Connecticut broke through all their former harriers, and finally discharged themselves in a continuous stream into the sea through Long Island Sound. Some cf the mountains of this range are tha Waehusett and Wetatick in ?n wliicli was a large maror among otiier costly decorations. The bull seeing Ins jjrecise counterpart in the glass, attaclced Ira fancied an- tagonist and dashed the glass in a lli> usand pieces. The unlucky owner ascertaining the mischief, found means to look through a window and shoot the bull dead upon the spot. Carelully closing the doors, he left the fallen enemy weltering in his blood at the precise point where he fell, and dis- covered him to the astonished owner and his fami- ly when they returned in the evening from the ser- vices of the sanctuary. Splendid View from ^Vetotlck. On the north side of Worcester county bordering on Middlesex county on the east and the line of New Hampshire on tlie north, is the town of Ash- burnham. In the northeast point of this town i.? the mountain Wetatick, seen far to the cast and southeast in the fhape of a regular cone. The line between, the State of New Hampshire and Massachusetts passes over this mountain east and west, the town of Neu -Ipswich, N. H. being on the norllj, and Asbby, Ms. on the east. From tins mountain can be descried with the naked eye, oth- er mountains far to the north and northeast. The beautiful twin prominences in Gofl'stown, Uucon- oonucks (woman's breasts) which are seen at a great distance up and down the valley of the Mer- rimack, appear from the Wetatick as at your feet, being at the distance of forty miles. The Jo Eng- lish hill in New Boston, and the mountains in Greenfield and Lyr.deborough come still nearer — the mountains in Pittsfield and Nottingham appear to be not far oft', and Agamenticus in Maine a little to the right hand is distinct and clear to the sight. Equally clear are tlie Guustock mountains on the south, Red Hill on the west, the Ossipec moun- tain stretching down on tlie north, and the Broek- field mountain on tlie east of Lake Winnipisseogee and near the line of the State of Maine. Beyond is the Corway Peak near Cenwa^', at lire distance of nearly one hundred and twenty miles on a di- rect line. The Sandwich mountains also, and it is believed Mount Washington itself one hundred and fifty miles oft', may be identified from the same point. The eye roves over a splendid scenery of moun- tains. In the season of the rising of fog from the river from the high grounds of Ashby and .Ash- burnham may be distinctily discerned the belt fif the Merrimack from Franklin, N. H. on the north to Ha- verhill in Massachusetts on the east, enabling us to loca e the several villages and posilicns all the way upon the river. Ashbnruhani iu Mitssnchnsetts. The town of Asliburnhani was granted (o Thom- as Tileslon and otiiers of Uorchf ster, Ms. for -'■cr- vices rendered in Canada in ItibO, and was first called Dorchester Canada. It was incorporated as a town in 1765. It is less than a six miles stjuare township, and has a population of about 2,0011, of late fast increasing. Situated in a position upon the summit of the mountain range, tjiore is less wa- ter running into it either from the tffwns of Sew Ipswich or Rindge on the north, or Xrom Westmin- ster on the south, than would piss through the leg of a man's boot. It lias, nevertheless, more sur- face of water than any town in tiio county ofW'or- ces er, and its meadows ami ponds are the sources and feeders of both the Souhegan and Nashua riv- ers, emptying into the iSIerrimack on tlie east, and of Miller's river, an important triUutavv to the Con- necticut. At tlie foot of the Wetatick from the goutheaat to the northeast ore the ample ponds and flowed meadows which contain water sutlicient in the dryest season to furnish all the requisite power for carrying many thousand spindles an.J hundreds of looms in the manufacturing establishments at New Ipswich, JIasoii, Wilton, Milford and Merrimack. So slight would be the transition of this important iTvater power, now purchased up and controlled for the use of t'actories below, that it is said a day's work of one man would turn the whole to the south into a northerly branch of the Nashua, rurnishmo- the same great water power to the town of Ashby that now runs through New Ipswich. Scarcely half a mile west of these feeders, and over a ridge that nnght be easily surmounted, is the principal pond which is the source of the Nashua. This pond of some three hundred acres, and one of smaller dimensions at the foot of Little Weta- tick above it, are the head and source of Nashua, which furnishes water power for many laro-e cotton and woollen factories, as well as for many smaller establishments. These last ponds are nearly upon a level and almost in contact with a larger pond of about six hundred acres, near the centre of the town, which is the source and feeder of Miller's river. The waters of the great pond at no very distant day evidently united witli the Nashua stream and cr.nlributrd much to increase its volume. In two places it IS thiiuglit the water eomniunicates either way by an underground passage. The val- ley and channel througU the rocks over which the water passed is there, as plain as the channel of some recent stream which had subsided from the drought of summer merely. The water is clogged in this course only by the intervention of sand which had ftlled up the water course, being blown in by the northwest wind,wliich strikes with force on this side of tlie little lake. This head water too might be changed with very little labor, and would make a loss of many thousand dollars on the one hand, as it would of gain on the other, in such an event. The volume of water passing out of this town to the west, is probably greater tlian that of both the streams at the east: between the centre pond and tlie first pond west at the distance of less than a mile is a fall of sixty feet. In this distance three or more mills for pail and chair fac- tories, saw and grist mills, arc alrciidy erected. Thirty years ago the stream fed by the ponds at the head cf the Nashua river v."as thought to be too inconsiderable for mills, especially near the head. It has since been found to furnish the very best and most convenient water power in the world for the purposes to which it has been applied. — Near that stream has grown up as a consequence of this apparently small w"ater power, a village which is the third in population and bu3iiie.^s in that im- portant county, and the second (Fitchburg) in the same countv, enly si.x miles below, on the same stieam. The value of this water p -wer near the summit level, results from its steadiness and uni- formity. The severest, long continued rains do not so raise the streams as to endanger the dams and ether works from inundation — the severest drought, remarkable as it may seem, exhausts not the constant supply of water, as it dees in the country below. In the distance of one mile and a half, as the stream passes towards and through the village, the water has a gradual fall of more than a hundred feet. The hill conies down on either side 30 that dams commanding a head and I'all of some ten or tv,-elve feci are easily erected. These dams are placed at tlie distance of twenty, Ihivty and for- 1 tv rods t'rom each other, creating successive ponds or reservoirs. Standing at a point a little elevated, we could cast our eye at the same moment on nve of these ponds, the one elevated above the other, and each furnishing the power for some manu- facture. Tiie iiivenlions of the last few years, bv the aid of this little stream, furnish ihc means for v.'ork heretofore done by hand, which would be in- credible to those who had not witnessed it. From green sapling pines, in the course of a few iiours, arc manufactured these improved and beautil'ul tubs and pails whicli are Ibund at many of tile country stores. The process is sim]ile and rapid : The circular saw at first takes the green log, cuts it in twain and in length, shaping each stave so as to match the staves composing the vessel. By a similar process the bottom of the vessel is shaped and prepared. Both are taken to a dry house where in the course of a few hours the timber is amply seasoned. The staves are halved or grooved, so that the edge cf one can be inserted into the other, b\' a process as rapid as they can be handled. Set together, they are fastened liy the lower iron hoop, and placed upon a lathe, where the}* are in a mo- ment made smooth as with a plane upon the out- side : a similar process on another lathe shaping the iii'.iide completes that part. The process of pre- jiaring, adapting and fastening the bottom is the work of a moment. The completion of iron hoop- ing and earing follov.'s to finish the work as far as it is done iiere. Tiirec young men, wilii the aid of the water power saving labor, arc able to complete, with the exception ofbailing and painting, seventy- five to a hundred twelve quart ]iails in a day. The process of chair making is equally ra])id. A green maple, or beech, or basswood log is in a few mo- ments disposed of and made into chair rounds or chair backs. Immense piled loads of the manu- factured articles, used in all parts frf the United States, are sent weekly to Boston, Providence and other markets. The painting and completion of the manufacture is usually omitted until the article arrives at the place from whence it is to be vended. From a condensed account by the Massachusetts Secretary of State of the manufactures of that State in the year 1^37, we obtain tiie amount of man- ufactures in Asliburnhani in that year. They were of cotton manufactures ^1.5,(j00; boots and shoes 3,06.5 ; leather tanned and curried .f 23, .509 ; hats manufactured by one person ^337 5t) j chairs and cabinet ware $37,3110 12; jialni leaf hats manufac- turcfi exclusively by women and children to the value of $19,944. The palm leaf hats have greatly fallen off from the failure of a market; but other important manufactures have been added. The ciiue seating of chairs now furnishes new employ- ment for many hands i — improved scyihe snaths are made with great success ; and the pails and tubs are an important addition. Activity and in- dustry are evinced in all these manufactures. So busily of a wei'k day are all hands, male and fe- male, engaged, that the streets are still aiH desert- ed, e.vcept some neighboring I'armer comes into the village, or travellers pass on the principal roads. The order is reversed of stillness on the Sabbath ; for the two meeting houses are filled morning and evening by the well dressed males and beautiful females whose delight it has been to furnish the fashionable garments which adorn them, from the avails of their cv.'n industry. We would not be surprised if the manufactures of this little town shall be increased so that they will yield nearer 1^210,000 than 300,000 dollars, in the year 1639. The town of Ashburuhrni, the plane of our child- hood from ten tj fourteen years of age, thirty-seven years ago, was the I ist place from which v/e expec- ted the improvements we have noticed. Bj' nature and by appearance it was lei2 inviting, except in a liappv and contented and intelligent, though poo" population, than ulmo.-t an_v other town ot the in- terior : It v.-as cousinored as decidedly the poorest town of Worcester county. The soil v.-as looked upon as poor, as much of it was then and some of it continues now to be clothed with rocks, both gi- gantic and little, as with u gariueui. It was hard and difficult of pen>'triitioii with the plough, the hoe, or the spade. To break up a t'lcld, the stout iron bar must come iu aid of the plough. The al- most sole advantage of the early cle-aring was that the pasturage was excellent on many of the hills ; and where the edge of the scythe could lie kcj't from the rocks, hay v.ai abundant. Good crops of rye were obiained from the burnt ground : the su- gar maple furnished abundance of sweetening lo such as %vcre industrious to tap the trees and gath- er and boil doivii the juice iu the early spring. In their season there v.-as abundance of strawberries in the cleared grounds; and huge bl.ackberry and raspberry vines usurped a better g-rowth where the farmers had been unable to procure honey-suckle, clover or otiier grass seeds for their newly cleared grounds. .Mount Hunger and Wetatick furnished whortleberries unci blueberries in superabundance Such a matter as niciiey, at that time, if it did not fall by the death or gilt of some relative in the low- er towns, was sehlcm n.el with in Ashburnham. That was not the agi' of paper money : htllc hard money was requiud or expected in the ordmarj- business. Tile articles from the store W"ere princi- pally purchased with the butter which the milch cows generously yielded. In the summer, the lambs of thi> flock, always excellent upon the iiill pastures, were sold in Mtchange for family ncccs- sar.es; in the fall and'vinter, a sparp^at yoke of oxen, cow or hog;, or jierhaps flocks of fiit o-eese, turkeys, ducks or chickens, were killed, dressed and sentto market and returned to the fiiniily what was more welcome than money. The taxes oi' the town — and the minister was supported by a general town tax — were paid, not in money, but in written orders of the selectmen which passed iu the town in place of money. A great grandfather on the maternal side, Thoim- .^s AoA.xs, whose son JoH.v Ad.u;.^ yet survives him at the age of iiinety-feur yeais, purchased what was called the Cambridge farm, m Ashbum- ham — a thousand acres in one bod\-.— [.rior to the revolutionary war. He settled on lliat land about the year 1775, and there died in the year 16b2, at the age of ninety-two years. A lot tor a farm was given to each of his children, whose descendants "to the third and fourth generation'' still own and occupy a portion of the same land That thousand acres is nearly every fool capable of cultivation, and is now lotted out into ten to fifteen farms, to own either ofwlnch, free from debt, would make a man independent. The average value ol that thou- sand acres, situated on the eastern ccnftnes of the town, is now, at least ibrty dollars the acre : a sin- gle acre of pasture ground sold but a fewdavs since for cultivation atone luindred and twenty-five dollars. One mile and a half from the village is a lot of land owned in Cuucord, Ms. by a family of that name which has been called the Clark pasture for manyye.-rs, used solely without cultivation as a summer pasture for fatting cattle. Year after year has this ground been pastured without any applica- tion of tilliige or manure ; and it is now as it was forty years ago so productive that grass may annu- ally be mown on ground where the cattle daily feed. The owner of this pasture will sell it for not less than fifty dollars the acre. The tilled fields, mowing jfrounds and pastures THE FAIlMEil'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 83 tipon the " thousand acres," reacliing to the top cf .Icwcll hilI,fi-oin which some twonty steeples iii as )nany towns can he (iescrictl, and thf liio-h gruinds at the (1, stance of more than a hundred niiies c:in be distinctly pointed out, on the last week of May pre- sented a most delio-htful landscape: the "sweet fields," the newly budded forests stood "dressed in livinof green." So in tiie month of October 1S3G, after the frost had scathed and sen red every thing in a less derated region in New England, vegeta- tion upon this high ground escaped, and even the corn not yet ripe preserved its verdure until the receding sun eked out sufricient warmth to ripen it. The frost upon these hills, cold and bleak as they are in winter and backward in vegetation as tlicy sometimes are in spring, frequently holds off a month later in ilie fiill than upon the plains below. The hard and rocky soil of Asliburnham at this time will bear as higli a price as that of the easiest and best faruiing tov\'ns on the Connecticut river valley above perhaps Northampton. The more it is cultivated the better this land becomes. At first almost impervious to the best implements of the farmer, with each successive turning up and mov- in,^ of the surface, the soil increases in richness — the mi.xed hard pan and gravel seem to change into pruductive vegetable mould ; and the land year af- ter year is more sure of a crop than the easy plough land upon the rivers. There are many e.vcellent farmers in this rough town of Ashburnhaui. The enterprise which has used its water power, abund- ant for the purposes to which it is applied, but powerie:iS if applied to large establishments, has raised the value of every acre of ground in the town, by enabling th:r farmer to sell at a high price at his own door every surplus article his farm may produce. The most stony lands, deemed unfit for cultiva- tion, having a growth of any kind of wood, are not less valuable than the cleared lands ; for every tree, and some of them not hitherto considered useful even for firewood, is brought into requisition in some of tile various manufactures which are car- ried on in tlie town. We have selected this sample of a town of our more intimate acquaintance in Massachusetts, to show what tiie rou^li interior of New England is, and what it may become. Its rocky and uneven surface, its W'inter " hoary frost and fleecy snows" and cold "bitter, biting north" winds, after all, aie not a bur to that comfort of mind, the true joys of friendship and social intercourse, the feasts of in- tellect and "all the pleasures of the heart," which are realized by tlie sons and daughters of the New England yeomanry probably beyond any other pop- ulation on eartli. Improvenient of Rough Lauds. It is now about fifteen years since we passed over the road leading from ,\niherst by Bedford meeting iiouse to this seat of the State govern- ment. That road liad been much improved from its first estate thirty years ago : for six or eight miles it was as narrow, as hilly, as rough, as could he well imagined. Passing over ground deemed all but worthless, the road was a dreaded as it was a dreary object — as uneomfortulile to the passenger as it was straining to the carriage and Vv'orrj'iug to the horses. The first improvement that struck us was a nearly level road over new ground, extending about four miles out of Amherst, made bj' the enter- prizing citizens of that ancient shire of Old Hills- borough— a road much better made than we are in the habit of making; roads further north. It is re- markable liow routes for roads can be found in al- most every direction shortening distances and at the same time avoiding hills. This new road is constructed with the proper width, with adequate drainage, with the projierly graduated pitch, on the principle of tlie inclined plane surmounting the ridges which may not he avoided., and is cover- ed with suth soil and gravel as will tread hard and supersede the necessitj' of repairs after every rain. The road, it is understood, is to bo continued through Kedlord to .'Viiioskeag, which in a single^ season assumes all the appearance and business ol a city. After leaving Amherst plain, the first decided iininoveiiient we discovered was that of the owner of the Stanley farm. We know not its proprie- tor; hut the' present condition of the fields and grounds constituting the farm, contrasted with what it once was, is worthy of attention. Whether the owner has obtained profit or not, his improve- ments are such as probably to make every acre worth four-fold the price it would command twen- ty years ago. This was not then a new farm — it had been many years under cultivation, and was IS good as "a majority of farms. The soil was rough, and the fields had been occujjied while co- vered with rocks ; myriads of these now csrted in- to walls or other convenient places of disposal have left the fields as smooth as they are verdant and productive. The industrious |noprietor with liis hands was at work as we passed near the new road / which avoids liis dwelling and outhouses, in a field of gr.^velly side hill, from which they were extri- cating those incumbrances in the w'ay of the plough. The work in which he was engaged taught us how the present value of his farm had been gained; and although to delve into a pan seemingly impenetra- ble, where rocks large and small usurji nearly iialf of the eartii's surface, be a discouraging business — it is a fact creditable to the owner of the Stanley farm as it is to hundreds of others who may be p: inouncod to be the best because they are the most thriving tanners of tiie Granite State, that Ihey have made themselves farms under cireum- stances so discouraging which will command a higher price per acre tlian will many tiinns in the most li-'asible land and by nature the most easy soil. The farm to which we have alluded is not alone in improvement — that further on which adjoins it is likewise worthy of commcndal'.cn : indeed the greater part of tlie cultivation of Amherst has con- tinued sensibly to improve; and the appearance of the buildings — new iiouses painted white, and en- larged barns taking the place of the old ones — in- dicates that most of the occupants are blessed with competence and independence, the sure result of industry and perseverance. The barn up.Mi the Stanley farm with its granite basement reminds us of the beautiful barns in the richest parts of Penn- sylvania. It may be thought a trifling subject to notice a fifteen years improvement in a region so rough and forbidding as tiie "old county" road between Am- herst and Piscataqiiog ; but particular information of improvements in a country which owes less to nature than to labor and art seein to be necessary to fill up a more extensive outline. This portion of Amherst and Bcdibrd, from loui- to eight miles west of the Merrimack, was as rough as can be well imagined — the ground was rocky, hard and uneven, and what little soil that could be come at was considered too light and feeble to yield a crop. A tl-w years has put upon it an entirely new face. Much of it now breaks upon our view m valuable pasture or fruitl'ul fields of mov.-lng and tillage. Not the least valuable ground is that which has not vet been cleared. With twenty, thirty and fifty- cords of excellent hard wood to the acre, worth at the least estimate one dollar and fifty cents stand- ins, the real value of this rough land is much greater than the estimate of the standing wood up- on it. The great improvements upon the river be- low— the building up of Lowell, Nashua and other villages — the construction of a Rail-road Hearing the distance to Boston — have already doubled and trebled and quadrupled the nominal price of this land, which in o.?me instances before was consider- ed for use so worthless as to make its owner the poorer for the larger quantity with which he was la.xed . Hop <;uUivatiou. It was formerly said that Bedford produced more hops than any other town of New Hampshire. If that town has not actually fallen off since the de- cease of its enterprising farmer-merchant, the elder Is.-v.vc RiDULE, we are inclined to think it must yield the palm of hop growing to Milford, where the business is persevered in with evidence of con- stant improVvinent. Our friend. Col. Peabody, has given in the second number of the Visitor an essay on Hops combining information gathered from his long experience as prebably the best ho]» grower in the Slate, which is worth to every man pursuing the business many times the price of our annual lubseript. on. The fanners of his town have greatly profited IVoiii the experience they have had in the hop cultivation. They pat their soil in a condition to yieW ^ greater produce; and tie hop poles which are set and setting m their fields, appear as taller trees of a sturdier growth compar- ed with those which are seen in Bedford and other ordinarv fields. . In the town of Milford there is a beautiful up- land intervale extending some five miles across the town from its handsome village situated less than three miles from Amherst courthouse to the line of Wilton. Milford was formerly a part of Amhe^rst, and was incorporated into a separate town ml/:/,. Over this intervale on the south side runs the stage road from Nashua to Keene, connecting also with the new staire route called the " Forest road lead- ing to Charlestown, N. II. There is no part of tlie Connecticut river vallev more heautilul or m >re fertile tiian this level of four miles in Milford. On both sides of this river there are probably from forty to fifty fUrniers who bring into the aid of their other agricultural operations that of raising hops. '1 he splend.d farm of Col. Peabody (lately the pro- pel ty of h.s deceased father, William Poabody, Esq.) is on the north side of the river. He proba- bly cultivates more acres of hops than any other man in the tov;n; but taken together the hop growers of fvlilford do not bring home as the fruit of their labors much less than fifty thousand dol- lars a year for the article of hops. The evidence of the increased wealth which this agriculture brings is to be seen by the passer-by in the sub- stantial, comfortable and comely buildings and conveniences about them, in the handsome orna- mented yards and gardens, in the excellent cattle, sheep, and horses ranging their fields and pastures, in the fine roads and bridges kept in good repair, and in the well clad, intelligent faces old and young, which are evei-y where met. Decidedly one of the best farmers in the State is the Rev. IIi:;iphrev Moore, for many years, pastor of the only church in Milford, which since its division into two churches of the Congregation- al order has lost the services, we hope not repudia ted the affections, of its "first love." This gentle- man Vv'as settled in Milford about the first year of the present century — thirty-eight if not thirty-nine years ago. A man of fine talents, his sermons were short, sententious and generally much to the point. He commenced the work of farming with lii.s own hands early after his settlement as a min- ister. Forty years ago it was the common remark of the neighboring farmers that he did more work on his farm, besides attending to his parochial du- ties, than any man among them. Some of them used to express fears that his labors on the farm would destroy the interest of his sermons by depri- ving him of the opportunity of study. We ever considered him that kind of man who could im- prove as much from observation and reflection in the field, as from close reading and study in the closet. Whatever may have been his success as a divine, he has proved himself to be a constantly thriving farmer : his elegant house, his commodi- ous barns, his ample fields, his yards with their beautiful shrubbery and parterres, are no less cred- itable to his taste than to his industry. With ail his labors in the field, in the desk, and among the people of his charge, Mr. Moore has found time to write more on practical agriculture than any other farmer of the state. An agricultural book from his pen was published at the expense of the State some twenty years ago : this work we have read only once, and that several years since. It was dispersed with other books when we changed places of residence in ISiiO. Hereafter we shall endeavor to hunt up the book, and call tha public attention to whatever of agricultural theory and practice at that time may be found useful and in- teresting Useful animals often destroyed as hnrtful. Multitudes of animals are most unmercifully de- stroyed from ignorance of their uses, from an idea that they are noxious or injurious to some petty concern of a field or garden ; and at the very time they are rendering important services to man, they are mowed down as if they were his sworn enemies and had conspired against h's life. Hence the rooks in some parts of England were at one time in dano-er of being extirpated, as we learn from the author°of " A philosophical Survey of the Animal Creation." " The rook," says he, " is a species of crow that feeds upon worms produced from the eggs of the May-bug. As these and all the winged in- sects in general are to be supported by the roots of plants, they deposit their eggs pretty deep in the earth, in a" hole they dig for that purpose. The worms and caterpillars upon which the rooK feeds, are not exposed to the mercy of this bird till the earth is thrown up. Hence it is, that rooks always frequent lands recently cultivated, that the sight of the husbandman with his plough puts them in ac- tion, and that they search with so much assiduity about furrows newly formed. " Some years ago, the farmers in one of the prin- cipal counties of England entertained a notion that these birds were prejudicial to their grain, and they determined, as if with one accord, to extirpate the race. The rooks were every where persecuted ; their nests demolished ; their young ones destroy- ed. But in proportion to the decrease of this ani- mal,they found themselves overrun with swarms of worms, caterpillars, butterflies and bugs, which at- tached themselves to the grain, trees and fruit, and occasioned greater desolation in one day than the rooks would have done in the space of a twelve^ month Manv fanners were ruined At length 84 THE FARMEIIS MONTHLY VISITOR. the perseculion ce;is?d ; nnd tUej found that in proportion as this race of an. mala was restored, the Bcourap which their destruction liad occasioned ceased likewise." To this authority may be added that of Sclhy, wh-^, in his " Illustrations of Britisli Ornithology," p. 73, affirms, that " wlierevor the banishing or ex- tirpating of rooks his been carried into effect, the most serious injury to the corn and other crops has invariably followed, from the unchecked de^-asla- tionsofthe grub and the caterpillar. In Northum- berland I have witnessed their usefulness in feed- ing on the larvte of the insect.conimoniy known by the name of Harri/-lon§.rlegs(Tipit:a oleiaceajwh'ich is very destructive to tiie rsots of grain and young clover." This is a very instructive history. It should be made universally known; and at the same time it should induce men to examine v.-ell whether ma- ny of the creatures against wiiich thc-y wage an exterminating war, may not be among tiioir be- nefactors. iJotwit!i3tanding, crows still contin- ue to be the objects of remorseless persecution. Will it bo believed that in the month of June, in the year of our Lord, 163-*, "William Ev- ans, of Trefargced, in company with anoth- er farmer, on Monday se'ennigiit, killed l'J15 crows in Pantyderiwood, Pembrokeshire, from three to six o'clock in the evening-" Of the motive to tiiis massacre we are not informed, but it was probably from the mistaken idea that these birds were ene- mies to agriculture ; an idea of which some minds seem incapable of being dispossessed. Tiie Amer- ican farmers of New England once oftered a re- ward of threepence per head fjr the heads of the purple grackle, because it took a little of the grain to whicli it had an equitable claim, for its services in preventing the depredation of insects; when, in consequence of this cruel and impolitic act, the birds were " nearlv extirpated, insects increased to such a degree as to cause a total loss of the herbage, and tlie inhabitants were obliged to obtain hay tor their cattle, not only from Pennsylvania, but even from Great Britain." — ICirbv,vo1. i.p. So",). — Linn. Trans, v. ICo, note. Many birds besides rooks .Tre destroyed, under the mistaken idea that they are injurious to the gar- de 1 or orch ird, at the very time they are most use- ful t > botn in feeding the miL-Ives and their nest- lings on grubs and caterpillars. '* The common sparrow, tliough proscribed as a most mischievous bird, destroys a vast number of insects. Bradley has calculated that a single pair, hav ng young to maintain, will destroy o3G0 cater- pillars in a week." "The blue th-mouse (J'lims earuhus: LiNX.) often falls a victim to ignorance in this country (Ireland,) as it docs in England, in consequence of the injury it is supposed to do to fruit trees. Mr. Selby most justly pleads in favor of its being a friend rather than an enemy to the horticulturist." Quadrupeds, ds well as birds, suffer much under slanderous imputations, as can be attested bv tiie badger and the hedgehog. The former, a harmless inotiensive animal, is baited and worried by dogs, because he destroys lambs and rabbits ! This eh ira'e however, has not been substantiated; and it is known that he feeds on roots, fruits, inse.ots, frogs, and such small gaiiie. But he is strong and pow- erful, and can repel his assailants, when fairly mat- ched, with great dexterity. Me is therefore capa- ble of affording an " inhuman diversion," as Be- wick states, " to the idle and ciie vicious, who take a cruel pleasure in seeing this harmless animal sur- rounded by its enemies, and defending itself from their attacks, wiiich it does with astonTshing agility and success." The hedgehog also is assailed Ijy dogs, torn in pieces, drowned, or burned, because he sucks cows ! whereas he might as well be accu- sed of sucking the great northern bear. He also climbs apple trees, and carries oif the fruit sticking to the spines on his back ! Such a dexterous feat would merit the apples ; and should he eat toe fruits that fill in his way, they v^ould be but a small compensation for his services to tlie horticulturist in gnawing tlie roots of the plantain, a troublesome weed, and in destroying worms, beetles, and vari- ous species of insects. If taken to the kitchen, he will soon clear it of cockroaches, and ably dis- charge the duties of a turnspit dog. Th It God has created notliing in vain, should be considered as an axiom both in plulosopiiy and reli- gion ; though there may be some things' of which we cannot see the immediate use, and others, in certain localities, positively injurious. Animals the mist feeble, and appaienlly insignificant, even those which escape unassisted visinn,as the infiisio- ria and other animalcules, serve the most beneficial purposes. They supply nutriment to creatures larger and stronger; and these in their turn become the prey of a still stronger race ; and these a<>-ain cf birds, fs- ^hes, quadrupeds, and man. But}' .n says ' "Insects do more harm than good;" a strange as- sertion from so distinguished a naturalist ! The entire genus of swallows, the woodpeckers, and the youngof almost tl\e whole feathered creation, and the tribes of fishes, v.'nuld contradict his a.^scrtion. Tl:e ant-cater, the chameleon, the mole, the bat, tiie hedgehog, and the badger, will testily against him, as will also tiie bee-master, the silk-manufac- turer, and the physician. Insects are teazing, sometimes destructive ; but they lab'-ir industriously to provide us with food and r.-;iment, with dye-stuiis and medicine. Innumera- ble myriads of gnats, (Culer. jiijiiens,) in the north- ern regions, supply food for shoals of fisiies and millions cf game, and may be considered as the proximate cause of the annual migrations of the finny and the feathered tribes, wh'cli afi'ord such an abundant supply of nutriment, not only to the Lap- lander and Esquimaa'.x, but to the inhabitants of every shore which they visit. Vv'ere insects anni- hilated, how many species of other animals would languish and die I and man himself would be a- mong the arcatest sufferers. For it is with the an- imal kingdom, as with the body politic, or tlie mi- crocosm of the human frame, if" one member suf- fer, all the :nenibers snfTer with it," and t!ie loss of one class or order would involve that of another, till all would perish. If some species are injurious to the garden and tlie orchard, the wardrobe and the museum, they are beneficial in some other de- partment, and the m'sehief of wiiich wf incessant- ly coiViplain is amply compensated by the gp.^ater good of which they are the ministers. "The Der- 7k«.v;c«, the Ccrambiix, and the Cardhtris }un-alis, prey upon viood. They injure the v.'aterpipe, re- duce the fallen trees of the forest to powder, and bore throurr-h the war-ship's ribs; but while busied in these operations, they are fnrnishingemplayment to the pump-borer, the sawyer, and the carpenter. St Pierre has beautifully observed, that "the we- vil and the moth oblige the wealthy monopoliser to bring his goods to market, and by destroying the wardrobes of the opulent, they give bread to the industrious. 'Were grain as incorruptible as gold, it would be soon as scarce ; and we ought to bless the hand that created the insect that obliges man to sift, turn, and ultimately to bring the grain to public s:i\a."—Eurupcun PtiulicaLivn. Fur tue l^nrmi-r's MumUi:> \ isilur. Thorn iledges. Gov. Hii.i. : — If the following remarks on the subject of IIedgks should be dee.ned of any val- ue to farmers in this section of the country, you arc at liberty to use thein in any v/ay calculated to promote their interest. In some sections of the country where stone is scarce, cr the soil is clayey and operated upon by the frost, so as to throw down the stone wall, or whore lumber is scarce and high, fencing is an important item in the expenditures of every farmer. It is said that with proper care and cultivation the common thorn plant usjd in the formation of Hedges will continue to grow and flourish live hun- dred years. Dr. Sliuvtlelf, in his observations on post and rail fences, stone wall and live fence, 9th volume of ilie New England Farmer, page 223, — calculates the cost of the latter including plants and all otlier necessary expenditures till they be- come competent for a fence, at forty cents a rod, and adds that he would engage to find plants, set and train them at fifty cents a rod, " and make a handsome profit in the bargain." — The Doctor has some experience in this Imsincss. Many people have seen and admired the beautiful Hedges on his farm at Clielsea, M.-;. and I would refer all your readers who wish l^or inl'ijrmation in the cultivation of live fence to his written directions in the same volume — pages 20i), 210. Plants for the beautiful Hedges on the farm of the Hon. Josiah Quinc}-, at Quincy, I believe, were imported. Many of the farms in tlie vicinity of Boston, as well as in Connecticut, New York, Nev/ Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and other States, are beauti- fully ornamented with Hedges of different kinds of thorns. Red cedar and the common red beech may be cultivated so as to form an excellent fence. The cedar is beautiful. Some of your readers will perhajis recollect to have seen a l)eau- iful ever green Hedge, which is of cedar round tone of the Hospitals or public buildings in the city of New York. In the West indies and in Europe generally thorn Hedges are cultivated to a great e.vteut. They form almost the entire fence "^f the countr}^ ; and nothing can be more beautiful or or- namental. They are a fence against fowls, cats, and dogs, as well as larger animals. The Hedges on the farm of E. II. Derby, Esquire, of Salem, are of Buck-thorn, and are said to be decidedly the best in the country. In the moist climate of England, and Ireland the Haw-thorn dees well; but1n this country it will not do. The climate is not sufliciently moist, and the summer sun is loo h.Tt : besides, it is al- most universally attacked by the borer and destroy- ed in the Hedge. Tlie materials commonly used in this country for Hedges are the English v;hite thorn, the Buck thorn, the Nevvf Castle, Delaware or cockspnrthorn, and tile maple leaf Virginia Wasli- ington thorn. These can all be obtained from the seed, or they can be had of almost every growth from nur.3eries in Masgach.i:;etts. The buck thorn was introduced by Mr. Derby of Salem. His hedg- es are of this plant. He Ins a nursery and sells many every year. His price this year has been $2,50 per liundred. The plants are three feet high, and have once been headed down in the nursery. It requires twenty -two plants for a rod. This is the usual number: The cost of these plants for a rod of hedge, would be fifty-live cents a rod. They are of hardy character and rapid growth. The csckspuror New Castle t'aorn plants can bo obtained of ■VVilliam Kenrick, of Newton, Ms. for §10 per thousand. Tliis is an excellent material for a hedge— less than ha'f the jirice of tlie Buck- thorn. The hedges on the farm of Mr. John Prince, of R^x!)ur3'. are mostly of tliis jdant. The 'Washington or maple haf thorn can be ob- tained of Joshua Pierce, Esq. Linna'iin Hill, Wash ington city, at ,*5 a lliousand. The hedges of Dr. Shurtleff, at Chelsea, are of this plant, and of the strenoth and beauty of his hedges none that ha» seen them will doubt. There are other nurseries in the vicinity of Boston where plants can be ob- tained. I have set 177 rods, or 4,000 plants for a hcdae this spring, and cho.se to make trial of the buck thorn on account of its iiardy character and the rapidity of its growth. The difference in ox- pence has however been very ccns'dorable- The host mode of planting and cultivating a hedge, I have made the subject o? inquiry for some time past, and I take the liberty to send you extracts from various letters 1 have received on the subject. The wnter.s of tliese will excuse the lib- erty I take. The information is valuable, and if published in your valuable ptv-per will be read with interest and perused by many of tlie farmers of New Entvland. The extracts follow : BARNABAS PALiMER. Kcnnebunk, Me. May 12, !S3y. .VcHi'en, near Boston. J:in.'2ii, 1539. The English Haw Th^rn are not deemed suitable to our climate. The Cockspur or New Castle Thorn are scarce — none near but mine. I have but 10,000. They are tv.o years old. I be- lieved I was doing a good work to introduce them. Tliey have bten tried. The leaf is very beautiful — the thorn very strong. Mr. John Prince has cul- tivated it twenty years, and thinks it the best plant he has tried. No borer that ho has ever seen or heard of has ever meddled with ii. The price la ^10 a tiiousand. Buck-thorns are hardy as oaks — will grov/ in an}' soil. 1 offer mine low; they have generally sold from §20 to $30 of same age — mine are four years old. To frrm a hedge dig the ground deep, throw out the poor subsoil to the deplli of eighteen inche.'*, two feet wide, and fill it with rich loam, and drive on your hedge as suddenly as poisible. Set in a single line eight inches ;ipart. Never p-rune a plant the first year — never pri;ne at all afterwards e.\cept in early Sjiriug, and nev^T use shears; al- wavs use a keen iiook with a haadi", and strike up- wards. After your hedge has been planted a year, cut down every plant to four or five inches, and you will have s^^veral strong plants from each. In A- pril a year after cut v.'itli a knife all over bearing shoots, to within live inciies, and lower your hedge to eighteen inches, if it has grown well. Make the top sharp, in the form of a steep cross or the letter A. This is tiir' v. ;ty, the only way to have a hedge perfectly compact to tlie ground. Keep it forever in tliis form ; keep it down, but let it ad- vance upwards only as it advances at its sides. Then the side limb.s will have air, and dew, aird rain. — Prune it once a year, and tiien in e.ulv spring- Thnse hedges pruned vertically are good for noth- ing ; tlie lower limbs, deprived of sun, and dew, and rain, die off. ^Vhereits in this form you may have a hedge so perfect as to exclude a cat or rab- bit. I have studied the suljject, and observed, and written and published. 1 know the opinion of the very best judges. I^ord Kaime and my friend Rus- sel here, we are agreed. I have chosen the Cock- spur above all others, but intend as soon as I get leisure to have a specimen hedge of ten kinds. I predict the Cockspur will be preferred of all. 1 would not use the English Haw-thorn as :i gift: I THE FARMtlR'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 65 could import them very clicnp. 'I'he white or maple leat'lliorii is liable to Ihe borer. The Cockspur is not, fr.oni all aeoountj. WILLIAM KENRICK. Jamaica P'ain, .Mass. Jan. 27. YoQ ask my opinion aliout the variety of thorns for hedges. I have net cultivated on a large .^cale. I began say thirty years a j.> with the English Haw- tliorn. It grow.1 beantifniiy, but .-ifier a low years when it becomes larrre, the borer attacked it so vio- lently that I was obliged to root it up and destroy it. I then tried the Georgetow.-i thorn, [the maple leaf Wasliington thorn,] the leaves soon became spotted and vinj'ghtly, and I gave them up. I tlien tried, frtjm the recommendation of a gen- tleman on the Kaslcrn shore of Maryland, v.-ho sent nic tile seeds i]i ISM, the Cockspur or ?Jcw Castle (Delaware) thorn. I have been greatly pleased with it, nnd on the whole give it a decided preference. It grows vigorously, producing a strong thorn ; and as yet I have never discovered any in- sect to attack it. I have grown and think highly of the Buck-thorn. This phnt was introduced by my ;;?r'ici'b,v friend Derhy of Sralem. At Phifadoi- phia, I belies-c, the Cockspur m.ay be procured at $5 to $10 per thousand ; but the}- would be not more than one or tv/o years growth. Whichever sort yen may plant, the ground ought to have been previously cultivated and in good condition, and set in a single line at not more than six inches apart. This will make a fence to keep out any aniraal. I have found a double row bad; it is more difficult to keep clean. After it lias got liold, I cut wit!i''n three or four inches of the ground : this causes many shoots to arise. The next year jiruno again witliin nine or twelve inches of the former clip, and so on three or four years. Uy this means you have a thick well furnished hedge below, and strong \vhere yon want it. Then you may dip it to the hciirlityou wish Be careful to keep it tree from weeds or grass one and a lialf or two feet each side. None of the thorns do well under the drip of large trees. You should keep some of the jilants in a nursery to replace any that may miss. The Buck-thorn is not easily killed : it is very abundantly furnished with roots. JOHN PRINCE Sahr.:, Januarij, 1S30. Any information I can give you respectii^g licdge plants will be furnished v.'ith pleasure. I have attended to the subject a great number of years, and have tried a great variety of plants for "the ]mrpose. I find no phnt that answers so well iu our cliinateas the Back thorn. The English Haw thorn ia totally unfit for our dry summers. The Buck thorn is very hardy, grov.'S rapidly, vege- tates early and retains its verdure very late in the season. From a hedge set out thirty j'ears since not a sinffle plant has failed me. In setting a hedge of their, I should place them in a single line about nine inclies apart, and keep the ground clear of weeds; and by judicious pruning in a short time you will have a hnndsome hedge. Should you v.ish to procure the Buck thorn, I can furnish any number of plants. Tiiey will do to set either in springer fall. 1 should rather give the preference to spring. The plants that I can furnish are large and in a fine state to set for a hedge. I shall charge you two dollars and fifty cents per hundred. If you were to sec my hedges, I think you v.-oxld al- low they are the finest in the country. Tliey are of all ages. The English Haw thorn hedge you al- lude to, is in my opinion the most miserable apolo- gy for a hedge I ever saw. There is no portion of it that a sheep, calf, or hog could not penetrate. Tire Buck thorn grows so much more rapidly than the other thorns, tliat you would Iiave a fine hedge in less than half the time. Persons who have seen my hedges have been so well pleased with them that I have furnished plantu to g-i into a great ma- ' ny different States of the Union. From the ex- perience 1 have hid, I am d. cidcdly of opinion that it is advisable to encourage the cultivation of hedges incus climate. We should always select those plants thai are the mcst thrifty and stjnd the ell mate best. • •- Gardner, Mc. January, 1839. Our native thorn is a vigorous plant, stronger than the Eiiglish Ilav; thorn and liable to no dis- eases, and I airi satisfied would iiiuke the best hedge. Tiie only diiJiculty is in procurin the plants. The seeds of all the tliorns require fernii ntation to des- troy the outer shell before they will grow. This is done in the crops of birds ; but wiiero we want the plants in large quantities it must be done artificial- ly, for which you will find directions in any books en gardcninj. I do not know any Eursery man who raii.es our thorn from the seed, those therefore who wish them must raise the plants themselves. R. II. GARDNER. Bosiau, Jnnvary, 1830. We have no hesitation in recommending the Buck Thorn as the most profitible and best plant for a live fence. Seeds of the Buck thorn are $1,25 a pound. The three Ihoriicd Acacia is anotlier very good plant for a hedge, seeds *5ceuta a pound. It is inucli tlie cheapest way to propagate t'lem bv seeds instead of phmts. ELLIS AND BOSSON. House of rrprisentaL''re.s, ) Avgusta, Mc. Januarij, 1S39. ) You will get any kind of hedge plants of Wil- liam Kcnrick, Newton, Mass.. He will cheerful- ly give information and send you a catalogue of his nursery, containing jirices of various plants, on application to him. I am inclined to think the plant for us in Maine to m.ake hedges of is the common white thorn, which grows wild about our fields and wosds. The only trouble is to get seeds to come up. Tliey have a tough shell, and I have found the following treatment to overcome the difficulty, i gather the berries, put them in a vessel with some water and put thiMn out doors, where tliey will freeze and thay.' during the winter, and then if ])lantcd in spring they will generally come up. If planted without this management, they are generally two years in coming up, and many of them never come up at all. Iain glad you think of planting a hedge.. If we ean get jiold of the rin-ht kind of plant, they will make the most durable fence, and adorn the coun- try very much. Hope you v.'ill succeed. E. HOLMES. Erightoii, January, 1-330. We have plenty of Haw thorn one loot long. Tiicy require careful cultivation, and we snitch pre- fer iha Duck thorn or the three thorned Acacia, the former at three dollars per hundred — the latter large plants they will form a fence the first year of five feet high, at $25 per hundred, or smaller ones in proportion as to price. We have also a more uscf'ul fruit bearing ]>ro- ductionand in fine eating on the plant from De- cember to Febrmry. The plant is from tiie Rocky mouutaiuK, extremely h.ardy and tenacious of life, at ^5 per i'.undred, or I'.'rge plants to form a llcc]ge at once, at §30 per hundred. J. & F. WINSIIIP. The author of the American Lyceum System, the well knov.-n and justly celebrated patron of Ed- ucation in New England, sends us the following, being the first of a series of six essays on the sub- ject of the Education of Farmers. Mr. Holbr-jok now resides in the State of Oiiio ; and these es- says, designed especially for the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, have been inserted at the same time in a neighboring newspaper published at Cleavcland, Ohio. This gentleman, who lectured extensively on Education several years ago in Now England, and furnished various apparatus to assist iu the business of instruction, v.-as also editor of several valuable volumes of scientific Tracts which vi-ere published in numbers. Mr. H. in the accompany- ing essay.!i has taken a bold and independent stand, whicli entitles him to the thanks of the Fanners of Nov/ England. Fur [hft F.iriner's Mnnllily Visitor. Edncatiou of Faniievs. — ?fo. 1, Gov. Hill ; — I have concluded to avail myself of your politeness, for presenting to the pulilic, a few practical hints on the education of Farmers. The fact, that more than three fourths of the communi- ty belong lo this class, identifies with tiiclr ch:r- acter and influence, the liappinciss TiikI the liberties of our country. It is evident that our republic must be, both in its fdiaracter and destiny, what they make it, and v.diat ihey say it shall bo. I propose, in several short essays, to invite the at- ieiition Aif your renders, and c.^i-.ecially tiiosc direct- ly concerned in tlie case, to tlie physical, intellec- tual and mora! power of farmei-B, and to give a few hints on the kind of education necessary to in- crease and d'rect that power, for the highest pros- perity and for the liberties, not only for themselves, but of every otherclass of American citizens. In the ijew- remarks I have to malte on' the sub- ject, I shall attempt to sustain the following prop- ositions. First, tliat a greater amount of really useful knowledge is, at present, in the possession of farmers, than of any other class of the commu- nity. Second, that neither merchants, nor lawyers, nnr clerjjrj-men, nor professors of colleges, possess so many facilities, or so many inducements for be- coming men of sound and extensive knowledge, as farmers. Third, that the teachers of cominon schools ought to consist, principally, of farmers, who .should pursue, for- a course of years, the pro- fession of teaching in the winter, and farming in tlie summer ; the summer scliools generally, to be under the charge of females, and when winter schools are large, the small children to be under tJio cliP.rgc in thatseatnu aho. Fourth, tiiat three fourths at least of the ofiiccs in the individual states, and in the general goverii-,-acnt, including the presidency of the United States, ought to be lield hypraclkal farri'.crs, who have an experimental knowledge of y.-ielding the plough, the scythe, the lioe, and ag. ricultural implements generally. Fifth, the entire practicability and the vital ii iportance of farmers faking their own education and legislation into their own hands. As the result of obseivation and an extensive intercourse, in all sectipns of the country, with al- most every class 'of the commuuity, I have been convinced of the trutli nf the above propositions, and others of a kindred char.icter ; also that froin mi.snpprehending cr disre'garding them, have arisen many, if not most of the evils which we suffer in the intellectual, moral, religious, and political cha- racter of our nation. — As the convictions upon my own mind have been produced, almost entirely by the ^fOfCfi of trulh,' in opposition to preconceived opinion, I have some reason to believe that the same convictions will be produced by the same force upon other minds, if the subject should be carefully and cand'dly examined by them. It is too evident, that the operations of our Re- public, political, civil nnd religious, are subject to great irregularities, and even violence, and of course that some belter balance wheel or regulator than we now have, is necessary to equalize, if not to continiie their motions. Education has been sought, and professed!}' applied, tor the purpose of rpgulati;i£r and continuing these motions; but in that thore.is cvidiiuth-, so far, some defect — proba- bly,two defects of a radical character, viz: Educa- tion is not general enough, and it is not good enough. It docs not reach every plain farmer's son, and ever-y poor mechanic's daughter: it olso wants a soul, or moral principle, as the foundation stone, or the central and main wheel of motion, of all motions, vyhclher applied to state, church, or commo-n business. And it may fairly be questioned, whether some of the measures to remove these defects, have not increased tlicm. It is exceedingly doul.itful, whe- ther our numerous icolleges and high schools, estab- lished at great expense, and to some extent at least by the people's money, and still incurring an ex- pense too great for the pecplc generally to partici- pate in thfJir instructirnSi have not produced an ar- istocr.acy of learning, (I do not mean useful knowl- edge) v.'hieh has uniitled young- men for the indus- trious and productive pursuits of life, and thus lead them into professions or pursuits calculated to increase, rather than relieve the burthens of so- ciety. Whatever else many of onr literary insti- tutions may be called, they cannot be called schools of i.Tdustry, morals, health, or a Icnowlcdge of bu- siness; for y/ith many young men, not to say young women, w\\o resort to these institutions, all tliese valuable qualities are laid prostrate. ' Is theie any remedy for these evils.' or must all be given, .fl'p for lost.' If it can be shown that far- mers, every farmer can v.'ith scarcely going from his farm, procure for himself a better education, more extensive, m^re thorough, and more eleva- led, tlian is or can be jirocared at high schools or colleges, and by tliat means more than three fourths of the community have, almost without ex- penso-,ud- ding to retain its flavor, do not soak it, or put it in to boil when 'he water is cold. Wash it, tie it in a ban-, leave plenty of room fiir it to swell, throw it in when the water boils, and let it boil about an hour and a, half. The same souce answers for all these kinds of puddings. If you have rice left cold, break it up in a little warm milk, pour custard over it and bake it as long as you should custard. It makes very good puddings and pies. Bird's-.Vest Padding. — If you wish to make what is called ' Blrd"s-nest puddings,' prepare your cus- tard,— take eight or ten pleasant apples, pare them, and dig out the c.:;re, but leave them whole, set them in a pudding dish, pour your cuslard over them, and bake them .about tv.'eiity or thirty min- utes. .■jpple Pudding. — A jilain uncxpensivo apple pud- ding m.a.y he made by r dling out a bit of common ple-oru3t, and fiUin';; it full of quartered apples ; tied up in a bag and boiled an hour and a half; if th:; apples are sv.^cet, it v.'iil lake two licur.T: for a- clil tilings cook ea.5.1y. Same people like little dumplings, made by roll ng i:ry one a*.]de, pared and cored, in a piece of crust, aud tying them up in spots all over the bag. These do not need to be boiled more than an hour; throe quarters is enough if tiie apples are tender. Take a sweet, cr pleasant flavored apple, pare them, and bore out the core, without cutting the apple in two. Fill up the holes with v.-ashed rice, boil them in a bag, tied very tight, an li.aur, or hour and a half Eacii apple should be tied up separate- ly, in difi'ercnt corners of the pudding bag. Cliirnj Pudding.— Fur cherry dumpling make a paste about as rich .13 you make short cake, roll it out, and put in a pint and a half 01 a quart of cher- ries, according to the size of your family. Doub- le the crust over the fruit ; tie it up tight in a bag, and boil one hour and a half. Crauberrii Pudding.— A pint of cranberries stir- red into a quart of batter, made like a batter pud- ding, but very little stiffer, is very nice, eaten with sweet sauce. Whortleberry Pudding.— VC\wrl\<:hc.n\es are good both in flour and Indian puddings. A pint of milk Vv-ith a little salt and a little molasses, stirred quite stiff with Indian meal, aud a quart of berries stir- red in gradually with a spoon, makes a good sized pudding. Leave room for it to swell ; and let il boil three hours. When you put them into flour, make your pud- ding just like batter-pudding; but considerable thleiier, or the berries will sink. Two hours is plenty long enough to boil. No pudding should be put in tdl the waterboils. Leave room toswell. Pi-um-Padding. — If you wish to make a really nice, soft custard-like plum-pudding, pound six crackers, or dried crusts of light bread, fine, and soak them over night in milk enough tocover them, put them in about three pints of milk, beat up with six eg.qs, put in a little lemon brandy, a whole nut- meg, and about three quarters of a pound of raisins which have been rubbed in flour. Bake it two hours, or perhaps a little short of that. It is easy to judge from the appearance whether it is done. Th(°surest way of making alight rich plum pud- dim, is to spread slices of sweet, light bread plen- tifully with butter ; on each side of the slices spread abundantly raisins, or currants, nicely pre- pared ; when they are all heaped up in a dish, cov- er them with milk, eggs, sugar and spice, well beat up, and prepared just as you do for custards. Let it bake about an hour. One sauce ansvrers for common use for all sorts of puddings. Flour and v.'ater stirred into boiling water sweetened to your taste with either molasses or sugar, according to your ideas of economy ; a great spoonful of rose-water, if you have it, butter half as big as a hen's egg. If you want to make it very nice put in a glass of wine, and grate nutmeg on the t p. When you wish better sauce than common, take a quarter of a pound of butter and the same of su- o-ar, mould them well together with your hand, add a little wine, if you choose. Make it into a lump, set it away to cool, and grate nutmeg over it. Cheap Cvsturds. — One quart of milk boiled; when boiling add three table spoonfuls of ground rice, or rice tiiat is lioiled, mixed smooth and ^\ne in cold milk, and one e^g beaten ; give it one boil up, and sweeten to your taste. Peach leaves or any spice vou please, boiled in the milk. Conimou i'ie^. Minee Pies. — Soil a tender, nice piece of beef — any piece that is clear from sinews, and gristles; boil it till it is perfectly tender. When it is cold, chop it very fine, and be very careful to get out ev- ery particle of bone and gristle. The suet is sweet- er and better to bcil half an hour or more, in the li- quor the beef has been boiled in; but few people do this. Pare, core, and chop the apples fine. If you use raisins, stone them. If you use currants, wash and dry them at the fire. Two pounds of beef, after it is chopped ; three quarters of a pound of suet; one pound and a quarter of sugar; three pounds of apple ;. two pounds of currants, or rai- f-ins. Put in a gill of brandy ; lemon brandy is better, if you have any prepared Make it quite moist with new cider. I should not think a quart would be too much ; the more moist the better, if it does not spill out into the oven. A very little pepper. If you use corn meat, or tongue for pies, it should be well soaked, and boiled very tender. If you use fresh bc.-f, salt is necessary in the sca- .sminj'. One ounce of cinnamon, one ounce of cloves. Two nutmegs add to the pleas.antness of the flavor ; and a bit cf sweet butter put upon the top of e.ach pie, makes them rich ; but these are not necessary. Baked three quarters cf an hour. If your apples are rather sweet, grate in a whole lemon. Pumphi Pie. — For common family pumpkin pics, three oggs do very well to a quart of milk THE FARMERS MOxNTilLY VISITOR. 87 Stew your pumpkin, and strain it tlirou£rIi a seive, nr c;)!an(li.'r. Tnko out the seeds, and pear the pumpkin or squash, before you stew it; ijut do not scrape the Inside ; the part nearest the seed is the swretest part of* llie scpiasli. Sllr in the stewed pumpkin, till it is as thick as yon can stir it round rapidly and easily. If you wnnt to make your pie I'icher, make it thinner, arid add another egcr. One I'gcr to a quart of milk makes very decent pies. Sweeten it to your taste, with molasses, or sugar ; Borne pumpkins require more sweeteniuij than oth- ers. Two tea-spoonfuls of salt ; two areat-spoon- fuls of sifted cinnamon ; one j^reat spoonful of gin!i;er. Ginner will answer verv well a- lone for spine, if you use enough of it. The out- side of a lemon orated in is nice. The more eggs the better tlie pie ; some put an err-r to a gill of milk. Carrot Pic. — Carrot pies are made like squash pies. Tlie carrots should he boiled very tender, skinned ami sifted. Both carrot pies and squash pies should be baked without an upper crust, in deep plates. To be baked an hour, in quite a warm oven. Cherri) Pie. — Cherry pies should be baked in a deep pliite. Take the cherries from the stalks, lay them in a plate, and sprinkle a little sugar, and cin- namon, accordmiT to the sweetness of the cherries. B:iked with a top and bottom crust, three quarters of an hour. IVhorthherry Pic. — Whortleberries make a very good common j)ie, where there is a large family of children. Sprinkle a little sugar and sil'ted cl >ves into each pie. Baked in the .same way, and as long as cherry pies. ,^pp!c Pic. — \^^len you make apple pies, stew vour apples very little indeed ; just strike them through, to niiike them tender. Some people do not stew them at all ; but cut them up in very thin slices, and lay them in the crust. Pies made in this way mav retain more of the spirit of the apple ; but I do not think the seasoning mixes in as well. I'ut in sugar to your taste ; it is impossible to make a precise rule ; because apples vary so much in acidi- ty. A very little salt, and a small piece of butter in each pie makes them richer. Cloves and cinna- mon, are both suitable spice. Lemon-brandy and rose-water arc both excellent. A wineglassfull of each is sulTicient for three or four pics. If your apples lack spirit, grate in a lemon. Custard Pie. — It is a general rule to put eight eggs to a quart of milk, in making custard pies ; but six eggs are a plenty for any common use. The milk should be boiled and cooled before it is used ; and Ijits of stick-cinnamon and bits of lemon peel boiled in it. Sweeten it to you: taste with clean sugar; a very httlo sprinkling of salt makes t'lem taste better Grate in a nutmeg. Bake in a deep plate. About twenty minutes are usually e- nough. If you are doubtful whetln.'f they are done, dip in tile handle of a silver spoon, or the blade of a small kn.fe, if it come out clean, the pie is done. Do not pinr them into your plates, till the minute you put them int) the oven ; it makes tlie crust wet and heavy. To be b.tked with an under crust on- ly. Some people bake the under crust a little be- fore the custard is poured in; this is to keep it from being clammy. Cranberry Pic— Cranberry pies need very little spice. A little nutmeg or cinnamon improves them. They need a great deal of sweetening. It is well to stew tli; sweetening with them ; at least a part of it. It is easy to add if you find them too sour for yourta:ite. When cranberries are strained, and added to about their own v/eight in sugar, they make very delicious tarts, ^'o upper crust. Rhularb stalhs, or Pcrsi.Kn itpjilc. — Rhubarb stalks or the Persian-apple, is the earliest ingredient for pies, which the spring offers. The skin should be carefully stripped, and the stalks cut into small bits and stewed very tender. These are dear pies, for they take an en?rmous quantity of sugar. Season- ed l.ke apple pie.^. Gooseberries, currants, ifcc. are stewed, sweetened, and seasoned like app!e-pies, in proportions suited to the sweetness of the fruit; th'TC 13 no way to judge but by your own taste. Always remember it is more ,e.asy to add seasoning, than to diminish it. Pie-crust — To make piecrust for common use, a •quarter of a pound of butter is enough for half a p.iund of flour. Take out about a quarter part of the flour you intend to use, and lay it aside. Into the rem under of the ilour, rub butler thoroughly v.'ith your hands, until it is so short that a handful of it clasped tight will remain m a ball, without any tendency to fail in pieces. Then wet it with cold v.ater, roll it out on a boai-d, rub over the sur- face with iiour, stick little lumps of butter all over it, sprinkle B0;r.8 flour over the butter, and roll the dough all up ; flour the paste, and flohr the rolling pin ; roll it lightly and quickly ; flour it again, stick in bits of butler, do it up; flour the rolling pin, and roll quickly and lightly; and so on, till you have used up your butter. Always roll frr-m you. Pie crust should be made as cold as possible, and set in a cold place; but be careful it does not freeze Do not use more flour than you can help in sprink- ling and roU.ng. The paste should not be roiled oi;t more tiian thi'ee times ; if rolled too much, it will not be llaky. — Mrs. Ckilil. The Ilusbaudman's Song. By GiioRGE Ke.n't, Esfj. Tunc,— //«(7 to Chief, 4c. Hail to the Farmer, in triumph advancing — • Contented and rich in the crops he can boast — Long may his products, each season enhancing. As now be his pride, and as now be our toast: lieavcn send him happy dew — Earth lend him sap anew — His fields to enrich, and his fruits to improve ; Sunshine and gentle rain Make glad his heart again. And his labor indeed be a labor of love. All hail to our brethren, who now have collected To honor a day to the Farmer so dear — • May the wit and the wisdom, that here is reflected. Be, as now, always met with a hearty good cheer: Cider, and apple-wine — Good beef on which to dine — Stockton whites, and Scotia blues, in order array'd: Woburns red, and russets green — Pumpkin pies to close the scene — .4nd all in the nicest arrangement disphy'd. To the Fair of the Day we would tender our praises^ The half of creation, we mean, that is best — For their presence, their counsel, their thousand good graces, True homage they'll find in each husbandman';: breast : Heaven send them blessings rare — Earth grant them a rich share Of joys nna comforts that she can impart: Their praise like incense rise, In grateful sacrifice. From the holiest of altars, the feeling heart. Proudly our cattle have lowed in the vilbge — Our horses have neighed in the pride of their strength ; Our products bespeak the most excellent tillage : Our beets and our squashes beat all in their length ; Our pigs are sleek and fat — Our shiep are more than that — Fit prize for ancient Jason, of the " golden fleece;" Our I'abrics all are fair — Our manufactures rare— And, thanks to the tariff, will further increase. Plou^rh, Farmers, plough, for the good of your high land ; Stretch to your task of improving the loic — Every product that graces both mam land and isl- and. May be yours to receive, and enjoy, and bestow : May our favored happy clime Withstand the shock of time, And proudly advance in her pathway of fame — Witii every trade's success. Then shall after ages bless. And gratefully hallow THE Husba.vdma.n's name. Fill llio r.iriiiir'ti Mniill.ll VisiUir. Perhaps there is no evil (after intemperate drink- ing) that has infl.cted so much immorality and ac- tual sufl'.-ring, on the inliitbitants of our fair coun- try, as file love and practice of speculation. Alth 'Ugli its influence.; have .at all times exist- ted in the minds of the indolent, the profligate and the corrupt, yet there are periods in our histo- ry, when it has not only walked in darkness, but spread like a pestilence at noon-day, contaminating even the minds of our farmers, who in all ages of the world, when truth has prevailed, have been considered God's chosen people, exerting its des- tructive force, first on the unsuspecting ;ind lU-in- formed, and then with "dreadful recoil,'' prostra- ting many of the first movers of the mania. ft would be well for some one qualified for the task, to investigate the cause of this alarming con- tagion, and suggest some remedy for a malady, so fatal and so pervading. And more to invite the powers of a Channing, or a Beechcr, to the subject, than from any expec- tation of doing il justice, I have said thus much, and may add a few other remarks. Is not the curse, in part, to be found in tho mis- applied wealth of the rich ? Sueh as choose rath- er to dazzle the eyes of the multitude, than to shed the lights of science, of morals, of philoso- lihy, and of religion on their understanrling ; there- by creating in the minds of the poorer classes an unbounded desire to ape magnificence, even at the risk of the most chimerical projects and immoral delusions.' When the rich assume a degree of superiority, which to the minds of others, .seems to supersede tlie necessity of morality, of persevering industry and rigid frugality, how" soon do the poor abandon tho practice of their cardinal virtues, and rush in- to the most wilil schemes of trade, speculation, and perhaps swindling r When this propensity to obtain another's pro- perty for little or nothing exists, without the means to carry it into efi'ecf, it is comparatively harmless ; but when, through the medium of an undue mul- tiplication of Banks, or in any other manner, the power is given to unprincipled men to effect their nefarious designs, and the successful shaver is ap- plauded for his shrewdness, while the honest dupe of his maehiuatioiis is laughed to scorn, what could rational men expect, but that wide spread ruin, co. vering of property and every species of evasion, which have so recently pervaded a great portion of our country? To remedy the evil, let the rich aban- don all false splendor, and seek distinction in the extent of their real usefulness to mankind. Let agriculiure and integrity receive as much legisla- tive encouragement, as has been lavished on bank- ing and mercantile operations. Let ministers of the gospel dwell more on practical virtues, and less on doctrinal doubts. And those who pretend to a " more enlightened faith," abstain from form- ing societies, of all creeds, and no creeds, yet all fi)r sustaining a system rotten even to the core. Let our laws partake of tliat impartial character, which renders patriotism consistent with our pe- cuniary interest. Let the erfors of ail be pointed out by the finger of friendship, and expostula- tions be couched in the beautiful language of Him who requires, that " the beam should be first cast from our own eye, that we may see clearly to cast the mote from our brother's eye." Let virtue and good intentions even, stand higher in rank, than wealth however honorably acquired; and the suc- cessful swindler be reduced, in our estimation, to a level with him who has failed in his nefarious at- tempts, while the honest poor shall be cheered and ciierislied, Ihrougli their dreary and r gorous pil- grimage. Let farmers particularly be on their guard, and all consider, that a mere change of propert}' from one pocket to another adds nothing to the coiniiiunity ; but the creative powers of the earth and of the mind may make us rich indeed. J. WINGATE W. Lancaster, May 28,1839. A Vaiuiiblc Cow. Our worthy fellow citizen, Mr. Wolbert, we learn, has an imported short horned Durham cow, called Isabella, which is now fresh in milk and her yield is '27 ipiarts per day, clear of froth, am: of the first quality. The quantity, he thinks, can be in- creased by additional feeding, (as she is now on grass only.) He has promised to direct that she receive extra attention after this week, and to let us know the result. — Philadelphia United Utates Gazette. If the Durham cows produce more ami equally rich milk on the same quantity of feed, it is desira- ble that breed should be introduced. There are excellent milch cow-s in this State : some persons who keep a single cow from good attention and high feeding procure more milk tnan others do from two and sometimes three cows. Much de- pends on the kind of cow, but every thing depends on the manner in which she is kept. To call a more general attention to the good points of this very useful animal, we invite such of our patrons as can do it with convenience to note down the quantity of milk or butter obtained from any ex- traordinary cow that may be in their possession, to- ;rt.'iher with the manner of keeping, the articles most useful for feeding, tile size, shape and forma- tion, togetiier with the breed or supposed breed. Agriculturalists, ambitious of improvement, want not facts alone, but they want a knowledge of the reasons why such facts exist. — Ed. Visitor. Tar for Sheep. — A gentleman who keeps a large flock of sheep says that during the season of graz- ing he gives his siieep tin\ at the rate of a gill a day for every twenty sheep. He puts the tar in a trough, sprinkles a little fine salt over it, and the sheep consume it with eagerness. This preserves them from worms in the head, promotes their gen oral health, and is thought to be a specific against the rot. 68 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. THE ECONOMY OF THE BEE. We devote of the present number a more than usual space on anj one sub- 1 ject to the improvement in the management of Bee3 by our friend John ] Seaule, Esq. of Franklin, N. II. The best monitors and in.striictors are those who obtain their knowledge from personal experience ratlier than from books; and the experience of Mr. Searle in practical per.sonal attention to this useful little animal for thirty-three years induces to the belief that a bet- ter manual on this subject cannot be obtained than he has furnished. With the neighbors and townsmen who have examined one of the houses with the hives built upon the principles laid down in liis patent, we would recommend his improvement as a nioyt Imniane method (d'preserving the life of this "pat- tern of industry, while we enjoy the fruits of its labor" — as a safe defence a- gainst the attacks of most of tiie enemies of the Bee, more especially the niotii and the ni Her — as a defence against tlie dangerous effects of excessive cold, or heat, or of an atmosphere too moist— as a resort of easy access, so that food may be supplied, honey taken away, additional hives or boxes placed [Fig where found neces.iary, and all robbers or plunderer.^ can at any time be bar- red out. A. new and iaiiproied mode of constructing TTee-lionses and Bee< hives, and the management of ttie same. BY .TOHN SLAni.E, Of Franklin, Merrimack Comiiij,JS'tio Hampshire. Secured to him by Letters Patent ill the year 1838. Mr. Searle dedicates his specification and improvement as follows : "To all who love to look upon nature's works, and with us believe they are subject to physical laws ; who love industry and frugality, and do notes- teem themselves too wise to learn ; who wisli to live not only for themselves, but also for their fellow-men — this Improvement in the art of raising the in- dustrious Bee is very respectfully dedicated by your fellow laborer, And humble servant, J. S." [Fig. 21.] H Irle^te ir-Fi i ^N^J^:^:?^g:2^^j^C^^^i£5Eg???^^'5:^ A SPECIFICATION Of a new end improved mode of constructing Bcr-Hotiscs and Bec-Hitcs, and the manuiTcirent thereof — as ejhibitrd in the accovpanijing Plates. I construct n LuWdWiff as follows, to wit : 10 feet by 2(\ or of any required dimensions, to stand two feel above the ground, on post^ ; to be two stories hiiiii, 4 feet eacb, Willi a tigiit roof; fr;niiL' without s uda or braces-, boardi'(' perpendicularly and plastered outside and !n, to cxclu le insects and re^uhil; the temperature. Another covering of wood may be ndded. The floor to lu. double, with a coat of lime-mortar between, A floor of cement, tin, or otl;er smootli metal. A, A, A, plate 9, figure 1, to be laid adjoinmg the walls, (ex- cept at one end, where is to be a door, :, for tiie convenionce of the proprie- tor,) for the hives to set oh ; 2 '[-^ feet wide for single ones, and :^> 1-5 feet for double ones; or it may be of wood, revered with a white wash of salt, quick lime and sand. Over this, at the distance. of four feet, is to be a scaflold of similar width, and materials for aaotiier tier of hives. Instead of tlie above described house, a garret or apartment in some otlier buildino- may be used. Tlio bees are to pass to and from ilie Iiive, through a spout, about ten inches loag, of 1 1-4 inch stuff", six inclies wide; grooved nut two inches wide and 3-? deep in two places, leaving a margin 1-2 inch wide in the centre to sup- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 89 Fii". 2. [Fig. 22.] Plato IIL FJ« G. 1 fe'i^s^' -;.."^3'5p ^s; 1 ,-„_j. ^'s±i',H 1 _ '■ ,.■ lii l;i,;lt.a iMi Mil; 8. "'*;■ WJ "— ,•! =^==«= =^=^ =^. : 0 /» F% 13 Pig! 18. jiii ij la 1 ! 1 Hi ll ! Pig? 1^. -5-^4- port the cover, whicli is to be made of the same breadth. Tliis spout is to pass from the hive throu;;h the walls of the building, sloping at an angle of twenty-two degrees until it projects one inch, a, plate 1, fig. ], and rests on the lighting-stool, b, wliicli must be equally sloping, and into which the low- er end of the spout must be sunk to the top of its floor ; the upper end fitted to the lower surface of the cement, or metallic floor, three inches from the in- side of the walls ; at which place a perpendicular mortise must be made, B, plate 2, fig. 1, through the cement floor, 4 1-2 inches long, crosswise of the spout, and one inch wide. The angle, or space remaining in the grooves of the spout beyond or above the mortise, should be filled. Every part of the Bpout, before it is put together, is to be washed with the above mentioned white-wash. It must be well fitted into the walls, and set in mortar. Tlie spout may be made of composition. One foot above the lighting-stool is to be a board, r, f, one foot wide, sloping twenty-two degrees, intended to shel- ter the bees. Once in ten feet, along the lower story, is to be a ventilator, d ; secured on the outside by a shutter, and on the inside by a screen of wire or thin perforated metal, fine enough to exclude the bee-moth. When it is intended to multiply artificial swarms, a kind of balcony, or frame, c, one foot square, should be attached at the lower extremity of the spout, projecting four inches, secured on the outside by two L;!iuttrrs,_/,/, the lower one to be hung at the bottom with hinges, so as to serve when open fiDr a Ighting-stool ; the upper one to be hung at the top on pivots, — the upper edge being rounded and fitted to roll in a half circle, made in the fr.xme. In the centre" of the upper shutter is to bo a screen,/, inserted of half its size, to serve as a ventilator; the upper shutter to close upon the Io\v.ir one by a rab- bet. In case the wall should be of br.ck, or sutficiently thick, the frame should be sunk rather than projected ; and in either case the sj^out should ex- tend no further than the inside of the frame. These shutters are useful for the greater sccuritv of the bees when they are not suthciently numerous to keep guard at the end of the spout, — consequently they should be kept closed it nicrht during the season of the moth's depredation. In case of multiply- ino-, the bees should pass and repass through the same spout ; which should, consequently, be proportionably larger. The hives should be about sixteen nches square, and of any required height; without doors, or mouths, because ,hey set on the board, plate ',i, fig. 14, which is to be made precisely the same 13 the cover to the top of the hive, (and should be v/ashed with the .above named white-wash,) with the addition of a mortise corresponding with the mortise in the cement floor, two inches from tlie wall, plate 2, fig. 2, for "tlje convenience of securing them at the bottom with plaster lime. The top of ♦ he hive should be provided with two parallel bars, /r, plate III. fig. 3, one inch square, placed 1 1-2 inches from the centre, for the purpose of support- ing the cover. Plate III. fig. 1, which is to be made of a board 1-4 of an inch in thickness, — thirteen inches of the centre is to be divided into nine equal squares, with a mortise in tlie centre of each, 2 1-2 inches long, and 3-4 wide. Opposite the centre of each mortise, at the distance of one fourth of an inch from each side, is to be a hole three tourths of an inch in diameter. Over this IS to be placed an adapter, pl:Ue 3, fig. 2, three fourths of an inch thick, with iroles 2 7-8 inches in dianieter corresponding with the holes in the cover. In the holes of the adapter are to be inserted the mouths of glass quart specie jars, to be covered v/ith a suitable bcx, or cover, to exclude the light wlide the bees are at work in them. At the approach of cold weather the bottles should be removed, to prevent the ranfied air from condensing and de- stroying the bees, and the hiyes should be again covered with the same box. 90 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. The proprietor, in order to avail liiinself of a por- tion of the lioncy uitliout destroying tho bees, — which is in no case necessary, — and also for the purpose of chanorinn; the comb, must use double covers, between wliicii he m;iy introduce dividers, fur the purpose of separating tlie tiers. In all cases of takinor honcv, the upper tier must l)e removed and empty ones insi-ru-d at the bottom. To multi- ply artificial swarms, without the trouble of swarm- ijio- and hiving, place two empty hives, plate 3, iicr. 4, (connected with the spout) as usual near the wall, witli a full hive, j, beliind tliem, (or a full Jiive, plate :l, fig. 5, may be placed on the top of two or more) with a suitable communication for the bees to pass through the empty hives to the Rp-->ut. When the new hives become filled with comb and ynung brood, they must be separated, and will become independent cohmies. All the hives must be of equal dimensions as to length and breadth, with tops like other hives, tliat they may at any time be used as tier liives. In order to employ bees profitably when they cannot collect honey from abroad, the feeding ma- chiTie, plate 3, fig. 6, must be used ; to construct j v/h:ch prepare a board of the size of the bottom of! the hive, plate 3, fig. 7; then make a frame of four : sides, equal in size to the board, plate ;^, fig. 8, j three inches deep, the front side of plank, with a i hole through it to correspond with the mortise in j the cement floor, with a groove in the upper edge extending from one end so far that a slide, plate 3, i fig. r>, may be introduced, to cut off tlie coinmuni- ! cation with the spout, in order to prevent robber- j ies, &c. On the upper edge of tliis frame is to be i f^.sten':'d tin, or other s:uooth metal, projecting in- ! wardly one inch, and sloping iorty-tive degrees, as ■ may be seen in the sections of the frame and board, ' plate 3, figs. 10 and 11. The obj(xt of the tin is to prevent the grub from ascending. Over this the hoard is to be placed, with the hole, /.-, plate 3, fig. 7, corresponding with ihat in the plank of the frame, /, plate 3, i\g. 8. All that part of the board, 7?i, n, o, />, plate 3, fig- 7, which covers the inside of the frame, is to be cut into openings, three eighths of an inch wide and one inch assunder, corresponding with the mortises in tlie cover. Between the cov- er and the tin is to be a slide, plate 3, fig. 1*2, of the size of the inside of Uie frame, for the purpose of excluding the light when clearing the machine. The back side of the frame is to be used as a door, and kept in place by the springs, fr^ r, plate 3, fig. 13. This machine is to be placed near the walls, with the hole in the plank over liiat in the floor, and the h've kept on it at all times when there is a scarcity of flowers. By the use of this macliine, a hive infested witli gruLs, or other foreign matter, may be cleared of them, as they will fill through the open'.n^v.^ in the fore part of the season, and mav be taken out without disturbing the bees. It is also to be used wiienever it may be necessary to feed the bees. 0,> the approach of cold weather, the machine, with the hive on it, is to be moved back fron^ the walls so far as to close the avenue ; the hole in the plank must be closed by the small hlide, plate 3, fig. !'; tlie large slide removed, and the machine filled with cut straw, or other dry ma- terial, and the space between the wall and the hives filled with straw. Other covering should be placed on and about the hives, and removed in the npring. The hives should be made in a workman- like manner, of good timber, and all smooth except the bottom of the cover. ADDITIONAL DIRECTIONS FOR USING THE FOREGOING PATENT. To :rjii:rd Bees against the. variable temperature of the atmuspherc. The cTits on pages 8S and 8!), represent a build- ing which has answered every expectation in rela- tion to temperature. The buildmg should be 10 feet by 20, to contain 36 hives ; 10 by 25, for 4-1 ; and in the same proportion for a larger or smaller number. It ma}- be cens'ructeti of brick or stone, provided the bees are kept sulHcicntly high to pro- vent the bad cflecls of moisture'. A room in the s'.dc, or g:ible end, of any building will ansiver a good purpose, if the wail is lined with brick, or some other materia] well secured with lime mor- far, that a proper degree of warmth can be secured, and the moth prevented from depositing its eggs. That the life of t!ie bees may be more cflectually preserved, the boxes, which are placed over the hives, and which retain the vapor carried efore the top is put on. The ' thickness of the top imd i'alse bottom oughi not to i exceed one fourth of an inch. I The outside of the h.ves, the false covers, false bottoms, and the eemeut flo'tr, on wh.eh the hives stand, are to be whitewashed with a mixture of-e-ilt, ley, and quick lime. Wash tl-ie in and outside of , the feeding maclnne with the same. This wiil prove a pure defence ngainBt the bee mnth ; for they will neither deposite their eggs nor live in lime and salt. Care should be taken to guard reduced or artifi- cial swarms from the moth, since the bees in such hives are sometimes too few to keep guard nights. In such cases close the balcony atnight, and moths cannot obtain entrance. There is no carance of white clover blossoms. — Tliis v**ill not prevent their swurmmg. Jars may be set over yotuig swarms when they are a week old. Bees never rear their yoking, nor deposite bee- breati, in the appendages upon tiie top. A piece of white cwmb placed in the neck of the jar, or within the box, w-Il greatly facilitate the la- bor oi the bee at the commencement of its work. \Virdcrln.g Bees. Tiiirty pounds of honey is suiiicient to suppl}' ftny awaroi with ibod through the ^^•j^tep. I^arge THE FARMER'S MONTHLV VISITOR. 91 swarms consume less honey in proportion to the number of bees, than the smaller ones. Mark the weight upon each tier before they are put to use ; then by weiohuig them after they are filled, the quantity of honey can be ascertained, and if it is found to be insufficient for wintering bees, a box con- tnininiT in comb and honey can be added at the top; or comb may be suspended by cross sticks in a box, and the same placed upoa the top of the hive. This must be done before cold weather commen- ces ; otherwise the bees must be carried into a dry cellar, or some place secure fro n frost; for they cannot be induced to go far for food during the cold season, and will die rather than leave their accus- tomed place of residence. If the two lower tiers are sufficiently large (6 or 7 inches deep each) to contain honey enough for the winter's consumption, all above nuiy be taken away in the fall. Indeed, this is the best method, since bees will winter better on a sufficient quanti- ty, than upon an excess of comb and honey above tiiem, in wliieh vapor wdl collect and condense. This saves all the honey not necessary for tlie sup- port of tlie bees, and keeps the bees industrious ; for bees will become indolent when there is not room for increasing their comb and young brood. But t!io most important saving is t!ie preservation of the bees themselves. The practice of destroy- ing the bees to obtain the honey, is barbarous, as well as a sacrifice of property ; and is as much op- posed to true econoijiy as it would be for a man to cut down thrifty and vigorous fruit trees to obtain the fruit. If you have a very feeble swarm in au- tumn, it will prove advantageous to put them un- der a more powerful one. The next spring all the bees will be in the upper hive; but all the labor done in the lower one, will go to forward a young swarm. A week or two before it is warm enough for the bees to go abroad in the spring, set the hive upon a board ; cleanse the feeding machine, and whitewash it. When dry set it in iis place, and place the liive upon the same. Change all the false bottoms up to the bees, to save them the labor of carrying out f jreign matter. Su'arming Bees. Just before sv/arming time, a number of ever- greens, from five to ei.-jht feet liigh, should be set in the ground within thirty feet of tlie bee-house, in such a manner that they may be easily removed. Stakes of the same height will form a very good substitute for evergreens, by having a board 2 feet long and 1 wide nailed upon the side at the upper end, v/ith anotlier of the same bigness nailed to the upper edge of this. When the bees light on the buslies or boards, they must be carried to the hive, wiiich stand upon a lioard having a false bottom be- tween the Ijoard and the hive. Elevate one edge of the hive about zn inch. Shoke them from the bushes, and tliey will soon begin to entei the hive ; then spread a wet sheet over them. After all have entered, let down the hive, slide the dividers under tlie false bottom, and remove the hive to its destined place in the bee-house, and witbdrav.' the dividers. Siinnld the swarm be very large, or should two BV.-aniis light togetlier, as is sometimes tlie case, put them in a large tier, and place them upon the top of two tier.s, as directed in multiplying artifi- cial swarms. When they light upon a tree, or any immorable object, the hive, with the board and false bottom, must be carried to them ; and the bees gently re- moved to the beard. All operations with bees should be done with great care and moderation. If a feeble swann comes out, hive them in a small tier, and place them over another one ; or tTike a top tier from one large enough to spare it, find set it upon the top of the feeble swarm ; intro- duce a lilieet of perforated tin between the tiers ; and the bees \>'il! become sufiiciently acquainted during the following night to form one family. The holes m tlie tin must not be lar.ge onougli to admit the bees to pats through them. The tin may be re- moved in the morning. If bees prove hostile while hiving them, let the smoke of burning leather rise among them, and they will immediately beoine peaceaiilc. Tier? may be united with small pieces of sheet iron fastened over the joints by screws upon three sicies, omiiting the one next to the wall. The liole in the top of the hives must be cover- ed by a bGa.rd screwed on, wlien the hive is to re- ceive a new swarm. Wlien the bees have swarmed once, it is in most cases best to put u'Uier a new tier.- This will be likely to prevent additional swarms. One bwano in a season is better than more. Put under nev/ tiers whenever the bees lack room. .'irtijicial Sicarms. To produce new swarms, t ike two false bottoins, with a hole in the corner of each, similar to that in the spout, the edges of which, where tlie false bottoms come together, must rest upon the partition in the centre of the apout ; that when the dividers are introduced under the false bottom, it will close the avenue, and thus prevent the escape of the bees. Place a tier on each of the false bottoms, of equal height (about one foot;) upon the top of each tier i>lace a false cover ; after which prepare a board )il inches long, and l(i wide, groove the board one inch from the end, half an inch deep, in- sert a ledge which v.'ill rise h.alf .TU inch above the surface of the board ; raise a ledge of the same height upon each edge. Place the board thus fit- ted upon the centres of the two covers, with the ledges ddwmvard, to leave a space of half an inch between the board and the upper covers. The re- maining part of the tiers must be covered with a suitable board fastened with screws. The centre board must have holes to correspond with the holes in the false bottom, which is to be placed upon it. Upon the top ofthis false boltotn set the hive contain- ing the bees ; and they will voluntaril}' descend and commence operations in the lower tiers. When filled vv-ilh comb and a young brood, they may be separated, and each will become an indepeii lent colony. If the proprietor choose to save the hon- ey in the old hive, he can take it away and let tjie bees return before separating the young ones. The lower tiei should have a glass in one side that tiieir progress may be observed. This glass must be covered with a slide, to exclude the light, as bees will not carry on their work :n the light. Anoth- er mode of producing artificial swarms, is to take a hive of four tiers, put the upper and lower tiers together, and they will form one swa m ; the re- maining two will make another. This sliould be done in that season of the ye.ar when the hives are filled with young brood, and in the evening of a rainy d*',y. The hive which is removed should be located as far as possible from the stand it occupi- ed before. The Feeder. Tile feeder should remain under the hive in the spring until all the foreign matter is removed from the hive; then the hive with the false bottom may be set upon the cement floor. If the feeder is kept under the hive throusrh the season, the large slide in it must be kept closed to prevent the bees from building in the t»:eder. The holes in the cover of tlie feeder may be made to correspond with the holes in the filse bottom, if the feeder is to re- main. Feeding Bees. Bees should be fed from the time they first come out in the spring until blossoms are suinciently plenty. They may be fed with sugar from a mo- lasses hogshead, mixed with water, in the propor- tion of tv,"o parts of water to one of sugar; or with foreign hone)-, mixed with an equal quantity of wa- ter. I'V'oding bees in this manner affords a double profit; for they will raise their young in spring up- on it, and carry in a suilictent quantity for the win- ter's use after the llowers have disappeared. If not fed during these periods, they must consume a portion of tile stock already on iiand ; so that the quantity is increased both positively and negative- ly ; that is, ti portion of the former stock is saved as well as mere added. They refuse this kind of food when fiowcrs arc plenty. Molasses should never be given them, for it oi'ten proves fatal, es- pecially in the fall ; tlie alcohol contained in the molasses proving as injurious to them as to iiirai- kiiid. The most convenient vessels for feeding bees, are pans. Let the prepar.at'iOU for fei ding them be turned into the pans, and upon the surface scatter cut straw to prevent them from falling into the svrup. Place the pans out doer.s. If neighboring bees are numerous, they may be fed in tlie balcony, which may pr.jject as far as the board that shelters them, with a suitable number cf holes in the lov/er shutters, larje enough to admit but one bee at a time. This will prevent others from intruding. They can be fed from a dish raised to thob.jttoni of the covers of the feeder. When it becomes ne- cessary to feed them in the house, the shutters of Lhe balcony shjuld be throvvu open at night to ad- n;it t're.sii air, unless the number cf the b(_es is re- duced. .A feeder to exclude intruders maybe construct- ed With five sides, the open side fitte;! to the side of the apiary, and fastened by has;;s to the walls of the house ; and large enough to fill below tlic light- ing stool, witii a .screen in front to udmrt air and Siii:!!! holes if neai'ssary, for the passage of tiie bees. The top may S'-'rve as a lid. Bees, v.'lien fed in a confined situation, mu>:t be supplied with a cup of fresh v.'atcr every driy, set :n the feeder, with a perforated piece of v,0"d to pre- vent the bees from being drowned. Dicidees. The best material for dividers is cast steel plates. Sheet iron or copper will answer. 'I'lie ilivider should be as wide as the hive, and a little longer, one end being rolled up to prevent warping. When a hive is to be removed, two dividers must be used; one to prevent the escape of bees from the hive taken away, and the other secures those in the one remaining. If the hive is to be divided in two places, four will be required. Bees may be transported any distance in a sleigh or spring carriage, with careful driving. Spring is the best time. Iluto to 7iiahe Jiees labor. If the bet i refuse to labor in the sprinor, or at a- ny other time, it is an indication that the queen is dead. When this occurs, take a tier from a swarm which can spare it, when there is a young brood, place it under, or U|ioii the top of the destitute hive. If there are queen eggs deposited, as is almost uni- versally the ease, the bees will soon elevate a sov ereign to tlie throne, and then commence their an- nual task. The erroneous idea entertained by some, that workers can be metamorphosed into queens, is too absurd to require a labored refutation. jVatural laws in relation to bees are as fixed and immutable as those which continue in being and prolong any other species of animals. It is equally repugnant to the goodness of a be- neficent Creator, who created bees with other ani- mals and insects for the benefit of man, to suppo.fe that he has so arranged tlic laws of nature that all animals may be exchanged from one proprietor to another for any kind of compensation except bees This relic of superstition should be abolished. That people sometimes suffer loss in bees, is true, but this may be attributed to a thousand different causes — all depending on the existing circumstan- ces. Doubtless one of the most frequent causes of loss in this kind of property, is a want of knowl- edge in the mana.tjenient and inattention. Manj' per- sons suppose that all they have to do is to pur- chase a swarm, set them upon a bench, and t'urnish new hives for young swarms as they come along. This a great mistake. Bees can be made as profit- able as any other kind of stock, and often more so, with as little risk. But to secure this result, a practical knowledge of their management, and proper attention, are absolutely requisite ; and this knowledge is within the reach of every person, and can be easily obtained. If the public v.-ould know more as to the com- parative profits of my improved sj'stem for the cul- tivation of the Cee, contrasted with the old system of managing them, I can state, that for more than thirty years previous to the three last years, while living on 111}' farm, I owned every year from five to thirty-si.x swarms of Bees. I kept them in com- mon board hives, and took good care of them, plac- ing them in an open shed. I lost in one year, from the severity and variableness of the weatiier, 22 swarms. And in almost every year I lost more or less from other causes. I derived but a trifling profit from my bees during the whole time, and when I received my profits I was put to the pain- ful necessity of killing my benefactors and plun- dering their sweet stores ; — a practice about as ne- cessary and severe, as it is for the pirate to jilunder the honest merchantman on the high seas. For the last three years, under the operation of my improved system, I have kept from 15 to y.i> swarms. From the experiments that 1 have made, I think that lean safely state shat they will annu- ally double their stock. They have been able to spare from the upper tier of boxes, annually, from '^.■> to 50 lbs. of Jjoney according to tlie strengih of the swarms, still leaving food suflicient to sustain the swarm well. The honey thus taken, is, there- fore, in the most perfect state of any in the hive. Good sv^'arms, in aildition to the ipiantit}' f'urnish- ed in file upper bo.x tier, will likewise fill and spare not less than nine glass jars, containing from two to three pouuLis of the finej^t quality of iioney, or an equal quantity in drav/crs or boxes, as the own- er may prefer. I have in no instance bern under the necessity of killing by fire or brimstone, or in any other way, a s-ngle bee. Nor have I Inst any thing, or been molested by the miller, or by the va- riable temperature of the atmosphere, or by "robbery, or any cf the causes that used to operate in depriv- ing me of this; useful animal. "At the last show of the Merrimack County Ag- ricultural S iciety, holden at H spkinton, in Octo- lier, iH3:^, I exhibited a model of my Bee-House and .nppendages. The committee on the best arti- cles el' Special Impr'.-rement, consisting of Wm. A. Kent, Isaac Udl, Joseph Low, Cyrus Barton, John Eastman, Jr., James Eaton, all of Concord, arid Matthew Harvey, Nathaniel Curtis and Hor- 9-2 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Ece Chose, of Hopkinton, examined tlie said mod- el, and in the absence of Col. VVni. A. Kent, tie chairman of said committee, His Excellency the Governor, Issac Hill, made the follnving flatter- ing Report ; , . . "Mr. Scarle of Franklin, exhibited a miniature Bee-House, or Apiary, for which he has obtained LcHcrs Patent. The great advantage of this bee- house is, that the lioney is taken from it without the destruction of llie bees. And the inmates aro pro- tected completely agVinstthe depredation of worms and millers, and other vermin, and from the sever- ity of the winter. It is believed Mr. Searle's in- vention is an improvement on all ethers for the convenient protection and keeping of that highly useful little animal, wliieh might be advantageous- ly multiplied in all our towns. Fur Ibu Farmer's Monthly Visilor. The Farmer's Lot. The farmer's lot is bless'd indeed ; He tills his ground and sows his seed ; While snufihine and the gentle rain Ripen his fruit and swell his grain. True, he must labor for his meat, In winter's cold and summer's heat ; But yet within his humble cot, He feels his is a blessed lot. Tenceful his days : he never feels The stings of conscience ; for he deals In honesty with friend or foe. And knows what every one should Itnow ; That to be happy he must be A man of sterling honesty : Faithful and kind to all around. Quick to relieve, but slow to wound. For him the birds the live long day Pour forth their blithsnme roundelay, Inviting him his heart to raise In hymns of never ceasing praise. Fair Nature's Book, with wisdom stcr'd. Is ever open, to afford The hallow'd truths of heavenly lore That bid his spirits upward soar. On its fair pages he may trace The record of unmeasured grace : No words of doubt or dread are there To wake a sigh or cause despair. The gladsome smiles of spring impart Visions of promise to his heart i While clad in robes of living green The earth rejoices like a queen. Summer succeeds, with verdure crowu'd, And sheds its magic iulluence round ; Mantles the earth in blushing bloom. And scents the air with sweet perfume. Autumn, with blessings in its train, Comes with its slieaves of nodding grain : Its stores of lu.xuries afford Plenty to crown his flowing board. While winter with its frost and snow Brings naught to add a pang of wo : — Secure and warm within his cot. The angry storm he heedeth not. Thus glide his cheerful hours along. In peace, in happiness and song : His thankful heart to God he lifts In gratitude for all his gifts. Dorchester, June, 1839, ed so, the ''independent farmer,' if not passed by with scorn, receive a far less cordial greeting, from those who claim to be his superior, than others no more worthy of respect, in point of moral wortli, but who happen to wear a coatof costlier fabric and more fashionable shape ; and who pursued a voca. tion thought to be a little more honornb'c. I trust, therefore, Mr. Editor, that it will be a part of your labors, as the conductor of the 'Visitor, to do away this heresy — this fatal error, that it is not respecta- ble to be a farmer. I say fiitiil error, and I think it cannot have escaped your observation, that it has v,-eiglied like an incubus upon the iarming inter- est. Acting under the influence of this error, the sons of our farmers, who possess a commendable share of ambition, when tliey attain to manhood, come to the conclusion that if they would gain a respecta- ble standing in society, they must direct their ef- forts to some other calling than that of the farmer. And so, perchance, thcv leave their soil, to the un- disputed possession of brake and bramble, und set their face towards the city, big with hopes of future riches and honor — hopes, alas ! destined in nine cases out of ten to be blasted in the very bud. I do not, Mr. Editor, claim to be very wise or very experienced; but I have the vanity, never- theless, to think myself capable of giving such young men advice worth heeding. If privileged with the columns of the Visitor for that purpose, I would say to them : "Young men stick to the farm ; and leave the city to be peopled by (hose less favored than your- selves. Remember the old adage : 'God made the country— man the city.' Why will you leave your happy homes to become the sport of fortune .' Is your object to gain wealth .' If so, reflect how ma- ny chances there are against you to one in your fa- vor. Is it to gain honor: What is honor but a bauble, a cheat, a wortliless appendage .' There is, indeed, such a thing as honor, that is worth striv- ing for. But this true honor bears hut little resem- blance to the spurious honor of the world. It con- sists in the performance of all the relative duties of life; in works of kindness and benevolence; and in feelings of love and good will to all around u.:. This honor, the only kiiid that is worth possessing, is as easily acquired, and as permanently retained, by the farmer and the mechanic, as by tlie profes- sional man or the scholar. But above all, is your object in leaving the farm for other pursuits to obtain liappiness.' Then think a Tain before you carry your resolves into e. sedition. Is it the part of wisdom, in seeking for happiness, to leave the very pursuits and associations most fa- vorable to virtue and happiness ? What ! leave the country redolent as it is with beauty, when the blessed sunshine rests upon you, and the free and glorious breezes of heaven play around }»0H — leave the countrv, I say, with all its beauties and all its blessings and all its glories, for the pent up city, where the puny works of the creature shut out the all glorious works of the Creator, and call this a search after happiness? Tis rank heresy. As well might a man talk of going to prison, that he might enjoy liberty." In concluding my tedious, though I trust, not al- together unprofitable advice, let me repeat the mot- to witli which I set out : Young moi, stick lo the fiirnt. S. C. Dorchester, June, 1S39. 6. C. FortlieF.irnifr's Slontlily Visilor. Mr. Hill : — It is matter of congratulation to the firmers of the Granite State that they are-re- ceiving the visits of so respectable a visit-ir as your 'Farmer's Montlily ;' and I hope it will continue to make its visitations, until our barren lauds shall become fruitful, and our fields blossom like the prairies of the West. It is not alone for the con- viction that your 'Monthly Visitor' will add to the pecuniary interest of the farmer, that I prize it the most ; but it is because I believe it will have a ten- dency to elevate his mind, and make him, and oth- ers too, feel that there is no degradation in cultivat- ino- the soil. Why should there be ? There is none ? there can be iv.ne. But yet, I doubt not, many, and especially the young, look Ujion the pur- suits of agriculltirc. If not as derogatory, at least as vastly ungenteel. True, professional men some- times talk very flatteringly about the 'indoj*endent farmers.' But I have seen, at least I have imagin- fore he gathers it : I think he will leave none for toll. I don't like' to see a farmer who raises much more than his neighbors : I think he had better not bo too independent. I don't like to see a farmer in the fall, tolling liow many cattle he can winter: I think they will not winter well. I don't like to see a farmer who sufi'ers manure to collect around his house: I think he does not know the value of it. T don't like to see a farmer driving a lean pair of oxen : I think he does not like his barn. I don't like to see a wood pile in the door yard, obstructing the p.issage to the road : I think it a more fit place in the wood house. I don't like to see a swamp within half a mile of the barn yard, to lie untouched and almost unnotic- ed f.r years : I think the owner docs not consnit his own Interest. I don't like to see a farmer more engaged in pol- itics than in agricultural pursuits : it seems as ii he wanted oflice. I don't like to see so many farmers emigrating to the West : One would be in anxious suspense to know why they so dislike the Granite hills of New Hampshire. I don't like to see a farmer spend more for rum than for stone wall : He is most certainly paying too dear for the whistle. I don't like to see a farmer too poor to take and pay for an agricultural paper : I think he had better enlist in another kind of emplovment. AN OBSERVER. For Itie Farmer's Monllily Visilor. ■>Vhat I don't like to see. I don't like to see a farm neglected till it is en- tirely worn out: I think the owner does not make improvement. I don't like to see a farmer very earnest to trade liorses : I think he docs not pay proper attention to his cattle. I don't like to see a farmer ashamed of his occu- pation : I think that it will soon be ashamed of lilm. I don't like to see a farmer who had rather be cal- led a gentleman : I think he will be company for neither. I don't like to see a farmer all for experiments : I tlilnk he is for nothing else. I don't like to see a farmer so obstinate that no persuasion v>lll induce iiiin to try an experiment : I think that want will drive him to it. I don't like to see a farmer always complaining of hard times anci high taxes : I think he docs not feel coiitented. I don't like to see a farmer who can never hire good help : I think he is very difticult. I don't like to see a farmer afraid mother earth v.-iU cheat him : I think if she deals justly, he is a great loser. I dent like to sec & farmer measure his corn be- For llie Faimer's Momhlj Visiloi. Thoughts on Asricultural Improvement. A time like the present, when "improvement" is written on every thing around us — when the sev- eral mechanic arts are all on tlic high road to per- fection— wlien our Inland transportation has been nearly revolutionized by the introduction and use of steam,— and when too, our means of informa- tion are so great that "he that runs may read" — such a time, is highly auspicious for the farmer, the cultivator of the soil", to be waking up, am! looking about him, that he too may have a heart in that glo- rious revolution that is progressing, with giant strides, to the empire of the mind, and ameliorat- ing the condition of the human race, wherever its happv influences extend. The farmer, who in this age of light and knowledge, neglects lo avail him- self of the inventions and improvements which science has made in the construction of new and useful implements, of labor-saving machines, and in improved methods of tilling the soil, cannot ex- pect to compete with him who makes the science of agriculture his study. What, for instance, would be thought of the man who should be seen going to mill with a stone in one end if hn bag to balance the grist on the horse, because, perchance, this may have been the practice of his ancestors ; instead of dividing his grain, and thus save one half the labor of transportation i" He would be lauirhed at by the very urchins in the streets, for his "blind adherence to the time honored usages of his fathers, v.-ho could see no other way in which "to make tlie balance true," till at length, the dis. covery was made, that if they put an equal quanti- ty of grain in the other end of the bag it would an- swer as well as the stone. When we take but a partial survey of our coun- try, we shall find that in literature, science, the arts and manufactures, and in government, the "march of mind" is emphatically "onward;" but in agriculture, we are "behind the tiu.es." 'VVhy is this? Does it arise from any deficiency in our soil .' This cannot be : our soil, th'-.ugh not the best for some kinds of produce, is rich in all the materials necessary for the growth of plants adapt- ed to our latitude. Is it from a too cold climats ? No: our summers are sufficiently warm lOr the pro- duction of wheat, rye, Indian corn, and tiii:'r kinds of grain, the roots, such as potatoes, ruta baga, beets, carrots, Ac, and for various kinds of grasses in almost any abundance. It arhcs from a want of the proper htioirlalge to eiutlilc the fanners to un- dcrstinul the nature of his soil, so as to know how to apply the proper correctives, and thisiii a mauiier to refilize ttrentii dollars profit where he nou- ^ets ten ; and from a too great prejudice against, ijiaovation, and proncness to keeping on in the pldway, exhaust^ itiff the soil, thus virtuaUrj erdijiitting that the ^^la~ borer' is not ^^icorlhij of his hire." And how can it be otherwise, so long as our farmers contemn tlie knowledge that the world has been gaining foi* si.x thousand 3e3rs, and sit quiet- ly down, contenting themselves witli kiiov.-ing that they have done as well as those who went before tlium I OojfJu they not to do better ? It is said THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 03 that fools will learn of no other mistress than ex- perience; and since we arc all in some degree fool- ish, we oushl to profit hy her lessons. Something has hcen done — "improvement" is on the wing ; but yet the great mass of the people have not felt her renovating influence. It is tUouglit indispen- sable to tlic success of the minister of the s;ospe', the lawyer, the statesman, that he should be well educated. He must spend his days and nights in poring over the musty volumes of antiquity ; and consume t!ie "midniglit oil" in endeavoring to pos- sess himself of all that the world ever knew or thought of. How much more necessary, then, that those who labor with their hands — they on whom must depend the support of our country in peace — her defence in war — should be thoroughly educat- ed in all the- practical duties of life ; not that edu- cation Wiiich should be of no benefit to themselves or otliers — which should induce them "to plough the classic field;" but rather to plough the reuZ fields — to "know her rights, and knowing, dare to maintain them." When v.'e see a man, in possession of a paternal estate, which has come to him from a long line of anccstoria! names, plodding on in the path thcij trod, without ever dreaming of making any innova- tion.s on the good old Vt'ay, we are apt to think that prejudice rules him with an iron rod. His land half tilled, his corn small, iiis stock of the meanest breeds, descendants of those his lather and grand- father owned before him, — and in short, his whole establishment looking, no way, like that of an en- lightened husbandman. This is no picture of the imagination. It cannot be said of it as was remark- ed by a celebrated lady, on contemplating a draw- ing, that it is "more like than the original." It wou-Id Eccm that if any arguments wore re- quired to convince the farmers of our land of the necessity of improvement, and stimulate them to increased exertion and perseverance in their pro- fession, tlicy were to be found in the fact of the im- portation, witliin t!ie last fev/ years, of large quan- tities of bread stuffs from Europe. An agricultur- al communitv sending abroad to procure their bread, the "staff of life i" The thought is degrad- ing. Our New England States too, are in tile hab- it of receiving supplies of flour from the western part;; of our Union. Can we not produce, at home, sufKcient f-r our own consumption, and not be re- duced to the degrading necessity of sending abroad to procure the means of living.^ This is an impor- tant point, and well worthy the serious considera- tion of the farming community. But we have begun to amend somewhat in this particular : for a year or two last past, the impor- tations of arain have int been so great as they were three or four years ago. Our citizens have given their attention to the cultivation of the earth, more of late than formerly ; convinced that it is a down- hill business to be dependent on others for the ne- cessaries of life. This is right : it is as it should be. All that is wantinnr to make us truly an indepen- dent nation, is the proper light antl information — a bursting of thf bonds of ignorance and prejudice that have too long held captive the nobler qualities of the people. Let, then, the farmer-: of our country turn their attention U.) the true means of our national pros- perity— tie cultivation of the mind as well as the soil. Let tiiem n.'^t g ; begging at the doors of their lesislatnrcs, nor degrade themselves by a too mean dependence on government for protection. They have the true power : Heaven is their home, and earth their footstool.' Who among all the sons of eartli is s-i well calculated to enjoy true happiness as an enliglitcned farmer! His is the warm heart, the contented mind, the happy home I He is a stranger to the anguish, the heart-burnings, that rend the bosom of liie mere politician. He knows iritiiingofsuch nice phrases as, "how is exchange.-" "stocks low ;" '-market light ;" and a hundred oth- ers in the speculating vocabulary of the day. Let them inform themselves in all that relat'.s to their profession ; considering tiiat tlie operations of mind are as necessary in all that tliey do as in any occupation in which man can engage. Then will tliev lake that elevated stand to which they are en- titled ; and then shall we become the models of the earth :n agriculture, as we are in government. And ill view of all tins, I would siy — onward I — put you shoulders to the wheel, and h dp to roll on the tide of victory o-,-er prejudice and error. vate a small quantity of ground well, than to scram- ble over a large e-xtent, not obtaining half the a- mount of produce, and that with more labor too. This is an important consideration to farmers. Some men have an "itching palm" to own all the land that joins them. This is all nonsense. Tlie three hundred well disciplined Spartans of Leonidas were sullicient to check the advancing tliousanrls of Xerxes ; in like manner, three acres, under proper discipline, will be of more profit to the cul- tivator than thirty, under miserable harrowing. As a gentleman once observed to his hired men, that it was not the amount of work performed, but the manner in which it was done, that he was looking to ; so it is not the extent of laud that is gone over, but the manner in which it is tilleo, that is to de- termine the character of the cultivator for intelli- gence and enterprise. The man who attempts to till more than he can till well, is less a farmer than he who, under the same circumstances, grow-s thir- ty bushels of wheat upon the same quantity of ground that the farmer gets fifteen from ; and if his plants do not "mock his scant manuring," they at least tell a story which should teach him whole- some admonition. There is an old saying which apjilies very well to the business of farming, that "an ounce of preven- tion is worth more than a pound of cure." It is easier to keep the soil in a good state, than to bring it back, when it has become worn out. It is a fault loo common among farmers, to wish to procure metre land than they have means for cultivating as it should be ; not considering that their wants should be kept within their means. This reminds one of the boy who was out shooting pigeons. See- ing a fine flock of them on the branches of a tree, he drew up, intending to fire ; but at that instant discovering a still larger flock on another tree, lie suspended operations, and began to consider with himself, by what process he could obtain the whole of them at one shot. While he was thus delibera- ting, the pigeons flew away and left him ! \r\ this emergency, our youthful poacher espied a turkey buzzard on a tree near by ; and resolving not to be outwitted this time, he discharged his gun at liiin ; wliicli made, as the boy said, "the feathers fly ter- ribly." But, however, he was not dead. At length, after the third shot, the bird was brought down from his "high estate, and weltering in his blood;" and after much scratching and biting, our hunter secured his prize, determining in his own mind, never again to let slip a good opportunity for gain- ing sometiiing, in his grasping desire for more. A. i-'.ii-ifje r'HniKT's M.tiillily Viailitr. A suggestion for the consideration of the Cuitivators of the Soil. The suggestion that I would wish to entbrce up- on the minds of the fanning community is — wheth- er it is not better, all things considered, to culti- Greatf.st Degrkk of Colt) I.N M..vv,from 171)0 to 181'2. Mr. Editor : — I send you the following memorandum, showing the greatest degree of coltl during the month of M,iy, in each year, from 171)0 to X'Si'i, taken from an abstract of tables of tlie state of the tiiermometer, prepared by Professor Farrar, of Cambridge, r.nd published in the third volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The observations in the first column were made at Cambridge, those in the tecrmd, at Andover. Times of observation at Cam- bridge, 7 A. M., i r. M. and '.) P. M. : at Andover, sunrise, warmest part of the day, and sunset. My own thermometer, at Cambridge, on Wednesday morning, (May 183:1) at ."> l-'Z o'clock, stood at 30. Cambridge. Andover. 1700 47 1791 3t) 1792 44 l-'3 171)3 45 171)4 37 ]7:)5 40 1-2 17!)(i 39 1797 37 179S 45 4i2 1799 35 3d 1800 42 32 1801 47 46 ISOa 1'9 35 1803 32 31 1804 no record. 40 1 805 42 38 ] 80(S 40 36 1807 36 o-.i 1808 40 33 1809 41 1810 43 1811 37 1812 32 Flojton Transcript. The above would indicate a colder May the pres- ent year than had occurred in the twenty -two years prior and including 1812. The publication was made in tfie middle of the month : since that time to the first of June, surely the weather has been as cold if not colder for the advanced season than it had been previous. — It had been remarked both in Eng- lish and American publications, that the early pas- sage of ice from the north sea towards the soutli, discovered on and eastward of the Newfoundland banks in Fibruary and March, presaged an ame- linrated and warm season. The budding of trees and plants Iia3 this year been earlier than common; but the cold li:ts continued as if there was no cliange from the cold seasons of the last four or five years. Up to this fifth day of June we have had cold rains nearly every day for about four weeks. The seed corn in low wet lands has rotted, and fails to come above ground. The Indian corn that has come up even upon the best ground looks yellow. 'j^his (■Juiii- 5} is the day of election or annual or- ganization of the State government in New Ilamp- shire-.it is a wet, cold and shivering day for the monlli of June — very much like the election day twenty- three years ago (1816) being a year which yielded no Indiancorn, and which very much discouraged tfie farmers, especially in the whole northern sec- tion of New Hampshire. There were, however, in that year unprecedented crops of rye and wheat. We recollect to have seen in that year near t!ie turnpike, on the side of tlie Croydon mountain, such a burden of tall rye on new ground, as we never before or since have set ej es upon. In that yeiir. Gov. Page remarks to us, tint on twenty acres of newly cleared ground, he obtained in the first crop a clear profit of five hundred dollars. This was in Haverhill, seventy miles north of us, on Connecti- cut river. The crop was wheat, w-hose growth had been so steady and gradual, that it was on the 9th of September green as the grass of June. It how- ever found sufficient length of season to become perfectly mature. A continued cliange of clinuite, like that of the last four years, would change our Indian corn pro- duct for other kinds of bread stuff'; but cold sea- sons ought not to drive fanners to a more southern climate, for there the altered climate has an equally injurious effect upon the crops adapted to the coun- try, as it has here. From tils Pkiladetpliia Fariiiei's Cabinet. Fragments. '■'■Gather iqi thi fragments that nothing he lost." GIRLS. Gitls, be industrious, and observe economy in every thing, even in time ; be neat and tidy, rise early, and keep stirring to some useful purpose ; dress so as to preserve your health, leave nothing for others to do, thatyou can accomplish your- selves, cultivate your minds, and eschew the least appearance of evil in your manners and conduct ; so shall you enjoy as mucii comfijrt, happiness, and independerr,. as is allotted to mortals in this un- certain world, and you will stand a very fair chance of becoming united to some clever, industrious youth in the bands of matrimony, and of becoming a first rate wife and mother, "ruling your own household well," and dispensing blessings all a- round you. ENT.VILEl) ESTATr. Every man who desires to entail a valuable and enduring inlieritance on his children which cannot be docked ; of which rogue.s cannot defraud them, and on which the sherift' can't levy execution, and which they can't alienate by a general assignment; may accomplish his wishes by bringing them up in habits of persevering indust.y in any useful call- ing, by instilling into them habits of sound econo- my ; and, above all, by imbuing their minds with correct and practical vicv.s of moral and religious obligations. Bovs. Boys, treat the horses mildly, the cows gently, the siieep kindly, the hogs mercifully, and the poul- try prudently; so will you bo promoting your own true interests, and be aiding in carrying out prac- tically a religious obligation, enjoined on all, to treat dumb creatures with hunianlty. ■ IIAKD B1.0. Parents, who endeavor to protect their children from labor, cmd encourage them to seek self indul geiiee, instead of animating them to become as in- dustrious and useful as possible ; are f'oolishly aiul certainly preparing fortliem a hard and thorny bed to lay upon at a subsequent period of their lives. FATHERS AND MOrilER.S. Fathers and mothers, be kind and aflectionate, but firm ana resolute ; and, above all, always rea- sonable ; so shall yon command the respect and obedience, that your station at the head of a famil}- so imiJeriouf ly requires. LONGEVITY. There arc none v,-ho enjoy better health of body 94 THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. and more vigor of mind, than those who are daily engaged in bcdilv lahor; and it is only the iudu.s- IrioHs or laborious who live frugally and temper- alclv, wiio enjoy true comfort and survive to a great age. MOTirKK. A motliL-r wlio wurks her finijfrs' ends off, in or- der lli.it her daughters may attain and preserve a delicacy of constitution, is more to he blamed f^ir her folly tlian praised for her ciiligcnee, or cvtolled for Iier v/isdom. A New England farmer said, that last year he had made 1.500 dollars by minding his own busi- ness, and 500 dollars by letting the business of otli- ers alone, in all 2,t;00 dollars ; a pretty handsome sum this for doing right for one year. Query .' what would this amount to, reckoning it an annu- ity of 2,000 dollars at 6 per cent., compound inter- est, for thirty years. Ans. ,'|l."iS,llG ^7 cents. The farmer who hires laborers to perform the work which ought to be executed by his own sons, mav rcasonablv e.xpect to die in debt, and leave a thriftless posterity to inherit a small estate. The truly wise, who have acquired much knowl- edge, doubt often, and are modest in opinion ; wliilst the very ignorant, who have not attained knowl- edge enough to form a hvok to hang a doubt on, are hasty and jiresuinptuous. Those who say "coine boys," effect much, and do it well ; while those who say *' go boys," accom- lish little, and that badly. The best fanners are those who combine the most intelligence with the most practical industry, sound economy and, good taste. . The worst agriculturists are the ignorant and conceited, v.-lio niiud every, body's business but their own. A fanner who sells ha}-, should buv manure, oth- erwise, he will soon have ins land poor. For tlie Funner's Moiitlily t'isitrr. "Pray witiiout ceasing." When from the portals of the west The lingering sun throws r^ently down. Upon the monatam-monarc!i s' crest. His parting gifts — a golden crown ; Then calm and clear the Alpine horn Rings out up'Ui the cold thin air, And wakes, where clouds and storms are born. Its echoing peal "to prayer 1— to prayer !'' And there, wliere zephyr neverstirs, — And clustering roses never iilow — Where whirlwinds rock the forest firs. And loosen'd glaciers rush ijelow; The lowly dwelh-r of the rock In meek devotion joys to raise. To Him who guards his humble flock. The grateful voice of prayer and praise. Dark s^-mbols of tiie Power divine Inspire the Bralimin's mj'stick rite ; — The Gheber, at his lire-lit siirine. Invokes the source of life and light: — The tuiban'd votary of the mosque. At morning's blush, — at evening's ray, In tented Held, or calm kiosk. Still minds him of his hour to pra}-. Fierce quiver'd chiefs, in western wilds, Before the God of Thunders kneel; And dwellers of the far-olf isles A dim and shadowy faitli reveal ; — The Hebrew, wandering o'er each zone. Where gold hath gleam'd or commerce trod, 'Though nain'd as mammon's slave alone. Still roars his eye to Abraham's God. But thou ! who boasts thy God hath given The creed of life and truth alone ; — A lamp, that gilds thy path to Heaven, And lights thee to his sparkling tlirone ; — ~ His word — a chart thy bark to steer, — His smile, — the pole-star's quenchless ray. Forever shining calm and clear. Oh ! Christian ! dost Tiiof "cease to pray.'" Plainfield, i\. H. E. D. *Mont Blano. Thistles. — It is said that if thistles are cut after they are in full bloom an inch or two above the ground tJiey will lie more easily subdued than those cut at the same time with the hoe below the sur- face. In the tormer case the remaining stub of the thistle gets full of water, which resting on the crown of the plant injures it so far as to occasion a few feeble siioots only to rise, whilst in the latter strong and luxuriant stems were produced. For 111',' I'armiT'- .Minillily V:sil,;r. 5ird» and Insects. To our youth I would say — young gentlemen : Why do you take your guns and issue forth on every public day for the purpose of an indiscrim- inate destruction of the small birds, which a kind Providence has sent to enliven this otherwise sombre world, or to labor according to their degree in the service of man .' You issue forth in parties under the spur of rivalry, to see who will be the most successful destroyers of those harm- less tribes, wiiich flee to the haunts of man for protection. They evidently place confidence in man, being sensible that they are the lords of the earth. But their confidence seems to be unworthi- ly requited and cruelly betrayed. Like the un- happy Protestants of France, they on certain occa- sions become the objects of indiscriminate slaugh- ter; and of all the world, by our Protestant youth. Like the Jews under the decree of King Ahasue- rus, they are consigned to the wrath of their ene- mies. And have we not tliousands of young la- dies, as lovely, as proiiipt in duty and mere hu- mane., th^ii Qm en Esther, to intercede for their protection.' The merciful ollice of interposing for the lives of these small tribes would seem to be an approjiriate duty of our fair daughters, almost any one of whom is probably quite as competent for the duty of a Queen, as the .Jev/ish Esther or any of the present young female Potentates of Europe. Young men, when you have destroyed bushels of these harmless birds in a day, you neither pluck their down for vour pillows, nor dress their meat for your table. Your avocatii n is a matter of wan- ton sport. And can you not find entertainment short of trifling with the lives of these friendly but friendl.-:'ss tribes.' Is there no way in which you can recreate yourselves, but by acting out the of- fice of executioners of those who harm you not.' Domiti-in the tyrant delighted in daily shedding the best blood of Rome, and (mark itl) when not otherwise employed, he devoted his leisure, or ra- ther his lazy hours in catching flies and empaling them upon needles and pins. The imperial fly catcher in his labors, which historians record, as evidence of his cruel temper, was actually better employed than are our boys in the destruction of insecttverous birds. When you have been out in parties from every village in the country on a public day and each killed his five to twenty small birds and come in fatigued at night, what were your reflections.' Have you been satisfieii with your day's work ! Do you not Iccl on such occasions, that j'ou have lost I a day .' Upon reflection at night and during the ' thoughtless hours of the day, when the harmless game is falling thick before your deadly aim, are your consciences quite at ease.' Do you think that vou stand guiltless in the presence of Him, before whose all seeing eye not a sparrow faileth to the ground without h-: knowledge.' I would not dis'^aade you from the use of arms. But let your skill be shown with the musket in the drill and well trained evolutions of the militia; and let your marksnranship be perfected with the rifle ami the target. The public stand in their own light in this mat- ter. They suffer their sons, indiscreetly to be sure, but eft'ectually, to impair their property and estates. They make war upon their friends, and surfer their enemies to multiply and flourish. \N'ere it not for the numerous tribes of small birds, that are spread over the earth, the human family would iiardly be able to subsist in a state of civilization. This may be new to our 3'outh, whose means of observation are limited to their years. But to the observing and scientific, it is a well known fact. Almost all the worms, commonly so called, and which are familiar to the eyes of every one, ore the larvae or the young of insects, and in the per- fect state are provitled with wings. 7^1iey are sub- jectto a wonderful metamorjiiiosis. Beside the eo-g from which they are hatcired, they all pass through those states or conditions, viz. that of the larva, the j chrysalis and then the perfect winged insect. In I the first state they are creeping worms, countless numbers of which are in the ground and on tlie 1 ground and in the wood of our trees and on our I trees and plants, feasting and devouring according to their necessities. In the second or chrysalis , state thev eat nothing, being generally encased in a shroud like that of tire silk worm or some other covering of their own formation. In the third and last state, viz. that of tlie perfect insect, they are generally provided witli wings, and become again destroyers of all sorts of vegetation. The whole order of beetles that infest tlie air, some by day and some by night, like most other insects, live upon vegetation, prefering, of course, that which is best. A numtier of the species are what are called the borers. They deposite their eggs in the bark of trpcs, which arc there hatched and the young l-ar- Vffl bore the trees through and through. Hence the destruction of our huit trees, oar forest and onr timber trees. All the worms, which are go frequently met with :n the ground and whicii are such annoyance to ajrriculture, are but the larva; of iiisects. Such are the muck worm, the cut worm, the yellow or wire worm, and almost an infinite variety. We will hardly stop to name the host of tormentors both of man and beast. Were they not checked in their multiplication and progress by causes beyond the invention or control of man, miserable would be his condition. But a kind Providence, who pro- vides for all his creatures, has appointed guardians tor the human family, to protect tlrem against these tiepredators. These guardians arc to be found ill the class of birds, embracing all those species, which inhabit this countiy, from the crow to the wren; and excepting only the birds of prey. These are in fact our protectors against the silent and in- sidious depredations of the countless legions of in- sects. Allow me to quote some judicious and pertinent remarks Irom "the Report of the Commissioners ofthe Zoological survey of Massachusetts" taken and prepared last year. " But a more important object of the survey is to ascertain with respect to many birds, which man pursues with unrelenting vengeance, whether they are really as injurious as is supposed. The crow, the grackles and other birds of that description do certainly make havoc of the corn. The cedar birds, robins, cat-birds and others make large demands upon the garden. But it is certain that the grubs which they devour, \vonld, if sufl'ercd to live, des- troy all the promise of the year ; and while we have nothing but the birds to protect us from these destroyers, there are sonie means already known and many others will be discovered, to ]irevent the birds from taking more tlian their share. If any one will consider the subject, he will see, that in- sects are by far the most formidable enemy, that man has to encounter with. The musketo, forex- ample, occasions far more suflering, and is actual- ly more feared, than the lion. Other enemies, equally contemptible, are busy through the sum- mer, 'orturing our beasts to madness and destroy- ing the comfort of man. The birds are the instru- ments commissioned to keep down their numbers ; and if they are exterminated, how is the work to be done .' It may be said, that if the injurious birds are destroyed, harmless ones will still labor in that vocation. But the misfortune is, that all together are not sufficient for this purpose, and if any are exterminated the evil will grow. It is well known, that the cultivation of fruit is regarded as hopeless by many, and found discour- aging to all, who attempt it. -And the reason is, not that the birds plunder the trees, but insects destroy them. The insects then and not the birds are the proper subjects of e.xtermination. Means may be found to prevent the birds from taking more than their jiortion of the f>uit. But it is not probable that human agency can contend with the millions of the insect race. If so, we are taking the part of our enemies against our friends; and it may be the persecution of the birds, whicli has caused the insects to increase in numbers and to sucli an extent, that many doubt whe- ther under present circumstances, the more deli- cate kinds of fruit are worth the trouble and ex- pense of cultivation." In the report of another of the commissioners. I find the following, too important, not to be laid before your readers. "According to Kirby and Spence, the grubs of the Cock-chaft'er' sometimes destroy whole acres of grass by feeding on its roots. Tiiev undeimino the richest meadows and loosen tlie turf, so that it will roll up, as if cut with a turfing spade. Thev do not confine themselves to grass, but eat also the roots of wheat and other grains. About seventy years ago, a farmer, near iXorv.ich in Eu'^laiid, sut- fered much by them, and with his man gathered 80 bushels of the beetles. In the year \7'^o many' provinces in France were so ravaged by them, that a premium was offered by government' for the best mode of destroying them. The Society of Arts in London during many years held forth a premi- um for the best account of this insect and the means of checking its ravages, but without having pro- duced one successful claimant. In their perfect state, these with several other species act as conspicuous a part in injurinn- the trees, as the grubs do in destroying the herbage. Besides the leaves of fruit trees, they devour those Tlie liirvffi of Oie ilotibnti- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. of various forest trees and shrubs with an avidity not much less tlian that of the locust, so that in certain seasons in particular districts, they become an oppressive scourge and tlie source of much mis- ery to the iiihal)itaiits. "Mouff'et relates that in the year 1574 such num- bers of them fell into the river Severn, as to stop the wheels of the water mills ; and in the Philo- sophical Transactions it is stated that in tlie year ]6tfS, they filled the hedges and trees in Gahvay in such infinite numbers, as to cling to each other, like bees, when swaxming ; and when on the wnig, darkened the air, annoyed travellers and produced a sound like distant drums. In a short time, the leaves of all the trees for some miles round, were so totally consumed by them, that at midsummer, tlie country wore the aspect of the depth of winter." The commissioner further reporls.that '-In Ander- son's Recreations it is stated, that a cautious obser- ver, liaving found a nest of five young jays, remar- ked that each of these birds, while yet very young, consumed at least fifteen of these full sized grubs in one day ; and of course would require many more of a" smaller size Say that on an average of sizes, thoy consumed twenty apiece. These tfir five birds make a hundred. Each of the parents consume aiy fifty. So that the pair and fami- ly devoured two hundred every day. This in three months amounts to twenty thousand in one season, but as the grub continues in that state four seasons, this single pair with their family alone, without reckoning their descendants after the first year, would destroy o ghty thousand grubs. Let us sup- pose, that haif of these grubs, viz. forty thousand, are iem-.iles, and as it is known, that they lay about two hundred eggs each, it will appear, that no less than eight railtions have been destroyed or pre- vented from being hatched by the labors of a sin- gle family of jays. It is by reckoning in this way, that we learn to know of what importance it is, to attend to the economy of nature, and to be cautious how we de- range it, by our short sighted and fiit.le operations. Our own country abounds in insectiverous beasts and birds, the more than abundant melolontha',bee- tles,that form a portion of their nourishment." Again he observes, " our insectiverous birds un- doubteilli' consume many of the rose bugs both in the perfect an.'l larva state, and deserve to be cher- ished and protected for their useful habits." H<'nep we learn some important facts relative to the other continent, as v/ell as this, and the views of scientific men, as to the proper remedies to meet and reduce the practical evil of insects; and impending dangers of still darker aspect. It is an established fact, tliat that well known hut unwelcome quadruped, the pole cat, with all his ofiensive properties, makes up for his occasion- al larceny of a hen's nest, that happens within his reach, by feeding almost entirely upon the dorr and other bugs, together with their larva?. It is for this purpose, that they so frequently visit our fields and examine the corn hills. All growers of Indian corn, who have too often found the cause, tliat their Indian corn did not ap- pear, was the little yellow wire worm, which de- vours the eye of the kernel; and when their corn does appear above ground and while yet young, find on every morning, many hills cut off by the cut wor.n, and when their crirn is half grown and more, the stalks bored by another worm, and their wheat heads hall' devoured by the wevil and Hes- sian fly ; and their stone fruit trees bored by larva; and their fruit it&elf filled with the maggot of an- other insect, and falling to the ground; their ap- ple trees bored and their gardens devoured by a o-real variety of insects ; their bee-hives filled v.'ith the moth of the bee miller; their sheep dying from the maggot of the blow-Uy ; their horses and cattle tormented by insects of the fly kind, and them- selves not escaping unacath.ed ; all such must fi'el a deep interest upon this subject. And if there be remedies against such evils, they will seek them diligently and tecuie them carefully. If the remedy wer;. dear bought and far fetched, we should in these daj's of corporations and socie- ties, see corporate companies with large capitals, l)repared to inipa.'-t the remedies. But instead of such c-"cpen3ive arrangements, to protect the farming interest, we have notlring tod. hut to be still and let the oirds labor for us. They are the surest, sat'est and least expensive tarifi' tf' protect the agricultural interest. They are the in- digenous producticm of the country, and will if un- molested multiply to the wish of man. If our boys must hunt, let them hunt the hawk. Thus far the boys and the hawks appear to act as allies, carrying on jointly a war of extermination against our best fiiends, the humble inoftensivc songsters that enliven our door yards, our fields and our°forests. Of the two warlike parties, the birds of prey are by far the most conscientious. What they destroy, they appropriate to supply their wants and thnt of their young. Whenever our boys commit their forays for sport, the spoils which they gather are castefi" by the way side, to become the deposite banks of the carniverous insects; .ind within which their young larvre aije to riot and fatten. I advise to break the truce with the hawk and make war upon him, " et id omne genus." But if our youth must have small game, we consign to them all the tribes of insects. Upon these they may exercise their gunnery, either on the perch, or on the wing. I am, sir, resjiectfuUy, yours, CORN'PLANTER. the Hottentots, that a yonth, to be raised into tho compaiiv of men, sliould prove his manhood by beating his mother. I would advise you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining tlie tiger, but to burn t!i'-3 piece before it is seenby aiy olh-r person, whereby you will save yourself a grert deal of mort ficat on from the enemies it may raise against you, and perhaps a good deal of rrgret and lepentance. "If mi'U are wieki'd wi h religion, what would they be without it .' I intei.d this letter itself as a proof of my friendship, and therefore add no pro- fessions to It, but subscribe, sinip'y. Yours, B. IRA-NKLI.\." "To aid the cause of Virtue and Re- ligion." Be.nj.\mis Frank:. i.v, beyond question, was the ablest thinker and philosopher, that America has yet produced : in tliis respect, of the age in which lie lived he had no superior in the civilized world. The age of his usefulne:<3 was before that of] Washington, Adams, Jetferson, and other patriots of the revolution — older than any one of them, he was behind none in exerting a salutary influence in the rise and progress of our wisest institutions. But we have seen and read nothing from his pen more worthy of admiration and delight than tlie letter below. Bigotry, perhaps based on misrepre- sentation, had desciibed tile sage and the philoso- pher as a skejitic in his belief of tlie religion of Jesus ; what will bigotry now say of such skepti- cism as that of Franklin in the following letter ? If he had expressed no other religious opinion in his whole life, leaving this letter upon record, he has done more for Christianity than would atone for a life of many sins. To find the recorded evi- dence of such a man as Franklin in favor of a par- ticular Providence is a sweeter consolation to an unalrickcn conscience than the listening to many sermons from the purest minds and best talents of our clergy. Franklin's honest belief on any sub- ject would go far towards dissipating all doubt : the testimony of Franklin in favor of a particular Providence leads us to turn with exultation on the opinions of hundreds of learned small men who have only gone deep enough to doubt every thing that is not accompanied with an explanation of its natural cause. From llic Glellfi, F.inklin's Opinion of Infidelity. The annexed letter from tlie pen of Benjamin Franklin, is contained in vol. 3, p. 279 of his works. London edition, edited by his grandson, William F. Franklin. It is supposed to have been address- ed to Thomas Paine. " Dk.^r Sir : I have read your manuscript with some attention. By the argument which it con- tains anainst a particular Providence, though you alhnv a general ProvidcU'^e, you strike at the foun- dation of all religion. For, without the belief of Prov- idence, that takes coo-nizance of,guards and guides, and may favor particular persons, there is no motive to worship a Deify, a .fpar of his displeasure, or to pray for his protection, i will not enter into any discu.'ision of your principles, though you seem to desire it. At present I shall only give you my opinion, that though your reasonings are subtle, and may prevail with some readers, you will not suci'ced so as to change the general sentiments of mankind on tint subject, and the consequences of printing this piece will be a great deal of odium drawTi upon ;)Ourself, mischief to you and no ben- efit to others He that spits against the wind spits on his own face. But were you to succeed, do you imagine any good will be done bj- it ? You yourself may find it eas\- to live a virtuous life witiiuut the assistance afforded by religion ; you iiave a clear perception of the advantages of virtue and the disadvantages of vice, and possessing a strength of resolution suftrcient to enable you to resist common tempta- tions. But think how great a portion of mankind consists of ignorant men and women, and of inex- perienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain thein from vice, support their virtue, and retain them in the practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is the great point of its security. And per- haps you are indebted to her originally, that is, to your religious education, for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value yoursidf. You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby obtain a rank with our most distinguished authors ; for amonc us it is not neeessarv, as among CUtrano) t, Muy'Mi, 1330. Hon. Is.A.ic Hill— Dear Sir: — I notice in the Farmers Visitor for May, a rcprcsen'ation of the Bryant calf raisetl in this town by Mr. Johnson. You say that this calf is of the same breed with the Ilubljard ox Olympus : this is a mistake. The grandsire of the Bryant calf v.'as the bull Comet, raised in Massachusetts, owned and kept at Wind- sor,Vt. and was of the Holderness mixed with some other foreign breed, as I understood from the man who took him to Windsor. Perhaps he had a little of the Durham ; he was a v\:yy fine animal. The sire of the Hubbard ox Olympus, was im])orted by George Bond of Boston, and was out of a full blood Durham cow. It was not known what tile sire was. The dam of the Hubbard o.\ was from abrced brought to Ch ivlestown from Hoosuck, N. Y. for- merly an in;po;ted breed at Long Island The Hubbard ex was raised on the banks of the Connectieut; liic Bryant steer six miles out, en Green Mountain, near the east line of Claremont. The grandsire of the Br3'ant steer was a much better looking animal than the sire of the Hubbard ox. I mention this only to prevent misrepresenta- tion. In the same paper I notice an article to destroy bugs in ])eas by scalding them. This I tried more than thirty years ago ; it did not answer complete- ly. A better wa}-, 1 think, is to keep seed peas o- ver one summer before sov/ing. Every bug will die or leave the pea. A FARMER. IJj^The remarkable ox Olympus, which was ex- hibited in this town one year ago, by the latest ac- count from hiin, had arrived in England. We do not doubt he will be as much a wonder among hor- ned cattle tliere as he was here — exceeding in size and weight any otlier animal of his kind. His name had been changed by the owner to tliat of "Brother Jonathan," as more distinctive of the country of his nativity. Fur Ihe Fariiii-rs Muiillilj Vl.-itor. Gov. Hill: — It has been a subject of common remark that the quantity of snow W'hich fell during the last winter, in the western part of V'crinont, was less than had been previously known in any winter since the SI ttleiiient of the country. But perhaps it is not generally known that tlie '.juantity of wa- ter which has fallen in snow and rain during the last two years has been so much less than usual, as is the fact. That your readers may see the dif- ference between the last year and some preceding ones, 1 have extracted the following table from a Meteorological journal, which I have kept at this place during the most of the time, for several years past. Our mean annual quantity of water is about 43 or 44 inches. The greatest quantity I have known was in 1630, being between .59 and Gi) in ches, and the least was in 1838, being a little le'ss than 31 inches, as shown in the following table, where the measurements are given in inches and decimal parts. 18AS 1632 1833 1.838 1839 inch. inch. inch. inch, ineli Jannarv 1.30 3.56 1.J6 2.o2 0.8.'i February 2.10 3.22 2.(J3 1.32 1.211 March 1.35 2.31 1.48 1.10 1.43 Aj.ril 2.7.3 l.'.G 1.28 1.34 I .GO Mav 2.4.'> 5.71 9.85 4.51 2.43 June 3.70 3.41 4.2S 5.37 July 5.95 3.52 7.54 3.25 Auijust 4.30 4.76 7.34 2.41 September 9.85 1.81 4.17 1.33 October 1.65 4.05 6.01 2.98 November G.25 3.01 1.91 3.78 December 1.65 2.27 1.59 0-G2 Annual quantity 43.30 39..5U 49.34 30.83 As a consequence of the small quantity of water which has fallen, our springs and wells have been remarkably low. During the greater part of the last winter many of our wells were entirely dry, which had previously furnished a plentif'ul supi)ly of wa- ter. During the last summer, though tlie quanti- of rain was small, the showers were so seasonable 96 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Ihatiioni' of our crops suffered by Jroujlif, und iho crop of crrass in particular was more abundant llian lias been known for many years. Z. T. Burlington, Vt. June (), 183'.). Fi>r llie F.innpl'.-f Monlllly Vi-itor. Preparation of Sward Lands. Hon. l<.iAC Hill : — Sir,— I have tried some experiments in preparing sward lands for tillage. My land is generally a stiff clay loam. When it has become exhausted so as to bear a grass crop but little more than wnrtli cutting, and I have no manure to put on it, I plough it the last of June or the first of July, and am particular to plough deep and turn it over entirely. I then .sow it with oats, clover, &c. and harrow it lightly lengthwise the furrow, tliat the sod may be disturbed as little a.s possible. In September, I plough it lightly and turn in the oats, Ac. The iie.xt spring the land is almost as pliable and easy to cultivate as an old field, and it is suitable for almost any crop. It should be ma- nured highly this season ; and the next it may be seeded down to grass, if ilesired. If one has manure sufficient, it may be ploughed about the tenth of June, and sown with ruta baga, which will richly repay the expense of cultivation. Grass lands should be ploughed early in the fall or late in the spring, in order that the vegetable matter turned in, may be in as great perfection as possible, and also that there maybe sutncient heal in the soil to produce fermentation. This of course is not intended as a substitute fir rotation of crops ; but most farmers, 1 presume, have lands in the same situation, and before they can commence with a regular rotation, something like the above plan may be advantaseous. June, 1839. " J'K. SMITH. grain. Trucks and dung cart in praportion, and the load proportioned to the sleepness ofthe ground. The road scraper should be smn.ller than the oxen scraper. The horse will go twice to the oxen go- ing once. He will carry twenty bushels of pota- toes when the oxen carry but thirty bushels, and so in proportion with other things. In doing my work with the horse I save purchasing and keeping in repair one set of horse harness and a set of oxen iinpleinents, which may be fourteen dollars annu- ally. By not keeping the extra horse and extra oxen (I will allow their occasional work through the year to pay for keeping them in summer.) I save their winter keeping — say seven tons of hay valued at $8 a ton— $.56. It would cost to keep the extra team and equipments, seventy dollars. I think seventy dollars a year worth saving penny saved is as good as a penny earnedl'' In haste, your humble servant, BARTH. SUMiMER Ho!L Ii.\.\c Hill. 'A For the F.rniei's Montlily Visitor. Earnet, Vt. Mmj 8, 1830. Remarks on saving Money. Besides the saving of manure and improvements in all kinds of seeds, live stock and farming ■mple- mcntB, Ac. there is one important branch not much adverted to, that is, keeping horses and cattle to do farm work. Some farmers will keep a yoke of oxen and a span of horses on a small farm, when one trood horse would do most all the work. They think two horses necessary to carry the family to meeting on Sundays, and to make a trip or two to market in winter, and also to do most of the oloughimr and harrowing. They use the oxen Willi the horses occasionally, for heavy ploughing and drawing stones for walls. They use the oxen alone n-enerally for getting in hav, gram, and potatoes, ?nd takinn- out manure. Now all these works can be done vTith one horse alone, and with more expe- dition, except ploughing and going to market m winter When such business is necessary, a horse or a yoke of oxen can be hired, or work may be chano-ed with some ofthe neighbors for a few days. Twolet of implements, one for horses and anotlicr for oxen, must be made and kept in repair, accord- ino- to the o-eneral custom. This alone is a consid- erable item of needless annual expense to a small farmer In the place of the oxen and one horse, he mi■-> aercs meadow on Passumpsic river, and the rest on the bills, I keep but one horse, six or seven cows and the young cattle until they arc two or three years old, and from fifteen to twenty sheep I hire "a hand six monlhg, and an additional hand by the day when wauled in haying andharvestuig. My horse does the h;.rrowing, taking out manure, and taking in grain, hay, potatoes and firewood, also he drags stones for wall, and trucks dirt on the farm or on the highways at road work. 1 he horse will do more at all these works than ■iny or- dinary yoke of oxen. This is allowed by all ,he hands that have done my work. The whole de- pends on having proper horses, carls, trucks and scrapers suited to the horse and the sort ot work to be done The hay cart must be long and light, cal- culated to bear two or three hundred pounus on the horse's back when loaded with a ton ol h»y or Decomposition or Putrefaction of Veg- etables. All vegetables, when the principle of life has de- parted from them, begin spontaneously to be de- composed (to putref,'.) The elements which enter into the composition of plants, %vhen left entirely to the disposal of their chemical attinities, have a tendency to sejiarate from each other, and form new compounds very different from those which compose the living plant. This is termed the "spon- taneous decomposition" of vegetables. The sub- stances formed by the new arrangement of the el- nients of the vegetable .are aerial and colorless; hence the entire disappearance ofthe vegetable, as if it had been totally annihilated when lite ceased to preserve its particles together in the vegetable form. The compounds formed, when the vegetable dies and putrefaction goes on, are, carbonic acid, water, carbonic oxide, and curburetted hydrogen. The two former are the chief results of the decomposition ; the two latter formed more sparingly, and princi- pally when there is not a free supply of oxygen to the substance undergoing decomposition. The carbon and hydrogen of the plant have a constant tendency to unite with oxygen, and form carbonic acid and water. Now there is never present in the vegetable a sufficient supply of oxygen to convert allthe carbon into carbonic acid, and all the hy- drogen into water ; hence, if there be not a sulfi- cient supply of oxygen to produce these cpmpounds presented from external sources, as from the air, the two other matters are formed, one of which (carbonic oxide) requires a less quantity of carbon and hydrogen. In vegetables which decay under water, carbu- retted hydrogen is abundantly formed ; hence ari- ses the gas which is found so plentiful in summer in stagnant waters containing quantities of putre- fying vegetables. The spontaneous decomposition of vegetables (roes on most rapidly when they are exposed to the air, kept moist, and preserved at a degree of warmth hio-her than the usual temperature of the atmos- pliere. Putrefaction in retarded or almost prevent- ed if the vegetable be dried, so that its own moist- ure is expelled, carefully excluded from air and moisture, and kept cold. The influence of heat in promoting the decay of vegetables depends upon the repulsive power it possesses, by which it dis- poses the various elements to assume the gaseous form. Animals and vegetables are frequently found in snow or ice, in a high state of preservation. Such are tlie changes which go on in tlie dead plant. That mysterious agent, J^ife, is able by Us peculiar power," to control and overcome the cheiii- cal attractions which tend to produce these chan- ges, and retains these elements in that state of combination best adapted for the performance of their proper functions: attlie moment however, in which life ceases to superintend the exercise of these functions, they cease and the chemical at- tractions, no longer restrained by the vital princi- ple, obtain full sway. The c:-.rl.on, oxygen, and hydroTcn, formerly existing in the state of wood, bark,reaves, fruit, or seeds, obey the laws of chem- istry return to the state of carbonic acid, w ater or inflammable gas, mix with the earth and atmos- phere afford nutriment to the new plants, again form leaves, flowers, and all the beautiful and di- versified orirans of the vegetable creation— again wither and decay, and return to the soil to supply new generations, and continue the same aeries of unceasing revolutione Ch.e:n:stry of Aature. ACKKOWLF.DOMENTS. To McssrS. Ellis &■ Bo3- soM of Boston, abeautifiilly improved scythe snath, adopting itself to a larger or smaller sized mower, or to rough or smooth ground by means of mova- ble handles. To the same gentlemen, a Rohan potato, raised in France, of eighteen eyes, prov- ing the identity of the eight pounds of Rohans raised 111 Franklin and presented by Mr. Searle. — To Messrs. Weeks, Jordan, & Co. of Boston, the American Flower Garden Companion, adapted to the Northern States — The American Fruit Gar- den Companion, a practical treatise on the culture of Fruit — and a Treatise on the Culture of the Dahlia or Cactus ; three valuable books by Ed- ward Sawyer, Landscape and Ornamental Gard- ner. To Doet. C. T. Jackson, the First and Sec- ond Repirts on the Geology of the State of Maine. To Rev. Henry Colman, his Reports on the Agri- culture of Massachusetts. To Samuel Whitmarsh, Esq, his book called Eight Years Observation in the Culture of the Mulberry Tree, and in the care of the Silk Worm. To Messrs. Ives & Jewett, Salem, Ms. Book of Fruits, by Robert Manning, and three copies of Essex Agricultural Society's Transac- tions. To John Brown, Esq. of Ne\y London, and S. Marshall, Esq. of Ilanipstead, two kinds of ex- cellent seed potatoes. To Solon Stark, Esq. of Illinois, an ear of the Rocky Mountain Corn, and also an car ofthe Baden Corn. To MiiU. Frank- lin Pierce, a variety of seed corn, seed wheat, &.c. furnished him by the Commissioner of Patents at Washington. To Mr. David Tenney, for an im- proved seed corn called the Page Corn. MARKETS. NEW 'VOUK, JUNE 6. Pales ol Cnttnii are if any lliinsnl «radiiaMy tower pricep. .All sons of Flour, rxccpt Kuhmoiid Oily, iiicliulcd wilhlii fiSOsS?. Corn 92 a 91c. TlierB was a Rreal aiicllon sale of Solb Loithnr this nioniinc i alioiit Ili,n00 sirlea .'olil, with an advaiici- of J 11. Jc— light weights 2»i a 23<, niiddllns do 9Ii a 2-^.1, heavy PJ^ a Sij.t, good damaged 17 a IB, poor do 11 a fa c.-^Ji.ur. Com. BALTiMor.E, Jiine4— Flour— Sochanjie.'i in piiceorilow- aid St i lilile doing. We tfiiole BH? a 0 51), r.asli IM mo, Siis- qiiehannali U .•>(). Sales while Com 85 a b7c, yellow 91 a 93. VVequole Rye 1 05a 1 10 American. BosTo.v. June 10— Fealhers— Russia are dull, s;ilea triiliug: 70 Hales Western I.ive lieiFe sold at .S:ic, A nis. Grain— l-i.Tlesor.\orth River Corn gl 04 ; yell.iw flat 95 a 97, and while 00 a 91, and New Oi leans 87 ic, winch is a lit- tle decline on last week. (lal> continue very scarce, andarc wanted at adyanced price--. Sales of Easlern 57 a COc, and sni.ill parcels as hish C9c. No northern or southern in market Flour— Ihis article still continiie.'i very dull, and decllnins; prices of all kinds stand full 9fi a 37c lower lloio last week, and niniKii closes williout alilnntioii at this rednclion— 3001) hills Ricliinond City .Mill litive .rlation, taken lor Rio, mo'.lly Galleito brand, nt a price not piililic. Sales of Howard street II 75 a 6 87 ; Ricl-iniond Canal 6 7.i ; Genesee, . oinniou brand fi 75, aird Ohio, good, 0 75, all ca.^li. The mar- ket closes inactive. Hides anil Skins— The snles of Buffnlo Hides nre large, eni- hracinsiill In market in tir.'l li.inds— and some panels have been resild from 10 a lie. Fuillier sales of (.a'.cnlta Cow at quotatinns. Sales of l.'.OO Cilifoinia and i:i 10 .Montevideo, price and lerni.s not public. Goatskins are in good demand: further enlea .Madias 95 a m'ccacli, li ms. Lumliei'— Considerable sales, both for liinne use and e.xpor- tation— tl.e best boards coininand $13, I'J and JSi) per 1000— other devcripiinns are sellinp la quolalir ns. rrovisroiis— Tlie sales of lleef and Pork ao small ; Iho latter has sold at a rednefon. l.ard and llniiis leinain about the same, but sales are light; 250 U'cstphalia Dams, sold at auction, at IG a 20 per In, cash. liice— Sales are moderate at former prices- 30 tierces and halves sold at auction, at 4 95 a §5 per 100 lb. Salt- .\ cant, of 500 hlids Liverpool sold .it about 2 87 per hlid ; 17011 bass fine, have sold at auction .at 1 CO a 1 C5 per ltag,cash, Wastiinjiton's brand. Saltpetre- Dull, and nothing of iniportance doing- 2a300 bags ai'Id Ibis week, at a price secret. Sugars— Holders are mure fuiii in their prices, and most of the iiiip'irlets are asking an advance of .tc per lb on tiro re- cent current rates. Sales are not large eiidnacinc :t a 400 lioxe.i llavanna brown at SJ a 9c, and while 11 a ll^ci2a 300bbls rernanibnco while ll'c ; 400 bag.- Cuba Muscnmdo ord. f.5cper Ih, I', uis. Sale bv auction 85 boxes Havanna brown mil. to r.Tlr 777 a837. and 15 hhds Cuba Muscovado ord. G 70 [ler 100 lb, 4 ms. THE F.\RMEU'S MONTHI.Y VISITOR, A MONTHLY NrWSrAPER, IS PUKLISIIEU BY WILLIAM p. FOSTER, Hill's Brick Block, Cuncofd, .Y. H. J.\MES BURNS, 104, U'a!.hin.gton st., Boston, M.''. The Visitor is issued the fifteenth to twentieth day of each month. Each hiiMilier will contain si.steen piges oi quarto .si/e on paper calculated for presi-rvnlion and cm a fair arid lieiiu- Tbe subjects will be illustrated with engrnvings. nO^^Cotimiunications bv nisil, w I.,!.4M r. FOSTER.Concord, .N. H Conducted by ISAAC HIJLL. rublished by WM. p. FOSTER. " Those who lahor in • the earth are the chosen peop c of Goil, whose b ■casts he has tnnde his pccti Har dcpos tefnr substantial and genuine r/rt«e."-jEFFEKSO!». VOLUME 1. CONCORD, N. H ., JULY 15, 1839. NUMBER 7. View of New Hampshire from the Ver- mont Motmtaiiis. Crossing the State of Vermont at several points, you pass tlic bad; bone or ridge of the Gfecn JMoun- tains, the hiyiiest point of wlilcli is generally at a distance of tw-cnfy or tiiirty miles from Connecti- cut river. TuDiing the top of the ridge and look- ing eastward, you have a splendid view of the high grounds- and of the winding glens on tlie eastern slope of the Connecticuc river valley, fac- ing towards the west. Talking either the routes from Bennington to Brattleborougli, from Arling- ton to Wcslmoreland, N. II., or from Manchester via Chester and Springlield to Charlestown, N. H. 03 the mountain top is turned, you have this land- scape in lull view. The highest point of tlie Green Mountains, fertile in excellent pasture feed, in grass, in oats, peas ami potatoes where t!ie ground is cultivated, is too heavy for v.'lieat and too cold for Indian corn, from its great elevation, being e- qtial to a north remove of some seven or eight de- grees of latitude. The superior elevation brings high objects-at a distanec nearer to the vision. The Grand Monadnoek in New Hampshire, twenty miles east of tlio Connecticut looking from the el- evation thirty miles west of that river, ajipeara as if at your feet. The range of hills stil! nearer the river in Cliesterfield, Westmoreland and Walpole approach so near to the eye, as to e:iablc you to distinu-uish tlie woods from the pasture?, and the pastures from the grain fields of lye, wheat or In- dian corn. Travelling in stages in the season of vegetation, it is our choice to mount upon the scat with the driver, or upon the main top, and view as wcJI the iialure and value of tlie soil, and the agricultural pr.>spects,as the iniproveineiit of buildings and the growth of villages. The drivers of stages are gen- erally intelligent men, and shrewd observers of the character fer thrift and industry and enterprise of the farmers nnd mechanics and merchants, and ministers, lawyers, and doctors, and speculators and other non-producers, who live on the road. The knowledge to be gained from the mouth of one of these men v.'ho has daily travelled over a road at all sea.sons for succes.^ive months and years, is fre- resent year (It'o;') lie has growing twenty-three acres of wheat en tlie iie-w ground, and five acres upon the tilled ground ; and he has the trees cliopped of twenty-live acres of heavy wooded land for a crop the ne.i;t soa.'son. We have ascertained, that of ihe golden fields w'hich we saw in New Hampshire^ from the moun- tains of Vermont, the most prominent, because the largest, was the clearing of Col. Learned upon the Black Mountain. Tnc e.\periincnt and (he enter- prise of this gentleman are worthy of extensive no- tice, liis crop of wheat in Iir<37 was 10^4 bush- els. This v/heat, taking into consideration the en- tire expense of clearing the laud, fencing the ground, furnishing the seed, reaping and convey- ing to the barn, the straw paring for thrashing, cost precisely and no more than ciglity-tliree cents the bushel. On this crop that year, ti'.e Messrs. Lear- ned (the father and son are joint owners of the iiirm) made a clear gain of eight hundred dollars. Tothis profit may be added the improvement of the land. The cost in its wild state was one dol- lar the acre. Cleared and laid down to pasture, the land is worth at least ten dollars the acre. No part of the growth on this new land was saved ei- ther for timber or fuel — the whole wood was con- sumed. Col. L. paid for the clearing ten dollars the acre. The increased value of the land, v>'ith- out the crop, it will be no extravagance to say, will p.i}' for both the original cost and clearing ; and this too upon mountain ground where the forest growth is of more value for the manure of its ash- es on the spot tlinn for any olher use. ,-\dd the in- creased value of the ground, ready for further prof- itable use, and the gain of this operation in .1 sin- gle year, was nearly twelve hundred dollars! Sjiring wheat was the kind exclusively sowed by the Messrs. Learned : no crop can be more certain than this kind of wheat ou newly burnt ground. Col. L. prefers, i..sicad of the cojiimon method of chopping in the month of June when the leaves arc in'fuU growth, tliat the trees shall be felled in the preceding fall, winter or early spring while the snow is not deep : from the longer drying he obtains a more jierfect burn. The kinds of wheat he has hitherto used are the common b.':'arded wheat and the bald or tea wheat. The ]>resejit season he has growing a portion of the Black sea wheat. He mentions a safe, an easy, and perfect remedy for smut, which he has successively tried. For eicli bushel of seed wheat, he takes two ounces of blue vitriol dissolved in two quarts of Water. This generally v;ill dry of itself when applied to the bushel of wheat, which may be sowed either the same day it is applied, or at any time within a week. Seed wheal already smutty should be wash- ed clean before. the preparation is applied; and the quaHtity of two ounces of vitriol to eai'h bushel, should be dissolved in as sn.all a quantity of water as possible. Sriiutty seed thus prepared will propa- gate but the merest trifle of situit in the subse- quent crop. Col. L., as do most of the extensive farmers on Connccticiiit river their small grains, thrashes his wheat -vi'ith horse power, generally after the fall work is completed. It will be seen from the quan- tity of wheat he has raised, in the course of four years he has cleared on that crop the price of a val- uable farm. His o.xperienec has demonstrated that wheat may be raised in the mountain region of New Hampshire with quite as large remuneration for the labor, as can be obtained in the famed wheat regions of the west. The -proprietors of this farm do not confine their attention to a crop of wheat alone. They have a good farm for grass and other grains, which they make productive by the application of manure : they cut from sixty to eighty tons of hay annual- ly. On two acres of ground the last season, they raised eight hundred bushels of potatoes, of which Col. L. informs us that as a matter of curiosity in a trial of personal agility, he dug himself from the hill ready to be picked up forty busheU in sixty minutes. Region of the White Slonutains. The eminent success of the Messrs. Learned of Piermont, should he marked for imitation by the farmers in ouj.-„mountain and hilly towns. The Black sen wheat, if not the more common kinds, may be raised on mo.= t of tlie elevated lands of New Hamp- shire where hard wood was the original growth : old ground, which has previously been manured and tilled to a growth of Indian corn and potatoes, will be perfectly safe for a crop of wheat. It should be sowed late so as to avoid the season of the wheat fly. Newly cleared lami, whose growth is maple, beech, bircli and even hemlock, if well elevated .-tnd free iVom cold springs, with a surface even half covered wiih rocki, if a perfect burn over the ground can he obtained, will probably be more cer- tain for a crop of wheat, than for almost any other crop. It will turn out nearly as many bushels of this as of any other kind of grain. One bushel of clean full kerneled v.-lient is w-orth nearly two bushels of rve.or Indian corn, or four bushels of oats. There are thousands of acres of land in the State of New Ilamp-shire, and especially in the counties of Grafton and Coos, valued niuch of it not higher than fifty cents to a didlar the acre, not now even contemplated to be cleared, that sre really of more value than the western lands that have been pur- cliased at the government price, and speculated upon until they are valued at five to ten dollars in the wild state, and from twenty to fifty dollars tho nero, brougl'.t into cultivation. Improved lands in the St"te of Michigan that will produce re- ally not more, btar a higher price than improved lands have done in New Hampshire. Tal:e, for example, the unimproved lands infthis State, estimated at from fifty cents to two dollars the acre. It is rarely you will find a spot near to •vh'.oh has been made a cart path, where the best tinbcr is not already becoming of some value. But suppose that to be of iio value, and that the clearing of heavy wooded land costs as high as fif- teen dollars the acre. The first crop, if of wheat, will at least pay the cost of clearing and for tho land. .'\ young man w-lio enjoys good healtJi, be- cause it has been gained and confirmed by active labor, can do much himself in clearing land, and thus make a saving of all that he earns. If he ob- tains wild land containing a variety of hill and dale, he can in the course of three or four, or half a dozen years, make himself a valuable farm wilh a single hundred dollars to purchase as many acres of hmd, or even where without this capital he purchases on credit, and pays for the land in the proceeds of the fiiitcrop. Some fourteen years ago, in company with the lamented Professor Dana (now deceased) and Pro- fessor Oliver, we maile our first journey to the White Mountains and the Notch with ladies. The two doctors with their wives travelled in a common wairgon with two horses : we had a single horse and chaise. The eccentric Dana, who was the on- i'V man of the three acquainted with that region and who wa»our pioneer, must needs set off from com- fortable quarters at Lancaster, near the close of th"; day. It was sundown when we passed the Whip- ple farm in Jcfterson, at which we could not obtain his consent to stop. Feeding our horses from a bag of oats which the Doctor took at Lancaster, at the foot, we passed the 'Cherry mountain after it was dark, over the worst apology for a road that we had over encountered. The path way could be compared, judging from the rise and fall of the wheels of our vehicle pursuing the track of that of our pioneer in close order, to nothing more near- ly resembling it than the path of the channel of the Amonoosuck after its waters had been lessened by a dry summer ; there were most enormous pebbles on this road, long known as Col. Whipple's turn- pike. To carry out the night's work. Dr. Dana having a dislike to the then younger Crawford, a- voided his house, and receded in a different direc- tion from the mountain to his greater favorite, the vounger Rosbrook, whose father was the first in- habitant after "Nash and Sawyers' Location," and also grandfather to the younger Crawford. It was midnight when we arrived at Rosbrook's ; and we were not a little cheered to find his premises, hous- es and out ho-uscs, litaraJly filled ivith travellers, 98 THE FARMER'S iMONTllLV VISITOR. who had passed llie Notch to nttcnd a Ivlolhodist camp meeting at the then newseltlemcnt of White- field, iind were on their way lionip, Next morning tlie Doctor was already prepared for a jaunt ■.vitli linea and hooks at trout catcliing on the rnnrinff Amoiioosuck. 'I'lie place where Rosbrook thcn^lived was called Bretton Woods ; his meadow ground on the Amonoosuck, wliich had long heeu cleared, produced hay abiuidanlly ; and where he could apply manure he raised oats, iwas and potatoes. Within the limit5 of the town there were only one or two poor families who scarce- ly could be said to live on any thing the soil pro- duced. Seeino- tlie fine growth of maple and birch on the higher land, we expressed tlib opinion that this land would make good farms. "Never," said Mr. Rosbrook, who had been horn and lived on the Mountains — "the frost will kill every thing ; (lie ground will not pay the clearing." But even licre among the mountains, prejudice has gradually giv- en way. Within the last ten or a dozen years the land,!owned principally by proprietors at Ports- mouth, has been throvi-n into the market. "Cret- ton Woods" has been changed for a word of better euphony, taking the distinguished name of Carroll, the signer of the Declaration of Independence who last survived. This town of Carroll has now well towards a hundred legal voters, and numbers from three to four hundred inhabitants. Judge Dat.- LING, of Henniker, who has travelled much in the West, and is a warm admirer of that wheat growing region, informs us that during the last season he saw in the town of Carroll a field of tiventy acres of wheat then just ready for the sickle, a better than which he had never seen iu western New York. Westerly of Carroll and adjacent to it, is the township of Whitefield in Coos county, one of the most flourishing townships in the nortliern region of Kew Kir.ip'ihiie. This town had been forced into an earlier settlement by the abundance and ex- cellence of its pine timber, vast quantities of which have been taken down Jolm's river, having its Bourcea on and near the 'Cherry mountain, and over the Fifteen miles falls of Connecticut river, where it is manufactured on the way and rafted to Hart- ford, Ct. This timber cannot well be conveyed over the falls otiierwise than in the log, tliose falls being an obstruction fatal to manufactured lumber. Much of the beautiful pine in the valley of the Is- rael's and John's and other rivers tributary to Con- necticut, has been cut down and transported down the Connecticut, producing barely price enough, and frequently not sufficient, to pay the e.^pense of labor and transport. Recently the price is raised, 80 that the owners of the remaining timber lots put upon it a value in some instances as high as a liu.n- dred dollars to the single acre. The soil from whence the pines are taken is found to be good for after cultivation; and tliis most probably caus- ed the early settlement and prosperity of White- field, which now numbers nearly two hundred rata- ble polls and one thousand inhabitants On the east side of the White Mountains in Coos county bordering upon the State of i\Iaine, is the town of Chatham. This town has Mount Royce on the north, and Carter's Mountain (called in tlic vicinity Kcarsargo mountain) on the west. It is so much surrounded by sleep hills and mountains, as to render it difficult to pass out of the lown with a carriage into either of the New Hampshire towns adjoining, Jackson and Bartlett being on the west and Conway in Strafford county on the south. The common passage is by tlie war of Fryciuig in Maine, from which place there is a good road run- ning up the valley of a considerable stream con- necting with the Saco river : there are several ponds in Chatham which feed the stream, down which lumber is readily floated in the spring. More than fifty years ago the late Jons BR.iDi.KV, and Jo.wv- THAN EiSTMA.^i, Esquires, of C'oncord, purchased a large tract of land in the town of Chatliuni, in- cluding most of the t'ertile bottom upon the stream which we have just named. On this tract the eld- est son of the Wtter, Asa E-4Stman, soon after set- tled, and made one of the best farms in the State : nearly thirty years ago this gentleman frequently represented his town in the Legislature, classed with Burton, and since his decease his son Jona- than K. Eastman, owning and residing on the same farm, has repeatedly come as representative. The notion was, when we first heard of this town, that, with the exception of the rich intervale principally embraced in the Bradley and Eastman grant, the land in Chatham was of no value for cultivation. 'I'his idea has been brought down so late that it is but now published in Hayward's New England Gazetteer as the character of Chatham, that "the surface is mountainous and rocky, and can never sustain a great population." The common opin- ion, it is believed, is erroneous; for within the last! few years Chatham has doubled its legal voters. A revolutionary pensioner seventy-six years of age, resident in Chatliam, called on us a few days since. On inquiry of him respecting the quality of land in Chatham, "he assured us that much of the upland was first rate soil, with the original growth of maple, beecli, birch, &c., and that it was fast clearing for settlement. He said tliere remained in tlie town of unoccupied land fit for clearing, sev- en or eight thousand acres; and that when cleared the roughest part of the mountain land made ex- cellent pastures. Much of the good land was .as yet inaccessible to a road ; but it was found by the new settlers who went two or three miles in- to the woods, tliat a road would find its way to them almost as soon as it was wanted to be used. The uncleared lands have recently become of increased value from the facility with which lumber is con- veyed by way of Saco river and its tribntar}', to a market where it commands a high price. Every tree that can be used for timber is ap])ropriated for that purpose, so that the usual destruction in new- ly cleared lands does not here take place. If the price of these lands has not already greatly advanc- ed, it_ must rise in proportion to the new value wliich the demand for the various wood growing upon them gives them. The county of Coos, broken althougii '.•. may be by mo'jntains, and standing in the valuation of the State but little higher than the town of Concord alone, is destined not long to remain tiie "least of all" the counties of the Granite State. It was suppcsLd that the cold year of ISlG drove oif one I'.alf of its tlicn scattered population ; and it was a long time before it even began to recover from the panic and fear of frost which that season produced. It is now rapidly advancing; new towns have been incorporated ; new farms are made from the forest; and the population of some of these towns doub- les and -trebles in a short space. For the rearing of cattle and sheep, for the production of various vegetables and grains, especially for the sure growth of wlieat, much of the land in Coos is among the best in New England. The present population of that county is not behind tlie population of any oth- er older county of the State for respectability, for enterprise and intelligence. A young man, who expects to live by the sweat of the brow, has but to go to that county and select such land as may best suit belonging to those who wish to sell '■'., to make himself an independent farmer in the course of a very fevv' years. He may see his way to pay for his land, and raise its value fourfold in the prepara- tion for his first crop, ^\'hich will besides pay him for all his labor. Even a man with a family to sup- port may do it better while clearing his land in the pay which he can obtain for neighborhood employ- ment than he could do in the seaports or manufac- turing villages where he works when he can to procure iiis daily bread. The wealth of new set- tlers ccnies insensibly : a great portion of their la- bor is at once converted into permamnt capital, while the remainder gives the laborer and his t'am- ily their daily bread. The setilers of olden time had>not the advantage of the present settlers : they had not the inducements that the farn^.crs now have for cutting down the forests and making the waste places fruitl'nl. Then, if a farmer raised more than he wanted for family consumption, he found it diiHcu.lt to turn or dis])ese of it to advantage. Now, every surplu* article that tlie farmer can pro- duce finds a ready sale at a high cash price. Then, the roads were so rough and .so bad, that the price of many heavy articles would not pay the transport to market; now, many iieavy articles bear the price of their full value at the point of production. The relative conditilJiis of supply and production seem to have undergone an entire change ; purchasers seek for the articles instead of articles traj'elling the rounds to find purchasers. There never existed greater inducements than the present for incieasing the quantitv of the pro- Y the plough or lioe after the roots of the corn liave extended over the surHice, simply cutting up the weedsand stirring the ground upon the surface. 2. His practice has been never to sow grass seed in the spring with oats or other grain on land to be stocked down for hay. He says the reason herds grass or Timothy never comes to maturity the first year is, that, sowed in the spring with a n-rain crop, like the planting of Indian corn in the shade, the spears of grass are either destroyed or become so enervated as to require a whole addition- al year to take root. Ho has found no difficulty in procuring an exuberant crop of herds 'i-rass the first year by plougliing in the stubble after the grain crop lias been taken oft' so late in the fall, say in October, as that the seed shall not spring so as to be killed b_v alternate thawing and freezing after the root shall be started. 'i. He obtain,^ all tlie advantage of his seed by sow-ing double the usual quantity of herds grass seed to the acre. If the newly prepared ground have the strength of manure which ought to be af- forded, half a bushel instead of a peck of herds grass seed to the acre will increase the quantity and improve tlic quality of the hay, as well becai>se all the vacant spaces may he filled with additional spears of grass, as because finer spears make a bet- ter body for hay than coarser spears. *-:-l. He sows no clover or other grass with the Timothy, for the reason that clover is not so good feed for cattle, and because his ample crop of herds grass the first season renders the clover superflu- ous. The Attorney has a lot of land in Golfstown of sixteen acres, which he purchased several years ago at a small price per acre. It was a common meadow, producing a small crop of inferior hay, until he drained, ditched, idiangcd the surface aiid manured it, sowing it down to herds grass and oth- er English hay. Tlie farmers of the vicinity do not estimate this improved land as high as he does; they say a high price would be fifty dollars the acre — he believes the land worth on hundred dollars, and therefore does not dispose of it. For the last few years he has set the crop of this lot of land up at auction at the time of haying, and it has sold every year from one hundred and fifty to two hun- dred dollars ; so that the land has annually yielded nearly twelve per cent, on his own estimate, and about twenty-four per cent, upon the estimate ot his neighbors. THE FARMER S MUM'MLY VISITOR. The successful efforts the Attorney has already made at farminir siiould induce iilin to persevere. Every professional man or man holdliio; jniblic office can find leit-ure to attend to faniiiTitr operations. Instead of dozing in bed in the morning until seven or eight o'clock, he may rise before five and direct tlie operations Ibr the day. He can conveniently take hold himself frequently of such butiticssas lie has I"arned to perform : he can siiew tliose about him that he knows h*w to estimate a d:iy's work : hisenjoyment, while spendingthat time which may be spared from his professional or otiicial business, will be full and satisfictory, while no seneible man can long endure the ease of indolence ancl Inaction without dissatisfaction with every thing, if not without disability to perform any labor with effect; and if the time should arrive of retirement from ottice to give place to others equally worth}', or if the improved condition of society or the general health or moral condition of the people should les- sen the business or emoluments of his profession, he may find true enjoyment, if not exeniption from obsolute want, in that productive pursuit which will give every man in health an honest livcliliood. Fortlic r.lniiera M.iiillily Vi.-it..i. Observations aud researches in Agriculture ; Being a Furnicr's Legacij to his Son. Prefatonj Remarks. — The observations which we intend to make under tliis head are selected from a series of notes and hints which were noted down at the time of their occurrence, as likely to be of use to one of my own family. 1 tclt as if 1 were bound to make my son some wiser, some better in- formed for my liaving trod the path of life Ijcfore him. 1 felt as if 1 should not comply with ni}- convictions of duty if I did not endeavor to make the world, or at le.-jt my own family, some better for my having lived and thounht before tlicm. In accordance with this conviction of duty, I made, as leisure permitted, such memoranda as 1 thounht might prove useful to those of my own family, es- pecially, and perhaps to others llirougli thein ; ,and from those of thcni which bear the nearest relation to agricultural pursuits, I Imve selected what fol- lov/s. Perhajjs they may prove to some young be- ginners in husbandry and rural economy whattliey were intended to be to him for whose use and refe- rence they were principally recorded — a starting- post from the goal arrived at by a predecessor in the course. 1. RcT.v Baca: — adviintitgc.s of this croj). You may sometimes be placed in circumstances like the following, in which ynu would liardly know wlial to do were it not tliat the season tor sowing ruta liaga gives 3"ou some elbow-room. For in- stance; you may uotjbe able to get out all your ma- nure in season for 3'our corn and potatee crops, as a farmer's work in May generally conies thicker and faster than a month later. Rather than sum- mer your manure, or get it out at a great disadvan- tage at the season of corn-planting, plan your^\■ork so a? to have a spot for Swedes to which you can ap- ply your manure when yon have more leisure to get it out. When your wheat is winter-killed, or otherwiso so injured as not to be worth h:'f vesting, or when other crops fail, it is of advantage to liave such a resource as the culture of ruta baga presents. You may cut your first crop of clover, if you cannot spare it as manure, 'md have your land ready early enough for this root crop. Another advantage of this crop is the facility of harvesting it. A man can harvest fullv twen- ty bushels of turnips for one of potatoes. The chief advantage of this crop consists, at the present time, at least, in the much greater iiett pro- lit which may be produced from an acre in th's thin ill almost any oilier crop. An average crop is s!.\ hundred bushels; but more than double this quaiility is, en "'ood authority, said to have been obtained, ine expense cf cultivation has hecn esliinated as low as two cents a bushel ; and I have never heard of judicious management being reckoned higher than four cents a busliel. As food for hogs, cattle, and even Iiorses, three bushels of ruta bagas are generally accounted of equal value with one of corn or two of oats. If you will be at tiie trouble of making the calculations of profit which these data furnish you, you will be astonish- ed at the results. Take the average crop of hay at two tons to the acre, and the average crop of ruta bagas as above stated, and estimating three tons of turnips equal, for neat cattle, to one ton of liay, and you will arrive at a result almost equally surpris- , ing. J, Asa iningr advantage I may mention, that on J. farms like mine v.'hich have not the advantage of a running stream where cattle can water themselves. and where we are obliged to break the ice or draw 1 for them every time they drink — it is in such cases good for the comfort and well being of the cattle, and lessens our labor, that less water is needed when cattle are fed on this or other root crops. It is no small trouble to water cattle as they ought to be upon some farms in winter. This crop possesses other recommendations ; these I shall not submit to you at present. 2. KuG.i Baga. — Time of sowing, and rjuau- titij of seed. In latitudes approaching to 42 and 41! deg. ruta bagas may be sown from the lOtli of June to the loth of July. I have always aimed at getting them in by the last week of June. As to the (luuntity of seed, I am now well con- vinced, that it is much more profitable to sow more seed than is really needed than to be more sparinrr of seed, and be obliged to transplant The time occupied in this operation will cost more than the extra seed saved. If you use only half a pound to an acre, you will have a good deal of transplant- ing to do; whereas if you put on four pounds to the acre you v.'ill have a great many to hoe or thin out, but with regular sowing, no transplanting. Transplanted roots never do well. From eight inches to one foot should intervene between the plants. 3. Soap. — .5 hint in Iluusciriferi/. In summer and autumn your soap-grease is apt to accumulate beyond your immediate wants; if put away it is apt to be devoured by maggots, and if made into siaji, you may not have pine cr other appropriate vessels enough to hold it. Having suf- fered loss from being placed in such circumstances we were much gratified with a piece of intelligence accide!:tal!y received, v.hich relieved us from the disagreeable dilemma. By the boiling your soft soap with salt, about a quart of the latter to three gallons of the former, you can separate lye and wa- ter enough to make the soap hard. . After boiling half an hour, turn it out into a tub to cool. Cut the cake which swims on tiie top into pieces, and having scraped cff froth and other impurities, melt again, (without the l3'e and water underneath, of cour.se,) and pour into a box to cool. You may then cut it up .into bars of jiroper dimensions for drying. By adding a proportion of resin, well pul- verised, at the last boiling, you will have yellow soaji like that made for market. Families moving to the ' Far West' or elsewliere, would find it more advantageous to make thoir soap fit for carriage in this way, than to give it a- way,or sell it for next to nothing. 4. Starch frovifro~cn potatoes. By accident or careltfssness we once had a hv: potatoes left in the field so as to be injured by an unexpected frost. As we liad not our supply of starch for the season yet pre]iarrd, it was thought best to take these potataes, before they thawed, and obtain what starch we could from them. They did not yield so much as sound ones — perhap.-^ a half. .5. Cftuses of seeds not germinating. We have known, and heard of considerable loss •iiid disappointment from seeds, particularly onion seeds, not growing. We have thought and inquir- ed in reference to t!ie cause, and the result of our cogitations and inquiries ma)' be tlius stated. Without a certain degree of 'iioisturc i-eeds will not germinate. On dry sandy soils, and in a dry season, it seems liigiily probable, then, that seeds may he deprived of the requisite degree of moist- ure ; ])erha))s receiving just as much as will mould them and destroy tl-.eir vitality, or being so near the surface as to be injured by the sui.'s heat and light. But the seeds may have germinated, and have commenced to send out their roots and stem stalks and yet be destr-'>jfcd. If the soil is not pressed closely to the seeds, and very dry weather occurs just at this period of the process of germination, the root beiiig too distant from the soil, and too fee- ble to draw any supply of moisture, the liquid tbod of the plant coBtaiiied in the fermented seed may be dried up, and the life thus destroyed. If you would avoid disappointment and loss from seeds failing to grow, the preventive process is in- dicated bv a knowledge of the causes most fre- quently productive of this result, which we think are those stated above. If you sprout your seeds before putting them into the ground you will pre- serve them from the first cause of failure, but if you pulverise your soil thoroughly and press it in this state with hoe^ spade, or roller, upon the seeds thus sprouted, the root stem will soon and surely derive sutiicient moisture from the soil. In a few instances 1 have found my neighbors blaming the seed as useless, particularly of onionfi, carrots and parsnips, when I have obtained a little of the same seed, and found it to sprout quite well. Yon may easily save yourself from such reflections, or from the t'jiiiptation to blame others, by steeping the suspected Reed in warm or tepid water from six to twenly-four hours, according to the size and hardness of the seed, and then sitting it away in a warmish place for a day or two. If good it will sprout in this time; if ke])t warm ; in a darkish place, and it does not sprout in this lime, the seed is faulty. In connexion with this subject, I may state that several circumstances incline me to the belief that corn which has been sprouted — no matter in what steep — is safe from the lavages of the red or wire- worm. It has been -fashionable to steep in astrons; solution of copperas, and to ascribe the safety oi" the seed in this state, not to the change which fer- mentation has produced in the germ or chit which is usually first attacked, hut to the change in the taste from the copperas. We have known corn soaked in simjile water- — in water alone — to escape from the attacks of the worm as well as that soak- ed in a copperas steep. Until this matter is made more certain, however, I would hold it bad husband- ry to neglect the copperas, 'as in addition to the change produced by heat and moisture, we have al- so the disagreeable taste coinmunioftted by this Silt. (>. Stirring the earth a relief against drought. Is the title of a very excellent article published by the Hon. John Lowell, in the Massachusetts Ag- ricultural Re|iository, from which you will find an extract' in the text-book I first put into yonr hands . — Fessenden's Complete Farmer. In a very dry season, such as we had in 1838, he had some early potatoes in a very sandy soil which seemed so fee- ble that they were on the point of withering daily. All hopes cf a crop were abandoned; and therefore he thought them the subject of what he then sup- posed a desperate experiment. He ploughed them thoroughly, and in three days, without a drop of rain, they were observed to have changed color, and to have started up at'reshas if they had receiv- ed the benefit of; ample showers. A recollection of this experiment led us in the dry summer of '38, to compensate to our hoed crops for the want of showers, by keeping the earth well stirred and pul- verised'^around them ; and we are confident that our operations in this way were beneficial. This need no longer be considered a desperate experiment, for science enables us to explain iu what manner the benefit is produced, and might have indicated it as a proper course even before it had been tested by trial. In a time of drought take a piece of earth and ]>ulverise the siu'face of one half of it, allowing the other half to remain in its hardened and baked condition. For several mornings altervvards observe upon which of these pieces the dew seems to remain the longest, or to iia', e been imbibed the most. The piece which has been stirred will so evidently be seen to be the moistest that no doubt can be entertained of your haying gained .'iome moisture for the soil in this way. ISow it is universally or very generall}' ad- mitted that the dews abound in the food of plants, and this being so, by stirring the soil around plants you furnish this nutriment to the roots by making the soil light and porous which conveys moisture more readily than a hard, baked soil. The air also is supposed to contain the food of plants in a gase- ous or very readily-appropriated state. If this is so, and we have no reason to doubt, then it is easy to see that a light and porous soil is more permeable to tbe'air and to wliatever food it contains than a hardened 'dil can be. This consideration shows that stirring the earth maybe beneficial not only In season.^ of drought, but also at all times. And in confiriuation of this we recollect that it has been recorded of C'urwen, an English agriculturist, that bv continually stirring the soil around some field cabbages, he obtained them of the enormous weight of 50 lbs. Mr. Lowell suo;weBts anotlxer mode by which plants n-.ay be lienc-Stted in a dry season, by stirring the surface, and keeping the soil light and porous. It is well knoAvn that porous bodies are barf con* ductors of lieat. If you take a piece of woollen cloth or a little wool, and a piece of slate or metal, and place them upon a piece of lard or butter exposed to the rays of the sun, you will in a few minutes be convinced of the difference there is, as conductors of heat, between porous and compact bodies. Now it is reasonable to infer from our knowledge of thia law, that earth in a hard and compact state must convey heat much deeper than soil that is loose and porous. And it is stated in confirmation of this, that compact earth will become very hot, while a I light garden loam well stirred, will remain cool, at J two inches Qudsr the surface, at noon of a sunshine 100 THE FARMER'S xMONTHLY VISITOR. day. Stirring the earth, thi'reforc, not only ;iUo\vs more moisture and more fond to be imbibed Ironi the air iind dews of niglit, but it also enables it to resist tlie heat of the siui's rays. 7. Hon' to make at^rUnUt'ral pursuits pheasant us wcfi as jjf'.'ftubh. For ocps Ihc ciup!oyiiv-nt of the husbandman has been looked upon as dull, uninteresting work. It has been thought to be a dull, plodding occujia- tion of the hands and not of the head. And there lias been too niucli foundation for sucli an inipres- eion. The agriculturist of year?- not long- by-gone, did little with the head to diirnify or enliven the work of the hands. \ change for tlte better seems now liear at hand. Perhapsj in your day Tamiers may be t^'enerally more iniellectual, more intelli- gent, ami more able to bring- the truths of science to benefit then> in tlfeir manual labors, and to aive them interest and delight intlieir occupations. But whatever others do, I hope you at least will take such measures as will convince yourself, if not oth- ers, that agricultural employments are as interest- ing, intellectual, and pleasing pursuits as any with which they may be put in comparison. 1 know of no method by which you can more eflectually ren- der them so than bj' einplo3-ing your mind upon your work. Most assuredly the more your mind is em- ployed upon your work — in tracing cifccts to their, causes, in accounting for failure and disappointment in understanding the operations of natur?, in devis- ing improvements, &c.^-lhe nrore interest you will take in your employments and the pleasure and gratification you will derive from them. jMoreover this is not only the way to make your pursuits plea- sant, hut ilis the way to make them profitable also. Your mental operations must be wrong-sided and in- judicious indeed, if they do not lead you to the dis- cover)' of means whereby you can educe more pro- duce out of any certain amount of labor and expen- diture. The most intelligent farmers, j'ou may easily convince yourself, if industry is not v.-anl- ing, generally succeed in making their farms the most profitable. But what 1 wish especially to in- culcate upon you, at this time, is, that you will feel more interest, more pleasure, more conscious dig- nity in your pursuits, the more you occupy your mind on the subject. Agricultural schools, would aid in thus elevatino- agriculture. 8. The Horse: — its minui^tment. Of gross and direct cruelty to your animals, 1 have no fears of your being guilty ; but Inhere are other cruelties which may pass under the milder name of neglect, against which I would warn you earnestly, for that man stands lo".v in my estima- tion, who is careless <\l' the coi^ifort of his cattle and especially of his companion and serviiiit — the horse. I trust you will aiont the rule whirii 1 have endeavored to fallow, as your ma.xira: 1 will treat my horse as I think I would like to be treated! Were I in his place I Allow me to drop yo« a few hif.ts which may cojitnlnite to ytfur accoraplipIim"nt of this benevolent purpose. When you purchase a horse, endeavor to hnd out how aiid upon what he has been kept — how he has been fed and otherwise managed. This it is im- portant to ascertain, for you cannot make any sud- den changes in the mode of managenienl without discomfort to the animal, and the risk of injury. If a horse has been grained higher than you mean to, you must reduce the ijuantity of srain very gradually, and not, by any means,'all atonce.. ' A- gain, when you take your horses from grass in the autumn, they should not have a totallv drv diet all at once, but should be gradually acciistoniecl to it by giving them roots and r-iashcs with their hay. Begin likewise with a small quantity of oats, arid gradually increase the quantity until you arrive at their wonted or intended allowance. Feed your aiiimals, your horses'especially, as ren-- ularly as you feed yourself Have certain hours of feeding, and do not deviate from th*so. Your horse, as well as yourself, will not feel so comfort- able if feeding is postponed long after the usual hour. Make no sudden changes, as I have said, in the quantity and quality of your horse's food, but at the same time accommodate the food to the exer- cise and fatigue which the horse has to undergo. Even if there is a rather sudden change in this re- spect, your change as to the quantity *id quality of the food should be gradually acco'inplished. 1 am convinced, from errors anil injudicious man- agement in this respect, many diseases are entailed upon the horse- A%grain would prove more nutritive, if ground or chopped up. Some horses, however, clfew up their oats much better than others. A good sub- stitute for grinding the grain when that^'is incon ly chopped straw. If the straw is coarsely chop- ped, you may probably find, as 1 have done, that your horse can pick up all tlie oats and yet leave a ver}' considerable portion of the straw. Let your horse be driven rather slow at starting, especially if just newly fed or watered. Increase his speed by degrees; and if warm, when within a mile or two of his joufuey s end, slacken his pace and let him cool down scmewhat before being sta- bled. More auou. T. C. A. Clinton, Lcnaicec Co. Mich. June 5'^, l^iJt'. Flour and Wheat. The quantity of wheat and llour delivered at the Hadsou lliver from the Erie canal in the first two weeks in June, in the l:'st and present years, is as follows, viz : — Barrels. 1639 7G,0]8 ItidS G0;7tt9 clearly and elegantly, as well as of depicting, by his jiencil, what he saw in his rambles, set out to penetrate throucrU tire vast territories of the United ^5tates, undeterred by forests and swamiis, for the sole purpose of painting ami describing the native birds. — During seven years, in which he prosecu- ted this undertaking, he travelled more than ten thousand miles, " a solitary, e,>Lploring pilgrim," aa he describes himself. His labors were rewarded with no v.'orldly jichcs. for he liad the greatest dif- ficulty in procuring subscribers for his splendid work: and when a book-seller at last undertook to print and publish it, the- only remuneration which tlw author received, was apa^'ment forthc mechan- ical labor of coloring his own plates." Increase, I'he total amount in vach is as follows : — 1S3'J lba8 Increase, vcar to tl.M ;i'ind June, Barrels. i.'(il,Oby 1,225 Canal Tolls in Ohio. The Ohio Statesman of the loth inst. states that the toUscoliected on the Ohio canals fertile month of May, lS3',',araouut to, §30,469 o>i In M.ay, 1S3S, • 7ii,2od 03 Increase, $14,223 74 VlrllU' c 1- llie Fii:iin-i'^ .Mnnli.Iy Vj-i(r.r. The White Uose. When gently breathes the soft sotitii-west, And summer's clouds in pearly showers Are strown on earth's embroider'd vest. We greet the fair unfolding flowers. Far from the crowded scenes of strife For wealth and power, where men' grow vile. In happier haunts of rural life. They brightest bloom, and sweetest smile. • Pride of the race I thou pale white rose ! -iVs pure and calm in scented bower Thy alabaster leaves unclose, 1 hall thee as my fav'rite flower. Emblem of purity and truth I To mc thy gentio presence brings Sweet mem'ries of , unsullied youth, Twin'd with all fair and lovely things. And thoughts of purer climes than curs Wake, as thy quiet smile I see, Link'd w'lih these far unfading bowers, Where every flower is pure like thee. While day-born buds, sweet flower of Hope ! - In dreams with f'olded drapery lie; (Jncliill'd thy fearless blop.-?onis ope On midnight's dim a.nd shp.dowy eye. The glistening bells that drink the dew, With glowing lip, and gorgeous vest, And sister flowers nf blushing hue. In beauty's varied tints are drest. But thou — pale, pure, and passionless ! Thou, spotless vestal of the flowers ! No answering blush ruturnsthe kiss Of the bright sun, at morning hours. No gaudy lines thy charms deface^ No borrow'd tint of earthly dye — Pearls — pearls alone thy vesture grace, And on thy snowy bosom lie. And dreaming fancy's pencil power. So pure each charm around thee flim". Still points thee as that Eden flower. From whom all other roses sprung. The SwaUcw. — The swallov/ is one of my favar- ite birds, and a rival of the nightingale; for he cheers luy sense of seeing as much as the other dees my sense of hearing. Hois the glad prophet of the year — the harbinger of the best season ; he lives a life of enjoymentamongst the lovliest forms of nature ; winter is unknov.'n to him ; and he leaves the green meadows of England in aulumii, for tlio j myrtle and orange groves of Italy, and for the palms of Africa: — he has always objects of pursuit, and his success is secure. Even the beings selcet- efi for his pre}' are poetical, beautiful, and transient. The epheiiiera' are saved by his means f'roih a slow and lingering death in the evening, and killed in a moineiil, Vv'hen they have known nothing of life but pleasure. He is the constant destroyer of in- sects— the friend of man ; and with the sterk and the ibis, may be rcgariied as a sacred bird. His instinct, wliichglvcs lim his appointed scas:'n,aiid teaciies hiui when and where to move, may be re- garded as flowing from a Divine source, andhe be- longs to the oracles of nature, which speak the awful and intelligible Linguage of a present Deity. — English pullicatiun. Plainfield, N. II. od July. E. U. Ai.KXANDER Wilson.— "With an enthusiasm never excelled, this extraordinary man, who went to the United States a poor and unfriended Scotch weaver,first taught himself, at the age of forty years, to draw and color after nature — then applied h CuB.v. — The Island of Cuba happily enjoys tran- quillity' and securit\', ii'noi liberty, amid the insta- bility of thrones and the revolutions ol'government which have characterised the present century be- yond all other eras in the world's history. This is the more remakable as the mother country lias be- come the great slaughter-house of Europe, wh.ere blood flov.'s like water — discords, commotions, sedi- tions and massacres, desolate the land, and the work of death and ha^-oc has gone on for years, and continues to advance without any prospect of a termination. The whirlwind of revolution, that sweeps over all South America, has left this portion of Spain's dominions unscathed and untouched, though it requires no prcplietic eye to discern that this exemption from change cannot last niucli lon- ger. The position of the Island makes it the key to the Gulf of Mexico, and lipids forth facilities that may constitute it the centre of a rich and 1 boundless conimerce, while tlie extent of its sur- I face and the fertility of its soil, furnish the capa- bilities of becoming the seat, of a pov.crful and populous empire. AU that is wanting to realize these capabiliticf, nnd develope these resources, is emancipation from colonial bondage— the erection of Cuba to a free and independent state. — The way is rapidly preparing for this great nhango. The people o^ Cuba have only to icill their freedom, aad tlie island will be lost to Spain. The vigilance of military despotism has hitherto .availed to suii- press every attempt at revolution ; but tlie march of innovation must soon chov/ footsteps here as elsewhere. — Already tlic intrigues and Miachina- tions of the Carlist party have put the popular liiiiid in action. The subject of politics begins, for the first time, to engage the attention of tlie peo- ple. A little more thought, reflection and debate en this topic, and they v.'ill learn their right to choose their rulers, and be governed by laws td" their own making— and tiien, farewell to the do- minion of Spain. The colonial yoke will be thrown ofl^, and perhaps, another great republic will ere long be added to the magnificent dciiiocracy of North America. — J\'. 0. Bulletin. - - - -rt Jiim- self to the study of various branches of knowl- vpnient, 13 to mix with the grain a quantity of fine- 1 "'^g'' i and, having acquired the power of writing Wealth. — Wealth in this country may be Ir.iccd back to industry and frugality : the paths which lead to it are open to all ; and such is the joint op- eration of the law and the customs of society, that the wheel of fortune is in constant revolution, and the jioor in one generation furnishes the rich of the ne.\t. The rich man, who treats poverty with ar- rogance and contempi, tramples upon the ashes of his father or his grand-father ; the poor man who nourishes feelings of unkindness and bitterness a- gainst wealth, makes war with the prospects of his children, and the order of things in which he lives. — Edward Ertrctl. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY YiSlTOR. 101 Tim rli- l''.rinc>'s Miiilllily Visitor. Education of Fanners. — ?fo. 3. USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. A laJ in a district scliool, in writing, a few days since, on the uses and usefulness of difjV-rentbian- ches of I'.!io\vIedge, remarked, tiiat WAc usf: of a thing is in using it,^ This definition aided the ju- venile autiior n-reutly, and nii^Iit possibly aid some learned men and profound philosophers, in form- ing clear and correct ideas of the term ' vsekul KNOWLEDGE,' which is probably much oftener re- jieated than understood. It may be seriously ques- tioned, \A-hcther, with many, the attention devoted and the value attached, to subjects of learninij, are not nearly in proportion to tlieir uselessness. In a college course, for example embracing the jirepara- tory studies, and occup^'ing in the whole, iVorn six to eight or ten years, njucli the greatest portion of tlie time is devoted to the dead languages and tlie abstractions of mathematics, and iurnisliing to many of their pupils, a very meagre smatieriu'i even of these. Jlov/ far a knowledge of the -Lat- in and Greek Languages, or of the terms used by tlio Greeks and Romans -to express their ideas about their heathen gods, v/ars, bacchanalian feasts, and many other subjects as little connected witli I.I1C piu'suits or duties of American citizens, maj' properly be considered useful knowledge, is the question: and whether the three or five years, de- \oted to these languages in a college course, might not produce a greater amount of knowledge, more really useful, if employed upon some other sub- jects. The rights and dnties of republican citizens secured and implied by our constitution and laws, the reciprocal interests, and the relations existing between different classes of citizens, between the employer and employed, master and apprentice, farmer, njechauic and merchant, men and women, husband and wife, parent and child; also between ihe different memlDers, or states of our republic, embracing all the fundamental principles of polit- ical economy ; the physical sciences, embracing the fundamental laws of ch.emical and other branch- es of natural philosophy, animal and vegetable physi- olqgy,especially of the human system, also geology, niineralogv,and botan3',with a particular apjilication of the whole to agriculture and the mechanic arts; and above all the relations e.xistiiig between tlie creature and his Creator, and the duties arising from tli,?se relations, so clearly, fully, and beauti- fully developed in the volume of inspiration and from natviral religion ; a familiar, practical acquiiin- tance with these and other subjects arising from them and directly connected v.'ith republican insti- tutions, and tlic pursuits of republican citizens, it v.-ould seem more deserving the titU- of useful kno\^'ledge, than an acquaintance with nierely the terms used by those who lived two thousand years o.go, or with the abstract principles of mathemat- ics, with scarcely an idea_of their application to any pursuit of bu.iiness, to morals or religion. if these view.s of the subject are correct, and tiiey pr-ibably will not be questioned by many, I ask if farmers, especially the more enlightened portions of them, do not possess, at present, a great- er amount of useful knowledge, than the gradu- ates of our colleges.-' Docs not every enlighten ed farmer found in our legislatures have greater influence than the mere literary man ? — Is not his opinions more safe to Ije trusted .-* Coujd not every practical farmer give the mere botanist, hou'ever learned he iTiight be, much use- ful information about plants i' and still more a mere graduate of a college ^ A fact will perhaps answer that question. In the year 17iS5, the elder and the younger ^lichau-ic, distinguished botanists, visited "this country, under the direction of the French government, for the purpose of studying American vegetables, especially our forest trees. They were continued on their erranil eleven years, when they returned to Kranec and pobl.shed three large octa- vo volumes on ' American Forest Trees,' which is by the way the jnoa^ sensible work with- in my knowledge respecting the vegetable king- dom ; and respecting American trees, it is the on- ly avork of my acquaintance of much value. But that is valuable and interesting to every farmer, and every mechanic, and even to a general reader. But where did they obtain the materials for their work.' Was it from the graduates or professors or presidents of colleges.' Not a particle : and very little from any -American botanist. Much the great- est and the most valuable part of the materials for these very useful volumes, were obtained of this shipbuilder, that carpenter, and another cabinet maker, or some other mechanic, and a large por- tion frrin farmers. I will suppose a case on the same subject; a case too, of which many tliousands actually exi::t in our own country. Suppose that a scholar, in his five vcars thumbing his Latin and Greek dictiona- ries, learns that what we call oak, the Romans called quercus, and that the Greeks called the same thing drus. But if an oak and maple tree were shov."n to him, he could not tell one from the oth- er, or the name or properties of either. Show the same things to an unpretending farmer, and he could inform you that the one was white oal^ ; or lilack, grey, red or Spanisii oak ; also of its growth, strength, durability, &c., and of its various uses founded upon its properties. The case is of course, that the scholar has three terms, but not one idea ; the farmer has one or two terms, with various ideas connected with each. Here is a learned scholar and an ignorant farmer, but which is the man of knowledge? As the same illustration will ap- ply to hundreds of other subjects, as well as bota- ny, whose ideas are most extended ? The occasion does not permit of an extended view or a variety of illustrations cf the subject. I must therefore, leave it for the present, with the question, Whirh liare the greatest anaount of use- ful knowledge, farmers or professed scliolars .' if any should think the latter, I have only to add, that he differs from nje in opinion. JOSl.-\H HOLBROOK. iDutch Butter. Large quantities of butter are annually import- ed into England t>om Holland, and some from the same country has occasionally^ found its way into this. It is justly, celebrated for its superior quali- ty, and its power of resisting decomposition, or its not being liable to become rancid. In the Holland dairies, every thing is conducted with a system and neatness, from the feeding of the cows to the completion of the butter, worthy of all imitation and praise. That there is any thing in the climate or pastures of Holland that renders their dairy pro- ducts superior to those of the rest of Europe, ci to ours, is notJto be supposed ; the difference is clearly in the manipulation, and were our butter and cheese in general, made with as much skill and care as in Holland, we might successfully com- pete v.-ith the Dutch in the West Indieb and other markets, to which our butter will noiv barely pay the cost of tjansportation. According to the re- port of Mr. Mitchel, made to the Highland Socie- ty of Scotland, the process in the Dutch Dai- ries is substantially as follows : the milk when ta- ken from the cow, is poured into large earthen pitchers and placed in a vot of cold water, which quickly reduces the temperature. It is then placed on shcivcs until the cream separates, when it is taken off and placed in vessels for churning. In tlieae it is first allowed to become a litile soured, and then the cliurn is half filled with the cream. In the best dairies, churning is performed daily , the system being so arranged, that a supply is con- stantly in readiness. In winter, a little boiled warm water is addcal to the cream to give the proper temperature previous to churning; and in very warm weather, it is .sometimes submitted to the cold bath to reduce the heat. The butter, when taken from the churn, is put in a shallow vessel and carefully washed with pure cold water, and then worked with a slight sprinkling of fine salt, whe- ther intended for rolls or for barreling. The butter is considered best, when the cows have been at grass about three weeks; it is then delicious — is made into fanciful forms of animals, pyramids, &,c. and stuck over with fragrant flowers, and sells as high as sixty or seventy cents per pound. When intended for packing, the butter is worked up twice or thrice a day, with soft, line salt, for three days, in a shallow tub; Ihero being about two pounds of this salt used for fourteen pounds of butter. After this thorough preparatory working, tlie butter is then hard packed in thin layers into casks made perfectly sweet and clean. The wood preferred is oak, smoothed carefully inside. Three or four days before they are used, the casks are filled with sour whey, and this stands until they are emptied and cleansed for the packing of the butter. It is clear, from this description, that independent of the perfect neatness observed in every part of the process, the excellence of the Dii'.cli butter, and the ease with wjiich it is kept in its original sweetness when packed, is owing to the manner in which it is freed from the least particle of but- termilk, by the first washing, and the subsequent repeated workings, as well as to the perfect incor- poration of the salt by the same process. There are many of our American dailies that produce su- perior butter ; but as a whole that offered incur markets is a miserable article, destitute of that rich flavor belonging to good butter, and owing to the great amount of buttermilk Icf^t in it, utterly unfit it for keeping. We believe a reforin in these respects, v/ould add materially to the profit of those who should attempt it, as well as add greatly to the comfort of the great mass of purcliasers and con- sumers.— Gen. Farmer. From the f'iiilailf:li !iia Farlllel'^ Cabinet, Mowliig. They who Itave not been in their j'outh accus- tomed to do this work, are seldom found to be able to do it with ease or expedition. But when the art is once learnt, it will not be lost. As this is one of the most laborious parts of the husbandman's calling, and the more fatiguing, as it must be performed in liic hottest season of the year, every precaution ought to be used which tends to lighten the labor. To this it will conduce not a little, for the inov,'eB»to rise very early, and be at his work before the rising of the sun. He may easily perform half the usual day's work be- fore nine in the morning. His work will not only be made easier by the coolness of the morning air, but also by the dew on the grass, which is cut tho more easily for being wet. By this means he may lie still and rest himself during all the hottest of the day, while others who begun late are sweating themselves extensively, ^nd hnrting their health, probably, by taking down large draughts of cold drink to slake their raging thirst. The other half of his work rnay be })erformed offer three or four o'clock, and at night he will find liimselfmore free from fatigue. If the inower would husband his strength to ad- vantage, he should take car--' to have his scythe, and all the apparatus for mowing, in the best or- der. His scytlie ought to be adapted to the surface on which, he mows. If the surface be level and free from obstacles, the scythe may bo long and al- most straight, and he will perform his work with less labor., and greater expedieion. But if the sur- face be uneven, cradly, or chequered with stones, or stumps of trees, his scythe must be short and crooked. Otherwise he will bo obliged to leave much of the grass uncut, or use more labor, in cutting it. A lougand straight scjthe will onlyctit olV the tops of the grass in hollows. A mower should not have a snead that is too slender, for this will keep the scythe in a continual irenior, and do much to hinder its cutting. He must see that it keeps perfectly fast on the snead : for the least degree of looseness will oblige him to use the more violence at every stroke. Many wor- ry themselves nsedlcisly by not attending to this circumstance. Mowing with a company ought to be avoided by those who are not very strong, or who are little used to the business, or w'ho have not their tools in the best order. Young lads, who are ambitious to be thought good mowers, often find themselves much hart by mowing in company. Mowert; should not follow too closely after each olher, for this has been th" occasion of fatal wounds. And when the dangerous tool is carried froiu place to place, it should be bound up with a rope of grast:, or otiiervvise carefully secured. Choice of Iiive Stock. Before the improvements introduced by Bake- well, the Value of an animal was entirely judged by its bulk; and if a great size could be obtained, more regard was paid to the price the animal ulti- mately fetcliedi than to the cost of its food ; of late, since breeders began to calculate with more precision, small or moderate sized animals have been generally preferred, for the following rea- sons :— Small sized animals are more easily kept, tliey thrive on shorter herbage, they collect food Where a large animal could hartily e.xiLl, and' thence are more profitable. Their meat is fiiier grained, pro- duces richer gravy, has often a superior flavor, and commonly more nicely marbled, or veined with fat, especially when they have been fed for two years. Large animals are iiot so well calculated for general consumption as the moderate sized, par- ticularly in hot weather. Large animals poach pas- tures more than small ones ; they are not so active, require more rest, collect the;r food with more la- bor, and will only consume the nicer or more deli- cate plants. Small cows, of the true dairy breeds, give proportionably more milk than large ones. Small cattle may be fattened solely on grass of* even moderate quality ; whereas the large require the richest pastures, or to be stall-fed, the expenses of which exhaust the profits of the farmer. It is much easier to procure well-shaped and kindly feeding stock of a small size, than of a large one. Small "sized cattle may be kept by many p(>rson3 who cannot afford either to purchase or to maintain large ones, and by whom the loss, if any accident shojld happen to them, can be more easily borne. Tne small sized sell better ; for a butcher, from a conviction that in proportion to there respective dimensions, there is a greater superficies of valua- \m THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, ble parts in a small than in a large animal, will/^ive more money for Isvo oxen of one bundrcd and fifty pounds each per quarter, than for one of three hundred pounds. The form of a/iimols a few years a^o attracted the attention ofan eminent surgeon, Henry Clink, of London. The following is tlie substance of tlie doc- trines whiclihe lays down:— That tlie external forui is onjy an indication oi tlie internal structure ; that | the lungs of an animaf is the first objeet to be at- tended to, for on tljeir size and soundnCF-;3 tlie health and strength of an animal principally depend ; that tlie external indications of the size of the luui^s are the form and size of the chest, and itn breadth in particular; that tlie head should l)e small, as by this tlie birth is facilitated ; as it aft'ords otlier ad- vantages in feeding, &c., and as it generally indi- cates that the animal is of a good breed ; that the length of the neck should be in proportion to the size of the animal.^ tlijt it may collect its food with ease ; and that tht^ muscles and tendons should be large, by which an animal i^ enabled to travel with greater facility. It wa.s formerly the practice to estimate the value*f anTmals by the size of their bones. A large bone was considered, to be a great merit J and a fine-boned animal always implied great size. It is now known that this doctrine was carried too far. The strength of an animal does not depend on the bones, but on ihe muscles ; and when the bones are disproportionably large, it indi- cates, in Cline's opinion, an imperfection in the organs of nutrition. Bakf.well strongly insists on the advantage of small bones, and the celebra- ted John Hunter declared that small bones were generally attended with corpulence in all the vari- ous subjects he had an opportunity of examining. A small bone, however, being heavier and more fiubfetnntial, requires as much nourishment as a ijollow one with a larger circumference. — Ibid. A Laudable Esample. Among the professional gentlemen whoso ex- ample has been of great benefit to the public, and who have contributed to elevate the occupation of the farmer, we might name Judge H.ivks, of South Berwick, in Maine. This gentleman has a numer- ous family of sons whom he has been and is edu- cating expressly to qualify theuLfor various kinds of business. A member of our Legislature, a self made man, who read in his office, informs us that he left College two hundred dollars in debt ;■ that tlie Judge, although to liim almosl a stranger, gen- erously volunteered to advance him this money, and in addition, furnished him on credit his board and tuition for the three years study n.-cessary to qualify him for the practice of law; atid' Ihifi too while the education of his own children required a constant disbursement. We believe Mr. H. fills the office of Judge of Probate for York Counlj', which does not prevent an extensive and lucrative practice at the b;ir. With tiiese and other positions in benevolent and private institutions much of his time must be en- grossed. Nevertheless he has im]»rovcd for years, and carries on, one of tlie best farms in his vicini- ty. He could afford to lay out money in improve- ments ; and for .several years it is supposed he car- ried more to the ground than was returned to him. When sucii a man spends more in improvements than he gains, his operations are generally of ben- ffit to those whom he employs : his money per- forms the double olnee of creating new capital, and giving employment to those who might be idle without it. How much more satisfactory must be sucli a disposition of money than that of increas- ing it in a compound ratio by loaning it at twelve and a half or J.vvcnty-five per cent, to the ruin of the otber party to'the loan ? The Judge now derives both pleasure and profit from liisfarm. As described to us he has convert- ed much land deemed to be useless into the most fruitful fields. His mov.ing lands, which produce abundance of the best English hay, iiave been found in the snJiken waste, liaving undergone the operation of ditching and other expensive prep- fttions. His pasture grounds, it is said, iiave been brought to yield much feed in a small space by pursuing the course in relation to their cultivation that is pursued with arable and other cultivated f rounds — they have been cleared, ploughed, sub- ued and manured ; and we are informed the pro- prietor is of opinion that no lees gains are to be made from pasture land thus prepared tlian from land iiighly cultivated for anj' other purpose The improvement of numerous acres, the crea- tion as it were of an improved and improving farm where nothing but a pour farm constantly deterio- rating before existed, must have a salutary efTect ao far as it shall be observed — one such example will find a hundred imitators. A man of beneyo- lent heart gains much in feeling if he sometimes sliali lose something in purse ; but when he can realize that he is gaining in estate while his appe- tite and his good taste shall feast on the flourisiiing growth of liis fields and the fat from his pastures, his enjoyment must be far above ibat derived from those evanescent honors wiiieh fftjl with the posses- sion to him wlioso distinction results tVom being accidentally placed in some pronrinent position. The Moosehillock Is among the most noble and lofty eminences of ttie Granite State. The iiighest point is 4634 feet above the sea, a little above the limit of the growth of forest trc^es in tlie latitude of 44 degrees north, where it is situated. The top of tliis mountain is from seven to ten miles easterly from Connecticut river against Ihe town of Haver- Iiill extending on the easterly side about ten miles along that river, and against the town of Newbury in Vermont extending nearly an equal distance on the westerly side. Tbe fertility and the beauty of the intervales m these two towns is nowhere exceeded through the whole dis'ance of the valley of tiie Connecticut : those intervales had been cultivated in elegantfarms for many years. But within the last twelve years the agricultural population and products of Haverhill have doubled from the taking up and settling the higher lands further distant from the river : tbe white pine tim- ber lands, which have been clea-red and the lumber tloated down the river, have been found to be good for cultivation; and the hard-wood lands up the sides of the steepest hills are even more fertile than these. The mountain Moosehillock lies principally within tJ'e town of Coventry', whose several set- tlements are broken by its interference so as to oblige the passing out of town in going from one to another point of the town. Mucli of this town still rejnalns to be settled. The dark forests at the base and sides of this magnificent moiintain will undoubtedlv disappear before the woodman's axe, and before manv years be converted into fields for cultivation, or into extensive ranges of pasture grounds. Easterly of the Moosehillock for many miles is a range of mountains of much tlie same character; and between these mountains are val- leys of uudoubted fertility, many of which have been scarcely yet explored. The character of this mountain land cannot be mistaken when the fact is known that the delight- ful sugar-tree abounds as well on the elevated lands about their base as far up on the sides of the higher mountains. The climate is indeed much colder as you approach the summits. These sum- mits are often capped with clouds which are the creators and forerunners of the storms and cold weatlicr below, prevailing throughout New England in the north-westerly wind. The liumidity of these mountain lands is greater than that of the lower grounds: the depth of snow in winter on Moosehillock isgenerallv mucli more than that upon tlie river near it. Wa remember being at Haverhill in the autumn of 18.S3 after an easterly rain; the wind changed to the north- west, and from sun-rise in the morning until one o'clock in the afternoon a dense cloud rested upon Moosehillock while ail was fnir and clear below. This cloud retiring in the afternoon, left the mountain capped with a regular surface of snow, which probably did not, disappear from early in October until the •■^nsuing spring. We have said that the sugar maple was a preva- lent tree in this mountain region. In conversation with the gentleman who represents Coventry in the Legislature, we were surprised to learn the quantity of maple sugar annually manufactured by some families in his town. It is no reproach to call names when every thing connected with the mention of them is laudable and praiseworthy'. — Mr. William Wiiittiek, who lives at the north foot of Moosehillock in Coventry, is the father oi^ a family of fifteen children, if remembered aright nine sons and pix daughters. With tliis family he has made in a single season more than three thou- sand pounds of sugar from the maple: the amount of manufacture in his family the present year was between two and three thousand pounds. To show the capabilities of th(^ soil which he culti- vates, that cannot be called inferior in every desi- rable requisite to the most fertile regions of the far West, we need only mention triat this man, rearing and bringing up a noble family of fifteen, of whom are sons sulliclently- numerous for a file of soldiers capable of defending their countrv's rights, has in the course of a few years accuuiula- ted an estate with no other property to begin with than his own hands, wortli five or six thousand dollars, rendering him more truly independent thaji arc many men in the seaports and larger towns who arc nominnlly worth Un\ times as much as he possesses. But his most valued property is in the children U'hich be >.as reared, and who,although the oldest is only about 2G years old, have assisted the parents in the rapid accumulation of this pro- perty, tlius paying oft-hand for the sacrifices and labors ui' early protection and support. Auntiier fact in relation to tliis family deserves to-be mentioned, because it proves there is no re- gion on earth more conducive to health, to vigor of constitution and of consequent long life than the Granite hills of northern New England. The family of fifteen children, although some of them have not yet attained their full growth, will aver- age more than six feet each "from the crown of the head to the soal of the foot." Can the fertile West furnish the parallel to this family of sons and danghterij ? Another evidence of the excellent health en- joyed by old age in this mountain region, may bo found in the fact that i\Ir. Jesse Eastman, aged seventy-six years, living near Moosehillock, per- formed the whole operation of tapping the trees and manufacturing from the sap about nine hun- dred pounds of maple sugar the present year. Tieatmeut of Milch Cows. There is, perha|)s, no part of the husbandry of our country so much neglected as that which re- lates to the providing of provender for the milch cows on our farms. On many estates, even those of niaiinitude, the chief part of the food, if not the entire, which they get, are the blades, the tops and the husks of the corn, with an occasional gra- tuity of nubbins by way of a holiday feast. The consequence is, that if the winter be severe and protracted, there is nine chances out often, that every cov^-, lonc; before spring arrives, is either dry, or so near it, that the milk she will give is not worth the trouble and cost of stripping, so that manv farmers with half a dozen or more cows have neitlier milk nor butter sufficient for the domestic uses of their tables, during the latter part of each winter, and by the time tliat the cold and bleak winds of March arrive, many of the cows are on the lift. How is it possible tliaL it can be otherwise.^ There i'' little or no succulence in the food we have described in its dry state, and consequeittly cows fed upon it, must, for the want of mat.er convert- ible into milk, cease to yield it. In every other country save our own, it forms a part of the busi- ness of the farmer or planter, to provide full sup- plies of nutritious food for his stock of every kind, and for tliosc which comprise the dairy cows, espe- cial pains and care are taken to provide a sufficient quantity of such roots as are heartening and suc- culent, so that by thus providing a substitute for the grasses of the pasture, or the soiling stalls or 3'ards, his dairy, even through the dreary and in- clement period of the winter, may continue to con- tribute largelv to the comfort of his family, and to the increase of his fortune. No good farmer, then, will keep more cows than he can hfcp rccU, and in so keeping thejn, he finds his interest rewnrded, and hns besides the satisfaction of knowing, that in thus acting he has fulfilled an obligation impos- ed upon him by every humane consideration, and discharged a duty required by Him, who, in pla- cing the beasts of the field in subjection to man, ^njoined that he should extend towards tliem his kindest protection and care. We frequently hear gentlemen complaining of the difficulty of procur- ing such cows as will make profitable returns, and of thr impossibtlity of keeping them to their milk during winter. The reason is obvious. No cow, and we care not what her breed may be, whether she be of the improved Durham Short Horn, the Devon, thclldcrtici/, the common cow of the coun- try, or any other kind — we .'^ny no cow can he kept to the nnlk pail unless you give her something which will both nourl^'f her system and replenish her udder. To make a cow yield a liberal supply of milk tliroi"i;h tlie winter, she should have, in addition to full supplies of good, wholesome ha^' or fodder, at least half a bushel of roots of some kind, or an equivalent of cabbages or kale per day. And if the hay should be fed fong, each cow should have, at least two days in the week, messes of chop- ped rye and cut ytraw, to be either steamed or mix- ed up with boiling water, and permitted to remain until it be fermented before feeding. The ambi- tion of procuring fine breeds of animals of all kinds, is one worthy of every praise ; but that of iti Icing good rare of wliat we have, is equally if not more laudable. Besides these oonsidcrations, the interest of every farnn r is nlwa5''s promoted by feeding iris cows well. If fed in the niggard man- ner we have described, their keeping, such as it is^, is a dead loss to their owners ; they mako no THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 103 nianuro worth speaking about, and the animals tliemselves are coniparalivi-'ly valueless; anil if kept generously thri>iigh the winter, and sheltered from the weather, each cnw will give licr two gal- lons of milk per day, and m:ikn from four to seven pounds of butter per week, xvhicli latter should he set down as the profit, as tlie mi!k and cream con- sumed by the family will more than compensate for the feed. In addition to this, animals tlins fed make tliree times the quantity of manure, and are always in a condition to caniniand good prices. We have indulged in no speculative theories in what VfO have said, but have addressed ourselves to the common sense of the agricultural community, in the hope that they will see the propriety of adopt- ing some plan Ijy which our object can be obtained. — Il'cslcni .Idi'ocatc. Hints for July. From a belief of its utility, confirmed by several years' practice, we earnestly recommend a trial, to those who have notadoptcd the practice, of ruritttr their clover hay and siirh an abounds in clover, i.v GRASS COCKS, instead of spreading and curing it ir. the old way. It will sav^~ labor, save hay, and add mucli to the value of that -.vhich is housed. As soon as the grass has becomi> wilted in the swath, and the external moisture evaporated, and by all means before any of the leaves become dry and crumble, put the grass in grass cocks, as small at the base as possible, not to e.Kceed a yard in diam- eter, and taper them off, by adding fo'rkfulls, to the ape.x, which may be four or five feet from tlie ground. Leave them undisturbed at least 4^ hours and until you are pretty certiiin of sun or a drying wind ; then open the cocks, and if onee turned, the curing will be complete in three or four hours, scarcely a leaf will be wasted, and the hay will be bright, fragrant, and will keep well. Cat small grain before it becomes dead ripe, for the following reasons : 1. If omitted, bad weather may intervene and delay the harvest too long. 2. Dead ripe grain wastes much in liarvesting. 3 Ear- ly cut grain makes the best flour. 4. When any portion of the culm or straw is ripened, or become dry, there is no further supply of nourishment from the soil; and the grain then gets as mricli Xood from the cut as it could get tVom the standing straw. Hence, when the straw turns yellow under the ear, however green the rest part af it may be, the grain should be cut. And when the straw becomes bad- ly affected with rust or mildew, the sooner it is cut the better. Do not pjd tJte plough into i/our corn, if you have, as you may have for a trifle, a cultivator or hor-je- hoe. It severs the roots, wliich are the mouths of the plants, turns up and wastes the manure, which should always be ajjplied to this crop, and deprives the plants of more than half their pasture. Hill your corn but slightly. Hilling renders it more lia- ble to suffer from drouglit, and induces it to throw out a new set of roots, the old ones being in a man- ner useless, by being buriei, we hope to have occasion here- after to give some account. The reader will excuse ns, if, as young farmers, v/e feel, in a season of vicissitude and peril, hardly less solicitude and pride for our fields than the natural parent for its oft'spring. Improved Short horned Dnihain Bull. (Fig. 2G.) For the above pbito we are indebted to brother Cooke of the Cheshire Farmer : it is copied fnm the Genesee Farmer, and is a portrait of the Improved Short Horn Bull Sin Waltcu, owned by VV'iUiam M Knights Esq! of Rochester, N. Y. He was imported from England in 1836, and was from the herd of Mr. Chri'sh, a celebrated brcaderof Short Horns in that county. He is five years old, and weighed the present spring 2300 pounds. The fine points of this beautiful animal will be seen at once : from the nape of the neck to the point of the bri"ket he much resembles the Hubbard ox, which is said to be a mixture of the Durham and De- von breed- cattle of this peculiar shape furnish space for a great additional weight of beef After leaving the beautiful protuberance of the neck, the line of the back presents a construction of the utmost ele- gance. The body is extended in length, while the heavy haunches coming down low upon the hinder le'n-s present a rear of the animal well corresponding to the front. Of the (Treat excellence of the short-horned Durham cattle there can be no doubt : m:x-d with our common breeds, they present a race generally improved. In a late number of the Farmer's Visitor we noticed a short horned Durban cow recently imported ^ i\^„^ Fi-,rrlnnd. The United States Gazette ffives a further account of Uie milk of of as into Philadelphia from England. The United States Gazette gives a further account of Uie milk of that cow for one week commencing the 27th of Mav : it was.aj-! quarts, being within a frac.ion Ciuirts per dav, and from whicli were made 14 3-4 lbs. of butter of the finest quality. At tlie lowest at which mii+cis ever sold in the cities, tiiis cow yielded mose than the worth of a dollar each I the weather was cold, chilly and wet, and it was supposed that the price day uav. The account states that ..._ . ^ ,,- . -i quantity was less than usual from the same animal under more favorable circumstances. It will cost no more to keep a good milker than a bad one : generally the latter running more to meat eats more than the former.- There cannot be a doubt that the Philadelphi wiio cannot afford to keep well the animal that will yield such a noli return pasture, with some mown grass morning "we'are by no means friendly to the extravagant prices paid for cattle in some parts of the country ; burve think there is too much indifference by the farmers of New Engla.nd gener.ally, and especially cow was well kept ; and Tiie feed was said to be and evening, and a part of the lime chopped oats and corn coinmon. c u »• - i The value of a cow that from the same keeping will increase her quantity ol mdk one t'lu-d must be at leas' double that which gives the smaller quantity ; and one which will_ give double is ::.creased in value in a compound ratio. How great, then, is the inducement for every larmer to replace eac j cow which he nov/ possesses with one of the improved kind ' Too much Legislatioi!. Not many months ago we were listeners to an interesting and somewhat ardent discussion be- tween two Doctors of Divinity connected with a college not a thousand miles distant, on the question of the right and policy of the Government to leg- islate on morals. The one contended tint the law should be made to reach all cases of misconduct, or what is generally considered misconduct; that if a man drank or ate too much, or even if he fail- ed to confo:-in to n-ligious observances such as the public sentiment sanctioned, that he should by law lie restrained in the one case, and compelled to do in the other. The other took the ground that mor- al restraint, to an extent bevond the ]>oint where an overt act inflicts direct and general injury, ought not to be exercised by any government; that men and women with rational faculties, in relation to moat of the questions affecting the public morals, should generally be left to the exercise of their own ' sound sense and discretion ; that example and mor- al suasion had a much more potent effect in re- straining those evil propensities wliich sometimes have lecl whole communities to the extremity of crime than restraining penalties. We scarcely ne(^d inform our readers, that we united in senti- ment with the litter gentleman. Governments of all countries and in all times have attempted to do too much. In the early set- tlement of this country wc had not only the secu- lar civil governments, but self constituted ecclesias- tical authority, exercised a power of direction and restraint beyond moral suasion. This could not be objected to when right in itself and when sanc- tioned by the general sentiment. But a single a- buse of self-assumed' authority at once disgusted the people with all assumed authority ; and as in , the instance of laws made by a monarch not ame- nable to the people, so were those of the ecclesiasti- cal authority impcsed where the people had no voice in them. But we did not intend to write a dissertation on - law makers or law breakers. Our position is, that in all enlightened communities where the laws or . rules of society are few and plain, the public mor- als are best preserved and individual rights are best protected; and that in proportion as the public mor- als are attempted to be restrained by legislative enactments, so are the facilities increased for vitia- tino-and corrupting the body politic. The contrast betvieen the public morals in a. State where the severest enactments have been forced on the people in relation to temperance, and in those States where little or no restraint has beenattehip- ted, would at this early period of that qnestion, prove our position : further experience will only go to make this proof more striking. .'V correct public sentiment, the fashion of the times, hasjpne and is doing every thing for the cause of .temper- ance : the single personal example of one man of high standing will accomplish more for morals than all the penal enactments passed l)y the affirmative voice of all the public men of the country. We had chosen the caption of "Too much legis- lation" tVom a concern which had revolved in our minds ever since the opening of vegetilion of the present season. Why are worms and bugs so much more prevalent in cornfields and gardens, than they were in old times ? In some kinds of ground there is a moral certainty that the worms will work, lOG THE PARMER'S MONPTHLy VISITOR. taliing frequently half and sometijnes seven-eighths of the stalks of corn. Wc have been very much inclined to think the cause of the greater preva- lence of worms and mischievous insects to be the wanton destruction wliich man lias made in the feathered tribe that in its turn destroys myriads of tlie creatures, only one of which, unperceived until the act is consummated, may annihilate much of of the sustenance of man. In the two last numbers of the Visitor we had written ourselves and inserted communications from others relative to this matter of the destruc- tion of birds. We were confident that what oth- ers and ourselves were doing on this head would at once be responded by the public sentiment. As evidence that we were under no mistake, it may be mentioned that on our very first attendance upon the General Court to listen to its proceedings, a bill was reported as for -a third reading in the House of Represtntatives, authorizing towns of this State to pass a by-law imposing a fine not to exceed three dollars for eacii wanton act of sliooting one of these useful birds, one of such kind or kinds of birds as a majority of tlie citizens of any town might believe to be useful. The same bill on a subse- quent day passed the House of Representatives : its fate in the Senate, up to the time of writing tb.is article, we have not ascertained. Now althougli we feel highly grateful for the compliment paid to the editor and writers for the Farmer's Monthly Visitor by the( introduction of this bill, and although we approve tiie humane in- tentions of its authors towards the feathered tribe — if it should become a law, and that law should be adopted by any town, we fear the consequences for the poor birds which it is the intention of the bill to protect. We fear the wanton bovs, who seemed to have imbibed feelings of compassion for the birds from appeals made to their Iiumanity, will have their spirits moved by the law to buy more powder and shot and kill tlie poor birds where they can find tliem. iSine out of ten would con- eider a law imposing a fine for shooting birds to be an inva.'iion of tlie rigiits of free citizens ; and ma- ny a young m.an, who would otherwise be indiffer- ent about firing a gun, would find means to pro- cure one that he might put at defiance what he con- sidered an unnecessary interference with his voli- tion. There can be no doubt that the odious fifteen gallon law in Massaciiusetts has tempted and is tempting hundreds to find means for it evasion, who, if the law had not existed, would have unit- ed in that e.xcelleni public sentimentwhich througli- out New England has been working wonders for the cause of temperance. In regard to tlie wanton sliooting of birds and the hunting nests and destroying eggs, we are con- fident the public sentiment may be corrected wiier- everthe practice has been to shoot them indiscrim- inately and without mercy. We have not studied the subject so as to give each bird its classical de- signation; but for most of the birds in the fields and forests, when quite a boy, we Iiad names: all the common birds, we believe, are known by these names Ihrougliout New England. In the deep for- est torty years agfl| we discovered a kind of bird of beautiful plumage, and most delicate beak and limb, with whioli the gold robin or the native n::ale yel- low bird could hardly be compared : for this little bird seen only single and in pairs, altIion*Th we Wffre never able to find and identify its nest or its eggs, we have ascertained no name — its plumage was of various changeable hues upon a blue groundwork more richly glossed than elegant dam- ask. The birds of beautiful plumage are wilder and more distant than the common birds, some of wliicli are not remarkable either for song or plum- age. There is a bird peculiar to tlie high grounds and hard wood forests of New England, wliose mal- litluent notes near a calm summer evening excel these of any other bird ; wc call this bird the night- ingale, altliough there is no evidence of its being the true designation other than its elevated voice and its superior melody and song at sundown or early evening. The sonorous thrill notes of this little charmer revive the most pleasant and most innocent recollections of early youth, when after af*.iy at school or in the field, we were the little driver of the full-bagged cows from pasture — they charm the air all around, resounding over the vaj- 1 ley to_ the adjacent hills. The bird,°perched in the top of some tall oak, or maple, or ash, is generally invisible to the human eye, so that some are led to doubt its identity with a more silent forester seen in the shady glens in the sunshine of mid- day. Tlie spring bird and the ground bird, identi- cal in appearance if not in note, differ in tliis, that the one builds its nest on the ground, the other in tlie thicket : the wren, smaller than these, which can fight off and beat off birds of thrice its size, was considered to participate enougli in mischief to be robbed of its eggs in case tliey were wanted for sport on the old 'lection day ; but the liair-l)ird, of the same color and shape and smaller than the ground bird, was too delicate and innocent to be molested either in its bod}' or its nest, by the most cruel boys of that tlay. A few days since, while hoeing in our garden, one of these hair birds a- lighted on the newly stirred ground almost within reach of our arm. We stood still for a few mo- ments : in a little space of time, this little body caught and swallowed not less llian twenty insects which, although not to be readily seen by the nak- ed liuinau eye, were cutting down the tender plants as they came out of the ground, or perforating tlie leaves of other vegetables with numerous holes; at length the little bird in its search seized a large grub in its little beak and flew olF with it either to its young or its mate to share the prize. Contem- plating what this diminutive bird accomplished in so short a period, we were led to r.onjectuie how many fields might be saved by man}' birds of this and a larger size from the destructive worms and in- sects. The common barn-swallow, of which the chimney and bank-swallow and the martin bird are but another kind of the same species, does an im- mense labor of a summer by devouring many times the weight of its body in destructive insects : who knows but these and such as tliese contribute to purify the air by destroying that in the country which is miasma in the cities .' Tlie adage is prob- ably a thousand years old among children, brought down from one to anotlier generation, that if 3'ou kill the swallows, the cows will give bloody milk. Our larger play-fellows early taught us to take the black-bird's eggs which were e.ttremely beau- tiful from a delicate sky blue speckled in black, and those of the cat-bird which were of the color of tlic robin's eggs, but a \!ery little smaller in size — also those of the solitary cuckoo, whose nest was found in the darke^-t point of the low woods — also the nest of the king-bird, perched on high, was fair game to be stoned, while to procure the eggs unbroken was out of the question — likewise the blue ja}' and the woodpecker were candidates for annoyance. These birds, with some others, were the subjects for war and reprisal. The black-bird pulled up the corn, and the cat-bird was suspected of that and other sins : besides she had a rsv, when in her worst temper, resembling that of tlie feline species for whom she had been named. Before we were ten years old, having foimd a nest of one of these birds, we purposely left tlie eg^s for an opportunity to attack the old one while sitting up- on them. The nest was a little out of the road on the way to school : soon an opportunity discover- ed itself of the bird upon the nest: — armed with a crab-stick scarcely less potent than that with .which Colman makes his " Duke of Limbs" slay the lecherous fat friar for Sir Thomas Erpingham, we crept to the spot and there with a well directed blow laid poor cat-bird, (nest and all) bleeding and mangled at our feet. Changed, from the fero~cious squall to the song not less charming than the thrush or the mocking bird, as we have many a time list- ened to the melody of the cat-bird, conscience has risen in judgment for the cruel act, to which we had been prompted by the idea that this bird, which in the utmost extent of mischief probably docs ten times the good it does evil, of mangling "and mur- dering an animal which never thouolit, if it ever did harm to the human species. Tlie cuckoo was an object of aversion because she is said to destroy the eggs of the thrush and other birds, takinjT a nest ready made for her own use : just as the em- peror of France and the king of England used to rob Americans of ships and cargoes,~insisting that might gave them the right to appropriate the labors of others to their use. .\11 this may be true of mad- ame cuckoo, and pity 'tis it is true ; but it is to us at least questionalde whether this bird is not more likely to build its own than take the nest of anoth- er bird. The king-bird is also said to be cruel to other birds, and a robber; if ho were all this, his noble bearing towards the ravenous hawk, pounc- ing upon him while seeking his prey, and even forcing him to drop his victimfrom his beak, would atone lor many faults, and urge us to stay his de- struction. The woodpecker, who ha,5 left the im- pression of liis beak in many an orchard — lie mirrlit with impunity do it as he is wont upon the stand- ing dead trees of the forest — what excuse shall be made for him.' We have it at second hand in the fact that the mischief of this bird upon the orchard tree has probably saved its life by extracting hun- dreds and thousands of eggs and w.orii.s which ve- ry likely would have killed the tree whose mutila- tion is the standard of reproach to the bird which has been its salvation. There is a story of tlie dog Beth GeHert, wiio saved the life of au interesting child from being torn to pieces by a wolf. The fa- ther, seeing the bloody jaws of the dog who had slain the wolf, supposing he had been the death of the child, gave him his death blow, when the dog had just time left to le:id his enraged master to the , dead wolf with the smiling, loving infant near him, and, with a look and meaning tliat must have wrung tile human heart with anguish, dies. The wound- ed v/oodpecker, shot in tlie act of extricating poi- sonous insects from that forbidden tree which was the procuring cause of many human woes, if not a Beth Gellert, should awaken the heart tosympa- thy. We have written an essay almost, hetereogene- ous although it may be, where we first intended to write only a paragrapii. If in this cause — a bleed- ing cauae — we shall save the life of a single inno- cent bird, that bird may be the parent of other birds as countless as the stars of the firmament "which cannot be numbered ;"' and if our humble name shall never go down to future ages as the in- strument of so much good, while we live, we may wrap ourselves up in the conceit that we have, in espousing the cause of the feathered race, " done the State some service. " Lines on the tenth day of June. BV DOCT. O. W. IIOL-MES. 'Tis farin'June — the tenth of June — The month of leaves and roses — And pleasant sights should meet the eves, And pleasant smells the noses ; They say that time is on the wing, And Autumn on the gaining. But who would know it when it is Perpetually raining ! I got my summer pantaloons A month ago on Monday, And I have never had a chance To wear them on a Sunday. It's time for all the pleasant things, For walking, riding, training. But there is nothing in the world But raining, raining, raining! The weather cock has rusted east, The blue sky is forgotten, The earth's a saturateil sponge, And vegetation's rotten ; I hate to see tlie darkest side, I hate to be complaining, But hang me if my temper stands This "raining, raining, raining!" Sixth of July, 'Tis raining yet, 'tis raining yet — • The clouds hang on the hills: The Sunday pantaloons put on Are cold as winter rills ; The thunder storms come north about, Denoting wet, " more wet," If " time is ever on the wing," Why is no summer vet ? Eleventh of July. The water roUnd the corn and beans Still stands, as if in spite ; The rain still pouring from tho skies Spoils lady's dress of white : The lightning sharp last night, methought, Set air and earth on fire : To da}' it rains, rains, only rains — Wlicn shall we have it drier ? For 1 tie Faniifi'.^ ."Moiirlily Visitor. Fdiication of Farmers. — No. 3. r.tClI.ITIES FOR KNOWLKDCE. I have already hazarded the opinion, that farmers, even in their present neglected slate, possess a greater amount of useful knowledge than anv other class of the community. I also believe thiit their knowledge is very limited, compared with what it might be, if they understood and appreciated what they already possess, and improved their advanta- ges for acquiring more. For I am entirely settled in the opinion that their advantages for acquiring useful knowledge are superior to those of any otli^ er class, and much superior to those of the profess- ed scholar. For acquiring a knowledge of natural science, a farm is one of the best schools, is perhaps the best school which can be provided. Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Botany, Entomology, Geology, Mine- ralogy, Physiology, Geometry, and some'^other de- partments of matliematica, are all brought to view u))nii a furm, at.d not iu abstract theory'mercly, but 'm their prnctieal operatiorjs upon a large scale. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 107 Willie tlic farm ia a laboratorj' and a cabinet oflotruetion of builtlings, the fpncliiir and dividing of nature, where the luus and the products of seienc are constantly and beautifully developed, every op- erator must necessarily form some acquaintance with those laws and products, and an acquaintance too, more familiar and more thorough, because more practical, than can be acquired by the mere student of books. Tlie intercourse of farmers with other classes of society gives them an opportunity for an acquaint- ance with men and the reciprocal interests of men of different pursuits which the mere student can never form by reading, let it be ever so extensive or various. On tlicse reciprocal interests are foun- ded the principles of political economy, and the necessity of governments and laws to promote and protect those interests. Consequently a farm, and the business of farming, furnishing as they do, the very best school for a practical acquaintance with men and things, are well calculated to produce more enlightened and sounder statesmen, than can be produced by a confinement within the walls of a college or the shelves of a library, however long that confinement may be,or however studiously de- voted. The winter evenings of farmers are admirably fitted for enlarging by reading, and for arranging Tinder general laws, for bringing into the form of science, the results of their summer operations up- on their farms. For comparing their own views and experiments with those of other farmers, as given in various agricultural journals, one of which certainly ought to be taken by every man who con- ducts a farm. The benefit of farmers' winter evenings will be creatly increased by social meetings of some doz- en or twenty in the same neighborhood, once or twice a week. These farmers' 'Social Lyceums' have sometimes resulted, in the course of a winter, in a volume or two of notes, taken from the remarks and statements, made in the form of conversation on subjects previously selected for the occasion. By the aid of chemical " and philosophical apparatus, and specimens of minerals, soils, vegetables, in- sects, &c. which may be procured at slight expense especially when the 'Farmers' Lyceum' is a de- partment of a town or village society, a great I'a- rietv of e.xperimtnts and observations may be made which could not fail to benefit every individual who sliould engage in them, both as a farmer and an enlightened citizen. Besides the winter evenings and social Lyceums of farmers, they may without dilliculty, during the Kummer, even in their greatest pressure of busi- ness, find time to read a weekly or monthly jour- nal, like the 'Genesee Farmer' by Mr. Tucker, the 'Culfwator,' by Judge Buel, or the 'Farmers" Monthly Visitor,' by' Governor Hill. They may also try a great variety of experiments, without cost or inconvenience , which have sometimes, at their Social Lyceums, been distributed and as- signed to their respective inombers, for tlieir spe- cial attention, to bo reported upon the succeeding winter. The business of the farmer presents fewer temp- tations to dishonesty than any other profession. They are consequently, as there is reason to believe, more honest as a body, than any other class. They are also favorably situated for devotional feelings and exercises, and with them, for the study of the bible, that inexhaustible fountain of knowledge and wisdom. Farmers have peculiar facilities for acquiring ex- tensive and sound knov/ledge, and for becoming enlightened citizens and consistent Cliristians. TheTr inducements for becoming truly scientific and intelligent are certainly not inferior to their facilities for sucli acquisitions. There is perhaps no department of Natural Science, which the far- mer has not frequent, and almost daily occasion to apply in his business. Geology and mineralogy teach him the nature of his soil, with the proper materials and modes of improving it. Chemistry teaches the best mfldes and applications of manure, preparing soils, preserving his hay, roots and other vegetables, and preparing food for man and beast. Bolany teaches the laws of vegetation, the proper- tics of plants, both for cultivation and to be eradi- cated from his farm, changing and improving his seed, the rotation of crops, &c. Entomology ac- quaints the farmer with some of his most powerful enemies, with the cut worm, the wheat fly, the can- ker worm, the grass hopper, the rose bug, the moth, the weavil and many other insects, whicli he has frequent occasion to destroy, or to avoid their rav- aires. Natural Philosophy teaclies the proper oon- srructionand t!ie best application of the plough, the scythe, the hoe, tlie waggon, llie harness for the horse and ox, and of every agricultural implement which can be named. Geometry teaches the con- liis farm, the measuring of wood, timber and stone, the construction of drains, the diggingof wells and cisterns, and many more less but important opera- tions which he has occasion to perform. If I am not mistaken, no nun, or class of men, have so many facilities, or so many ind'-.::emcnts, for an extensive and familiar acquaintance with science and various departments of useful knowl- edge as farmers. JOSIAII HOLBROOK. For (he Farnicr'n Munlhly Visitor. Hon. L Hill — Dear sir: — The following, though not particularly appertaining to agricultural exper- iments, relates to an old Vermont farmer, who left his plough for the service of his country ; and after contributing his share in obtaining the object she contended for, returned to his former occupation, to enjoy in common with his countrymen, the bles- sings of that independence which had been partly secured by his sword. If you think the anecdote will aff'ord any amusement to your readers, you are welcome to it. After the close of the revolutionary war. Col. B. while on his way to New York to settle his army accounts, stopped for the night at an inn near King's Bridge. Soon after his arrival, a party of jolly blades came out from New York to spend the evening. The landlord informed them that he had no apartment for their accommodation, unless they could obtain the consent of the old gentleman (Col. B.) who had just spoken for his only spare room. They found no difficulty in treating v/itii the Col- onel, and obtained leave to share his quarters, with the hope of soon smoking him out, and obtaining sole possescion. But the old soldier's fl^nk was not so easily turned. He understood their game, and very readily joined them, in a mulual agree- ment, that if one of the party should propose auy tiling which, the others should refuse to perform or submit to, the recusant or recusants, should pay the landlord's whole bill, and the damage of the person proposing. After a good SiUpper, operations commenced. One proposed burning his coat, which was immedi- ately done by all without a murmur. Their hats, canes, boots, and waistcoats, in succession, followed suit, until Col. E's turn came. " Landlord," said he, " call a surgeon." The surgeon was called, and to the astonishment of the whole company, or- dered by Col. B. to draw out nil his tcclh. He had but one., whicli the surgeon drew out. This prop- osition brought the young gentlemen to their sen- ses. They paid the whole bill, and furnished the old gentleman with means to equip himself hand- somely, in reinrn for the o\d clothes he had burned. V. raised in full blood or to cross with ou r native breed. It is an old saying that "experience is the best school-master,'" and as I have had some experience during the year past, and have found these small improvements to be much for my interest, I have written the above with a view to encouragi- others to make the attempt. If you deem the f"acts here stated to be such as will interest the public and aid in improving a spirit of improvement in these bran- ches of husbandry, you may give them a place in the Montlily Visitor. Yours, &,c. WILLIAM CONN. ForlliR Farmer's Monthly Visitor. Duihara Cattle and Berkshire Pigs. Hillsborough, June 17, 1839. Hon. Isaac Hill — Dear sir: — I am desirous of adding my testimony to that of many others to en- courage the farmers of this State to improve their breed of stock. In the mouth of January 1837,. I obtained of Mr. Orsamus Willard, of Harvard Mass. a bull calf of the full blood Durham breed tiien eight Lionths old. Mr. Francis Grimes, a neighbor of mine, became joint owner with me, and last season we put nearly all our cows to this bull ; and a neater lot of calves I iiave never seen. Several gentlemen who have called and examined them, have pronounced them very much superior to the native breed. They are of a large size, well proportioned and neatly built, and every hair lays as sleek as a mouse. I am con- fident that the improvement in my stock of calves the present year will abundantly reply me for all m}- trouble and expense. This bull is now two years old^is from a three years old heif"er called Ladij Lily, imported by Mr. O. Willard, in 1837, from a celebrated cow, called Lady Blue, al^o imported by him at the same time; and has for sire, .\polln, a very celebrated bull who took the premium of £jO at a cattle show in Eng laud, in 1834. Of the above facts I have written evidence in my possesion sufficient to satisfy any reasonable man who will take Ihe trouble to call ond examine for himself. The bull is of a grisly color, square built, broad and deep, slim head and neck, and is considered by those who have examin- ed him to bo in every way such as will be likely to produce a valuable cross-breed. I also obtained of Mr. Willard the Berkshire breed of hogs, and have this year raised a litter of the full breed pigs. And from my acquaintance with them Ihu:; far, I am prepared to recommend this breed as superior to any other I have ever seen. They are very thrifty, easily kept, and will, 1 have no doubt, pro^'0 very profitable to the farmer to be Wurner, June .*>, 183D. Mr. Hill : — A friend at Montreal .sent me the "Morning Courier" of April ]'1, containing a com- nication on the "Wheat Fly." The reasonings of the writer, Mr. Marwood, I think arc fully sustained by facts and observations in this vicinity. I forward you the article : perhaps you may think it of sulH- cicnt interest to republish it. Yours, &c. L. BARTLETT. To the Editor of the Morning Courier. The Wheat Fly. Sin, — I have just seen, in your paper of the Ist instant, a letter from Mr. Papi.nf.ai; on the subject of the Wheat Fly; wherein he recommends the application of a solution of blue vitriol to the seed wheat, as certain in its efTects to protect the grain from the ravages of the wheat fly. Lower Canada has, for several j'ears past, been sadly afflicted by this fly, and the knowledge of any means to destroy its destructive effects is very im- portant. For my own part, I have no faith in the means recommended in Mr. Papineau's letter. The in- stance he-mentions of Mr. Cuillatd's succes!: was, I think, purely accidental, as such instances are no way uncommon, even in parts of the country where the fly has been most destructive. Tlie wheat Hy, there can be no doubt, is propa- gated by depositing its eggs on the young ear of wheat ; which egg in a few days produces the gnat; that, by feeding on the milk ofthe wheat, robs the farmer of his crop ; this gnat, afterwards, is chang- ed to a chrysalis, in whitlh state it remains until the next mid-suinmcr heat, when it einere-es into the fly state. If .this is true, it is evident that ihe remedy rec- ommended by Mr. Papineau could have noefTectiH preventing the appearance of the fly ; and that the soaking of the seed grain can ntfect the future plant, so as to make it distasteful to the fly, at so late a period as when the new grain is formed, is scarce- ly possible. Let any one observe the first ajjpearance of the worm on the grain of wheat; a mere orange speck, which, in a few days, arrives at its i\ill size ; it then crawls about the kernel, and lives upon the milk. In this state it is quite soft, and easily crushed ; but in a few d,iys more it becomes hard, and will roll between the fingers. It is then transformed to the chrysalis, in which state it falls on the ground, or remains in Ihe straw dormant, until the next summer's heat. The Gad fly continues its species by depositing its eggs on the knees and sides of the horse during summer, much to its annoyance. The horse, in licking itself, the lava adheres to the tongue, and is passed down to the stomach with the horse's food, which in a short time produce bots. These bots re- main attached to the stomach during the winter, and are afterwards passed from tlie horse, and lie inactive in the physical state for a certain time, when they suddenly assume the state of a fly ! Just so are the transformations of the wheat fly, and the myriads of butterflies that a summer's day issues into full sized existence. Instinct teaches the wheat fly to deposite its eggs where the warm will find food for existence, and thus propagate its species. Now, it is clear, that, whatever we may do to the seed wheat, the fly will make its appearance whenever the season is suffi- ciently hot, and such wheat as is so far advanced as to be fit to receive the deposite of its eggs is sure to be attacked, and the grain destroyed. Now by sowing the wheat early, as is done on old lands, particularly in the French settlements, that wheat is sure to he in the ear when the fly comes, and the farmer's labor is lost. From every information that I can obtain, I have found that in those parts of Lower Canada, where wheat has been the least injured, the farmers are in the habit of sowing their grain much later than in the French settlements, as in the eastern townships, the new land in the rear of Bcauharnois, and up the Ottawa. In my immediate neighborhood,! have not heard ••Tsingle exe<'ption, where the farmer's first B»wn 103 THE FARMERS' MONMULY VISITOR. wheat has not the most suftercd, and the last sown, the least. Two years ago, a farmer of the name of Bajitiste LaloiKle, liad a very good crop of wheat >vhen all hts immediate neifi-ldiors' cmps were cut off. He ifowed as earlv as lu.s neighbors, but fortunately for Iiim he was careless, and left his fences down, and Ills sheep and nalUe wore constantly in his wheat until lute in the spring'; by this means it was re- tarded and his crop saved. Another man naniffd Jacque Sincttedit la Kante, ploughed up an old meadow of about 1 3-4 acres of land, in tile fall of iS'Hi, intending to sov»- it in oats in tlie spring-. It was ronscquontly left until his regular wheat eroj) ^vas put in, as well as all his other grain, when finding that he had no seed oats left, lie sowed two niinots of spring wheat late in May, and they produced him the large yield of 41 :^-l mincts. ilis regular wheat crop did not give him three seeds for one. It will be observed that in this case the old sod had time to heat before tiie grain was sown. In the .spring of I r!37, I sowed some wheat on tlie 9Gth May, and it was not in the least injured by tile fly, nor sufi'ered irom the rust, but ripened per- fectly well. Last year I did not begin tu sow wheat until the 2rth Way, and sowed some on tlie 1st June : the wheat again escaped the fly, nor did it suffer I'rom the rust, so much dreaded by lato sowing. As part of the l.ind sown last spring had been in wheat the year before, there was to be seeri now and then tufts of wheat far advanced of the others, probably the product of the seed fallen from tlie previous crop, and invariabij^ every grain of tliat advanced wheat was destroyed by the fly, v/hich shows tliat tlie enemy had been there. I have never suffered much from rust, except when I have sown wheat immediately after ma- nure, and then I have invariably, so that 1 never nov.' do it The plan tliat I intend to follow this spring will he to sow early on all tlie land that was ploughed in the fail, so as to get a good root before the dry weatlier comes on, and in order that foul weeds raay not get the start of the wheat. Then when the land is dry, and before the wheat has sliot up the gram stem, to cut it down with sheep or light cattle, or mow it down with a scythe, so as to re- tard it, so that the fly shall Iiave lived its d.ay be- fore the wheat be shot into car. On lighter loamy soil that does not require the frost to pulverize it, I shall sow the grain late on spring [douffhing, and be governed by the fact whether I sow the 3 or 4 months wheat as to the precise time of sowing. I may be in error in the system 1 pursue, hut I lay it fr.inkly before the public ; but I think 1 am not, and ifitiiethe means of imlucing more intelli- gent agriculturists to show their views of defeating the attack of these destructive insects, a great public benefit will be obtained. I am, sir, your obedient servant, R. U. HARWOOD. Montreal, April 3. Bitrlinglon, Vt. 1st May, 1S30. Hon. Isaac Hii.l, — Sir; — I have received tlie first four numbers ofyour '^Visitor," and am much pleased with their contents, but siiould like tliern better if tliey contained more communications from the many intelligent, practical farmers in your State. In your hist number, I noticed three communi- cations on the culture of wheat; altljough they are all valuable, perhaps 1 may add little tolhem. As to smut, I believe if clean seed is sown, the follov;- ing ]>rcparatioii of it is an infallible remedy — also that it will soon eradicate all sinut from foul seed: Soak the seed twenty-four hours in a strong brine, strong as can be made, letting it cover the grain — drain it off and stir in fresh air slaked lime until it is dry, when it may l>e sown. It is still better to have the wheat spread on'ti floor when the lime is stirred in, and let it be until fully dry, as the lime will adhere better to the grain. VVhoat so prepared should not be passed through a smut mill, as the brine would then be sure to de- stroy a part, and if soaked too long, nearly all. Another advantage of soaking in brine, is tlrit it is so much heavier than water, that oats and all ligiit seeds will float on the surfrce, and may be taken off. I have known this practised twenty years on my father's farm, and by others,and never saw any smutly wheat fr.?in clean seed so prepared, even when adjoijiing fields would contain so much as to almost ruin the grain. I believe the liistory of the wheat worm or we- vil, has so far baflled all investigation. The reme- dy proposed by. your Canterbury corrcspondei.it was published in the "Cultivator" in 1S3I, since which, many similar ones have been published. While some of the practical men say it is a com- plete remedy, others say it is partially so, and some that it is entirely usele.'^s— all those opinions are the resi:U of actual experiments. Que thing I be- lieve Is fully established, that its ravages are con- tinued only about six weeks, and Unit very forward winter, or late sown summer wheat escapes. We here sow, as near as may be, the aSth of IVIay, and entirely escape the wevil and early frost=, v.dien if sown the 2.">th of April, it would be nearly or quite destroyed. I last year had v/inter wheat sown the 10th of Sept. — it was slightly attacked by the grain worni — sown late in Oct. near it, destroyed^yoth May near it, was not touched. I last year made some experiments with sv::!vip mucli, of the kind called by Mr. Hitchcock i:i his Geology of Massachusetts, compart peat. I appli- ed it to a sandy soil, and found it quite as good for corn as stable manure. New England abounds with it, and lis nature as a manure, is proljahlybut yet but little known. I shall this year use five hundred loads — shall make various experiments with it, and, if worth printing, will hereafter send you the result. I have an early variety of corn,^ wdiich is at the same, lime more productive than auy other in this quarter. I planted la',t year on turf land the 27th of jMav, and picked it for seed the 23d of August. It was all cut up in August, and fully ripe. I will send some to any gentleman of your place for dis- tribution, who may wish it. Wisiiing you abundant success in your new uii- derta'vng, I am, sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, CHAUNCY GOODRICH. *.My coin is the feenaiiie Ilnllon corn — T prociwpd tlii'set*! Iliree > far.-- since fram llieexlrenip norttierll p-urortliisSlau-, wlierP it lias hiien rnijeil llie la^l ttiirty years. 'J'lie lliill'ir is a Veniioiu vari«^ly of c-rri. Ttie sped was 'lislf iliiiu tl Uir jiiali t!ie l^l;!!-? ab>i;ir Ihiriy vPars since liv a iMr. llnll.Tn, a taiiner lit Cavenrli.ch. Mr. Hue! ot .\lliaiiv, l>riiriir'-d il finin Mr. DilUeii, aiuj so ha^ namf-d ir. Ry lic- iii;^ plantcil sii long, so lar soii'.li, it has Iternme a l.irire, and for ii.s, a late variety ; tlnin;li in the latitude ot .AHiaia-, or soiilli of il, iv early .Al: u!in liave trit-d il in tliis nn.irU", hive civen it up as ton l;itf for field culture. I last year pro cured some trniii Mr. liners seediinan of Alb iiy. r-nd plant- ed aside of iny V'eruioat Diitlon. It was three weeks later. []3^Any corn raised as far north as Burlington may be planted at all places south of this meridian with safety. We think for another season much of Mr. Goodrich's Dutton corn might be disposed of here. If it shall ripen v\'ell. Seed corn should be kept on the ear, and in this manner transferred from place to place. We have about three acres of the "Brov.'n corn" planted on the 5th of May, which has come up well, and is very flourishing t'or the season (May 31.) — Ed. yisitor. r'roni 111? Philad. Farmer.^' Cahiiiet. Apple Orchards. I. have observed that the generality of orchards decline in about twenty-five or thirty years. This is owing to many causes. First, the sowing of oats, which seldom fails to kill the trees ; it ought never to be done; again, in about the time specifi- ed, the tree has exhausted the land, which is too poor to support it. I would recommend the follow- ing plan — the benefit I have proved. Grub round the trees and take the mould and grass away ; then manure them ; lake off the old scurffy bark — a spade is a good implement fDr this. Then let your hands take a stick about two feet long (the end in each hand) and rub briskly up and down ; this will in a small degree, loosen the bark, and give room for the sap to flow freely. After this you mav put round Ih: trees, say the second year, corn cijjs ; those I'rom your hog pen are best. Cut olT the sprouts but no large limbs. A SuBscniEEU. up for himself, he will labor under no embarrass- ments arising from a lack of knowledge in his cal- ling. Every one ought to be deeply and thoroughly impressed with the vast Importance of understand- ing fully his duties, and dl.^charging his obligations with fidelity and piinctmility. The wearing apparel of a farmer should not only be prepared by his industrious wife and daughters (and (Very farmer should be so blest) but it ought to be the production of his own farm, instead ofgo- ;ng to cities and town.g to purcliaae imported broad cloths on credit, by vi'hieh, at the end of the year, his store bill will balance that of his firm. Too ma- ny fb.rmers and mechanics, deeming the emplo3'- ment in which they themselves have prospered too humble for their sons, have directed them to the firncied dignity of the learned or mercantile profes- sions. Extravagance, of course, kept pace with this erroneous })rlnciple — agriculture, the main busiues-s of our country and the source of its wealth, was neglected — to this was added, the successive fail- ure of crops — provisions doubled in price — the im- portation of forcisrn grain ccvimcnrr.d ; and when pay day came, as it always assuredly does, thou- sands, who thought they stood firm, were reduced to bankruptcy, either by their own indiscretion, or the failure of those for whoin they had vouched. Our forefathers with industry and economy suc- ceeded in obtaining a decent and comfortable living for themselves and families ; but our expenses, have on an avera.ge, within the last thirty years, been quadrupled. No necessity existed for this — nothing can justify it. To correct the evil, wt^ must wed the hands to labor, the head to knowl- edge— we must practise economy and industry. — Those who have forsaken rural labors, and been dis- appointed in their Utopian dreams of riches and happiness, shou-ld return to their legitimate call.ng — they will be kindly received, and amply remun- erated for all the labor they may bestow upon the soil, which never refuses to yield a rich return to the fostering hand of industry. We live too high — we dress too fine, and we have the fashion of cooking, eating, and dressing from at least four difterent European nations to follow. Let every farmer's daughter then bo fully instructed in all that jicrtains to intelligence, industry, domestic economy, in all things necrssary to render her a frugal industrious /tou,^<-'~U'ifc — a comfort to her husband and an ornament to society. Our nation is as one family, — whatever benefits one class or one district, indirectly benefits the whole ; so that u'hat injures one class of people, or one region of our country, indirectly inflicts an injury upon all. A reformation in the habits of thr- people is necessary to a system of iudustrv, frugality, and prosperity. N. P. From the IMiila.l. F.irniers' (Cahiiiet. Culture of Hemp and FI.i.v. 'We frequently see the culture of silk recommend- ed in the Cabinet. It would, in my judgment, be of greater interest to the farming community in general to pay more attention to the culture oi'icool, and also to that of krjnp and flax, ns the wearin.rr a,p- parcl made from these articles is far more servicea- ble, than that of silk. Let the farmer give his sons and daughters a good education; then let them labfir with their own hanrls, and thereby he- come familiar with that Industry and econnmy" that is essential to the successful and thrifty firmer. First, let the son take luld of the plough; learn the management of a farm; acquaint hliiTself with the different kinds of stock — in a word, let hiin be instructed in all that is essential to constitute him a good practical ajjruulturist ; then when he ' sot.i Hog's Troughs. Wooden hog's troughs, of almost any construc- tion, arc apt to crack and rot, and generally last but a little while. They are too, so light, that, unless very strongly secured, they are liable to get dis- placed by the rooting of the hogs. The cheapest trough, in the event, is a stone one. This will nev- er rot; it will never crsck and split ; it will never get turned over by the hogs. The cost of it in the outset, is considerable, but when made and fixed in its place, there is an end of all further trouble a- bout a hog's trough as long as you live, or your children and your children's children after you. It is an excellent inheritance for an honest man to j leave fur such of his descendants as love pork. Be- sides its durability, it will be found also that the food keeps sweeter in it, than in .wood, which ia perpetually lermenting and decomposing-. Get a granite block of the right dimensions for a trough — us large or as small as you wish — and tlic.-e hx? such blocks to be procured almost every where in this State, — and employ a stone cutter to dlgjt out. Let the work be done as sysleinatloallv and ai! handsomely as you jilease — only be careful, as of cour.se you will, to have the excavation made larger at the top than at the bottom— the sides shelving outwards. This will prevent cracking, should w'ater freeze solid in it in winter. He mav dig tli..nrough to hold one, two or three pails full, according to the contents you want, or according to the size of the block. You will find such a trough a valuable concern in the piggery. We have one made ten years ago, out of a rcjcot- ed window sill. It weighs about four hundred pounds. It is now where we put it when it was new, and as perfect as it was then. It cost fifteen shillings— that was rather less, perhaps, than it could be aff.)rded tor; but the purchase was our good i\ic\i- — it having been made by a stone mason out of curiosity in a leisure day or two, and no oth- er person appearing to dare to purchase so rare ah articlo. — Maim. Cultivator. THE FARMCR'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 1C9 03' For tiie following sketch we are indubled to a gsntlciiiaii who has travelled in the West and ta- ken minutes ui' occurrences in tliat country in its wilderness sr.ate. The gallant defence of Fort Stephenson is yet fresh ill our recollection; and we remember, as it' it were an event of yesterday, the eliivalry of the youthful warrior and his daring band. Our corresijondent, we understand, is in possession of extensive manuscripts and mcivioran- da either taken by liimself or by a father and uncle who travelled much and observed whatever was curiou? and worth recording. Now and then, we trust, he will make the Visitor an organ of com- nmnicatioii for such facts as may be connected Vv'ith the growth of the country and its rapid ac- cession of population and \vcaUli. Fer tile r.u liitM"s Muntl l\ Visitor. The Defeace of Fort Stephenson. Ui itl.TnU's alliia, Iist |Ti'Ud If gsnfls may lell, ']'« tlifi jiory heiiilKs ul tjnn iusky wern led ; liy slripijiin's uriiis lulled, were ai^iiueied ui.d fell, .And uioriung .thisc on a ruld of llieir dtud. Few achievements during the late war witli Great- Britain acquired for'the actors a higher reputation for chivalrous daring, llian the defence of Fort Steplienson at Lower Sandusky in t!ie summer of U'13. The North Western Army under the orders of Gen. Harrison was then entrenched in a strong camp about ten miles south of this post, awaiting suoplies and reinforcements, then on tlieir way. The situation of the enemy at Detroit (after the surrender of Gen. Hull) and Maiden, enabled him to make descents upon any part of the Oiiio sliore, at liis pleasure. Fort Stepiienson, a slight stock- ad: upon the v.-cstern bank of the Sandusky, about twenty miles from its mouth, was at this time, gar- risoned by one hundred and fifty young volunteers | from Kentucky (133 lit for duty) commanded by Major Croghan, a stripling scarcely ,iil -years of age . The settlement about tiie fort consisted of a few log cabins upon the western liank of the river, whose inhabitants had abandoned their all, and sought protection in the American camp, or in the more southern settlements. Major Croghan, at this time aid-de-camp to Gen. Harrison, had re- ceived orders to destroy the military stores and abondon the fort ; but the chivalry of his Kentucky spirit prompteu him to defend his post. Finding that his troops were willing to sustain him to tlie last, and excted with a desire to revenge tlie in- human and cold blooded murder of h:s country- men, perpetrated under British countenance, at the river llaisin the previous winter, he determined to uisobev orders and await the enemy. He sent an answer to his General somewhat in these words — " We think we can defend our position, and are re- Bolvcd to make the attempt." The enemy was aware of the apparently defence- less condition of tliis post and decided to reduce it. On the second of August, (ldl3) Major Croghan received information Irom his scouts, that a force of GilO regulars and lOGO Indian warriors were coming up the river, to attack his position; and everv preparation to receive them, which tne time would permit, was instantly made. Tlie fort was situated upcnan eminence, sloping from a bend of the river on the north, and for some di.stance running parallel with it, in a southern di- rection. It was^ surrounded by a deep ditch, and a j.alisade whicii was proof against musketiy. The British landed in the afternoon about one hundred rods north of the fort, and advanced along the brow of the hill, flanked on either liand by the Bivao-es, prepared to react the scenes of the river Rais°n, An ofiicer who came forward with a flag of truce to summon t!io garrison, was informed by an ensign who met hir.i, a few rods in advjuce of the fort, of their determination "to bury them- selves in its ruins, rather than surrender ; and that tliu enemy miglit do their worst." The olhcer re- marked that General I'rocLor had with him a strong force of regulars, and a large body nf Indians, wliom he could not control; and that if tlie fort was taken by assault, the tomahawk and scalping knife would 'be the mildest weapons the garrison need expect. The young en.sign (Shipp) turned from him witli indignation, and was directing his course towards the fort,, when an Indian sprang forward, and endeavored to wrest his sword from his hand ; but the daring Kentuckian buried the blade to the hilt in liis body, and regained the stock- ade in safet}'. A furious cannonade then commenced against the north western angle ol the breastwork ; which was immediately strengthened by piling against it, bacfs of flour, and other materials, so that the shot had little effect. At the opposite angle, which com- manded the wh.de extent of the ditch upon the north, a si.v pounder, the only piece of ariiUery in the garrison, was carefully concealed. . When the British commander supposed a suflicient breach had been made, he ordered the assault ; and Col. Short entered the ditch at the head of a close col- umn of infantry ; and gave the order, " forward and give the d d Yankees no quarter." Tlie words were scarcely ultered,when the six pounder, char- ged to the muzzle, with slugs and musket balls opened witli deadly precision upon his crovyded ranks. The assailants were thrown into irretriev- able confusion by this sudden discharge. Two more from the same piece, with a constant and well directed fire of musketry, cleared the ditch and completed the rout of the enemy. Col. Sh<-rt fell just as he had given his inhuman order for "no quarter," and of those who entered the d.tch, scarcely one escap."d unhurt. The Indians raised a horrid yell at the first report of the cannon, and fled to the woods. The regulars who survived, re- turned to their boats, and at daylight, abandoned their heavy baggage and retreated down the San- dusky. Major Mu'r, who had figured at the surrender of Detroit, fell slighty wounded, under a heap of his dead and dying countrymen ; and lay in the ditch, until nearly daylight, when he quietly effected his escape, and joined his comrades. " The cries and groans of the enemy's wounded and dying men," says one who served upon the occasion, " rendered this the most hnrribh' iiiglit 1 ever passed. Tliose in the ditch were continually calling for our assistance, which, while there was a probability of another attack, we were unable to render them. Their cry was for ' water' or, that with our bayonets, we would put tliem out of mis- ery. Several buckets of water were passed to them over the pickets ; and after it was ascertained that the enemy had retired, they were relieved." More than 300 privates, many Indians, with a duo pro- portion of oiiiccrs, were killed and wounded upon this occasion. - This aft'air took place at the most gloomy period of the war, and had a good eflcct upon the suc- ceeding campaign. The same season witnessed the repulse of ths enemy at Fort Meigs — the cap- ture of their squadron upon Lake Eric — and the total defeat of the British and their «///ci at the Thames. Tl e victors 01' Kie rsatcd llic cross e.f Si. (.'»orfC, ].,:I(L' a mtlHor of death, on .Miisiiii's wild slmre ; But tile ije.Trt of liie valiant did piliirie wn!ve..< gelo*^) Who II their 5;a liegirt island sliall wtlconie no niorf. The defeat of Proctor at Lower Sandusky was a joyous event to the inhabitants of Ohio and Indi- ana. He was theinstigator of the barbarities com- mitted by the savages upon the North Western frontier, and with his oflicers encouraged the mur- derous scenes which attended Winchester's defeat at the Raisin — scenes ivhiel! ought never to he/or- giiltdi by Americans, "'the Indians," observed one of the miscreants, when he saw them driving their hatchets in the brains of the wounded sol- diers, " arc capital doctors." The ruins of the little fort with earthen mounds and palisades, though bearing the marks of four- teen years^ decay, is still (IH'27) to bo seen. A spot .near it, upon the brow of the hill, was appropriated by the garrison for the burial place of their fallen enemies, and is still used as a cemetery by the in- habitants of Croghansrillc ; a pleasant village whicli has grown up in place of the few rude cabins, which acc.Tinnioda.Ced the hunter.s who first settled upon the Sandusky. This exploit sounded the fame of its hero far and wide through the country. All ranks of men, and ladies too, appeared to vie vi\i\\ each other, in ren- dering homage to Kentucky valor. Congress vo- ted a°bievet''and a sword to Major Croghan and thanks to his gallant comrades, who were welcomed wherever they came, with tiio applause of the brave and the smiles of the fair. V. Fur tiie Fanner's .Miulhly Visiter. Clurcmont, May ■'>, 1 839. Ctilturc of Kuta 3aga. Ho:,-. Isaac Him,: Dear fiir : Believing R-uta Baca to be of gre.nt value to the stock fanners, and as °the season for sowing it is at hand, I send you an extract from my Farm journal relative to my mode of culture the first year, though, as it was my first experiment 1 am far from thinking it to be the best mode. However, as I was pretty accurate in detail, its publication may be of use to my brother farmers, by inducing some one better acquainted with its culture than myself, point out the errors in my process. In the fall of 1836 I broke up three acres of n-reen sward; the soil a stilT loam ; upon which I carted one hundred and fifty single loads of coarse manure, and in 1637 planted with potatoes, there being nothing ]>eculiar in the man-jgement, or ex- traordinary in the croji. In the spring of 183H, I carted on sixty loads of v,'ell rotted manure, which I ploughed in, so soon as the ground was sufficiently ilry, and en the 27tli of May I again ploughed, harrowed, and after rol- ling smooth, marked it into squares of eighteen in- ches, and planted by dropping two or three seeds in each intersection, which was done by taking the seed from a box, say a commcii tin dropping bo-V with a single hole in the top. I sowed from the 1st to the 4th of June ; on the 'S.',A began to weed, thinning out where the plants were too crowded, and setting out where deficient, wiiieh I continued to do occasionally when other woik did not press, till the S8th of July. On the :2(jth of October 1 began to pull and cut, fin'shiiig oii the fith of No- vember ; and I found the plants last pulled as un- injured as the first, although they had been cxpo.sed to several severe frosts. They were pulled by hand, the workman slrikiiig tv/o plants together to shake off the dirt, and then tjirowing them down, where they l:iy spread for tluee hours t'j dry the loose dirt that still adhered to them ; the tops were then twiatcd off, and the plants thrown into heaps for carting, so thnt each root \\'as handled three sC'Veral times. They might have been got into the cart with less labor, but my object was to get them into the cellar in a tolerably clean state. Having heard much of the difliculty of keeping tliem in cellars, from their tendency to rot, I stored in one cellar fifteen hundred bushels without injury to a single root, and 1 have now, (May 5,) more than one hundred bushels as full and as fair as when first placed there. Thecelhir was thirty feet Sfjuare, on the bottom of which, eight inch timbers were phi- ccd, and cover''d with plank two inches apart. The whole was divided into two bins with one fjot space between the bins, and one foot bctvixen the bins and collar wall; the sides of the bins being made with narrow boards, with a space of four in- ches between eacJi board. I fed out my twelve hundred bu.sfiols to my sheep, six hundred to my horned cattle, and the remainder to my horses. They all ate with avidity, preferring them to potatoes. For my horses and cattle they were merel;,' cut with a spad^' ; liir the sheep 'hey were passed through a vegetaiile cutter. They were carted in two carts, eac.h containing thirty baskets holding more than a bushel, and weighing seventy-four pounds. The number of baskets was twenty-one hundred, and the whole weight scvcnty- scvcn tons. Number of root--, about 36,000 — as put in the extract from my Journal alluded to above. I am sir, very respectfully. Your obedient servant, LEONARD JARVIS. RUTA BAGA. Dr. To interest on three acres, at $100 per acre,- $18 Twice ploughing three acres, (> Harrowing and rolling, 4 Seed, 2 To 130 days works on ahovc, viz. G days sowing, 65 weeding, hoeing and set- ting, and 36 drying and cutting, 130 days, or five months at $13 per month, 65 To 22 weeks board at 9s. per week, 33 §128 Cr. By 2)00 bushels at 10 cts. $210 Profit estimating at 10 cts. $82 $210 RfiMAr.KS. Compared with the price of other crops, this Ruta Baga was richly worth twenty cents the bushel : say it was worth only fifteen cents, the net profits on these Ihree acres of ground ^\'ere 07tc lntildr>'d find cighly-srvcn dollars. y/e are highly pleased to exhibit thi.^ evidence from one of the first, and wo bel'cve tlie most ex- tensive practical farmer in tlie State of New Ilaiiip- shire, in favor of the root culture. He shows by this experiment what much manure will do lor the ground for a succession of years : it gives double payment in a single year for the labor bestowed ; and this double payment will extend itself into a series of from four to ten j'ears, according to the capacity for retention of the soil to which it is ap- plied. We deeply regret that the coinmunicution, al- though sent by mail to our publisher, was never seen by us until the date (July 6) of writing these remarks; and that we were obliged to apply to the respected gentleman for a second copy. I have seen a farmer build a hou.se so large an clean, unless they are very hungry. It is l)est, therefore, to fodder them twice at night, and twice in the morning. Let neat cat- tle as well as horses have both light and fresh air let in upon their fodder when the weather is not too cold and stormy to allow the windows to he open. What one sort of cattle leaves should he given to another sort. Those that chew the cud will eat the leavings of those wlio do n-at, and vice vcrsa.'^ Summer feeding of cows. Hon. Ei.EAZER J.iCKSos, of Cornish, N. H. in- forms us that a neighbor of his three years ago, ac- cidentally bringing home a small quantity of the Southern or Virginia corn which is extensively used near the sea board for horse feed, planted it about the usual time of planting the common corn. it is well known that tin* season in New England is not of sufficient lengtli to ripen Soathern "^orn ; it grows very high and stout. The man however, having a stinted pasture which almost became bare in July and August, fed two or more cows morn- ing and evening upon the green corn, stalks, and ke])t up their milk. Judge Jackson keeps ordina- rily fifteen to twenty co\^'s. For the two last years he has planted two and three quarts of the Virgin- ia corn, on about one fourth of an acre of well pre- pared land ; and this has furnished him abundant product for feeding his herd of cows each morn- ing, say from the middle of July till the season of frost. Cut up a little distance from the ground, new suckers spring jn repeated succession from the original stalk. When, in the latter part of tlie sea- son, the stalk becomes too tough ti3r the cattle to eat all, the hogs will make good use of the remain- der thrown to them. As this corn will not ripen in New England, it will become necessary to pro- cure seed annually irom the south, ^vhich may easily be done in the most of oilr seaports. From the description of Judge J. we think the phmting of Southern corn to be a better method for feeding milch cows in summer, than the sowing of Lucerne or French clover, which is practised by some. To those farmers who have arid and dry pastures, this must be an easy mode oi" keeping up their quantity of milk ; and if some of the many in one at least of our villages, who turn their cows upon the street in violation of law to depredate up- on their neighbors' yards and fields, especially when after one week's dry weather the road becomes as barren as a naked barn floor, should plant a plat of Southern corn and take the daily trouble to feed their cows, the present sufferers might well af- ford to be taxed tu pay them for their time. So decisive is the benefit to be derived from feed- ing cows in this manner, as realized from the actu- al experiment of our informant, that we trust ma- ny farmers will n(.\tyear follow so good an exam- ple. FriMii til- r>il.i:!ilpliia Far.nei's Cabinet. The Roller. This implemoMt w hieli has come into general use, only within the last few years, is of so deservedly an useful character, that it nowranks in importance with the plough and li inow— and no farmer can consider his stock of agricultural implements com- plete, without the possession of one of these. TIrey are principally constructed on two plans, the one consists of a single cylindrical piece of timber set in a frame, in which it revolves, by gudgeons; the other, of two such timbers, eachof which is half the length of the single one. The latter is prefera- ble in the turning of the angles of fields and lands. The objects to which it can be advantageously ap- plied are various : — -Grounds which remain cloddy after being ploughed and harrowed, can be reduced by the roller to a state of pulverization, which with the harrow only, could scarcely be accomplished. Crops, succeeding Indian corn, may be taken off \vith much more facility, particularly if they be heavy and lodged, by having the corn stubble and other protuberances levelled down with the roller. It is of considerable utility in mowing grounds, by pressing small stones in the ground, which would otherwise impede the scythe in the mowing, and by levelling -weeds to Ihe ground, which great- ly facilitates their decomposition. Grain, which has been frozen out during the winter, may be con- siderably benefitted by passing the roller over it and bringing the fibres of the roofs in contact with the earth again. There is another object to which 1 would invite the attention of farmers — in the use of the roller — that is, in the preparing of their grounds for corn. The roller may be used to great advantage on any sod after being ploughed, by making the ground more compact, which will facilitate the decomposi- tion of the sod and render it more impervious to drought. In corn ground in addition to the above, it prevents the furrows from being moved by the cultivator in the dressing of the corn and renders the ground in much finer tilth than it would other- wise be with the same labor, without the roller. A. Chester County, March IGth, 1S3S. Use of liiine. Lockhart, in his life of Sir Walter Scott, relates the following anecdote : 'There see' — he continued, 'that farm there at the foot of the hill, is occupied by- a respectable enoKgh tenant of mine; I told him I had a great desire for him to try the cflect of liine on his laud. He said he doubted its success, and could not ven- ture to risque so much money as it would cost. Well, said 1, fair enough; but as I wish to have the experiment tried, you shall have the lime for the mere carting ; 3'ou may send to 'he place where it is to be l-'ought, and at the term day you shall strike oft' the whole value of the lime from the rent due to me. When the pay day came, my friend the farmer came with his whole rent, which he laid down on the table before me, without deduction. "How's this, my man; you are to deduct for the lime, you know." "Why, Sir Walter," he repli- ed, "my conscience will not let me imjjose upon you so far — the lime you recommended me to try, and which but for your suggestion I would never have tried, has produced more than would have purchased the lime half a dozen times over, and I cannot think of making a deduction." Fi-oai tlie Fainiei's Cabinet. To destroy the Cut M'orm. Siu — 1 am not a farmer; but as I take a lively- interest in the prosperity of agriculture, the first and most important of the arts, it is my delight to converse with farmers, especially if they are intel- ligent. I had a conversation with a gentleman a few days since, Mr. A. C. R., of Arneylown, N, J. in which ho stated, that about a year since, he met with a small article in the Cabinet, upon the utility of giving the cut worm something green to eat. He determineu to try it, and accordingly gathered the skunk weed or cabbage, that being the earliest and most easily obtained. He dropped the leaves from six to seven feet apart between the rows ; and found it to succeed to admiration ; as on an examination a few days afterward, he found the corn untouched, but under each leaf or weed he !iad dropped he found from twenty-three to forty- seven worms. The ground under the leaves and the leaves tliemselyes were completely perforated. The worms being thus collectec, were easily des- troyed. Mr. R. thinks it an excellent remedy. May 24th, 1S39. J. D. To preveut Horses being teased by Flies. Take two or three small handfuls of walnut leaves, upon which, pour two or three rjuarts of cold water; let it infuse one night, and pour the whole next morning into a kettle, and let it boil for a quarter of an hour; — when cold it will be fit for use. No more is required than to moisten a sponge, and before the horse goes out of the stable, let those parts which are most irritable be smeared over w-ith the liquor, viz. between and upon the ears, the neck, the flank, &e. Not only the lady or gentleman who rides out for pleasure, will de- rive benefit from the walnut leaves thus prepared, but the coachman, the wagoner, and all others who use horses during the hot months. — Farmer's Jie- eeipt Book. properly ground and bolted. The editor of the Boston Mercantile Journal says he lately purchas' ed a barrel of Maine flour senl on sale to that city* by F. A. IJutman, Esq. of Dixmont, wdio raised the wheat on his own farm and manufactured it into flour in his own mill, and he declares th-^t the bread made from it equals in delicacy of color that made from the beet quality of Maryland or Pennsylvania flour. It is true, that as good flour my be, and is, produced in this state, as that procured fVom the southern and western sections of the country. In- deed wheat is better, in point of quality, as also are corn and potatoes, which are raised in north- ern latitudes. 7'here is, we believe, niore subsis- tence in a bushel of Maine wheat, than in the same qiiantity of wheat raised in Virginia or Maryland. It may not be altogether so white, because most of it is summer wheat, but even in this respect, when properly^ milled, it will not come perceptibly behind the southern flour. The time we trust is not far distant, when Massachusetts will look to Maine, rather than to Baltimore and New York for her flour, and when Maine flour shall be as well known and as popular as Genesee now is. Should the season prove favorable, there will be a great quantity of wheat raised in Rlainc this year; but not so great as would have been were not our cultivators generally fearful of the risk of the wc- vil. In many instances, where farmers have with- holden wheat from the sowing this spring, they have substituted barley in its place — which hither- to has been a profitable and a sure crop. Maine Cutticator. Tu remove spots of grease, piteli or oil from toool- len elotli. — In a pint of spring water dissolve an ounce of pure pearlasb, adding to the solution a lem- on cut in small slices. This being properly mixed and kept in a warm state for two days, the whole must be strained and ke])t in a bottle for use. A little of this liquid poured on tb.e stained part, is said instantaneously to remove all spots of grease, pitch or oils, and the moment they disappear, the cloth is tube washed in clear water. GUisgoic Meelianic's Magozine. Maine Flour. We are glad to notice that our western brethren are beginning to have a just idea of the capacity of Maine as the future granary of New England, and especially of the excellence of our flour, when Miiiigc. — This Is a cutaneous disease, which is very contagious, for so many cows as come in con- tact with one laboring under the disorder, will be sure to catch it. Its symptonis are, a scarf on the external part of the body, which is always attend- ed with an itching. This the animal shows, by haying a continual inclination to rub the affected parts against any thing she can get at. Some say that it is a kind of animalcula?, which burrows in the skin. It generally attacks those animals which are low in flesh, and have been fed on poor for- age. The first step in order to cure this disease, is to take a currycomb and gently curry off the scurf, in order that the medicine may have a better effect. After this, the fbllowingapplication is to be rubbed on Ihe parts aft'ected, which may be repeated every three or four days till a cure is "effected ; and it sel- dom requires more than two or three applications: Flour of sulphur 1 lb. Spirits of turpentine 1-2 pt. Train oil enough to make it into a thin liquid. Scotch snuff or sulphur, applied to the vines of cucumbers, &c., is recommended to prevent the ravages of the yellow-striped bug. .Vrilc of securing Tiiiiher from ilcciiy. — Timber lor buildings, especially for ships, bridges, canals, granaries and stables, may be efl'ectually preserved from decay and parliciilarly from the rot, by re- peatedly impregnating the wood with a solution of common salt and green copperas. This simple pro- cess is attended with such decided advantage that wood thus prepared will remain for ages, perfectly sound. Wood impregnated with alum, salt or coppei'is is also rendered in a great degree incombus'tible as well as incorruptible. When thus prepared it may be charred or consumed by intense heat, but caji scarcely be made to blaze, and of course would uot readily communicate fire to other objects in its vi- cinity. .4 composition for painting /f'oorf, 4'f .— A resjiec- table correspondent sent us the following recipe for a paint which he says is durable and appears well. 1 quart of salt dissolved in a gallon of hot water 1 lb. of coarse brown sugar in a quart of hot wa ter. 5 lbs. spruce yellow. a lbs. lime JVcio England Farmer THE FARMER'S MONTHLV VISITOR. ill Thread. — On a late visit to Pawtucket, we cal- 1 topped by a mass of jet black smoke ; a little to the led at the Tlircad Manufacturing cetabljslimcnt of let't the lull moon, with such a gentle, soft light. Capl. N. B. G. Dexter & Son, and were astonish- To our rigiit, the enormous iK^avmij sea of lavii, al- cd to sec to what perfection the manufacture of thread had arrived in this country. The whole of this extensive eoucern is under the control of Cnpt. Dexter, who, by his perseverance, untiring indus- try and cnterprize, bus brought tins branch of Amer- ican industry so near to perfection. They employ five cotton mills in the manufacture of thread, which gives emp'oyment to *2U0 hands, exclusive of those under their immediate control. They man- ufacture $130,000 worth of thread per annum, of the finest and most beautiful texture, equal in eve- ry respect to any made in this country. The man- ufacture of thread in Pawtucket, of which there are several excellent establishments, has almost entirely taken the place of threads formerly im- ported from England. — Providence Jour nai. A Si:aso>' i.N Latland. — The quickness of veg- etation in hot and cold climates is so astonishing as tti be perfectly uuacountablc, were we not able to refer it to a most exalted wisdom. The following is a calender of a, ^jerian or Lapland year : — June 23, snow melts — July 1, snow gone — i), fields quite green — 17, plants at full growth — 2.5, plants in flow- er— August 2, fruit ripe — 10, plants shed their seed — 18, enow — from August l.^ to June 23, snow and ice. Thus it appears that from their first emerg- ing from the ground to the ripening of their seeds, the plants take but a month ; and spring, summer, and autumn are crowded into the short space of fif- ty-six days. — Studies of Judurc. A Buried City. — The captain of an American vessel, named Ray, has lately discovered on the coast of Peru, in the environs of Tuscillo, an an- cient buried city of considerable extent. Following the course of some excavations he had made, he found the walla of the edifice still standing and many of them in a complete state of preservation. He inferred from tlie number and extent of them, that the population of the city could not have been less than three thousand souls. Great numbers of skeletons and mummies, in a perfect state of pres- ervation, were found among the private and sacred edifices, and a great number of domestic utensils, articles of furniture, coins and curious antiquities. The earthquake by which it was engulfed ap- pears to have surprised the inhabitants like those ol Pompeii in the midst of their daily avocations, and many of them were found by Captain Kay, singu- larly preserved !)y the exclu.sion of atmosplicric air, in the precise situation of the moment when over- whelmed. One man standing up as if in the act of escaping, was dressed in a light robe, in the folds of which coins were found, which have been sent to the Ecientifi'i institutions at Lima for investiga- tion. A female was also found sitting in a chair before a loom, which contained a piece of cotton stuff, which she was in the act of weaving. The cotton stufls [w-hich is of a gaudy i)attern,but very neatly fabricated] is about eighteen inches in diam- eter, and appears to have been only half completed. A great number of antiquities and curiosities iound in this American tjerculancum grave has but'n sent to the museum at Lima. most a blood-red heat, not so intensely white as that hurled from the crater." Whkat and Corn Ci'I.tuue in Maink and Massachusktts. — In Maine, the aggregate is as follows :— Wheat, 1,107,848 bushels— Bounty on Wheat, $87,352 30— Corn, 1 ,G30,;in(i bushels in the ear — Bounty on Corn, $6(5, ()28 8(1 — Whole Bounty on Wheat and Corn $]o3,!)81 76. In Massachu- setts raised last year ti7,UI.5 bushels of Wheat — Maine 1,010 6-1 bushels more than that State. The little county of Kennebec — little in point of terri- tory— produced 12.5,933 bushels, being2;i,738 bush- els more than the whole State of Massachusetts. ' The Maine Farmer adds to the above estimates the following : ''The gross amount of wheat and corn would not be less than 2,000,000 bushels, which with 500,000 bushels of rye, buckwheat, barley, Ac. afford four hushcls of bread sUifl's, to every inhabitant of the Slate. If to all this we add the potatoes, ruta baga and other roots that enter into the food of man, who will say that Maine cannot raise her own bread ? Take now into the account, the lumber, fish, lime, granite, hay, oats, beef, pork, horses, wool, mutton, cider, apples, &c. &c., v.'hich we produce and ex- port in great (|uaiititics ; and, saying nothing of the business and wealth produced by manntactures and commerce, is there any reason in the world why Maine should not soon be the most populous and richest State in New England .' She is coming to this condition most rapidly." Beautiful Coincidence. — During the morning ser- vice, yesterday, at Christ's Church, Salem street, an incident occurred which v.tiuld have been inter- preted by the ancients as a signal of Divine ajqjro- bation. The Rev. Mr. Marcus, of Nantucket, the officiating minister, gave out to be sung, the 64th Psalm, .in wliick is the following stanza ; — The birds, more happy far than I, Around thy temple throng ; Securely there they build, and there Securely hatch their young. Whilst he was reading this Psalm, a dove flew in atone of the windows, and aligdited on the cap- ital of one of the pilasters, near the altar, and near- ly over the head of the reader. A note of the Psalm and Hymn to be sung had been previously given, as is customary, to the choir ; otherwise, it might have been suppesed that there was design in the selection, for the minister announced, for the second singing, the 75th Hymn commencing. Come holy spirit, heavenly dove. With all thy quick'ning powers; Kindle a flame of sacred love. In these cold hearts of ours. The preacher was unconscious of the presence of the bird, until the close of the services; and then the innocent visitor was suffered to "depart in peace." — Boston Trims. The latest EKirTioN or Molnt Vescvil'S. — The following extract of a letter dated Naples, Jan- uary 3d, 183'J, gives an interesting description of the last eruption of this- celebrated volcano : — "On the night of the 31st of December, the Nea- politans were welconiing the new year with fire works, squibs, and crackers ot every description, when suddenly about ten o'clock, Vesuvius burst forth with a cloud cf black smoke and fire ; aJidin indignation, I suppose, of such paltry waste of ii-unpowder, was detcrniiued to show them what fire works ought to Ic. The next morning the black smoke was grand-beyond conception. A» we stood in the balcony trying to sketch it, our paper was covered \>ith dust a'ld small ashes, although at a distance of at least I'i miles from tlie crater. On Tuesday it continued to increase in violence, and on Wednesday we set off upon our terrific ex- pedition up the mountain. We staid until night at the Hermitage, and w.ilked along a ridge, where we were safe, towards the cone. It was dark, and the roar of the mountain was more awful than I can make you understand. It was the first ni^ht the mountain had relieved itself by the lava pouring its torrents over tiic side of th« crater. Down below us there ->vas a lake of lava at a white heat, about half a mile wide, flowing towards Resina. There has not been such an eruption for many years. We saw two cottages swallowed up, and vineyards destroyed. Before us, a fountain of fire from the crater, going siraight^ up, and also on every side munity. The increase in the nominal value of re- al estate is of no advantage to tile community, un- less it is based upon some positive improvement, or increased productiveness of the soil. If a piece of land is sold to-day at five dollars an acre, and next week it is valued at ten dollars an acre, w ith- out any change whatever in its condition, how is the community in any respect benefitted, or its wealth increased ? But on the other hand, the ob- taining of land for agriculluriil purposes, for pro- duction, and the actual creation of wealth, is by this enhanced price rendered the more difficult to the man whose labor is his only capital — the man of all others in the community the most to be en- couraged. Then again, the abundance of money itself less- ens its value, and operates to raise the scale of pri- ces. The facilities of procuring credit and money induce recklessness ; lead to all kinds of specula- tion; create a distaste for labor; encourage- the most luxurious expenditures; relax the bonds of moral principle ; and convert the community into a population of gamblers. It is the true secret of the enormous frauds with which our community has been convulsed within the last two years, and of the prevalence of the gross and immoral prin- ciple that a neglect to pay one's debts to a corpo- ration, or a fraud upon a corporation, is a differ- ent matter from one committed upon an individu- al. In fine, it is the moving Cause and prolific source of speculation — speculation, a matter pregnant with evils, and from which no more good has accrued, or can ever accrue, to the community^, than from any other form of lottery gambling. These are, to a certain and considerable extent, the causes of the high prices of living ; and under this system they must continue until we have another periodical ex- plosion. There is no cure or preventive. There is not moral soundness enough in the community to aftbrd any hope of amendment or of change, until another fit of delirium tremens brings us up, as the sailors say, " all standing;" rubs out old scores, and then leaves us to start again in a new course of unbridled profligacy, vulgarly called prosperity. We call particular attention to the following ar- ticle fiom the New England Farmer. It is fraught with truth. • Cavje or HioH Prices —But one great and prolific source, as we honestly, believe, ol'high pri- ces, deficient labor, the luxury, waste, and servili. ty which prevail among us, is m the multiplication ot" banks beyond the business wants of the commu- nity, the exiensiou of piiper money, and the abuse of the credit system. Our honest conviction is, that the enormous increase of bank capital beyond all re.TSf^-naLde limits, is destined to prove to the country in its various influences a source of im- mense evil. The tv.lamities from which we have just escaped are to be directly traced to this as their great origin ; and, as matters are now going on, we have only to look forward to another explosion, as disastrous as that from which we have so recently recovorcd — for come it must. Its arrival in the na- tural course of things is as certain as the descent of water upon an inclined plane, or the passing of the sun over the meridian. The creation cf immense amounts of purely artificial and fictitious capital, produces a dangerous delusion with individuals and on the public mind. If its effect were merely to inciease the facilities and stimulate the powers of production, it would so far be well ; but lliis it does not do excepting in a very partial degree, and in an indirect form. This money is loaned to what are called men of business — a class of men, who as far as they are money brokers, are the mere exchan- gers of commercial products without any increase of their value, or speculators in stocks and lands, who add little or nothing to the wealth of thecom- lutercstiiig Facts. The first decked vessel ever built within the lim- its of the old United States, was constructed on the banks of the Hudson, by Adrian Block, in the summer of 1614. She was called a yacht, and her first voyage was made through Hell Gate, into the Sound, and as far east as Cape Cod, by the Vine- yard passage. It was in this voyage that Block Island was discovered. Within the first 46 years after the settlement of Massachusetts, there were built in Boston and its vicinity, 730 vessels, vary- ing from 6 to 250 tons in burthen. One of these, the Blessing of the Bay, a bark of fifty tons, was built in 1631. The celebrated English patriot and divine, Hugh Peters, caused a vessel of 3o0 tons to be constructed at Salem, in 1641. The first schoo- ner ever launched is said to have been built at Cape Ann in 1714. In 1713, Connecticut had but 2 brigs, 20 .iloops, and a few smaller craft, employing but 120 seamen ; while Massachusetts, about the same lime had 462 vessels, the tonnage of which was 25,406, and employed 3,41*3 seamen. The first ensign ever shown by a regular Amer- ican man-of-war, was hoisted on board the frigate Alfred, in the Delaware, by the hands of Paul Jones, in the latter part of December, 1775. What this ensign was, is not precisely known, as the ]>resent national colors were not formally adopted until 1777. The first regular American cruiser that went to sea, was the Lexington, alitlle brig of 14 guns, commanded by Captain John fBarry, of Philadelphia. She sailed some time in the winter of 1775. The first American man-of-war that got to sea after the adoption of our present form of government, was the Ganges. — She was originally an ludiaman, but was i)ulchased by the Govern- ment and converted into a cruiser, having an arma- ment of 24 guns. She sailed in May, 1778, under the command of Captain Richard Dale, who was first Lieutenant of the Bon Homme Richard, when that ship captured the Serapis. The Constellation was the first of the new built vessels that went to sea, under Captain Truxton. She sailed in June, 1703, and was followed by the United States, and a little later, by the Constitution, both these latter sailing in July the same year. The first prize un- der our jirescnt naval organization, was the French Privateer La Croyuble. She w'as a schooner of 14 guns, and was captured by the sloop of war Dela- ware, Captain Decatur. The above historical fiicts wo have gleaned from Mr. Cooper's excellent Na- val History of the United Stales. — Eccning I'ost. n. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Si.A'fK i:.' Ma I. ii;. ^Extract from the tliird An- nual Report of the Geology of Maiue ; by Doct. Jackson, State Geologiat.— The Slate Qwarrica on tlie PiscaUqnis, described in a fonncr rcpoit, were found to cross the Kennebec in the towns of Bing- ham and Moscow. In the latter town, beautiful slates were discovertd, sphtting out in some in- stances from tiireo to six feet, and in one instance ten ieet square. Dr. J. makes another visit to the slate quarries in the county of Piscataquis, discov- ers new localities, and thinks that une (juarry which he minutely examined in tlie town of Foxcroft, would yield one ihHUoii tans uf slate, lie says that the " rock in tiiis quarry is jierfectly sound, free from iuipuritits, and splits to the proper thickness required for making roofing and writing slates." In relation to these slate (juarries, he gives the fol- lowing statistical information : — "The cost of working and transportition, as I was informed by tiie best authorities in the town : Four men in one day will quarry and trim one ton of roofing slate, at §1 per day, 4 Transportation to Bangor, o5 miles, at iJG per ton, (' Cost at Bangor, Freight to Boston ma ■kct, Cost of slate in Boston, $•'', Til tliis n-e mast add the interest on tlie cost of the quarry, tools and stock, and the wearing and loss of tools used. These items cannot of course at present be ascertained, but they will not amount to much. — Tlie slalc quarries of Maine are numer- ous and valuable, otiering ample inducements to enterprise, and will ere long be successfully wrought for the .supply of the Atlantic coast. There arc many otiier quarries dcicribed in my for.iier reports, viz: — at WiUiamsliurgh, Browns- ville and Barnard, besides those upon the Kenne- bec, above Bingham and Concord." — riscataquis lUtahl. STATISTICAL TABLES. Extract from the speech of Mr. Caley, in the Britisli House of Commons, on the debate relative to the Corn Laws, Mn.rch 12, 1631'. National debt of England and other countries, with tlie proportion of such debt which falls on each individuii-I. Debt per head Proportion of cd their portion of the public money. Tlie number of schools in these 840 districts is 6,269, male tea- chers 4,7ti8, female teachers 1,974, male scholars, l'.i7,677, fciiialc scholars, 106,0:^2. Total scholars, ^33,719. Average number of montlis taught per annum, 5 3-4; average salaries of male teachers, .$ 18,U5, do. i'emale, .'jjll,30. The number of Ger- man scholars in G:i6 districtsis 3,061. Colored 571. State appropriations for schools in 1839, $308,919. Tax assessed for same purpose by the 840 acceirt- ing districts, §3S,';,788. Total, §600,73'i. Disease of Cattle— its reraedy. Numbers of cattle, during the last winter, died from over-feeding, or other obstruction of the in- testines : the symptoms were a protruded size from swelling, sometimes very suddenly. A sure reme- dy has been found by the farmers in Bratlford, Hills- borough, and some other towns in this State, by mixing a quantity of apple cider with old cheese made from the milk of the cow — say half a pound or more of cheese grated in a pint of cider. This mixture, poured down tiie throat of the swelled an- imal, has been known to eS'ect a ciii'o by carrying oil' the swelling in a few minutes. " It is an ill wind tiiat blows no good." If the wet and cold weather has kept the Indian corn back, thus far, especially on new ground, it has had a fine effect upon the rye and other small grains. Perhaps tiiere was never a more luxuriant growth of winter rye on the ground than now waves in the breeze. Where the rye lias been thin- ned by winter killing, the remaining stalks have spread so as to cover the ground in many jilaces. Doct. \VE£i!;TER, from the town of Hill, left for our inspection, three stalks of rye, which were taken up the first week in June, twins and a single spear. The tw ins were more than seven teet long each, and the single stalk was nearly eight tc'et long. Had these stalks attained their full growth, each of them Avould have been considerablv lengthened MARKETS. BOSTON ftl.VRKET, JL'LY 9, 1839. ASHES— Pules nf Pol's .iriil Pearls to a moileialo iijtenl.it 5 a 5 ,^c for Pot3 iinil (i^r. a OJc Cur l*«arls. C'OJ'TO.\— Noliiiiig of consiqutiici; iloiiig, .incl priiea without tlianiic. !•■ LOUR— The niiulitt coniiie.ics lanjii'il :iiid inicesoii the liecUne; sslea Geneseu al C ;17 a 0 .'lO ; Ihnvaril sltcrt U I'Ja 6 3.'i ; Ricljiiinnil C ia,ca-li; anJ Fredeii-ksliuii; (I aS, 4 mo. (;ilAIN— Biu lillle uftoai; salr.s yellow Cum 8(1 a B8c, white 8'I a &5 j iioltiing iloiiic in iNew Orleans e.\ceiit by auc* lion. J.ast sales Norlherii and KnKtern trials, i Uc. .MOL.^SSl'lf— Since Ihe cargo sale.i ol Havana, Malanias and .llartlniijiie, on l'"ri(iay and tralurd:iy, allOc, Iiolhiiig of fon?eqiieriee has been iloiie. SUUAIl— .Marlict dnll, v% ith small sales at last week's pri- ce.^i. AUCTION S ALC:S_H ides, Calculia, preen salted, 31 hales adv. (i sold, 1 (I9a 1 M; dry, ID hales, 5 sold, SiJeauhj r,nfra- lo. S9 hales, 5 siild,9^c per Ih., ti inn. Goal SkiiiB, Madias, 17 liales, o sold, 21c; C.iwnnore, 20 bales, 232 a 24; Paina, 2 do. liJ^c carli, 6 ino. STOCKS, &c Sales in New York, Sth, 25 shares L'. S. Bank IHJ; 100 do r^tonuifloii Hail:iiad2l3 a 26l ; :iS3 do Can- ton Co a^^aUg. K.vchange on Enghind 4&7 a 4 8&. PmcEs OF Fi-iii-n.— The nvcratre prices of I lour at Ihe prin- cipal inai kels in the touiilri', artoiflinp to I he iNew York Ex- press puce ciinent, is ijD LM. 'Pile avrriigo price a \ ear aiio wa-1 a 113. The lowest price is now nWillshnrg, where it 19 ?ilii2to4 75. Tile average (tccline in four weeks has heeli 7J cents. NEU- YOKIC iMAHKET— TcEso.M-, V. .11. Cotton and Flour .irc h.iili e.\lrenie y dull, but withniit any rnrlher redn- linn in ti;e |irice. Money is rnlhei tijihter. g"Od i.o!nlnetcial paper sells j;tl-..'per cent, inlere:^!. U.S. Bank [lost noles are offered at 0 and mole ot less taken ut that rale. .\ll business IS eitreiiitly dull. B"rGIITO.\ CATTLE .MARKET. need since the report ol report lor llic Bri{;hlcn » £ £ s. D England, ■500,000,000 32 0 0 France, 194,400,000 5 y.) V Russia, 35,550,000 0 11 !i Austria, 78,100,000 2 / 0 Prussia, •^9,701, 000 ') 7 / Netherlands, 148,500,000 23 i> 5 Spain, United States, 70,000,000 :> 0 8 Sicilies, 18,974,000 11 2 Bavaria, 11,311,000 o lb 0 Sardinia, 4,584,000 1 I Turkey, Sweden, 3,667,000 0 t 8 Portugal, 5,<)49,000 1 6 Denmark, 3,79'>,000 1 18 4 Rome, 17,142,000 7 9 0 Poland, 5,740,000 i 3 3 .Saxony, 3,300,000 2 9 1 Hanover, 2,284,000 I 11 0 Baden, 1,670,000 1 9 Wirtenibcrg, S.',505,0(i0 1 12 7 Tuscany, 1,384,000 1 4 11 Hesse, (DarmstsEt) 1,184,000 1 3 11 Hesse, (Electorate) Switzerlatid, aao,ooo 0 6 1 Norway, 253,000 0 3 i East India Companv b territories. 47,609,000 0 9 t Comparative wages of English and Foreign Ope- ratives. Operatives are paid in France 5o. 6d. per week of 72 Iioui'St Switzerland 5s. .5d. 82 Austria 4s. Od. 76 Tyrol 3s. Od. 88 Saxony, 3s. 6d. 72 Bona, on the Rhine .2s. 6d. 84 The average wages being a fraction under 43. per week. The average wages paid to hands sim- ilarly employed in Englancl, but for fewer hours, being 123. a week. Common Schools in Pennsylvania. — The Key Stone State is coming up to the work in earnest. Of the 1033 districts into which the State was di- vided under the act of June, 1836, (exclusive of the city and county of Philadeldhia) 840 have with- in the past year assessed a School Tax, and receiv; The Crops. From all sections of the country, we have the most cheering prospects of excellent crops of eve- ry description. Cotton, Wlieat, Corn oiud all kinds of grain lock favorable beyond any lormer'year,and hay will be abundant. A few such seasons as the last and the present will have an ininieiise cft'ect in restoring the country to its usual prosperity. Thus far every tiling looks auspicious, and the sea- son of frost has gone by. BANK NOTE TAliER. Bills of the follow in g Uanks no longer pass current in New England, piovitirii ni't being made tor lli::]i ,edeiiiption in Boston, viz. • MASSACHUSETTS. => f Fulton Bank, •) ^ I Klliiy Hank, ( :S ^ I Couiinonweallh Bank, | ? ^ I Fiai.klili Bank, VBusIon. I 3 J Lafayetle Bank, J ... ^ "j .Valiaiu Hank, at T.ynn. ^ E' I Cliei-e:i Bank, at Clieisi^a. ^i -.^ I .Miildietv". rank, at Canibridire. sii!;::;;':'^ri!/oM';k,!«-"-y-" Faiiiurs' luiii Mecli.Ttiiiks' Dr.nk, ::l :>. Ailaiiis. MAINK. Apric;iUuMl Rniik, at IJrcwei. Oxl'tird i!nTik,at I'ryebmp. Daiiiariiccrli;; Bink, ut ^'t-wrastle. 'Georgia Lninlfer (.'oinpnny, I'orliaml. • Bhtii;o. Ci iiiuiccial Ba'ilt, :n Uan£ui. Caluis }3aiik, a; Calais. U;ink of OklTuwn, ? Orono Still Wuler Cfinal Bank, J ^'"^^• NEW HAMP3H[Rt:. Wolfcborough Bank, ni '.V'nlfeuoroiigii. Viill.vioNT. Bank of ^-t. Albaii3,fii St. Alban-:. Ksse\ Citnk, r.L Guiiilifall. li&iik of iMiintlicsler^ at Al^iicliester. liHiik of Windsor, at Wimlsor. UflODE [SL.\ND. Cenii*al Drink, ;it ICast Greenwich. Scituatc Saiik,r.t Sriiuaif. CO.\Ni:uTlCUT. ■ Sl.Tiiifi.ril D.iiik, at ^^tainfoid. nri>tu-(|.nvt Uirtjk.at BridKepnrl. ^Bills i>t th«^ GL'oigi:i humbtr Company Portlanti are re- deemed at i-2 percent. iti>cuiiiit, bv J. VV. ClaiU St Cc. No. •o, C ly Hall. ___^__ RATES OF E>5\\ iiig is llic Market lor Motuidv. Julv S, At inaiket £90" Beel'Cattle, 20 C Slu-ep, and 0^1) tfwine. J40 Csivin fuie. lull Beet* Cattle unsold. Prices. — Ueef Cutltc—Vitsl (lunljty ly 8 2j a ti 50 ; ihird qnalily g7n 7 7 j. Coici and CuIvl's — :Sn\cs dull; \\c $30, 4-2, 60 and 53. Sheep and Lamtis—hn[s were fakeii ii^i Wethers a 25, :{ 50, and 3 7;"!. Siciiie — Lots of large Batrox". s at piys at 7 and ^c. Al retail, from 7 to 9 a 9 I percent (111 a 5 lu 40 a 00 cts. ROj a SI 00 a of",,i " par a 0 prein par a J do 0 a 5 diact IJ a do 2i a 3 do 3 a do I a do a do n a do y* a do 3^ a do 3 a 1 do put a I do ows and Calves, SioOO have betn reported be- 8 7ja 9; second (luali- noticed llie following: at 9 25, 2 50,2 75, and \ fnd !^c; a lo! of small U ; small pigs lOf. NEW YOnK CAT'J'LE MAUKET, Jci.v I. Bucve^—TUe pupjity in market to-(hu luiinJieied .500 bead nf whicli GO had remained ovir iron) last week— we have lo no- lice a very inactive demand fur beet, the sales n-d n-.U' h ex- ceeding 2\)iJ head, at prices ranging troni 'J a §1-'— and avera- ging Slo 51) per 100 lbs— a dtctine vi 5'J c'l.-<. per iOO Ib^ on Uf^l week's price?. Cu^cs and Cj/ccs— 1 10 wera offered, and 85 sold at '.ib a $50. iftieep end Lavibs — Tlie supi.'ly ol Sheep and Lambs con- tinue f.JU, i-UiiJ having been odered, and alicuiL 1300 told at ii 50 a :i 75 fm Lambs, and 4 25 a $5 for f^heep. JIa>j — A\"c reduce our quotations to 7Ji; a ^"i per 100 ibs. — Kmiiurcr' E ALTIMOKE JLARKET, June 3S. ("utile — Our ntarket has been well supplied wit') cattle on the hoof thid week, and the (-talis generally attended by llie bulcheis. Prices i:ave ranged fioni $8 to 9 50 per 100 lbs., acciirdirg lo cjualily. lings iSt;* a L! 25. Provisamii— No material change in prices; some descrip- tions in iitile better dtr man d. 'J'lieie is «omi(» inip'ovenieni in liie demand for bacon, and sales niakinyfo! western jissorlert at 11 a i !i CIS; of hams al lL\ia RUts ; t^bouldeisai 18 a ini ctb-j nililu'lings at 12 cl=. Sales of L.-;rd at Kt cts. Culler cor,;^ies liall— .-alesof intr-ioi Irrrii 111 a II tt^. Beet anil poik/^rt MiUe doing, ai:d nocIian::e in t)i:ces. .Su lii^^The market itpiiears to be tcmpU-tely sup)ilied, and pri'-^are very inr.teri.i'ily reduct d. Lni..9a0. Bniter, 20 to 2i2c. Chei-i:e, 9 tn !>. Plaster, -'s3 i-5. 'iiirkp Llan.1 ?a;t.38c. Sugar, 0^ to 12 ■. Flour, G 00 :o $t> 23. Rye Finiir, .i5!^8. Indian Mea',Si 25. Wheat, per bushe:. Si :i5. Rye, per bushel, S! 00. Corn, do. I'Sc. to iJO, Oal5, :.0io5Cc. THE FARRIER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A MONTHLV NEWSPAPEIt, IS PUSLISHED BY WILLIAM P. FOSTKK, HiU's Brick Block, Concord, JV. H. JAMES BURNS,^104, Uaskington st., Boston, Ms, The Visitor is issued the fiftecntli to twentieth day of cacli month. Each number will contain si.\reen pages of .gro^vers, we will say that our old friend the mail -carrier treated our palate in a warm day with a beverage which we very much admired. He is practically a tcinperr.nce man, and he stated that-.neither himself nor his workmen ever made use of stronger drmk than lliat which he presented us It was excellent simple hop beerj made by the following process . Take si.x ounces of hops and I'.eat tliern in a few quarts of v.ater until their sti'cngth shall be ex- iracted. With a little yeast and a single gallon of West India molasses, turn the hquor in v. Irch the strength-of the hops has be'en gathered into a clean barrel pf thirty-two galleus. Let the vessel have vent as feTinentation shall require : nflerwards let It be closed from the air. The ]irncefs, with these ijiinple materials, will make a full barrel of the best of drink, from which no danger of intoxication need be apprehended, ant! which will have a suffi- ciency of stimulant to make cheerful the moderate drinker without producing liie enervation and de- sire for more drink whicli accompany the use of mere water sweetened. The farm left by a Avestern emigrant. Leaving our friend and the clatter of the mill- going village at the Iron Works, we mounted a road at an angle in some points seemingly of forty- five degrees to the farm lately left by Friend John Page, who has chosen, if not a better, doubtless a much smoother, part in the State of Illinois. Al- though this farm has passed out of his hands, it has not gone from the family name, for a brother owns and occupies it. From the size and style of the house and barns, not less than from the grounds a- bout it, we know Friend Page was well off in New Hampshire : lie may find more comfort and case in his declining years on the fertile prairies of north- ern Illinois — it will be impossible he shall find THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 115 friends and neighliors more acceptable than lie iias left in old Gilinanton. PittsAeld and Darnstcad. From the ground near Page's farm we look down south in tile valley of the Suncook, which winds at first easterly and afterwards west of a sbutli point. At a distance of seven miles may be faint- ly descried a portion of the prosperous village of Pittsfield, with some of the hundred feet barns and farm houses on the north side of Catamount and on other hills still nearer. To the northeast of Pittsfield spreads the square town of Barnstcad ; and quite near to us in th.at town we view poUions of its beautiful hill farms, among which as more peculiarly distinguislied for fertility and value is the "Salter farm" formerly owned in Portsmouth, but now the property of its occupant who has learnt well the "art and trade" of making money. By the way, it has been mentioned that there is prob- ably no town of the State and perhaps not a town in New England containing an equal number of farmers, all of independent circumstances and con- dition— so free from debt and so able to discharge all pecuniary obligations — as Barnstcad in Straf- ford county. Alton and M'olfeboroutth. Scenery about Winnipis.?eogee. TuHonborough and Houltonborough. It has not yet been our good fortune to come within tile limits of Barnstcad, although in this journey we wore quite near it. Our way was that afternoon to surmount the successive ridges over which the road passes between the Iron Works vil- lage and Woltljborough. The recently increased rateable polls of Alton had prcmonislied us"" that this is among the gaining towns : more broken than either of tlie towns we have just described, the information will not be surprising that its farms which came within our view v.'cre not of equal val- ue or culture as those wc had passed. This town is at the southeast point of the Lake Winnipissco- gee, the beauty of wliose scenery may vie with that of loch Lomond or any other body of water consecrateu to posterity by the pen of the poet or the historian. The town is indented to its centre by a branch of the lake called Alton bay ; and the point of this bay approaching nearest the seaboard is the place where the land and water transporta- tion at the east end of the lake is changed. From the elevated grounds in almost every part of the town, the lake with its many promontories and isl- ands maybe seen. Large quantities of boards and other manufactured lumber are brought into this bay on the wa}' to Dover and Portsmouth. The village at the bay bears the impress of increase and pros[icrous business; and the snug dwellmgs adja- cent to new cleared lands indicate attention to tlie improvement of agriculture. The mountain grounds are clearing to the very tops ; and the red tinges of recently prostrated woodlands speak for the diligence of the woodman's axe the present 3'ear. Indeed the profits of agriculture in al- mostevcry direction induce every industrious man to bring into cultivation all his spare forest lands and grounds hitherta sulTered to nm to waste. From the Iron \yorks village to Allon bay is six miles over a hilly, but well made road. Fro.m Al- ton bay, whoBC village is situated on quite a pretty pine plain to the centre post oflice of Alton is five miles ; and from thenco to Judge Rust's village or South Wolfeborough is three miles further. All the way from Alton bav to Judge Rust's is a con- tinued succession of ridges runnimj down to the lake, making the road one of almost unequllcd rise and fall : the country is -so constructed that no change of positlfui could very much improve the present road, tiiat being generally hard and well made. The vaile}'^ between the hills seem to come at regular intervals, having l>een worn deeper and deeper in the succession of many centuries. All the way upon the cleared high grounds the view at either side or to the other end of the lake is mag- nificent: on the south side are the Gunstock moun- tains in their full length overlooking Alton and Gilford; on the north side, are 'V'V'olfeborough, Tuftonborough, and Moultonborough, with Ossipee mountain in their rear; and from the west end, in a position to overlook the valley of the lake, includ- ing the several villages of Centre Harbor and Mer- edith on the south, and the whole of Sandwich and Tamworth on the north, is the famed Red Hill, which will well repay the curious traveller for its ascent. Still farther west and not less prominent from Red Hill than theWiiiuipisseogee is the Squam lake, which like the former is thickly studded with promontories and islands. Rust's village, near the south line of Wolfebo- rough has grown up almost entirely within a few 3'ears : it has many mills for preparing lumber and for other purposes on a small stream v/hich runs from Rust's pond : the length of the stream is scarcely a mile, and the pond is considerably les.y than a mile in diameter — it nevertheless, with a fall of about seventy feet to the lakej furnishes a- bundant water power i'or all the present purposes. There are four other similar ponds within the lim- its of Wolfeborough, connecting in a like manner with the larger lake below. The largest of these is Smith's pond, on and near to the stream uniting to which with lake Winnipisseogee isthe fine vil- lage of Smith's Bridge. A beautiful bay makes up to very near where this bridge passes. Smith's pond in one direction has an extent eastward of the lake of more than s'tx miles. Near it is the site of the mansion erected previous to tlie revolution by Gov. Wentworth as his summer residence, which was accidentally burnt some twenty-five years ago. The tract of land known as the Governor's farm, now constituting several farms, is said to be of ex- cellent quality. Wolfeborough is famed for its great crops of corn. The soil of this town and of Tuftonborough and Moultonborough all along the north shore of the lake is much more fertile than that of Alton, and less rough and uneven than that of Loudon and Gilmanton. We should think it better adapted to the production of Indian corn than any other land within the limits of the State which we have yet observed. Several of the isl- ands belonging to the towns on either side of the lake are represented to be very fertile ; wo know some thriving farmers inhabiting these islands. Mr. Bro%vn, who has brought to perfection the kind of Indian corn which bears his name, and which it is our present belief surpasses every other kind of corn for this latitude, resides upon Long Island within the limits of Moultonborough. A sugge&tion relative to keepin? a very useful animal. Passing the towns along the even and smooth road between the lake on the one hand and the Os- sipee mountain on the other, with the first often in view and the latter seldom out of sight, we were stcjick with a practice which seems to prevail on that shore of the many swine suffered to run at large in the streets. By this practice the door yards and grounds near the houses are much disfigured; the uprooted house banking is turned into a dung pile, and vegetation all around is made unclean. The pigs indeed, which seemed all the way to be of one easy, long eared breed, prone to health and to the accumulation of fat, were an exceedingly clever race of hi.'gs : the poorest houses generally exhib- ited one or more of them sucli as would do credit to those in the richer man's pen. There is proba- bly an advantage to short fed swine to run in a pas- ture or even in the highways, as hogs, like cattle, may bo made to live on grass feed ; but it is ques- tionable whether the loss in manure which the real working hog may be made to jnoduce in a well constructed yard and pen, be not greater than the gain to the animal. from the feed of the most jn'olif- ic road-side, or the offal which shall fall into the the street from the refuse of the careless house- wife's kitchen. A new day, but no change of subject. July 17. Up to twelve o'clock, noon, our journey ■around the lake has been noticed. The extreme heat and delay in our progress prevented a call up- on Doct. Sliannon, the worthy representative of Moultonborough, who inherits the house and an- cient p^emi^Jes of his deceased father, the late Judge Sliannon. That and several adjacent farms running to the base and up the sides of-the Ossi- pee, presented not only good soil, but e.xcellcnt husbandry, demonstrating that the farmers in that region know the true thrift to consist in feeding well the soil, which enables it to yield abundance for man and beast. Moultonborough is by no means behind her sisters Tuftonborough (said to be the very best soil of old Strafford) and Wolfeborough (which was the early favorite of the royal Goverur or of New Hampshire, who it is said always saved for himself the best slice of land whanevcr he issu- ed letters patent for the grant of a township.) — Wolfeborough, for the youthful hero of Quebec, and Tuftonborough for one of his council, were named by the representative of the British mon- arch ; but Moultonborough derived its name from a patriot of the resolution, who was its first grantee and settler, and whose descendants to the third and fourth generation continue occupants of the same vicinity. A new amphitheatre and new mountain scenery. To pass from the capital of the State throug'i the length of Strafford county, a circular cjurae e ther at the west or east end of Winnipisseogee lake and by the heads of the oblong mountains on the north and south miut be taken. When at Wolfeborough the Ossipee mountain obstructs the way, and to reach Conway the distance is about the same either through Ossipee on the east or Moultonborough and Sandwich on the west. Our course was on the westerly end. On the rise of land constitut- ing the westerly point of the Ossipee mountain we look not only tiu'ough the valley wliich we have just left, but through an amphitheatr'" containing the towns of Sandwich and Tamworth, and further distant portions of Eaton, Freedom and EtTinn'ham. The White face and other high mountains to the north of Sandwich and the Chocorua Peak in Bur- ton, (now Albany) whicli is a prominent object al- ways to 'be distinguished on high grounds at a great distance, are in full view : the Sandwich mountains shut out the view of the larger White mountains which in a direct line are only some twenty miles north of them, but they present the north rim ofa most magnificent amphitlieatre some ten to fifteen miles oyer in each direction. Within this amphitheatri; are the two villages of Sandwich supported almost exclusively by the trade and bu- siness of that town, and on these mountains orig- inate the streams which form the Bear Camp river running easteily and along the base of Ossipee mountain through the Ossipee lake, and constitut- ing an iniportant branch of Saco river with which it unites within the limits of the State of Maine. The Sandwich cattle are hardly less famous in New Hampshire than those of the same name in Eng- land. The soil of the high grounds in this town, when first cleared, is abundant in fertility, and there are quite extensive tracts of e.\ccllcnt bottom lands on the streams from the mountains after they have fallen to their level. The track of an exten- sive slide o;i the Whiteface mouMtain which took place some years previous to the great slides of the White Mountains in tile fall of 1826, is visible for many miles: this great slide tore up large for- est trees from their foundations and with them brought down huge rocks and great quantities of earth, forming new and deep channels and over- whelming many acres of intervale below. Near the scene of this disaster, as well as along the base of the other Sandwich mountains, reside some of the most opulent farmers of the town. Indeed no farm can be more desirable than that which pre- sents land feasible to the plough at the base, and pasture groimds extending even far up the moun- tains in the rear. Nearness to the mountain gives assurance of the best soil. No men better under- stand the advantages of their position and make a better use of the lot which has fallen to them "in pleasant places," than do some of the Sandwich farmers of our acquaintance. Farms in the Mountains. The hills of Tamworth to the east of Sandwich, are much of the same character with those ofSand- wich, but probably the quantity' of easy land bears a less proportion to the rougher land. The Bear Canvp river runs through the town of Tamworth, and expends along the Ossipee mountain, appar- ently at its very base : by the side of this river the travelled road to Portland, and another branching to Conway and Fryel-.urg, Me. extends for some eight or ten miles. We had passed the road sev- eral times, hut had taken no particular notice ofa stream which comes, tumbling from the mountain in a continuous roar at the South Tamworth Po.it- Office, oyer which a saw mill had been recently erected. Near this mill in a narrow gorge we ob- served the track of a road worn by travel, and stopped to inquire what it meant. The answer was, that the road conducted to some twelve or fifteen flourishing farms in the valley of this stream in the mountain which had been cleared within a few years, and whose products were abundant. The Ossipee mountain is an oblong, and so well ar<.-' the aides of this amphitheatre of farms shut in, that the v.acuum which they create is scarcely detected ; and jiot one in a hundred of the travellers to the White Mountains who pass over the stage road v/ithin a mile of this settlement ev- er dreamed that farms and inhabitants were there. We have passed, since we left Wolfeborough to get around the west spur of the Ossipee mountain the whole length of that town, of Tuftonborough, Moultonborough, andgone the length of Sandwich and Tamworth, to come to the northwest corner of Ossipee, whose southeasterly line is on the same base as the southeasterly line of the town we at first left : yet it is said there is little difference in the distance between the road running round the east, from that on the lake shore and west end of Ossipee mountain. The distance of the travelled road round the Gunstock mountains on the south shore of Winnipisseogee lake, is about fifty miles — 110 THE FARMERS' MONl'HLY VISITOR. around the Ossipcc momitaiii on the nortli shore is about (he same ; antl the travellotl distance a- round the lake itself, within tlj.ose innuntains, is very nearly eighty niiles. Tiie inko and ihe moun- tains lie nearly central and all within the county of Strafford, Cvliich extends sontherly forty miles from the southeast point of the lake nearly to tJie sea. The courts of the county are held at Gilford near the outlet at the southwest corner of the lake, at Giimanlon, at Rochester and Dover, all of them south of Gilford, and tlie latter on the very verge of the county. Tlie public offices of the county are kept at Dover; and it is said, if there was onl}^ a single shire, this towrt would better accommodate the whole of this county extending on the easterly line which separates New Hamptdiire and Maine nearly one hundred milcG, tiian any other location. This anomaly results lro!n the ])osition of the lake and surrounding mountains which are central in the county, carrying the travel to and from all oUt- flide points out of a direct line, to a circuit around the county. The last of the many attempts to di- vide this great county, resulted in the late act of the Legislature to make Ossipce the fifth shire town, the new court house to be located at the "corner" which is nearly central in that oblong and tri-cor- iiered town. Elxterual appearances are often decep- tive. Leaving the Bear Camp river and the direct road to Portland at the upper end of Ossipee; we pass into Eaton, over a road of several miles of level hard pine plain, contrasting wonderfully with tiie mountainous region all around it, which is at once shut from the view by the uncleared forest on the road-side. The town of Eaton, like many other unwelcome solitary places in New Hampshire through which there is much travel, is said to have many good farms off of the travelled road. Its greatly increased population, wliich more than doubled bi-tween the years 1810 and 1820, sh^^ws tliat it Is among those towns wliich have been '^o- ing ahead. Valuable iron and lead ores are said to exist in this towji. Chocorun Peak, Magic in a mountain town. Westerly of Eaton towers the Chocorua Peak, which may he seen as a tender to Mount Washing- ton, by and over elevations of a less height from the high grounds near the north line of central Massa- chusetts, at a distance of more than a hundred miles. This isolated mountain may be known by its peculiar point, dlfferejit from that of any other: it is said to have derived its name from an Indian of the same name^ who was killed by a party of ■white hunters in time of peace. The mountain is situated in Burton, a township of large extent, hut hitherto deemed to he of little value, and surroun- ded by mountains. A strong prejudice existed for many years against Burti^n ; it was said that cat- tle could not be reared in the town — they were at- tacked by a singular and fatal distemper, which commenced with a loss of appetite, costivenrss. subsequent brisk scouring, emaciation, and death. This town of Burton v/as proverbial for its poverty, and distinguished from every other town of the State for its greater obstacles tn settlement. Large tracts of land in this town were sold by specula- tors to merchants in Boston and New York, in which both parties were probably cheated ; and for a long time New Hampsliirc men who had bu- sinese with the two cities were otfered and urged to purcha.'^o at almost any price these lands, which had passed through many hands : they were bought and sold by the brokers, as have Kince been tlie great variety of fancy stocks which have commen- ced by being blown far rbove their nominal val- ue, and ending with the hu'sting of the bubble and worth hardly a cent on the dolhir. Some sharpers even put upon the speculators of the cities the mountain also : old Chocorua herself, the rock of which a large portion of it is composed, was meas- ured oil' and counted with the rest. Until recently the settlements of Burton were near Pequawket village in Conway, on the east line of the town, and in the southwest on the line of Tamworth. But prejudice having gradually worn away, the prospects of this poor town have been greatly changed for the better. Asa first step, its inhabitants petitioned the Legislature, and its name has been changed to Albany, although an- other town only some twenty miles off in the State of Maine exists of the eame name. Swift river, uniting itself with the Saco river near Pequawket village, runs nearly its whole length within the limits of Burtoli, having its sources near Lincoln and the highest sources of the Merrimack river, a few miles Houth of the Francoria notch. Lumber is readil}'- floated down this river, of whiclt there is a considerable quantity of pine on and near its alluvial bottoms. The valley of this river between the mountains is from four to six miles over, and the bottoms are said to be no less fertile than those on tlie Saco below. The wiiole soil, Avhich. is made froai sot't, decomposing rock, having the appear- ance of sandy loam and occasional coarse gravel, as well upon the hill and mountain sides as in the valleys, is very fertile. Ofthe nature of this moun- tain soil, we may hereafter have occasion to give a more particular statement. Albanynow hasapop- ulation probably three times as great as it had. ten years ago : its settlements along the Swift river extend seventeen miles westerly from Pequawket village. Settlers who have gone in there with a small capital, have become at once independf-nt farmers, and some with no other capital than Ihelr hands are layings the foundation for competence by clearing their lands. The pino timber is here all valuable ; and the time is not far distant when the original growth of maple, beech, birch, ash, and even hemlock on the uncleared lands will be priz- ed as equal at least to the value of the soil. This valley of nev/ settlers is in a direction which had been but little explored or understood until lately : it is situated in that mountainous part ofthe State, where it had been supposed no temptation would ever induce the hardy settler to venture. Rail road from Portland through New- Hampshire and Vermont. AstonisJiing as it may appear, this valley has, within a R-w weeks past, been found a feasible route for a rail road, being the point from Portland wliich brings that city nearer to the valley of the Connecticut and the State of Vermont by some ten miles, than any other route. From Fryeburg in Maine through Conway, is a dead level, and from Conway up this Swift river through Albany, and the same valley extending through the nurth pr.rt of Waterville, a small elevation soon turns in- to the Merrimack river valley, near its source in Lincoln, and from that there is no great rise to t!ie branch ofthe Wild Amonoosuck, which unites with the Connecticut at the lower end of the town of Bath, and below the Fifteen miles falls on that riv- er. Whoever lives ten years need not be aston- ished not only to see this valle}' through the whole width of New Hampshire studded with fine farms, but to sec a rail road through it, carrying to the capital ofthe State of Maine an immense business .of which the long and 'heavy transport by waggons over roads either of hill or sand, between Boston, and northern New Hampshire and Vermont, is now but a small part. The cUy of I'orliand alone can afford to consiruci this ruad^ even should its stocK, be as much below par as the weyLern rail road from Boston to Albany; and that city will gain ten for one ofthe loss in the rise ofthe value of it&rcal estate from the increase of its business. The State of Maine has not been unmindful of this advantage ; for her legislature has instituted a commission for the survey of a rail i-oad extending fpoin that State through New Hampshire and Vermont, which has brouglit to light the facts respecVing our interior mountains, to which we have just adverted. The present lassitude and indifference of the men of bdsines.s m Boston, ntauy of the most enterprising of whom are natives of Vermoni and New Hamp- shire, if continued, will terminate in giving to Iliu capital of tlie State of Maine nmch of that com- merce which furnishes the cjiy of Boston its larg- est amount of beef, pork, Imtter, cheese, wool, &:.c. which being considered already beyond the reach of any rival, does not even give those interested sufficient anxiety to look after it. Tlie route lor ti rail road from Portland has been looked out at two points — the one north of the White Mountains, tlirongh Bethel in Maine, and Shelburne to Lan- caster, N. H. — the other south by Fryeburg, IMe. through the valley of Swift river to Bath, N. H. : the latter is nearest by about ten miles, but the northern route at pre&ent has the greater number of inhabitants. The intervales of Couway and Fryeburg. July 18. We could not give much new in- formation if we were to -attempt a description of Conw.ay, which has all the marks of the long set- tled rich towns of New England. The valley of the Saco, coming down from the White Mountains, meanders beautifully through this town : on its banks are several fine farms. Many ofthe first set- tlers of Conway emigrated from Concord (then Pcnacook) and the vicinity some seventy years ago. The race wlio jiitched at Concord came here, then a weary distance through tlie woods, on ac- count of its tine bottom lands on tlie Slerrimack, much of which, cleared l>y the Indians, then teem- : ed with a luxuriant growth of natural grass ; and the same race ventured s'till farther into the forest, near the scene of a most sanguinary content with the savages, to settle on the beautiful intervales of the Saco in the i*equav/ket country, now consti- tuting ihe towns of Conway in New Hampshire, and Fryeburg in Maine, There is said to be inpre of this alluvial land in either Conway or Fryeburg than there is within the limits of Concord. We think the soil is bettor on the alluvion ofthe Saco than that of the Merrimack : it is composed of a disintregation more recent from the mountains; and the decomposed rocks which give it stamina "in our belief are of a more fertilizing nature than those which have formed the bases of the inter- vales lower down on the Merrimack. One disad- vantage these intervales at the north and nearer the mountains encounter — their season is at least a fortnight shorter than ours, and their crop of In- dian corn is always more uncertain. The farmers and the Scottish lassies. Nathaniel Abbot, Esq., at the Pequawket vil- lage in Conway, lias an intervale farm whose cul- tivation and production will equal that ofthe best farmer on the Concord intervales. The three Messrs. Sparhawk (one of wliom the only sur- viving son, and the other nephews ofthe late Sam- uel Sparhawk formerly of tliis town, who died at Conway a tew'years ago, distinguished for a life of singular purity and benevolence) have each beau- tiful farms on the Conwaj' meadows. Educated to the prote-ssions or to merchandize, the example of these gentlemen in their farmingoperations is wor- thy of praise. "The Doctor," who is the son of our deceased friend, eschews the dealing out of "pill and potion," and chooses rather the cultiva- tion of his ground and" the rearing of fat animals, than to spend his time to administer to the sick ones. Two of the gentlemen Iiave recently chos- en for a "better half," young ladies, sisters from the "Land of Cakes," who came to this town on a visit two or three years -since, — " lassies," who if they shall wear like the sister who came herefrom Scotland nearly twenty years before them, when they were mere infants, will be an acquisition for which the best people of the Pequawket country will long have reason to thank their husbands. — The improvements of the Messrs. Sparhawk in cultivation and buildings within a few years have been great : their example operates well on the neighbors around them. Indeed many ofthe farm- ers of that region hardly needed such an example as a spur to their enterprise. These gentlemen have introduced into that region two or three} cars ago, the Durhuin breed of cattle and the Berk- sliire breed of hogs. It is believeil lluse breeds will there succeed as they are succeeding else- where. We observed in passing their premises that they were reclaiming considerable tracts of swampland by ditching, paring and burning: from the complexion of these, from the rich black soil which they bring into view, we have little doubt that they will be as a mine furnishing the future means of fertilizing the lighter soils which need only this aliment to yield in great abundance. Fryeburg — its village iiud rich intervales, A few hours of thiS day were spent at the village of Fryeburg in Maine, nine miles down the Saco from Pequawket village, and beautifully situated on the extensive plain a few feet higher than the bottom ft-nJs of the Saco river. The s jil on this plain is so light and porous that without a drain or conduit in even the present wet season, the water has never troubled the deeper cellars. Tlie neat .dwellings, some of them elegant, situated on a dt- rectline of the main street, witli their ample yards decorated witli fruit and ornamental trees, present the village in a most inviting attitude to the stran- ger. Among other substantial improvements was a large granite school house. There is great abun- dance of intervale and fertile meadow grounds within the limits of Frj'cburg. Saco river former- ly pursued its sinuous course for the distance nf tliirt-y-three miles within the limits of this town, re- turning before it takes a liiial leave almost to the point from which it started. The Indians in form- er times had their wigwam on a higli ground near the bank of the river, and upon the present line be- tween Conway and Fryeburg : in their hunting excursions for trapping furs, they would leave their village in their birch-bark &anoes, and after pursu- j ing the whole course of this river thirty-three miles, i return by land witli their canoes and their game upon their backs : but little more than a single mile travel on foot would set them from one to the oth- er extreme point of their water journey. A few years since, by an act of the Maine Legislature, liberty was granted for a canal ; and a great por- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 117 tlon of tlie distance in which the Saco river form- erly flowed has been cut off, shortening the extent of the channel many miles. Tiiere are many elegant, well cultivated farms in the meadows of Fryeburg. A mapandjilan oftlic town in tlie hands of Roliert Bradley, Esq. was shown us, in vvliich the meandering.^ of the river, with the marked lots and the names of the orig-inal grantees of the town, the most of whom v.'ere an- cient inhabitants and names in this vicinity, are laid down. Lovewell's pond is within a mile of the village : and there are several other extensive ponds connecting with tlie river within the linnts of the lown,around and near which are tracts of low meadow grounds. All these low grounds possess the elements of great fertility, which in hundreds of preceding ages have been brought down witli the water that has fallen in many streams from the stupendous mountains above. SanfTiiinary battles with the Indians. It is not to be wondered that such a place as this should be a favorit resort of the original in'.iabitants of the forest: here the moose, the bear, and the deer, the otter, the beaver, and the sable, were a- bundant. Fishes were plenty in the streams, the lively spotted salmon trout abounding in llie silver waters that fall from the highest mountains. The tribe of Indians located at this point upon the Saco before its settlement by the whites, having been induced to unite in the early depredations of the French from Canada, were ten fold more an object of terror than the wildest beasts of prey. — The men of courage of that day, finding that tam- pering with such an enemy as the Indians, by fight- ing and fending off at points where they attacked, would answer them no good purpose — it became necessary to adopt the true policy of ^'carrying the war into Africa," into the very v;igwam and domi- cile of the wary Indian. In Sept. 1724, the Indians fell on the infant set- tlement of Dunstable, now constituting Tyngsbo- rough and Dunstable in Massachusetts, and what was recently Dunstable (now Nashua) in N. Hamp- shire, and took Nathan Cross and Thomas Blanch- ard prisoners. These men had been engaged in the manufacture of turpentine on the west side of the river Nashua, near where t!ie village of Nashua now stands : at that time tliere were no houses or Bettlements on the west side, and as a place of greater security, the men crossed the river at night and slept in a saw mill. One night they did not re- turn ; and it was feared, as it afterwards turned out, that they had fallen into the hands of the Indians. Next morning, Lieut. French with fourteen men, went in quest of them. The advice of Mr. Far- well, an under officer, to take a circuitous route to avoid an ambush being disregarded by the leader (French) with the imputation that such a course in- dicated want of courage, the party pursued the di- rect track of the Indians up the Merrimack river. At the brook six miles above, near the present site of Thornton's ferry, they were waylaid and fired upon, and tlie greater portion killed instantly. The little remnant continued to fight; and French, the lead- er, was killed about a mile from the place of the ambush, near an oak tree which until recently was standing on a farm belonging to Mr. Lund in the town of IMerrimack. Farwell escaped in a thicket after beins hotly pursued by two Indians, and alone returned to tell the late of his companions; this man was afterwards a lieutenant under Lovcwell at the fight in Pequawket. A company mustered and proceeded to the fatal spot, found and buried the dead. Blanchard and Cross were carried pris- oners to Canada, and after remaining there some time succeeded "by their own exertions in effecting their redemption and returned to their native town where their descendants are still living. These facts were obtained I'rom the verbal relation of Col. Bancroft of Tyngsborough, iMs. as taken down by John Farmer, Esq. deceased. Tliirteen young men, the flower of a small sin- gle settlement, shot down and scalped at one fatal rencounter, was an event calculated to arouse the remainder to action. Capt. Lovewell, "who (says Penhallow, writing at the time these events occur- red) v>'as endowed with a generous spirit and reso- lution of serving his country, and well acquainted with hunting in the woods," with thirty volunteers soon after in the same season went northward and several miles up the country, probably in the re- gion of Penapook, came on a wigwam wherein they discovered tno Indians, "one of which they killed and the other took, for wliich they received the promised bounly of^ one hiwidred pounds a Bcalp, and two shillings and six pence besides." The ne,xt spring Capt. Lovcwell raised a new company of volunteers, and marched then far be- yond his liead quarters, into tlie wildernees. On the easterly side of Winnipisseogec ponds he cross- ed an Indian track (very likely at the head of the Alton b.ay, which was to tlic Indians what it has since been to the white inhabitants, the point for the nearest land carriage to the salt watei') and soon after espied two o.f them, whose motions se- cretly watching all day, he was enabled silently to come upon them at night as they lay asleep round their fire. "At his first firing, he killed seven, af- ter that two more, and wounded another, which wasthrir whole company; who, being within a day and a half's march of our ironiiers, (says Pen- hallow) would probably have done mischief had they not been so seasonably prevented. Their arms (furnished by the French) were so new and good, that most of them were sold for seven pounds a- piece, and each of them had two blankets, with a great many spare moccasons, which were supposed for the supplying of captives that they expected to have taken. The plunder was but a few skins ; but during the march, our men were well enter- tained with moose, bear and deer, together with (lake) salmon trout, some of which were three feet long, and weighed twelve pounds apiece." The wariness of Capt. Lovewell, adroitly overtaking and annihilating the Indian enemy in his own man- ner, discovers him to have been an early teacher in 'he school which afterwards distinguished the'cel- ebratcd corps of "Rangers" under Rogers and Stark. "Capt. Lovewell, being still animated with an uncommon zeal of doing what service he could, made another attempt on Pigwacket witli forty-four men." And here commences the recital of a most thrilling event which occurred within the limits of the town and within a short distance of the beauti- ful village of Fryeburg, which we have just notic- ed. On his way near the easterly end of Ossipee mountain, he built a small fort, to which he might have recourse in case of danger, and the necessity of a retreat ; one of his men being sick, he left the doctor of his company with eight men more as a guard at this fort. Including himself, thirty-fiur men left this fort in quest of the enemy. On the 8tli of May, ITii.'i, about ten o'clock in the morn- ing on a point of land running into Saco (Love- well's) pond, a sinirle isolated Indian was discov- ered. Upon seeing him, the company "immediate- ly put off their blankets and knapsacks and made towards him, concluding that the enemy were ahead and not in the rear." Apprehensive that they had been discovered by the Indians two days before, the Captain calling his men together, proposed whether it was best to engage them or not, suppos- ing the appearance of one Indian alone in so bold p. manner was for the purpose of ensnaring them. The men boldly replied, "that as they came out on purpose to meet the enemy, they would rather trust Providence with their lives and die for their country, than return without seeing them." "Up- on this (says Penhallow) they proceeded and mor- tally wounded the Indian, who notwithstanding re- turned the fire, and wounded Capt. Lovewell in the belly." *'Their dismantling themselves at this juncture, proved an unhappy snare ; for the enemy taking their baggage, knew their strength by the number of their packs, where they lay in ambush until they returned, and made the first shot ; which our men returned with mucli bravery, and advanc- ing within tvi-ice the length of their guns, slew nine. The encounter was smart and desperate, and the victory seemed to be in our favor, till Capt. Lovewell with several more were slain and wound- ed 1 5 the number of twelve." "The engagement continued ten hours, but altlioug!-j the shouts of the enemy were at first loud and terrible, yet after some time they became sensibly low and weak, and their appearance to lessen." The fighting of thir- ty men v.-ith three times the number of savages ten hours would seem to be almost incredible : tlie manner of this battle was firing from tree to tree, in th.^ shelter of which the opposite individuals loaded and discharged whenevcrasight of the body favored a chance to do execution. Wounded as be was before the genera! contest commenced, Lovewell contended personally for a long tiiue with the Indian Chief Paugus, whose name was hardly less terrible to the New Englanders than that oi Philip had been, or that of Tecuinseh was to the inhabitants of the west, twenty-five years ago. The fight continued till both the chiefs were killed, and all Lovewell's men but nine were either killed or wounded dangerously. The savages first re- treated, and left their foes masters of the ground. Feeble as was the remnant of whites, none ofthcm were pursued by the Indians. One of Lovewell's company retreated from the ground early in the fight and stopped not till he arrived at the fort near Ossipee, with an account of the destruction even wor.'je than the reality. The men who had been left at the fort were put into auch consternation by this statement as immediately to draw off, leaving only a bag of bread and pork behind. Fifteen of the thirty-four were killed outright in the engage- ment, and several ofthe wounded perished, among whom was Mr. Frye, chaplain of the company, three days after the battle, while on his way to tlio fort : he was "a worthy and very promising young gentleman, the bud of whose youth was but just opening into a flower'— a native of Andover, Ms. and a graduate of Harvard college in 1723. Mr. Farweil (before alluded to) held out in his return until tlie eleventh day ; "during which time he had nothing to eat (and drink) but water and a few roots which he chewed ; and by this time the wounds thg^igh his body were so mortified, that the worms made a tliorough passage." Of four wounded persons who in company attempted tore- turn to the fort, Eleazer Davis of Concord, (sup- posed Massachusetts) was the only one who sur- vived : he came alope to the fort, where he found some beef and bread, from whence he made his way to Berwick in Maine, and afterwards to Ports- mouth. Lieut. Robbins, one ofthe wounded, sen- sible of his dying state, desired one of the com- pany to charge his gun and leave it with him, be- ing persuaded that tlie Indians would come and scalp him, and wishing to kill one more before he died. Solomon Kies, being woaiiided in three plac- es, lost so much blood as to be unable to stand any longer, calling to Mr. Wyman, said he was a dead man : however lie said he v/ould endeavor to creep into some hole out of sight that he might avoid the insults and cruelty of the Indians. By a remarka- ble Providence he saw a canoe while creeping off, on the shore of the pond, into which he rolled him- self, and "by a favorable 'wind (without any assis- tance of his own) was driven so many miles on, that he got safe into the fort." Speaking of the contest, Belknap in his history of New Hampshire, says, "this was one of the most fierce and obstinate battles wdiich had been fought with the Indians. They had not only the advan- tage of numbers, but of placing themselves in am- bush and waiting with deliberation the moment of attack." After the action commenced under most discouraging circumstances to the whites, "pru- dence as well as valor dictated a continuance ofthe engagement, and a refusal to surrender ; until the enemy, awed by their brave resistance, and weak- ened by their own loss, yielded them the honor of the field. After this encounter, the Indians resid- ed no more at Pigwacket until the peace." 'When we commenced we did not intend to go so far as we have done in this recital, having, as may be supposed, little to do with the work of farm- ers at this busy season. But as the town of Frye- burg was the scene of an event of such deep in- terest— as the "pleasant places, ".the well cultivat- ed fields which are becoming more and more desir- able to the occupants as they grow more produc- tive, were obtained and holdeu by our fathers thro* danger, suffering and bloodshed — the lesson to the farmer from this piece of local history can be little less useful than an essay on the best method of im- proving his land. The winding Saco and its tributary valleys. As the Saco within the limits of Frj'eburg i* crooked as the half coiled serpent, so above within the limits of New Hampshire, like the branches feeding it, it winds in many directions in running through the mountains. Its source beyond and through the celebr.ated "Notch ofthe White Moun- tains," where the waters falling on the same level may be made to run either way through the Aino- noosuck and Connecticut, or through the Saco, to the ocean, is some fifty miles by the most direct route from Fryeburg. Leaving this town, up both sides of the river you have a level road in Conway of twelve or I'ourtecn miles ;"-on the north side tho road winds in various directions, almost coming back in some points to the place you have left. Isolated town of Jackson- At Lower Bartleft on the north side ofthe river, a valley and road branches off to the isolated town of Jackson, s'ltuat^d between the mountains, and at the foot of the White Mountains. The record of our Mutual Insurance Company, which embra- ces most ofthe farm houses and buildings, shows the condition ofthe people in this newly settled and thriving town to be nearly equal and similar. Their houses are of one story, well finished, and th^ first barns erected are generally forty feet in 1 ugth, with an addition of a piece or a new barn sO soon as the products of the increased clearing require it. The soil of this uneven mountain town is represented to be rich and productive. Benjac- min Copp first moved into this toivo in the year 118 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 1779 : he there with liis family alnne buflettcd the terrors of the wilderness for fourteen years with- out an additional settler. With its elevations the township contains an area of nearly :19,UU0 acres : its population increased in ten years prior to 1S30 nearly iJOO — it was tlien 515, and will now proba- bly number more than 800. Beyond this town continuing along the foot of the White Mountains on the easterly and northerly eide is a tract of land called rinUham's Grant, being a grant made by the State of New Hampshire to Daniel Pinkham, the consideration for a part of which was tlie con- struction and making of a road through the !and. The toad liiis been cut out all the way and partial- ly made — it is said to be comparatively a level route, and wlien completed will be a shorter d.;- tance and a more desirable route to Lancaster, on the Connecticut river, the shire town of tlie coun- ty, than that whicli has so lonw been considered a wonder up the main bvaiioli of the Saco, tlirough tlie Notch. Such is the fertility and the feasibility of the soil all around the base of the Wliite Moun- tains, that we cannot doubt durino- the next ten years, tlie farming population of Jackson (incor- porated in 1?00 by the name of Adams) will be doubled, and that a respectable new town will grow up in what is now all but a wilderness in Pinkham's Giant. Town of Bartiett. Passing from Conway, with Albany in a south- ern valley at the left liand, and Jackson to the north on the right, we come into the older and long- er settled town of Bartiett, named for tlie first Governor of this State under the present consti- tution, and one of the patriotic signers of tlie Amer- can Declaration of Independence. This township is entirely shut out by mountains on its northerly and southerly sides ; it has for the greater part of the distance of teii or twelve miles u\> the Saco river a single road, along which, upon intervales of various width, is a succession of settlements and farms. The farms of Judge Fcndexter and llie Messrs. Meserves in the lower part of the town, and near the north village of Conway, are equal in extent and value to almost any of the best upon the Saco. Ten miles further up in this narrou' valley the Hon. Obed Hall, a soldier of the revolution, and among those who achieved the victory at Red Bank below Philadelphia, on leaving the service settled and cleared a line farm, which had its hon- ey-suckle mountatin pastures of hundreds of acres, and turned out from its beautiful bottom land one hundred to one hundred and fifty tons of bay, and much wheat, rye and Indian corn annually. Judge Hall was liere a farmer growiiig rich from his herds of cattle and other productions for many seasons — was frequently, and always when he wished it, a member of the Legislature, and was amoijg those members of the Congress of 1812, wiio voted for the declaration of war against Great lirilaiu. The farm is still the property of daughters of that gen- tleman ; but lor several years having been occupi- ed as a tavern stand by tenants, its product of hay has been lessened more than one half, and its a- Tailable value probably diminished in that propor- tion. The condition of this farm would tt^ach tliose whose property is in the s.iil, that most stable of all estate, that this property may be much magnified or depreciated by the iviproviTi'j or the shhnmiufj process, and witli about the same, expense ot' labor in each case. We tarried at the Hall tavern over night, and were there informed that an animal sup- posed to be a wolf, had for several suceessive rights made depredations upon the flocks of theep in tlio neighborhood. Witir mountains e.3 either hand and a long extent of unoccupied wr.y before reach- ing a settlement, it is not surprising tliat wild ani- mals should be frequent and make inroads upon the extended valley constituting the ac-ttlement of Bartiett. The bottom land in this valley seems not to be so g«od as it is further down : much of the most fruit- ful intervale suffered from the di;iintcgration of rock at the time of the gre.at slides in the moun- tains in the year Ic?5C, bringing down masses of Btones and gravel, covering hundreds of acres. In ■ome places this rock having been de'couipc sed by exposure to the atmospliere, vegetatiOH'is'^beginning to appear on the surface. The colrf:seasons have operated as a discouragement to th'c cultivation of this valley, the early frost cutting ofl' the In- dian corn crop frequently, and sometimes the wheat and oats; and some owners in conse- quence, have neglected or abandoned the improve- ment of ttie land to obtain a livelihood in some oth- er way. Such seasons as the last and the present can hardly fail to spur the industrious and enter- prising farmers of this ancient toivn amono- the mountains, to renewed esortions in reehiming- the beautiful valley and advancing it to the whole ex- tent of production of which its soil is capable. Narrower valley in the mountains. July 19. Leaving Bartiett, the valley of the Saco is narrowed down into limits not admit- ting of a settled town. From the late Judge Hall's farm to Mr. Abel Crawford's in Hart's location, is eight miles. The Saco river, winding round and round with an apparent insuperable mountain bar- rier in front, sometimes in an open space of a mile or two in depth covered with a heavy growth of vvood, and sometimes with the overhanging moun- tain so near as to render an artificial embankment of rocks on the very bed of the stream necessary for the road, parts in this distance in nearly equal quantities. Sawyer's river unites on the westerly or southern side, coming in from between huge mountains in a gorge or valley which few persons living havt; ever explored. Old Mr. Crawford, who settled in.this valley a contemporary of Judge Hall, says he has explored it, and the valley of Sawyer's river brings the distance to Franconia village from this point only about fifteen miles. If so, and a road can be made there as has been done between the mountains in other directions, who knows what value in land, timber or minerals mightbe opened .' The present travelled distance from Portland to Vermont, by opening this route, would be shortened at least twenty miles. When passing up the Saco valley and seeing, near water- falls furnishing abundant power, vast quantities of maple, beech, ash, birch and other timber which might be converted into chairs, wooden ware and other utensils, the reflection was forced upon us with how little effort manufacturing villages might grow up in these mountains among the rocks. — There are many locations where from the construc- tion of the mountains there could be no danger of such slides as overwhelmed the Willey family in the same valley, and where the water might be so conducted as that the works moved by it should never be in dancrer. To crown with success such an experiment, it need only be mentioned that these positions in tlie mountains are quite as near the market where manufactured articles would sell, and where all needed supplies could be procured, as are many flourishing manufacturing villages in the interior of Massachusetts. A farm overwhelmed. The elder Crawford, nine miles below the Notch in one of the expanses between the mountains, had an alluvial farm which w^ts highly valuable and productive, but which vv'as much injured by the ef- fects of the great inundation in the memorable year 1.S96; a new channel fcr the entire waters of tHe Saco removing the bed of the river a consider- able distance to the south, was torn through the whole extent of the fertile intervale ground, cov- ering the space of many acres. Slides came down the mountain on the side opposite his house which choked the river, turned its course and covered up much valuable tillage and grass ground. Rocks of great weight overwhelmed him from above', and gravel usurped in extended space the region of veg- tation. Mr. Crawford supposes that at lea.-^t one half of hts-iiitervale ground in the simple process of on^ nitrjit was covered up or destroyed. The White Mountains, the Notch and the Milley House. From Crawford's to the Willey house is six miles, and from that spot to the narrow neck or entrance of the Notch itself is three miles further. At the mouth of the Notch commences an amphitheatre of from six to elglit miles in extent each way, form- ing the northern and western base of the great White Mountains themselves, the central summit of which, more than six thousand feet in height, is caller: Mount Washington, at whose right and left, v.'ith scarcely an inferior elevation, rise the moun- tains bearing the names of Adams, JefTerson, Miid- ison, Monroe and J'ailtson. The Notch is situated near the soutliern part of this sublime range, to the west of which and forming the barrier of the am- phitheatre is a range of high mountains bounded by a series of valleys and. other mountains for ma- ny miles, which have hardly been explored. This barrier, broken by the valley of the Amonoosuck, has the C h.erry mountain and Mount Deception on the north uniting in that direction with the main mountains. The tops of the mountains are tlie sources of the rivers, and between them correspon- ding with the several spurs are the streams wliich forili the .Amonoosuck and Saco rivers. The larg- er portion of the water failing into this amphithea- tre is discharged into the Connecticut through the Amonoosuck : only that originating in the inouu- tains north and south (others might say east and west) nearest the Notch runs easterly through the Saco. The pass near the upper extremity includ- ing botl^the road and tlie stream is barely two rods in width for a considerable distance. Within the last thirty years this pass has been much obstruct- ed bv the fallen rocks : the road went through the Notch nearly upon a level. The fallen rocks and gravel decomposed have made the path more and more uneven. About three miles down the gorge or narrow pass the summit on, the westerly or southerly aide suddenly recedes, leaving at the base an opening a little above the level of the stream of several acres. The >'o1ch house is situated in this opening. The plate on the next page, copied from a hasty sketch taken the day before our visit, presents a tolerably accurate view of the Willey house as it now ap- pears. It stands, as it has stood the three sever- al times we have passed it, without an occupant. The track of the road from the right to left down the Saco will be seen in front: the barn or stable on the opposite and lov/er side of the road was not there at the time of the fatal avalanche. It has been erected since tocnable a winter occupant to fErnish entertainment for the traveller, there being then no other house for seven miles above and six miles below. Within the last I'vvi years however use of the Willey house has been superseded by the erection of commodious buildings by T. J. Crawford, just outside of the Notch. A barn above the road near the rock on the right hand of the pic- ture, was prostrated by the slide from the moun- tain,while the house escaped. At no great distance below and at several points above and below, the slides filled up the road so as to make it nearly im- passable. A supposed new discovery. The most of these slides took place in August, 1S2G. The first time we passed through the Notch afterwards was in July 1S:5'.$: we again passed it in the summer of 183(1. At both times, as well as the present, we stopped at different places on the road to mark the changes that had occurred. After leaving Abel Crawford's we this time noticed par- ticularly at the sides of the road wherever the ground had the advantage of the sun, that the veg- etation was uncommonly luxuriant ; tlie raspberry, the white honey-suckle and other natural grasses were abundant. We recollected, where the road passed over the track of several of the slides, that the gravel and rocks of the color of light grey granite in some places, and in others of a yellow tinge, had entirely usurped the place of every thing green ; and the bed of the road was like a naked beach of pebbles on the sea shore. In six years the face of the road at the location of these slides had almost entirely changed : the pebbly track had become in some instances a black loamy soil, and a flourishing green sod covered that part over which there w.as no constant travel. Exposure to the atmosphere for several successive years, with alternate freezing and thawing, had converted the rock of the mountain itself into rich soil. That there might be no mistake about this fact, especial reference was had to the slide at the Wil- ley house. This slide came down from the steep above and from the depth of several feet into the mountain side on either hand of the house. A por- tion of that part which came down on the easterly or st.uth side was left several feet m depth on the upper side of the road fronting the barn as it now stands — it was a pile of clear mountain matter, rocks decomposed or sub-soil. On this vegetation was as rank as that growing upon the manure bed. We pointed out the fact to a Massachusetts gentle- man who happened to be upon the spot: he saU! there must have been manure placed tliere. The barn vard was below on the other side of the road — the land had never been used for cultivation ; and it Vv'as at'occe sartially furnished the substance which has so greatly enriched the Con- necticut river valley ; and every freshet brings down upon the alluvial bottoms new matter from the jnountains, as a deposile of riches to the farm- er. The idea is a mistaken one that vegetable mat- ter alone is the cau^e of fertility — it is mineral mat- ter, it is the substance of t;ie rocky mountain it- self dissolved or worn into small particles by attri- tion of water or by (Exposure to tile air, that cre- ates the fir.itful alluvial soil. Change of the Mountains. A great revolntion has taken place in the m'^"- nificent White JVlountains since the recollection of persons now living, llev. Dr. Currough^ of Ports- mouth, with whom we conversed at the mountains, says that he first visited them more th.an thirty 3'enr3 ago ; that since that time vast quantities of matter, independent of the great slides of Il5".2(), hive been precipitated into the Notch road all along tlic valley of the Saco, and that when he first saw the mountains a great part which now discovers the naked rock was covered with a heavy growth of wood : fires have since run over these moun- tains, in many places consuming the growth of wood and the e.xterior soil; and the waters, from this CTuee, have brought down a more than usual qaanti'.v of the body of the mountain itself. In the course of nature this loss might be repaired if the mountains should be left to themselves ; for exposure to the atmosphere in the return of seasons will chan^ie much of the naked rock to soil on whicii a new growtli of trees will spring up. An eldrrly gentkunan long acquainted v.'ith the mountains accounts for the slides in the fact that the surtlice i;icludiu'ill prevent the blasting of onions, we leave the reader to judge from the facts here stated. Blasted Onions. At Enfield we were informed of the blin;ht of their onions, especially of those which liad lieen transplanted. On visiting tlie yard of the Centre Family of Shakers, their anijjle and beautiful field of transplanted onions presented a spectacle ©f dis- appointed hopes ; and the best grown and most uniform field of sown onions, although not so far A volume was presented to Gen. Washington in ker i 1707, by Lord Erskine, on a blank page of which, he wrote trhe^fcllowingnolo, containing perliaps the happiest eulogium of the many bestowed upon that wonderful man : "Sir— I have taken the libertvto inlroduce your august and immortal name, in a short sentence, which is to be found in the book I send you. I have a large acquaintance ainono; the most valuable and exalted classes of men, bi3t you are t/ie only hn-iiian beinir^ for whom I over felt an awful rev- erence. 1 Sincerely pray God to grant a long and serene evening to a life bo gloriously devoted to the happiness of the world" Self acting Cheese Press. Our friend Caleb Dver of Enfield, lias furnish- ed, at almost at the moment of this number going to the press, the above model of the self-acting Cheese Press. The principle of this press was sug- gested by a mechanic of Lebanon, N.H. and applied to this use by the tact which has always existed a- mong the ingenious artists who do the mechanical work of the Shakers. This press (says the Maine Farmer) "is con- structed on the principle of the knuehle or fogle — a species of compound power. The cheese itself is the pressing power." As far as this press has become known it is uni- versally preferred to any other: the demand for it ?t the First Canterbury Famil}' has been great- er than could at the time be supplied. Its cheap- nes.'?, from three to six dollars, if it be equally good, will cause it to be preferred to tlie more ex- pensive cheese presses. The Shakers had been in the iiabit of using iron screw presses that cost twen- ty dollars and more. We saw one of tlio self-act- ing presses at the dairy of the First Family in Can- terbury a few days since. The sisters say this press is far better than any within their knowledge that have gone before it. They exhibited ciieeses w"eighing from twenty to forty and fifty pounds each, which had been consolidated from the curd in one of these presses, which was ample for cheeses of almost any size. We wonder how dairy own- era should have so long been worried with presses much more complicated — the screw, the lever, the wheel, the axle, inclined plane and wedge — drop- ping one and substituting another — when an inven- tion so exceedingly simple as this should be a bet- ter svibstitute. By the wav» in managing tlie dairy, as in every thing else, the Shakers go ahead of all others. — Tlie neatness of their establishment is first worthy of riotice, tiiere being no srent about it such as is very common e ^en in the well managed dairies of other extensive farmers, consequent upon the whey and the buttermilk or thp vessels used. There is the same neatness here, whether upon the floor or shelf, ns is to be met in all the apartments of that people. After the curd furms, tJie Shakers have a ma- chine for breaking it up to its requisite fineness, a mill on the principle of that commonly ueed for grinding cofli-e : this saves much hard labor which is done by the hand of the common dairy woman. The turning of the cheese in tlie hoop, which is so straining in the UKual process and requires much strength, is done by a simple invention, requiring no more power than the mere lifting the weight of the cheese. The Sliakers at Canterbury and Enfield, having more engagements as mechanics and gardeners than as farmers, of late make but little butter or cheese for sale. Wliat they do make is of the very first qt'iality ; and they show their good sense and their independence by keeping their best articles for their own consumption. Their labor-saving inventions very much con- tribute to thejr ease and comfort. In the midst of the Iiaj' season they do every thing easy Their horse rake enables a man and boy with one horse, to do the work of ten men with the hand rake in gathering the hay into the cocks. VVhen loaded THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 121 upon the cart, a simple machine with a boy and horsp and two men takes from tlie cart, hoists and curries to any part of tlie extensive bay or scaffuld in from five to eight minutes, a ton andalialfof cured hay. The ordinary process would reqnirc the severe straininot and lifting with the pitch fork of two or more stout men at least half an hour., In preparing their fuel, the saw carried l)y water power is made to perform the work of the hand and tiie axe. At Canterbury, situated upoi\ groui-d so hifrli that nature has denied the use of a large stream of water, artificial ponds to catcii the suc- cessive rains, one above another, have been creat- ed, in which the water is retained by means of close dams. On the falls between these ponds are erect- ed mills with various machinery, whicli turn out many of those fine manufactured articles common- ly found for sale in the different parts .of the coun- try. The Self Acting Cheese Press which was the sole object of this article, it may be presumed will hereafter become of that extensive use as to re- ward the inventors and makers. It may be had at the New England Agricultural Ware-house in Bos- ton, and will be kept another season by some agent in Concord, N. II. Agriculture in Ohio. There is not, perhaps in the civilized world, a richer and more exuberant soil, than the bottom lands of tlie State of Ohio. All reports of these bottom lands in the vallyesof the Muskingum, the Miami, &c. represent their fertility as holding out beyond most others in the country. In the a bundance of rich soil the great misfortune is, that but little is done to renovate the land ivhen it is once worn out : the fertilizing properties are taken a- way, and the land is abandoned while no use is made of the various manures which the land sup- plies. A friend has furnished us with the ^^Rcport of the First Annual Fair of the Miami J^trricttltnra/ Soeiett/,'' held near Cincinnati on the I7th and Irith October, 1838, together with the address of its President, C. S. Ci,\kkson, from which we are glad to see that the Cultivators in our young Sister of the West are- becoming duly impressed with the necessity of cherishing and feeding her soil to keep up its fertility. The address is wortliy of attention as coming from a practical man wiio knows well how to "do good, and communicate" to his fellow farmers in "words fitly spoken." We cannot do a more acceptable service to the readers of the Visitor tlian by making extracts of the prin- cipal part of this address: l;XTRACTS. At the recent organization of the Miami Vallev Agricultural Society, its members did me the honor of electing me their President; and a dis- tinguished honor I consider it. Tile Con5?tltution of the Society makes it imper- ative on the presiding officer to deliver, or cause to be delivered, an address at each Annual Fair. In the discharge of this branch of my duty, 1 con- sider myself far less at home tlianin the barn yard, tlie well stocked pasture grounds, the meadow, or the cultivated field ; with these I am familiar, tie writing and delivering of speeches has been total- ly out of my line. On the presentoccasioii howev- er, 1 have determined to make the effort, believing th:it a few plain, unvarnished facts, detailed to you in a no less plain and simple manner bj* a farmer, who can speak from experience, would be quite as acceptable to this Society as an elegant address delivered by an experienced and accomplished or- ator, who spoke from books and theory «lonc. Rapiil Progress at Improvement in Ohio. Genti.e^ien, — The cause in which we are en- gaged is one of deep and abidmg interest to the prosperity and happiness of man ; stop the onward march f)f agriculture, and j'ou sap the very foun- dation of ail other branches of industrj' and enter- prise, on which manis dependent for employment liotli of body and mind. To what are v.e to at- tribute our unrivalled prosperity and happiness as a peo])le, but to this noble cause. Look but for a moment at our beautiful and flourishin^city, [Cin- cinati] the far famed and justly styled, "Queen of the West." See the rapid strides she has made and is still making to distinction. View with pride and admiration, as you doubtless will do, the vari- pus avenues leading her on to great wealth and power. See her canals, turnpikes, and rail roads tiiat are entering at all points; in front behold the most beautiful river tliat flows in tlie world ; its bosom covered with its hundreds of splendid steam boats, that look more like floating palaces than freight crafts, and arc continually leaving her wharves, wafting to distant marjicts the millions of dollars worth of produce that reach the city through her various channels of communication. VVlience comes all this ! Cast your eyes for a mo- ment, on the valley before you, and the hills tiiat surround you ; then let your imagination lead you up the rich and lovely region between the Miam- ies, thence to the finely cultivated and extremely fertile country north, west and east of you, and the story is told. It is the advantage resulting from the successful cultivation of the soil, in the rich and productive region, in the midst of which our lots are happily cast, concentrating at this point, that have mainly built up your great and growing city. Some fifty years ago the country round iia was a wilderness, untrod by the footsteps of civilized man, its forest unfelled, its soil unbroken, the home of the deer, the wolf, the bear, and the buffa- lo, and the no less wild man of the woods. What is it now, and to what are we to attribute its change .' To the woodman's axe, and the plough- man's .share. See what enterprise and industry have achieved in the short space of fifty years, and judging from the past how deeply interesting is the future. I conceive it almost beyond the reach of man's imagination, to calculate the wealth and power to which this country is destined to attain, if it goes on to prosper for the next fifty years as it has for the last. Tlie subjugation of this western wilderness has been made under many disadvanta- geous circumstances. Our enterprising pioneers had to encounter innumerable difficulties, and hardships to which the present generation are to- tal strangers ; not only destitute, of the common necessaries and comforts of life, but they had to contend against a fierce and savage foe, who dis- puted with them every inch of ground, and sought their destruction by every stratagem which Indian warfare could suggest. But the bold and daunt- less spirits of our forefathers were not to be stopped or even checked in their onward march. They had seen, and to behold was to admire, this rich and lovely country. They at once saw the incalcula- ble advantages which must result from the culti- vation of such a soil, situated so advantageously as this entire western country, for the transporta- tion of its products to the distant markets of the world. Its climate too, being entirely congenial to the health of the people, and to tlie rearing and maturing of the most valuable grains and grasses known to us, and happily adapted to the culture 'of the choicest fruits and vines. With these flat- tering prospects before them, the bold, enthusias- tic and daring spirits, who had left tlie quiet and comfortable houses of their fathers for the western world, resolved to conquer this wilderness and cause it to smile as the rose, or die in the attempt. The result of that experience, fellow citizens, we are now enjoying, and in common with you all, I rejoice at the innumerable blessings that surround us. From the spot we now occupy we can behold the hundreds of market wagons passing daily with the products of the farms and gardens of the adjacent country, for the supply of the citizens of our flourishing city ; from the same spot we can see hundreds of thousands of pounds of produce daily iiassing down the canal, to be borne off to v.i- rioiis and distant markets by steam boats and ships which return laden with merchandize, the neces- saries and luxuries of life. From this very spot, fifty years ago, the savage was heard, and the white man v/ho attempted to clear or cultivate the soil, had to go to his labor armed, to protect himself a- gainst the tnnialiawk and scalping knife of the In- dian. Beliold the difference: see what industry and enterprise can accomplish : Haifa century a- go, the whole State of Ohio was a howling wilder- ness; now it is covered with finely improved farms, beautiful and growing cities, canals, turnpikes, and rail roads ; and, contains within its borders a mil- lion and a half of free, happ}', and prosperous citi- zens. Let us go on with this enterprise and in- dustry as opportunities and facilities occur, and the time is not distant when our country will bear a comparison with any otiler in the world. lUethod of preserving the soil and procur- ing gre.atest product. Agricultural Im- provements, Deep Ploughing. The great object, gentlemen, of cur Society, (as expressed by its' Constitnticin,) is to promote the science of Agriculture, and to that now let us turn our attention, and briefly enquire what changes and improvements are necessary in our system of hnstjandry. The farmer :ir .cultivator of the soil, in the first settlement of this region, had it not in his power to deviate from the common course pursued in tlii' opening and improving of new countries ; to clear the ground and prepare it for the plough, when time and circumstances enabled him to do »o ; but in most cases the Indian corn from which the staff of life was to be produced, was planted and culti- vated with the hoe, without the logs being remov- ed ; and, for many years, the small grain was put in the ground in the most slovenly manner. This is no longer necessary in the beautiful Valley of the Miamies. Our lands are now opened and pre- pared for a better state of cultivation. Let us cul- tivate them in the best manner, for the attainment of two objects — the preservation of the soil, and the greatest product from it. Then, fellow citizens, let me say to you in the first place, put into the hands of your laborers, ag- ricultural implements or farming tools worthy the object in which you are eng.aged. Nothing can be greater folly, or worse economy, than to give a man an indift'erimt tool with with which to perform a day's work, or to permit him to work with a good one after it gets out of order. Every farmer should have a tool-house, and make it the imperative duty of the laborer, when his day's work is done, tojmt his tools in their proper place. Time is money, and it will be found that the time spent in looking after misplaced tools, if saved, as it may be, by hav- ing regular rules and strictly adhering to them, would be a handsome item of profit. To enumer- ate the various tools or implements, necessary to carry on the various agricultural pursuits, is nei- ther necessary nor expedient at this time. The plough, the harrow, the hoe, the axe, the cultiva- tor, the rake, the mowing scythe, the scythe and cradle, and the roller, are amongst the most com- mon and useful, indeed are indispensable to suc- cessful farming. These should all be of the best construction, and made of the best materials ; and when you find the maker of an agricultural tool, skillful and honest, encourage him ; you had bet- ter pay two prices for a good farming utensil, than have an indifferent one presented you. The rol- ler I would strongly recommend to the use of ev- ery farmer; it is of the greatest importance in lev- elling the ground, especially that used for mead- ows. It should be u.sed after the seed is sown ; it will break the clods, render close and compact the light soils, and cause the grass seeds to germinate, when they otherwise would not, owing to the loose and light texture of the soil, which prevents the fibres of the roots from taking hold : add to this, it gives a smooth level surface for mowing. Tiio same reasons will apply, for the use of the roller, in preparing the ground for small grain. It is sim- ple in its construction, and its cost is very trifling. The great improvem.ents that have taken place in labor saving machines, and in implements of hus- bandry generally, have been of incalculable value to the farming interest of our country. May we not hope that our improvements in agriculture will keep pace with the rapid strides of the ingenious mechanic. The time has passed when the farmer may s:iy, "my father ploughed his grounds two and three inches deep and I must do so too : it was his custom to plough his hilly lands, directly up ami down, and of course I only follow his example ; he ns?d such and such tools, and ploughed and sow- ed, reaped and mowed, after the fashion of the old- en time, and why should I deviate from the customs of my ancestors .■''' This course fellow citizens, will no longer bo tolerated by the intelligent and enlightened farm- era of our valley. Experience has proved to them that deep ploughing is necessary for two objects : first, you cannot calculate on a good crop, without preparing your land properly to receive the seeds ; and, secondly, you cannot expect to save the soil from washing away, if you only loosen itj surface. Characteristics of the successful Farmer. The industrious and sagacious farmer pursues his business with systematic skill ; at the proper season he is seen clearing up his lands, and pre- paring them for the plough ; at the proper season in the spring, his grounds are turned over and made ready for the reception of the seeds. In due time, he is seen cultivating, assiduously, his crops ; he goes on steadily, step by step, in the discharge of the various duties of the husbandman, and when he has thus performed them, he leaves tlie increa.se to Ilim who made the soil and placed man upon it, tliat by the sweat of the brow, he should earn his bread. But how few in this region conduct their farming operations systematically or profitably. The farmer sliould understand his business as thorouglily as the mechanic, the merchant, tho lawyer, or the physician. To do this, ho must ap- ply his mind as well as his body, to the task ; and I kno\y of no einploymeut better calculated to a- mnse, interest, and rivet tlie attention, than agri. cultural pursuits. To the lover of nature and tho admirer of her regular and systematic laws, an un- bounded field is at all times laid open to his view; he looks with admiration upon this vegctabloking 122 THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. dom ; he sees from the small seeds put into the ground, the rapid vegetation tliat takes place ; and he watches with dclTghl, tlie diflVront gradations from the first budding until its arrival at maturity. How pleasing and deeply interesting must he the anticipations of the farmer who looks forward to the reaping of a full harvest, after the spring's toil is over, ifut when these bright anticipations have been fully realized, his Iiarvost reaped, and secur- ed in his barn, how truly grateful sliould he he to Him who made the eartb, and caused it to bring forth its fruit; 'Paul and Apollos may water, hut God alone can give the increase.' And, fellow citizens," fear not, if you do your duty, that this increase will be given. The farmer Who carefully pre- pares his land for the reception of his seeds, puts them into the ground at the proper season ; cultivates them with industry, skill, and judgment, will never fail to be abundantly compensated for his labor, by a plentiful harvest. Of this we have a divine assurance in the promise that seed time and harvest shall not fail. The best product to be selected for seed. The Farmer's labors abundautly repaid. One of the greatest secrets of successful faini- ing is the preparation of your grounds, for the re- ception of seeds and plants. Plough deep and pulverize your lands well, but be careful nut to plough when the ground is wet. This causes ma- ny soils to bake and renders them unproductive. You will always find the successful farmer careful in the selection of his seed ; never sow, or plant inferior grain : I have found much advantage in halving a small granary in my corn-crib, and rc- tuiring the feeder of my stock to select the best e-.irsof corn, and put them by for seed; in this way the best grain is reserved for the next year's crop. Tlie same rule will hold good in regard to roots, and small grain crops. In tlie fall of the year when the farmer is putting away his vegetables to be kept over winter, it is not unfrequently the case, tluit he selects his largest and best potatoes, beets, parsnips, carrots, &c., to feed his stock, or for cul- inary purposes, laying by at the same time the small and inferior products for planting. This practice, experience has proved to be unwise and should be abandoned by all who are aiming at im- piovements. But shall it be said that the prices which agriculturists receive for their products will not justify this extraordinary care in husbandry .' Surely not, for if the farmer's returns be small, more careful culture is necessary on his part. But are not the labors of the linsbandman abundantly repaid ? Is there any occupation in our country which brings a more certain and ample compensa- tion for the time and capital employed, than the cultivation of tlie earth in the fertile valley of the Miamies, and indeed throughout the whole west- ern country ? For the sake of illustration let us refer to a few facts connected with the agriculture of this particular district. I will not go into par- ticulars, but give the average products and the pri- ces which they bear, and from these every one may draw his own conclusions. Were I in Kentucky, my native State, I would begin with the Indian corn, but as I am in Ohio, my adopted home, where we prefer the wheaten cake to the Indian pone, I will commence with the grain that produces the staff of life, and say that the well prepared field, if the season is suitable, will produce 2o bushels of wheat per acre, worth at this time one dollar per bushel ; of rye 30 to 35 bushels may readily be pro- duced, worth seventy to seventy jive cents; bar- ley 40 to 45 bushels, worth fifty-five to sixty-five cents per bushel ; oats 40 bushels, worth at this time fifty cents per bushel; of Indian corn an av- eracie crop in our best lands 60 bushels worth now sixty-two and a half per bushel: and potatoes 300 bushels, worth commonly fifty cents, now worth one dollar twenty-five cents per bushel ; of hay, bottom lands will produce on an average two tons, upland one and a half tons, worth this season fif- teen dollars per ton, average price about twelve dol- lars ; beets, parsnips, turnips, and carrots may be raised in great abundance, and the finuer finds a ready market for all the above articles, at the a- bove ])riccs. But this is not all, he has Ills pasture lands, and tliey, well stocked with beautiful cattle, of the most improved breeds ; he has his i\nc hors- es calculated for the drauglit and the saddle ; his flocks of sheep and his droves of hogs, all reared and matured on his own farm ; and for all them he finds a cash market in our flourisiiing city at fine prices. Added^to which, labor is abundant, and at moderate prices. The superior productiveness of the lands in this region will appear by contrasting them with some of the richest and. best cultivated farms in the Slate of Pennsylvania. By reference to an essay in the American Farmer, published June, 1636, written by a gentleman whose accura- cy and knowledge of, the subject cannot be ques- tioned, it appears that the average produce per a- cre of the lands in the enunties of Lancaster, York, and Franklin, does not exceed l.j bushels of wheat, 20 of rye, 30 of Indian corn, 100 of potatoes, and from one to one and a half tons of grass.- — This has been the average ]iroduct since the year 1700, and the expectation of material increase is far from being flattering. More consumers than producers. Thor- ough tilling Avill increase production. Tills reminds me of another branch of this sub- ject, which I will here introduce ; we have too ml- ny consumers for the number of producers, in oth- er wor''s our agricultural products are not suffieient fertile consumption of our country, and to supply the foreign demand which is made on us. See tlie immense amount of bread stuffs, and grain we were forced to import for our own consumption in 1836 and 1837, from /ore ign nations; and in the present year, when there is likely to be a foreign demand for grain, we have little or none to spare. This proves, fello-w citizens, that our farming in- terest is neglected to a certain extent. That por- tion of our country now under cultivation is capa- ble of producing, by a judicious and proper mode of farming, from 25 to 33 per cent, more than the present yield ; the great mistake of our farmers, is an attempt to cultivate more land than they are ca- pable of doing well. On^ acre of land thoroughl}' tilled, will produce more than two acres badly cul- tivated ; too much dependence is frequently plac- ed on the strength and fertility of the soil. No matter now rich the land, careful cultivation is ne- cessary to bring out its power and reward to its ful- lestextent the labors of the husbandman. The richest lands must be manured. It is too often considered useless by our West- earn farmers to manure their rich lands. This is a great mistake ; the products oftho fine, beauti- ful, and fertile meadow lands, in this immediate vicinity, I mean the Mill Creek bottoms, rich as they are, to my own knowledge, they have been doubled within three years by the addition of i good covering of stable manure each season ; it al- so greatly improves the land and increases their yield of corn, small grain and vegetables of all Kinds. 1 know of no labor bestowed on a farm that returns abetter profit than that wlilcli is expended in the saving and spreading of iiianiue upon the cul- tivated grounds. Meadow lands near our city, or in the immediate vicinity of the Ohio river, the ca- nals or other navigable streams, are becoming of much value, and must increase as our population grows. Hence the importance, not only of keep- ing up -these lands, but improving them ; and no matter how rich or how deep the soil, if you con- tinue from year to year, taking ofl' the crops a'nd return nothing to it, in time you will render it ster- ile. But if you pursue a prudent and judicious eource, you may increase and render perpetual the fertility of your fields. This will apply to your arable as well as pasture and meadow lands. But great care should be taken in your method of cul- tivation, as I have before stated ; one essential mat- ter is deep ploughing ; another no less important is to plough your hilly or rolling lands, upon the horizontal plan. If these two points are strictly attended to, yoir will prevent them from wa*Iilng, ;ind receive tlie full benefit of any manure you may put on it. Rotation in crops, is also another im- pr.rtant matter; corn should not be cultivated more than two vears in succession on the same field, nor indeed any otlier kind of grain. On small grain, sow the red clover; mow or graze that two or even three years^; turn the fall crop under in Sej)tem- ber or October, and if you wish small grain again, sow on this land, and the succeeding fall will i>re- sent a better field of clover tliau it was when ploughed in. But sliould vou wish to put the fii Id in corn, by ploughing in the fall crop you greatly enrich your land, and also destroy the egg that ~l)roduces the cut-worm, which is found so dcstruc-* tlve to corn planted in clover lands, plonglud up in the spring. In this matter, gentlemen, 1 speak from experience. By this method of farming, your lands v/iU be constantly fresh and productive, in- deed they will increase iii richness and fertility. The red clover I consider, as one among the most valuable grasses in our country. No grass v;itliin my knowledge, makes so rich and nutricious a hay for neat cattle, as the clover, if cut when in full flower, cured quickly, with the least possible use of tlie rake or fork, and mowed away with about half a bushel of salt to the ton. This obviates the ne- cessity of giving salt in another way, to your stock. For horses, the timothy hay is generally jirefijrred. I would also recommend the salting of timothy hay in the stack or mow. As a grazing grass, I know of none equal to the spear grass (improperly cal- led in the 'West; blue grass.) Though I have found that a mixture of red clover, spear grass, and tim- othy, made the best pastures ; and, when sowed together, more effectually than any other, protect- ed the roots from the intense heat of the sun, v/liich is as injurious at some seasons, and ruinous to vey- etation, as it is at others necessar.y and important to its vitality. Much ground is often wasted and unoccupied for the want of a sulliciency of seed being sown upon it. Tlie thicker your grass grows, the longer will the soil retain moisture, and conse- quently the better guarded against such a season as the present has been. This reasoning, I consider quite as applicable to the crops of small grain as to the grasses. I think the quantity of wheat, rye and oats sown general- ly upon the acre, too small .Of wheat not less than one and a half bushels is necessary ; of rye about the same quantity; and of oats from two to three bushels, agreeably to the quality of ground. The last season I had three bushels sown to an acre, and have never reaped a greater harvest. Attention to timber lands. I would also earnestly recommend my agrieiil-. tural friends to be more saving and economical of their fine timber trees, indeed of all their trees, whether for fuel or lumber purposes. The time is not distant when lumber will be of great value in this neighborhood ; and instead of rutting down and clearing the lands, intended for pasture grounds, why not pursue the plan, that the intelli- gent farmers of Kentucky have adopted :' They clear up all the under-brush, fallen timber, and such scrubby and useless trees as are not likely to become valuable, leaving the fine thrifty trees standing. In these open woods they sow grass seed, and in a short time have beautiful woodland pastures, which pay them a handsome interest on the value of the land otherwise useless and un- profitable. Many of them are also cultivating the black locust tree, with much advantage. This course may be strongly recommended to the farm- ers of the Miami Valley. It is known perhaps to many of you that no seed is more difficult to veg- etate than the locust, in the common progress of nature. But from an easy and simple process this seed may be made to vegetate and grow as quick and rapidly as the Indian corn. I will give my own experience on this point. I put about one quart of tlie clean seed into a stone jar and teemed over them boiling \vater, which was suffered to re- main some two or three minutes; it was then turn- ed oft" and warm water put to the seed, and thus left for thirty-six hours in a warm room ; then plan- ted in freshly prepared land,, about the 15tli of Ma}', and in f"our days time the young plants were up and visible at a considerable distance from the rov*'. I doubt not that this timber may be cultivat- ed to great profit ; the locust thus will grow on land not suitable for cultivation, and the spear- grass will grow finely and afford good pasture a- mong them, if ]ilanted at the distance of six or eight feet apart. This is not tlieoretical ; it is in full and successful practice in many parts of Ken- tucky, and I hope soon to see it commenced in our own "rich and beautiful country. Importance of improved breeds of Cattle, Sheep and Swine. But, gentlemen, tliere are other branches of hus- bandry besides tliat of the products of the soil, which claim our attention. One of these will readi- ly occur to your minds, when you cast your eyes upon (he fine animals brought here for exhibition, and as competitors for the, premiuins of the Socie- ty, We can boast of as good specimens of file late improved breed of Short Horn Durham Caltlo as ran be fouWd in the United States ; and 1 have no hesitation in saying that this is the finest breed of cattle in existence. It may be asked in wiiat does their peculiar excellence consist .^ to v.'hlch -I can reply from practical experience, (having handled many of them for the last five years,) their aptness to fatten, their eaily maturity, large size, and su- perior beef, and milking qualities, not omitting' their docility, beauty and Syinuietry of f'orui. The Durham Bullock at ft,iur years old, is better than the common tireed can be made at any age, and this too with the same amount of food, and same kind of treatment. As yet, however, the price of these animals is quite too great to justify their use for the common purjioses of beef and milk; but the crosses on the common stock of the country, are found to be most advantageous ; and I would recommend every able farmer to furnish himself with this breed of cattle; and that a few neighbors unite, when it is not convenient for each to have an animal of his own, in the purchase of a full blooded one. Great credit, I think, is due to one THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 123 of our Vice Presidents for the introduction ofEncr- ish Cattle in the western country. In 1817, Mr. Lev/is Saunders of Kentucky, togetJier with two other intelligent and respectable citizens of Fay- ette county, made an importation of Short Horn Durham Cattle. This was the first introduction of this breed into Kentucky, and from them has de- scended all of that stock now known as the impor- tation of 1817. The more recent importations are called the improved Short Horns ; but I believe it will be found that the crocs, produced from the stock of 1817, and the late importations will be truly the improved breed. I entertain the opinion that the introduction and propagation of the improved breed of cattle in Ohio, will be perinanent, progressive, and enriching ; I dread no falling off in this great and interesting ex- periment, and believe me, we will in time be able to outstrip England herself, by means of the supe- rior facilities which our country possesses for this kind of business. A country capable of yielding the immense agricultural products of Ohio, must have a decided advantage over one not possessing such ample supplies of provender, however well situated in other respects for the raising of cattle. "The great object of the husbandman is to obtain the most valuable return from his raw material ; to prefer that kind of live stock, and that breed of an}' kind, that will pay hini best for the food the animal consumes. The value to which the animal itself may be brought is quite a different, and infe- rior consideration ;" so, in the rearing of cattle, iliust always be taken into consideration the abun- dance of food ; and the size the animal mast bear, as a question of profit, a proper relation to the quan- tity or scarcity of aliment. Those countries whose produce is scanty and dear, may, as matter of boast, produce as fine formed, and larger sized cattle than ours, but, with reference to profitable investment, tlie countries of scanty supply, must yield as gra- ziers, to those of rich and ample products. It is an established position amongst breeders in England, that the size of cattle must be determined by the abundance or scarcity of food; and that the district of scanty supply, must rest contented with a less noble but more hardy race, than can be profitably produced on more fertile or prolific soils. If these positions are true, is there any question, but that Ohio will take the lead and keep it, in her career of raising fine stock.-* That the demand will mcrease with the supply is hardly more to be questioned, than the superior character of the improved Short Horned breeds over the ordinary stock of the country. That the price of such stock v/ill decline, I cannot bring my mind to believe, at least for the present and suc- ceeding generation ; for it is manifest that such cattle are intrinsically and immensely superior in all tile points necessary to make them valauble, to the ordinary stock. I think, gcntleinen, we may pe fully assured of this, when we reflect that it is now 83 years since Mr. Robert Bakewell commen- ced those extensive experiments in Leicestershire, England, whicii terminated in the important im- provements for which his name is celebrated. And how stand the prices and demand, for liis cattle, sheep, and hogs now, and ever since he brought them to such perfection .' The demand in Eng- land for high bred cattle is as large, not only for the supply in America, but on the Continent, as it ever was, and so far froni falling off, it is increas- ing; and the prices, instead of declining, are on the advance ; can we believe that the demr-nd for them will ceasG, until the boundless regions of the West are amply stocked, and until the people of the union shall cease to be carnivorous ^ liut I wish to impress it on the mind of every intelligent farmer that b}' taking the proper coursie, he can greatly improve his stock of every kind. The an- imal race, like the vegetable kingdom, should be propagated alone from the best and finest speci- mens (^f its kind. Let this course be strictly adhered to, and a very few years will prove its great benefit to the stock of our country ; it was in this way that the fine Durham Cattle were produced, and by following tliis excellent rule, that Bakewell be- came celebrated for his fine slicep, hogs and other stock. And suffer me, in this place, to speak of the Bakawelj sheep, a stock destmed. to be of much vqi- ue to our western growers of wool and choice mut- ton. A thorough bred Bal'.evvell sheep will yield annually from eiglit to twelve ll)s. of wool, and his carcase will weigh from 100 to 150 lbs. when fat ,; and it is much more easily kept than the common stock of tlie country. The wool is not so fiii'o. though sulEciently so for coarse fabricks. But 1 believe that a cross, with the Bakewell on the Me- rino, Saxony aiid comviion sheep of the country, will make the most valuable kind for both mutton an,d wool. 1 speak fromeipericnce, having on the ground at this time, the full bloods and the half Saxony, and Bakewell sheep. Great attention, gentlemen, should likewise be given to the im- provement of breed of our hogs. There is no class of animals in which the farmer and commercial man haii a deeper interest, throughout the United States, and in this region especially. Cincinnati is now the greatest pork market in the world, and the very high prices which for several years past have been paid in this district for hogs, and the fair prospect of a continuance of these prices, render it of the highest importance that we should avail ourselves of the very best breeds of these animals. From my own experience of rearing as well as the packing of hogs, I believe the Berkshire breed crossed on the Byfield, produces the best breed that can be found in our country, for they attain a fine size at a very early age. The practical and intelligent farmer will soon find the folly of feed- ing a common bullock for six, when one of a dif- ferent breed can be made a more valuable animal in three years. The same remark will apply to hogs and sheep. One of the former of the im- proved Berkshire and Byfield cross, will weigh more when eighteen months old, than a common hog af- ter two and a half years of feeding. And sheep of the Bakewell breed with the same expense of keeping, will produce three times the amount of wool ami twice as much mutton, as one of the common kind. These improved breeds of animals have been but recently introduced in the West, and are not ex- tensively known to our farmers ; 1 therefore take great pleasure in recommending them to public at- tention. If any doubts should exist on the sub- ject of profits arising to the agriculturists, from the rearing of the beautiful breed of cattle, of which I have been speaking, they may refer to a sale which took place on the Clifton farm three miles north of Cincinnati, on the S7th and 28th of June last. This speaks a language too plain and satisfactory to be misunderstood. 1 would also refer to the more re- cent sale of Mr. Samuel Smith's stock, near Lex- ington, Kentucky. Gentlemen, the business of raising fine stock cannot be overdone, in a countrj' composed of such a people, settled in such a climate and on sucii soil as ours. The demand will be for years to come, greater than the increase of the pure bloodstock. The honor and advantage resulting from tilling the ground. I have now, fellow citizens, enumerated but a few of the many great advantages, which result to the farmer, who goes on in the discharge of his pleasing and delightful pursuit, with a steady and constant aim of improving his lands, increasing bis knowledge of the various agricultural branches to wliich his avocations may lead him, of enlarging his fjrtune, of expanding his mind, and of becom- ing a public benefactor. It has been correctly said, that he who causes two spears of grass to grow where but one stood before, is a public bene- factor; and will not the same remark apply to the enterprising and patriotic farmer, who has spent his time, his labor, and his ifioney, in successful experiments in agriculture and the improvement of the domestic animals of his country. Gentlemen, the culture of the earth, as it is the most natural, so it is the most innocent and honor- able means of subsistence to the human family. Its e.irliest rudiments were communicated by tlie Deity to the parent of mankind, the first husband- man of tlie earth. Its pursuit has been the object of the greatest and best of men from the earliest period oi' our history. It is an employment that has received more of favorable notice, more of bless- ing and commendation, than any cMier occupation to which man has ever devoted himself Holy Writ is full of its lionorable mention. There its praises are constantly displayed, and its virtues eloquent- ly described. Husbandi}- and it* labors, the divine glory of the country, the beauties of the harvest, the fruits of autumn, and tiie joyous employment of the spring, have been the themes of orators and poets from the remotest antiquity. The cultivation of the earth has received the flat- tering approbation of the greatest and best of men from the earliest ages. Tlipusands of approving sentiments might be called from the sayings and writings of the wisest philosopiiers and wisest statesmen, bearing the wannest testimony to the honorable character of husbandry. Cincinnatus, the noble Koman, was informed as he ploughed his field, that the Senate had chosen him Dictator ; he left his plough with regret, repaired to the field of battle, conquered the enemies of his country, and in sLvteen days laid down his ofiice and returned to his cultivated fields. I The Sugar Maple. There is no tree more natural to the hills and mountains of New Hampshire than the Rock or Sugar Maple : as in the colder and less fertile soil the white birch, as on the light plain ground the pine, as in the rocky swamp the alder, and in the alluvial swamp the tamerack, so on the warm, springy, rocky mountain ground the Sugar tree springs up spontaneously. If the track of a road is cut in the valleys between the mountains, the rock maples in countless numbers are generally the first to grow on the sides fS the travelled path.— The uncleared woods on the high lidls and far up the sides of the mountains are pretty sure to pre- sent a sugar orchard. While on our late journey, we were pleased to see the attention paid by many farmers to a nurse- ry of maples. There can be no grove more beautiful than one of maple trees in a clean pasture. In L-iudon and Gilmanton we passed several of these groves : the spot selected for them is most likely to be in a valley where the rocks cover a large share of the ground. Here in tlie heat of a summer mid-day the 'flocks of cattle and sheep repose; and nothing can be more refreshing in ex- treme hot weather than a maple shade which gath- ers like a bellows the cooling air. A thousand sugar maple trees will cover over but a small space of ground. The second growth of these trees is rapidly increasing among our farm- ers. The ingenious sugar makers in Grafton county have a method of collecting tjieir sap to be boiled down in their kettles, by means of a trough cut fioin a spruce, or other straight log: the sap is first turned from pails into a tub which communi- cates with the trough by a cock atone extreme and runs to a hogshead or other receptacle at the other, where the sap is wanted for use. These troughs which are easily made may be arranged in such po- sitions as to save much travel and heavy hand car- riage in collecting the material for manufacturing- sugar. The sugar making in many parts of New England is becoming an important business: it is a money- saving as well as a money-making business. No tree can be found more beautiful to decorate tlie road-side or the door yard than the Sugar tree. In the summer it will shade us — in early spring it will reriind all cost and trouble of rearing in what is most pleasant and grateful to the palate and useful in the sustenance of lamilies. Improved breeds of Cattle. The more we reflect on the subject, the more are we impressed with the thorough conviction that farmers will be generously paid for attention to im- proving tReir breeds of cattle. Where the breed is decidedly bad, it should be sold or swapped off for slaughter — where it is passably good, it should be crossed with a better breed ; and where it is very good, it perhaps may be made better by mixing with another breed that excels in some point where this is deficient. If we may credit the histor}' of cattle in Europe, the present race has been wonderfully changed from what it was centuries ago. Better keeping and attention in a succession of ages have given additional size and strength and docility to the cow and the ox : the wild animals out of which these highly useful domestic animals have been reared v/onld scarcely be recognized as of tlie same race. As in the vegetable creation, in the improvement of Indian corn, wheat, potatoes and other useful products of the earth, in the selection of seeds a- dapting them to soil and climate, so in the animal world the creatures ranging amidst onr hills and valleys in summer and fed in our stalls in winter, should be improved not only by selecting the best to be reared, not only by ample feeding, but by at- tention in choosing those breeds which present the best points. At the Centre Family at Enfield, N. H. we saw a (cw d .ys since, a drove of calves of the present spring that were almost equal in size to the great bulk of yearling cattle that are seen ranging in the pastures. Among these was a beautiful white face h-jifer of deep red— the l:irgc.;t and handsom- est cilf of the present year that we have yet seen. Tlie Shakers at Enfield have for several years had what they supposed to be a mixture of tho Durham breed of cattle : tho delicate limb, the length of the head and the clean nostrils of this fine heifer, indicated that she was of blood superior to common cattle, as did indeed the appearance of the dozen calves along with her. In another pasture were their working oken— all of them fit enough for slaughter— between which and the ordinary oxen there was as wide difference in size and comeliness as between the calves we have just noticed and those to be mat with all a- 124 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. long the roads and pastures In the same inclos- ure with ihe oxen was "Lion," a bull reared from their own stock, sixteen months old, larger than the common ox, of mixed color and of beautiful proportions, as docile as a common milch cow. In the enclosure with the calves and scverrtl fine year- lings, was "Leo," a bull calf ten months old — ful- ly as large as an ordinary cow. This calf is of tlie clear Duriiam breed, and was brouglit from tbe Brethren at New Lebanon, N. Y. when he was but a few weeks old ; his sire and dam came to New York from tlie Shaker brethren of Kentucky, wlio in farming enterprise are fully in advance with the most intelligent of that State, where tlie Durhams Bell from one to two thousand dollars apiece. At the Second Enfield family there is a two year old full blood Durham bull, also brought from the State of New York. This bull we did not see, he being in a pasture at a distance when we passed. When measured in the spring, he was si^^feet nine inches in the girtli. With these splendid animals, on their already im- proved breeds, the Enfield Brethren will do much towards perfecting the stock of New Hampshire and Vermont. Tliey live in the region of fine cat- tle, where the breeds have already been much ad- vanced from their excellent keeping. The pastures are there much better than in the lower towns : cattle can scarcely be stinted in keeping any where in the Connecticut river valley. In from three to five years the Shakers' enterprise will be rewarded with a kind of cattle probably worth at least double the value of an equal number of head at the pres- ent time. The efforts they are making deserve the li-ghest approbation of the community. COMMUNICATION. Commerce of Knowledge. Hon. I. Hii.L.— Sir: — I feel a disposition at least to communi- cate something, if it be but a mile, for the columns of your valuable pnper. I do it with cheerfulness by way of setting my humble example to my broth- er farmers. One important object of an agricultural paper, is to bring together facts, experiments, and the results of experience. Three fourths, at least, of the adult male population of New-England are devoted to the employment, which your paper is designed to patronize and improve. Their prosperity and earthly comfort depend in a great measure at least upon knowledge and skill in their profession ; and the feeding and clothing, and the prosperity of the whole nation, rest chielly upon the efforts wisely directed of this cia.ss of producers. All these men are acquainted with lh» tradition of the fathers upon this subject; and which like- wise they have seen annually exemplified in the gardens and fields, wliich they have helped to till. Very many, perhaps I might say all, sometimes by design and premeditation, and sometimes even by accident, make experiments and come to results, that are new, and some of these are valuable. Without a common receptacle, like a periodical paper, into which every one may cast his mite, im- portant facts must be limited to a very nnrrow cir- cle; perhaps to one family : and possibly these be disregarded, or even lost in tlio transit to another generation. Facts, which the i)ossessor may deem unimportant, or feel too modest to make public, may, if known, be more valuable to otiiers, than even to the possessor. They may constitute the very beam of light, adapted to dispel the darkness of others fitly or one hundred miles distant; or they may lead to future experiments by co-actorsin the same department. Human events and human beings are so linked together, sometimes by stronger, sometimes by feebler ties, that like tlic spider's web, by jarring a filament, you move tlie whole. Agrioulture is both an «?/, and a science. It must be cultivated, like other arts and sciences. Though it has in this country for more than two centuries, and in the v/orld fur near sixty centd- ries been grossly, and I may say shamefully ne- glected. Every department of liuman life, that is compo- sed both of art and science is developed first by art. The practical part comes first. The practical part of agriculture is composed botli of works and facts. Much of the operation of husbandry originated on the banks of the Nile in ages fur beyond the date of authentic and accurate history i in days when the pick in the hands of man was but a faint proto- type of the plough and the ox. Tlie little fund of practical knowledge ofsucii high antiquity, has been continually accumulating by new discoveries : but it has generally even to this our d^iy, been re- tained in tiie solitary bosoms of the operators. Re- tained not from jealousy, or rivalry, but chiefly through diffidence, as though each man's little pnr- 1 of New- York, in 1830, over and above what was tion of new acquirement was unworthy of special notice. But more generally it has been retained for the want of a medium of communication. ^' The. Farmer's Monthly Visitor" now furnishes the facilities of such a medium. I speak of the importance of facts; and they are all important. But their importance is increased a hundred, or a thousand fold by being made the common stock of the nation, where they may be turned to a high account by the many ; and pro- mote the prosperity of grand divisions of society. As the phenomena of n, 1830. State of the Country. We copy the following sensible and timely w.ir- ning from the CTiltivator, an agricultural Journal conducted by the Hon. Jesse Buel of Albany, N. Y., and that we may not be accused of publish- ing the article for any supposed favorable efiect to our own political side of the question — indeed in conducting the Visitor we know no partisan politi- cal feeling — we may be permitted to say that Judge Buel who places this as the leading article in his paper for' August is understood not to be- long to the political party with ^vhich we have ev- er acted. — EiL F. M. Visitor. Look out for another Panic. The New-York Times gives the followinix state- paid upon the like importations in 1338. This im- mense sum of seven and half millions of dollars, the, reader will bear in mind, is not the cost of the foreign articles we import, but merely the duty which is exacted by our laws on their introduction into, our country. And if we consider that almost evei*y foreign article not coming in competition with our own manufactures, is imported duty free; and that many other articles pay merely a nominal duty, we may with safety assume, that the duties payable at the custom-house do not amount to more than one-tenth of the cost of the foreign merchan- dize imported. We arrive, then, at this result, that the foreign goods imported into New-York du- rino- the present year, will exceed in amount the importations of ' lS3rt, SEVENTY-SIX MIL- LIONS OF DOLLARS! ! ! And who is to foot the bill? — who is to pay the balance ? Here is an extra charge against us, in a single port, of seventy-six millions of dollars, in a measure for articles which we can either produce within ourselves, or do without. Wq may boast of this as an era of commercial prosperity — we may boast that it fills the coffers of our national treasu- ry— but we cannot conceal the apprehension, that it is pregnant with future and direful evils to our country ; that it is the prelude to another commer- cial panic, more dreadful in its elfects than the one from which we are just recovering. Really, we are getting commercially mad. Like the reck- less spendthrift, we are cumbering our patrimonial inheritance, entailing upon our posterity a ruinous debt, from a vain ostentation of buying what we do not want, or what" at all events wo are unable to pay for. We repeat the question — By whom and how is this seventy-six millions of dollars to be paid? Paid it must be, if we would sustain our character for honesty and fair dealing. The total amount of our exports is but a little over one hundred mil- lions— some millions less than our imports of last year; and according to the data we have assumed, "they are likely to fall short of the imports of the current year from fifty to a hundred millions of dollars. Our state stocks have, to the amount of one hundred and seventy millions, been already sent abroad towards paying old balances,'' some considerable portion, of our bank st(-ck lias been employed for a like purpose; and, abstracting the exports of cotton, exclusively the production of the south, our exportations will not pay a tithe of the rapidly accumulating debt. What does this state of things augur to our man- ufacturing and agricultural interests ? This sev- enty-six millions of foreign merchandize has and will be spread over our county, and must and will be sold, though at a sacrifice of the holders; and supplant, in no small degree, the sales of domestic goods. Our manufacturers will consequently be- come cramped ; their business will be contracted ; many mills be stopped, and many failures ensue. The evils to the agriculturist will be, the loss of the market, to the manufacturer, of his provisions and raw materials, a diminution in their price, and a participation in the evils of another commercial panic. Our anticipations may not be realized ; yet the facts upon which they are founded, are such as should put every prudent man on his guard — as should render him cautious of running in debt, par- ticularlv for foreign mercliandize, and as should induce him, in all cases where it is practicable without a great sacrifice, to give a preference to domestic over foreign productions. The patriots of our revolution could forego the use of foreign goods, and their wives and daughters the use of their favorite beverage, tea, ibr their country's good. The sons surely have not so degenerated, as to be unwilling to adopt, in part, to maintain their independence, that policy which their fa- thers employed to achicrc it. * We are Iriily thankful iliat New-Haaipsliirc as :» Siale, has no part nor lot in liit-se'-' t>tale t^tnr.k:*"; it uitiU many (lolliirs ill ih<' luinilreri in ilir value ofihe lea! edtaie of her Fanni'is. —iCd((Hr M-mOlt: t UiU,r. Sffects of Lightning— Sarns burned. The fact that barns, v/hen newlv filled with hay grain, are much more apt to be struck than hous- ment of the amount of duties paid in the district of I cs, or than such barns are at other seasons of tho New- York, during the first quarter of 1S38, the first quarter of 18?0 : 1838 $9,407,755 78 183L), .... 4,3n0,.500 21 and Difi'erence, . . $1,001,744 43 Now, if we assume this as a criteron for the three coming quarters of the 3''ear, it will give an aggregate of ^7,600,979,72, ae the amount of du- ties upon foreigri importations, paid in the district year, will not be disputed by any one who reads the current journals of the day, and should put farm- ers, who would not lose the results of a year's hard labor in a single hour, upon enquiry as to means of preservation, or precaution, against such a loss. Every year furnishes multitudes of instances in which barns are destroyed by lightning ; but the past month has been remarkable tor the number of losses of this nature. In looking over the destruc- tion caused by the showers of a single day (Aug. THE FARMER'S iVJONTIlLY VISITOR. 125 11) in a few journals that come to our hand, we enumerate in difieiv.nt parts of the country no less than seventeen barns, besides several houses injur- ed or destroyed by lightning", and several lives lost. Tlie barns were mostly crammed with grain and hay, and in some of them the loss wds three or four thousand dollars. In Maryland, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, such disasters occur- red, and in not a single case is tliere any allusion made to precaution or protection, either by light- ning rods or by insurance of tlie propertj'. Little as is known of the nature or cause of the electric fluid, enougii has been ascertained to dem- onstrate that a eolunin of heated vapor, whether rising from a chimney, or from a mass of vegetable matter partially heating, as almost all hay or grain, when first put in a barn or stack does, forms one of the best conductors of the fluid, and one which oftener attracts it than any other. A vast quanti- ty of grain had been gathered into barns the week preceding Aug. IJ, and the showers of that day seemed charged with the lightning to an unusual extent. Of these barns, four were destroyed in Onondaga Co. alone ; tliree in New Jersey, within a few miles of I'liiladelpliia ; and the remainder in different parts of the country visited by some one of the many thunder gusts of that day. Every farmer should provide rods for liis Iiouse and his barns • the expense is but trifling, the se- curity they aflurd very great. The points oi tiiem should be kei)t bright ; at the places of contact with tlie building tliey should be insulated by glass or some non-conductor; and the rod at the foot biiould penetrate tlie ground so as to reach earth always moderately damp ; orsJiould end in a doub- le point That the fluid if conducted down the rod may readily escape. On no consideration whatev- er, should a conductor be painted. We have bet'ore recommended it to farmers to en- sure their buildings ; and we again urge it upon their notice. None are more interested in the safe- ty of their buildings and their crops, than them- selves, and every reasonable precnation should be adopted to prevent a catastrophe which in a moment may darken their fair prospects for life, if not re- duce to absolute want. As mutual insurance com- panies to affect tiiis have been formed in several parts of the State, firmers at the most trifling risque can protect one another, and no one, in tlie hope that he sliould escape accident of such kinds, should neglect such a precaution against total loss. The man who has a thousand dollars worth of wheat burned in his barn, if he has an insurance of two thirds of the amount, will not be as distressed as he who iias no insurance, and sees all lost in a mo- ment.— Gen. Farmer, 1838. For llie Fanner's Monthly Visitor. £ducatiou of Farmers,— No, 4, SGHOOI, TEACHEnS. Furnishing seventy thousand American sciiools with well qualifled teachers is, perhaps, the most important and the most dilflcult subject connected with the intellectual and moral character, and of course with the liberties of our Republic. As long as talents, like every article of commerce, will find the best markut, men of high intellectual and mor- al attainments cannot be retained in schools at iwenty-five dollars a month, while other profes- sions otfer four times the salary, with one half the labor and drudgery, and twice the respectability. No matter how many Teachers' Seminaries are es- tablished or -how rich!}' endowed, and how great the number or the qualifications of teachers, they can never be retained in common schools, until they are paid, and until the profession of teacliing stands as high in public estimation, as that of law, medicine or divinity. It must also be recollected on this subject, like every other system of National Education, that more than three fourths of the subjects of education are to be farmers and farmers' wives. Consequent- ly, that system, which -is best fitted to promote the farming interests, is best fitted for tlie interest of our Republic. In view of that fact, no one can doubt but a practical and scientific farmer may be better qualified to educate farmers, than the more scholar, however highly accomplished. This opin- ion is entirely corrpborated by facts, as many farm- ers, v>^hom I have known to pursue teaching as a winter profession, for a course of years, have made far better teachers, than are ever found, in stu- dents of a college, or in medical, law, or divinity students,, wlio use teaching as a kind of cats-paw profession, to aid them into another, which otfers larger emolument and higher respectability. While our schools are furnished from the students men- tioned, it is evident tliat they must suffer all the embarrassments, losses and other evils which can- not fail to arise from inexperienced laborers; and not inexperience merely, but those making no cal- culations, and taking no means, to acquire either experience or skill. Let young farmers adopt teaching as their pro- fession during the winter, for a course of years, and these two hitherto insurmountable obstacles, the want of salaries and experience, will, in a measure, at least, be removed. The farmer could afford to teach in his own district, at thirty dollars a month, for four months in a year better than one, who depended entirely ui)on teaching for tlie sup- port of a family, could for fifty dollars. As with the aid of a laborer whom jie might hire for ten dollars a month, or perhaps by the assistance of his sons without hired labor, he might attend to all the winter business of his farm, in addition to his ser- vices in the school. It is evident that a young farmer, who at six- teen or eighteen years of age, should commence shaping his course for the business of teaching as a profession, though it might be but for the winter, would act under very different motives, and conse- quently make greater and higiier efforts, than a kind of interloper, who had escaped from anotlier profession, just long enough, and devoting just hours enough, to secure cl/cic dollars to help him on to his mure respectable calling. The former would be upon the alert to learn the best modes of teaching, to ascertain what were the best books, and to become lioily intelligent and skillful in his adopted profession ; while the latter would meet, they always do meet, any proposals for schoag. Skim otr the brown scum, all the time it is boiling. If sweetmeats are boiled too long, they will lose their flavor and become of a dark color. If boiled too short a time, they will not keep well. You may ascertain when jelly is done, by dropping a small spoonful in a glass of water. If it spreads and mixes with llxe water, it requires more boiling. If it sinks in a lump to the bottom, it is sufficiently done. This trial must be made after the jelly is cold. Raspberry jelly requires more boiling than any other sort — black currant jelly less. — Keep your jellies, &c. in glass jars, or in those of white qucensware. To malte Currtint Jelly. Pick yorr currants very carefully, and if it be necessary to wash thorn, be sure they are thorough- ly drained. Place tiiem in a stone jar, well cover- ed, in a pot of boiling water. When cooked soft, strain tlieni through a coarse clotli, add one pound of fine Havana sugar to each pound of the jelly put into ajar, and cover as above. Or you niay break your currants with a pestle and squeeze them through a cloth. Put a pint of clean sugar to a pint of juice, and boil it very slowly till it becomes ropy. This is an ^xcellpnt article, especially in sick- ness, and no family need or ought to be without a supply. Cherry Jam. To twelve pounds of Kentish or duke cherries, when ripe, weigh one pound of sugar; break the stones of part and blanch them ; then put them to the fruit and sugar, and boil all gently till the jam comes clear from the pan. Pour it into China plates to come up dry to table. Keep in boxes with white paper between. Currant Jam^ blacky red or white. Let the fruit bo very ripe, pick it clean from the stalks, bruise it, and to every pound put three- quarters of a pound of loaf sugar; stir it well and boil half an hour. To preserve Raspberries. Pick your raspberries in a dry day, just before they are fully ripe ; lay them on a dish, beat and sifl their weight of fine sugar, and strew it over them. To every quart of raspberries, take a quart of red currant jelly, and put to its weight of fine sugar ; boil and skim it well, then put in your rasp- berries, and give them a scald. Take them off and let them stand over two hours ; then set them on again, and scald until they look clear. Grape Jelly. Pick the grapes from the stems, wash and drain them. Mash them with a spoon. Put them in the preserving kettle and cover them with a large plate; boil them ten minutes; tiien pour them into your jelly bag and squeeze out the juice. Allow a pint of juic^ to a pound of sugar. Put the sugar and juice mto the kettle, and boil twenty minutes, skimming them well. Fill your glasses while the jelly is warm, and tic them up with papers dipped in brandy. To dry Cherries. To every five pounds of cherries, stoned, weigh one of sugar double-refined. Put the fruit into the preserving pan with very little water, make both scalding h'st ; take the fruit out and immediately dr>' thi'm ; put them into the pan again, strewing the sugar between each layer of clierries; let it stand to melt ; then set the pan on the fire, and make it scalding hot as before ; take it oft*, and re- peat this thrice witii the sugar. Drain them from the sj-rup, and lay thein singly to dry on dishes in the sun or on the stove. When dry, put them into a seive, dip it into a pan of cold water, and draw it instantly out again, and pour them on a fine soft cloth; dry them, and set them once more in the hot sun, or on a st6ve. Keep them in a box with layers of v/hite paper in a dry place. This way is the best to give plumpness to the fruit, as well as color and flavor^ PcMch Jflly. Wipe tlie wool well off your peaches, which sJiouhl be f:ee of stories and not too ripe, and cut tiicm in quarters. Crack tlie stones and break the kernels pmall. Put i\\v poaches and kernels into a covered jar, set thein in boiling water, and let tiiem boil till they are soft. Strain them tlirough a jelly bag until all tlie juice is squeezed out. Al' low a pint Of loaf sugar to a pint of juice. Put the sugar and juice into a jireserving kettle, and boil them twenty minutes, skimming them carefully. Put the jelly warm into glasses, and when cold tie them uj* with brandied papers. [Plum and green-gage jelly may be made in the same man- ner with the kernels, wiilch greatly improve the flavor.] Goosi berry Jelly. Cut the gooseberries in half, they must be green, and put them into a jar closely covered. Set tJie jar in an oven or pot filled with boiling water. — Keep the water boiling round the jar, till the goose- berries are soft ; take them out, mash them with a spoon, and put them into a jelly bag to drain. — When all the juice is squeezed out, measure it, and to a pint of juice allow a pint of loaf sugar. Put the juice and sugar into the preserving kettle, and boil them twenty minutes, skimming them well. Then put the jelly warrw into glasses, closely cov- ered with brandied papers. [Cranberry jelly is made in the same manner.] THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 127 To prcsn-ve Penis, Plums, Damsons, S,'C.for Tarts anil Pics. Gatlief Uiem when lull grown and just as tliej' bocfiii to turn. Pick one third of the largest out aiid put to them as much water as will cover them, hoil and skim them. When the truit is boiled soft, strain it through a coarse seive, and to every quart of this liquor put ;j. pound and a half of sugar ; boil and skirji it, and tlien throw in your fruit, just give tlieni a scald, take them off the lire, and when cold put them into bottles, with wide moutlis, pour your syrup over them, lay a piece of white paper dip- ped in sweet oil over them, and cover light. The editor of the Yankee Farmer, who ought to be good authority on such sulijects, says: "The following is an easy and wholesome method to make preserves and jellies without using brass or tin, or any other poisonous utensil. Currants, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cranberries or damsons may be preserved in the same way. "To mafic Jelly. — Take a peck of currants on the stem or strings, wash them thoroughly and let tliom set in a large wooden bowl or tray to drain ; next day put them on common dinner plates and set them in the oven as soon as the flour bread is taken out ; in an hour or two they will be scalded through, tjike them outand separate the juice from the skins and seeds by straining them through a clean coarse cloth, then return the juice into the ])Iates and set them immediately into the oven to dry away. Have as many plates as the oven will hold, for the smaller the quantity of juice on a plate the sooner it will be thick enough to add the sugar. Let the juice dry away until it is about as thick as inolas?es, wliich perhajjs will not be till the oven is cold. When the juice is sutHciently thick, juxt it into a largo pitclicr and add as many pounds of sugar, as you had of currant juice before it was dried away ; then set the pitcher into an iron din- ner pot, with water enough to reach half way up the pitcher; cover the pitcher with a saucer, and the jjot with the prit lid or cover; put it over the fire and let it bull till the jelly is thoroughly scald- ed ; it must be t^ken offthe lire two or three times and stirred witli a large silver spoon or clean wood- en stick ; when thoroughly scalded, take it off, and wlien it is cold, cover it close and keep it in a dry cool place. "To ]ircparc Preserves. — AVash the fruit and let it drain dry. Then set it on plates in a pretty warm oven, (after Ihe Hour bread is drawn out it will be about the right heat,) let it set about an hour or two, so as to be scnlded througii, take it out and pour it off, and return the juice to the oven to dry away ; when it is as tl'.ick as niolassce add it to the fruit from which it was taken, and put it into a stone or earthen preserving pot ; add as many pounds of sugar as you had of fruit before it was put into the oven, then place the pot in a kettle of water, cover the pot with a plate, and set the wa- ter a boiling; after they are well scalded^, take th.em oil'aud set them in a dry, cool place. They may be made witli molasses instead of sugar, only the molasses must be boiled till it is as thick as it can be, or as thick as you would boil it for can- dy.' Blachhcrrij Syruj). We are indebted to a friend for the following re- ceipt for making blackberry syrup. This syrup is said to be almost a specific for the summer com- ]>laint. In Iriliw it was successful in more than one eape of cholera. To two quarts of juice of blackberries, add 1 lb. loaf sugar, 1-2 oz. nutmegs, 1-2 oz. cinnamon, pulverized, 1-2 oz. cloves, 1-4 oz. alspice, do. Boil all together for a short time, .and when cold, add a pint of fourth proof brandy. From a tea-spoonful to a wine glass, according to the age of the patient, till relieved-, is to be given. Tlie Wheat Crop will be ge;ier.ally bounteous and abundant; though in some places it is cut short by Ihe 11 v and chinch bug. Tlie Rockingham Regis- ter of tlie 2!Hh states, that the harvest has com- menced in that count}' ; and that the most "san- guine expectations of heavy crops will be fully re- alized." Our accounts from Wheeling are equally cheering. Fine prospects also in Tennessee. We understand, that 130 to 135 cents have been obtain- ed in this city for deliveries in July — and from 120 to 125 for August. We never have seen the corn crops, where we have been, more luxuriant. They have had abun- dant showers of rain ; though in Florida and Georg- ia, the people have suffered e.xeessively from tlie drouglil. — Richmond Va. Enquirer. Writing Ink. Our writing is generally upon the hand gallop over a large surface; and it really makes a differ- ence in running out ideas from the point of the pen, whether the ink flows in a continuous, equal and smooth rvin, or whether it now is given out in too great qu.antity, and now fails in the midst of a let- ter or a monosyllable : we cannot suffer with equa- nimity the interruption which failing ink or a bad pen snmelimes produces : — muddy ink or ink mix- ed of mud and water, and now and then a ha;r, and a pen with an unequal or short split, or no split at the point, are '.Iways annoying. Thirty years ago we used to make and use ink from " Walkden's genuine London English Ink Powder" : that pow- der, mixed in an equal quantity of soft water and vinegar, made the best of ink. It came free from the pen and looked rather pale as it flowed. But the writing laid by for a week or more surprised the rapid writer with a beauty of the hand that he by no means anticipated \vhile the sheet laid before him as the i)cn passed over it : there was a change from the brown pale to the bright glossy black, giving a flavor, if it may be so expressed, to the hnnd writing as agreeable to tlie mind, as that of food most inviting to the palate. Nor was this all ; there was a permanency in the character of this ink, which was as lasting as the paper on which it was imprinted. Such was its excellence that it soon became an object for the counterfeiting of mountebanks ; the false Walkden's Ink powder sof>n became as eornuion as the counterfeit Lee's pills ; and the printed wrapper and signature were so well imitated that very few besides the li- ter and wholesale vender could detect the impos- ture. Since the good old days of Walkden, we have had all the varieties of ink powder and ink. Pre- tended chemists have invented and sold ink which ought .to have bei;-.i turned upon their faces to plague the inventor,^, some of itsuch as might readi- ly be washed off in cold v;aler, but other some such as would have eaten Ihr uigli the skin of the flesh as it eats holes in the paper, from the vitriol or other material of wliich it was composed. The ancient old blue dye-pot of the chimney corner when nothing better could be obtained in a country town in mid winter — an article once fash- ionable in almost every farmer's family — used to be resorted to when all the ink horns and ink bottles had frozen up and failed for that or some other cause. The ink of Ihe blue dye-pot was far, verv far preferable to that ink of the same color, which is now vended from the bookstores and other pla ees, at ninepenee for a very small bottle — a qiinr- ter of a dollar for r:na a little larger — and fifty cents for such a quantity as might last a constant writer a moui.h, if it did not in that time become mouldy, and pass into " airy nothing," leaving on- ly a dirty sediment in the vessel which contains it. Writing the single name of " Isaac Hill" as we have done many thousand times within the last three years in dift'crent capacities, and often at different places, this blue ink has frequently an- noyed us : sometimes a portion of it will have turn- ed to the color of decaying sour milk, leaving now and then a streak of almost any other color than that which the ink would be supposed to impart. "Can you give us no better ink?" has been a question often put. " We .get the best that can be had at Marsh, Capen and Lyon's, or Brown's, or Boyd's; but there is no ink now a-days that will not mould." The ink with which we have written out tlie matter of the two last numbers of the Visitor is a new invention of Cukhier and Hall, book-bin- ders of this town. We know not the materials of which it is made ; but thus far it is our opinion that this ink .approaches nearest that which has been described as the original Walkden's of any that we have ever seen. The bottle from which the ink we now write with is taken, was opened nearly three months ago, and the ink writes with the same fa- cility as it did at first, and it preserves the same color when put upon paper. Signing some insur- ance policies that Iiad been filled up the other day, we observed the beautiful black gloss on the hand writing of Doctor Morril, while the ink running from our pen was of a much paler hue. " Is this Currier and Hall's ink, and do you use the same in filling up the policies .•'" The answer was in the atfirmative ; and the Doctor imniedintely turned to a bundle of policies which we had subscribed a month previous with the same pale ink that was now running from the pen. If Messrs. Currier and Hall understand the process and the materials for making a uniform ink, such as we have descri- l)pri, tiiey ought to be encouraged by all the public ofiiccs and by all the .'jeminaries in the country. [lj'0\ying to some obscurity in the manuscript and the late hour at which it was prepared for the press, there are several verbal errors in the commu- nication of Leonard Jarvis, Ksq. in the last Visitor: the most of these will be readily detected and' cor- rected by tlie critical and observant reader. GathKring and preserving Seeds. It will soon be time to think about gathering seeds of many kinds for next year. There are but few people who consider that plants as well as an- imals may be much improved by selecting the best, most perfectly grown and earliest seed. The next year's crop will not only by this means be increased in quantity, but its quality will also be improved. All kinds of seeds tliat grow in husks or pods should be strung up and suspended fr.om the ridge- pole or a rafter in the garret, where they will be out of the way of mice, and where they will dry gradually. Great care should be taken to keep tliPin from an excess of moisfure which will cau.se them to mould and destroy Uie germinative princi- ple ; and on the other hand, they will not be so good if tliey arc shelled out (especially if it is done be- fore they are perfectly ripe) and placed in the su:i or any situation where they will dry very rapidly; they thus become shrivelled and will not so readi- ly' vegetate, although the vital principle may not be destroyed. The seeds of squashes, pumpkins, cu- cumbers, melons, &c , should be carefully cleaned from the pulp that surrounds them, and then plac- ed in a situation where they will dry gradually, be- ing every day stirred up or turned to prevent their moulding. Seeds after being thus prepared, may be preserved almost any length of time, in a per- fectly good state by packing them in pulverized charcoal and keejiing them in a dry place, or stop- ping entirely from the air in a glass bottle. Maine Farmer. rrtini the Wnshin^lon G'obe. Commerce of the United States. According to the custom-house returns to the Treasury Department, recently published, the to- tal value of imports during the year ending Sept. 30tli, 1S3S, was ,f; 11 3,717,4(14, being twenty-seven millions less than during the year 1837, and seven- ty.nine millions less than during the year 1836, the year of the great expansion, that preceded the sus- pension of specie payments. The falling off in the exports has not been so great. The total value of exports of every descrip- tion from Ihe United States, during the last year, was S^ 108,481), GIG, being nine millions less than in 1837, and twenty millions less than in 1836. The value of exports of domestic produce in 1838, was .•y%,ll33,8Ui. in 1837, §95,564,414, and in 1336, .$106,016,680. Coi?iparing the years 1833 and 1836, we find that the chief falling off in the imports was in the fol- lowing articles : 1836. 1838. Cotton goods $17,876,087 $6,509,330 Woollen goods 12,758,430 6,067,530 Silk goods 22,862,177 0,812,338 Linen 8,271,213 3,583,540 Iron and Steel 12,802,648 7,413,504 Sugar 12,514,718 7,-586,825 Teas 5,342,811 3,407,156 Wines 4,332,034 2,318,202 This table exhibits in a striking light the effects which expansions and contractions of the currency have on the import trade. One article, molasses, seems not to have been affected by these changes in the currency. The value of that imn.Trted in 1836 was !|;4,U77,312, and in 1838 f 3,86.-j,285. ■ In the import of another article, viz : coffee, lliere was, relatively speaking, but a small falling ofl'. The total value in 1836 was $0,653,053, and in 1838, $7,640,217. Salt is the only commodity, or at least the only commodity of any importance, the import of which increased. In 1836 the total value was S;624,.527 ; in 1838 it was $1,028,418. In the exports, the chief falling off was in cotton, tobacco, and rice. In some articles of export there was an increase, as will be seen by inspecting the following table : 1836. 1838. Cotton $71,284,925 $61,556,81) Tobacco " 10,058,640 7,302,039 Bice 2,.548,750 1,721,819 Flour 3,572,509 3 603,299 Fish 067,890 810,003 Furs 653,662 636,945 Lumber 2,860,691 3'1 16,106 Manufactures 6,107,.528 8.397,078 The export of cotton goods of domestic manu- facture in 1838, was $3,758,755, against $2,831,473 J,28 THE FARMER S MONTHLY VISITOR. in 1B37, and $2,255,734 in 1836. The chief ex- ports of domestic cottons in 1833, were to the tol- lowing countries : China British East Indies Dutcli East Indies Manilla . I'eru Chili Argentine Republic Brazil Mexico Cuba Cape De Vcrd Islands Turkey, Levant, etc. The following table exhibits the relative impor- tance of our trade during the year 1«38, with the following countries : Imports from Gieat Britain and de- pendencies $49,051,181 France and depcnden- 18,037,140 $532,097 140,702 133,350 79,531 97,7! 3 640,831 104,254 536,41 G 597,330 157,621 66,555 111,937 Pciliiate, R. I. Wtscapsel, Mo. Koxlpurj al Itoilmry Noifolk, '' cics Spain and dependen cies Netherlands and de pendencies China Mexico Texas 15,971,394 Exports to. $58,843,392 16,252,413 7,684,006 pendencies France and do. Spain and do. Netherlands and do. China Mexico 2,436,166 3,772,206 4,764,536 1,698,433 3,500,709 2,164,097 165,718 1,247,880 With the same countries (omitting Texas) our trade was as follows in 1836 : Imports from. Exports to. Great Britain and de- $S6,022,315 $;64,4S7,5,'50 37,036,235 21,441,200 19,345,690 8,081,668 3,861,514 4,799,157 7,324,816 1,194,264 5,615,819 6,041,635 In 1838 our imports from Great Britain were nearly thirty-seren. millions less than in 1836, and from France HinrdcH millions. In 1836 the commercial balance was, as cxlnbit- ed by the custom house books, nearly ticcnti/.two millions in favor of Great Britain. In 1838, the balance is nearly ten millions in favor of the Unit- ed States. In 1836 tlie balance in favor of France was near- ly sixteen millions. In 1838 it was less than two millions. The following exhibits the total value of the mi- ports and exports of the States which were most deeply engaged in the foreign trade during the year 1838 : Imports into. $13,300,925 68,453,206 9,360,731 5,701,867 577,142 2,318,781 776,068 524,548 9,476,808 I^nfiijette *' Cllel!*ra, rhclsea, C.isline, Me. Derby, Conn. Liit u( biinks In New Eiiglahfl. whose rlurlera have ex- iiircil .-Snilon Hank, WilkinaonvUle, JMas«.; Fntiiiera and .Mechanics' Tawluckel, K. 1; B.ilh, Ualh, He.; Wliilhinp Hank, Me., Keiinebunk Uank, at Aillndil, .Me.; L'angor Hank, Me.; Sam Bank; Newbnrjp'ut Bank, Cuncnnl, (Sparhawk cashier) N. H. Phenii Bank, Naiitnckel. BILLS NOT RECEIVED .IT THE BCrraLK C.vrtK. Oxford Bank al Fryeburf, . frauil. -\i;rir.ullilral, Brewer iMe. ^ to Haiigur Coininercial, 5 to OhUi.wn, at Oroiio, 90 to Daniariscotla Bank, 10 lit GeoraJa Lurnlter Co. at Portland to Calais, nl Calain, 5 lo Stillwater Canal, at Oronn, .5 lo Wcsibrook alWcstbrook, 3 lo NEW IlAHrSHlRE. Wolfeborougli Bank, 50 lo MAS3ACHU9LTTS. Midilline Interest Bank bills ate not Bank. Norfolk, at Roxbury, iMiiMlesex, at Cambridge, FuliDii, atL'oslon, Kilby, " (.'oMiiiion wealth, Eostttn, Nal'anl, Cllelsea, Ruxhory, al Roxbtiiy, 95 rariners' anil Mechanics' Aii- anu. South Village "3 VERMOM. ftcivcdal Ihd Suffolk 10 to 5 to ■M to 10 to SO In SO fO 5e .•31 Alban?, al gl .Mbans, Bsse.v, at Guialhall, Manchester, at Manchester, ii to 3 CONNECTICUT. Stamford, at Stamford, 2 to 4 BiMlgcport, al Bridgeport, '2 lo ■) aj- Bills of the Frankfort Bank, Me. areac.iin received at the Sullolk Bank. Also, l^afnyelte Bank, Bai:|;or, ■I'he bills of the following Banks are fliU received Cumberland Bank, Puitiand ; Walerville Bank Itaiik. Banks In New York City " Slate of N. Jetsey, " City of Phil idelphia, " State of New York, " City of Baltimore, " Dutrictof Columbia, Old IJnilid States Bank Notes Old Menditn par. lo I pr. ct. discount, a to' J i i to to 1 to 'J lo 5 to PRICES AT BOSTON. [Friim the Biirtoa Daily JJrcrliser, ^i/g. T.] C'„^fc— Transactions continue liphi at about foriner prices, Exports from. $9,104,862 23,008,471 3,477,151 4,.524,576 3,986,228 11,042,070 8,803,839 9,686;244 31,502,248 Exports from. $10,388,346 3,971,555 3,(j75,475 6,192,040 13,6^4,376 10,722,200 11,184,166 37,179.828 ISlassachusetts New York Pennsylvania Mar^'land Virginia South Carolina Georgia Alabama Louisiana In that ever memorable year, 1836, the foreign trade of these States was as follows Imports into. .Massachusetts $25,681 ,462 New York 118,253,416 Pennsylvania 15,068,233 Marvland 7,131,867 Virginia 1,106,814 South Carolina 2,801,361 Georgia 573,2'.-'.* Alabama 651,618 Louisiana 15,117,649 The various facts here stated abound in instruc- ti '' ms. and 100 tierces al 4 20 a 4 10 pr 100 lb. cash and 1 ms. T-ja— Since the recent accountsifrom ('anion, the hn:k nf all the good Teas have been withdraw ii from market, bidders anttcipaling better prices. The transactions for the week are confined mostly to ordinary qualities, which have been lieretofoie neglected, and some parcels good at an advance ol 2 a 5c pr lb. a83clSiOals arrived plentifully, and delined tnolnSc Si'iilhern oats worth about 40c. Coltnn— On Mondav, in consequence of the news by the Uuccn, the market became quite unsettled, and no business was done. On Tuesd ly buyers began lo move, and have continued to operate WMh moderate vigor thionph the weeli, at prices coming op nearly to those beloio Ihe arrival of the aueen. The salesare ahiTUtSOlRI iiags in all,vi7. ; 1000 bales Upl.md.i.t lOi a llUcts. 700 do M..bile, al lOaHctJ. SOO do New Orleans, at lOJaHcls. 43 do Florida, at 10al3cts. „W,);oi«fs— No important change in prices; 120 lihds. Ha- vana scdd at 99ic ; 100 Marlinique at 30 els ; and some prime St. Croix nt 4Ut. Ji;e(o;s— From the recent arrivals, old Sable iron was sold on the wlinrl a $107 50, and Goeillie at $100. Pig load stanc's al be lb. Jthneii and Eicluinges— There is no material change in llie plentilulness of money. The rale lor U. S. Bank post notes is lU per ct. per annum, and oilier bonds and notes ol un- doubted companies are sellins up lo .9 per cl. .Money stocks declined most liberallv duiiiig the last three days, though thev had not bef.ire iieeii liilloenced by the news by the Quiien. A million of dollars was taken off by the packets, and some considerable demands among tlio banks themselves served to create excitement. Ellison Encland declined, and closed at 91 a 10 prem. f.'r the packets of Ihe 1st. Domestic exchanges stand thus— N. O. 4 a 4idis; Mobile 11 al2j Miss •).'); do Specie drafts 10; Savannah 4 a 5; Charleston, 3 a3i ; Richmond 1 a U. Oils— There is but liule change In the market. English Linseed was sold al (IS cents cash, and 71 a 72 cts., time ; Ameiicm is dull al 70 cts ; Olive, in pipes, sold al 98 cts; Ne.ats' Foot is held al 1 19^ cts ; 300 chests Marseilles Sallad sold al .'$3 75 a 87. Surror.,'— The demand is moderate and Mascovados of the lowe'r qualities are a little cheaper tliough importers general- ly preler storing I' r Fall sale! to pressing the market at this dull sea-on. Sale;- — 400 hhds Porto Rico, al H » 6J 150 do St. Croix, at r" " ,< 90(1 do Martinique, al "» " '? 100 do i;ubn,al o? '^ in 400 boves brown Cuba, at ^.l » ^5 200 do white, at "''*,ni 120 barrels while Brazil, 'OJ Talloic — .limerlcan sells in a small way at 13^ a Jc lb. 7'ra,t— The news from China, togel her with asniall cargo in the ship which broiiabt the news, and quite a sionll slock here, gave holders confidence to demand an advance of about 2(1 per cent, on all kinds. Some sales wore made in grocer's hands al 10 a 15 |ier cent, advance. Ponirhkcrpsif. .Market, Aii;iist 3.— Wool—Tliu agents of Eastern inaoufacturcrs have already purchased one half of the entire clip of tins year, al 40 to i,0 cents. Our rcpular dealers have now on hand about 100,0(10 llis. and continue to purchase at 40 to .'i.i cts. cash, which is rather a decline from the prices of last month, owing to the low priced clolhsand the great scarcity of monej-. THE CAITLE MARKET. Baltimore, Aas. l.—Al.n., dance ol cattle have been brought to this city by Virginia gra/.ie.s. prices range from $7 for in- lerior to $8 50 for prime mess cattle. PIMadi.lrhm,Ani:. 1— Prices of lieef callle reduced 25 cts in a hundred pounds during the last week. Sales of hrst qualilv S8toK,95 per bundled: interior 7 to $8. Cows and calves', sales at from $23 l" 50. Sheep dull— sales al .=>0 cti a head less than cost in tlie ctiiintrv: ICUO head sold al pri- ces Irom 1,.'>0 to ,«3,.W. Ho=F have fallen in price— sales at $7,75 to 8,25 per hundred pounds. ^Tew rork,Jlog. 5.— For beef of an inferior quaility the de- mand was good ; the sales of good and superior, averaged .$9, 75the huiidied pounds. Milch cows sidd at $35 '"45. Sheep and lambs— deinaud good: sheep 2,50 to .$5, 50— lambs at .$2, lo 3,95. Briirhlon.Ai". .5.— Higher prices and advanced quotations Ihisvveek. First quality $S,.iO to 8,t.2. Second, 7,75 to 8,25. Third, 7. 10 7,. =.0. Cows and calves— a large iiroportion at market from Canada and of ordinarv quality : salesfrom 2.S lo S55. Sheep- sales fpiick and higher prices. Lots $2 to 9,75. Wethers 3to3,75. Swine on the decline. A lot of small pigs of piiiiie quality soW for 7 cents : At retail 7 to 10 cents. Conoirf, .V. n, .iug. 10— In this vicinity cattle conllnue lo bear Irgli lirices. Oxen are sc.irce and sell from $100 for small lo $1.50 for large cattle by the yoke. A lot of ordinary yeailinga sold tins week al Dunbarlon, Ironi ll,.Wto l.icach. Cows and lalves bear quite -..b high price thoughoul New Hampshire as nt Brighton- Ordinary cows sell at $35 and up- wards: Flrsl rate cows -sell at CO lo s;70. Calves lor llie but- chers are scarce, because almost every farmer keeps them lorrni-iio". Calves at four weeks o(d hav.; sold in this lown lo the borcliers foroversis d.dlars each. The new growlb will harJlvsupplvthe imineiise vaciiom in cattle that has been prorloced'by tbeteiii]4lalloiis the farmers have encountered in Ihi- high pnres of the la.t lew years. Willi the abuud- aiicc of hav, coni stufT, roi,l<, kc. of the present season, there can be no danger too loaoy young cattle will be r,rised. LIST OF nurrilville, R. I. Commonwealth, Boston, Fulton " Kilhv " Franltliii. Bouth Boston, Eagle, N. Haven, Conn. Fanners', Belchertown, 41a ' Kennebec, Me. Naliant Bank, Lynn, {'assaniai^uoddy, Eastport. PRICES AT NEW YORK. Front the Journal of Commerce, Jlug. 5. Corn i-'rcAniije.- Flour t.iok a start early in the week and advanced trom day to day until the close when the whole advance on Ohio and Genesee was 02 a 75c per bbl. An Ad- vance just about this lime will be found lo have taken place almost every year for a long series of years. The stock of Western is quite light and the [receipts small. Genesee was sold Saturday nt &(i 37 a 50 for common and good brands, and Ohio' at SO 25 a 37; New Orleans gO. Fresh Georgetown was offered at §(> 95, and the common Southern kinds at .$5 75. The sales of rye flour are at $4 95 and of corn meal at $4; new Southern wheat, not prime, sold at 199 cts ; in rye we have heard of no sales ; Jersey corn sidd by boat loail on Salutdny, at 99 cts SClbe ; N. O. btouglit fc THK FARMER'S MONTIlliY VISITOR, 4 MONTIILV NK.W.Sr.VPER, IS PUBLISIIKD BY WILLIAM p. YOSTYIK, HilV s Brick Block, Concord, JY. II. JAMES BURNS, 104, Washington St., Buston,Ms. J. N. BOLLBS, .Vo. 1, Market Square, Proci- tlcnre, R. I. The Visitor is issued from the fifteenth to tlie^tweu tieth day of each month. Each number will contain sixteen pages of quarto si/.e on paper calculated for prtservatton nnd on a fair and beau- tiful tvpe. The subjects will be illustrated with engiavinijs. Tlietenns will be aeoenty-five centsa year pavnbU always in aft- ranrc. For all subscribers less than 24, Agents will be allowed a deduction of ejeents each— for all over 94 subscribers on any one agency I2.i cents each will be allowed. Thus, for six •iibscribers four dollars— twelve, eight dollar^- eighteen, twelve dollurs— twenty-four, fitleen dollais.will be rcmilted. Sincle numbers, twelve and a half cents each. All subscri- bers-will commence with the first number of the year. jVj>("onimunic.Ttioiis by mail, will be directed lo WIL LIAM F. FUSTER, Cuncoid, N. H. Coiidiicted by ISAAC IIIIiI>. Published by WM. P. FOSTER. ■ Those loho labor in the earth are the chosen people of. God, tchose breasts he has made his pecuHar deposilefnr substantia! and genuine uJrtMe."-jEFFERSOK. VOLUME 1. CONCORD, N. H., SEPT. 20, 1839. NUMBER 9. THE VISITOR. The Wheat Crop for 1839. There arc, exclusive of a few minor gores and locations, two liundred and twenty townships in New Hampshire : the population of this State in 1775 was H2, 200 ; in 17110, 141,885; in 1800, 183,- 858; in 1810, 214,460; in 1820, 244,l(il ; in ISISO, 269,633. In 1840, it will probably be 310,000, or an average of about 1400 souls to a township. From observation in various partt of tlie State through which we have travelled, we calculate that the crop of wheat in New Hampshire will come up very near to half a million of bushels, being more than one and a half bushels to each man, woman and child in the State, and equal to one hundred thousand barrels of flour. We may be beyond the mark in our calculation ; but we ask our readers to look about them and count up the quantity of wheat raised in their own neighborhood, and to compare that with the whole State. Perhaps the small townships near the seaboard will not e.\hibit their relative proportion; but the townships of diminish- ed and exii-nded territory in all the elevated region, especially in the whole northern half of the State, will, wo think, exceed the proportion we hare named. Wheat, in the season of good crops of corn, rye and barley, does not generally constitute more than one half of the material for bread cop.sumei; in this State : one bushel and a half to each individual per annum must make a suthcient quantity for con- sumption of the finer bread and pastry. Our large manufacturing towns and villages will for the sake of the fashion continue to use a portion of the Gen- esee flour ; but the great body of the farmers will do without it, and consume only the bread produc- ed upon thrir own land. The crop of wheat of this year will, we think, turn out to be excellent every where. The few specimens that we have examined minutely exhib- it a large and plump kernel, exceeding any thing we have before seen. The early sown wheat lias not sonerally suffered from the weavil or grain worn"i : it is a ratlier better crop than the late sown wheat. May it not turn out, that the weavil and grain worm are passing oft', so that they will no longer injure the crops for a series of years? Ex-_ perience has taught us that the prevalence of destructive worms and insects is periodicial. It is within the recollection of most of our farmers that grasshoppers and canker worms appear in con- siderable myriads one year, and disappear in the next. More than forty years ago, when a child, living near the seaboard in the region of barberry bushes, we remember the idea among farmers had become prevalent that neither wheat nor rye could be lliere produced-, the wicked barberry, which was more difficult to eradicate than even the Canada thistle, was charged as the author of blast and mildew to the.se crops. At that time, very few fanners at- tempted to raise wheat or rye in the region within twelve or fifteen miles of i5oaton. We think the barberry was wrongfully accused ; for some of as fine fields of wheat as we have seen the present season, ready for the sickle, were lately growing in Elliot and kittery in Maine, and in Tortsmouth, Rye and North Hampton in this State, in the very midst of the barberry bushes '. In all newly cleared ground of our Slate spring wheat will be found to be a more certain crop tlian winter rye. It is not as safti on grounds that have been made very rich by manure, especially on the enriched alluvfal ground upon the rivers. The well cultivated fields upon the high grounds that have been previously cultivated in Indian corner rr.aize, will produce good wheat ; it is believed the crop will be more certain if lime shall have been previously used in manuring the soil. A bushel or two of fine slaked lime upon the acre, thrown broadcast at the time of sowing the wheat, will richly repay the farmer for the expense and trouble. All kinds of spring wheat the present season hnve done well we believe throughout New Eng- land. There has been but little wmter wheat sown, that kind -beins- considered at greater risque from I and expense the severity of our northern winters. Much of the wheat raised is the old fashioned bearded wheat. The kind called Tea wheat, not many years since introduced into this region, is quite common. Oi the Black sea wheat there are two kinds ; the one is a kind introduced from Massachusetts, such as several years since produced on the farm of Pay- son Williams, Esq. of Fitchburg, more than forty bushels to the acre : the other is a kind first raised in this vicinity by Mr. Moore of Loudon, being in- troduced in some article of forei-gu merchandize, which he purchased. The Tea wheat iu some cas- es has yielded more than the Loudon Black sea wheat — it grows taller and the heads are larger ; but it is believed to be more liable to suffer from blight and rust, and is much more easy to be brok- en down and lodged by wind and rain. The Lou- don Black sea wheat, in a clear field, is indeed very beautiful from the time the heads appear until it is fit for the sickle. At first of a deep rich green, it gradually chan.ges to that golden hue which gives to an extensive field the most pplendid aspect. The advantage which this Black sea wheat has over most, if not all other kinds is, that it may be sown as late as the 20th May to the Ist of June on all elevated grounds duly prepared with little more danger from blight than if sown a month pre- vious, and thus with certainty avoid the weavil. The crop of wheat this year in New England will average fifteen to twenty bushels to the acre — more in quantity than tliecroj) of rye of two tliirds the val- ue per bushel raised upon the same ground of equal fertility. This crop of wheat is worth to the State of New Hampshire more than half a million of dol- lars ; and by this full amount will the State be bet-_ ter off' for the products of this year over those of some past years. We have paid in the interior as high as ten, twelve and often fourteen dollars the barrel for flour raised in the State of New York. One fourth, if not one third of this price has been the gain or monopolizers and speculators, who have combined to keep it up. Our land in those years did not produce bread ; and of conseipicnce, farmers themselves, as well as mechanics and man- ufacturers, have been forced to raise the means in the best way they could to buy it. The prospect of plenty has already reduced the price of flour one half: we can purchase the first brands of Gen- esee now for seven and a half dollars, which two years since cost us fifteen dollars the barrel. At the reduced price the crop of wheat this year rais- ed will be worth half a million of dollars to the State : this amount of money difl\ised among the people of the Granite State will essentially change the prospects of every laboring man and woman — this amount added to our circulation enables the whole community to increase the capital of future comforts. The experiment of the prcsentyear will convince the people of New England that they may produce both their own fine and coarse bread-stntTs. Not much more uncertain hereafter will be considered a wheat crop in any of the New England States than in the wlieat region of New York. If a crop of wheat from ten to'twenty and thirty bushels to the acre can be considered pretty sure, liow impor- tant must it be for every farmer annually to pre- pare a spot of land for its production .' As we can- not expect to make flour for exportation, so the farmer of New England cannot discreetly risque too much in the production of wheat; he will not expect to raise all wheat to the exclusion of other crops. To those who can afford to run the risque and who calculated on raising grain to sell, a field of five or ten acres, or on newly cleared ground of twenty and thirty acres, may not be too much : but the snug, small" farmer who does all his work with his own hands or by his family of sons, will find one or two acres of suitable ground well and carefully prepared, to be sufficient for all his pur- poses. If the small farmer, who h^as abundance of land for easy cultivation, will take acre after acre of his land, preparing it first by one or more years of clean cultivation of Indian corn and potatoes, say with twenty ox loads of good manure to the acre,ifsomuchcanbe conveniently spared,stockino down to grass with the crop of wheat; he may ex- pect the first year a full remuneration for his laboi for the second year planted and hoed, or stocked down, with .the same labor, his crop will be increased for the good culti- vation and manuring at least fifty per cent, and for five years afterward.-^ he will be very likely to real- ize, in the additional crop of hay, nearly the full sum of the original worth of the manure. 'Piie difference between the clean cultivation and the generous application of manure, and ilie careless cultivation without manure or even decent plough- in^"and hoeing with that scanty quantity of ma- nure which is all swallowed by the present crop, ia so great and so striking, that we almost wonder to see experienced fanners year after 3'ear going over ground v.-hich year after year becomes less and less productive. vhether it be Weeds! Weeds! ! In many places it has been coiisidered ncxttoim- possible to eradicate the weeds g;rowing in our fields. Passing through the interior, the most of tlie cultivated fields exhibit hut discouraging spe- ciniens of foul vegebation. Abundance of seeds of Ilonian wormwood, hog Vi'eeds, barn grass, &c. will be produced — enough to usurp the place of much uscf'ul grains sown upon the same ground next year, or to produce much increased labor for their eradication where the ground shall be again planted and hoed. A major part of the potatoe fields in the interior show a'most exuberant growth of weeds : in some fields the article planted has been for weeks concealed. Most of the corn fields partially hide the weeds ; but we saw several fields in July where the growth of grass and weeds was taller than the corn, which could be traced in the rows by the vellow tinge, different from the sur- rounding vegetation, of its stalks and leaves. For the en°ormous growth of weeds almost every man finds an apology in the continued rains and wet of the months of June and July : there is in- deed much ground where the water stood so as to render it next to impossible to keep down the weeds without eradicating every thing else^some, where neither plough nor hoe could be used. We had pre- pared two or more .acres for potatoes — rich inter- vale ground on which abundance of manure was soread. Ae the i;round was low, the potatoes were planted on ground carefully ridged, covering up every broken sod, and makin-v the preparation pre- vious to planting equal to a fi.-st hoeing. The po- tatoes came up finely, and as soon as they were out of the ground were' well hoed the first time— they grew luxuriantly until we were nearly prepared to hoe a second time, v.'hen the wet came on — rain followed rain inundating a portion of the ground so as to kill the potatoes (not the gra.3s .and weeds) outright. Where the rain did not kill, the potatoes grew so luxuriantly that befole the field at any one time v.'as Euliicieutly dry to be hoed, the tops covered the groniid ; and when such time arrived as to be able to get into the field, every one seeing the ground expressed the opinion that the crop would be more injured than benefitted by hoeing. Soon came up the crop of giant weeds— wormwood spreading its branches like small trees, and mag- nificent pig weeds six feet tall, with stalks of the si-ze of the wrist. The potatoe vines equally large in proportion with the weeds; but it really pains us to bok upon the field. Passing through it iu our aversion to the weeds we have sometimes laid hold of a large one to pull it from the ground, when up with it comes a fine hill of growing pota- toes which cannot, even be so conveniently replac- ed and transplanted as the weed., themselves. Never have we known such a year for the growth of weeds ; and probably lor a generation may not another such season again occur. The apology of an uncommonly wet season which almost every farm- er will offer for the prevalence of weeds will an- sv.-er for some fields — for others, it is insufficient. The fashion of carelessly hoeing our crops, pota- tr.es only once and Indian corn twice, is not the true economy. Every farmer will gain by careful- ly hoeing his potatoes at least twice and corn three times. Much of the common hoeing is done in an extremely careless manner. At the first hoeing of Indian corn if a weed be left in the hill, it will gain a good head-way by the time of the second hoeing ; passed over a second and third time, this single weed will be likely to take more sustenance hoia 130 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. the jrronnH than the best stalk in the Iiill, and re- produce thousands of seeds which will sow them- selves in the ground to prepare as many weeds for the next season. In the space between the hills if the weeds be left tliey will be likely to luxuriate in the soil sii as to overtop and oversliade the hill it- self. Much is due to tbe careful eradication of weeds at the time of hoeing. If they are simply covered over witliout being heed or cut up by the roots, tiie operation will generally only serve to give the weeds a more ready "rowth. Clean cultivation of the soil is important beyond the calculation of most farmers. What can give its proprietor more pleasure than a clean garden or clean field, in wh:ch noliiingis to be seen growing but the crop originally intended ? This pleasure is not alone in the present tense — he looks to the con- sequences of this clean field on the crop of the next and succeeding years — he reflects that this clean soil in the following season will supersede at least one half of the severe labor of cultivation. In the matter of weeds we commend the atten- tion of farmers of the interior to the example of their brethren in the town of Rye upon the sea- board. While so unwell as to be scarcely able to sit or stand upright, since the publication of the last Visitor, we have again visited our favorite ^'pattern town." The fields of potatoes growing in tliat town are tbe perfect contrast of those grow- 'ing in the interior. Tiie upper soil in the town of Rye is of that kind which u'ould be Irkely to be affected by the wet weather, resting upon a sub-soil nearly as impervious as rock ; yet of the numercus and exiensive potatoe fields in that town we scai-ce- ly looked into one where a weed presumed upon showing its head above the Jnxiiriant vines which well covered the ground. These potatoe fields, generall}'^ planted in hills at the distance of two and a half or three feet, have been carefully hoed all of them three times ; and this attention and industry give to the intended croo the entire strength of the BOJl. It cannot be doubted that ofthe cultivated ground of New England tlie prf^sentyear in many places one fourtli to one third and in others nne half of the full strength of the soil is usurj)od by noxious weeds, wliich not only eurk up the goodness of the soil for this year, but lay the foundation for a great- ly increased crop the next year. How much does it become farmers to take steps for the eradication of those pests of the ground ? Wiiata feast to the senses would it be to the traveller to pass through the country at this season with clean fields, like those of the town of Rye, every where in view' .'' This little town, small in size, but greater in pro- duction than any other in the State, is oiTof any considerable travelled road — it ranges alon^j the sea- shore, and most travellers '*pass by on tiie other side:" but it is worth while for every man who takes an interest in the cultivation of llie soil to turn out of hia way to examine it in its length and breadth. **Book farming," The "Pattern Town." There is more ground than many suppose for ob- jection to the book farmer — the mere theorist wlio wraps himself up in complacency at tlie knowled^i-c which he gains by reading scientific and curious works on agriculture. Most men of judgment who have practised farming for twenty, thirty or forty years, can impart more information to tiie young farmer wanting experience than all he can gain from reading. The value of any agricultural pub- lication is generally enhanced when it coi:ibinos accurate and specific knowledge derived from the experience of many farmers. Such information, coincident in different individuals, carries demon- stration of its practicability and utility. Of the occupation ofthe farmer it may be truly said *'An if; the giit ng up a race of men and women whose habits of industry and applica- tion render them more certain of fut'ure lisefulness and success in life than any other class which can be named. About the twentieth of August we spent a day or two at Rye and upon the Isles of Shoals, which are situated out at sea about nine miles from Rye harbor. The crop of grass had all been made into hay and secured in barns. The wheat and other grams were reaped or cradled or mown, in prepara- tion to be secured. The luxuriant fields of pota- toes and corn and the root crops of the gardens and fields remained. The inhabitants of Rye are not *'book-farmers" — their knowledge is not derived from any scien- tific researches in foreign countries, nor have they liad the benefit of any labored analyses of soils. Their gronnd was originally rocky ; and immense masses of stones liave been taken from the surface and placed in good and durable stone walls — a ma- terial for fence which will last many ages. Tlie fields are generally from two to five acres — very rarely i.** one under cultivation so large as ten a- cres. Tbe walled fences are commonly direct and at right angles. iNecessity has made them what they are : experi- ence has been their best school master. Of about three hundred ratable polls, the families oi'LoCK, Goss and Jenne&s are said to compose ncary one hundred. The successive generations, unlike otli- er towns, have here increased. Cases are pointed out W'hrre a firm owned by the father of some fifty, seventy-five or one hundred acres, has been divid- ed into three and four farms among as many sons ; and either farm producing more now than tlie orig- inal farm did twenty or thirty years ago. Various methods are resorted to by the farmers of Rye to renovate their soil : their principal reliance for dressing is on the vegetable products ofthe sea, rock wet'd, sea weed and kelp. Ev'cr}' considera- ble storm throws upon the beach and rocky shore quantities of vegetable growth from the sea. In the most busy season of the year no sooner is the grass taken from the field tlian the teams, loaded with sea and rock weed, are seen passing from tlie beach to the farm. It is laid out in pile.s and spread over the entire surface. Although the Rye farmers suppose the efi'ects of this manure to last ordy one year, yet they consider themselves well paid for the severe labor of gathering and carting it several miles. When the vegetable matter thrown upon the smooth beach is exhausted, the farmers resort to the rocks on the shores. We saw them, on re- turning into the harbor from tbe Shonls, with two stout yokes of oxen carting over rocks of a large size small quantities, and carrying it to a smoother place from which several of the small collections might be made into a full load. The potatoe crops in Rye are almost invariably gccd : this year they will be very fine. The rust seems to have struck the potatoe vines every where else : in Rye the fields were green and flourisliing in almost every instance. The ejceptions thcrc^icc heJicrCj icill pi'ore that the sal/'iie tnanure has prc- rcntedthe rusf. Salt as a manure, judiciously ap- plied, will be found hardly' less valuable than lime. Fine salt distributed over a garden, not in lumps coming in immediate contact with the plant, but diffused over the whole surface in small quantities, we are confident, will prevent or retard the blight of onions : we cannot doubt that the salt contain- ed in the sea manure applied to the oultivati(;n of the fields in Rye ha'^ prevented the blight of pota- toes in that town. The neat and careful manatre- ment of the potatoe fields in Rye is worthy of imi- tatinji by the farmers of the interior. The potatoe field is always carefully hoed three times. Pota-~- toes in that and the adjoining towns are raised in great quantities to be shipped all along the southern coast, and to the West Indies. The common price obtained for shipping potatoes is forty coTits the bushel ; and the ordinary product is three hundred bushels to the acre. A farmer in Rye with thirty acres of land will obtain more profit than some farmers of the interior with ten times as many acres. Suppose he has a family of six or eight sous and daugliters. In the highest and best cultivation he has Iwclve acres of aralile land, six acres of which are potatoes, two of corn, one of garden and root veg'tablcs, one of wheat, and two of rye, barley or oats. He mows eight acres, from which he obtains at least twenty tons of hay. Ten acres are pasture, on which, with sliglit feeding, he summers a 3'oke of oxen, some- times a horse and at least two cows : his flock of a dozen sheep with a spare yoke of oxen and one or more cows to be futted he hires pastured upon the Nottingliam hills. He does his own work with the aid of two sons, the one fourteen and the other six- teen vears of age. Hi.s product from the potatoe field is eighteen hundred bushels, seventeen hun- dred of v.'Jiich he sells for the sum of six hundred and eighty dollars. His other crops of corn; wheat, rye, *fcc. furnish abundance of bread for the con- sumption of his family, and leave a supply for sale sufficient to pay his taxes and to purchase the ne- cessaries of sugar, tea, eofiee, iS;c. and all tlic arti- cles of clothing not manufuctured under his ovvu roof The sons and daughters attend' the district school at least one third part of the year, and in this time obtain nearly as good an English education as do rich men's sons and daughters in the towns and cities who do notlfmg until tb.ey arrive at age but "obtain an education." The working part ia the best part of the education of the sons and daughters of a Rye farmer. They go fortli into the world with untainted liabits : their youthful as- sociations prepare them for the liighest social en- joyments. Tlie industry of their parents has fur- nished thein with the means to begin life; and, what is better, example and precept have given the ca- pacity to will and to do whatever shall be most ex- pedient in the future pursuits of life. The farmer with his thirty acres and WMth such a family has better enjoyineats and stronger attach- ments to life than the rich and the great. A titled nobility, favorites of tlie people basking in tiie hon- ors of proud distinction, do not really possess so ma- ny means of rendering life desirable, as do the Yeo- manry of our country who malte themselves inde- pendent by their own industry, rearing up families to follow in the same footste[»s. Our Rye farmer with liis thirty acres is more in- dependent and happy than tlie merchant who has procured millions. Paying out for hired iielp two hundred dollars a year, he can feed and clothe and, educate liis eight childien, and still lay up at least five hundred dollars a year. Our picture may by some be considered extravagant. It is not proba- bly beyond the truth in a nuniber of cases : with some grains of allowance it will apply to three- fourths of the population of our '^pattern town." Almost every farmer in the town is not only out of debt, but has money in his pocket or money loaned out which is earning more money. As evidence of prosperity, we see old houses repaired and made like new W'ith paint; new houses and ample barns and stables erecting. It is said tiiere is hardly a hundred rods of permanent fence in the town that is constructed of a material less durable than stone: the fields are every where encompa.sscd with clean, lasting stone walls: these alone constitute a per- manent capital to the farmers of many thousand dollars. The roads in the town in every direction are excellent. The nature of the ground is such, that when once properly constructed .they re^nain for years without the necessity of repairs: the floods do not wash them away, and the flinty soil is impervious to the cart wheels. The abundant means of the people of Rye have been evinced during the last j'ear in the erection of three elegant meeting houses for public w'or- ship. The old town meeting house, at which un- der the ministry of the first Paksons the whole pop- ulr.tion worshipped fifty and sevent^'-iive years ago, and which has been erected more tlian a century, stdl occupies its place as the most conspicuous ob- ject. If we belonged to the town, we sliould hope that this veteran house might be spared for the good it has done at least another hundred years, with the steeple surmounted by the Gallic cock and under- neath the old bell that has long called the living to Sunday worship and summoned the dead to their last home, W{t as they Iiave been. Around and. near the old house of worship three different de- nominations have erected the three new houses at an expense of from finir to si-v thousand dollars each. First the Contrregationalists who have gen- erally employed an educated minister: over this parish the Rev. Huntington Porter, now an oc- togenarian and resident in Massachusetts, was tlie settled minister for nearly half a century. The other two new houses are erected, the one by the Christian Baptist and tbe other by tlie Metliodist denominatien : the two last are under the lead of two *'elders" who are wealthy farmers of the town, either of them probably himself able to build* his church and personally capable to supply it every Sabbath vrith the preached word. By the census of ]8!30, the population of Rye was 1,172 — with the increase since, as might be supposed, hardly suffi- cient to fill the three places of worship. Thcro can be no doubt of the abundant means ofthe cit- zens to support three places of worship. If the only strife among them shall be, which shall most excel in all the Christian virtues, which shall best emulate that holy charity and liberality evinced in the life and example of the heavenly Saviour, the tendency of that division which has made three places of worship necessary where for many years only one had sufficed, will be "good and not evil." Revolnlionary Reminiscences. There are few persons thirty years of age that resided in this vicinity twenty years ago who will not remember the late Rubekt'B. Wilkins. Hav- ing served thrcngh the war ofthe revolution inihe New Hampshire line, there were no officers and iew soldiers of that line of whom he did not per- sonally know something — where each man was from, to what company he belonged, in what bat- tles he was engaged. While he lived he was the living chronicle of the events of the revolution. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 131 A mnn of undoubted coura^p, he was free to own that he did not go into battle without "Tear and trciiiblinir." We remember to Iiave heard him re- mark, that although then an orderly sergeant, lie acted as ensig'n and carried the standard of his re- giment at tiie battle of Monmouth. To be engag- ed in tlie ardi-nt iiglit side by side with his com- rades lie w.ould have considered agreater reliefthan to bo ontirelv freed from the dangers of the battle. While he felt all the while an indescribable some- thing wliich some might call fear and others would consider being "under concern," he maintained his post like a hero, liis colors pierced with many )iolea,and himself of course all the time a mark for the bullets of tiie enemy. He came out of the tight nu this occasion without a wound or scratch. Lieut. Wilkins, at the time of the visit of La Fayette in this town in June 1825, when hundreds of revolu- tionary oihcers and soldiers congregated to bid him welcome as tlie "Nation's Guest," was one of the only twn persons of the whole number recognized and recollected by that veteran friend oi America after an absence of many years. He was not on- ly remembered, hut the illustrious foreigner was free to relate many anecdotes which did credit to the manly bearing of a comrade in arms whom he familiarly addressed as liis old friend '■'■Ijoh IVUkcs.'' A correspondent has furnished tlie following for the V^isitnr, of whicli we have no remembrance of having before heard : Anecdote of late L'tcvt. R. B. Wllhhts. When the New Hampsliire regiments, (the 1st and part of the 2d, all under command of Col. Stark,) after having passed Charlestown neck un- der a heavy fire, were repairing to the position as- signed them, to take part in the battle then about to commence (since calUd Bnnker's Hill, though fought upon Breed's Hill) the town of Charles- town was in flames, having been set on fire by a car- case (a shell prepared with combustibles to set buildings on fire*) thrown by order of Gen Bur- gnyne from Copp's Hill in Boston. A woman came to tlie captain of one of tlie com- panips, and requested him to idlow one of his men to assist in removing her valuables from h house, which was expected soon to take fire The Cap- tain told Wilkins, then a youth of 16 or 17 years, that he might go if he pleased. His answer was, that he preferred standing by his Captain in the coming fight. A stout man, however, standing from the ranks, volunteered to assist the lady ; and was by the Captain permitted to go. The next day after the battle, Wjlkins met him, and was shown a handsome watch, which had been his recompense for the assistance afforded — with the reuiark, "You see, bov, what I got for helping the woman take care of her furniture." "And you see, (replied Wilkins, pointing to his arm in a sling,) what I gut by fighting for my country. I would not give my lame arm for twenty watches." It proved to be worth viure than twenty such watches ; for it gained him a promotion and after- wards a pension. This story was related by an old soldier some years since. V. *P-iirL'<>ync's account of ihe adion as seen from Boston, and pitiiliulied some yeara ago. er poems of his under the title of "American Sketches." Previous to LovewcITs march, the Legislature of Massachusetts voted that £100 should be paid for every Indian scalp taken. V. For the Farmer'.> Monthly Vieitor. Deau Sir :— I have read with much interest your account of Lovewoll's fights with the Indians. In regard to the ten that were killed in the first af- fair, 1 will state the following circumstances, which will I think be supported by Belknap's history: — The Indians were encumped upon an island in Lovewell's Pond (named from Capt. L.) on an island in a frozen pond in the town of Wakefield. It was in January 1725. The Indians were sur- prised in their camp asleep around their fire just befnre daylight. Lovewell discharged tlie first musket. Eight of the others of his party each picked out his mark and every shot told, the re- mainder reserving their fires. Seven were killed and two dangerously wounded, who were immedi- ately dispatched. The tenth attempted to escape, and was caught by a blood hoUnd belonging to Lovewell's party. He begged for mercy, but was knocked in the "head, and his scalp with those of tlie others taken — a hole cut in the ice, and all of them thrown into the pond. I resided in Wakefield at school from Maj' 1S16, to I\Iay Iblit, and the foregoing was the tradition- ary story told me by many of tlie old inhabitants. I have frequently visited the island which tradi- tion points out as the scenq of action. It is one of the most romantic spots in the north country. Some beautiful lines upon Lovewell's fight at Pequawket were written by Rev. Thomas C. Up- ham (brother of the Judge) and publifiUed with oth- South Eerwiclc in Maine. Its principal Farmer. To all such as, for any reason, would send their sons and daughters from home either to finish a common English education, or to prepare fur more thorough classical studies, we would recommend the delightful village of South Berwick near the line of Now Hampshire in tiie State of Maine. The Academy at that place is the oldest institution of the kind in tliat State — it has considerable funds ; and it has a board of trustees v/ho manage the institution with a generous and enlig-htened lib- erality, witli that prudence and discretion, which it might be well for other trustees of otiier literary .seminaries to imitate. Mr. Bkrkv, the principal instructor of this academy, is a native nf New Hampshire, and has provi-d himself to be that apt and thorough teacher wlio disappoints not even the raised expectations of parents and guardians who commit scholars to his ciiarge. Not less than the excellent management and in- struction at the Academy do the manners and so- cial and moral character of the people of the vil- lage recommend this place as suitable for the resi- dence of those whom we would teach in every good word and work. The village of South Berv/ick, in view of that of Great Falls some four miles distant in the north, and still nearer in sight of that of Salmon Falls, both manufacturing places within the town of Soni- ersworth — is situated four and a half miles from Dover. The Academy immediately peers in sight upon leaving Dover, which is the second town of our State in population. It is a handsome edifice of wood erected on the declivity of an eminence, i'rom which in clear weather may be descried the whole range of mountains and hills westerly of the Merrimack in the soutiierly half of New Hamp- shire to the centre of Mass*'chusetts, including the Monadnock and Wachnselt. Still furtlier south may be descried the Blue Hillbe3-ond Boston; and to the northwest the high range in Sandwich and tiie taller cliffs of Mount Washington. Our object here is not so much to commend the Academy or its management, as to introduce again to our readers the farm of our friend, the Hon. Wil- liam A. Hayes. It is true Judge H. is President of the Board of Trustees of the Academy, as he has a right to be; for it is believed there is no oth- er man of the village wlio, of his own household, ever has or can furnish so many students for the in- stitution— all talented and promising j'oung ladies and gentlemen, of any one of whom a parent might be proud. As Judge Hayes is at the head of almost every thing in the village, it is but a matter in course to say that he carries on the business of farming a little better than the best of his neighbors. His home farm, situated upon the same eminence with the Academy and extending on botii sides of the iiill, consi.sts of one hundred and eiglity acres. Plis man- sion house is about one fourth of a mile southeast from the village nearly on aline with the Academy building frontmg a branch road leading to Elliot and York. In the front yard are successive flights of granite steps, leading over plats of cultivated shrubs and flowers on either side. In the rear of tlie house, after leaving ample space for a yard and rising another flight of granite steps, is the kltclien garden teeming with < very kind of useful culinary vegetable adapted to the cliniale ; and still furtlier in the rear, ascending yet another flight of steps, is a flourishing orciiard bearing many kinds of clioice apples. From tlie rear of the house reser- voirs and conduits aie so constructed as to carry the wash from the kitchen and every thing offen- sive directly to a swine house, where the industri- ous animals are constantly employed in the manu- facture of manure, tlie materials for which are sup- plied as welHrom the house as from amuck swamp at a further distance. Judge Hayes, believing the hog to be not only useful as a maker of manure, but among the most profitable animals for meat for the amount of its sustenance, is trying the experiment of feeding his swine upon root crops. Thus far he has been em- inently successful. He has two acres of rutabaga sown early in the month of May, which are quite flourishing. They were planted very thick, so that it has become necessary to thin the growth. The roots pulled out are boiled every other day for the swine. Seventeen of tiiese, large and small, are daily fed upon boiled ruta baga three times with the mixing in aieach feeding of simply two quarts of Indian meal. Under this keeping the laro-est hogs were equal in size and fatness to almost any other hogs we had seen ; and the younger pitrs liad attained for their age all desirable growth. The swine house and place of feeding of Judge H. is arranged on a plan similar to that of the First Family at Canterbury, N. H. only his yard is per- haps better adapted than theirs for the making and saving of manure. Tlie large kettle for boiling roots is set in a chimney witliin tiie swine house. To this place the wash and ^dops of tiie house are carried; and it is the business of one hired man every other morning before breakfast to fill the ket- tle, boil and prepare sulncient ruta baga or other roots to feed the herd of swine for that and the suc- ceeding days. The swine house is of two stories and is a building of respectable dimensions. The owner intends to double the size of this building on the ground, and at least double the number of swine which he is now keeping. On his farm he keeps about one hundred fine- wooled Sa.xony sheep, the fleeces of which he sold the present year to the manufacturers in his own neighborhood at seventy cents the pound. He thinks ft good economy in a family large as is his own to slaughter a fat wether or Iamb during tiie summer and fall once a week, rather than sell and purchase from the butcher's cart. And he says, if he can succeed according to his expectations in the raising of swine, he may kill a fat hog every fort- night or at least every month in the year for fam- ily use. His principal barn is one hundred and five feet in length by forty-eight feet in width, and, if we do not mistake, twenty feet post. ■ Situated on the side hill, the cattle stalls are considerably below the main floor Vv'hich extends the whole length of the barn. On the ono side are ample bays; andon tiie other over the stalls the scaffolding comes down within a few feet of the floor. In the roof of about one lialf of the barn is a well finished granary to which the ascent is by a fliglit of stairs. At the eastern extremity of tiie barn directly under the floor is an extensive cellar capable of holding sev- eral thousand bushels of roots, which is perfectly light, secure from frost and of ready and conven- ient access. At the northwest corner of the main barn is another about forty feet square set upon a wall in the side hill and covering as ashed or sliel- ter that portion of the barn yard where water is drawn from a well. The 3'ard extending all around the main barn is of ample dimensions, and altliough upon the side hill is made convex so as to retain every liquid particle tliat may be useful for ma- nure. The hill on which this farm is situated is not por- OUR sand, but a light soil of that adhesive quality to retain the virtue of the manure placed upon it. This soil cannot be said to be rich as the river allu- vion ; but the proprietor lias been industrious tore- claim and improve it. His crops of grass, of corn, grain and roots are equal to alraoat any other : hia field of ruta baga is better than any we have seen the present 3*ear. But v.'liat most deserves public attention is the meadow of more than thirty acres, from which he will obtain the present year more than sixty tons of good Englisii hay. This meadow before he pur- chased it, like many acres which now lie beside it, was a cold swamp producing a little fine-wired hay so indigestible as to afford small sustenance to the cattle eating it. His metiiod of renovating it has been to cut two main ditches tlirough its whole ex- tent at right angles each with the other. P^rom one of these ditches Iran.'^verse ditches three feet wide and two t'ect deep at the distance of about two rods from each other are dug out, and the vegetable mould which they contain is spread in equal quan- tities over the whole surface. To this mould in the lower places sand and grave! of a few inclies thick- ness are added. Barn yard or compost manure to the amount of about eight loads to the acre is spread over the whole surface. Late in tlie fall herds grass, red top and clover are sowed — the ground is harrowed until the vegetable mould, the sand or gravel and the compost are properly mixed, and pulverized, and afterwards the whole ie smooth- ed over with the brush. W^e saw excellent herds grass and red top growing at the rate of between two and three tons to the acre on ground that was prepared in this way late last fall. If the vegeta- ble mould or peat be deep in any swamp, there can- not be a doubt that draining and a preparation of stimulants will change the character of the growth from wild grass of little value to the best of Eng- lish hay, and that in increased quantities. Judge Hayes is o fopinion tliat his meadow will not wear out during his life; and that the annual growth may be kept up by once in a few years clearing and cutting out th» ditches and spreading over a drese- J 32 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. ing of wannino- manure. Tlie expense of his prc- pMation has been about fourteen lIoIKh-b to the a- "^^Kngacred with his partner in extensive U\v busi- ness requirins every -day attention, Judge H. does not find time lo laljor himself upon his farm, flis practice is to spend an hour each morning and evenin" in directing operations, personally know- ino-and examining every thing. Living liberally in''a large family, it will not be expected thai he should annually realize a great profit in ready mon- ey from his farm. Much of his annual expendi- ture has been in the increase of its capacity and of course the extension of the capital stock. Take his farm in its present condition, after paying for the labor and every thing expended, it must yield a handsome profit. His investments appear to have been all judicious: no attempt to improve shows that money has been thrown away. Kvery exper- iment is ail amendment: every new operation adds to the value of the soil operated upon. Generous expenditures are generously refunded. If he shall have obtained more w^ealth in the successful pur- suit of his profession than fiom his farm, he may enjoy the comfortable reflection that in tilling and improving the soil he adds to the real production of the countl-y, while the wealth gained in tlie prac- tice of the law is only a transfer of his property perhaps from the hands of some who might be more benefitted in keeping, than lie can be in receiv- ing it. Forllie Fnrmer's Miilithly Visitor. Hon. I. Hill ;— The following Revolutionary anecdote was related by your late townsman, tlie venerable JoNATiiA.v Eastjian, Esq. and refers to an ofiicer of the Continental army named Badger, presumed to be a relative of our former Governor. It is briefly this : When the American army retreated from Cana- da, after the disastrous expedition to the "Three Rivers" (Trois Rivicrr.s) it lay sometime at Crown Point, while the British army occupied St. Johns. The American General desiring to obtain some in- formation in regard to their anticipated movements, Mr. R. volunteered for t!i;' purpose ; and embark- ing with three others in a boat, he landed near St. Johns about dark. It happened upon that night, a ball v>-as given by the British ofiicers, of which they obtained infor- mation from a countryman whom they made pris- oner. Leaving him at the boat in custody of two of his party. Badger proceeded with the other into the town, with a view of making prisoner some one of the oflicers. He was well acquainted with the localities of the town, and ivatchmg near a house occupied for officers' quarters, at last discov- ered a voung officer coming out ready dressed for the ball. They sprang upon him ere he was aware of their presence, and with loaded pistols present- ed at his head, commanded him, in silence, to fol- low them. When they reached the boat, a new and bolder idea struck Badger. Beingof nearly equal size with the prisoner, he ordered the latter to ex- change clothes with him ; and determined under the mask of a British uniform to attend the ball and gather what information he could from the conver- sation of those there present. The circumstance that most of the officers under Sir Guy Carletoii's command were present, many of whom had lately joined liis army, and being per- sonally unknown to each other, favored his design. He collected from their cmversation what intelli- gence he desired — danced as long as he pleased, and when tired of that amusement retun.ed to his boat — discharged the countryman ; and with his other prisoner returned in triumph to Crown Point. Had he been detected, the fate of Major Andre and of Capt. Hale had been his. But he was more for- tunate. V. the result of their rescarchea. They have learned much, and there is much more yet to be learned of this wonderful insect. I have myself kept bees for thirteen or fourteen years: I Icng since felt the necessity of preserving these little creatures from the barbarous custom of annual suffocation. For a while I tried the box-hive, but found my bees un- willing to entef it, and I lost several swarms in trying to force them into it. I abandoned this kind uf hive, and finished a room in my garret, dark and tight, with a commiuiication through the external wall of the house, through which to give them a passage way. I placed a hive of bees in this room, tlieir entrance into the hive being on a level with this communication, and near to if. To this room I have a door from my garret, never accessible to children or intruders. The room should be made impervious to rats and mice, which are very fond of bees, sparing not even their weapons of defence. This young sv,'arm soon filled their hive, and then commcnceid their operations, beneath, above, and around the hive, filling in their white virgin comb, without the aid of bars, slats or crosspieccs to build to, from the roof of the house to the floor of tlieir room. At times, I stole into this apiary, and by the aid of a light, viewed the progress they were making, and the splendid columns of comb they were erecting. They had the benefit of the labor of all their increase— all -their progeny; there w^as no swarming, no colonizing from this numerous family. Give bees room and they never swarm. Whoever heard of bees swarming from a hollow tree, till the space within was filled .' After the second year of their operations, and during the coldest of the winter, while the bees all laid dor- mant at the centre of their iicvtarinc pih, I took my family stores from the external layers, which al- ways contain the whitest and pnrest in the store- house, and is the only portion which can be taken without injury to the residue. For many years my table was supplied from this room with the choi- cest of sweets, from which many a fritud has en joyed a treat, and lingered to admire this simple contrivance for the preservation of the bee, and the store -house so well adapted to receive the fruits of his labor. In lir34 my dwelling house was destroyed by fire, containing, in its garret, at least eight hundred pounds of honey, and of living beings a multitude which no man could number. J. S. KEITH. Oxford, Me., Aug. 1839. For the Fanner's Mniillily Visiti.r. Wonders of the Honey Bee. Hon. Isaac Hill: — I am pleased to find y.onr Visitor what I anticipated it would be, the Regis- ter of the agricultural improvements of the day. I have read in it one or two treatises upon Bees, that family of insects which is the pattern of indus- try, system and good order, and which should have their habitations near the dwellings, and before the eyes of every farmer and horticulturist in the country. He who is fond of studying the wonder- ful works of Nature, will find but few subjects, ■which will more excite his curiosity than the his- tory of the Bee. The Bee possesses the united skill of the mason, the architect, the geometrician and the civilian. Ma- ny naturalists of this and other countries have de- voted much time in searching out their habits, ad- miring their sagacity, and in giving to the world The cultivation of fruit trees Is much less attended to than it should be in many parts of New England. Forty years ago the finest flavored jieaches were raised in the vicinity of Boston. A grand uncle, William Hill, at Menoto- my (now West Cambridge) seven miles out of Bos- ton, raised peaches by the hundred bushels as plen- ty as apples are now produced ; and we well re- member the time when the late Judge Tuder, Jo- seph Bnrrell, the Austins and other ancient Bosto- nians, in the season of strawberries, melons and rair- ripes,used to visit the place where that branch of the family of Hills settled more than one hundred years ago, but nearly one hundred years after(lG3G) the patriarch of ilie whole family of Hills in New England (.'Vbraham Hill) first settled in that part of Charlestown below the neck. Peaches arc no longer raised in quantities even in the warmer lands about Boston. The ground in West Cam- bridge where peaches used to grow, still occupied by the descendants of the Hills, is cultivated for other purposes ; nay, the useless ground forty years since, the wild grassed meadow and morass, is there converted by artificial means, by ditching, draining and manuring, into fields often yielding to a single acre its hundred dollars of clear prc'fit in various products for the maj-ket. We are almost a stran- ger to our own kindred on that ground — we left it in the daj^s of mere childhood ; but often in the newspapers has our attention been drawn to the fact that the earliest green peas in the Boston mar- ket have been brought from West Cambridge. A- mong the earliest furnishers to the Boston market for many years have been James and David Hill of West Cambridge ; and some of the first offeri^igs came from the precise ground where William Hill half a century ago planted and reared his beauti- ful ])each orchard : it was upon the south-eastern declivity of the first rise of land westerly of the "Fresh pond" in old Cambridge bordering upon WatertoAvn, where the Frosts, the Hills, the Pien- tlsses, the Wellingtons, the Perrys and the Locks are located. The growth of peaches has every where in New Englaiid been partially abandoned within the last twenty-five years. A revolution took i>lace in our climate in 1816 in relation., to the jiroduction of fruits of various kinds, so that one half of the pres- ent generation seems to be ignorant of the fact that previous to that time the ellmate'of Massachusetts was then aa prolific of peaches and melons as that of New Jersey at the present time. The frosts of our winters have been too severe for the highly fla- vored frifits : even our apple orchards in exposed positions have been unable to stand against the cold. May we not have reason to hope that the three years preceding 1S3.S carried the wheel of revolution to its utmost point of cold, and that this year was the commencement of a new era in our climate, bringing us back to the warm seasons of half a century ago ;■ Kindly indeed as to the non- production of frost have both the last and present seasons (up to the time of this writing, Sept. 10) held out. If this favorable year is carried out in mildness, it will now be time for every farmer up- on the high grounds who has land favorably lo- cated to commence the rearing of various fruit trees beside the apple — of pears, peaches, plums and cherries. Tile congenial ground will be found in an amphitheatre having the benefit of the full force of the sun where the north winds have not uninterrupted access : the difference of the heat propelling vegetation between a perfect level and a south declivity is strikingly conspicious. The fruit orchard may be put under way with little la- bor ; and the work should be commenced by the planting of nurseries from the original seed. We are of opinion that trees taken from nurseries in a southern latitude will not do well : they arc too ten- der for the climate. This fact may account for tlrc want of success in raising the fruit trees which are brought north from the highly stimulated nurse- ries of Massachunetts and Long Island. It is a well ascertained fact that the same kind of Indian corn (the large Dutton corn forexan:iile) will show a difference ^of a fortnight in growth and ripening whether it be rafsed at Montpelier in Vermont, or at Charlestown in Massachusetts. Our agricultural and horticultural friends have reminded us that other fruit than apples have grown the present year in New Hampshire. A box of green gages of the size of moderate apples has been presented by Worcester Webster, Esq. from his garden at Boscawen, in which he has gathered the present season more than twelve bush- els of the beautiful Canada plum, a first rate arti- cle before it is fairly ripe for preserves ; and subse- quently our old acquaintance who did not recog- nize us when we passed him while at his farm at work in Gilmanton, Rufus Parish, Esq., has sent a box of pears of large size and beautiful flavor with the insterstices filled by elegant black dam- son plums. The soil whence these tw-o specimens were produced is entirely different. The garden of Mr. Webster is situated upon the high, light al- luvial ground on the bank of Merrimack river cor- responding very nearly to that of the plains on the easterly sfde of the Merrimack in Concord, and without a pan : the garden and orchard of Capt. Parish arc upon the southern declivity of one of those noble swells ;if land .in Gilmanton whose flinty sub-soil gives assurance that no labor rightly applied to the surface shall be lost in improving it. Our own dear New England. Among the remnants of the war of the revolu- tion who came to this place to receive their semi- annual stipend on the 4th of September, was the venerable Benjami.> Buarujian, of Bridgewater. He is eighty-nine years of age, and settled ca this elevated ground of Grafton county fifty nineyears ago, when there were but two settlers westward from the river north of Salisbnry and Andover. The whole territory now embraced in the towns of Hill, Alexandria, Bristol and Bridgewater ex- tending more than twenty miles on the Pem- igewasset or Merrimack river, and six miles back, was then called New Chester. Mr. Boardman is a native of Reading, Massachusetts; and when he left the army at the close of the war, he went into the interior and pitched from choice on this high mountain ground before he had a family. His wa- ges as a soldier had depreciated into no value ; and he paid for his first purchase of one hundred acres with wheat which lie raised on the ground, af- ter it was cleared. For the first six years in each summer season, he kept "bachelor's hall" in the rude log house which he firstcrected, clearing land for a crop each successive season: and in the win- ters he went back to Reading and worked at his trade of shoe making. He has lived to erect his third house which is a building of two stories : he married at the age of about thirty-six years, and he now lives with his third wife. By his first wife he had six sons, all of whom are living, one of the younger of whom at forty years of age resides on the farm with him, and three of the others have THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 133 migrated to tlie State of New York, and aro farm- era in easy circumstances, residing westerly of Lake Chaniplain, to wliicli country they were pi- oneers. Ksq. Boardman and liis son Iiave this season tlie sowing of five bushels of wheat, which was reap- ing the day ho left home, and is very fine ; it h?3 neither blight nor weavil. He says the crop of wheat will furnish abundance of bread for the two families, should all other crops of grain fail. A porticm of this wheat is raised on pasture ground, broken up the previous fall without a particle of manure, other than the droppings of the cattle, hav- ing been applied for years. On the same gronnd e.vcellent potatoes arc raised : he informs us that the potatoes there have not been at all aflectcd with rnst and blight as they have been on all the lower grounds in this vicinity. The experience of the three last years has demonstrated that on the high grounds of this State, wheal is a more sure crop than any other ground. A fact, which much raises the value of the most elevated lands of New Hampshire, was mentioned by Mr. B : he says the frost does not strike the crops so soon by a month on his farm, as they do frequently on the low grounds upon the river. Whether we take into the account long life, health and muscular strength, the productiveness of the soil, the social ties of relationsliip and neinrh- borhood, the means of ministering to every want, the ample provision made for the education of youth, as well as for moral and religious instruc- tion— the pleasures of the winter fire-side, or the holiday enjoyments of a milder spring, summer and autumn, — there is no region of the world more in- viting than the thoueand hills of New Hampshire, extending to an elevation from one hundred to two thousand feet above the beds of the two great riv- ers which meander in its whole extent of nearly two hundred miles north and south. The octoge- narians and centenarians of the revolution who live to enjoy that bounty of the nation, of which they were deprived at the time of service by the general poverty, and which was never realized by thousands who died before the Legislature made tlie provision ; these men and women are livirnr witnesses to the value of New England soil, the charms of New England society, and the bles- sings of New England habits. A profitable and safe investment of sur- plus money. The Hon. Daniel Abbot has sent us the report of the first operations of the first Rail Kmid in A'cio Humpshirc, being the Rail Road, ex- tending fifteen miles from Lowell Ms. up the valley of the Merrimack in a direction nearly central in tlie State. The original estimate of the cost of this road was !i(id80,000 ; its actual cost was $360,000. It is reniarkable that in al- most every instance the cost of rail roads has ex- ceeded the estimate. The directors of the Nashua and Lowell road present a good excuse for their excess in the facts, that the road was elevated three feet above the first calculation, requiring more excavation and embanUment ; that they were obliged to expend a large sum in an extra bank wall on the river at Tyngsborough ; that the land damages present an enormous excess of $:>0,000 ; that the weight and expense of the imported iron rails were above the estimate and order ; and that they have purchased an additional locomotive, and cars, and constructed more extensive depots While the cost of the Liverpool and Manchester rail road, was $150,000; the Boston and Lowell $(30,000 ; the Boston and Salem 40,000 ; the Bos- ton and Worcester 37,000 ; the Boston and Provi- dence 43,000 ; the road west from Worcester 34,- 000; the Directors of the Nashua road say their whole expense, including locomotives, cars and de- pots, has been only 2.5,0u0 dollars a mile. The number of passengers on this road has far exceeded the original estimate — the quantity of freight transported has been less. The daily re- ceipts on the road for the first three months, from Oct. 1838, to Jan. 1839, averaged $83,75 : the dai- ly receipts from the 1st to the 8th August, 183!>, had risen to an average of $138,62. From the opening of the road on the 8th of October, ten months, the engines have run over 30,000 miles, carrying more than 58,000 passengers, and 8000 tons of merchandize, and making over 1000 regu- lar trips. "iN'ot a trip has been lost, (says the Re- port) from any cause, nor has the slightest acci- dent happened to any passenger or passemrer car." The receipts of tlie road for the ten months were $24,080 13; the expenses for the same period were $14,500— leaving as profits $9,.580 13. The Directors made a first dividend of 3 per cent, $7,- 500, and retain a balance in the treasury of $3,220 49, as a fund to meet "contingencies and general depreciation." The amount of stock subscribed and paid up to May 29, 1839, was 2500 shares or $250,000. $50,- 000 was loaned to the company by the Len-islaturc of Massachusetts on a stock of five per cent, for re- embursng which other $50,000 \n railroad sto.:k was created and pledged, wliieh pledge the report says will undoubtedly pay tiie loan and probably com- mand a premium. An additional stock "of 500 shares or $50,000 was voted to meet the additional cost of the road, which was at once taken up, and applications made for even a larger amount. Ths fact demonstrates the abundant success of the en- terprise. The Nashua and Lowell rail road is almost ex- clusively tlio fruit of the enterprise of citizens of New Hampshire : it was at first treated with jeal- ousy by the rich owners of the Lowell rail road be- low. A large portion of the stock was originally taken and carried through in small sums by farmers and others in Old Hillsborough. We heard of o^e gentleman in Lyndeborough, who made an invest- ment of .$2500 in spare cash on this road, who has sold out his stock and received a handsome premi- um beyond the principal, and six per cent, interest on the investment. There can be no doubt that a rail road, through the whole extent of central New Hampshire up the Merrimack river, will succeed. The farmers who may invest their 10(1 to 1000 and even 5000 dollars, will be more sure of a permanently valuable stock, than to invest in banks, or almost any thint"- else. The complete success of the Nashua road, being the first fifteen miles from Lowell on the way" pl-oves the position. This route, unlike almost ev- ery other route, must forever remain without com- petition, either to the right or left : it is destined to pour through its avenue in a constantly increasing volume, the constantly increasing products of a soil and population, to whose multiplication there are at present no defined bounds. The rail road above Nashua to Concord, about twice the distance from Lowell to Nashua, may be constructed, and the apparatus furnished at an ex- pense certainly not exceeding twenty thousand dollars a mile. There is abundant wealth in the ownersof the land twenty miles on either hand from the beginning to the termination of this dis- tance, whose real estate will be raised in value at once more than double the cost of the road ; there is abundant ability in its immediate neighborhood, if all who are able will take hold as one man, to con- struct this road without feeling the inconvenience. Now let us look around us, and inquire into this ability. Forty years ago nineteen in every twen- ty of our farmers were in debt : at this time in many towns there is hardly one farmer in twenty who is not only out of debt, but has cash capital to spare. Forty years ago turnpike roads were com- menced and carried on in almost every direction in New Hampshire : these were generally made on the principle of shortening distances solely, and passed over hills to get by villages, or the doors of largel andholders.As travelled roads profitable ttrthe proprietors they have not succeeded ; although the experiment has been of great benefit in spurring the public to competition, and thereby improving the free roads. The turnpike roads in New Hamp- shire built thirty and forty years airo, cost their proprietors on an average at least two thou- sand dollars a mile, jis much enterprise at this time would enable the people of JYew liampsliire to construct an equal ilistance of rail roads at an aver- age expense uf twenhj thousand dollars the mile. The surplus capital, and of consequence the a- bility of the owners of the soil in this State, is at least ten times as great as it was forty years ago. There is no reason in the world why the shrewd calculating men of central New Hampshire should hesitate to embark in the business of extending the rail road from Nashua up the Merrimack river valley. Carried to any depot upon this road, every production of their farms will at once possess an advantage equal to that of the garden farms from six to ten miles out of Boston or Salem. In the freight cars their pigs, calves and lambs, their cat- tle,sheep,hogs, and poultry, either alive or slaugh- tered— their butter, cheese and eggs, their grain and garden vegetables, fresh as when taken from the cellar or dairy room, or field or granary — may in six hours time be upon the market stalls of our cities. So in return we can obtain fish and the various products of the sea, or early rarities from the South, as fresh as they are obtaiiied in the sea- board markets. *^ The Directors of the Nashua rail road say the usual price of transport (water) from that place to Boston was $3 per ton in summer, and $6 by land in winter : tlie present rail roid price is $2,50 in Slimmer, and $3 in winter, making a difference of f.J per ton in the one case, and fifty cent.i in the other. The passenger fare to Boston by this rail road has been reduced 50 cents. The saving thus cifected in the pockets of the people on 10,000 tons of freight in summer, and 5000 tons in winter and 70,000 passengers, will he not less than $30,000 an- nually. In every view in which a central road through the Oranitc .State can be presented, the inducement is to go forward. There can be no mistake about it : the farmers are the class fii people most interes- ted in this enterprise— the farmers possess abun- dant ability, wthoutthe trammelling of State pro tection or State loans, to move— the fanners outrht to control and direct these, and al] other great fra- provements, which rai-se the value of every inch of their ground; and the farmers will ere long perceive, as with one eye and one mind, the bene- fits that may result froni the concentration of their well directed efforts. The intelligent proprietors of the Nashua road will at a glance peiceive that they have no less in- terest in stretching their road northward up the valley, than the shrewd projector of the Andover branch rail road had in extending that branch from Andover to Haverhill, Ms., and subsequently to Exeter and Dover. Principalhj by the farmers on the irinj li.is tlie road been neirri ,j completed the first fifteen milcsfroyn Haccrhill to Exeter ; and the next season will do as much at least between Exeter and Dover ; so that in one ye.ar from next spring, the rail road from Dover and Boston will be in op- eration. The people below on the Merrimack do not calculate how much travel and business will be turned from them by the earlier completion of the rail road up to Dover : should the contempla- ted road up the Merrimack valley be delayed five years, one half the not profits of the Nashua road for that time will be diverted from them. High prices of Cattle. While writing at our desk soon after sunrise, we are called to the butcher's cart : the pork bar- rel still remains, which, with baked beans on Sun- day, and fine dun codfish on Saturday, is the most healthful and the most palatable resort: but our working men must have fresh meat twice if not thrice a week. Ten cents a pound for a roasting piece (at least one third bone) from the surloin of a two-year old heifer is a higher price than any man who does not raise heifers to sell can afford to give; yet oh this ninth day of September, the season when beef is more plenty and cheap than any other time of year, ten cents a pound is the cash price for tlie better piece of beef from a young hoifer ; — this price is equivalent to at least fourteen cents the pound of a first rate fat ox. The butcher tells us he pays six dollars a hun- dred for the most ordinary young cattle fit for the knife. A yoke of five year old working cattle sold in this town the other day, for one hundred and forty dollars ! Last fall w^e purchased six ordinary calves of the preyiou.-i spring, for which we paid nine dollars each — this was then a matter of won- der to some of our astute and experienced neigh- bors v>'ho had none to sell, but who thought five or six dollars an enormous price : at any rate we had the comfort of daily feeding them through the winter, and seeing them grow upon ruta^baga, with such a personal attachment as induced them to follow and surround us whenever we visited the yard. These six calves cost but little for their keeping beyond the pleasures of attending them, for besides the ruti baga they lived almosrexclu- sively on the waste hay and corn stalks left by the larger cattle ; and since the first of May they have been pastured on Kearsarge at the price of one dol- lar the head for the entire season. Now these calves will be worth when they return, at least sixteen dollars each ; and there are of the number a finely mated yoke of steers and a heifer, for whicli, if they have done as well during the sum- mer, as they did in the winter, we would refuse twenty dollars each. We have ingreat plenty just the kind of keeping for this and our other stock of young cattle during the winter. ]f the value of these creatures shall be kept up until they are four years old, we shall have two fine yokes of o.ven, the one worth one hundred and ten or twenty dol- lars the yokej find- two cows with their calves at the value of from forty to fitly dollars each. The priceqf the purchase and the cost of keepino- will not exceed half the sum. Now although the°read- er may smile at our imaginary happiness, as the practical illustration of the fable of the maid with her jiail of milk upon her head, he will confess that there is something of reality in the anticipated profits which the fanner enjoys in the growth of his stock of cattle.j 134 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. The price of flour has fnllon nearly one half in two years ; the princ orniitlle is at this moment as high as it has been for the last five years; so tiiat the increased price cannot be entirely from the de- precial.ion of the eircnlatinj- medium. The fact is, the whole country is behind hand in the growth of cattle ; there are not enoiigli oxen for the work of the fanners; the largest and the best of them are enticed off by the high prices paid for them; and although myriads of calves are raised, these do not fill up tlie demand, because so many young cattle of two and three years growth are slanglitered in place of the scarcer foil grown oxen and cows. The supply of cattle is nut now, and will not be for years, equal to the demand ; of consequence there can be no present danger of raising too many calres. The better policy of the farmer who purchases is, to buy tlie younger cattle even at the higher price. Mammoth r>oiliict. — Smith Sr.nborn, Esq. has sent the editor of the Visitor specimens of blue joint, being the native intervale grass of the Mer- rimack river banks, more than eight feet in length. Of this growth he had about eight acres this year on his farm in Canterbury, near Boscawen plain. The growth is upon the natural meadow overflow- ed without manure. From r lie Hiiiiad. F.inrier's Ciitiliict. Agricultural Chemistry. The many very important facts and hints con- tained in Sir Huinplircy Davy's Agricultural Chemistry, and the cogent arguments on many in- teresting subjects with which it abounds, renders it very important that it sliould be introduced to the farmers of this country ; but the expense and dilH- culty of disseminating it amongst our farmers, has induced me to go over it, and cull from it various interesting matters that admitted of separation, without injury to the sense ; tliese I have copied out and forwarded for publication in the Farmer's Cabinet, hoping they may be useful to your numer- ous readers. Agkicola. No manure can be taken up by the roots of plants, unless water is present; and water or its elements exist in all the products of vegetation. The ger- mination of seeds does not take place witJioul the presence of air or oxygen gas. Plants are found by analysis to consist principal- ly of charcoal and aeriform matter. Tliey give out by distillation volatile compounds, the elements of which are pure air, inflammable air, coally matter, and azote, or the elastic substance whicli forms a part of the atmosjdiere, and which is incapable of supporting combustion. These elements they gain either by their leaves from the air, or by their roots from tlie soil. All manures from organized substances contain the principles of vegetable matter, which, during putrefaction, are rendered either soluble in water or aeriform — and in these states, thcj' are capable of being assimilated to the vegetable organs. No one principle affords the pabulum of vegetable lit'e; it is neither charcoal nor hydrogen, nor azote, nor oxygen alone ; but all of them together, in various states and various combinations. Plants require only a certain quantity ef ma- nure ; an excess may be detrimental, and cannot be useful. Slaked lime was used by the Romans for manur- ing the soil in which fruit trees grew. This we are informed of by Pliny. Nothing is more wanting in agriculture than ex- periments in which all ttic circumstances are mi- nutely and scientifically detailed. -Tills art will ad- vance with rapidity in proportion as it becomes ex- act in its methods. Discoveries made in the enltivation of the earth, are not merely for the time tnd country in which tliey are developed, but they may be considered as extending to future ages, and as ultimately tending to benefit the whole human race ; as atfordinor sub- sistence for generations yet to come ; as irulli|dv- ing life, and not only multiplying life, but likewise providing for its eiijoyment. Plants, being possessed of no locomotive powers, can grow only in places where they are supplied ■with food ; and the soil is necessary to tlieir e.\is- tence, both as aft'ordlng tliein nourishment and en- abling them to fix theinselve.s in such a manner as to obey those mechanical laws by whicli their radi- cles are kept below tlie surface, and their leaves exposed to the free atmosphere. Herbs, ia general, furnish foiu or five times, and shrubs two or three times, as much potashes as 1 trees. The leaves produce more than the branches, and the liranches more tlian the trunk. Vegeta- bles burnt in a green state produce more ashes than in a dry state. The following table contains a statement of the quantity of potashes ati'orded by some common trees and plants. 10,000 parts of oak furnishes 15 parts of potash. " " elm " 3!' " " " " beech " 1'3 " " " " vino " ■'>•'> " " " " poplar " 7 " " thistle " r.:i " " " fern " 6^ " " " cow thistle " V.ii " " " " wormwood " 730 " '* " " vetches " 275 " " beans " 200 " " " fumitory " 7(j0 " " The eartlis found in plants are four; silica or the earth of flints,alumina, or pure clay, lime, and mag- nesia. They are procured by incineration. The Irtne is usually combined with carbonic acid. This substance and silica, are much more common in the vegetable kingdom than magnesia, and magnesia more common than alumina. Potatoes in general afford from ono-fiflh to one- seventh of their weight of dry starch. One-fourth part of the weight of the potafoe at least maybe considered as nutritive matter. Mr. Knight says that he has found the best pota- toes heavier than the inferior varieties. Fruits, in the organization of their soft parts, ap- proach to the nature of bulbs. They contain a certain quantity of nourlsliment laid up in their cells for the use of the embryo plant ; mucilage, sugar, starch, are found in many of them often combined with vegetable acids. If a solution of lime in water be exposed to the air, a pellicle will speedily form upon it, and a sol- id matter will gradually fall to the bottom of the water, and in a certain time the water will become tasteless; this is owing to the combination of the lime, which was dissolved in the water, with car- bonic acid gas which existed in the atmosphere. The principal consumption of the carbonic acid in the atmosphere, seems to be in affording nour- lsliment to plants; and some of them appear to be supplied with carbon clilefly from this source. Car- bonic acid gas is formed during fermentation, com- bustion, putrefaction, respiration, and a number of operations taking place upon the surface of the earth ; and there is no other process known in na- ture by which it can be destroyed but by vegeta- tion. It is evident, that in all cases of tillage the seeds should be sown so as to be fully exposed to the influence of the air. And one cause ot'the un- productiveness of cold clayey adhesive soils, is that the seed is coated with matter iinpenncable to air. In sandy soils the earth is always sufficiently penetrable by the atmosphere ; but in clayey soils there can scarcely be too great a mechanical divis- ion of the parts in the process of tillage. Any seed not foully supplied witli air, always produces a weak and diseased plant. The great object in the application of manure should be to make it alford as much soluble matter as possible to the roots of tlie plant; and that in a slow and gradual manner, so that it may be entire- ly consumed in forming its sap and organized parts. AU green succulent -plants contain saccharine mucilaginous matter, with woody fibre, and readi- ly ferment. They cannot, therefore, if intended for manure, be used too soon after their death. It is usual to carry straw that can be employed for no otlicr purpose, to the dunghill, to ferment and decompose ; but it i.-i worth exjierlment, wheth- er it may not he more economically applied when chojiped small by a proper machine, and kept dry till it is ploughed in f'or the use of a crop. In this case, though it would decompose much more slow- ly, and produce less efl'ect at first, yet its influence would be mucli more lasting. Manures from animal substances, in general, re- quire no chemical preparation to fit them fur the soil. The great object of the farmer is to blend them with eartliy eonstltuv'iits in a proper state of divis- ion, and to prevent their too rapid decomposiiion. By covering dead animals with five or six times tbeij bulk of soil, mixed with one part of lime, and suffering them to remain a few months, their de- composition would impregnate the soil with soluble matters, so as to render it an excellent manure, and bv mixing a little fresh quick lime witli it at the time of its removal, the disagreeable effluvia would be in a great measure destroyed ; and it might be applied In the same way as any other manure to crops. The refuse le for peculiar vegetation, luxuriant or bar- ren, lorm subjects of particular interest, capable of explcirn.ition lay chemical analysis. The present state and future condition of a sod, can in a certain degree be ascertained by a knowledge of their ge- ological origin, and the nature of the chemical re- actions wliich will take place ill it. Advantage may sometimes be taken of defects in soils, to ren- der them the most powerfully beneficial. Thus, in the town of Saco, there is an intervale plain, be- longing to Mr. 1. Jordan, having several remarka- ble substances in it, which nothing but a knowl- edge of geology and chemistry could explain or improve. There is a kind of clay marl, filled with minute and almost invisible particles of pyrites or bi-sulphuret of iron, composed of 54 parts sulphur and i;i.^ %\ IjavT-; iiose of the hu.sbaiid- to pervious substances below the surface, it is finding its way to u lower lev- el the purpose of the drainer is to confine it to a determinate cliannel, and carry it away by some convenient outlet, in order that- it may not overfiow or Eitiirit-G lllC soil' The drains for conveying away water from the surface are :— The ditches of fields, v.'hich ought to be so laid out as to favor tlie descent of water, the open furrows whicli are formed by the ridges, and trenches dug in the places necessary for allowing a passage to the water. „ , ^ , Th- trenches for carrying away surface water, are usually left uncovered, and they are termed open drains. But sometimes they are partly filled with Btones or other substances, and then covered v^ith earth, so that while tlie Burface water may sink down and be carried away, the tilling instruments may not be interrupted.? In the forming of open drains, the dimensions must be fixed with relation to the quantity of water to be carried away, and the direction determined by the natural flow of the water, or by the particular course by which it is ex- pedient to conduct it from the ground. In general, open drains are formed in the hollows or lower parts of the land to be drained, so tliat the water may find access to tliera from the higher gTounds, or sometimes they are formed a- cross the line of descent, in order to intercept the water which runs from the higher grounds to the lower. In open drains, of whatever depth, the sides should possess a declivity from the top to the bottom, to prevent tliein from crumbling down and being under- mined by the current. Except in the case of rock, this inclination should not be less than 45 degrees; and, when the eartli is soft, and tlie flow of wa- ter considerable, it should exceed 45 degrees. In all cases, the earth should be spread from the edge of tiie trench backwards, so that the water from tlie land on each side rnay have access to it. When drains of tliis class are covered, they are generally made from 2 1-3 to 3 feet deep, and filled with stones or otiier loose materials to within a foot of tlie surface. They are usually in this case carried through the hollow pla- ces, where the water of the land stagnates, or tends to How. The further end to be eft'ected by draining is to form ciiannels of water which has already sunk into the ground, and is cither retained by it, or is finding its way beneath the surface from a higher to a lower level. It is the intercepting of water below the surface that constitutes tlie most difiicultpart of draining, and which requires the application of principles which it is not necessary to apply in tlie case of siirface draining. t When tlie soil rests upon a retentive subsoil, the latter may present a Burface of resistance to the water; or tlie water may have sunk down into tlie subsoil, and be finding its way through the channels beneath. The substances through which the water finds its way with facility are the looser earths, sands and gravels, the crevices of rocks, and beds of loose or decomposing stones ; the substances which resist its progress are clays and the harder rocks. If we shall penetrate a very little way into the looser portion of the earth, we shall generally find a series of strata, consisting of gravel, sand, or clay of different degrees of density. These strata are frequently horizontal, fre- quently they follow nearly Ihe inclination of the surface, and frequently they are broken and irregular. Sometimes the stratum is very thin, as a few inch- es in thickness, and sometimes it is several feet thick; and sometimes the traces of stratification disappear, and we find only, to a great depth, a large mass of clay, or other homegeneous substances. When these substances are of a clayey nature, water finds its way through them witli difficulty; when they are of a looser texture, water percolates througli them freely. These last accordingly form natural conduits or chan- nels for the water whicli is below the surface, when finding its waj' from a higher to a lower level. When any bed or stratum of tliis kind, in which water is percolating, crops out to the surface, the water which it contains will flow out and form a burst or spring, oozing over and saturating the ground, as in the following figure, which represents a section of the ground, from C to D. [Fig 30] Bv cutting a drain at A Fig. 99, the water of the stratum of sand C E, is cut offbefnre it reaches the surface at C, where it forms the swamp C U. In like manner, in Fig. 30, by forming a drain at C or F, the water is cut ofl-inits channel A B, and thus in relieving tire pressure from the higher source, by giving egress to the water through the drain, the cause of the wet- ness from E to U is removed. ^ ,, ■ u„u In lookino-at the sloping surface of any tract of ground, as a field, in wh ch there is an Sozing or bursting of water, we shall generally distinguish the . line wliere tlie wetness begins to appear on the surface, extending over a con- siderable space, xxxxx, Fig. 31, the effects appearing in the wetness ol the ground farther down the slope, as ,j,j,j. The line where the wetness begins, and which soil, the tende ncss, marks fo. in ...u-^v , j — ; ,. ,. /-. » a i <• „™ sh.mld follow. By cutting a drain nearly in this line as irom G to A, and tiom L to A sutHciently deep to reach the porous stratum in which the water per- colates' we shall intercept it before it readies the surface, and by carrying it away in some other convenient outlet, A B. remove the cause of wetness. ther down the slope, as yipj. The line where the wetness begins, is o-enerally rendered perceptible by the change of color ot the ndency to produce subaquotie plants, and other indications of wet- s for the most part nearly the course which the line of the dram [Fig. 31.] This, accordingly forms, in the greater number of cases, he rule adopted ,n practice for the laving out of drains upon the surface. The line is drawn nearly at or a little above, the line of wetness, or, to use the common expres- sion, between the wet and the dry. „ ^ Should the line of drain be drawn too much below the line of wetness as at G Fig 20 then the trench would fail to intercept the water ; and further, if it 'were filled with earth, stones, and other substances, in the way to be af- terwards described, the whole, or a part, of the water would pass over it, and the injury be unremoved. , ^ . ti .u Ao-ain, should the line be too much above the line of wetness, as at H,the drain would fail to reach the channel of the water, and so would be useless. It is for this reason that, in common practice, the rule is, to draw the line of the drain nearly between the wet and the dry, or a little above it, taking care to give it the necessary descent, and to form it of sufficient depth to reach the pervious bed or stratum in which the water is contained. But as water may arrive at the surface in diffi-rent ways, and the wetness be produced by difierent causes, so variations from this rule of lining out the drain may be required, and the judgment of the drainer is to be shown in a- dapting the course of his drain to the change of circumstances. Sometimes in a hollow piece of ground, feeders may reach the descent, as in Fio-. 32; and ihe water may be forced upwards by the pressure from each side of the hollow, and thus form the swamp from A to B. It may not be necessary here to cut a trench on each side along the line of wetness at A and B ; a single trench C, cut in the hollow, and giving egress to the water, may relieve the pressure and remove the swamp. (Fig. 32.] Sometimes upon a sloping surface, one pervious stratum, in which water percolates, mav produce more than one line of springs, as at B and A, in the following figure. Here a single drain cut at B will remove the cause oljwet- ness at botlTswamps, without the necessity of the drain at A. When water is in like manner percolating- through one of these pervious strata, and meets any obstruction, as a rock or bed of clay at A. Fig. 2!>, it is stopped in its progress, and, by the pi-essureof the water from a higher source, it is forced upwards, and thus saturates -the superjacent soil, as from D to E, forming springs, or a general oozing. In either of these cases, and they are the most frequent that occur in prac- tice, the object of the drainer is to reach the water in its subterraneous chan- nel before it shall arrive at the surface, and to carry it away in a drain. [Fig. 33.] THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. And in practice, it is well to wait to mark the effects of a drain cut in tiie higiier part of the slope to be drained, for these effects often extend further than miglit be anticipated, removing springs, bursts, or oozings, at a great distance. On the other hand, a single swamp, as from B to A, in the following figure, may be produced, and^'etone drain at 13 may be insufficient to remove it. hi this case, the water being brought to the surface by more than one channel, it is necessary to form several drains to reach tlie several beds in which the water is contained, as at B, C, and D. 137 [Fig. 34.] These examples will show, that one rule, with respect to the laying out of drains, is not applicable to all cases, but that the drainer sliould adapt liis remedy as much as possible to the cause of injury. One end, however, to be aimed at in all cases, is to reach the bed, channel, or reservoir, in which the water is contained. Before beginning to drain a field or tract of ground, it is frequently well to .ascertain, by examination, the nature of the substance to be digged through. At the upper part where the wet tract to be drained appears, or between the wet and the dry, let a few pits be digged. The place of each pit is to be marked out nearly in the direction of the proposed line of drain, six feet long by three in width, in which space one man, and if required, two, can work. Let the earth be thrown out to the lower side, and to such a distance from tiie edge of the pit as not to press upon and break down the sides. Let these pits be made to the depth of five or six feet, or more if necessary, so that we may reach, if possible, the porous bed in which the water is contained. Should we find no water, then let us apply a boiing rod, in order to ascertain at what depth the porous substance lies in whicli the water is contained. Sometimes water will not be foimd until we come to a great depth. It may be so deep that we cannot reach it by any drain, or even by boring with the auger. In this case a previous examination saves us tiie labor of making the drain unnecessarily deep. Sometimes we shall proceed to a consideralile depth without finding any appearance of water, wlien, all at once, by break- ing througli some thin stratum, we shall reach it. The water is frequently seen in this case, to boil up like a fountain, and this affords the assurance that we shall succeed in our object. This species of preparatory examination by means of pits, is therefore, in many cases useful. It affords the means of judging of the proper deptli and dimensions of which the drain shall be formed ; it prevents the committing of errors in the laying out of the lines of drains; and it enables the drainer to enter into contracts with his workmen with precision. When we have thus, by sinking pits in various parts of our intended lines, obtained an idea of the nature of the ground, of the substances to be digged through, and of the depth of the water, we mark our lines of drains upon the ground. This may be done by pins, or by a plough drawing a furrow along the in- tended line. It is at this time very convenient to make a hand-sketch of the piece of ground to be drained, marking each line as it is laid off in the field, and not- ing the depth and direction in which the water is to run. The lines being marked off in the manner described, these are from the up- per edges of the drains. The width of the drain at the top depends upon its depth, it being usual, ex- cept in the case of very hard tenacious substances, to make it slope from the top to the bottom. Thus, if it be six feet deep, and from 18 inches to 2 feet wide at the bottom, it may be 9 1-2 feet wide at top. The workman, in forming the trench, works up to the higher ground, and never from tlie higher ground to the lower. The instruments which he uses in the operation are — the common spade, a shovel for throwing out loose sub- stances, a pick or mattock, for raising stones and breaking the earth when hard, and the foot-pick. The materials to be used for filling the drain may be stones, tiles, or other hard and durable substances. When stones are to be employed, if they are inconveniently large, they may be broken to the weight of three or four pounds. They may be laid down for use, before the cutting of the drain is begun, along the upper line of the drain, the earth being thrown by the work- men to the lower side ; or else they may be brought forward while the work JB going on, and thrown from the cart into the drain. In the larger class of drains it is regarded as beneficial, and even necessary, to form a conduit at the bottom. This is done by building a little wall rough- ly on each side at the bottom, about six inches in height, and so as to leave an aperture or conduit of about six inches in width. The workman then covers it with such flat stones as he can procure, filling up also the interstices of those covers with smaller stones, so as to defend the conduit from earth and other substances that might fall into it. When this is done, the remaining stones are thrown in promiscuously to the height of 18 inches or two feet a- bovc the cover. The stones are then to be made level at the top, and eitlier covered with the sod wliicii, on breaking the ground of the drain, had been laid aside for the purpose, or with a covering of straw, heath, or the like. This covering is to prevent the loose earth from falling amongst the stones. When these operations are completed, the earth which had been thrown out of the trench is siiovellcd upon the stones until it be above the level of the surface. The purpose of raising it higher than the surface is to provide for the subsidence of the loose earth, which is generally found to be render- ed more compact, and to occupy a emaller space than it did in its original state. When a portion of the earth is shovelled in, it is an economy of labo to employ a common plough for filling in the remainder. A drain thus formed will appear on a transverse section, as in Fig 35, and after the subsidence of tlie earth as in Fig. 36. Where the soil is very soft. It IS of benefit to pave tlie lower part of tlie drain with stones or slates. In the whole operation of forming the trench and conduit, great care is neces- sary in seeing that all the parts of the work are executed well. The stones used for this species of drain may be sandstone, or any other harder stones that can be obtained. But in many cases, stones are not to be obtained, in which cas.e titea may be substituted. [Fig. 35.] The tiles which are made with an arch as In the annexed figure, 37, may be formed of separate pieces of about fourteen inches in length. Flat soles are made of the same ma- terial, on which the arched tiles are to rest. The method of forming the drain when tiles are the material employed, may be somewhat different from that adopted when stones are used. The drain is carried down as narrow as a man can work and at the bottom an excavation is made by me.ans of a narrow-mouthed spade, to fit the dimensions of the tile, which is then placed upon its stand or sole. Above this should be laid some loose materials, as clean gravel or sand for allowing the filtration of the water. Even brushwood' and such materials, may be used ; for though they are not of great duration, they serve the purpose, even after they have decayed, of rendering the earth more open and pervious to water. Drains formed in this manner, whether the material em- ployed be stone or tile, will be found eflicient when they are laid out in the proper direction, and when the pervious substances are reached in which the water is contained. ■■'•But it is often impracticable to reach these substances with a drain of common deptli. In this case apertures may [Fig 381 be formed at the bottom of the drain, by boring or sinking down at the prop- er distances, until the pervious beds in which the water is contained are reached. By this means the water will lie allowed to flow up from below in- to the cavity of the drain, and so will be carried aw,ay. The application of this principle had been familiar from the remotest times in the sinking of wells. But it was not till after the middle of the last cen- tury that the same principle was applied to the draining of land. This was done by Mr. Elkinton of Warwicksliire, who employed the auger and the boring rod for the purpose of reaching the channels and reservoirs below the surface, when an ordinary drain could not reach them. The auger employed for this purpose is similar to-a carpenter's wimble. It may be from four to five inches in diameter. Square rods are made to be screwed into one another, so that the length of the line of rods may be in- creased in proportion as the auger penetrates the ground. In the annexed fig., A is the auger, B one of tlie rods, C a key for turning it round and work- ing it, D another key for holding the rods when they are to be unscrewed by means of the key C. This instrument may be sometimes found useful when the channels and reservoirs of water can be reached in this manner. The apertures are farm- ed by the auger in the bottom of the drain. When the water is reached, it will spring up into the drain, in the same manner as water in the bottom of a well. It is not necessary to employ any arti- ficial means for keeping the apertures open, as the flow of the water will suffice to maintain for itself a passage. [Fig. 39.] n [Fig. 38.] Sometimes, in place of an auger hole, wells are sunk at intervals along the side of the drain, and filled with stones in the manner shown in the figure. In all cases of draining where the water to be reached is at some depth, the drains should be made of sufficient dimensions. They should not be less than 4 feet deep, even when the pervi- ous strata lie at less depth ; and tlie reason is, that they may be more permanent, and better defended from injury from mud and sand carried down by surface water. It is not necessary that they be made deeper than 4 feet when that is found to be sufficient ; bnttliey must be carried, if necessary, to the depth oi' six feet, or even sometimes of seven feet, though the expense and dlfiiculty of executing the work increase, in a great proportion, as the dimensions of the drain increase. The importance, in this species of draining, of proceeding upon principles in laying out the lines of drains, instead of acting at random, as 133 T>1E FARMER'S, MONTHLY VISITOR. so many do, cannot be- too strongly impressed up- on the attention of tlie' drainer. Every drain, iiow- ever rudely devised, and imperfi^ctly executed, may do some good. But one drain well laid out, and of tlie requisite dimensions, may perform a purpose which no multiplication of minor and in- suliicient drains can effect. These may lessen the effects of wetness, but the otlier is designed to re- move ttie cause of it ; and the more perfect practice will usually be found in the end to be the most eco- nomical as well as tlie most efficient. The drains of Ihe larger class described, it will be seen, are intended for the removal of water which is contained in reservoirs and channels be- low the surface. But frequently the water to be intercepted is ve- ry near tlie surface, as between the soil and sub- soil, or the svib-soil is so homogeneous to a great d?pth, that no jiervious strata can be readily reach- ed. In such cases, the drains may be of smaller dimensions, and increased in number, so as to af- ford many outlets to the water witli whicli the soil and sub-soil are charged. A system of draining, having relation to this condition of tile soil arid sub-soil, has been termed ihe Esse.x system, from its having been extensive- ly practised in that flat and clayey district, and it i-i now very generally termed furrow draining. — 'i'he system consists in forming a series of small drains parallel to one another, in the open furrows 1 i-( 'een the ridges. In this species of draining, !.:• .lesign is not to reach the water as it percolates in pervious channels beneath the surface, but to afford numerous outlets to the water which the soil and sub-soil retain. The system is for the most part greatly more expensive than the other : yet as it is efficient, is easily practised, and produces an immediate effect in drying the ground, it is often preferred even where the purpose might be other- wise effected. It may often, however, be combin- ed with the sj'stem of deeper drains ; the latter be- ing employed to intercept the spring and larger body of water, and the former to give an increased degree of dryness to the surface. The materials that may be employed in this spe- cies of draining are tiles or stones, the latter being broken to the size of small road metal. Of these materials, tiles are held to be the most con- venient and economical, from their requirmg a smaller trench, and from their being more easily carried, and more readily taken up and replaced when injured. They are formed into an arch of a semi-elliptical form, and they are made to rest on flat soles in the manner shown in the fiorure 3'J. The size of the arch varies with circumstances : the usual size is from three to four inches wide within, and from four to five inches high, and the length of each tUe is about fourteen inclies. The soles are fiat, or slightly curved, and made to pro- ject about a quarter of an inch on each side of the tiles. These are the usual dimensions for the smal- ler parallel drains ; but, where main drains are formed to receive the water from the smaller drains, the size of the tiles is increased to seven or eigiit inches wide within, with a corresponding height. The principle adopted in laying out this class of drains, is to form one or more main or receiving drains across the ground to be drained, and to con- duct into these the minor drains which follow to the course of the ridges. The receiving drains are formed ofgreater size, by employing the larger form of tiles, or by placing two tiles side b^- side, and sometimes witli their edges together, so as to com- bine the two arches into one tube ; and sometimes three or four tiles are empleyed variously arrang- ed. .The minor drains lead to these receivintr ones, and the water is permitted to enter by chopping off corners of the larger tiles, at the places where the tiles of the smaller drains terminate. It is better, however, that sets of the tiles be prepared at the tile works, in which ease the apertures can be made either tlirough ihe sides of the tiles, or at the corners. The depth of the drains sliould be sufficient to place the tiles completely beyond the reach of in- jury from the deepest ploughing. A medium depth of the smaller drains is from eighteen to twenty- four inches. They are formed by first taking up a spit with the common spade, and then employing the narrower spade, shown in figure 40, so as to form the trench with a slope to the bottom, where the width should be just sulficient to receive the soles of the tiles; and in order to clear out any mud or loose earth in the trench, there is employ- ed the spec.es of shovel. Fig. 4IJ. Sometimes in order to save some expense in digninir the earth at the surface is first reuiov^-d by tlie pl'^uitrh which passes along without the mould-boatd, and then returns by the same track, with the mould-board attached, so aa to pusli the earth to a side and form M C a lurrow. In proportion as the trenches are formed by one set of workmen, the tiles are laid by anoth- er. The workman in laying the tiles works back- wards, the tiles having been previously laid along the line of the drains, and there is usually an as- sistant to hand them to the person in the trench. This part of the operation must be performed with care, so that the soles shall be placed firmly and evenly on their other bed ; and so that the acclivity shall always be sutScient to cause the water to run. The earth is shovelled back upon the tiles, and care should always be taken that the looser soil of the surface be laid next to the tiles, so that the space above them may be rendered as pervious as possible to water. When there is any sod upon the surface at the time of draining, this should be laid aside, and placed upon the tiles with the gras- sy side below, and then the looser soil next the sur- face is to be shovelled in, and lastly the more te- nacious sub-soil. And it is even an improvement in this kind of drains to lay over the tiles some gravel, sand, peat, or other pervious matter, before replacing the earth. This species of draining is of admirable use in drying the soil, by affording out- lets to the water witli which it may" be charged, but care should be taken not to apply the principle to cases to which it is unsuited. It is plain that the method is not well adapted to the removal of springs and swamps produced by water beneath the sur- face. It may indeed keep the stratum of soil com- paratively dry, even when the wetness is produced by the rising of water from beneath, but then it is a very inartificial method of producing the effect, since the water may be far more efiectually remov- ed by intercepting it by a drain along the line of the descent, in the manner before explained. This kind of draining is mainly to be recom- mended for its efficacy, and for its speedy action in rendering the soil dry. When the tiles are good and laid with care, these drains will last for along period. When choked at any particular part ; they can be easily taken up at that part, and the tiles re- placed, or new ones substituted. Thorns, brushwood, and branches, are frequent- ly employed in the filling of drains. They serve the purpose of afi'ording a more pervious channel to water, but they soon decay, and the drains are very apt to be choked. Sometimes, indeei, the channels formed by the water remain, when there IS a considerable current, long after these materials have decayed. But this cannot be depended upon, and such materials, therefore, ought not to be used if better can be obtained. Sometimes a species of draining, termed Wedge- draining, has been employed. The general meth- od of performing this is'to form a narrow trench with a long narrow shovel. The spit being taken out as deep as the shovel can go, a scoop is em- ployed to clear out the mud and loose eartli at the bottom. Then another spade narrower than the first is used, and a second spit taken out, and last- ly a corresponding shovel stiH to clear the whole oe.t, forming a trench with a ledge as in Fig. 41. [Fig. 41.] ledge is dispensed with, and the sod is merely formed into a wedge, n;irrowed towards the grassy side, and this, when the little trench is cleared out, is pressed into it and covered with earth ; and as it does not reach the narrow bottom, a channel re- mains below, through which the water percolates. This simple species of drain ha.s been extensive- ly adopted in some districts; and as it is easily formed, and as the number of drains may be mul- tiplied at little expense, considerable benefit has resulted from the use of it. But although drains of this kind will sometimes remain open tor a con- siderable time, they are exceedingly apt to be clos- ed up; on which account, the use of the tile is in most cases to he preferred. grass side below, is "AGIIICULTUR.VL SURVEY." Region of the White IHountains. July liith, in continuation. We left our read- ers in the last Visitor with the recital of the trage- dy of the Wllley family : the scene of this unliap- py event is laid three miles within the notch of the White Mountains. From the WiUey house the pas- sage through the mountain grows more and more narrow until, near the point where tlie open coun- try commences, the space for the passage of the Saco river and the road occupies a distance across of scarcely thirty feet. Between the Willey liouse and the opening a stream sulficient to carry a mill in the dry season comes tumbling down from the east side of the mountain in a cascade of many hundred feet: on the rocks near tlie road this mountain stream is descried for a considerable dis- tance in line almost directly over head. Emerging from the gorge, you soon come to that high part of the amphitheatre at the base of the magnificent mountains from which, collected from the different points, the waters of the Saco and Amonoosuck flow in different courses. Fifteen years ago, we came down from the mountains in this direction, and the camp prepared for our night's lodgement was floored with evergreens di- rectly over the rocks through which the head wa- ters of Ihe Saco penetrated. A meadow of some two or three acres below tlie camp and just with- out the mouth of the Notch had been cleared, on" which a small crop of wild grass was growing. As for the rest, besides the path of the road, all was a thick forest of hemlock, maple, birch, larch, &c. Mr. Rosbrook, who with his sons accompanied us on our expedition, had his location down the Am- onoosuck distant about ten miles, and was then one of the only two families resident within the limits of the present town of Carrol. He had been brought up on the farm since known as the resi- dence of Ethan Allen Crawford, whose mother was his sister. Young Crawford had cut a foot path directly through to Mount Washington, at the foot of which he had erected a coniTbrtable camp. Situated nearer than Rosbrook and in pos- session of these facilities, he had greatly the ad- vantage of his uncle in pursuing the lucrative bus- iness of accompanying and piloting strangers to the mountains. When he saw us on our way with Rosbrook, he at once forbid us passing over his path or occupying his camp. It was then tliat we dis- covered the feud among the mountaineers of the same "kith and kin," as a great statesman would call them. Professor Dana, who had been there before, and who espoused the cause of Ros- brook, having led us out of the way six miles at midnight ratlier than patronize the enemy of his friend, avoided Crawford's path as far as he could, and would not enter his camp at all; with Ros- brook he camped for the night half a mile u^ the mountain. Professor Oliver and ourselves, not being parties to the quarrel, took quiet possession of the camp for the night, determined to oft'er pay- ment in full for the use of that and of the travelled path. The travel of twenty-eight hours, first directly over the Crawford palli (now made for the dis- tance of about six miles so as to be passed on horse- back,) thence up that spur of Mount Washington nearest to the gorge through which flows the wa- ters I'roni the pond,one thousand feet below the high- est point of the most elevated mountain, and above the region of vegetation, being a valley which dis- tinguishes that mountain ironi the nearest emi- nence at th.e south-east ; thence down the moun- tain to the pond, and up and down the fonr sue cessive mountains to the base of Mount Pleasant at the Notch— was equal to a journey on foot of at least sixty miles upon a plain path or road. In feeble health at that time, and less used to travel on foot than we now are,— having walked more within the last ten years than we did the previous first forty years of our time ; lame from infancv and A piece of sod, with then torced down, and resting upon the ledge, a I never w'alking entirely free from pain ; this mide space IS lelt for the water below. Soraetunes the | taking upon the mountains seemed to be almost THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 1^9 dc-spcratc efTort. Strenj^-th and resolution held out until our arrival at a point wlirre Imraes could^ take us. The young Rosbrooks had lie.'n sent oil" in advance ten miles for our horses: they would not probably arrive till midni/ht. Doctor Oliver was almost as much jaded out as we were : Dr. Dana, as light of foot as he was volntile and elas- tic of mind, was ready and anxious to proceed on foot; but Mr. Rosbroiik in a slinrt time made tlie preparation, -and in less tlian half an ho\ir we were reposing over the bed of the Saco on a soft bed of evergreen houghs. Scarcely had we laid down, when the tramp of liorses on the road advertised us of the approach of aid in our progress home. It was not th« conveyance for which we had sent : the namesake of the conqueror of Ticonderoga, as- taining where we were wlien the young Rosbrooks passed him, immediately volunteered unasked to bring us to a place of rest ; and through his aid at midnight we were comfortably in quarters at Ros- brook's in Bretton-woods. Mr. Ro.sbrook at that time, with a view of get- tino- a location nearer to the mountain, fi.xed his eye upon the spot near the meadow and the Notch as a suitable place for erecting buildings ; and then solicited our aid to procure a title to a few acres of land. The whole territory in the vi- cinity with the mountain then belonged to the estate of the deceased Col. Wliipple of Portsmouth under the administration of Hon. Aaron Hill, the former postmaster of Boston. Rosbroos supposed that a gift of all the land he would want might be obtained in consideration of erecting a house there for the acconimodatiou of travellers ; but, unfortu- nate on his own premises from some cause, he nev- er carried his project into e.tecution. Thomas Jefferson Crawford, a younger brother of Etlian Allen, and son of Abel Crawford whose farm is eight miles below, has procured a title to this land and erected the requisite buildings for a public house. The crops of beautiful herdsgrass and clo- ver, of oats and potatoes, growing at this time upon the land which ho has cleared, prove the fertility of the soil in the midst of these mountains to bo scarcely infcTior to any other land in the State. AtFabyan's (formerly E. A. Crawford's and the residence of his grand father Rosbrook) there is an intervale flat on the Amonoosuck of more than a hundred acres ; a portion of this land has been un- der cultivation seventy-five to a hundred years. Little pains has been taken for its cultivation. The frost on tliis ground for several seasons has been Bo frequent as to kill both the crops of potatoes and oats. Mr. Fabyan during the two last years has sown upon this ground one nundred bushels of seed, without procuring the return of a single bushel of ripe oats. The land is e.-iccllent for hay, and has produced the present year from one hun- dred to one hundred and fifty tons. It is remark- able that the recent clearing of T. J. Crawford in the midst and directly under the shade of the "inountain should be so free from frost as to produce good crops of grain and potatoes, while the e.xten- dcd flat at Fabyan's witli the mountains more dis- tant siiould produce neitlier. Mr. F. attributes the dirterence to the fact tliat tlie cold nights gathering frost in the lowlands adjacent to the mountains.the sun not appearing at Crawford's until eight or nine o'clock when the surrounding air is warmed, the frost is extracted without injury to the vegetable, while the sun striking earlier in the morning upon bis premises, at once kills the stalks which have been made stiff by the frost. When the area fronting the White Mountains to the south and west, and the verdant valleys be- tween and at the sides of the mountains on either hand shall be cleared and cultivated, our opinion is tlrat the White Monnlain region will be equally certain of annual crops of wheat and oats pnd pota- toes and peas,if not of Indian corn, as the land in any other part of the State. The land for cultivation, separate from the mountains themselves, is of less elevation than much of the cultivated ground in the counties of Sullivan, Hillbborougli and Chesh- ire ; there are entire lownsliips on the Vermont mountains, excellent for the pioduction 'of cattle, horses and slieep, more elevated than thousands of acres near the mountains of Grafton and Coos, in New Hampshire, that have been considered too cold and comfortless for settlement. To the south of the road running through this area there is an extended tract of land covered with a heavy black growth, much of which, when cleared, will turn out to be first ra?.? land for grazing. Thefirstcrop of wheat will twice pay for the clearing of the land : the pasturage afterwards for many years will give the value of ten to twenty dollars the acre to this territory. "Mount "Deception," from wliich the whole BPace of the area is viewed in every direction with the fronting mountains to their base, is northerly from Fabvau's, and one mile from bottom to top, at an angle say of twenty-five to thirty degrees. This mountain at a distance looks ragged and crag- gy : passing over it, we find a fine and fruitful black soil producing abundance of honey -suckle, where busixes and briars have not usurped the place of grass. Beautiful strawberries iu aliundance were growing or ripe on tlie sides of this uioun- tain on the 2l)thofJu!y. Much of this mountain miffht be cultivated with the side hill ]>lough, if the proprietor of the land would undertake it, and a few hundred feet above the alluvion hay field be- low, we think, the untimely frost would not injure the common garden vegetables. Under proper cultivation, tiie area of the White Mountains would present a residence not less invi- ting than the best part of New-England. It is well known that climate is affected not le^s by el- evation than by degrees of latitude: a rise of one hundred and fifty feet is said to be equal to a de- gree of latitude of si-xty-nine miles north or south, ftlount Vesuvius, in the vicinity of Naples, is of higher altitude than Mount Washington, but, situ- ated in a milder region, is not so cold at the same altitude. On tlie sides of this mountain are all the varieties of jiroduction and climate. So it is with tile stupendous Andes of South -\merica, situated directly under the equator. The fruits of the warmest climate abound at the base — further up arc oToves of lemons and oranges — still higher are wheat and corn, and the productions of temperate climates — higher up grows the hemlock and the larch — higlier yet, the green growth hugs to the ground — at another and another reach, vegetation ceases, and the region of perpetual snow is gained. The entire table land of Mexico is probably not less elevated tlian the top of Mount Washington : standing upon this foundation are other mountains from fifteen to twenty thousand feet above the ta- ble. The climate of Mexico, approaching the nearest equatorial latitudes, is said to be very fine, possibly not less temperate than that of Virginia or Pennsylvania, situated twenty to thirty degrees further north. Carrol aud Whitefield. July 20. Passing down the Amonoosuck over the excellent road towards Littleton village five miles, we turned off through the new settlement of Carrol on the way to Lancaster ; in the distance we pass the south edge of Clierry mountain, over which, in a nearer direction to the north through Jefferson, a turnpike road was many years ago constructed. For several years this part of the road has been nearly aliandoned by travelling car- nages. Throuah Carrol to Whitefield, a distance of fourteen miles, the ground for a road is as good as may be found in almost any direction. The fertility of the soil in Carrol is exceeded in no upland township in New Hampshire. The in- habitants here, as in every other new settled place, commence generally with feeble means; but al- ready m the space of six years several have, with the aid of tiieir own hands solely, made beautiful farms. Off of the main road at the very verge of the mountain, fifteen or twenty families are loca- ted, 'fhe crops ot' herdsgrass and clover growing among the stumps of the newly cleared land were highly luxuriant — wheat, rye and oats were very flourishing; potatoes exhibited a fine growth ; and some of the farmers had taken courage to plant corn in the woods. The laiid nearest the foot and up the sides of the mountain is found to be of the better quality — it is wanner and less liable to frost, and the soil is more light, rich and mellow. In addition to the raising of cattle and sheep, the products of the dairy, the cultivation of wheat and other trrains, tlie growing and securing herdsgrass and ch-iver seed may be made a business of abun- dant profit to the new settlers of Coos county. The land yields herdsgrass, red and white clover in great abundance. The Coos Democrat men- tions a farmer in Carrol, who saved the last year from about six acres of land, fifteen hundred pounds of clover seed, wiiich he sold for eighteen cents per pound in cash, giving a clear income of ij;'270 or about 1*45 to the acre in one season. The raisinir of grass seed need not impoverish the soil, as the ripe hay, after tlie seed has been gathered from it, makes good food for young cattle, so that the manure niaj' be returned to the ground from whence the profit is extracted. In all newly settled lands, the original fertility is &iuch as renders the farmer careless of the appli- cation of manure. Necessity perhaps in some in- stances, which require.-i the whole labor of tlie far- mer to sustain himself and family while the land is clearing, induces to the neglect of the land al- ready cleared, while it continues to depreciate year after year. With much loss labor aud expense than may be supposed, the fertility and production of land may be kept up. Pnstures often runout by growing up to bri.ars and bushes, when, if prop- erly seeded and cleared, cattle and sheep would keep them smooth and productive from year to year. Fields cultivated wit!i the plougli need not have as much annually carried to as taken from them to perpetuate their fertility ; kept clean of noxious weeds, with a dressing of manure once in five or six years, if of ten or twelve good o.\ loads to the acre, very good, liiit much better if double the quantity, all arable lands with retentive soils may be marie to sustain their original fertility. If mow- ing ground is too rocky or rough for the plougli, it may be turned into jiasture ; and ground which runs out in pasture, and cannot be cultivated, had better be reserved for a growth of wood aud tim- ber, which will be wanted thirty and forty years hence even in tho:je towns now jiresenting an a- bundance of the finest gro^vth. A proper regard to tliese subjects — to the classification and cultiva- tion of the lands hn every farm in the State, would Aitirely supersede the wearing out of farms, so dis- couraging to the occupants, as to induce hundreds, after years of severe labor, to leave all and seek for easier, and may-he more fertile lands in the west. The township of Carrol is one of the newest in the State : a few thousand dollars ten years ago might have purchased the whole of it. Near the west line of the town, a stream tributary to John's river passes northwest and south-east. On this stream are most magnificent pines, some of whicli rise fifty and seventy-five feet into the air, without the intervention of a limb. These pines are of tiie kind, denominated tlie pudding pine, and of a qual- ity suited for the most elegant finish of buildings. Some lotsof a single hundred acres of these pines are now valued as high as the whole township would have sold for twenty years ago. There is much more of this excellent pine tim- ber on the Israel's and John's, and Amonoosuck rivers than we had supposed. A great deal has been wasted, paying hardly cost for transport to the market ; but much more remains in the town- ships of Carrol, Whitefield and Dalton, than has been taken from them. Whitefield is six miles westward of Carrol. A hundred acre lot of pine timber was shown us in this town, which wus sold two years ago for §;lti,UOO ! There are nine mills for the manufacture of pine lumber on John's riv- er in the town of Whitefield. The clapboards ami shingles manufactured in these mills are very fine. The value of manufactured timber is much lessen- ed from the difiiculty of water transport : it is sent to Hartford, Ct. and New York ; but the obstruc- tion of the fifteen miles fiills on the Connecticut re quires the clapboards, &c. to he first transported by land to the outlet of the Amonoosuck near Ha- verhill, thirty miles. The larger lumber business is perhaps in the transjiortation of logs; these are sent down over the falls and manufactured into boards at the mills below. A t^t^w years ago at Whitefield the indiscriminate price of pine boards from these beautiful trees was only three dollars the thousand feet — a sum now insufficient to pay for cutting, carrying to the mill and sawing. Now common merchant:il)le boards sell for five dollars, and clear boards are eight, ten and twelve dollars the thousand. The owners of timber lots will be gainers to let their timber stand rather than sell even at the present prices. Whitefield is one of the best hill townships in the State. The land upon the swells is warm, and the soil is rich and deep. There arc many fine farms in this town. Some individuals have realized handsome estates simply by the rise on the value of lauds during the last two or three years. The val- ue of the timber lands is yet hardly appreciated. Here as in other parts of New England, a newjvil- l.age surrounding tiiree or four mills on John's riv- er, with neat and convenient painted houses, stores and mechanics' shops, and a new meeting house, has grown up within a few years.- The Shire-Town of t'oos. The post-road from Whitefield to Lancaster, eight miles, is more hilly than that from White- field to the White Mountains; that portion in the town of Lancaster is of more recent settlement than the part of the town upon Connecticut river. For two miles ami a half we come down upon Lancas- ter in one almost continued steep descent. At that distance we were caught in a shower upon Saturday afternoon, of almost precisely the same character of that at Loudon on the previous I\Ion- day, at the house of Mr. Twoinbley who moved from Dover forty-nine years :igo, and there first settled and cleared his land. Tiie old gentleman bent nearly double with severe labor, carried on his farm alone, at the age of seventy-nine years ; he had hoed his corn the third time ; but ho was ap- 140 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. prelienaive tJiat his crop and tliat of li'is neighbors I on the liills W'*uUl Ur too hite t«>r tiie t^oas*m. The incessant rains of Juno and July h;u]iniicii helaled the corn and the potatoes; the wheat, oats and grass were luxuriant and promising. Escaping between the showers, we came into Lancaster before the evening. Tlic ni^lit succeed- ed with mucli rain, with sharp and vivid light- ning-, and heavy thunder; and the next da}-^ a succession of sliowers followed. In fifteen years tlie appearance of this ancient villai^c has almost entirely changed : the old meeting-house remains; but the taveru house, and trading and mechanics' shops are removed half a mile south, where a vil lage near Israel's river has grown up around tlie machinery of factories and saw and grist mills. A jiew court-house, academy and two meeting-hou- ses have been erected. We have in our possession a lively and graphic manuscript history of the rise and progress of tlie town of Lancaster, from the pen of the Hon. John W. Weeks, who has lived in the town since 1787, when his father removed there when the writer was six years of age. We cannot allow ourselves to extract much of this history here, al- though all of it would be interesting to our readers. From the account we take the information that the ^'Connecticut river, meaning in the Indian lan- guage ''the stream of many waters," in north lati- tude ^-Jd. 30ru. and loniritude 5 d. Qr'ui. easterly of AV i.-hington oity, is the north-westerly boundary o'' ^iincaster ten miles, exclusive of its windings, and separating that town from Vermont. This town is delightfully located — the hills receding somewhat like an ampliithealre. Most of its lands are of excellent quality, its alluvion stretching near- ly its whole length, and averagi>ig about one jnile in width. Israel's river rusiies tumultuously westward, furnishing power for mills and machin- ery to a great extent, near the centre of the town. Lancaster was first settled in 17G'I." Maj. Weeks mentions as an important fact rela- tive to this north country, that althougii Lancaster has generally been considered too cold for the pro- duction of Indian corn, the crop has wholly failed only three times in the last fifty-two years — a fact which will apply to almost every township in New England. He says wheat is very sure when sown late on ground well prepared, producing in very few instances forty bushels to the acre, and avera- ging perhaps twenty bushels. Oats yield about fifty bushels to the acre, and potatoes in one case over six hundred. The most elegant and lofty white pines abounded (as they do in Carrol and Whit^efield,) in the Jiigher Lancaster alluvions: one shaft (lie says) measured four feet in diameter at the base, was perfectly straight, and without limbs ninety-eight feet, where it was twenty-two inches in diameter, Long life on the Mountains. As proof of the excellence of this northern cli- mate, Maj. W. presents the names of ten farmers residing on the sides of the Martin Meadow Hills, in Lancaster, who might all be called to dinner by the same blast of a horn, the youngest of whom is seventy-one and the eldest over eighty years of age. These ten farmers settled in the same neigh- borhood when young, with little other property than their axes, having worked by the month to pay for th^ir respective hundred acre lots. Moat of them have raised large families, some of them have become rich, and all enjoy a green old age, being able to labor on the same soil they occupied forty years ago. But we will not trespass further on the facts of our friend ; his history is too interesting to be mu- tilated. It is such a history as will be most wel- come to New England farmers, and if it siiall not be first claimed for the New Hampshire Historical Society's next volume, we will hereafter give it in the columns of the Visitor. Two miles south of tlie village is the fine inter- vale and upland farm of Maj. Weeks, which has been greatly improved, and its product increased four-fold by that gentleman within the last ten years : his fields of wheat upon the banks of the Connecticut, some of whij^h stood nearly four feet high, promised an abundant harvest. The upper o\-bow. South of Maj. Weeks' farm one mile is the ox- bow intervale farm, of two hundred acres, owned and occupied by Hon. John W. White, and late- ly the property of his father, Maj. Moses H. White, deceased. The entire exterior fencino- of this farm does not much exceed the distance of one hundred rods across the head of the bow. The in- tervales upon Connecticut river are of tliat kind that, when exhausted by careless cultivation or successive cropping, they are easily renovated. Col. WJiite's farm continues very productive in hay, produces excellent wheat and other grains, and good crops uf corn and potatoes, with the ap- plication once in a few years of not more than eight or ten loads of manure to the acre. We how- ever differ with liim in opinion as to the fact that as large crops may be raised from land thus ma- nured, as from the same land with double the quan- tity of manure. He doubtless manages his farm in the best manner for profit in tliat country — his income being from the rearing of cattle and sheep. He is bringing into fine cultivation a portion of his land that has hitlierto produced but a trifle, by the axe and the plough. Such a farm as he possesses is of itself an independent estate. Besides the in- tervale he lias eighteen liundred acres of swamp in the south part of the town, much of which may be made by drainage, when cleared of its growth of wood, excellent ground for the production of ha^'. The timber standing upon this swamp land, now worth something, n\ny be much more valuable when better jneans of transporting it to market shall be furnished. The avenues through tlie high mountains of New Hampshire are truly remarkable : some of thein have been, some remain to be opened. The passages up the Merrimack river and each of its branches are made, with little ascent er descent. From Nashua to Pl^'inouth, seventy-five miles, a road may be made almost level ■ from Plymouth to Haverhill thirty miles, by Baker's river and the Oliverlan valley, a road is made with little rise and fall : from Plymouth again, through the Fran- conia notch, there is no hill that may not be sur- mounted at an angle less than five degrees to AVhitefield, more than forty miles. So in a trans- verse direction from Littleton on Connecticut riv- er to Portland, Me., there is an excellent road through the notch of the White Mountains all the way. From Lancaster some fifteen miles above Littleton, a route has been examined up Israel's river through Jeff*erson and Randolph, by the very base of Mount Washington, down the waters of the Androscoggin, through Shelburne, Bethel, &c. to the tide waters at and beyond Portland. Moun- tainous and broken as is this part of New England, rail roads or ordinary roads may be constructed at less expen.se here, tiian they can be in the rolling countries at the west, where there is no rise of ground over two hundred feet above the waters of the surrounding lakes, but where the streams have cut deep and precipitous gorges into the bosom of the earlii. Journey down the "Valley.*' July 22. Monday morning, having by especial invitation tarried under the hospitable roof of Col. White, whose mansion, erected and furnished witli an elegance, expense and taste, which do credit to his ability and judgment, was carpetted with the pro- duct of his own farm, spun and wove at his own domestic fireside, our course was directly down the easterly bank of the Connecticut river to Ha- verhill, a distance of fifty miles. We passed suc- cessively in view of beautiful ^nllagesand locations in Lunenburg, Waterford and Barnet in tlie slate ot Vermont. Every where on this river, both the al- luvial and the mountain land is fertile. Never could it appear in more delightful array than it did in the latter part of the month of July. The far- mers had just commenced cutting their ample crops of hay ; the fields of rye, taller and thicker, and with longer and fuller heads than we had in an3' previous season before seen, were whitening for the harvest ; the wheat, some of it changing to a golden hue, and some of later culture, dressed in lively deep green ; the tall oats with heads even as the surface of the ground on which they were plan- ted; the waving corn uotyet inmany places tasselled out, but vigorous and stout in growth; the fat herds of cattle, from the giant ox down to the two months calf, grasping at the sweet feed of the pas- tures up to the eyes ; the flocks of sheep upon the mountains and hills near the road with the nurs- ing mothers attending patiently to their young, while the horned father "alone in his glory, " with- in the bounds of a cider mill tether, panted on the distant field ; all presented "mother earth" with the dumb animals and the vegetables of her creation, in her most fascinating attire. The more we have seen of the valley of the "stream of many waters," the beautiful Connecti- cut, the more we are delighted with it. Tlie soil is so rich on this river, that tliere is no excuse for the owners, if they are not good farmers. Most of them indeed are well off; many of them are wealtliy and independent. The best cultivated grounds onthe low intervales of Connecticut river in olden times were evidently the bottoms of more or \es3 ex- tensive lakes, a series of which, broken through from one to the other, drained oft', leave the present bed of the river as the reservoir of the remain- ing waters. The waters of these lakes were formerly discharged into the ocean in other directions — tlie larger share probably through the valley of the Merrimack. Down what is called tlie Fifteen mile falls (ilie distance is twenty miles,) the river fulls more tlian three hundred feet. In the whole disfance the shore is bold, approaching generally, except where some stream of water runs i'roin the mountain, near the river. Much of the soil of the hills, which is continually washing down, and either adding to the alluvial beds, or carried into the river as sedi- ment, is a dark gravelly mixture of decomposed rock. To the nature of the material of which this matter is composed, do we attribute much of the fertility on the river below. When it shall be an- alyzed we anticipate it may turn out that much of the originals of tliis soil will be found to possess fertilizing qualities to a high degree ; that it will be fou'id to partake of marl or other rich substan- ces similar to those which constitute the produc- tiveness of the bes't soils of the western country. Against the towns of Dalton, Littleton and Ly- man the river has frequent turns and clianges in its course. About six miles above Mason's in Lyman, in sight of one of the Waterford villages, is a splen- did ampliitheatreextendingeach way several miles, in the bottom of which is the winding river. The land, constituting several farms on either side, and including the white steepled church, and other painted buildings, is of excellent quality, the soil seeming to be as rich, as mellow, as light and ad- hesive as the first rate alluvion. The town of Ly- man, broken into mountain and valley which di- vides one portion of it from another, contains much good land, and many productive farms. Spring wheat has always been a sure crop in this town. Farmers who settled there from this vicinity twen- ty-five and thirty years ago, used to bring us the sweetest and best flour ever used in Concord. This was before the Erie canal was constructed, and prior to the day of Genessee flour. A pass cut through the rocks. There is a fine road up and down the river on the New-Hampshire side, all tlie way from Haverhill to Lancaster. This road and the inhabitants de- serve the attention of the Post-Master General : if he would go over it he would at once say tliat Lan- caster ought to have a daily mail, three times a week each way on this river road, and three times by Bath, Lisbon and Littleton village in the Amo- noosuck valley. The inhabitants of Lyman, to cut through and complete this new river road, have volunteered and expended two thousand days* work. In the town of Bath, just before reaching the north line of Haverhill, the mountain ledge runs down to the river. The pass cut through the solid rock by tliis ledge is a great curiosity. Yan- kee ingenuity and perseverance alone would vol- unteer to cut out such a pass : if it had been a government work, a national or State improve- ment, it would have cost many thousand dollars. The Counecticut River compressed. This ledge is some two or tliree miles below where the Passuinsic river unites with the Con- necticut, and nearly opposite the flourishing manu- facturing village of Barnet. Just above are two or tliree elegant alluvion farms : at the foot is a striking natural curiosity in the river itself. At an ordinary pitch, the united waters of the two rivers strike against a ledge mcreased in width as it ex- tends from the eastern shore to more than half the width of the stream, and rebound in a wJiirl into a considerable busm of the ledge. This whirl is so great as to tiirow a boat directly out of the water in the middle of the basin. The volume of water, af- ter several revolutions in tlie basin, passes over to the west side, and the entire current of the river is discharged lu a passage only eighty feet in width. The lower ox-bo\v. Soon after leaving this mountain gorge we come to the points where the Wells river from the west in the town of Newbury, and the united waters of tlie Amonoosuck from the north and the Wild Am- onoosuck from the nonh-east unite with the Con- necticut. Below, the towns of Newbury on the west and Haverhill on the east extend nearly ten miles. In this distance are the famous ox-bow meadows : on both sides of the river vegetation attains to its largest and most luxuriant growtii. There are farms here mc-e desirable than almost any others we have ever seen. The Plazen farm on tlie little ox-bow turns out its two hundred tons of hay anniuiUy : it is now owned by Mr. tfwasey, whose maternal grandfather Merrill purchased some thirty years ago to the extent of a iiiile near- ly central in Haverhill from the river to the east THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 141 line of tlic town, mnking six scjuaie miles, for as many thousand dollars. A single pine timber lot upon this jrround, belonging to the estate of the late Mr. Swasey, deceased, is now valned at thirty thousand dollars. The regiment of Col. Hazen during tlie revolutionary war, a regiment raised for service against Canada, was for sonu'tinic quarter- ed near the ox-bow meadows in Haverhill : the first court iiouse and jail for the county of Grafton were situated near the same location, several miles above their present position ut Haverhill Coi]ier. limestone in Haverhill, July 23d and 24tii. In snug quarters with our friend Reding. The last of these d.ays we took an ex- cursion with Gov. Page through the easterly sec- tion of the town, going by "Slab city," pnd return- ing by the Olivcrian brook. Not satisfied with a fine alluvion farm at home near the Corner, Gov. Page is making two other farms seven and eight miles out in the town of Coventry nr-ar by the Moosehillock. In the vicinity of these larms lime- stone has recently been discovered, which has al- ready been worked to some extent. The same lime stone at about equal distances from the river lias been found at Orford below and Lisbon above. The decomposing rock which encompasses the Haverhill limesloue possesses the elements of fer- tility in a wonderful degree : herdsgrass six feet high with surprising long heads was found grow- ing upon this covering which had been exposed to the air for a single season. We have heretofore mentioned the crop of pota- toes raised last year on one of these out farms of Gov. Page upon the side of the mountain. A fine drove of swine was feeding upon these potatoes ; and there was no mist.ake about thejrbi/.e and qual- ity. In all this region, especially on the newly cleared land, the crops of wheat, rye and Eng- llsli hay were no where surpassed in abundant growth: the 'grounds recently in forest literally blossomed as llie rose. The Canadian Frenchmen, who emigate to the States, are proverbial for their industry and fideli- ty. Gov. Page has one of these whom he en^ploys considerably on his Coventry farm upon the Oliv- erian : he came destitute with a faniily. The Gov- ernor's workmen assisted in the erection of a com- fortable shanty, and to fill up the intervals when his services were not wanted he offered him the use of as much land near tlie meadows as he would clear of bushes. The ground was rocky and hard as is most of the upland: but the Frenchman had a field of tall rye growing about his dwelling, with a plat of corn and a garden. And he had another piece of ground chopped over ready to be fired and cleared for a new crop of rye next year. Away from a village, and with emjdoyment only a part of the time, the honest Canadian was in a fair way to live by laying up his store of grain against tlie season of need, working at odd jobs on land the gratuitous use of v.^hich had been tendered toliin]. Gov. Page and Daniel Batcluddcr, Esq. own a considerable tract in the Coventry meadows, a plat of alluvion on the Olivcrian brook. Much of tiiese meadows the present year is too wet to produce a good crop of hay. By drainage they may be made to produce rich herdsgrass and clover. Treated in the jnanner that Judge Hayes treats his low lands (for which see another part of this paper) we do nut doubt ii larger part of the Covtntry nic:idows will yield two to three tons of first rate hay to the acre. Mountains and Ponds of Fnirlee, Vt. Julv 2.5. Hesitating between foul weather and fair, after dinner our course was across the Con- necticut through a partof Newbury, and the whole width of Bradford to Fairlce on the Vermont side. A beautiful road not far from the river passes di- rectly under Sawyer's mountain in Fairlee, whose top is five hundred feet above tlie bed of the river, and whose side fronling the valley is apparently cut off in a perpendicular descent of seme two or three hundred feet. Mount Moriali, fronting the elegant village of Orford on the Now Hampshire side is ag.ainst the Orford bridge : from each of tliese steep ascents, rocks of great weight have been thrown oft' to tlic distance of several rods ; from Sawyer's mountain, into the path of the road. It is remarkable of these steep isolated hills near riv- ers that in the rear of the hill there is commonly a pond corresponding with the hill. In Fairlee there are three ponds soine two or three miles back from the river consortnig with the three mountains that rise from the high alluvion plat that rises from the river bank. Passim' into the Green Mountain State we see at once tliat her farmers understand well their busi- ness and know how to avail themselves of the ad- vantages of a fine soil and the best productions for n market. With extensive dairies, and the product of butter and cheese and tlie rearing of the best fif cattle, the Vermont farmers unite the raising of swine and fattening of pork. We observed on some river farms between Bradford and Fairlee hogs in numbers kept in pastures : among these a Mr. Loomis w^as fattening thirty-six old hogs for slaughter the present fall. Thirty-six hogs ofthree hundred pounds each, at the prices pork has sold for several years, would alone sell for a thousand dollars: the butter and cheese made in a siimmer from tiiirty-six cows would sell tor an equal a- mount. From these two items it may be seen how a Vermont farmer of enterprise and industry rises to a competent independence. Farms in Orford. We did not pass over to our own side at Orfi.rd ; but the landlord Phinehas Bailey, Esq. an old friend and an acquaintance of twenty-five years, who has frequently represented his town in the Legislature, told us a story of an Orford farmer, which is worth repeating. A Mr. Ricihrdson, several years ago, purchased the farm long owned by John Mann, jr. Esq. This farm contained one hundred and eigh- ty acres, principally of th? second or higher inter- vale, for which he paid the price of $1,.'>00. To this he soon afterwards added one hundred acres reaching upon the mountain to the eastward of Or- ford plains : this last lot has been chopped down and cleared from year to year, producing good crops of wheat and rye. The crops from the hill have furnished the means of fertilizing the tillage land below. Mr. Richardson raises fifty calves in a sea- son, and turned oft'last year beef cattle which sold lor fifteen hundred dollars : he sold also in the same season three tons of pork worth at ten cents the pound six hundred dollars. Of butter and cheese he made a large quantity ; the precise amount we do not recollect. Besides about two hundred horn- ed cattle large and small, he keeps one hundred to one hundred and fifty sheep. The quantity of hay which he is able to turn out from his highly ma- nured grounds and natural mowing, has increased from vcar to year, and is enormous for the amount of land which he mows over. His farm, which in the first purchase cost him about .f.5000, he has made to be worth at h-nst .<;10,nOO. His sales of surplus produce are annually not less than ,^2000. Mr. Richardson's farming is peculiarly his own — he is self-taught by that best instructor. Experi- ence ; and every one will perceive, if there has not been much e.xacrgeration in our infuriiiation, that he has managed his farm to Ihe best advantage. Besides the Mann farm, theje are several other splendid farms within tlie limits of Orford. The farm of the late Hon. Jedutliun Wilcox, v.liich in his life time he cultivated more for example and experiment than profit, is of the number. This is on the river to the north adjoining Piermont. In tlie southerly part of the town our long-tried friend Bethuel Cross, Esq. owns and enjoys a fine farm, producing both pleasure and profit. Another farm in this vicinity owned by a Mr. Sartwell was lately sold for $70'30 cash. Farms at prices of five and six thimsand dollars arc frequently bought and sold with cash in the river towns on the Connecticut ; and wliat distinctly proves the capacity of the soil to yield a profit is the fact that men of smaller farms are able to sell and buy larger and more valuable farms with money in hand to pay the difference. The village in Orford is one of the most inviting that can be imagined : it is situated upon a high plain of adhesive, fertile light soil, near the river bank. Several elegant dwi-llings, among them the residences of William Howard, Esq. and Judge Wilcox, are situated at convenient distances on a natural elevation some thirty or forty rods east- ward of the main street, overlooking a level lawn, and surrounded with trees and shrubbery ; the nat- ural ridge or elevation, being probably another bank of the river in olden timo, is not less dirt'ct and regular than if the whole had been constructed with human hands. Jul-,- 26. Our travelled way to Hanover was over the river at the Lyme bridge, and thence on the New Hampshire side by the river road to Hano- ver. All this way the land is fertile, the cultiva- tion im|iroving, and mucli ground is highly produc- tive that has been recently cleared. Wealth of a New Hampshire hill tOAvn. The town of Lyme along the river bank exhibits farms that will not disgrace the Connecticut river valley. The iniproveiiient in these river farms within a few years has been rapid. As an instance, we may mention the Thompson farm near the Lyme bridge : it had deteriorated in the hands of its first owners until about ten years ago it passed from them at a price for the whole not exceeding three thousand dollars. The same premises have since been divided into four farms, on all of wliich so great have been the improvements that the least valuable would now sell for two thousand dollars. One man commenced about nine years ago on one of these farms with property sufBcient to pay only three hundred dollars towards the purciiase; since which he has erected valuable farm buildings and purchased additional land, h.aving, by good culti- vation, by untiring vigilance and industry, accu- mulated a property worth by estimation of one of his townsmen at least five thousand dollars. He is yet a young man having no otlrer family than his "better half" wiio bears forward well lierend of the yoke in accumulation and in the practice f>f true do- mestic economy. This Thompson farm is one of the old farms of fifty and seventy-five years ago : its division and improvement, after the first cream had been taken oft', producing four and probably six for one, shows what may be, aye, what will be done in New Hampshire during the next twenty years, which, God willing, we hope yet to live to see. *But the whole interior of the town of Lyme, es- pecially the swell approaching to the elevation of a mountain running five or six miles from south- west to north-east through the centre, is even more highly cultivated than the farms on tlie river, and is one of the nutst profitable farming regions in the State — always excepting our favorite "pattern" or. the sea-board. The almost universal condition of" the inhabitants of Lyme is tiie possession of abun- dance of the good things .of this life. The difticul- ty is there that most of the farmers have in(»inev to let, and there are few speculators any wliere with credit sufticient to hire it. All this wealth is the gift of industry and enterprise well directed. The farmers upon the roughest soil find a richer mine near the surface of their ground than they who search and dig for gold in the most valued mining regions of our country. The General Association of Congregational and Presbyterian Clergymen with the several Societies in their connection in this State was convened at Lyme in the first week of the present month of September. The ability of the wealthy farmers of that town, not less than their generous hospitality, probably prompted the Association to choose this for their annual place for meeting. The high re- ligious and moral condition of tiie inhabitants of the town, in this fruitful season, may be read upon the face of their hills. Among the addresses made on this occasion that of the Rev. Prof Hadduckof Dartmouth College, who is an amateur in agricul- tural improvements, as well as a ripe belleslcttres and biblical scholar, is represented to have been tlirilliiig and patriotic. In view of the neatly painted farm houses scattered through the town he said they indicated the wealth of the city, and might vie with the most expensive in beauty and in the conveniences which contribute to case and comfort. "No matter (said he) if we have to go into the hard granite with the drill and powder horn : we find the soil which brings forth abun- dance w'hen we arrive at the bottom.'' He said he was proud that he was a native of and belonged to such a state as New Hampshire : every child of our soil has reason to congratulate himself that he was born in that State whose educated sons are dis- tinguished in every other State of the Union. But it was not tile mere scholar and student that ele- vated us as a State— it was the intelligence and the enterprise of our farmers, the instructions how to live and become useful citizens, the capacity for business instilled into their sons, that made him proud to hail from the Granite State ! The character of the farmers in the town of Han- over is much like that of Lyme : so will be found those of Lebanon, still further south. This day presented an unusual number of laborers in the field : the forenoon with the scythe and the after- noon with the fork and rake. Hay is every where- abundant — the small grains never jiromised better: Indian corn, a little backward, has grown for the last three weeks with a rapidity unsurpassed. Kuterprisc of the Shakers, The evening brinjrs us to the centre Shaker vil- lage in Enfield, thirteen miles south-easterly from Hanover, where is always to be seen something new and interesting to the farmer, the mechanic and the moralist. The garden of the Centre Family covers five a- cres ofji'round on the margin of the Mascomy pond. We have before mentioned the fate of the onion beds, covering in transplanted onions and plants of the present year the best part of an acre. We hope the onion seed was not entirely ruined by the blight : of the onions sowed this season there may be half a crop. The careful labor bestowed on these crops deserved a better fate. It pleases tlie Divine 112 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. B Seing, for wise ends, sometimes to disappoint the ^ urpnsps of the besi of humnn efforts. Tlie beets and carrots looked finely. Of the jrarden one half an acre was saije, a portion of whicli had been forc- ed in early hot beds. The Shakers also raise lar^e quantities of suninuT savory. Tlie preparation of sage and summer savory is by drj-ing and pressing into a solid mass. The profits of liiese and other botanical preparations are best understood by those wlio are well acquainted with the best methods of" raising and preparing them. Five hands, two men and three boys, are suffi- cient for the labor of these five acres of garden, wliich yields annually in cash its thousand, if not its thousands of dollars. The family had two acres of broom corn, which looked much better than ours, that had been infest- ed with the wire worm. Tliey planted no more than eight acres of Indian corn ; and they think that if this ground had been sown witli wlieal, it would have aftbrded a much better profit. They had most eh'gant fields of wheat, some of which stood near- ly three feet and a half upon a level. * We have before noticed their Durham cattle. Their Berkshire hogs, like those of the Brethren at Canterbury, are also deserving attention. Their full blooded Berkshire boar and sow are the exact imitation of the following picture : The sow h:ts had one litter of nine pigs. This breed seems to be nmch more civilized than the ordinary hog. Tiieyaie contented and docile, and witli common keeping they are always in fine flesh. They are not so large boned and long bodied as Bome other breeds; yet it is believed their meat is more vaUmble in prfiporlion to the food they con- 6ume. INlixed with the lirecds of larger growth, the product of the union is very fine. The Berk- slilre sows are hotter milker; and treat their young with far more tenderness than tiie common hog. This family of Shakers (there are two other con- siderable families along the same road adjacent in Enfield) consists of one htindred and forty people. Some twenty cliildren, under perhaps ten years of a^e, male and female, have been recently added. Of these smart, likely boys and girls, who are care- fully instructed in reading, spelling, aritlimetic, English grammar and writing, ntany are taken from jfoor and destitute families in various parts of the country: others go there from choice of their pa- rents, who prefer their system nf education, which embraces the various kinds of useful manual labor, as well as what is generally taught in schools. The farm on the west side of Mascomy pond belonging totliis family consists of about five hundred acres, running from the shore over the iiigh hill at the west. This land is every year much enriched by seventy -five acres of alluvion mowing ground which is annually overflowed, situated upon the river in Canaan connecting tlie ponds above to the Mascomy pond in Enfield. This intervale gives abundance of hay which is brought from a distance of abnut four milee over the pond on sleds during the winter. In addition to the intervale the family has two hundred acres of beautiful white pine limber, which twenty years ago cost them ten dollars tlie acre, and is now worth probably one hundred dollars the acre. The buildings of tlie Shakers at this village are all neat, convenient, constructed in the best man- ner of wood, nnd seem to be sufiicient for all their purposes. The houses and shops where their work is done are ingeniously contrived and beautifully arranged. Of these we would select the establish- ment where the washing and ironing of the whole family are performed : machinery is introduced which does the business of much hard labor in or- dinary families ; and the work commenced at the basement is carried up through successive stories until the whole is completed. The dairy house, where the milk of thirty noble cows is disposed of, is as neat as it is convenient and secure. The spin- ning of wool and worsted, carried on in another separate building by females, is performed with equal ease and facility, one hand drawingout at the same time many threads. The different buildings for securing the varieties of garden seeds and other garden produftn are all well arranged. Every tool and implement has its house and place undercover. From the rills of the mountain water had been gathered sufficient for carrying machinery and mills, except in tlie drj-est season : the failure has been recently suiiplied by briniring in a continued artificial channel of nearly three miles from a pond at the top of the mountain a never failing amount of water. With this power a trip hamnjer, various saws, a machine which will do the work of a dozen men in planing boards and finishing work forbuild- ings, and much other labor-saving machinery are kept in motion. A g:rand edifice* The hrst dtrdling housr in the Suitc'is now erect- ing on their premises. It is built with a beautiful light grey granite straightened to an edge but rough on the exterior, brought from their premises over the water from Canaan. It is one huqdred feet long by fifty-eight in width, and the roof covered with beautiful Welch slate, and is surmounted with a bell of one thousand pounds which calls the fam- ily to rest in the evening, to rise with the lark at five in the morning, nnd to the regular meals of the day: it is four stories high above the basement; and the basement itself is a cellar abundantly se- cure from frost ; a portion of it, light and airy as the upper rooms, is intended for cot>king and kitch- en work — another portion for the preservation of vegetables and other articles that mlgtit be injured if kept elsewhere. The build'-ng, for one so large, is admirably planned, and is intended for comfort- able residences, male and female, of the entire fam- ily, separated into clas.^es of convenient numbers : the different sexes meeting in one hall at eating time, and all meeting on occasions for social wor- ship. This building has been carried on for two or three years with remarkable economy, and will not be finished probably under two years from this time. The work is the most pert'ect of its kind. In its whole extent there is not a siiakc in the plastering which is a smooth putty coat: the floors of each story are as substantial and solid as permanent rock. The partings between the various halls and rooms are all fortified with douiile bracing pe- titions. Thus far in the finishing of beautiful rich pine there is not a knot or blemish to be seen ; nor in the flooring is there the impress of a nail in sight. Every thing is done by "the square, level and plumb;"' and in the halls extending the whole lent^tb or width of the building there is no varia- tion from the centre to either extreme of one eighth of an inch. Such a building, so perfect in construction, so faultless in execution, of such excellent materials, could not be erected in one of our towns or cities short of an expense of fifty or seventy-five thou- sand dollars. The money paid out by the Shakers, although their carpenters and principal masons are hired, will not probably exceed twenty thousand dollars. The cash expense has been lessened by their ability to furnish excellent lunjber and gran- ite and bricks from their own premises and by their own hands: their pinning machine, preparing fin- ishing materials nf almost any pattern, has saved much : their ample previous preparation of every necessary article economizes tiie time of the hir- ed mechanics. Wns it not a striking chai*acteris- tic of this people, that they never commence any undertaking until they have measured their strength, we would suppose this community, which makes no gains by any forced speculation, and which lays up only the proceeds of its own honest indus- try, would be unable to carry through such an un- dertaking as the erection of this elegant building: they will, nevertheless, do it without loeliiig any pinching inconvenience. Besides their thirty milch cows and many youjig steers and heifers, the family lias twelve beautiful yokes of oxen, the girth of some of which exceeds seven feet. They keep usually fourhundred sheep, all tlie wool of which is manufactured into yarn and cloth by the hands of tlielr own household. We should add little to the variety of this jour- ml, already prolix and tedious to the reader, by de- scribing our way from Enfield through Grantham, Springfield, New London, Sutton, Warner and Hopkinton to our home in Concord, on the 27th .Tuly. The two items most worthy of observation on {hat day were a field of wheat of about ten acres on the farm of Joseph Colby, Esq. upon a beauti- ful swell of land in New London, on which the larger village of that town stands; and the Indian corn fit for roasting on the twentieth of the month on the premises of Mr. Nathan Walker in W;irncr, some of which he kindly forwarded us by tlie next staorc. The field of wheat, for the extent of it, was a little superior to any other which had met our view In a journey of tour hundred miles ; and the production of the corn at that early day in this high latitude shows that there are positions in our Stale, taking advantage of the direct rays of the sun and light mellowness of soil, tlrat will produce as early crops of corn as any other New England State. Ftir the Fanner's .Monthly Visitor. Education of Farmers. — No. 5. LECISLATOUS. Tlie dictates of experience and of common sense, must convince any candid mind, that seven eighths or nine tenths of the members of legislatures ought to be practical farmers and mechanics. For this opinion, two reasons are sufficient, if no others could be adduced. First, the principal object of laws is to promote the interests and protect the rights of these two classes of citizens, as they con- stitute seven eighths, and ought to constitute nine tenths of the community. Second, they are edu- cated in schools, better fitted to make sound and enlightened statesmen, than ever are or can be produced in any other schools but those of experi- ence. The soundness of the first reason will probably not be called in question by many ; that of the second, 1 am aware, will be doubted by many, and possibly by some farmers and mechanics them- selves. But I have for several years been entirely convinced that farmers and mechanics were better qualified for composing our legislatures, than any theoretical statesmen, from the fact, that they have greater influence and advocate sounder and more republican doctrines, in all legislatures of which they are members. The only misfortune is, that they are not elected to fill our legislatures, or to constitute a majority of them. If I am not greatly mistaken, one of the princi- pal sources of the civil and political evils we suffer, is in making the profession of law so much the channel to offices of emolument and honor. The practice presents an inconsistency, on the very face of it. It is evidently inconsistent, and highly improper, that one class of men should institute laws, expound laws, and execute laws, whieh it may be supposed they will do to promote their in- terests, while that class constitutes a very small minority of the community, though there are ten times, and probably fifty times as many, as the most healthy state of the community requires. The greati}' increased, the rapidly increasing, and the largely disproporticnate number of our citizens, who resort to the law for a profession, is probably not the least evil resulting from appointing so ma- ny of this profession to places of honor and trust. Without any prejudice against the members of this profession as individuals, for by an extensive acquaintance with them, I know many of them to be honorable and respectable men, I am convinc- ed, as they themselves will undoubtedly acknowl- edge, that a large number of lawyers promote liti- gation. And no one will pretend that extensive litigation is favorable, either to the pecuniary, the moral or social health and prosperity of the com- munity, but highly destructive to all. Conse- quently any arrangements or measures adopted for conducting the operations of society, which have a tendency to increase the number of lawyers, which is already entirely out of proportion with tliat of other classes of the community, must do an iniury to that community. And appointing them to fill the scats in our legislatures, especially tjie chairs of state and the highest seat in the nation, mupt do a double and irrej)aral)]e injury : it produces bad laws, and instigates quarrels and contentions lu the obyervance and executing of those laws. To avoid these evils, and as far as possible, to re- pair the injury already done, by the inconsistent and anti-republican" practice referred to, constitut- ing our legislatures and filling our offices in a great measure with farmers and mechanics, apjiear to be the rational, perhaps the only effectual measures to be adopted. The education of farmers in its present neglect- ed state, Ib better fitted to make sou iider legislators than are produced by our colleges, or by the pro- fession of law. If farmers" education was what it ought to be, and what it might be, if the}' duly ap- preciated the knowledge they already possess, and their facilities for greatly extending that knowl- edge, they could hardly fail of seeing the propriety or of availing themselves of the privilege, of ap- pointing from their own number, guardians of their own rights and intv-rests. I do not pretend that the interests of farmers or of mechanics, or of botli, are the only intertsts to be protected and promoted ; nor do I contend that our legislatures, or other cilices, ouglit to be filled entirely from those classes. I only contend that they ought to be represented in proportion to their numbers, and represented by themselves. 1 hold THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 143 to this dnotriiie liccaiise they must be supposed to understand their own interests better than those in other pursuits can for Iheni ; because, being edu- cated in tiie school of experience they niay be sup- posed to be, as they are actually found to be, sound- er and safer men to be relied upon ; and because by neglecting to fill our ofiices from the profession of law, the number enafaged in that profession might be diminished, and litig;ation diminished with it ; and by that means the wealtli, the intelligence and tlie virtue of our Republic greatly promoted. If tlie education of farmers v/as what a rational and an enlightened system would make it, at a less expense of time and money than is now incurred for the purpose, they would be entirely qualified to jii'rform rnnny kinds of business, for which they now resort to the legal profession ; such as drawing contracts, giving power of attorney, making out bills of sale, cr^nveying property, by deed or other- wise, and various other acts of a similar character, which would save themselves great expense and trouble, nnrl permit lawyers to engage in pursuits, better calcuhited to promote the healtii nf society. To avoid the evils and secure tiie benefits here referred to, no one need to act under the influence of prejudice or desire of proscription. Farmers and mechanics have simply to select and appoint individuals from their own professions, to promote their interests and to secure and protect their rights, and they can hardly fail to accnmplish their object. JOSIAH HOI.BROOk. Admiral Hosier's Ghost. (Glover.) *'It was written by the ingenious author of Le- onidas, on the taking of Porto-Bello, from the Span- iards by Admiral Vernon, Nov. '^2, 1730. The case of Hosier, which is here so patlieticaUy represent- ed, was briefly thist^In April 17*i(j, thai command- er was sent with a strong fleet into the Spanish West Indies, to block up tlie galleons in tlie ports of that country, or should they presume to come out, to seize and carry them to England. He ac- cordingly arrived at the Bastimentos, near Porto- Bello ; but being restricted by his orders, from obeying the dictates of his courage, lay inactive on that station, until he became the jest of the Span- iards. He afterwards removed to Carthngena, and continued cruising in these seas, till the far greater part of his men perished deplorably, by the diseas- es of that unlieiiltby climate. This brave man, see- ing iiis best oflicers and men thus daily swept a- way, h:s ships exposed to inevitable destruction, and himself inade the sport of the enemy, is said to have died of a broRcn heart." As near Porto-Bello lyiug On tile gently swelling flood. At midnight, with streamers flying, Our triumphant navy rode ; Tiiere, while Vernon sate all-glorious, From the Spaniard's late defeat, And his orews with shouts victorious, Drank success to England's fleet: On a sudden, shrilly sounding, Hideous yells and shrieks were heard ; Then, each heart with fear confounding, A Slid troop of ghosts appeaTcd. All in dreary hammocks shrouded, Which for winding sheets they wore, .And with looks by sorrow clouded, Frowning on that hostile shore. On them gleamed the moon's wan lustre ; Where the shade of Hosier brave His pale bands were seen to nuister. Rising from their watery grave. O'er the glimmering wave, he hied him. Where the Burford* reared her sail, With three thousand ghosts beside him, And in groans, did Vernon Jiail. Heed, O heed, our fatal stor}' ! I am Hcsii-'r's injured ghost: You _who now have purchased glory ; At this place, where I was lost : Though in Porto-Bello's ruin, You now triumph free from fears, Wlien you think of my undoing, You will mix your joys with tears. See these mournful spectres sweeping, Ghastly o'er this hated wave, Whose wan cheeks are stained with weeping ; These were English captains brave : Mark those numbers pale and horrid. Who were once my sailors bold , Lo ! each hangs his drooping forehead, While his dismal tale is told. I, by twenty sail attended, Did this Spnnish town aftright; Nothing then — its wealth defended, But m}' orders nut to fight. O ! that in this rolling ocean, I had cast them with disdain. And obey'd m}'^ heart's warm emotion, To have quelled the pride of Spain ! For, resistance, I could fear none, But with twenty ships, had done, What thou, brave apd happy Vernon, Hast achieved witli six alone. Then the Bastimentos never Had our foul dishonor seen ; For tlie sea the sad receiver Of this gallant train, kad been. Thus, like thee, proud Spain dismaying, And iier galleons leading home, Though condemned for disobeying, I had met a traitor's doom : To have fallen, my country crying, *'He has played au English part^" Had been better far, Ihiin d3'ing. Of a grieved and broken heart. Unrepining at tlry glory, Thy successful arms v.'e Iiail ; But remember our sad story. And let Hosier's wrongr-j prevail; Sent in this foul clime to languish, Think what thousands fell in vain, W^asted with disease and anguish, Not Iq. glorious battle sluhi. Hence with all my train attending, From their oozy tombs below, Through the hoary foam ascending, Here 1 feed my constant woe. Here the Bastimentos viewing. We recal our shameful doom, And our plaintive cries renewing, Wander through the midnight gloom. O'er these waves forever mourning Shall we roam deprived of rest, i^^ to Britain's shores returning, Yon neglect my just request. Al'ter this proud foe subduing, When your patriot friends you see, Think on ven.»eance for my ruin. And ior England — shamed in me. Gen. Washington's residence wa.s named for Admiral Vernon, one of his relatives having serv- ed under that commander at the capture of Porto- Bello. *Adtnir:il Vrrmm's flni: ;tiip — a thrfe decker. Fiom the nosion Cultivator. Orchards, We would not say much on Orchards at this time of year were we not constnntly reminded, winter and suumier, as we pass along the road, of the a- mount of labor that has been thrown wholly away by inefficient attempts to plant an apple orchard. We have come to the conclusion from the orchards we have observed in our various travels that the owners of nint'ty-nine in a livindred had generally thrown away thrir labors, and that the orchards they attempted to plant were only a nuisance to their grounds. Those lands were generally quite rich enough for trees of this kind. This was not the evil. The trees were not well selected at the first — they were not carefully taken up — they were not tilled after setting, and the cattle in most cases were called in to trim the trees. It was an old maxim that he who plants nn orchard plants it for the next generation ; we should say for his cattle to rub against, or for his hogs that were fond of the bark oi the trees. Now he that plants an orchard need not make up his mind that he is necessarily ^t work for oth- ers, and we hope if we can but make him believe he is at work for himself and is not an liircling or disinterested, he will proceed in his labor with faith- fulness and skill. We will, warrant him, if he v/ill exercise any common degree of judgment, a good crop of ap- ples within five years of his transplanting, nnd if he plants an acre, he shall have winter and fall fruit enough lor a dozen in a family. Now to the work. His land sliould have been tilled the year before setting his trees, and made as rich as usual for Indian corn. It should be plough- ed in the spring, before setting the trees, and well harrowed. This ploughingneed not be deeper than for corn. It is a great error to set trees deep in the earth ; some do it to procure moisture for the tree ; some to make room to thrust in a quantity of ma- nure; and some so that the tree may have a firm support and not be racked by the winds. Now we say to you breChren, imitate none of these modes ; a tree, set deep, is set in the poorest earth. Place your trees so that the roots may have the richest. Never put manure of any description about the joots if you would have your trees live. Place nothing but good garden mould next the roots. Give them suflicient room. Make the hole for them broad but n«it deep. When you liave covered the roots with good gar- den nmuld, spread oiit the fibres so as not to crowd a peck of them into one heap ; roots are not fond of close intimacy. V/hen V'^^i have covered tiiese roots with good soil, take from your cow- yard any coarse litter that will retain maisture,and place it round the tree, treading it down elo.se, so that it shall form a support to the tree. This litter should lie several inches thick alter it has been trod down. If you have none of iliis litter, coarse manure may be used — old stack hay or straw will answer the purpose. This litter must be here through the season and be kept trod down close. Now you need no stake to gall the trees : your lit- ter is a sutl^icicnt prop. You need put no water a- bout the roots, for your litter or coarse hay impedes evaporation to such a degree that the earth under it will continue moist through the whole summer. If the tree is racked a little by the winds, so much tlie better; it is thus taught early- to rely on its-,,., for support. A staked tree is bke a spoiled child. Spoilod with too mucli nursing. Tiie litter about the tree will prevent the racking by the winds, and the opening of the ground to let the air to the roots, and will save you tiie tmulde of any hoeing or tilling for the first year. No weeds will grow under this litter — no grass — the two great obstacles to the extension of the roots. Your soil will tliuB be kept mellow, and porous, and moist. In autumn — before any snow falls, you must re- move all the litter, tiiat has not become rotten, to a distance from the trees. You will thus give some olTence to mice that are always fond of making their bed close to some towering object that may afl'urd them future support. Ifyour cats have done their duty and killed off tlieir fresh meat stock in due time, you have nothing further to do tlie first season. But if your cats iiave been negligent and got their rations out of your commissariat rather thfm glean them abroad in honorable service in the field, you must go out as soon as the first snovv has fallen and tread it down close about the roots of your trees. Your field mice must now seek some other habitation, in case they bad commenced building as squatters on your soil, and you need be at no further trouble through the winter, for they, like the Cherokees, are not for voluntary emigra- tion in the midst of snows. Now yvur trees arc well set. They have not only put out the leaf, but their limbs have extended — if you saw to the work yourself — from lialfa foot to a footeachway. Tliey will need but very little trimming this sec- ond season if you trimmed them a little on setting them. 'I bey must have top. Their leaves are their lungs, and a good proportion of leaves are in- dicative of good health as good lungs are in ani- mals. What will you do with your trees this sec- ond Summer .^ Will you sufl'er the grass and weeds to draw away all moisture from tiie neighborhood of the roots and occupy the space intended for them.'' We trust not. Keep your land in tillage three or four years at the least. You may raise exhausting crops if you will apply ni'inure. You may raise beans or drilled turnips without manur- ing this season — you may sow turnips broad cast as late as the first of July without injury to the trees. In fine you may plant almorit any thing a- mong your trees, and they will grow quite as fast as they should grow, provided always you keep up good tillage. On the first of October in the fourth year we will call on you — in case you took your trees from our nursery- — and help you pick half a dozen bar- rels of winter apples from an acre of trees. If this , happens not to be a bearing year we shall wait one j'ear longer, and then give you a friendl}' call and see that you have appointed some tjco feggcd animal to trim in preference to such as sometimes, for want of proper instruments, cut a little too close and do not leave the body quite so smooth as it might be left with a knife. Destroy your Meeds, Every farmer should be up and doing, be active and vigilant. in waging a war of extermination, a- gainst weeds of every name and nature, from the Canada thistle to the insignificant chickweed, that is sucii a grievous annoyance in our garden. l( you have not had time to rid every part and por- tion of your premises, around your buildings, and 144 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. the sides of the road opposite your land, from these pests to tlie (armcr. Now is your time to take your c-cythe or lioe and cut them down to prevent their going to seed and returning you a lumdred fold more trouble next year. A double advantage may be gained by doing this if you will take the trouble to gather tliom up and throw them into your hog yard. '' You will get the thanks of your swine in the form of a number of additional lbs. of pork in vnur barrel ne.xt fall, and a lot of good manure into the bargain. But if vou have a piece of land that is very weedy wliich you wish to till nextycar, mow them by ali means, lot them lay upon the ground until thev get dry and then burn it over. In this way yoii will not only destroy the weeds, but all the eggs and larva of insects that may be depesited therein, and clean the piece and prepare it finely for a crop of grain. — Maine Farmer, of July. From Ihu I'hiladelphia Fa.'nier's Cabinet. Paring and Burning. Much land not worth a rent of 25 cents per a- cre, has been advanced by paring and burning to thirty times that sum on 21 years leases. If it is done in a workmanlike manner, it will yield from 50 to 60 cart loads of 40 bushels each, or 2000 busli- eJs of ashes per acre. This operation destroys all grubs, bugs, worms and insects with their whole progeny, eggs, &c., which any farmer would be glad to get rid of at the expense of the whole work, and at tlie same moment it converts mere rubbish into fertilizing manuic. An improver of land should cordially embrace a method, singular in that admirable circumstance, of reducing the wildest, bleakest desert, in the space of a single month, into profitable crops. Mr. Exter, a gentle- man who had long practised it, tells us that some years ago he broke upagrass field, paring and burn- ing one°half and fallowing the remainder by three plougliiniis and six harrowings, the land of equal goodness ; and the whole was then sown with wheat. The burnt part produced 3-3 bushels per a- cre, the fallowed half 17 bushels per acre : the for- mer, a very clean crop, the latter full of weeds. The next year the whole was sown with winter tares, or vetclies, 2 1 -'2 bushels per acre: on the burnt part they were, in the spring, 14 inches high, on tlie other, six inches only ; they were then fold- ed oft' by shrep. The second crop which sprung up was ia inches high on the burnt part, and 4 in- ches on the other, and a third crop with the same difference was eaten also; thus the field was fold- ed with sheep three times for this single crop of tnres. The land was then dunged and sown with turnips; the burnt side was by far the most flour- ishing, but at Christmas, there was no material dif- fi>rence ; they were carted off and housed for win- ter food. Barley succeeded, which was considera- bly best on the burnt side ; clover was sown with it, and was fed off by sheep ; the burnt side was closer eaten than the fallowed side, as if preferred bv sheep on account of its superior sweetness. The field was then left to go to grass, and is now very good, but better on the burnt side by the whole of the rent, being free from moss, and a far sweet- er pasture for cattle. Liming afler paring and burn- ing i.^ excellent manngement. L; This operation turns the sod upside down, and where it is thickly covered with long grass or dwarf bushes, it is kept up by them a few inches from the ground, so. that it readily dries sudiciently, and is frequently burnt in that state ; this is a saving of much labor and expense, not only the piling of sods into heaps, but also in carrying abroad the ash- es afler the burning is over; the fire should be ap- plied when the wind is in the direction of the fur- rows, and be commenced on the windward side of the field. Paring is generally performed by hand, with what is called the breast plough, but there is no doubt the work could be done most efriciently by "Pioii- ty's sod plough," if the irons were kept sliarp by frequent grinding. Tliis would be an immense sav- ing of expense and time, which is of far more im- jiortance. Lands which are overrun with the wild onion, are effectually cleared of this pest by paring and burninn-, and the best and easiest method of cleaning the corners of fields, which have become overgrown with weeds and bushes, and the lands adioining old fences, &.C., is to pare them, if it be only with the spade and mattock, build the sods in- to large heaps, with a little brush v/ood in the cen- tre, and fire them, leaving them to slow combus- tion. The ashes will p ly the cost of labor ten times over, hut they must not be left too long ex- posed after the fire is extinguished, as the alkali which they contain is quickly washed away by the I'cry small. loads of leached ashes which are carried away by barge loads for manure, I feci in- dined to remind the purchasers that, with half the expense, they could make ten times the quantily, by gathering up the rubbish around thoir houses and setting fire to it ; thus saving the cost and la- bor of cartage also, a serious item at busy seasons, and adding greatly to the neatness and respectable appearance of their hoinestea( Poitn Uito 7 to 8.4 cents ; .St. Croix at !l to 10 : JNew Orleans ti to 65. Teas, no stock reniaiiiin!:, vind bidd- ers n.*k high prices. Cofl'ee, prices sleaily : Java 13 to 14 — Cuba, &c. y to 10 cents. MONK.Y AND EXC-H.INGE.'. There was no material change in the inlcnsily of pressure on the money iiinrkct ; it was probably as severe on Sattirday as at any time be/ore. Bills on Eiigl.ind for the packet ol the 7tli, sold at 8i up 111 10 ptein. Slocks recovered somewhat (ill the last days. U. S. Bank Post Notes, sold at 11, per ct. a iiio., until Friday and Siilnrday, when they were in several instances, offered at I§, uilbuut finding buyers; C;-2uOO 'I'reas- tirv .Notes were taken at g dis. ; and Bonds of the Corpota- tirin of New York, which are found in v.Trious sums upon the market, sold at 971; per ct. payable in June iie.vt with 7 pel cent, interest. I'ilere were sales of good Mercantile pa- per at I J a 2 per cl. a mo., and yet there were considerable amounts of fJrocer's notes, taken at l\. Duinestic exchang- es sland wilb but little alleration, viz, : Richmond, IJaa; Charleslnn, 4 a 5 ; SJavaniiali, 6a » ; Mobile, laj; Florida, au a a.i, and Alississippi, So a 30. , Baslon, Sf/it. 19. Sales at auction yesterday. Sugar, I'or- tn Itico, at Sli C5 to S7 25 per 100 lbs. New Orleans $5 12 j llavanna brown $5 ;i5 per 100. Molasses, Porto Rico, 34 els. pergal. Tea, .-ouchong. 4 chesl.s, 3bcl3, per lb. l'ork,wc3l- tern mess, at $15 1-2 per hi. 1. Prices at BnaLin Srjjt. 12. Ashes, Pearl, per 100, §6 75 10 $7o0 i Pol, 4.5 .')0. Beans, white foreign, bushel SI 73to2 2o — Domestic, 0 per blil. Yellow Ueeswa.\ 25 lo 34 cents pound. Cheese, new milk, lOtolScents. Hone Manure pulven/.ed : 5 cents per bushel. Southern Gee--e Feathers 37 to 40 els. lb. Ainenran Flax 9 to 12 cents. Pish, (,'od. Grand Bank per quinlal gj 62, new Haddock 1 50 to 1 75 : .Mackerel, No. 1, bbl. 1.7 00; No. a, 10 75. Salmon, No. 1, $-^3. Flour, Genesee, bbl. S6 87 10 7 00. Indian Meal, bbl. 4 00. Corn, SO lo ses, New Orleans ■'alboi,34 cents. .«n2ar house do. 58 cents Oil, spring sperm, SI 15 gall. Winter, $123, Plaster of Paris 2200 lbs. S3 00 Pork, clear, $23; mess $17; prime $13 per bid.— Herds grass seed .$3 busb. ; Redlop SI 00; northern cb.ver lb 17t.i20cls. 'I'riud Tallow, lb. 12 cts. Wool, prone Sax- ony. CO to fiS cents lb. Full Blood Meiino.55toi;o. Egfis, do7. 20 els. Potatoes 30 10 73 cents per bushel. Ci- der I 75 to $2 bbl. ^ THE CATTLE MARKETS. Pkiladitrki". Sei't. .5. Sales brisk and .it an advacce of fifty cents per hundred since tjie report of the previous week. We quote sales of heef catlle, first qunlily al$8 50, seconds 7 .50; thirds $7. Cows and c lives al a small advance: they rang- ed Irem $Q7 tol6!3— one extra at §55. Sheep and lambs, siiji. piv overabundant. Sales al $' 75 to $1 per bead. Hogs at market sold at $7 50ln $8 511 per bundled weipllt. Ballunorf, Sevt.^. Prices conlion? firm. Prices grass cat- lie al $•<, and inferior al S7 25 per 100 lbs. J\7ic I'nii, .Srj,(. 5. The Beef ivas of good quality, but from the number of caltle sabs were dull. 650 bead sold al $7 to ..jlil—averaoing $9 Ihe lOll lbs. Mitch cows, sal.-s dull i 23 sold al S3n lo35, 40 and §48. Sheep and lambs demand fair 3100 sold— sheep al from ja, ^3 60, $4, ^i 60 and $5 : lambs SI .50, Sa and $3 50 each. BriThtov, Scpl.9. Beef calMe 400 at market : sales without iiiuctrvarialion from former prices. First quality $« 25 to SI 50. Seconds, S7. 50 loss. Thirds, S6 50 lo $7. ."Stores, b.50at market— yearlings $12loStfi ; two year olds, SIS lo S28. Cows and calves— sales at $30, $38, SI2, S«, SjSand t;d. 4000 slieep at market : sales al SI 25 lo S3 25. Swine, 120 at market : Lots to peddle sol'd al S.J to 5J for sows, and G\ to i;j for barrows. From tlie London Spedator, August 20, 1831. GREAT BRITAIN. State of the Country. — Every Newspaper one opens is full of the syrnptoms of a feverish slate of the country. If a civil war ragpd in the land, we could hardly expect to receive from the seat ot hostilities more alarming accounts than such as the newspapers daily supply from disturbed districts in the North of England. TumultUi.ry risings— not mobs of an hour or two, easily put down by a mag- istrate and half a dozen constables, but riots of two or three days' continuance — take place, in defiance of strong bodies of armed police and dragoons. Mobs have been charged by infantry with fixed bay- onets ; yet have returned to the attack reckless and infuriated, .\ttempts have been made to rescue the prisoners, to set fire to public buildings, and to stone magistrates and police to death. Gangs of men, women, and children, have forced their way into the factories, stopped the works, and compelled peaceably disposed persons to "turn out" with them. Policemen with their truncheons are mere sport for a populace becoliiing familiar with bayonets and daggers. And these scenes have occurred in ma- ny large and populous places and districts, — Man- chester, Rochdale, Bolton, Stockport, Bury, Hoy- wood, Middleton, Macclesfield, Nottingham, and Sheffield. The Judges on the Circuit are guarded, not as formerly by worthy farmers, following their landlord,the High Sheriff, in peaceable procession, but by regular troops. Special constables arc. ap- pointed by thousands, and tlie yeomanry are called out ; but the main reliance is on hussars and drag- oons. In fact, a large portion of the country is at this moment virtually under martial law. Where is this to end .^ TIIE FARMliR'S MONTliTTv vTslTOK, A IMONTl-lLV NKWSP.\Pt:R, IS prBLlSIIEIJ BV WILLIAM p. FOSTER, IlilVs Brkk Bloeli, Concord, jV. //. JAMES BURNS, 104, Ifashington St., Boston, Ms J. N. BOLLES, A'o. 1, Market Square, Prori- denre, li. I. The Visitor is issued from the tifteentli to tlic twen- tieth day of each month. Each number will contain sixteen pages of quarto size on paper calculated for preservation and on a fair and beau- tiful t\ pe. 'I'he subjects will be illustrated with engiavings. The terms will be /.eventy-Jtcc cents a year payable atlDuy^ in ad- vaiir.e. For all subscribers less tliaii 21, Agents will be allowed a deduction of 84 cents each- for all over 24 subscribers on any one agency 121 cenis each will be allowed. Thus, for six subscribers' four dullars—twclve, eight dollars — eighteen, twelve dollars— twenty-four, filieen dollars, will be remitted. Single numbers, twelve and a half cents each. All subscri- bers will coiumence with the first number ol the year. OO'CommunicaliGns bv mail, will be dirciiled to A\*1L LIAM F. FtJiaTBK,ConcoKi, N.U. THLY VISIT Conducted by ISAAC HILL. Published by WM. P. FOSTER. " Tliosn who labor in the earth are the chosen peopi e of God, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposits for substantial and genuine rirtuc'-jEFFERSoK. VOLUME 1. CONCORD, N. H., OCT. 20, 1839. NUMBER 10. THE VISITOR. Calais, Sept. I6th, 1839. Mr. Foster, — Sir: — I prnfpss to belong to that class of men commonly called Farmers — and, sir, 1 am happy to learn that the profession is being raised in character, and am willing to contribute my mite in favor. I here send you some lines : if you think worthy, please give them a place in the 'Visitor,' and oblige a Subscriber : "The Farmer's Song." As sung by J. M. Dana, before the associated Free Men of Calais, Vt., Sept. 3d, 1630. ',et blockheads sing of regal state, Of lords and ladies fair. Who on some haughty monarch wait. And homage to liim swear : Their pomp and pride we all deride. We'll never bend the knee To mortal king, but ever sing We're Farmers and we're free 1 'Tis true we labor for our bread. And so did Adam too ; A little toil we'll never dread While we're so well to do: Then raise the sonj throughout the throng, We'll never bend the knee. To mortal king or corporate thing. We're Farmers and we're free. 'Tis labor nerves the man to fight In freedom's glorious cause ; And freedom is the Farmer's right By his Creator's laws : This right we'll keep or in death sleep. We'll never bend the knee To mortal king, but joyf.il sing We're Farmers and we're free ! Who lead our Fathers on to reap Their harvest of renown, Wlien Briton's w.ir-dogs crossed the deep To Iiunt our blrth-riglits down .•' A Farmer : yes, he taught me this— To never bend the knee To mortal king, but boldly sing We're Farmers and we're free ! Who led out Free-men in the war Down by old Cypress sv.-amp. Where Packeuliam lie waiting for , Tlie "booty" of our camp ? A Farmer : yes, he taught me this — To never bend the knee To Briton's king, but stand and fling Cold lead at tlieni as free. The half fledged scholar well may say On earth there's naught but care. For would he throw his books away And breathe the morning air BehiTid the plough, 'twould smooth his brow, Like us he'd happier be, Than mightiest king, and witli us .■sing We're Farmers and we're free ! The Farmers talk not of life's ills. Except when wool is low. Or when by chance we get bad bills. This ve.xes us, you know : But yet we will re-eclio still We'll never bend the knee To monied king or corporate thing, We're Farmers and we're free ! ! When wintry storms rage long and loud The Farmer, at his fire, While sons and daughters round him crowd. Feels joys that never tire : With such a band join heart and hand. And never bend the knee To any king or corporate thing, We're Tarmers and we're free. But ye who say there's naught in life That's worth the living for. Behold the Farmer's cheerful wife I And own what fools ye are. Come join us now just from the plough, We will not bend the knee To mortal king, but ever sing We're Farmers and we're free. Come all who love onr country's weal, Come all who hate dull play, And see what pleasure Farmers feel On this the Free-Men's day ; And sing again the joyous strain We'll never bend the knee To any king, but gaily sing We're Farmers and we're free. But there is one to whom we'll bow With adoration due ;. O ! may his blessing crown us now And follow us life through ; To Him we'll raise the song of praise. To Him we'll bend the knee; He is our king — to him we'll sing, 'Tis He who made us Free 1 Fertile Farmer's Monthly Visitor. Thistles and Peas for Swine ! Mr. Editor :— Last August while passing thro' the eastern part of this State, I observed a field in which v.'ere growing peas and Canada thistles in about equal proportions. A man had been mowing and was carrying out some of tiiem. I inquired what he did with them, to which he replied, that he had for several weeks fed si.\- swine on them and he never had hogs do better. He said in the spring the piece of ground was so entirely covered with thistles that hewave up all hopes of getting a crop from it, and coRcluded to turn it out for a hog pas- ture ; but seeing it recommended in the Farmer to sow peas for hogs, he concluded to make an e-\ ler iment with this field. He procured the small ;\ar- ly peas and sowed them upon the furrow and har- rowed them once over. The thistles grew luxuri- antly and answered a much bet^tr, purpose than oats or barley to support the vines. As soon as tlie peas began to get full, he began to mow them and feed them to his hogs, considering this better econ- omy tlian to turn the hogs into them ; for they were every day growing and becoming better. He says the hogs eat the thistles with greater avidity than tliey do the pea vines, and he thinks they are equally nutritious. This is certainly a useful way of managing a thistle patch, inasmuch as you not only turn them to use and profit, but get them en- tirely out of the way before the seed ripens so as to produce a new crop the next year. S. over one hundred bushels of fine roots. Many of my neighbors will not have forty bushels from a piece as large as mine, and they have expended five times the labor to procure them that I have to get a crop of probably over two hundred bushels. I would therefore suggest wliether neglecting to weed turnip plants until the SOth or 25th of July, will not prove an effectual safeguard against tho depredations of those insect intruders. CYRUS SLACK. For the Fariner\s Monllily Visitor. Ruta Baga and the Garden Flea. Mr. Editor : — I believe it is a principle at com- mon law that no man shall profit by his own mis- doings ; but laws are not always just, and there are few principles which do not admit of exceptions. Last spring I planted about half an acre of Ruta Baga on land that was manured with long manure from the barn yard, and before the plants got fairly started the weeds got ahead of them, and being busy about other matters, 1 neglected to hoe them until they ^vere completely over-run with weeds, and seeing my neighbors' plants entirely de- voured with the garden flea, I felt but little dispo- sition to neglect other work to weed them, from the impression they would meet tho some fate. Not inclining to hoe out the weeds for the benefit of those depredators, I concluded if they did take them they should hunt them out from among the weeds for themselves. And thus I neglected to be- stow any care upon them until my other work was out of the way. One day I discovered a few strag- gling plants making their way through a thin spot of weeds whicli induced me to examine the piece. 1 found tlie plants to be perfect and entire, not one having been molested by an insect of any descrip- tion. I hoed and thinned them out, and in ten (bays I had the handsomest and forwardest yard of turnips in the town, and I have no doubt that by my negligence in not hoeing them, I have gained For the F.jrnier's Monthly Visitor. Cruelty to Animals. Mr. Editor :— It is gratifying to observe that you have improved the advantageous position you occupy as the conductor of a public paper, exten- sively read among the moral people of New Eng- land, in administering seasonable advice regarding the wanton destruction of useful birds ; and the same feeling will doubtless prompt you, in good time, to add remarks against cruelty to animals in general. This sin, so utterly revolting to the feel- ings of the benevolent mind, and, moreover, so completely calculated to make mt03ition. I ob- served some examples of trap rock, crystalized quartz, schorl, mica, and one specimen similar to load stone. The lower beJs of the primitive rocks were smooth, and worn probably by the passage of so many bowlders over them. On the heights I likewise observed, the rocks in their original beds were very solid and but very little broken. Bowl- ders are few, and for several miles beyond the heights, few or none to be seen. In Enfield the granitedips, and near the Shakers' village, the stra- tified rock appears, and argillaceous slate is quarri- ed fijr mechanical use. The walls and rocks for a few miles appear very different on passing into Lebanon. Bovv'ldcrs of granite or gneiss are seen, and increasj as you progress toward Hanover ; and on the road from Lebanon village to Dartmouth College is a beautiful display of the diluvial current. For sev- eral miles the fine granite bov.-lders are copiously lodged upon the sides of the bills, some places in prolusion. When the eye of the Geologist is en- gaged in viewing more beautiful specimens all at once, it falls upon the bed of granite whence they came ; and the excavation by their removal is dis- tinctly to be traced within a few rods of the high- way on the right hand. After passing this, anoth- er composition commences and continues to Dart- mouth College, the origin of which probably may be traced beyond. In the whole distance there appears to be more recent operations on many rocks, than can be at- tributed to ancient diluvial currents. They are fre- quently cracked open and the parts remaining ex- actly fitting each other. Some are thrown atadis tance, and a difl'erent course from the diluvial cur- rent, and must have been some great evolution since those bowlders were lodged there, probably from earthquakes, and the continual changes going on from water, frost and air. But to account fur the splitting of rocks of several hundred and oven thousands of tons and their removal, the human mind cannot contemplate any thing short of a su- pernatural Power, and to the believers iu Christi- anity, the mind most readily rests on that great drama of apostolical account two thousand years ago, w-henlhe rocks were rent. "^It will be readily seen that the foregoing obser- vations are very imperfect, as they were made on a passage in a private carriage of fifty miles in one day. GEOLOGIST. For the Faiiiier'.s Mniitlily Visilor. IVheat ; the "Buckeye ;" the Honey Lo- cust, ami Estoraatos, from Ohio. De.ik Sir :— 1 sent you, by your son (Andrew) a sai^ple of the wiiite wheat of Ohio; from which their first quality of flour ::, produced ; also, a "Buckeve"niuch resembling the Kuropean Horse Chesnulsj both as regards the nut itself, and the tree producing it. It is the first tree in that region which puts forth leaves in the spring : and gives the popular name to the inhabitants of Ohio, of which tliey are extremely proud. I also sent a thorn from the Honey Locust, which tree is a great curiosit}'. The trees grov/ to a tol- erable size. The v.-ood is strong and durable, fur- nishino- excellent niateri.-ils for treenails in boat or ship building. The fruit is a large red pod, like a case knife bean, containing seeds resembling those of the Tamarind, but much smaller; and a thick glutinous sweet pulp. The tree is armed with thorns, projecting in every direction, covering the trunk and branches, so that to climb it is almost possible. The tliorn sent you, was taken from a large tree in Dover, Tuscarawas Co. standing by the canal. The seed of the yellow Estoniatos which 1 send you, was brought from Ohio three years ago. It has flourished well in this climate. This species is not inferior to the red in any particular, and is by many thought to be more delicate in its flavor. — This plant is one of the most valuable and produc- tive in the gardener's catalogue. When the Chol- era raged at Cincinnati, some years since, it was found'to be an excellent remedy ; and in several instances persons given over by their physicians, have ascribed their cure to the eating of ripe Esto- niatos, in .-. raw state. One jpcrson iu almost the THE FARMER'S xVIONTHLY VISITOR. 14? last stage of tlie disease, being left for a time iiione, cra'.vle'T out into liis garden where a luxuriant bed of these plants was growing; thinking that the juice of tlie fruit would cool the burning fever that raided within hini. He ate several, and was reviv- ed. He ate more, and was soon able to return to the liousc with more strength than when he crawl- ed out. He ate them every day, and recovered his health. This fact I learned from one who witness- ed the horrible ravages of the Cholera ill the west seven years since, where persons in apparently good health in the morning, were sometimes struck down in si.x hours. One instance I will mention : a friend informed ine that he had invited a gentle- man from New Orleans to dine with him, at 2 o'- clock He did not come at the time — the family wait'^d half an hour, and then dined by themselves. At .*> o'clock a messenger came to him from the hotel, to say that Ins friend was just dying of the Cholera. He was apparently well at 12 o'clock. Besides its medical qualities, the Estomato is much used for culinary purposes. — for making sauces, soups, &c. It makes a fine preserve ; ecjual if not superior to the Guava Jelly of the West In- dies. It should be ;ca/f/crf (/irce (raes in the syrup, by which process it loses the native taste, and be- comes a preserve of the lirst quality. V. For tile I'^aniier's Wonlhly Visitor. The last Flower of Autumu. Sv."eet liovv^cr ! why art thou here .-' The Summer time is gone, and now the reign Of sober Autumn, desolate and sear. Shades Nature's fair domain. He has the woodlands drest, And music has forsook her S3']van bov.'er ; Long since thy kindred sunk to their sweet rest — "Why art thou here, lone flower.-' Thou weep'st above their tomb, "Who should have been associate with thee ; Alas, that no kind friend may cheer thy gloom. And bid repining fiee ! Thou weep'st above their tomb. So he, wide wandering, on the wild waves thrown, Mourns o'er his long lost kindred's narrow home. Unfriended and unknown. Or art thou here thus lone. In this decay-marked season, fair, yet meek, To type the guileful rose that blooms upon Consumption's faded cheek ? Fair Flora's sweetest dower ! Thou'rt dear to me, for thou resemblest too Friendship sincere, that when earth's chill storms lower, Remahis to solace woe. Remembrancer of Spring ! 'Well may'st thou weep, for Autumn's withering breath. Ere long with sullen dirge-like wail, will bring I'o thee untimely death. K'eii thus the v/ithcring blight Of cold neglect destroys the virgin bloom Of fem^ile loveliness, and makes the niglit Of death a welcome doom. Yet a few dr.^'s, and then T'lou'll slumber sweetly v^here thy kindred lie, Witli them, perennial plant, to bloom again lieneatli spring's genial sk_v. Tiiou art the light of ho])e Unlo the Autnmn of man's hoary years. That doth to Heaveh's own spring a vista ope Fitr tiircugh this vale of tears. Poor flower I my sad heart grieves For thee, last of thy race, but tliou hast bred Thoughts that will cheer me, like thy perfumed leaves, When thou, alas, art dead. J. H. C. Salisbury, Oct. 1839. For the Farmer'n RIoiitlily Visitor. FniEND Hill : — As many people are very fond of the intestine of our neat cattle, commonly call- ed tripe, and many more would be, if they under- stood cleansing and preparing it for the table, I thought some might be pleased with directions which will enable them to prepare it in the best iwaiiner possible. The following is the method by wliicli this very valuable and highly palatable part of the beef is prepared. After it is ta'Kcn from the cieature, make an incision of about 18 inches, tiiroBgii whicii turn out the excrement, with care to keep the outside clean ; then turn it inside out and sew up this open- ing perfectly tight; rinse off the remaining impu- rities in warm water, put it into an empty tub. Af- ter which, take two quarts of air or dry slaked lime, which rub over it v.'ith the hands, the hands being previously grea.«ed to prevent tiie lime from cor- roding them. Add about three quarts of warm wa- ter, in which let it remain from fifteen to twenty minutes. Then with a knife scrajjc it while in the tub and the inner pellicle orskiia, together with the remaining tilth, will readily peel oil", and leave the tripe perlectly white and pure. Wash and rinse off all impurities : after which, cut it into conven- ient slices to boil : then put it to soak hi cold wa- ter, with the addition of a little salt, in which let it remain twenly-four hours, changing the water three or I'oiir tini''s. It has now become free from all external impurities; and that strong ranktaate, which in the ordinary process is retained, is now e.'itracted, and it is left perfectly sv.eet. Process of Cooking. Boil it until it is tender; then cut it into small pieces, add butter to it, warm it again, not so as to fry it, and it is one of the most delicious and palatable articles of food on the table. ADDIIESS Ddiccrcd at Kecne, jV. IJ. Srpt. 25, 1S3EI, at the rc- qutst of tlic Members of the Chcshirr. County j)g- ricultural dissociation. By IS.\AC HILL. The farmers of Cheshire will not consider me guilty of the ostentation of having travelled from home with the sole view of instructing tiiem in their every day business. I come not here so much to impart as to obtain knowledge. 1 have no great- er pretensions in agricultural knowledge than those of a ne-\r convert to the Christian faith : like him I have ardent breathintrs for the cause, and the more probable chance with me, as with him, is that my zeal may not be according to knowledge. In their ov.'n peculiar calling there is no class of men less liable to be led astray by error and false theories than the intelligent farmers of New England : there are none so well qualified in their business to grasp and apply whatever new in- formation or theory shall be of superior value. So that if I had the power of language to make the worse appeai>ithe better argument^or if my judg- ment had led me to receive and adopt false theo- ries I'rom mere illusions of fancy — there could be little danger I should mislead any individual of the audience which I now address. I shall, gentlemen, on this occasion present you little that is new or original. ''Line upon line, precept upon precept," should be the doctrine^ of the agriculturist; and that old information, that knowledge derived from our own experience, re- peated by other tongues as from their knowledge and experience, may leave upon our minds an im- pression of not less value, if of less interest, than some latent recent discovery that is calculated to astonish our senses. I make no pretensions to scientific knowledge — still less to have made discoveries in science or to have brought to light the application of any fact bearing upon the welfare of the agriculturist. I will attempt no more llian tiie repetition of I'acts which you all do know, having only the htimble wish to do some little good by such an exhibition of the trea.iures of oivr common experience as shall fix upon them your attention. The Jnmestotvn niid Plymouth Colonics contrasled. First. I call to your notice the position of New England as contrasted with other sections of our country. The first settlements of that portion of the New World now known as the Republic of the I'n'Ued States of North America were at James- town in Viraiiila and the old Colony of Tly mouth in IvIassachusetLS. The first attempt at settlement was in ibSo, soon after Sir Walter Raleigh took possession of the country for the crow'ii of England and named it in honor of the virgin queen Elizabeth, Virginia, ■ when Sir Richard. GrenvilV? with one hundred and seven adventurers, who were nearly all destroyed bv famine and the Indians, landed at Roanoke. This attempt entirely failed, although supplied with another body of adventurers ; tor when Gov. White in 15110 arrived with provisions for the colon}' which he had left three years be- tbre not an Englishman could be found. Nearly twenty years after this, in 16011, one hundred and seventeen years after the first discovery of Ameri- ca, the first permanent settlement of an Eiiglis' colony was made in this country at Jamestown, thus named witji the river James on which if i situated, in honor of the British sovereign who suc- ceeded Klizab«lh. The eloquent Wirt thirty-sev en years ago, in one of the letters of the British Spy, thus describes the position and condition of this first settlement: "Tjic site is a very handsome one. The river is three miles bro.ad ; and, on the "opposite shore, the country presents a fine range of bold and beautiful hills. But I find no vestiges "of the ancient town, except the ruins of a church "steeple, and a disordered uroup of old tombstones. " On one of tlicso [in the character of a British " traveller incog, or as a spy (says Wirt, who had then just commenced practice as a lawyer in Vir- ginia)] shaded by the boughs of a tree, whose trunk has embraced and grown over the edge of the stone, and seated on the head-stone of an- other grave, I now address j'ou." One might sup- pose, if Wirt had not taken his idea of writing a- mong the toinb stones from some ancient Europe- an legend, thatW alter Scott had nearly twenty years afterwards drawn his picture of Old Mortality from the bright fancy of a 3'outhful American scholar. The desolation of Jamestown and the region of the vicinity continues down to the present time. Whole sections of that country, which was origin- -lly fertile and scarcely less inviting than the fair territories of the v^est, are deserted by the inhabi- tants. Not only the churches, but the tenements, the fair mansions of better days, are becoming a waste and a desolation. This may be said of much of the country of the Ancient Dominion below the Blue Ridge. A Senator in Congress, whose place of residence was in the vicinity of Jamestown, in- formed me that plantations were there abandoned, because the products of the whole soil were insuf- ficient to sustain the colored population neces- sary to their cultivation. That part of Virgin- ia close by the national metropolis, so produc- tive in wheat and the usual farm crops in the life- time of the Father of his country, the region round about Mount Vernon constituting the farms of George Washington, and embracing several thou- sand acres, are now little better than a useless waste; the beautiful artificial fruit and flower and kitchen gardens are overrun with wild grasses and briars : in the place of the fig tree is the thorn ; "and glad- ness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field ; and in the vineyards there is no singing; thetread- ers tread out no wine in their presses ; and the Al- mighty has made their vintage shouting to cease.' Such is the condition of the country of Poca- hontas, whose production, down to the days of the war of the revolution, from its crops of tobacco, furnished almost exclusively that foreign credit from which the scanty means and munitions of war for the country were procured. In less than half a century is the soil run out,; and for the want of "^il^ans and energy to renew it, large tracts of country and comfortable and sometimes expensive and elegant dwellings are abandoned to the rapid consumption of time. The Plymouth colony followed the Virginia settlement in 1020. In the cold and gloomy month of November the May-flower, so much damageti by adverse winds and waves as to be almost a wreck, doubled Cape God, with little more than one hundred adventurers, and landed on v/hat is now deemed the most sterile and barren soil of the United States, well representing however the hard face of the whole country of New England, as the fruitful, easy soil of Jamestov/n did that of Virgin- ia. The first inclement winter saw more than half of the number laid low in the dust, the victims of want and disease. Yet were the remainder sus- tained bj' that indomitable spirit of liberty which prompted them to forego every chance of comfort that they might enjoy the right of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own con- sciences, under their own vines and fig-trees, with none to molest or make them afraid. In the lives of tliese devoted pilgrimg, in the very hardness and sterility of tire ground, the "rock' on which they landed, do we read the char- acter of the generations whicli have succeeded them. Not here as in Virginia has the country de- generated. Here "the wilderness and the solitary places have become glad, and the desert rejoices and blossoms like the rose. It Itlossoms exceed- ingly, and the glory of Lebanon has been given un- to it." Man's necessity his greatest temporal blessing. For her pli3'sical and moral progression, for her increased means and wealth and the excellent hab its of her population, New England is not less in! debted to the roughness and sterility of her soil than to the obstinate morals and unremitting per severance of her original pioneers. If the Virgin la colony had not been composed of a softer and more pliant race, perhaps an easier and more abnn dant soil and a more temperate climate, inducing 148 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. to lassitude and shrinking from labor, might stilly have tlirown it upon a more servile generation of human beings, and rendered slavery the cnrse and the destroyer of tliat very fertdity of wliich it was intended to take advantage for the greatest de- gree of ease and eomfort to its proprietors. In a word, if tile New England pilgrims had made tlieir first pitcli upon Virginian territory, the fate of that population which has been broken down by luxury and enervation, miglit and probably would have attended them. , Tlie great blessing of New England has been her hard soil, her difficulty of producing abundant pro- ducts from tlie earth, and tlie necessity to labor whicii has pervaded almost every rank and class of her population. If a part, say one half, could have done the work necessary to support all, tlien might we see at this moment a race of different color with marks of inferiority, doing what is now done by hearly tlie whole superior class combined : then might we witness one class of our population phys- icallv and morally enervated ; — another class, to the lowest pitch degraded. Slavery existed in New England before the existence of those blessed free institutions which w'cre purchased at the expense of the blood of freemen — a race was here as "hewers of wood and drawers of water," a black race in slavery, scattered remnants of vviiich in some parts remain ; and to no single cause so much as to the necessity that dll should work to gain a compe- tence from the ground is it due that free white la- bor, diffusing the blessings of health and abun- dance, is tlie almost exclusive labor of tliis portion of the United States. We cannot always have that exact state of things which all could wish. For wise and beneficent purposes the Almighty has placed us in a state of trial and uncertainty. The fruits of well directed labor are sometimes smitten — the struggles of hard labor are sometimes crowned with utter want of success. Tile privations and the sufferings of the first New England settlers were far beyond the privations and sufferings of those who are now settling the new territories of the South and West. The proo-ress of those first settlers was much slow- er and more tedious — the dangers and horrors of Savage warfare were much more appalling — the destitution of the common necessaries and com- forts of life was more intense and more general. If the savage tomaliawk now and then does the work of sudden murder upon our extreme frontier, the opportunity of protection or escape to those who remain is soon presented. To the settlers of New England for the first hundred and fifty years, not only the frequent terrors of repeated barbarian murders in the worst shape were realized, but a heartless, hopeless, never-ending fear of secret at- tack and massacre became the great passion, swal- lowinor up and marring almost evOTv species of en- joyment. Our fatiiers doomed to procure sustenance by the severest sweat of the face, the charged musket was taken to the field for defence. With every precau- tion the watchful and prayerful pioneer wliile cut- ting down the forest, or tilling or gathering tlie fruits of the ground, was frequently shot down in the field by the Indian lurking unseen in some ad- jacent swamp or covert: the brains of children were dashed out in the presence of trembling moth- ers torn and hurried into captivity ere the bleeding Tictims had ceased to struggle. The accumulated horrors of want and famine and pestilence were but a mitigation of the greater horrors and dread of savage warfare. Within my own recollection, aged men and women lived among our ancestors who, from their remembrance of these horrors, described their own condition with tlieir elders concerned for themselves as well as for their pro- tection in language and gestures with colors tliat no hieroglyphic or written or printed statement ever can equal. The soil of New England, sterile altliough it may have been, was more prolific the first ten years than it was the second ten years of its occupancy. Un- der the "skinning process," in the course of twen- ty years here and every where else, saving in land Chat is repeatedly flowed, the tilled soil becomes exhaustid and worn out. It is a blessing to the world whicli seems n^t to be realized by hundreds and perhaps thousands, that this worn out soil con- tains the germ of its own resuscitation. Even the worn out soil of Virginia, which at first was so rich as to need no ajiplication of artificial manures, may be made to attain its original fertility from a change t)f its own elements aided by tlie surrounding at- mosphere. The position of that country forbids the general application of manures upon much of it; but such land may again be made productive, simply by summer fallows — by ploughing in the exterior vegetable growth, sowing and rearing a new growth of clover or other succulent produc- tion. To be in its turn again ploughed and ferment- ed under the surface. Exhausted lands too soon abandoned. The fault of the farmers upon our hard soil has been to abandon the ground after the skinning pro- cess, This was natural while other fertile lands renuined in the vicinity to be cleared, that would produce larger crops. And now a farmer that ha.s mowed over forty, fifty and a hundred acres year after year, until jic has reduced the crop of hay down from two tons to one ton, half a ton and even four or five hundred pounds to the acre, is as a matter of necessity willing almost to give away the ground that yields so scantily, to seek a liveli- hood by taking women boarders at the price of a dollar or a dollar and a quarter a week near some great factory establislimcnt, or else to pack up "bag and baggage" and set out for the land of promise in tlie west. To men so discouraged as these have been in times past, I believe the alternative offers of a much more certain chance of success in life ; and that is, in the renovation of worn out farms. If a man is in debt to the amount of its whole value, he had better purchase a portion of what was his own on credit, and remain upon it, than abandon it. — With common health, with a good resolution and good habits, he may as soon lay a foundation for the future sustenance and comfort of himself and family as he can perhaps any where else. The poor- est places for steady employment, I am induced to believe, are our largest towns and villages. A- mong the farmers the poor man can almost every where be employed at a price either in money or produce to help sustain his family ; his wife and children who are of sufficient age can also find some kind of business where industry shall aid the exertions of the father : nay, is it not an event of frequent occurrence that females in a family a- lone earn its support.' The poor man can work for others as well as on the ground which he has pur- chased or hired. But let him work it right at home. If he have but a single acre of the worn out land — I do not mean impervious rock or that gravel or sand on which labor and manure will have iio eftect, but that retentive soil which holds ma- nure, or such barren wet soil as may be drained — or such iinpovershed soil as requires the plough or the iron bar to strike deeper than it has been wont ; if he begin with a single acre of such land and be- gins aright, the first year will give him better pay for the labor and application than he ever obtained under the skinning process ; the product will be in- cieased iu a compound ratio in succeeding years ; and in a few revolving seasons he will find his single acre yielding him more clear gain than some farm- ers obtain from fifty and a hundred acres under the wearing-out mode of cultivation. Too much attempted. The practice of farmers in New England has been to go over too much ground. By planters in the South, some of whom have their five hundred, their thousand and even ten tliousand acres, the largest New England farmers are considered small farmers. We think too little of our small farmers of fifty or an hundred acres : I know men of smal- ler farms of twenty and thirty acres who are not only thriving and gaining property every year, but who actually are in more easy and independent circumstances in life, than others with half a dozen farms and some of them large. I will state a case in point. A rich man of the society of Friends who owns estates in the vicini- ty of Wilmington in the State of Delaware, leased a single acre of good land to a poor man in his neighborhood with the condition of furnishing him a horse and cart twice a week to go to market. — The product of the acre was to be divided equally; and the owner's annual share on an average of five years was $1 ''•1 20 cents, making the income of the acre $*248 40 a year. The owner and tenant did well for five years on the single acre ; but the lat- ter thought he had not business enough, and asked for another acre, the use of which was granted with the same division on the condition of adding the use and services of a man, a horse and plough occasionally. To the owner and of course to the tenant the whole proceeds were less from the two acres for a second term, than they had been from tile one acre the first term. The smaller farmer in proportion to his capital has generally the advantage of his neighbor with more numerous acres. Suppose each of them shall labor himself and have the benefit of the work of two hired men in a family of sons under age. The farmer of seventy -five or a hundred acres performs the whole labor with his own help : he works to the advantage of taking fewer steps, and teams in proportion in going to and from his work, and in gathering his produce. His Surplus beyond the wants of his family is a clear gain to his capital. The larger owner of one hundred and fifty or two hundred acres does of himself half of his wcrk, and hires the entire of the other half: he loses the additional travel and the transport from the double distance. His profits upon the one half of his land where the help is all hirinl will be as much less than the half done by himself, as the addition of price paid for his hired labor and the increased labor and time cimsunied in travel and carriage occasion- ed by the greater compass of his grounds. The difference may be so great that the loss on the one part will exceed the gains on the other ; and the case may even be conceived where the smaller farmer will constantly increase his property while the larger farmer doing precisely as much labor with the same means, in consequence of his more extended operations, will be continually losing property. The farmer who exercises at the same time the capacity of planning and directing and of assist- ing in the labor of his farm, has the advantage of him who only plans and directs ; but the man who does all within himself has an advantage over him who plans and executes only in part. So the small farmer who, besides doing by himself and his minor sons all his farm work, adds to that in seasons when he cannot be abroad the performance of some me- chanical labor wliich shall turn to profit, at the same time the wife and daughters ply the needle, the wheel or the shuttle within doors, often advances to wealth more rapidly than he who has the use of much more extended apparent means and cajiital. The example of every family who make the most of their means, who live comfortably on a little, and gain fast by putting in motion every practica- ble method of increase to the fruits of industry, should be an object of emulation to every other familv. None are so ricii as to be able to be waste- ful ; and the most wealthy better enjoy the econo- my which adds to their means than the prodigality which throws them away. Happy condition of the New Ungland Farmer. The condition of a community situated as are the great mass of agriculturists in New England is more desirable than that of any other class of men within my knowledge. If it do not too much at^ tach men and women to this life — if it do not make them so happy as to increase tile love of life be- yond the age of sorrow, toil and jjain — it is a con- dition which the "tall, the wise and reverend head" may envy. Living within their own means, on the fruits of their own labor — enjoying abundance of the best products of the ground and the first fat- lings of the fiock ; the appetite sharpened and sweetened, the muscular powers strengthened, the mind made vigorous and active, by labor ; their de- pendence solely on the iroodncss of God ; — their prudence having looked forward even to the de- struction of a crop with a providence to supply its l)lace : with abundant leisure for all healthy recre- ation and all needful rest ; with no worldly cares and vexations encroaching on the reflection wliich aids the better judgment ; iu the midst of those social and domestic relations which throw a charm about life, whicli give to moral suasion its greatest force, and which rear the "tender thought ' to the ripe vigor of its highest usefulness : — how can we conceive any state of imperfect, erring, dependent man more truly enviable, than that of the industri- ous, laboring, i)rolific farmers of New England who live according to the best lights of their own expe- rience .' The merchant fails nine times in ten be- fore a fortune is gained — the speculator ninety-nine times in a hundred : the mechanic and the lawyer gain only while their work is going on ; the wages of the priest, like those of the common laborer, stop when he no longer works; the jihysician adds to his income no oltener than he visits the sick ; the salary man, if he saves at all, saves only a spe- cific sum: — the farmer, more sure of success than either, in nine cases out often, certain of ultimate prosperity, lays his head upon his pillow with the reflection that while he sleeps his crops are increas- ing to maturity and his flocks and iierds growing in size and strength. Benefits of Association. To awaken a laudable zeal and emulation in the agricultural improvements of tile day is the object of this association, as it is of many other similar associations existing in this and other countries. That there are excellent farmers in Cheshire coun- ty who are not members of this or any other agri- cultural society, is undoubtedly true ; that this may be a fine agricultural district scarcely behind the best in New England without an agricultural soci- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. iS Still there is no doubt that ]k(s done and m:iv continue to ety, is equally true, your society already do niucli ^nod. Association, even where only " two or three are gathered together, " is more potent than individual effort alone : tlie experience of several collected is bettor than the experience of one. Where much time is not consumed — where too much e.^pense is not incurred — wii'ere the shadow is not grasped for tlie substance — where a passion for e.xtended ex- periments does not outstrip and leave common sense behind — we may e.xpect to derive much benefit from the elforts of agricultural societies. I .'im quite sure, although many of these socie- ties have passed away with the excitement in which they were begotten, that not a ^c\v of them liave done good. There are counties and districts of New England much indebted to them for the supe- riority which they have attained. Berkshire in Massachusetts was tliu first to institute, and has been the longest to persevere in her agricultural society : her mountain region can find at this time no superior in the United States in fertility and production. Magnificent cattle range in her pas- tures ; ten thousand flteces are taken from her mountains : the fatlings of the flock are hers. The crops of corn and wheat groan as the burden of her hills and valleys. If the united efforts of individuals, judiciously directed, can do much to promote agricultural im- provements, so an ill directed zeal ma}' do not a little to retard tliem. There is danger of over-ex- citement ; and agricultural societies as well agri- cultural periodical publications may be the instru- ments of this excitement. Men who want experi- ence, men who risque to go forward without reflec- tion, may give an impetus to your societies and to the periodical agricultural press. Your good sense, gentlemen, will direct you to detect and avoid the evil consequences of both. There are several things among what liave been called improvements that have turned out to be mere innovations ; and there are other things that have been cried up as useful that may prove worse than useless. The benefits of certain information. A good rule is never to swap away a certain good in the uncertain prospect of something better; and another good rule is never to risque so much in a- ny untried experiment as will allow a failure to op- crate extensive injury. For example, we may, on the faith that a kind of corn has been raised in Kentucky that yields a double vrop, seek out and substitute that corn for our own lands, when it shall turn out that the same kind here that is so success- ful there, from difference of climate, will not ar- rive to the growth of corn in the milk. On a rep- resentation that the wheat brought from another country is of excellent quality and yields in great quantity, with no other information, we may sow our usual ground in the spring with this choice seed, and find at mid-summer that the seed we have used should be sowed in a different prepara- tion in the previous fall and not in the spring. Without accurate information, there is always danger of failure in experiments. The most ingen- ious first inventor of a machine curious and useful seldom reaps the reward of his discovery : it pas.s- es into other hands before it attains its ultimate perfection. So the first experiments in agricultur- al irhprovements are more useful to the public than to the experimenter, because each individual to whom the knowledge comes has equally the bene- fits of the experiment, and can as readily avail him- self of the benefits of its first errors. Certain accurate information is a point at which the agriculturist should aim. Th:it book informa- tion which describes only a part is worse than no information. On points of experience 1 couldgain move in conversation one half a day with a farmer who has cultivated ground .<^imilar to my own twenty and thirty years, than I could to pore over European scientific publications on agriculture for the space of a month. The reading may bo useful to me ; but without the benefits of my neighbor's experience along with it, my scientific reading will avail me little. Tlie evidence of my talent will consist in the discrimination and good sense with which I ehall apply the knowledge which I have gained both from conversation and reading. The Multicaulis not adapted to New- I^ngland. I will notice a few of the failures which occur to me as likely to result from the passion of farming on mere theory, or froni scientific book farming. — And first I will bring to your attention. The Morus Multicaulis or Silk fever. I believe no agricultural society orpublication in New Hamp- shire has yet induced our farmers to go extensively into this business. In relation to the White Mul- berry the developments of the last twelve years have convinced me that neither will thistreestand the climate nor can the worms be reared to produce cocoons in suflicient quantities to make it a profit- able pursuit on an extensive isolated .scale. I know a large orchard that was carefully prepared ten or twelve years ago and as carefully fenced and cul- tivated, that made little or no progress after the first two or three years. There are instances of the White Mulberry in warm sunny positions out of the wind and in a free rich soil where the tree has flourished : such cases furnish the means for perse- vering, industrious ladies rearing worms, reeling, spinning and weaving beautiful specimens of silk ; and this they often do as well to gratify a laudable pride as to obtain profit. But the morus multicau- lis, the n>ore tender Chinese mulberry, never can permanently flourish either in Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine ; and I very much doubt its success either in Massachusetts or any other New England State. Cultivated as an annual plaut, the chance will be equal at least that it will not suc- ceed ; cultivated as a permanent tree, it must ut- terly fail. There is a possibility that the business may suc- ceed in the warmer soil of New Jersey, and Penn- sylvania, and in parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illi- nois ; but for the same reason that the finer manu- factures of cotton and woollen have never pros- pered in the States dependent on slave labor, so the silk growing business I fear may drag out a miser- able existence in the States south of the Chesa- peake and Ohio. The skill of more diligent, nicer and more careful hands is required for the silk cul- ture. Cheap labor is also required; and it is this cheap labor, with exact and accurate, although sometimes feeble hands, that enables France and Italy and the extensive regions in Asia to turnout the various silk manufactures in quantities. So long as negro labor applied in a crude and rough manner, can produce Indian corn, wheat, tobacco, rice, cotton and sugar, there will be little encour- agement to the planters to employ their slaves in the cultivation of the Morus Multicaulis. The present generation of white people in the land of slaves will not be induced to apply their own hands to the rearing of silk worms and the reeling of co- coons. If at this time it were possible to make the man- ufacture of silks a tolerable business, policy, would direct the farmer of New Hampshire not to embark in it as a main business. At present to incorporat- ed compnnies success is out of the question : capi- tal applied must be consumed with this as a sole jiursuit, and overwhelming debt will finish the de- struction. The encouragement in present pursuits is too great, the prices of present products are too high, so that there is no sufficient inducement for any New Hampshire farmer to change his accus- tomed pursuit for that of raising mulberry orch- ards and attending cocoonries. The rearing ot'stock, whether of cattle, horses, sheep or swine, froin the present prices, will enabhvthe industrious farmer with the proper soil to accumulate in all rational anticipation. The growth of wiieat, rye and corn, and the various grains, the cultivation of potatoes and other root crops, the cash value of a liay crop, the productions of the dairy, leave the farmer little in doubt of a rich reward for his well directed la- bor. If silk manufactures, without interfering with these, can be introduced into our families, and employ those fair or feeble hands that might not otherwise be employed, very well. I am aware tliat in this caution to New England farmers I am not without opposition : by some my present doctrine will be considered heresy. A gen- tleman in a town of Massachusetts situated not much farther south ofKecnethan Keene is distant from Concord, who has devoted his time in the cultivation of the Mulberry the last seven years, in a letter to Judge Buel of Albany, written the last month, says he is " strong in the faith, that this country will ere long, not only supply her own wants in the article of raw silk, but have a large surplus for Europe." He says "we can raise silk on all our farms, and to more profit than any other ao-ricultural production, cotton not excepted : I will now assert (he avers) that we can raise silk cheaper than France or Italy." The individual who makes this assurance has embarked much property in the undertaking, and is reported to have made much money in the sale of Mulberry trees at high prices. A newspaper published in his town (the Courier of Northampton) is no less confident in the success of the silk business than Mr. Whitinarsh : the editor says — "We are satisfi- ed that the silk business has become permanently established in this country, notwithstanding public skepticism; and further, that it will ultimately constitute one of the most important products of the agriculturist in the United States." The same paper says, one million of Mulberry trees are grow- ing in Northampton and its vicinity; that many individuals possessing character and zeal have there been engaged in tlie business for years ; that the trees are not owned by mere speculators, but that almost every individual who has cultivated trees extensively this year is also a grower of silk at Northampton ; and that five or six individuals are feeding from one to two hundred thousand worms each, and many have smaller quantities, besides the immense number which have already wound their cocoons. A subsequent number of the same newspaper says, "It is not a little remarkable, that notwith- standing the crop of Mulberry trees this year ii vastly greater than last, the trees should now be scllino- at twenty per cent, in advance of what they were at this period last September. Good trees are not selling much less than fifty cents, whereas last September, early in the month, 10,000 superb Mul- ticaulis trees were sold in this town for 35 cents the entire hill ! They doubled in value before the end of the month, from which fact, in connection with the price at which trees are now selling, we may fairly infer, that this autumn and winter they will be nearly as high as they were last winter and au- tumn !" Strong confidence is expressed in many newspa- pers and by distinguished individuals in the south- ern States in the success of the silk culture. The Philadelphia United States Gazette says many per- sons in that city are feeding lots of silk worms, and find it rather a pleasant recreation than luiiur ; and has little doubt that silk will become one of the products of this country. "We think it likely (says the same paper) that many ni'llions of worms will be reared in this city by females, who pur- chase leaves every morning fresh in the market, brouoht in of course by those who raise the Mul- berry trees, but have not time to devote in rearing the worms. Both these kinds of labor will in this way he found profitable to those who engage in it, and will be anotlipr abundant source of wealth to individuals and to the country. We know several ladies who are rearing silk worms, and who find it a most pleasant employment, both mental and physical, and as profitable as agreea- ble." Perusing statements and anticipations express- ing strong confidence in the ultimate success of silk o-rowing, my hopes are almost inclined to pre- pond°erate over my fears. If it can become a prof- itable, and will become a general business in warm- er latitudes than ours ; if it can be brought to e- qual in importance the cotton cultivation, most happily shall I be disappointed. If ladies and that portion of our population in New England whose labor is not Indispensable in other necessary em- ployments, can bring forward the silk culture, they will deserve well of the country. But for the pres- ent it will be folly for our farmers to omit their u- sual crops, and devote themselves exclusively to silk. Disappointment to hundreds in the southern States was the result of the passion for the Morus Multicaulis of last year. Hundreds of thousands of cuttings and buds, when placed in the ground, never sprouted : these were purchased at a higlj price and were not only a loss to the amount of the first cost, but a double and treble loss in other ex- penses incurred. From the confident statements of the Northamp- ton editor the public are led to understand that the price's of mulberry trees and mulberry cuttings are to be kept up : speculation is stimulated by these confident statements. But "Northampton is the greatest market for silk and mulberry trees in New England;" consequently the citizens of Northamp. ton have a strong interest to keep up the excite- ment. I have found it to be the invariable safe course for all who have no property they can afford to throw away, to purchase no article or commodi- ty not absolutely necessary when that article or commodity bears an unusual price. Wealthy men may afford, as in the State of Kentucky, to pur- chase a short horn Durham bull or cow at enor- - mous prices, ranging from one to two thousand dollars each ; and they will be gainers by it if they can either sell immediately at an advance, or keep up the delusion until the progeny of their purchase can be disposed of at an equal price. The price of a single breeder of the Berkshire swine at three to five hundred dollars might not be exorbitant if a- nother breeder could not be raised for a hundredth part of that sum, and procured in various sections of the country for the sum of ten dollars. I am quite sure, gentlemen, I give none of you bad advice when I recommend that you purchas6 no Multicaulis buds or cuttings when the price i« such as to yield a profit to the owr.er of front three 160 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. should bii cautious and clrcum- mentfs iunovaticn, spoctj' Tlrre aie some matters of agricultural produc- tion tnd theory which have been brouijht to the publjc view witliin the last three or lour years, en wliidli I will not hesitate to give my cpinion. First as td improved grains and vegetables: Black Sea Wheat. The Black sea wheat — the kind now extensively to five thousand dollars fortlie annual product of a single acre of ground. If you have mulberry trees to sell, dispose of them and raise more— sell them to such of our scuthern brethren as have full con- fidence in tlie success of the silk business : I will warrant that plants here raised will flourish better at the South than southern plants will flourish in the Nortli. Sell them, my friends, if your gains shall not be half as much to the acre as our North- ampton silk srowers' present prices. Atsuchpri- . ,- i>,t ces I would always recommend you to sell rather cultivated m several towns of the coun.y ol Mei- than to buy. If you pui-chase at all, buy the trees and cuttings raised at the North — buy not tlie an- nual but the perennial plants, and thus assure your- selves that your tree will withstand the severity of the climate. | Sagnr Beet, j Sugar beet cultivation: the fever on this sub- ject lias not been equal to that upon the Multicau- iis. There is however danger tliat too much maj' be attempted on this head. In France the exten- sive manufacture of beautiful sugar from beets has been successful far beyond my expectations. The same reason against the silk business will apply to the sugar beet. Labor is cheaper in France than it is here ; and if in the higher regions of New Eng- land where the beautiful rock maple abounds, our fanners cannot be induced to avail themselves of the most leisure season of the year and t!;e facili- ties offe»ed in the production of sugar, surely we cannot expect them to undertake the more severe and uncertain process of producing sugar from tlie beet. I am an.xions that the experiment of making the beet sugar shall be thoroughly tried in this country. It will be time enough for New Eng- land to commence the business in earnest after she shall see the experiment succeed beyond a doubt iu Pennsylvania or in other parts of tlie country corresponding in climate v.-itli France. We may raise tlie sugar beet, and find it perhaps not less useful for cattle feeding than the ruta baga, the mangel wurtzel or the carrot ; but, at present for the sugar and molasses which we cannot obtain in exchange for our products in the West Indies and in Louisiana and Florida, we may tlirow ourselves upon the beautiful sugar tree wiiich is indigenous to our soil, orchards of which in the most favora- ble positions may be planted and raised in less than the time attained by man at middle age. Chinese Tree Corn. A gross imposition has been passed upon the agricultural community within the last year in tlie wonders that were published by a Mr. Thorburn of the State of New York, relative to a kind of maize called the Chinese tree corn. Mr. Thorburn had reputation as a horticulturist and vender of seeds : and the abuse of the confidence reposed in him cannot iind an apology even in the ill-gotten gains he has derived iVo:ii llie speculation. The stor;,-, as it was first told, was too extravagant for my belief. I pu.cliascd and planted lu.t an car of this Chinese tree corn. Some of my neiglibors have done it : one of tiscm who purchased when the advertise- ment first appeared has a highly manured, plat of ground covered with magnificent corn ten and twelve feet high, and four and five ears sometimes to tlie stalk; and if v.-e could have tv/o months more of sivimer would obtain probably a greater quan- tity of grain, certainly much more weight of stalk and husk, than is cnmmonly produced in our corn- fields. There are others who purchased the seed af- terwards and find it to grovr into giant stalks even taller than the first, w-;th the ears scarcely set at the usual time of frost. This corn is precisely such as the many thousand bushels brou.ght from the Chesapeake bay and the region further south : excellent to feed horses and fatten hogs, but not as good for bread as our own more diminutive corn, and not at all adapted to our climate. The kind of corn first received by Mr. Thorburn was possibly an improved kind, similar to the Baden corn which is adapted to .a southern climate, and i.nigiit have been an improvement in Kentucky or Illinois; but it was not at all calculated for New England. The wonderful story about it at o:ice so mucli attracted the public attention that tlie genuine corn was soon exhausted by the demand ; and the great profit re- alized at once induced the venders to substitute a kind of corn absolutely worthless. .The public indig- nation would be best expressed by withdrawing all patronage from persons knov/ing it to be what it has turned out to be, who vended tha Chinese tree In most improvements requiring radical changes in culti-vation there is more danger from prouia ture action than from delay. This country erabr.ac es all the varieties of soil and climate; and com- mon sense should teach us tliat what may succeed well at one point may entirely fail at another. Our steps in the inarch of improvement, where improve- rimack— I believe to be the surest for this climate that can be adopted. This wheat is of less bulk in straw tlian t::e improved Tea wheat, the Siberian bald wheat, or the cemnion old fashioned bearded wheit. It requires not so long a season to grow and ripen — it better stands the blight, which is the great danger of all wlieat sown so. late in the year as to avoid the grain worm or the weavil — it pro- duces in the absence both of the blight and the worm quite as large a crop as any other kind of spring wheat. Of this wheat the present year Mr. James Critchett of Epsom, N. H. raised Ibrty-two' and a half bushels of winnovi/ed grain from five pecks of sowing and little more than one acre of land. The land was alluvion near the bank of Sun- cook river, a branch of the Merrimack. The value of slaked lime upon cultivated land is shown in Mr. Critchett's crop of wheat: during tlie summer this was spread in small quantities broadcast upon the wheat ground at two different times. I hope to be able hereafter to state in the Farmer's Monthly Visitor the precise measure of the land on which ]\Ir. Critchett's wheat was rais- ed— the qualitv and mode of preparation of tlie soil — the time the seed was put into the ground, and other interesting particulars. The Brown Corn, The Brown corn from the Winnipisseogee lake. From a crop of corn which received a secnnri pre- mium of the Strafford Agricultural Society one year ago, having yielded one hundred and seven bushels to the acre, I procured ten bushels of seed corn last winter, which was distributed in various places. Some of this corn sufi'ered from damp- ness and cxpo.sure on its way after it left Concord; in other cases it was soaked either before or after t was put in the ground and did not spring to veg- etation. 1 planted myself on about three acres one bushel of the seed, generally at three kernels in the bill ; and there was scarcely a fiiilure. The excellence of tliis ecrn consists in its large kernel and full QXT, filling after it is shelled nearly an equal space with the corn and cob — its great quan tity of o:irs in proportion to the bulk of stnlk, and its early maturity. A portion of my field was in the sand of the river bank where about twenty loads of coarse winter manure to the acre only were spread befcre planting: hero the ecru came to maturity earlier, and the crop is less. But on that part cf the field manured two seasons in suc- cession, wbc-ie there was less sand and mere strength, the crop of corn is as heavy as it may well he : it ripendcd so as to be out of danger from frost on the first of September, and is nearest to early ripening of any kind of corn within my knowledge to the diminutive Canada corn, which produces loss than half in quantity upon the same ground, and which requires so great a stock of pa- tience to gather and husk in quantities. This Brown corn carried South will be quite as sure of an ample space of time to grow in a short season perhaps as any other. "We had better pa}* a four- i'old price for seed corn raised and tirought to us from the distance cf one hundred miles nnrtli than to have the gift of the same kind ef corn brought to us from a climate which either by elevation or distance en the map measures the climate of two degrees south. The Kohau Potatoes. The Rojian potatoes: I think I do not mistake when I recouimoiid them for trial. I have not yet tried them for the t.-.ble ; but I will suppose them to be inferior to the best kind in that re.^pect. Used exclusively for the feeding of brute animals, even though they shall r.nt contain tlie same quantity of nutriment in proporticn to the weight, I believe they will prove to be a most valuable article of the potatoe kind for general cultivation. A gentleman this year presented me with several Rohan pota- toes, all of which weighed eight pounds ten oun- ces, and a friend ip Boston sent me asingle Rohan having eighteen eyelets. The first I planted on a plat of ground well manured about the mid- dle of May in three hundred and sixty parts, hav- ing one eye to each part. Only about twenty eye- lets failed to spring imt of the ground. At first there v/as in each case a feeble locking single stem: in some instances the sprout appeared in a fort- night after planting — tn other cases it did not come for a month. The single potatoe which came from Boston was lornarded with w'crd that it came di- rectly from Prince Rohan's farm in France, which might or might not be true : it was shrivelled and looked as if it might have passed perils by sea as well as perils by land; hut every sprout of the eighteen sprung up and has become a fruitful vine. It was satisfactory to receive this inasmuch as its appearance proved that the first eight pounds plant- ing was of the genuine kind, or else there were two impositions : the Ij.-st was planted about the first of June. Until about the twentieth of 3a- ly the stalk springing in many instances of a sin- gle eye not larger than the thumb nail was so di- minutive, that I was induced to set out cabbages in the spaces between the rowa of potatoes, expecting from the state of the ground a fine crop. The eight pounds of seed covered a space of ground measur- ing fifty-five by thirty-five feet. By the first of August the vines so spread as to cover the wholo ground, cabbages and all. Wliile the blight has long since killed almost every kind of potatoe growing which was planted as early as these Ro- haas, they have continued to flourish and grow up to tlie present time : on the Sflth September the vines were .as green as they were on the 20th July. I know not wh^t will be the crop of potatoes.be- low the vines, for thej' have not yet been dug ; but it is my belief that 1 shall have an hundred pounds of potatoes for every pound planted. If no acci- dent befal, I will have this crop accurately meas- ured and will present ihe result in the Monthly Visitor. I tliink tlie culture of the R-o- han potatoe will disappoint none but the most ex- travagant expectations. Benefits of Root taltivation. The culture of rootcrops for the rearing of swine and for winter feedifig of cattle I believe to be a great object to most farmers. The mangel wurt- zel, the su^ar beet, the common beet, the carrot and perhaps the parsnip may be raised on ground that will produce a good crop cf corn : the ruta ba- ga may be raised on a lighter soil and with less ma- nure than the other crops. In prcpovtion to the quantity produced with the same labor, 1 am in- clined to give the preference to the ruta baga. That CTop'may be raised willi about as little labor as a crop of potatoes upon the same ground. If the season be fortunate, six and eight hundred and BSnietimes a thou.'and bushels to the acre are pro- duced: a thousand bushels weighing twenty-five tons, dealt out to a stock of cattle, will be equal in value to at least ten tons of the best hay. It is a mistake to suppose that the ruta baga spoils either the meat or the milk of the creature fed upon it. This mistake originated in the fact familiar to ma- ny praellcal farmers that the turning of fat cattle and cows into fresh feed where turnips, cabbages, and onions have been raised and cleared out, leav- ing tops and leaves, will make them liable when sl.-iughtcrtd or milked to leave the meat or the milk tainted witii the taste and flavor of the articles up- on which they have fed. Milch cows fed daily on ruta baga once a day will communicate no taste to the milk ; and if there be any doubt about fat cattle, the leaving off the ruta baga one week and substituting corn or other feed, will leave their meat in as good flavor and i.uality as if they had fed exclusively on corn. I prefer late sowing of ruta baga, say" as late as the Ulth of June, to an earlier day : this root grows best in cool weather, and by late sowing it much better escapes the tur- nip fly and destroying grubs, and has the advan- tage of a vigorous giov\-th late in the fall until se- vere frosts shall render it a matter of prudence to gather them. Beets of the various kinds and oar- rots, to such as do not admire ruta baga, may b-o made well to supply their place. Fed with either, winter milked cows may be made to give douiilp the quantity of that most necessary and most grate- ful article in the consumption of every family that they will give when fed simply on the best Eng- lish hay. "With the general cui'ti-vation of roots my present conviction is""that the quantity of beef and pork and butter and cheese produced in New Eng- land may be increased one half, and might be very easily doubled. I will notice in a concise manner a few of the important principles which, in the nature of things, will result in rescuing the agriculture of the coun- try from a retrogadc 'course — which will so accu- mulate the means and the wealtli of the country as to enable us to support four times its present pop- ulation in ificrea^fed comfort and ease. A rule worthy of the fiirmer's attention. A most important axiom to be kept in mind by everv farmer is, to brcali up and cultivate no ara- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. hie land to be laid down again with depreciated streno-th : in nther words, no crop requiring the plnugli or cultivator and hoe should he put into th.e ground the present year which will leave the ground in a worse condition than it was before the work was begun. It will, when adopted as a prin- ciple, be very easy for every farmer to make his calculation in any crop requiring tlie hoe, so to nn- prove the capacity of his land tliat it shall yield more than it lias done before. A j.lenty of jrood Darn yard, hog yard, stable or compost manure will effectually do^this biisiness on almost every reten- tive soil :"iu some cases of low and wot grounds, the simple application of sand or gravel wiUi a small quantity of the stimulating manures will accomplisli every tJiin;; to 1 e wished : in other cas- es of sandy, porous soil, the application of clay or other adhesive eartlis, with the free use of plaster of Paris and some stimulating manures, will do wonders. The observance of the !>rinciple of con- stant renovation will soon bring New England to rank with the best cultivated districts of England and Scotland, and even with the still higher im- provements e.-shibited in Flemish husbandry. Importance of eradicating weeds. Another principle of good husbandry is to keep the ground free from weeds and all other vegeta- tion not connected with tlie intended crops. I am of opinion that weeds and grasses, which have been of I'o otlier use to the ground than the repro- ducticfn and multiplication of themselves in hun- dreds, and in many cases many tliousand fold, have taken, in the cultivation of New England this year, one fourth, if not one third of the crop. Contrast- ing the potatoe fields in the town of Rye, which have been carefully hoed three times, and which discover no weeds, with a majority if not most of tlie potatoe fields in the interior, 1 would say tile crop of the former would exceed the latter at least fifty per cent, or one third, purely from the clean cultivation. The Rye case is made more striking from the information derived in conversation with a veteran of the revolution who at the age of sev- enty-five years has given up his farm to the care of his son, and has cultivated with his own hands simply two acres of Indian corn which had acci- dentally fallen under hischarge. Observing some hints in an agricultural newspaper relati.ve to clean cultivation, he touk particular pains v/ith his field of corn : he hoed it three times, and ho was care- ful at eacli hoeing to eradicate every weed. Com- paring his corn v^ith other fields of equal strength of soil and the same previous preparation, wlilch had been hoed twice carelessly, he thinks there is a difference in the crop of corn of at least one third In the fields where the weeds are suftered to grow, taking up the strength of the soil, the coi-n stalks are arrested in their growth ; they do not set for an equal number of ears ; and where the ears are set the growtli is stopped, so that in- stead of covering the cob with full kernels, a large portion of the ear is shrivelled. On the other hand, where tlie field is entirely clear of weeds tlie blades of corn receiving the i'all strength of the soil con- tinue their green and healthy growth until fully ripe, and throw suf.icient nutriment into the grow- intr ear to fill the kernel to its full size to the ex- tremity of the ear. Witnessing the good eflect of clean tillage, onr aged friend s.ays, old as he is, he has but now ascertained the fact that the farmer had better hire help at three times the usual price to hoe his corn after haying, than sufl'er the weeds to grow among the hills as they have been suffered in many instances to do the present year. May not the almost universal prevalence of weeds in the jxitatoe fields, this season jjave caused the blight of th*tcrop ? It would not be surprising if future experiments should demonstrate that some kind'5 of weeds that are suffered to stand are pois- onous to the crop of potatoes, and perhaps to other crops. VnJue of Salt. An increased quantity of salt used by the farm- er in various ways would be of eminent benefit. Salt ought to bear a less price than it now does throughout the country. Mucb of the expense of salt is in the price of transport : it is a taxed arti- cle, and assists in the revenues of the government. The tax was much reduced several years ago, and , this reduction owed its origin to the efforts of a Senator in Congress from this State, now at the head of the Treasury Department: hut the whole tax ought to be taken oft". I am confident that fine salt sprinkled over the ground in the quantity of three or four bushels to the acre will not only con- tribute to drive off insects and other destructive vermin, but in most vegetable crops will prevent blight. Salt is also an indispensable article for cat- tle, horses and sheep ; if increased quantities were used, more valuable would be our fattened meats, and more in quantity would be the butter and cheese produced. A sprinkling of salt in the feed of moat animals will contribute to their healthy o-rowtli. Salted meats used instead of the vast quantities of fresh beef, mutton, lamb or veal, which have been injured by driving and worry- ing the creature near the time it is killed, would in th? season of summer diseases save thousands of human lives. Draining important. Another subject of great interest to the fanners is the introduction of the practice of draining. An excess of water, which in due proportion is essen- tial to vegetation, is highly injurious to cultivition In the colder soils of Nev.' England this excess of water is aprincipal source of inleriility : the ground must be drained to make the land produce. Water may be carried off either by drains above or below the surface. Sometimes wet, heavy land is much improved by laying open furrows, leaving ridges of convenient distance with a gradual slope carry- iniT off any excess of water upon and near the' sur- face. Other open drains dug to the depth of sev- eral feet may be used to arrest and carry off water standing below the surface or water running from springs : the ditclies should be cut wider at the top than bottom to prevent the falling of the sides. — Such ditches, cut at the proper distances in peat or bog meadows, may sometimes be made so effectu- ally to drain them as to make them tke most pro- ductive land. Any piece of cold springy land may be improved by covered drains ; in some cases near- ly the whole value of the land will be given to it by this process. The springs will be fiiund at no great distance below the surface : for tlie purpose of arresting them, the drain should be made in a direction a little descending, deep cnougli in the crronnd to be passed over with the plough when covered. Where there are plenty of stones the pas- sage way under ground may be constructed with them laid in such a manner that the bottom shall not be undermined or the channel of the water ob- structed. Where stones are not readily to he pro- cured, tiles manufactured from clay in the manner of bricks consisting of a top and bottom may he used. It is said the expense of these is not great, and that they may be laid and covered with great facility. The system of draining with the use of tiles has been extensively adopted in England ; and in many cases the soil has been so improved as to increase the product ten fold. Draining can hard- ly be said to be yet introduced in this State : yet the time will be when the husbandry of New Eng- land will feel its beneficial effects no less than the most favored agricultural districts of the old world. Good roads valuable So the farmer. Another subject connected with the prosperity of our agriculture is the constructio.n of the most easv avenues of transport and travel in all direc- tions— especially in directions leading directly to and from tlie market. The ordinary roads of New England, which are now better than the roads in any other part of America, have been much im- proved witiiin the last twenty years : these im- provements in that time have reduced the price of transporting any heavy material at least one half. They have also virtually shortened distances. Ev- ery farmer must perceive that any improvement wiiich lessens the expense of carrying to or bring- ing from a market, adds to the value of the property accommodated by such improvement. Rail roads traversing our principal avenues, if constructed and conducted solely with a view to the public ac- commodation, will likewise contribute to give in- crease to the value of all real property which can be made to feel the benefits of their facilities. This will be realized in cases where the rail road does not touch within the distance of twenty miles. Suppose a rail road extending from the Nashua road should pass through the county of Cheshire to the Connecticut river at some convenient point. At the most distant place on this road, five hours will carry the traveller to Boston where it now re- quires the jouiney in a private carriage of forty- eight lioiirs — eight hours v/ill carry any weight of merchandize whicli in the common travel ofheavy loaded teams would require five and six days. In the one case the article transported arrives at its Cultivation of the mind. I have called your attention, gentlemen, to only destination fresh and uninjured — in the other, not exposed to the weather, it suffers from the con- tinued joltinifs of uneven roads,. The eftect of the rail road willbe to lessen the distance and the ex- pense of travel to the individuals and property ac- commodated four parts in five, to give value to many articles not before worth the expense of transport, and to raise the value of productive cap ital. a few of the many subjects for improvement wliicli exist around you. I close by adverting for a mo- ment to the moral beauty which the condition of the New England Yeonianry presents. The cul- ture of the mind is here in advance even of the cultivation of the earth : inexcusable indeed must that parent be who suffers his child to grow up withiaut obtaining a sufilcicnl education to trans- act all ordinary business. In many ofour tov.'ns and districts nearly every lad is qualified to be a school-master; and the most of the niisses,_daugh- ters as well of the poor as the rich, arc fitted to grace even a polished society. The principle of decay and renovation the same with man as with the vegetable creation. In conclusion, we are reminded of the analogy existing between the natural and the moral world —between the growth and decay of animal and ven-etable matter and the ingressand egress of man, "immortal as his Sire." The great principle of re- production pervades the v/Iiole creation. Although every thing around us is changeable and apparent- ly perishalTle, yet no particle of which the uni- verse is composed can be annihilated. We see all animal and vegetable matter the moment it is di- vested of life decayingand dissolving : odious and nauseating putrefaction precedes the change which mingles matter that had recently teemed with life with the elements of which it was com- posed. Mother earth receives her child. But the principle of life still exists: what appears to be the bane of creation is still its preservation. The beau- ty ofour fields, the fruits which burden our grounds, spring out of that very putridity which waste us so nauseous. The excrements, the refuse of cre- ation, in their mutations, are the elements which most minister to our enjoyment. Whatever is de- sirable in the vegetable world, the verdure of plants and trees, the growing and the ripening of grain and the hanging fruits, the blossoms of spring and the ripe nroducts of autumn,— all springs out of the principle of decay and death which pervades creation. Man, the lord of created beings, perishes as, the vegetable thai springs out of the ground and re- tunis to it in the same season ■— "Man dielh and goelh to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. The dust returneth to the earth as it was;" and Holy Writ assures us that " the spirit shall return to Ciod who gave it." If the order of the vegetable and brute creation is so arranged in wisdom as to call forth our wonder and admiration; if we can look with joy upon nature decaying and expiring to be brought into new life and vigor ; how much more should we rejoice in that Good- ness which has implanted the principle of immor- tality in man, whose individual sin had drawn upon the whole creation, animate and inanimate, the sentence of death. God created man in wisdom ; and the changes which give hiin life and death are no less beneficent than the changes which are con- stantly taking place in the growth and decay of vegetables and trees. The putrefaction ofour nal- tu?al bodies should be viewed in the light of phi lo.sophy but as an earliest of that glorious resur- rection and life which revelation assures to us. The terrors of that sentence which is passed up- on all too often mar the enjoyments of life : the in- experienced youth, having all those attachments which novelty gives to things of time and sense, looks upon death with horror ; and the shrinking from its approach is but too apt to continue the a- version through life. Reason and philosophy should teach us to look upon death rather as the friend re- lieving us from sorrow and pain than the enemy depriving us of sweet enjoyments. If we can bring ourselves to be reconciled to the great change, we shall perform a more valuable service than to lay up for ourselves abundance of the stores of this world. I have somewliereread of a class people in Germany who teach their children to draw in- struction and amusement literally from the grave ; who so construct the places for the dead as to make them tlie resort of pleasure for the gambols of youth and the gaiety of middle life. If we could lecon- cile ourselves to become more familiar with death and the grave, we should best prepare for the changes which are constantly parting us from our friends. In reality the pains and throes of death are not greater perliaps than those which gave us life : I am induced to believe that the real pains of death are often not as intense as many pains in life which result from no vital injury. We look upon the last struggles of expiring nature as if every convulsive throe was the result of a suffering too great for the living to bear. I am prepared in 152 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. think that in the midst oi' the convulsions which distort the mortal frame, the mind, reconciled to death in the Divine assurances, often realizes a tranquilitj unknown to those who have not yet ar- rived at the same condition. In the midst rjf the cares of this world it shduld be the principal busi- ness of life to make ail tliese cares subservient to the welfare of the soul in a more permanent future state; and to this end let the prayer of every im- mortal mind to its Maker and Creator, when the perishing body which is its present abode daily lies down and rises up, be — "Teach me to live that I may dread The grave as little as my bed ; Teach me to die, that so I may Triumphant rise at the last day." Notice of the ToAvn of Lancaster in New H;iinpshire. By Hon. John W. Weeks. Connecticut River, meaning in the Indian lan- guage, "the stream of many waters," passes the forty fourth degree and thirty minutes of North Latitude and fifth degree and twenty eight min- utes East Longitude in a south westerly direction, being the north westerly boundary of the town of Lancaster, ten miles, exclusive of its windings, which are so remarkable that the country adjacent obtained from the Aborigines the name of Coos, which in this language signified crooked, and known to the early hunters as tlze Upper Coos, to distinguish it from Haverhill and Newbury, whicli was also for a like reason called Coos by the na- tives, and by the hunters the Lower Coos. Cole- brook has recently received, on the authority of friend Carrigain, the appellation of "Coos above the upper Coos." Lancaster derived its name from a town of Mas- sachusetts; it is delightfully located, the hills re- ceding somewhat like an amphitheatre. Most of its lands arc of excellent qualit}' — its alluvials stretch- ing nearly its whole length, and averaging about one mile in width. Israel's river rushes lumultu- ously westward, furnishing power for mills and machinery, to a great extent, near the centre of the town, where its waters become comparatively tranquil and gently meander a long distance, through a most fertile soil, uiitil they mingle with the more turbid Connecticut. Lancaster was incorporated on the 5th of July, 1763, and owes its early settlement, like many oth- er events in the world, to passion. David Page Esq., grand uncle of our present Governor, dissat- isfied with the division of the rights in Haverhill, and having been advised of the extent and fertili- ty of our " Mt adows" by some of the survivors of that party of Rogers' Rangeis, who, after the de- struction of the village of St. Francois, reached and passed down the waters of the Connecticut, being a man of great resolution, resolved to pene- trate at once to the Upper Coos. With this view in the autumn of 1763, he sent his son David Page Jun., and Emmons Stockwell, to build a camp, and winter in Lancaster. They unfortunately erected their habitation on the meadow, from which tlu-y were driven the next Match by the overilowing of the Connecticut river. In the year 1764, David Page, Esq. (called by the settlers Gov. Page) witli his large family "moved" to Lancaster, fullowed by several young men, eager to improve, or rather make their fortune. The best tracts of land were immediately occupied, and were so produc- tive that, for many years, manure was considerud unnecessary, and was actually thrown over banks and into hollows, where if would be modt out of the way. At this period there was no selllement between Haverhilland Lancaster, and but very few north of No. 4, (now Cluirlestown.) There being no roads, the settlers suffered inconceivable hard- ships in transporting their necessaries, fewas they were, being obliged to navigate their log canoes up and down the "fifteen mile falls," now known tu be twenty miles in lengtli, witli a descent of more than three hundred feet ; and in winter to pass the same dangerous rapids in sleigiis and with ox- teams, frequently falling through the ice, and sometimes never rising above it. High water to descend, and low water to ascend, wrre thought the most favorable times, the canoes^ being drawn up by ropes ; but when descending, one man stood in the bow with a pole to guard from rock to rock, while another sat in the stern to steer with his paddle. In this manner the wife of Governor page, when corpulent and infirm, was carried in safety to her friends "below." Her boatmen were |jer son David, and Emmons Stockwell who had married one of her daughters, men of great muscu- * Canoe is the Indian name for boa I — pronounted Kah- sn«, wiih the accent on tlm £r9t_syl!able. lar power and of Roman resolution, equally perse- vering and collected, whether carrying packs of niuetj pounds, or swimming in the foaming surge. They afterwards commanded couipanies oi militia, acquired lartje estates, and leit many descendants, who, we hope, will emulate their example and transcend their usefulness. Edwards Bucknani,a young follower of Gov. Page, soon married one of his daughters, and settled at the moutli of Beaver brook; his Jautrhter Eunice was the first white child born in Lancaster in 17G7. He was a man of unbounded hospitality and useftilness, was a dead shot with bis " smooth bore," could draw teeth, "let blood,' perform the duties of priest in marry- ing, was one of the most skilful and accurate sur- veyors in the State, was proprietors' and town clerk, (his house and records were destroyed by fire in the year 17r'J;) afterwar^d was General of the Militia i became regardless of property, and di- ed poor. The first town meeting was held on tlie llth of March 1769. The first mill was operated by horse power, but 80 illy constructed, that it was little better than the large mortar and pestle attached to a pole, which was used by many. A " water mill"' was e- rected, and soon after burnt ; another, and another, met the same fate. These disasters, with the rev- olutionary war, reduced the settlers to extreme distress. New'comb Blodgett (who is now living) and some others being captured by tlie Indians and carried to Canada, led to the determination of a- bandoning the country; and for this purpose the settlers collected at the house of Emmons Stock- well, whose resolution never forsook him, even for a moment. "My family, "(said he, "and I shan't go." This remark changed the opinion of several families who remained, yet with but very few ac- cessions to the end of the great and glorious strug- gle. On the 7th of January 1776, Jesepli Whipple was chosen to represent the towns of Lancaster, Northumberland, Dartmouth (now Jefferson) Ap- thorp, (merged in other towns) and Stratford. Voted to give their representatives " instructions from time to time." At a subsequent meeting, Jo- seph Whipple was again elected to the same of- fice ;— a vote of thanks passed for his past services, snd a committee of five was chosen to give him in- structions for the future. Thus was the right of instruction established to govern the first represen- tative; may God grant that that right may nev- er be subverted. Near and soon after the close of the war, several families, who had lost much of their property during the conflict, migrated to Lan- caster. Maj. Jonas Wilder, with a lari.ie and highly respectable family, was of the number. He built a "grist and sawmill." In May 17(^7, Capt. John Wteks, for alike reason, came to this town, bring- ing his eldest daughter and son, (the writer of this article, then six years of age) with him ; they rode on two horses, Vv'ith bed and other fiirnilure appen- ded. The best of mothers and the other children fullowed the next October ; and the pleasure of meeting, in a neat log house, surrounded within a few rods by the dense and sturdy forest, will be a- mong the last of our recollections. The town had now acquired the very respectable number of twenty-four families, exclusive of several young men. Our forests abounded with moose : our rivers with trout, salmon, and various other kinds offish — articles essential to even the existence of the settlers. Nothing can exceed the symmetry ar.d beauty of the limbs and horns of the moose; the round part, or that next the head, is about fourteen inch- es in length, where it becomes palmated, and is, in some instances twelve inches broad, surmounted in one instance (seen by Edward Spaulding now living) by seventeen spikes on each horn. One, now before me, is one inch and a half in diameter at the base, and eight inches in length, termina- ting in a point. The largest class of horns spread five feet, and wcinii about one hundred pounds. Yet ihis enormous proportion of horn is of unusual growtli, being moulted every February- Even at this early period, c^rs were used for the trunsporta tiou of baggage ; not cu the soils of farms situated in the interior of the State, especially on thosG which contain small quantities of carbonate or geate of lime. A black boy and girl died in New Jersey from eating toad-stools, mistaking thejn for mushrooms. Ftoin the Genosee F;irnier. Hints. When you have finished a job of ploughing and your plough is to be idle a few days, or weeks, do not leave it exposed to the wciither, but put it un- der shelter without delay. By doing this, you pre- vent a covering of rust, which will require half a day's work and a good man}' pounds of flesli from your team, to wear otf. The same may be said of other implements, as hoes, srythes, axes, &c. — They should always, when not in use, be under cover. Always recollect the difference it makes in the business of the farmer, to say to your hired men, "go and do this," or *'we will go and do this." — Few things are rnore necessary, than the presence and example of the farmer. Do not say wlicn you put a crop on a piece of laud not adapted to it, or but imperfectl}' prepared, that circumstances rendered it necessary. Napo- leon believed that calculating forethought, and an energetic will, created the circumstances for the man; not the man for the cirruinstances. The man has little pretention to the character of a farm- er, whose plans for the culture of his several fields are not made at least two years in advance. If you are obliged to keep your swine confined, or within a limited range, you will improve their condition much by giving ther.Q two or three times a day, in their pen, fresh cut clover. The extra manure thus made, will repay the labor neces- sary. If the yellow bug, or cut-v/orm, is plentiful in your garden, put a hen with a good brood of chick- ens in a coop, and place her in the garden. Should the experiment succeed, as it has repeatedly with us, bugs of all kinds and worms that show them- selves, will become scarce in a very short time. Before liberating them from the coop, it will be best to remove the hen and chickens to the barn yard and allow them to remain a few days, else they may do mischief by scratching. Those men are always found to complain the most of hard times, and high prices, who add the least to the productive resources of the country. The farmer, who by his labor creates value from the earth, rarely complains ; and need never, if he diligently follows the plough. Let those who com- plain, remember there is an infallible cure for hard times — honest industry. Let those who despair of im]>rovement in agri- culture, compare the present with the past, and all reasons for disbelief will vani^di. Nature herself is improved by man ; of this, t!ie apple, peach, and potatoe, are present witnesses. Science and skill will double the produce of the earth, and the sever- ity of labor will be diminished by improved imple- ments. Perhaps there is no article of general use pro- duced by farmers, of which the quality, as a whole, is so inferior, as that of butter. The grand fault is not freeing it from the buttermilk. Unless this is done, sweetness is impossible ; at least for a time. Butter is a kind of animal oil ; and freed from all extraneous matters, is as little liable to spoiler grow rancid as lard or tallow. But buttermilk soon be- comes intolerably offensive, and when left in the butter renders it most unpalatable. WiP our dairy women remember this? High winds are apt to displace the rails of our fences, particularly in the spring and summer sea- son. These should always be well looked to. It is better to lay up a rail, than to construct a poke : to repair a fence in season, than to be compelled to part witli an ox or a horse at half price. Some of the bitterest feud:i have arisen between neighbors, from an unlucky neglect of this kind ; and if you forget the rest, do not pass by the fallen rail of a partition fence without replacing it carefully. Summer fallowing is better for wheat, on the whole, than any other mode of culture. By repeat- ed plouglilngs, the ground becomes pulverized, the exposure of the soil to atniospheric action is more complete, and the earth is bet^T fitted for the re- ception of the seed. Besides, no method has been found so effectual for the destruction of noxious weeds, such as the Cai?ada thistle, as summer fallow- ing. Ploughing, as often as the thistle roots shoot out during the summer, will, in ordinary seasons, destroy all plants exposed to the operation; and when noxious weeds exist, should not be neglected. If you have bee.-,, as farmers should have, don't delay making hives for them until a swarm comes out, and whatever your business may be, it must be la'.d aside to construct one. There are rainy days incur region enough to give t-i.ne for such pur- poses ; and a little fore-thought, at some times, pre- vents much inconvenience at others. Ahiveshould be well made, as the closer the jointa, the less room fi">r millers and worms to hide. 156 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Another Journey! Stronger and stronocr grows our nttacliment for thn Mountains and liigli Hills of New England I Every journey we take, every inquiry we make, raises their value in our estimation. We used to pass them, covered and pitted all over with crags and'isolated rocks, as sterile and desolate regions of little or no use to the world. On more minute ex- amination and enquiry we find the most valuable pasture grounds far up the sides of the mountains and to the tops of the highest hills. New road to Keene. A late journey to Keene was performed one way over a new road shortening the distance between Concord and that town nearly ten miles. This road pursuing the North branch of the Contoocook beyond Hillsborough, passes tlirough Antrim, Stoddard, Nelson and Sullivan through ravines in a mountain region no less romantic than other parts of New Hampshire. Crossing this road nearly at right angles is the " Forest road" leading from Charlestown, N. H. to Nashua on the way to Bos- ton. Both the Branch road and the Forest road have been made at a great expense to the towns through which they pass; and it would have stag- gered the belief of the first settlers of the backbone ridge of New Hampshire, who clambered over ma- ny steep hills to get to and from the rivers either east or west, had they been told that means would be successfully used to pass from town to town in almost any direction, with roads havinr no where a rise greater than four or five degrees. Yankee ingenuity has discovered the method of making such roads in such a country ; and yankee enter- prise is found sufficient to construct and complete them over streams and through gullies or clefts of rock and over swamps where it would seem impossi- ble for man or beast to make their way before the smooth track for carriage and horses had been cut out and covered with loam or gravel. View from the height of land. Leaving the main branch of the Contoocook be- yond the tliriving village at Hillsborough Bridge, we passed up the north branch of that river some five miles ; looking back in the valley, the steep sand banks worn out by the rolling down of the timber on the east side of the Merrimack at Con- cord, thirty miles distant, were distinctly visible to the naked eye ; and all the considerable eleva- tions of land in Rockingham and Straflord coun- ties were readily identified. The Sandwich moun- tains and the Corway peak at the distance of sev- enty to a hundred miles were seen through the openings which the Merrimack and Winnipisseo- gee rivers presented. It is worthy of remark that from the summits of the higher mountains through depressions of the ridges which separate the wa- ters of the two principal rivers and of the tributary streams running into the same river, may be des- cried far distant elevations which we might natur- ally suppose would bp shut from the view. Thus onthe elevations of Nottingham twenty miles east- ward of the Merrimack, Ascutney mountain, on the west side of Connecticut river, may be seen with the naked eye. Low lands is the Mountains. The town of Stoddard divides the waters of the two great rivers. This town from its elevation may be called a mountain town, although within its lim- its there is no rise of land so precipitous as to give it the name of a riio\intain upon the map. Strange it is that we find out so little of what we consider familiar until we personally visit the localities. We had no idea, for instance, that the north branch of the Contoocook could extend more than half a dozen miles beyond Wallace's hill in Antrim, which stands in the point of land separating the two branches, until on inquiry we find on the east side of a declivity at the highest elevation, running nearly north and south, a series of ponds and swamps extending nearly twenty miles north thro' the towns of Stoddard and Washington to the very base of the Sunajice mountain. These swamps and lakes are on a table of land so level that a dam ofa very few feet elevation overflows for the whole distance ; and the owners of thousands of acres are liable to suffer injury and in some cases ruin to their lands from the circumstance that this flowage has existed more than twenty years, giving legal title to the right. The highest isolated elevation is between the towns of Stoddard and Antrim. The fattest beeves of all the vicinity are pastured annually upon this hill. The whole of this back bone region is excellent for rearing and fattening oxen and slieep. Myriads of grasshoppers the present year cover the pastures, and in some instances these take more of the green feed than the cattle themselves ; yet despite of these vermin the oxen and horses rang- ing the hills are in better condition than those kept in stalls and stables. A beautiful amphitheatre in the hills. In a few miles from the intersE?ction of the Keene and Forest roads in Stoddard we come to a pond of some two miles in extent, being the base of a most beautiful amphitheatre among the high hills. — The scenery of this amphitheatre, presenting a sur- face of enclosed pastures and fields, of shrubs, trees and rocks, upon the unequal sides of the hills, is truly magnificent. At the outlet of the pond is a village including several brick edifices and a facto- ry. This is in the town of Nelson on the north side ; and it is worthy of notice that in this moun- tain town on the south side is another very consid- erable village which has grown up from water pow- er furnished from the ponds which are the feeders of the Contoocook river running in a direction op- posite from the waters of the north village, being one of the heads of the Ashuelot running into the Connecticut near the southwest line of the State. Down this stream in a valley extremely narrow the whole way for ten miles the new road has been constructed. We have remarked as one advantage of new roads constructed in ravines and valleys of steep ascent, that they frequently bring into use quanti- ties of fine timber which until these avenues were opened was inaccessible. The land growing this timber, which is frequently of excellent quality, soon comes into cultivation. On the Ashuelot road passing the latter part of the way in the even- ing, the bright fires of the clearings in some cases seemed to be almost directly over our heads. The " gentleman farmer." The day after the agricultural exhibition at the elegant and prospering \illage of Keene, we visit- ed our friend Co.vant at Jaffrey, fifteen miles •easterly of Keene, who well deserves the ap- pellation of gentleman farme r ^ because he has made himself more truly independent than any king, prince or potentate upon the habitable globe by the labor of his own liands. Twenty-three years ago he purchased the Thorndike farm in that town con- sisting of some three hundred acres for the sum of $4,500. This farm with its additions is now worth a- bout .^10,000 ; and while constantly increasing its value Mr. C. has contrived to gather a capital "m money even greater than the value of his landed estate ; so that while he lives at his ease without even the necessity of labor on t\ie income of a moiety of his property, he has it in his power to do great good with the income which flows from other sources. We say he has no necessity to la- bor : yet it would be impossib'.e for liim to live W'ithout daily labor of some k.nid when about his premises; and the ease with which he accomplish- es much in a little time, Vhe economical arrange- ment of his cultivated grounds, the order and neat- ness of his house and barns and other buildings, explain tons how with the aid of an accomplished 'better half no I'ess competent than himself, he has contrived, from the product of his own industry, to grow rich without oppressing his neighbor. Ascent of the Monadnock. View of many villages. Free to go out of our way to visit such a man, we took the freedom to ask him to accompany us to the top of the mountain, Monadnock. Mr. Conant's fai^m is directly under this mountain on the easter- ly side, and in a direct line is not over three miles from the top. He had sometimes taken the direct route to the mountain with friends ; but he con- cluded on this occasion it would be easier to travel back on tlie old Marlborough turnpike about four miles towards Keene to the ridge or spur wdiicb di- vides the waters of the height of land. The ascent upon the mountain is on the southerly side, and the distance from the road over the spur is three miles : the travM was much less steep than that upon Mount Washington, in whicli latter case iu a travel of about the same distance the ascent is nearly double. We were two hours in ascending Monadnock, and one hour in descending from the highest point to the road. We tarried at the top of the mountain one hour, and had the aid of an ex- cellent glass. The atmosphere was haz}', so that objects at a great distance could not be so distinct- ly descried. T'.ie White Mountaius.- were not vis- ible ; but their location was distinct from the shape of tne clouds, which envelope them at this season of the year. To the north and east the higher ele- vations within the distance of a hundred miles in New Hampshire and Maine were easily identified. All alonrg the back bone of Vermont and Western Massachusetts the Green Mountain range was dis- tinct. Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom near North- ampton, the Wacliusett near Worcester, and the Blue Hill south of Boston, were readily pointed out. All the meeting houses and villages, east, west, north and south, situated .>n the hills and many in the open valleys for twenty and thirty miles were prominent. Within about a year a meeting house on high ground at Pembroke, some five miles from this village, has been erected: that meeting house, situated on a swell of ground is seen in different directions at the distance of from five to twenty miles. With the glass we saw this house quite distinctly from the top of Monadnock: the distance in a direct line is more than fifty miles. Sources of ample Water Power. But the most gratifying object presented from the top of this mountain was the many ponds lying round about it, the feeders of the abundant water power which is so extensively useful in propelling all the varieties of labor saving machinery. The quantity of water flowing from the highlands to- wards the sea, and furnishing the incessant flow of the rivers, seems to be almost incredible. These waters in the hill towns cover much of the land : formerly they covered much more than they now do, as it is evident that the hundreds and thousands of fresh meadows, which abound much more at the higher than the lower elevations, were formerly ponds of water, which in the lapse of ages have graduall}' drained off. Upon Monadnock as you approach within per- haps a hundred feet of the very top is a swamp of several acres which was formerly a pond: from this swamp issues a brook, the largest feeder of tho Contoocook, which discharges its waters nearly sixty miles to the north east near the northerly line of Concord into the Merrimack. At the north- west in Nelson and Dublin, we first see the ponds which feed the two branches of the Ashuelot, dis- charging into the Connecticut at the south-west extremity of the State. Further east are the ponds in the same towns whose water runs eastward, which supply power for factories at Harrisville and Peterborough, On tho east in Rindge and Jaffrey are other ponds also running eastward, furnishing an abundant supply of water for the Jaffrey facto- ry village two miles from the centre village of the town. In the south-cast and south are the many ponds in Ashburnham, Rindge and Fitzwilliam, which are the sources of Miller's river, running westward to the Connecticut. Here again is a level of plain and swamp where a rise of not many feet of water would, make a sea or lake of some twenty miles in diameter each way. The waters of Wetatick, a beautiful conical hill between New Ipswich and Ashburhham,ten miles southeasterly of Monadnock, on the line of the States of Mas- sachusetts and New Hampshire, at the distance of less than one mile apart, run in four different directions, being the heads of four considerable rivers, viz. — Miller's river, discharging into the Connecticut south of Northfield, Mass. — Nashua river into the Merrimack at Nashua — Souhegan riv- er into the same eight miles north at Merrimack, and Contoocook river into the same between Bos- cawcn and Concord thirty -three miles still further north. Town of Jaffrey. From the top of Monadnock we look towards the south-east and east, immediately down upon the town of Jaffrey, inha'jited principally by a race of wealthy, intelligent farmers, whose ample and well finished barns are the standing proof of the ^^b- stantial thrift which follows industry. JaS'rey for- merly supported two or more lawyers: it cannot now find litigation sufiic lent for the support of one. The farmers of this town not only own tlieir farms, but a majority of them have money at use in other towns. When the New Ipswich bank went into operation some eight or ten years ago, a few farmers in Jaffrey at once took one third of its capital ot one hundred thousanWoUars: every dol- lar was paid in, ant^ neither of these stockholders ever have occasion to take out a dollar for his own use. If all banks had been constituted in the same way^if the stockholders of banks were simply men who had spare money to invest, and not those who want the use of more money than they own — we would not have witnessed the sad spectacle of fajling and swindliqg banks that the country has exhibited at different times during the last thir- ty 3'ears. Good and generous living is evident by every appearance in the town of Jaffrey: the roads are kept in the best repair, and their location changed wherever a sharp hill can be avoided. Carriages of pleasure are kept by most of the farmers ; and for these the fat horses pastured upon the hills are THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 157 trained as sure of foot when rapidly descending the steepest roads and patlnva;^3. Some of the dwellings in taste equal the best of the city houses, with the addition, which the city cannot furnish, of ample yards of ornamental shrubbery and fruit trees. We noticed one farm house erected simply for the accommodation of one famil}', at one and the same time, wliich extended, as we were told, one iiundred by forty-eight feet on the ground, and two stories besides the attick — all finished, and the outside painted white. The barns and outhouses beside this great dwelling appeared from a dis- tance to be in good trim, and the lands productive. It was located near the foot of the magnificent Mo- iiadnock, on a stream which has its source near tiie highest point of the mountain. Granite Roads and Bridges. Our journey for the first time through the towns of Jafl^rey and Rindge was richly paid in the satis- faction we took while witnessing the substantial ■prosperity of the yeomanry of these towns. A single improvement on the Jlindge turnpike, now a free road, in the distance of a few rods, could not have been made the present fall at an expense much less than a thousand dollars. The roads in this region are constructed on the true principle : hills, over which the travel has passed ever since the first settlement, are ingeniously avoided. That most valuable of all kinds of rock, the Granite, which is the foundation and superstructure of the majestic mountain Monadnock, and which is as easily rived as a log of oak or maple, is now exten- sively used in the construction of bridges and causeways. ArcJies over the Contoocook and oth- er considerable streams are constructed of pure split granite, which fixed on a foundation of the same material will stand forever. The splendid bridge erected two or three years ago liy the town of Henniker which cost%bout $3300, and is actu- ally worth much beyond that sum, has been al ready noticed in the Visitor. Another granite ar- ched bridge over a branch of tlie Contoocook run- ning from the north, was erecting when we passed, the expense of which paid in cash by the town was from seven to eight hundred dollars. We are glad that our fellow citizens of Henniker are abundant- ly able to build and support these noble structures : such a generous public spirit as tliey evince riclily merits and is generally accmpanied by such pros- perity as attends them. The town of Hillsborough, in imitation of its sister on the river below, is also completing the structure of a beautiful arched granite bridge over the main river at the village denominated Hillsborough Bridge. There is no stream of water in the State present- ing more abundant water power than the Contoo- cook : near its confluence with the Merrimack it receives the Blnckwater, and at a short distance farther the Warner river : on the way from tnence to Hillsborougli it has several tributaries whose sources are a few miles distant in the hills ; but near the Hillsborough Bridge village, thirty miles from its mouth, it unites the two main uppcrstems coming from the north-west and south-west. The southern stem at Peterborougii again unites two other stems, on each of which are several factories and villages. The northern branch again branches otf in two or more directions, all having much wa- ter power not yet used, and several saw, lumber and grist mills already erected. A road construc- ted from near the mouth oftiiis river to the Jatfrey factory village might be made with little other rise than the natural i'all 'of the river : it could probably be constructed so that a carriage horse need hardly to be interrupted in a trot all the way. Portions of this road have already been made. In the course of ten years the towns through which this stream passe^, abundantly able to build and support such a road, will find it to be their greatest interest to have the whole distance completed. eth willingly with her hands. coverings of tapestry : she She maketh herself The cnlture of Flax. Travelling throi^h our hill towns we are pleased to observe that many farmers have turned their at- tention to the raising of flax. This will be more beneficial to them than the raising of multicaulis or even the white mulberry. We should joy to witness a return of the times when nearly every family had one or more spinning wheels for wool and likewise the hand-wheel for the drawing out threads of fine linen : the sound of this instrument, disagreeable though it may be to some, would re- store many of the pleasant recollections of child- hood. What daughter of New England tliat would not be proud to present as a portion of her mar- riage dowry counterpanes and sheets and pillows of fine linen spun and wove by her own hand.' "She layeth lier hands to the spindle, and her hands hold tlie distaff. She seeketh wool and flax and work- maketh fine linen. Many daughters have done virtuously ; but thou excellest them all." Every farmer who has suitable ground may find it his gain to have a plat of ground for flax. It is easily produced on the same ground that wil. raise a good crop of corn or oats. It should be prepared so as to be free of the seeds of weeds and wild grasses — before the seed is sown tlie ground sliould be stirred and pulverized. The time of sowing is the same as that of the earlier small grains. It used to be the fashion for ladies to spend their iialf a day or day in pulling flax, because they do their work in a better manner than the other sex often do : it should be so pulled as to preserve evenness at the bottom or roots composing each bundle. It is made to stand in the field in stocks until the head containing the seed becomes sufficiently dry for thrashing, when it is taken to the barn floor and thrashed with the flail after tlie usual manner of thrashing rye or wheat. The best method of rotting is believed to be the spreading of the flax in thin layers at a distance so as not to interfere with each other on a common mown field in the month of September: the flax before the cold sea- son arrives will by the aid of alternate rains and dews and sunshine become so rotted as to be bro- ken out with ease. The breaking, which separates the shive from tlie beautiful stran, used to be done with the brake, a heavj- instrument which rises and falls upon the stalk : it may be done either by hand or by water or other moving power. Then follows the swingle knife upon an up^jglit smooth board which takes away what the brake has left. After this the hatchel, in the handsof the lady spinster who prepares the article for her wheel, com- pletes the process, giving tlie hackle the softness of silk, and leaving it ready for spinning. Many millions of dollars might be saved to the country from the domestic culture of silk ; and so might a few millions be saved by the cultivation of flax. Tlie linseed often pays the fanner for his la- bor. But the substitution of elegant domestic linens for the foreign trash that is now used as lin- ens would be such a benefit to the country as does not occur every year. What reason exists why linen cloths should not be produced in this coun- try v.'ith the same facility as cotton cloths.' Let a trial be made : it will be an experiment of no un- certainty if entered upon with that spirit and de- termination which usually characterise yankee enterprise. The Black Rust Has this season been in most parts of New Eng- land fatal to the potatoe crop. Great quantities of this useful vegetable have been planted ; yet there is a scarcity in this vicinity which increases the price one third, if not one half. The rust also has been generally injurious to beans — it has stricken the sugar beet, the carrot and has been especially injurious to onions in r'any places. It has been more prevalent in low grounds and near ponds, sluggish streams and fresh meadows, and on jilains land, than upon the hardwood hills of hi>,'h eleva- tion. On the high grounds between Merrimack and Connecticut rivers, from the 2oth Sept. to the first of October, we saw numerous potatoe fields that were green and flourishing, and of course un- aflTected by rust. The cause of the rust this season we believe to be the extraordinary humidity, combined with a peculiar state of the atmosphere, at some period of the high heat of summer. It was remarked that the rust struck universally on the same day of August — on or about the 27th of the month. Ear- ly planted potatoes were not so much injured by it as the later crop. Last year, it will be remember- ed, the severe drought in tliat part of the country south of a line drawn due east and west at tiie dis- tance of fifty to seventy miles nortli of Boston, generally lessened the crop of potatoes, aflecting those early and late planted in a similar manner that tlie rust has this year Injured them. It was too dry last summer, and the uncommon wetness of the present summer has been alike injurious. More than half the days in June, two thirds of the days in July, and one third of August were rainy days, as reported by Maj. Weeks at Lancaster. In a season so uncommonly wet we could not but an- ticipate quite as much injury to some crops as we have suflered : the benefits to the grass crops and the small grains iiave probably compensated for ev- ery thing. On this subject we may notice, from the fact that the hardwood highlands — the swells of the greatest altitude — have been almost entirely exemjited from the rust on vegetables prevailing elsewliere, the superiority of air and atmosphere in those higher elevations. Is the long life of the farmer and farm- er's wives inhabiting our high liiUs less to be at- tributed to a healthy atmos]ihere than the exenipl- ion of the vegetable growth from sickly rust and mildew.' Such an atmosphere must be the most healthy and desirable in the world. Here is no miasma giuierating bilious fevers, cold agues or the plague. It will be remembcied that the cholera of 1832, which traversed all other parts of the coun- try, touched not the hills of New England : it pas- sed around us from the valley of the St. Lawrence on the north to Mexico in the southwest. Of all temporal blessings, the enjoyment of health is the greatest — without it, life is almost an insupporta- ble burthen. The high hills of New England are calculated beyond every other part of the country to prevent blasts and mildew and to preserve the health to a good old age of those who labor in the earth. For tlie Farmer's Monthly Visitor. Education of Farmers. — No. 6. MEAN'S AND MEASUKES. I have already, more than once, adverted to some of the means to be used, and measures to be adopt- ed, to promote the education, and to protect the rights of farmers. I will close these short essays, by throwing out a few hints, and making a iew suggestions of a more definite character on the same subject. I would first suggest the propriety of farmers taking their own education and their own legisla- tion into their own hands. The me;;ns of educa- tion within their own reach are too ample to be un- der the necessity of resorting to colleges or high schools for procuring either an education or instruc- tors for their children. If their means of educa- tion were not ample, if they were entirely insufii- cient, colleges and high schools could not help them. They have spoiled ten farmers where they have made one. Nor can they depend upon books, though every farmer ought to be, as he certainly may be, a man of reading, and of extensive reading. But all this reading should be put to the test of his own expe- rience and observation. He ought to adopt no man's opinion, either in religion, politics or busi ness, without putting it to the test of his own judg- ment, and judgment founded on experience and ob- servation. VVitii his own judgmentat the helm he can hardly read too much ; witiinut that, he can hardly read too little. For maturing a judgment founded on large experience, no school, and no op- portunities can be better than those afforded by his farm, his business operations, and his intercourse with society. For aiding his experiments and directing his op- erations, every farmer ought to be familiar with all the fundamental principles of n,atural science. — This is the more important, as those principles arc comparatively few, and exceedingly simple ; so much so as to be, to a great extent, within tlie com- prehension, and the highest delight of children, long before they can comprehend anything from books. These simple, elementary principles of sci ence, which all children are so eager to acquire, are of the utmost importance for aiding them to under stand and to relish the contents of books, even the very first books put into their hands. Under these views, one important step to be tak- en by farmers for the education of their children, and the improvement of themselves, is to procure, or to aid and encourage their children in procuring 'Family Cabinets,' or collections of minerals, plants, shells, insects, drawings, prints, &,c., with a few simple articles of apparatus for performing experiments, to illustrate some of the fundamental princijiles of nature. With these as a starting point, and slates and pencils, succeeded by paper and lead pencils, and a few books in the same spirit, children will literal- ly learn tlicinselvcs the art of writing, reading, spel- ling and speaking correctly, almost without time, certainly of a character far superior, to what they ever do, or even can acquire, bj- the bla, ble, bio system. .\notlier important measure, which farmers may- adopt for their own education, is the forming of 'Social Lvceums' or weekly meetings of a Yew neighbors for conversation, reading, examining specimens, trying experiments, and above all for preparing specimens for 'scientific exchanges,' by which their own collections will be greatly in- creased, and greatly increased interest given to their meetings. Such meetings and such exercises are particularly interesting to the females and the younger members of families. For the special benefit of the business of farmers lliey have often formed Social Lyceums, confined to themselves, which are particularly appropriate 158 THE FARMER'S MUNTHLY VISITOR- for tlie winter. Connected with tliese meetings a retrul:.r system of experiments lias been institnted, by wliich each can liave the benefit of the cxperi- n.onts of the whole, and of experiments careluUy tried under the direction of science. Tliese social meetiiiffs, and the regnbr scries of experimenls, instituted by farmers, hirnish some ot the most valuable materials for 'farmers journ- Ai « ' and the strongest inducements, as well as Diean.s for sustainini; them, both by materials and money. A farmer could hardly take and peruse a 'MON-THi.v farmer' or any periodical conducted by, and for farmers, witlinut being more than remun- erated for his expense, in a single fact or hint, which he might find in the work. The least possi- ble reading which any farmer ought to reduce him- self to, is consulting his bible daily, and his 'Month- ly Farmer,' 'Cultivator,' 'Visitor' or some other pe- riodicals, as often as once a week. Both interest and duty would lead every farmer to pursue a much more general course of reading. ■Works on Natural Science, Political Economy, History, Biography and other works, to aid him in understanding ami sustaining his riglits and duties OS a republican and christian, may be read and studied by every farmer whowishesto realize their benefits. , , , ,, . More favorable oiiportunities could hardly be provided for improvement by reading and social in- tercourse than are furnished in fanntrs' tcinter et- e7iiiiTS. By reading, examining specimens, per- foriiMng experimenls, and by meeting for improv- inn- each other, every farmer, besides becoming hi'hly inteir.n-ent ami successful in his own busi- nc°sM may be suificiinlly enlightened in the rela- tions he sustains in society, and in the relations ex- istin'T between the various classes and departments of society, to enable him to fulfil, not only the du- ties of a private cif.sen, but of such public othces, as his fellow citizens may call him to perform. Readinr, social intercourse, cabinets of nature, clieinical and philosophical experimenls, scientific exchanges, and especially common schools, must he greatly aided bv well qualified lecturers on the different subjects of school education, physical sci-^ enccs, political economy and numerous objects ol useful knowledge ;— move however to aid the vari- ous classes of the co;nmunity to instruct themselves, than to communicate instructions to them. A semi- monthly or even monthly meeting, of two or three hours, to be attended by a skilful, and an experi- mental teacher, who should visit some dozen or twenty places in succession, might do much to ai- rect and aid the reading, conversation and experi- ments, and to give system and energy to the efforts of all who might enjoy his instructions ; especially the yoiino-er porlionsof the community. Circuit Schools of the kind proposed, if assisted by two lecturers, and teaeliers in connection, rather altern- ately, would probably be still more beneficial, with- out any additional expense. On .a subject so vast, indeed, so entirely inex- haustible, as that now under view, a few newspa- per essays, arc barely suflicient, to admit of a few hints touching It. joSIAH HOLBROOK. cept on Martin Meadow hillsapdotherland; equal- ^ "We had rain on eight differfnt days in May, on sixteen days in June, on twentj-two-days in July, on seten in August, and on ek^ven in September : unprecedented in our annals. Grass and hay are very abundant. The price of btef at the top notch. Farmers doing better in a pecujiiary point of view than ever before. No pressure; no post notes re- ceived for our produce." \ ITr-So favorable is the report from the extreme norti, county of New Hampshire. No portion of the country can present any thing more encourag- incr. The rust there has partially injured the crops asit has almost every where else ; hut this has not affected in the least the great staple, beef, which is both abundant and excellent in that county-nor will it lessen the quantity of butter and cheese which the farmers of Coos send to raarkrt on the seaboard. Herds grass and clover seed are produ- ced in abundance in Coos: it is a cheap article of transput, bearing a high price m proportion to its weight. We hope a large supply will be sent us from that direction the present season. Fur llic I'ariTin's .MiMilllly Visitor. To a Cricket. Thou bane of sleep, avauiil ! Why dost thou come. Thus all night long, with thy sad minstrelsy. To chase th'enchantress from my wakeful room . Dost thou not fi'el t!ie sweet necessity Of night's somniferous reign ? Yet, though thou rt free From the soft thraldom of that sinicn chain. Wherewith sleep fettereth men, Oh! pity me, Who long upon my restless couch, in vain Have wooed oblivion to these weary eyes. 1 listen to thy sad, unvaried note. Till forms unearthly in thp moon-light float. On wizard wing, and strano-est melodies from the riiilail. Farmers' Cabinet. Top Dressing of Grass Lands. Although as a general rule, manure applied as a top dressincr is in some measure wasted by sun and air, and giv?n to the winds and waters, still m many case.-! it will be expedient to apply it to the top ot tue soil istead of plouching it under. Sometimes it is inconvenient to plough grass land which may need manure. The soil may be wet and rocky, or oth- erwise unfit for the plough. In such cases mow- iniT land should, once in two or three years, have a top dressing of some manure suitable to the soil. Plaster of pans is a good top dressing on some arounds and for some plants; and m some cases it has no perceptible effect. Mr. Candolle, a French writer, observes that plaster acting or operating chiefly on the absorbent syftem ot plants, its ef- fects are not like those of manure buried in the soil, which set principally on the roots, liie lat- ter, according to their yw)(((«'nr7W/»rf, divide sof- ten, enrich, warm or stiffen the soils with which they are mixed. The quantity of plaster spread on lands is so trifling that it can have little effect on the soil. I speak from experience. "Plaster buri- ed in the earth where sainfoin has been sown, has produced no visible alteration; whilst the same quantity of plaster spread over the samesurface of sainfoin, has produced the most beautiful vegeta- tion." The same writer agrees with other agricul- turists in opinion that plaster operates on plants in a direct ratio to the size and number ot tlleir leaves. . , There is a difference of opinion among agricul- turists with regard to the season at which nuuuire should be applied to mowing ground. Lovdoii says, "In the county of Middlesex, where almost I all the f'rass lands are preserved for hay, the ma- nure is invariably laid on in October ; while the land is sufliciently drf to bear driving ol loaded carts, and when the heat of the day is so moderated as not to exhale the volatile parts of the mass. Others pref-r applying it immediately alter haying time, from about the'^middle of July to the end o Aun-ust, which is said to be the good old time, and if that season be inconvenient, at any time from the beginning of February to the end o. April. Lorinn says, "If dung he used for top dressing, it should be'applied soon after the first crop of grjiss has been mown; and before the manure has suffer- ed any material loss by fermentation. Tne grasses should be suffered to grow till tliey form a close shade. After this they may be past ured ; Py^vided a o-ood covering for them be preserved, i his wil prevent much exhalation ; it will also keep tne soil much more open to receive the juices of the ma- nure. As water does not pass off so freely tnrough a close pile of grass, much of the coarser particles Fine Wool. The fact that Messrs. SiBJ.r.Y and BARSAiin of Hopkinton, N. II. one year ago obtained the prize for the best wool produced in the United btates at the annual exhibition of the American Institute ot New York, has been noticed in a former number of the Monthly Visitor. By the prices current of the present summer at the wool marts, the highest price has been set down at si.\ty cents a pound. Mr. Barnard has kindly consented that we sliould make u.-*e of the follo-ving letter to show the prices voluntarily offered by a great manufacturer at Low- ell for his'clip of the present year : this letter wi I indicate that .Mr. Barnard, who has procured wea th and competency from the raising of sheep, may stiU probably carry ofl" the palm for wool of the very bestquallty. ^ Loicdl, July 19(A, 1830. Joseph Barnard, Esq.— X>faT Sir : — It affords me peculiar gratification to state to you that your wool has gone through the severe ordeal", the "Stapling Board," and comes out head and shoulders above anv thing we have ever before seen : it is really superb and reflects the highest honor on you and your State. In this Republic the most honorable man is he who arrives at tne high- est point in the art he professes ; and this is as it should be. I hand you below a memorandum ot the sorting with the figures. It shows a balance due you of 1*4 45, which I will send to you by first opportunity; Where is Mr. Sibley? I shall require his wool to THOUSAND. Your friend truly, SAMUEL LAV/RENCE. s. Sa §100 $32 00 124 90 11160 154 80 12o 20 103 70 72 10 51 -2 60 3 30 1-2 50 25 3 1-2 Super extra Extra Prime l?t Sd 3d Dirt lbs. 422 1-2 $342 45 C ineinnati is the pork shop of the Union : and in the autumnal and early winter months, the way they kill pigs here is, to use a Yankee phrase, i7«(f a caution." Almost all the hogs fed in the oak for- ests of Ohio, Kentucky and Western \ irginia, are driven into this city, and some cstablisnments kill as many as fifteen hundred a day ; at least so I am told They are despatched in a way quite surpris- ing; and a pig is killed upon the same principle that a pin is made— by division, or, more properly speaking, by combination of labor. The hogs con- fined in°a large pen are driven into a smaller one ; one man knocks them in the head with a sledge hammer, and then cuis tlieir throats ; two more pull away the carcases, when it is raised by two others, who tumble it into a tub of scalding water. His bristles are removed in about a minute and a half by another party ; when the next duty is to fix a stretcher between his legs. It is then hoisted lip by two other people, cut open and disembowelled; and in three minutes and a half from the time that the hog was grunting in his obesity, h« has only to get cofd before he is again picked up, and reunited m a barrel to travel all over the world. By the bye, we laugh at the notion of pork and molasses. In the first place, the American pork is far sup'-ri- or to any that we ever have salted down ; and, in the next, it eats uncommonly well with molasses, I have tasted it, and ''it is a fuel." After all, why would we eat currant jelly with venison, and not allow the Americans the humble imita,tion of pork and molasses r'—Marrij(itt's Dcirij. 't^:s^^S£i^^ip^-^'^^^,s}E!¥=::S±:ft J. H. C. *.Nol a Yankfp phrase. Agricultural Report from Coos. Hon. John W. Weeks, underdate of Lancaster, N. H. Oct. 1, writes us — "Our corn, after all our fears, is ripe and good, though of small growth. My wheat, which on the 28th of August promised thirty-four bushels to the acre will not much exceed twenty, owing to the black rust, which has also lessened our potatoe crop, beans, and onions nearly one third. But Iii- dian'corn— a very important plant after all— will irive us enough, and to spare to those wKo consider ft below their dignity " to dress and to keep" the irarden of Eden. , . , ■ " "The rust has been general m this section, cx- oi me \va.^iiiiigo iiwiii mv .... ■---- in their prooress through it, and much more of t le fluids fromlhe dung will sink into the soil. The close covering- also greatly favors the decomposi- tion of the litter, and by keeping it inflexible caus- es if to sink farther into the soil and lie much clos- er to it. Therefore but little if any of it will be found in the way of mowing the ensuing crop of o-rass, or of making it into hay ; provided the ma- nure be evenly spread over the ground. But as the want of a" second crop of hay, and other cir- cumstances, may prevent the cultivator from haul- inc the duntr at tlie proper time, he may haul and spread it at Iny time before the frost sets in ; but not with the same advantage. Still if care be tak- en in raking up the hay of the ensuing crop, but little of the litter will appear among it." Influence of Climate iipon Seeil. We received, last spring, twelve cars of Dutton corn from Mr. Osborn, of Oswego county, his res- idence differing from ours, in latitude and altitude, about two degrees. We jilanted with this seed eight rows across our field, the residue being plan- ted with seed of our own raising. The Oswego corn tasselled two weeks earlier than that from seed raised in Albany, thus showing si.x or seven days diflerence for a computed degree of latitude, in the earliness of the crop— the northern seed o-ivinir the earliest crop in a ratio inverse to the lor- wardness of the spring. This will serve as a hint to farmers in districts where corn is liable to be cut off by early autumnal frosts, to obtain their seed_ from a more northern latitude, or from a district ol j higher altitude.— /i'i««!/ Cultivator. THE FARMERS MONTHLY ViyiTOR. 159 Great yield of Rohan Potatoes. Mr. Stephen Okdway of Laadon happening to be in Concord on one of the last days of May, at the store of Maj. M'Dnnlel saw some remnants of Rohan potatoes which had been kept for sale. He was told they had sold at seventeen cents the pound, and he paid two cents for one small potatoe weighing- two oun- ces. This he took home with him, and cut it into seven pieces, which he planted in four hills — two in three hills, and the smallest eye of nil in a hill by itself. The ground on which these hills were planted was in a spot of hard pan which had not been manured for three years. It was near his iiouse where ea"ly potatoes had been planted, which had already made their appearance above ground at the time. Mr. Ordway dug the product of his potatoe on tlie 2lst September, the vines be- ing still green ; and this weighed seventeen pounds, or one hundred and thirty-six for one. The largest potatoe weighed one pound and fourteen ounces, and several weighed Irom one pound to one and three fourths pounds. Thk Roiians. — A gentleman in this village [Au- gusta, M'aine] jjlanted last spring a Rohan potatoe. weighing six ounces, which he cut in twenty-two pieces, and put two pieces in a hill. He dug them on Wednesday and found the yield of his potatoe to be 148, which weighed sixty-six pounds, and measured five pecks. Another gentleman raised 100 potatoes, weighing forty-three pounds, from a Rohan of about the same size and planted in the same manner.— -A'c/t. Gaz. From a single Rohan potatoe sent to the Editor of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor from Boston hav- ing eighteen eyelets was raised full three pecks in measure weighing tliirty-four and a half pounds, and one hundred and ejghty-four in number. One hill was entirely eaten by mice, and serious depre- dations were made in some others. The weight of the seed potatoe did not exceed four ounces. The largest potatoe weighed two pounds. From eight pounds and ten ounces of Rohan po- tatoes planted upon \''J'2o square feet of ground fourteen full busiiels have been gathered upon the premises of the editor of the Visitor the present year. The mice made an extensive inroad upon this crop, having, according to the estimate of the person who dug the potatoes, eaten and destroyed at least two bus!icls. The product' gathered was at the rate of i^75 bushels to the acre — it would have been much larger had the seed been quadrupled on tlie same ground : for Samuel Marshall, Esq. ofHanipstead, present- ed the editor on the first Tuesday of June with three potatoes wcighinaf, as near as may be judged, one pound each. These potatoes were of a new kind : they were cut into twelve pieces, and laid in a row about one foot apart. They were planted on ground of the same quality as tiiat of the Rohans, onl^' they were under the shade of a row of lusty, spreading rhubarb, while the others had a fair chance to the sun. The product of tiie twelve pieces was one hundred and si.xty potatoes weigh- ino- forty-two ])nunds, several of which v/ere more than one pound in weight. The mice, intliiscase, as in the two others, had tanen their portion. The kind of potatoes furnished by Mr. Marshall is su- perior to any we have ever seen, not excepting the Rohans: tiiey are of a, light yellow, round, and have a beautiful smooth skin. On good ground the product of these potatoes might be made to be five liundrcd bushels to the acre. They are double the eize of the common potatoe the present year. Nei- ther this kind nnr the Rohans v.'ere this year struck with rust. We have planted five bushels of long red potatoes, said to be of inferior quaht}'^ for the table, which have also escaped rust, while the round whites in rows along side of them have been dead from rust ever since the first of September. Kr-Vnion in Heaven. — How short is the earthly history of a family ! A few years, and those VvMio are now embraced in a family circle will be scat- tered. The children, now the objects of tender so- licitude, will have grown up and gone forth to their respective stations in the world. A few years more, and children and parents will have passed from this earthly stage. Tiieir names will be no longer heard in their present dwelling. Their domestic loves and anxieties, happiness and sorrows, will be a lost and forgotten history. Every heart in which it was written, will be mouldering in the dust. And is this all.' Is this tiie whole satisfaction which is provided for some of the strongest feelings of our hearts? If it be, how shall we dare pour forth our affections on objects so fleeting? How can such transitory beinirs, with whom our connection is so brief, engage all the love we are capable o:' feeling.' Why should not our feelings toward them be as feeble and unsatisfactory as they ? Bui,b.e3sed be God, this is not ill. Of this he has given us per- fect assurance in the Gospel of his Son. Though to the eye of unenlightened nature the ties of do- mestic love scent scattered into dust, the spiritual eye of faith perceives that they have been l)osened on earth, only to be resumed, under far happier circumstances, n the regions of everlasting love and bliss. Tliuigh the history of a family may seem to be forgotten when the last member of it is laid in the grave, the memory of it still livca in im- mortal souls, and when the cin^lo is wholly dissolv- ed on earth, it is again completed in heaven. • Death of Judge BueS, It is with great regret that we are obliged to add the name of Judge Buel to tiie list of honorable men departed. He was seized with disease at Dan- bury Conn., ten or twelve days ago, when on a journey from his residence at Albany, to New Ha- ven, for the purpose of dcliverin.'r an agricultural lecture there. In spite of the attention of friends and the skill of the physicians, the disease termin- ated in death on Sunday last, and the remains of the deceased were immediately taken to Albany. Judge Buel has filled various ofllces of trust and honor. Cut his cherished field of usefulness, was in the pursuits of agriculture, and the ditfusion, through the medium of his " Cultivator," of the results of his intelligence and sagacity. Some years ago he took possession of a portion of the barren plain tv,"0 njiles west of Albany, and converted it into one of the most fruitful spots on earth. yvt'W York Journal of Cummerrs Oct. 8. The death of such a man as Jesse Buel may be regarded as a public calamity : his efforts and his example for the last twenty years iiad added mill- ions to the products of the country. His farm was almost literally the work of his own creation : it consisted of only about sixty acres of land which had been deemed entirely barren. Hi? successful culture of this ground had induced thousands to " go and do likewise." His agricultural experi- ment, unlike that of others, was to himself a pro- fitable experiment: in it lie demonstrated tliat the earth might be made tc> yield an increase ten-fold o-reater than its present product. His "Cultiva- tor" had a circulation tif .some twenty thousand copies montlily, and was diffusing extensively the practical results of many safe experiments. He was sixty-two years of age ; and it may be said he died at no time wlien his eminent usefulness v/ould be pretermitted with greater regret to tlie whoh' community. As a last eirbrt, he had just prepared and transmitted to the publishers a volume on Ag- riculture, being one of the series of one hundred volumes intended for Common School Libraries: this work is now publishing in Boston, by Messrs. Marsh, Capen, Lyon & Webb. Dr. Franklin and Legislative Chaplains. Our great American philosopher lias not been usually ranked among those who, among the re- nowned names of the world, can be claimed as a believer and follower of the Christian religion. — Yet, in the testimony which is annexed, and which we do not remember to have seen before, tJi(,Te is such proof, both of religious faith and practical wisdom, as to outweigh many vague accusations, jXcid York American. Motion for prayers in the Convention. Mr. President: The small progress we have made, after four or five weeks' close attendance and continual reasoning with each other, our dif- ferent sentiments on almost every question, sever- al of the last producing as many noes as ayps, is, mcthinks, a molanchcly proof of ihe imperfection of the human understanding. We, indeed seem to feel our own want of piditical wisdom, since we have been running all about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for model" of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics, which, having been originally formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist ; and we have vie\^'ed modern States all around Europe, but find none of theif constitutions suitable to our circumstances. In this situation of this assembly, groping, as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to lis, how has it happened, sir, that we liave not iiitherto once thouijht of applying humbly to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understanding? In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room forthe Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard — and they were graciously answer- ed. All of us who were engaged in tlie struggle must have observed frequent instances of a super- intending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this liappy opportunity of con- sulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgot- ten that powerful friend ? or do v/e iniagine we now no longer need its assistance ? I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer 1 live the more convinc- ing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid ? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the Imuse, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this ; and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in tliis political building no better than the build- ers of Babel ; we shall be divided by our little, partial, local interests ; our projects will be cr founded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this uniortu- natc instance, despair of establishing Government by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war and conquest. I therefore beg leave to move — That henceforth, prayers, imploring the assist- ance of Heaven, and its blessings on our delibera- tions, be held in this assembly every morning be- fore we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergv of this city be requested to officiate in that service. Rohan Potatoes. The rage among cultivators, fir the Rojjan Pota- toes, has in some parts of the country been more violent and it is believed mucii more useful, than the rage for speculation in Jiforus MulttcauUs. The current price during tlie last planting sesson, was something like i^-li) per bushel, and even at that price, the retailers made an immense profit, by sel- ling them out by the pound. The distinguishing trait of the Rohan ia the reaiarkable abundance with which it produces. A writer in a English ag- ricultural paj)er states, that in 1&37, he raised from sixty mode, ate sized Rohans, planted under trees, and injured to a considerable extent by drought, twcntij four bushels fait measure. In France these potatoes frequently attain the v.'cightof ten pounds. When cooked they are said to possess a fine flavor, and from the abundance with which they yield, and the consequent cheapness with which they are raised, they v/ill probably when generally introduc- ed, furnish an excellent substitute for the common potatoe, for the purpose of fattening hogs and beef cattle. — Coos Cointttj Democrat. Bone Manure. Horace CoUamore, Esq. of Pembroke, Mass. in a communication in the Plymouth Rock, gives the results of experiments made by him lust year in the use of bone manure. He selected a piece of Ruta Baga and Mangel Wurtzel. In every other row, or drill, he sprinkled the bone manure at the rate of a handful to three feet in length. The oth- er rows were allowed none. Throughout the sea- son the rovi's tiiat were favored with the bone ma- nure appeared more healthy and vigorous, and in au- tumn he says, he gathered four bushels of Mangel Wurtzels, and two bushels of Ruta Bagas, from a row — mixing six bushels to a row for both were mixed together — and from those whicli had no bone manure he harvested but two bushels; and this dilterence, he bays, was unifcrm throughout the lot. He thinks tiiat three cents worth of bone ma- nure v/ill jiroduce a value of twenty-five cents in a crop. The bone inanure is i>repared on a large scale at Ward's Manufactory in Roxbury from bones gathered out of the city of Boston. There can be no doubt that this sort of manure is one of the most powerful stimulants that can be applied to the earth. — Mainr. Cultivator. Co.MPLiMENT. — A writer in the New York Sun, pays the following compliment to New Hampshire. It is a just one— New Hampshire has produced something besides loco focos in her day. Kcenc Sentinel. [Our veteran brother Prentiss (no incorrigible loco foco, as we always have been, and we fear, on his account, always may continue to be) will adnjit that the produce of loco focoa which remains upon our soil and which contributes its full share to the emigration and prosperity of the flourishing Slates 160 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. nnd Territories of the West, is not worth at least its equal weight of any itlier population upon tlie known habitable eartli. We have not the vanity to trump ourselves as lirttcr soldiers than those en- joyinij the exclusive friendship of our good typo- Craphical brother : we only say we are as old and have as rrood a right to be here as the very best of them. All we ask from the mercy of our old com- petitor is, that he will he so tolerant as to let all classes of men in the Granite State enjoy unmo- lested their e<]\ial rights and privileges. — -Farmer's Monthly Visitor-I "Boston is but little indebted to its native-born citizens for anything that gives it character at home or reputation abroad. New Hampshire furnishes the men who have elevated Boston to its present distinction in all that the stranger admires. They come to the great emporium of the North to seek subsistence, generally with nothing but their head and hands and a good constitution, the chief com- modity furnished by the Granite State. These New Hampshire adventurers are the Scotch of A- merica. While some have gradually crept from table waiters to capitalists, others, well educated in the colleges of the back country, commence the practice of the learned professions — they have noth- ing- to lose and everything to gain, and spurred on therefore by the absolute stimulus of necessiiy, they are truly the life and soul of Boston. The best lawyers, many of the physicians and clergy, an.-l at least one third of the bone and thrift of the shipping interest, came from the cold regions of old Now Hampshire." Brick and Tile Machine. A machine for manufacturingbrick and draining tile is figured and described in the Farmer's Maga- zine. The brick machine will mould ii bricks per minute, 1,4411 per hour, and, taking ten hours' work, would give 14, 400 per day. A good mould- er, with three or four attendants, will make 4,000 bricks perday. The machine, with the same hands, will make Io,000 ; with this advantage, that the latter will not require lialf the time to dry, in con- sequence of the compression whicli the clay under- goes, and that when burnt they weigh three jiouuds the heaviest — the mould brick weighing 5 lbs. and the machine bricks 8 lbs. The tile machine will make 10,000 drain tiles a day, with one man and two boys, and 20,000 flat tiles for the drain tiles to lay upon, both 1.5 incheslong. Under the old mode, a man and two boys made but 1,000 drain tiles per day, 12 inches long. The tile made by machine is also much stronger than those made by the old mode, and they are capable of being made from much stronger cl.ay. This machine promises im- portant benefits, wherever tile draining is practised, and wdl greatly lessen the expense. We should like to see it introduced into this country, with .the attendant benefits of under-draining. Draining tde are manufactured in tliis city, but the price ($1.") per thousand,) is such as deter many from using them. With the machine in question, we are in- clined to think they would be afforded at half the present price. — .ilbiiiiij Cnltirnlnr. Re^nlatioii of DM. — .Many shut themselves up entirely in unpleasant weather, during the long win- ter, or whenever ihey find a pressure of business within or unpleasant weather without; and yet they eat just as voiaciously as if they look exercise every day. To say that no attention is to be paid to diet, is madness. You must pay attention to it sooner or Jati.T. If you lire faithful to take regular vigorous exercise every day in open air, then you may eat, and pay less attention to quantity and quality. But if you lake but little exercise, job may be sure that you are to be a severe sutferer if you do not take food in the same p.opnrtion. I do not ask you to diet, that is, to be as difiicull, and as qhangeable, and as whimsical as possible, as if the great point were to see how much you could torment yourself and oth- ers; but 1 do iisk you to beware as to liie quantity of food which you hurry into the stomach three tunes each day, withou: giving it any rest. It is the quan- tity rather than tlie kinds of food, which destroys se- dentary persons; thougli it is true that the more sim- ple the food the better. If you are unusually hur- ried this week, if it storms to-day, so that in these periods, yoH cannot go out and take exercise, let your diBt'be very sparing, though the temptation to do otherwise he very strong. When by any means you have been injured by your food, have overstep- ped the proper limits as to eating, I have found in sucli cases that the most perfect way to recover is to abstain entirely from food for three or six meals. Bv this time, the stomach will be free, and the sys- tem restored. I took tho hint from seeing an idiot who sometimes had turns of being unwell ; at such times he abstained entirely from food for three days, in which linio nature recovered lierself, and he was well. This will frequently, and perhaps generally, answer instead of medicine, and it's every way more pleasant. The most distinguished physicians have ever reeommended this course. It is a part of the Mahomedan and Pagan system of religion that the body should be recruited by frequent fastings. "Let a hull-dog be fed in his infancy upon pap, Naples bis- cuit ami boiled chicken ; let him bt wrapped in flan- nel at nigiii, sleep on a feather bed, and ride out in a coach for an airing — and if his posterity do not be- come short limbed, and valetudinarian, it wifl be a wonder. — Todd's Student' sManual." The grand Mechanics' Exhibition at Quincy Hall Boston, closed on Saturday, the extensive rooms hav- ing been crowded with visitors for a fortnight. The receipts, at 25 cents each, amounted to ^15,000. — Every Kind of manufactured goods, wares, furni- ture, mechanical and agricultural implements, &c. might here be found. This exhibition will be high- ly beneficial, as proving our present resources, and developing Yankee ability, eventually to compete with Europe. We conversed with a hardware im- porter, for instance, who assured us he was every year striking off his orders for foreign wares, as sup- plied by belter and cheaper articles at home. This is the true policy. Save our resources — pay our own workmen — change the balances of trade. Then may we care but little how the "money market" stands, from day to day, and save our distress at tho rise or fall of exchange on London. — Keeiie Sentinel. BA.\]v iNuTE'JACLK. From Ihe Boslon Cultivator, Ort. 19. ^^ The bills nf all the banks in the New Englaiul States, which are in good credit, are received at par, on drposa, by the tnllowlng hanks, vt/.:— .\llas, Atlantic, Coiiiiiiercial, Ea- gle, FreeitKins', Globe, H.iiicock, llainiltnn. Market, iMer- chants', Middling Inteiest, North, Oriental, Stale, Sufiblli, Shoe and Leallier Dealer.*', Tieiiinnt, Traders', Shawmul, tJnion, VVashing'oii and Mechanics. The Siittolk Dank transacts all llie business relating to Coiiiilry liiinks, Tor ihe aliove named Itanks. The Siifi'olk hank rederin.s Uie liillsof all the banks in R.l. e.vceptthe abode Island Central at East Greenwich, which is 5 pr. ct. disc. Scituate, 10 do. Mi'ldling Interest bank bills are not received at the Suf- folk Bank. LIST OF BBOKE.t B-tSKS I .M KEW ENGLAND. Eagle, N. Haven, (Jonn. r aimers', Belchertown, Ms. Kennebec, Me. jS'ahaiil Bank, Lynn. Pagsama<|"oddy, E.istport. Scituate, It. I Iturrilville, R. I. Coinmonweallh, Boston, t'olton " Hilby " Franklin. South Boston, liafayetle " Chel.=fa, (^lielsea, C.tstiue, Me, Derbv, Conn VViscasset, ;\Ie. Ro.\I»nry at Itoxbury Norfolk, List of banks in New l^ngland. whose charters have ex- ^,il-ed :— Sutton Bank, VVilkinsnnvllIe, Mas-.^.; farmers and jMeciianirs' Pawliickcl, It. I.; Il.itli, Hath, Me.; Wiiuhrop B.mk, M*-.; Keiinebiink Bank, nl .\tiindrl, .Me.; Bangor Hank, Me.; Sarn Bank ; Newbnryporl Bank : Concord, (Sparhawk cashier) N. H. Pheni.v Bank, Nantucket. BILLS SOT RECEIVED AT THE SUFFOLK BA.^K. MAINE. Oxford Bank .at Fryeburg, fraud. .'\gricultnral, Brewer Me. 5 to Bangor Commercial, .5 to Oldlown, at Urono, 9ii to Ilamariscotta Bank, 10 to Georgia Lninber Co. at Portland to 5 Calais, at Calais, .'^ to Stillwaler Canal, at Orono, .S to Weslbrook a'. Westbrook , 3 to 5 NEW HAMI'SHIBE. Wolfeborough Bank, 50 to MASSACHUSETTS. Middling Interest Bank bills are nol received at the Suffolk Bank. in .1 30 JO ■30 to lo ISO ?0 N'orlolk, at Ro.\bnry, Midtliesex, af Cambridge, Fulton, at Boston, Kilby, " (,'oinalonwealLh, Poston, Nahant, Chelsea, Hoxbnry,at Roxbiiry, 05 to l-'armers' and Mechanics' Ad- ams, South Village 75 lo VEBMONT. St Albans, at St Albans, 2'; lo 5 Essex, at GilUdhall, ."'U to .Manchester, at Manchester, 2^ lo 5 CONNECTICUT. Stamford, at St.imford, 2 lo 4 Bridgeport, at Bridgeport, 2 lo 4 ' frj- Bills of the Frankfort Bank, Me. are again received at the Snilolk Hank. Also, Lafayette Bank, Bang.ir, The bills of the following Banks are still received : Old CnmherlanJ Bank, Portland ; Waterville Bank ; Mendon Bank. . ,, Baaks in New York City par. to J pr. ct. discount. " Slate of N. Jersey, 2 lo 3 " City of Philadelphia, I to " State of New York, I to " City of Baltimore, 1 to 'I Distrlctof Colninhta, 9 to Old United States Bank Notes, 5 lo Note Since the failure of the United States Bank there is great uncertainty about bank l.ills: the Philadelphia and Baltimore and Rhode Island banks have all reported to have I stopped specie payments. FLOUR AND GRAIN MARKET. Boston, Oct. 12. F(oiir— Sales of 1001) bbls. Philadelphia on landing at 6 12, GO days, inlerest adiled ; 3ilU do. Kich- inond 0 y.'i, and 2iio do. Fredericksburg same price, 4 inos.j Genesee common brands 6 25, cash. fJrrtiH— Yellow Corn 80 aS2c. white 75 a76; and Southern Oats iS a 43. NrwYoBK.Oct 7. Koiir— A lillle belter feelingfor Wes- tern; holders are firm. Western Canal, common lo good, at 5 75 a $t); Ohio, via Canal, at .i 1**2 a 5 75. Good bmnds Western may lie considered la rei|nrsl at 5 75 a 5 l67, while Ohio is dull (it the above rales Sales IfillO bbls. Georgetown for export, at ahont gfi; showing a reduction of full 12 a 18c. In other descriplions liiile doing; sales small parcels Howard slreel at 9 12 a b 25; Richmond City Mills at C Ii2. Rye Flonr, 4 a 4 25. Gram — Rye inactive; Northern, for home use, at 80c, dull. The cargo arrived on 3d insl. is kept out of the market, awaiting the arrival of tlie Liverpool steamer. Corn quiet; Norlhein, for immediate use at8lla82, measure; Southern at 72 a 75c, by weigiil; ol latter, market bare. Oats in better demand, sales Norlliern at 4(ic. Phiudelphia, (~>ct. 7. F/orir— Market more animated this .veek, and prices have again slightly receded towards the close. To-day tlleie are sellers at S5 25, cash, while some veliise it. Rve P'lnnr; demand moderate at 3 75. RraiJ!— Sales Ilye, Penn.and Soulhern,at7c, dull.— Corn, receipts limited. We quote yellow 71 a 72, while 118 a 69c to day. NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET, Oct. 7, 1839. (Reported for the Journal of Commerce.) At market 1075 head of Beef Cattle, lon from the South, and the balance mostly from this Stale, 415 Milch Cows and 3t5f) Sheep and Lambs. The Beef was of good quality— demand dull. Sales of 775 he;id at §7 lo9t avgn 8^. Milch Cows— Demand lair— 40 sold at IJtlS to 48. Sheep and Lambs continue in good demand. 32(10 sold — Sheep at 2.^ a $5^ and one lot veiy good, at $0. Lambs at !i lo S31 eai-h. Haj — Sales by the load, at 56 to 75c, the 100 lbs. BRIGHTON C.\TTLE MARKETS.— Oct. 7, 1839. (Reported for the Boston Daily Advertiser & Palriot.) At market 71,0 Beet Cattle, inSO Stores, 3.500 Sheep, and 12BnSvvine. About 250 Swine were repotted last week. Prices— Beef Cattle— We quote brst quality at 7 05 a 7 75; second qualilv 11150 a $7; third qnaliry 5. 50 a $0.— Stores— We noticed several lota of iwo year old sold at about $20. year- lings 12. 'lO. We quote yearlings $11 a 15 ; two year old S17 a 27. Choice lieifers were peildled at a higher price. Cows and Calves— Sales at $30, 35, 42 47 and .W. Sheep sales brisk. Lots were sold al $1 71, 1 92, 2 00, 2 12, 2 25, 2 42, 2 75, 3 O;), and 3 25. BALTIMORE MARKET, Oct. 4, 1839. Cattle- There have been about 400 head of Reef Cattle sold during the week, at $7 50a.S8, chiefly al the latter price. Hogs aie selling at >«9 50 per 100 lbs. PROVISION MARKET, at Bo Butter, best, per lb. Hams, Boston, per lb. Do Weslertl. do do Lard, best, per lb Do Western, per kej Pork, Boston, Beel, ner lb Do Corned Ilo Smoked Pig Pork, Chickens, per pair Miition, per lb Veal, Lanil', per lb Criix, per 11) Pigs Feet, per lb Cheese, per lb EsEs per dozen Beef Tallow, per lb SEED MARKET, AT BOSTl iMustard seed, brown, per bag, " c' white. Hemp seed, per bushel, Canary seed, do do Flax seed. Foreign, per bushel, do' Ameriran, Clover, .Northern, per bushel, do Southern, do do Foreign, do do White Dutch, per lb. do Lucerne, or French, do Timi'thv, or Herds Grass, per bushel. Red Top, Northern, per bushel, do Snnlhcrn, do Orchard Grass, do Millett, do Buckwheat, do • TON, Oct. 12. 22 a as 14 a 13 a 11 a 13 H 121. a 13 10 a l'J< in a 11 14 a M a 17 75 a 1 00 123 a 17 K a 10 8 a 10 10 n 8 •A in 12i a 16 17 a 13 a 5N, Oct. 12. 10 00 a in 00 a 125 a 1 5ft 1 50 a 2 (1ft I 80 a 1 90 1 50 a 1 W lU a 18 a 24 17 a 18 28 a 30 33 2 50 a 3 00 150 a 85 .1 1 00 2.".0 a 8 00 a 2 50 1 511 a THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR* A MONTHLY NKWSPAl'EK, IS PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM P. VOSTY.K, HiIVs Brick Block, Concord^ J\'. JI. JAMES BURNS, 104, Washlmrton si., Boston, Ms. J. N. BOLLES, Xo. 1, Market Square^ Proti- dcncc, R. I The Visitor is issued from the fifteenth to thetweu tieth (lay of e:ich month. Each number will roiitain si.\leen p;ige9 of quarto size on paper calculated for presptvation aiul on a fair and heau- tifu! type. The subjects will be illustrated with engravings. Theterms will he sevcnty-Jive ccntsa year paynltte always in ad- vance. For all subscribers leas than QA, Agents will he allowed a deduction of S.^j cents each— for all nver 24 subscribers on any one agency is^ cents each will he allowed. Thus, lor six .''tibscribersfonr dollars— twelve, eight dollars— eiehteen, twelve dollars— iwenlv-foiir, fifteen dollars. will be remitted. Sincle numhors. twelve and a half cents each. All siibscri- bers will cotumence with the fust number ot the year. JtJ^Cnnrmunications bv mail, will he directed to WIL lAAH I\ fW^TBUt Oancord« N> tii Conducted by ISAAC HILL. Published by WM. P. FOSTER " Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, tchose breiists he has made hh peculiar deposltefnr substantial ajtd srenuine riV^Hc. "-Jefferson. VOLUME 1. CONCORD, N. H. , NOV. 20, 1839. NUMBER 11. THE VISITOR. INDIAN CORN CROPS. New Hampshire against the Union. There cannot be a more desirable climate for veg- etable production than one which is adapted to the growth of Indian corn; and the soil on which Indian corn grows will never fail, witha properap- plication of labor, to produce abundance for man and beast. Now in the production of Indian corn the soil of New Hampshire will not shrink from a comparison with any other part of the country. The immense crops of corn which have been re- peatedly raised in the county of Strafford, in the vicinity of the beautiful Lake Winnipisspogee — in Moultonborou2;li, Tuftonborough and WoTfeboro' comprising^ tlie islands and shore on the north side of the Lnkc, and in Barnstead and Gilmanton' at a few miles distance over the Gunstock moun- tains to the south-east of tlie Lake ; these crops have been noticed repeatedly by gentlemen farmers in Massachusetts and other places as being too great for the belief of the credulous. One hundred thirty- seven bushels to the single acre raised if we do not mistake on the fertile hills of Barnstead, or even one hundred and seven bushels to the acre raised by our friend Brown on the Winnipisseogee island, was too great an amount : it was probably corn in the ear — so much shelled corn could not be made to grow on an acre, said a distinguished agricultur- ist in conversation witli the editor of the Visitor. We did not positively contradict him, because we could not say that we had actually seen with our own eyes the acre tiiat had yielded so much. But we have now tlie evidence of a yield, of Indian corn raised by Mr. Brown the present year, '' weighed by tlic man appointed to measure crops for premi- ums" in the cnunty of Strafford ; and this whole crop of the weight of 8051 lbs., measuring the trac- ed corn in tlie ear at 7(1 lbs. to the bushel, and that which was not traced at GH 1-4 to the bushel, was 07ie hundred and sixteen bushels. If we can believe a disinterested witness, we must give credit to this statement. We iiave heretofore published in the Visitor, from under the hand of Mr. Brown himself, the manner in whicii he raises these great crops of corn. He does it by putting upon the land double the usual quantitv of manure, and by bestowing as much la- bor upon a single acre as is ordinarily bestowed up- on two and three acres. The soil upon these isl- ands— not alluvion, but common rocky land with a hard pan or subsoil, is probably of that kind on which manure and cultivation will have their greatest effect; the same may be said of most of the swelled hill lands in Meredith, Gilmanton, Barnstead and other towns in Strafford county. The result of Mr. Brown's experiment proves that labor is more profitably applied by hiin in the cultivation of his corn field than by farmers generally; for his one acre produces a present crop equal to the common orop oftiiree acres; and this crop leaves the condition of the hmd such t!iat it will produce, without any further application of manure, at least twice the usu- al amount of wheat or oats for the first year and of grass afterward.s fur some five or six subsequent seasons. Mr. Brown's preparation, according tc our recol- lection, is, to take land which liad been broken up from the sward and planted once with potatoes, with a first apitlication of some twelve or fifteen loads of coarse manure before planting. After the first crop is. taken off, apply twelve or fifteen loads of manure and plough it in deep in the fall. The next spring plough in at a less depth some fif- teen to twenty loads more of finer manure. In this way the whole soil for from six to ten inches deep is pulverized and feels the effect of the manure. lu addition to these advantages, Mr. Brown has an excellent kind ot corn adapted to a northern clim- ate, which he has been improving for several years, and which will come to maturity in three months from the time of planting. If we could be sure of a season of four months free from frost, there are other larger kinds of corn — the Dutton twelve and sixteen rowed, or the long eight rrowed ear called the Parker corn, for example — that might grow more upon the acre than the Brown corn. But in land prepared as he prepares his, with rows three feet apart, and the hills iu the rows placed at the distance of two feet each from the other, and three stalks to the hill — we do not believe there isakind of corn in the country that will, year in and year out, produce a greater quantity on the same ground. Mr. Brown's kind yields larger ears and more in quantity of corn in proportion to the size of the stalk, than any other kind within our observation. But Mr. Brown's crop of one hundred and six- teen bushels to the acre was not the largest crop of corn raised this year in New Hampshire. The green islands, which stud the charming Winnipis- seogee, bear away the palm for the greatest crops of corn. Mr. Robert Larnpr«.y, whose farm is on the same island with Mr. Brown'f, within the lim- its of the town of Moultonborough, has raised this year from one acre one hundred and thirtAj-ojiclmsh- cls and seven quarts^ "estimated in the usual way by- measuring all in a basket and shelling one basket full." Some grains of allowance mrst be made for this mode of measuring, as the persons who har- vested the corn would naturally feel an interest to pack the basUet to be shelled qui*e as close as any basket which was not shelled. Mr. Paul P. Pilsbury lives on Cow island situated in the town ofTufton- borough, some \g\v miles eastward of Long island on the same lake shore ; and his crop of corn, meas- ured in the same way as that of Mr. Lamprey, was one hundred and thtrtif bushels to the aerc. Mr. Lamprey and Mr. Pilsbury have each sent to the editor of the Monthly Visitor a trace of the corn raised on their respective lots : the samples are the most beautiful we have ever seen. Both kinds of corn are in some respects similar, being a mixture resembling partly the Dutton and partly the Brown corn. Mr. Lamprey's corn has the near- est resemblance of the Brown kind — the kernels have a varnished exterior with the same elegant blazed tinge — a part is eight, and a part ten and twelve rowed. The ears are larger tlian the Brown corn — the kernels are smaller, but the cob is larger. In Mr. Pilsbury 's sample the ears are large but not as long as the other — tlie color of the corn is a lighter yellow, tiie kernels something smaller, and the cob larger especially at the stump end. In both samples the ears of corn are covered to the tips, and there was a beautiful uniformity of kernel from one end of the ear to the other. The Brown corn, where it has had a fair trial, has fully come up to tlie expectations of the public. Benaiah Cooke, Esq. editor of the Cheshire Farm- er, exhibited a few traces of his corn raised on his premises, at the late agricultural meeting at Keene: all the seed he raised was at onse bespoken by tlie farmers of Cheshire ; and so pressing was the de mand for this seed, that Mr. Cooke at once pro- ceeded personally to Long Island, a distance of nearly one hundred mVes, and purchased from Mr. Brown himself, all he could spare of his great crop of the present year. The crop of Brown corn raised this year by the editor of the Monthly Visitor was as good as any -crop we had seen in the vicinity. The ground was not, as good, nor did it have the advantages of that of Mr. Brown. It was a track upon the intervale bordering upon the Merrimack riVer, which had been formed," not by a deposlte of sediment by'tlie backing up of the raised stream, but by the wash- ing on of sand directly over it. This land had not, until it came into our possession, been considered worth cultivation-, two years ago it was covered with bushes, and where tlie surface was stirred the wind blew the sand over much of it so as to prevent veg- etation. Yet on one acreof this land we think was produced full seventy b^Ishels of shelled corn. Of this kind of corn we have saved full fifty bushels of seed. A part of this has been engaged in Bos- ton. Mr. Samuel Whitney, living on the premis- es of the editor, selected from the field about forty bushels of the finest ears of the crop, which have been carefully traced and hung up. Gentlemen who may wish to furnish themselves with this kind of corn will please to apply to Mr. Whitney, who also will have the dispositon of a few bushels of Kohan potatoes raised by the editor of the Visitor. We copy the following from the Cheshire Farm er for October : The Brow7i Corn. — It will be recollected that we previously have given some account of a kind of corn denominated the " Brown Corn." We pro- cured last spring, one and a halfbushels of this corn of Mr. Brown, and planted one acre with it, and sold the rest. Our acre did very well, producing, as was judged by many farmers who saw it, not far from forty bushels. As we picked a part of it for seed, and fed out some without measuring, we are not able to give the exact amount, though it would not vary much from forty bushels. It is a large eight rowed corn, and very early — a specimen of it may be seen at this office. We exhibited some of it at the last meeting of the society in this county, and find it took very well with the farmers in this section. We have already had orders for some ten bushels of it for seed. Concluding that what we raised would go but little way in supplying the demand, and desiring not again to be treed with corn, we proceeded per- sonally to the farm of Mr. Brown, a distance of 95 miles, examined his field, and purchased so m"ich of his corn as he would spare, suitable for seed, which in due time we shall have on hand for the accommodation of farmers in this section. A few days since we received the following let- ter from Mr. Brown, which we take the liberty to publish . Moult07iborovghj (Long lsland)Oct. 19(/i, 1839. B. Cooke, Esq., Dear Sir : — I harvested my corn last week, and have a fine lot of seed traced in fine order. On account of tracing so much, I could not measure it iu the usual way, but had it weighed by the man appointed to measure crops for premiums. The whole crop on the acre, in ears, weighed 8051 lbs. We shelled both of the traced and the untrac cd, to get the amount in bushels — of that which was traced 70 lbs. made a bushel; of that which was not traced GS 3-4 lbs. made a bushel — whole a- mount 116 bushels. We first went over the piece and selected all that was suitable for seed, which was ever one half in weight. Mr. Lamprey measured his in the usual way, by- measuring all in a basket and shelling one basket- full, and had 131 bushels, for which he obtained the first premium. Mr. Pilsbury, on Cow Island, meas- ured his in the same way and had 130, and took the second premium, there being but two premiums of- fered by the society. But the committee on crops, considering the exact manner in which I obtained the measurement, and superior quality of the speci- men which I presented, recommended in their re- port to award me a premium which was accepted, and I obtained a premium for the excellence of my corn. It seemed to be the opinion of many before harvest, that 1 should have the most on an acre, but the season being more suitable for their ground, it being dryer than mine, partly accounts ior the re- sult, and the manner they measured, which cannot be an exact as that of weighing, will also partly ac- count for it. By ploughing in the manure very deep, I did not probably get so much of the strength of it ns if the season had been dryer, but I would not discourage the pratice of deep ploughing, and well mixing the manure with the soil. Istil! think it the best way ; if some seasons we do not get so mucii of its strengh, we retain tiie manure and en- ricli the soil. I am yours with respect, JOHN BROWN, 2d. Three Hills Farm, near Albany, Oct. 5, 1S39. Berkshire Hogs. I. Him., Esq. — Dear Sir : — I observe in your re- marks in the last number of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, on the Berkshire hogs, in possession of the family of Shakers at Canterbury, that you say "they are not so large boned and long bodied as some other breeds," &c. Now, sir, the first posi- tion, viz : that 'Hhey are not so large boned" I am willing to admit; but that " they are not so long i>odied," I cannot accede to. I think you must have made up your mind, on a casual inspection, and did not measure, or take into consideration, the great depth of body, which gives them rather a compact appearance. In England they were formerly considered as third in point of size ; but first as quick feeders. J 62 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. and quality of meat, and more particularly their hams, which are larjrp in proportion to the carcase, lean, juicy and tundnr. 1 have just hcon in my piggery and measured three and the following is (he result : "Jim Crow," a Berkshire boar 18 months old, in good condition, measures from his nose to the root of his tail, 5 feet — uroand his body, back of hisfore legs, 4 feet and 4 inches. **Sam Slick," an imported Berkshire boar, 15 months old, in good store condition, measures from nose to root of tail, 5 feet 4 inches — girths back of fore legs, 4 feet 1 inch. "Straitly," one of my breeding sows, aged, in low condition, having nursed a litter of nine pigs, measures from nose to root of tail, 5 feet one inch — ffirths 4 feet 2 inches. That they attain great size, we have " proof a- bundant." I could cite several accounts, published in the Cultivator, where Ihey have grown up to five, six and even to over nine hundred lbs. when dressed. In a letter from a gentleman in Kentucky, it is -stated that a boar three years old, was estimated to Veigh eight hundred lbs. He took several silver cups as prizes for tlie " bist bora-^" at several Fuirs in that State. He was purchased here when apiij. The Shakers at Watervleit lately sold a Berk- shire sow, a daughter of one of my sows, (the one whose portrait you have copied from tiic "Genesee Farmer,") with nine pigs for $150, and one of lier sow pigs, two years old, for ^100. The old sow is computed to weigh between five and six hundred pounds. The demand for pigs has been so great, tliat I have not been enabled to give them a fair trial. I have still in my possession three of the "origin- al imported hogs," and several breeding sows of their produce. "Sam SlicU" is an imported bo^»r, from a different family of tiie old importation, and bids fair to make one of the largest of the breed. His hoad and ears are smaller in proportion to his body, and he is much lighter colored. 1 have re- fused for him, in August last, $120. If we can only breed tliem white, they will be the nc plus ultra of the hog tribe. I am, sir, v/ith much respect. Your obedient servant, CALKB N. BEMENT. For tlie Fannet's Mnalhly Visiior. Gofi'stoM'n. N. H. GoFFSTowN is a large townsliip, situated at the north-eastern extremity of Hillsborough county, on the western banks of Merrimack river, in the 42d degree of north latitude, and contains about 25,000 acres; bounded north by Dunbnrton, west by Weare and New Boston, south by Bedford, and ^ast by Merrimack river, which separates it from Manchester, in the early settlement of the State, this township of land was granted to the Rev. Thomas Parker of Dracu', Mass. and forty-five others, among whom was Col. John Goff of Bed- ford, from whom it derived its name : it was incor- porated in 1761. This town comprises almost all the varieties of soils from the hard clay to the light sand. Its trees and shrubs are nearly as variegated. Here can be seen the verdant intervale stretching along the borders of the Merrimack. Above this, at the centre of the town, are extended plains, whic!i, once considered unfit i'or cultivation and but a waste, are now made, by the skill and persevering industry of its liardy inhabitants, to yield abundant crops ; and liere too are to be found large swells of elevated ground : these are mostly on the borders of the town, with much fine land for cultivation. The wood and tim- ber here is principally chestnut, oak, pine, birch; rock-maple and hemlock occupyinii the valleys be- tween. These valleys are watered by small wind- ing rivulets teeming onward to the larger streams below. The soil is peculiarly suited to fruit trees, and the apple grows spontaneously ; yet for some years past the farmers have too much neglected this branch of husbandry in grafting, trimming, &c. not that I would say the town is destitute of fruit, for it would be but just to state it would not suffer in comparison with any town in the State. Some have taken great pains and procured the finest fruit, and are now reaping a rich reward for their labors. Gardening will soon be an object worth attending to. The growing up of the village at the east part of the town, called Amoskeag, which promises ere long to be one of the largest inland towns in the United States, furniaives strong inducements to at- tend to this branch of farming. This town is watered by Piscataquog river and its many tributaries, on which river there arc many ine mills. This river supplies water for a woolen IMory at the Wett village, where is manufactnred **woolen satinelte" to considerable extent. Here are also other mills and useful machinery. "Black Bronk," so called, from the dark color of its waters, has its rise in Dunbarton, and parses through the nortii-easterly part of this town, on which there are many useful mills. This brook was once the re- sort of the Indians. Oams thrown across the brook to form basins for catching fish, — figures cut in the rocks — stone arrows and gouges, *Itc., leave traces of their skill and industry. Near the Jones Pond is a singular stone called the " Diamond Rock." This rock is completely poised on two rocks about twelve feet from the ground, and would shelter ten or fifteen men : it is covered with a species of dia- monds, and would weigh twenty tons. Near the north line of this town, about equi-distaut from east to west, is a large ledge of rocks, called "Rat- tlesnake ledge," from the large number of rattle- snakes that lived around it. These, however, were entirely exterminated by the inhabitants building fires more than fifty yeara ago. This ledge forms a front of most imposing appearance on tlie south of more than a hundred feet perpendiculaTly. The north side rises by a regular ascent, from an an- gle of about 45 degrees. The top is covered with trees and shrubbery. This town abounds with singular ledges, rocks and stones, and difi'erent colored earths, among which may be found many curiosities, which might prove a fruitful as well as delightful field to the scliolar and geologist. I must here notice a tract of land lying at the north part of the town, called "Tebbetts Hill," so named for Col. Tebbetts, who made a survey and excursion some eighty years since. This is eleva- ted ground, being as it were a village of hills, af- fording two or three fiirms to the swell. The soil is rich, producing the finest wheat and other grains. It has ever proved fine land for corn : its elevation places it beyond the reacJi of early frosts. Its soil is congenial to all kinds of fruit trees. This place commands a fine prospect, and for tlie salu- brity of its air and healthy breezes, would vie with any other portion of New England. One swell seems to rise partly by another, with Intervening vales, with here and there alovely brook, the whole mantled in ^'living green," presenting a romantic and beautiful landscape. Here too are in this town two mountains, called the Uncoonocks, (woman's breasts.) Tliese lie in the south-west ptTt, and are principally covered with wood and tiniher. They are seen at a great distance in difi'erent directions, being always designated by their peculiar relative position and shape. On the top of one is a small pond of clear water, which fiows continually. This town lias lontj been noted fur furnishing masts for vessels, and while under the colonial gov- ernment, some of the finest masts i'or the British navy were taken from itand transported to the sea- board. Aged people have stated that they have known trees for masts so large, that it required from sixty to ninety yoke of oxen to draw them. These trees were marked in the woods by the King's oflicer, witli what was then termed the " King's broad R." (a character resembling the letter A) and a heavy fine was imposed upon any one who should cut them for an}' other purpose. Tliese trees were selected v.-henever the King's ofiicers chose, and without making the owners of tjie land any remuneration for them. This town is J4 miles from Concord, about 18 from Amherst, and y.bout G5 from Boston, Mass. THOMAST. North Gofl'stown, N. H. July, lt?3;». Apple and Fr;iit Orchards. We have nowhere seen finer apples, pears and plums than were exhibited before the Agricultural Society of Cheshire, at their late exhibition. Mr. Isaiah Wilder of ^Ceene, presented the finest speci- mens of plums of the kinds called Cowe's Golden Drop and Duane's Purple. The same gentleman also exhibited magnificent api)les, among which was a kind called the Monstrous Pippin. Mr. Sam- uel Woodward, jr. of Gilsum, exhibited several specimens of splendid apples, among which were the Golden and Pomwater Sweetings, and the Lou- don and Baldwin apple. This last kind, which de- rived its name from the lateLoammi Baldwin, sen. of Woburn, Ms. is more generally admired by the lovers of good apples than any other kind put up tor winter use. But the most elegant, most invit- ing specimen of fruit at the exhibition, was pre- sented by Mr. Samuel White of Marlborough. — This town, it will be recollected, embraces a part of old Monadnock itself; and is situated on the highest, coldest point of the back-bone ridge of New Hampshire: yet no climate of thu "sweet South" ever produced fruit of a finer flavor, great- er size, or more attractive to the eye or grateful to the palate, than the Fears of Mr. White, which sold at auction on the spot at prices from six to twelve and a half cents each. The orchtirds in the interior of New England have been sadly treated for the last half a dozen years. In the commendable zeal to make our pop- ulation more temperate, war has been waged a- gainst the apple-trees, and some of the finest orch- ards have been razed to the g-ound : in other cases the trees have been neglected and left a prey to cattcrpillars, canker worms and the browsing of cattle, or else from neglect of the friendly pruning knife to divest them of suckers and diseased limbs, have gradually deteriorated both in quantity and quality of the fruit. Now if the consumption of cider had grown into entire disuse, all the apple- trees that ever stood on the ground at anyone time would not be too many for the profitable use of the inhabitants of New England. If apples, unfit to be eaten or used in various ways for the use of man, were produced in quanti- ties, it is ascertained that they may be advantage- ously converted into food for brute animals — -for swine, cattle and horses. But there is not a tree producing bad apples that may not by grafting, in the course of live or six years, be made to produce plentifully the best of fruit. This fruit does now, and will for years to come, bear a high price. In the vicinity of Boston, the venders go about among the farmers and pay readily, taking the apples from the fields, three dollars a barrel, containing little more than two bushels, for Baldwins. As far in the country as this place, good winter apples sell for two dollars the barrel. In the yard, we believe, of Mr. Gould at Henniker, in the month of Octo- ber, we saw two trees at a distance, on which were apples a])pearing to be the blue pearmain, which would measure eight to ten barrels each. Now what growth can be more profitable than the apple- tree which in a single season shall yield twenty dollars .-* The true method of making an apple or any oth- er fruit orchard productive, is to cultivate and ma- nure the ground as for any other crop. An orch- ard should he kept in almost constant tilth. Taken when young, the tree may be so constructed with the use of the pruning knife as to interfere very little with the use of the plough, and so that almost any vegetable crop may grow under and a- mong the trees. On ground well cultii'ated, fruit trees will invariably grow larger and fairer. If the prospect of raising an orchard to those in advanced life look discouraging, we say unto all surh that the man who has strength to labor does not live who is too old to plant and rear a fruit or- chard. With careful cultivation on rich ground in favorable positions, an apple orchard will grow up to bearing in less than half the time that it would if left to itself and exposed to the clippings cf cat- lie and the inroads of destroying insects. We may plant a nursery, and in two years the young tree will be fit for budding by inoculation ■ in two years more it will be ready to transplant, and in two more the tree will begin to bear. An aged relative liv- ing on the p'remiscs where the editor was born, which premises long since our recollection had not more tlian two or three apple-trees of any kind fit for eating, lately showed us over the flourishing or- chard, planted by his own hands on a few acres a- bout the ohl mansion, which orchard has ibr the last fitteen or twenty yars produced from one to five hundred barrels of grafted Baldwin and russet apples, paying the interest on this crop alone of from tlirte to five hundred dollars an acre. The old gentleman plucked from a favorite tree apples which it had borne several years, the grafts of which were by liim there placed when bis witi', now de- ceased, told him it was probably too late for them ever to witness their bearing : yet, he informed us, she did live long enough to eat of the apples in suc- cessive seasons, and he had lived after her for sev- eral more years to eat of the same tree ; and now, at the age of seventy-seven years, being able not only to mount the ladder and pick his apples from the trees, but to take up his barrel of apples and place it in the cart by main strength, he is still like- ly to witness the annual production of fruit from the same tree ten, fifteen and by possibility twenty years longer. Rohn u Potatoes. To mij friends of the Journal of Commtrce. As you have shown a laudable zeal in exposin-T all humbvgs^ and classed Thorhurn's Tree Corn and Rohans* as such, I will leave it for more success- ful growers than myself to speak of the former, but of the latter, I offer you the result of my first plant- ing. Last spring I bought of G. C. Thorburn /m// a pecli ofRohan potatoes, cut them into single eyes, made holes in mv garden about four feet apart each way, put in manure, planted two eyes in each hill, Tf h ^?^ "l^ little raised. The wl.ole number of h lis 348. These I kept clean by hand hoein-- p'l- bv .nH M '"'''" '"'-^ ^'' '"'" fill'-'' fi-om => wor- patrons. But all are not thus fortunately situated . There are thousands all over the eastern State^ who are barely able to live, and can have no bet er prospect ,„ the-uture; who could in a few ye„s by emigrating in companies and thus sec^riC a neighborhood of fnends, and eoncentratm. "heir ' Wnh T'"! '""'^'^I'^^P^nd fertile Innds^of the Wabash, make themselves independent l„r l,fe _ •luff o'fhfr ''•';■ "'7 "'■fl'J, ^--^1-Se -on.e of their stall of liie, for Gov. Hill's granite to build them- se yes palaces ; and for editor's labor to pass away , their leisure moments. The man of thou^^tnds, may hnd his comfor on the delightful Hudson ; but the young man of limited means must continue to tug at the oar of incessant labor through life's longe.sf ' th?W I " ™ "'■'«"'"''''' "'■'"'^ in "the "valley of he c^! M ' '" ^^^ ^''"'' "'"> "'<' '""■■'• industry he could acquire an independence for life The ?ear t"];:' r 'i'' "^"^"' 1'"" ""'•'■ '"^»5'""y than real. The irst crop pays for clearing and fencinn- ■ . so that the hope of reword dispels despair ; a" d the new beginner ,n the nnl,Urne.s will look g ac amid the solitary place which his industry and fki hZt made to blossom like the rose Young Men I be net induced to tarrv amid the ~ banks, monopolies, oppressions, and hi.l -priced in I ;?nH "'" P°V"^-"''^ -«t- but cIub"to'Xr and .vend your way to the alluvial bottoms Sf the Wabash with th,. spirit of our pilgrim fathers le , lermined to build yourselves a h!me w erenone" can molest or make ynu .-uVaid. In a i^.y e irs vou may return to the scenes of your past day's a id'Ie .vour faint hearted friends who da'^ed no a'ec mnt n.t' you, that you have reaped the rich rewarTnf 'HKlustry aud perseverance.' And no doub "on wi 1 receive he happy and hearty coii^ratulatinns of"l e J-a,r, whose warm afTeclious may then be easi v von, as they do instinctively love the hold ai d en^ ^terprising, and despise the timid and faint hear.ed. ' Poughkeepsie, October inh, isis^^^^^^^' cat'?°f!;'r!!"'^ be proper to premise that the advo- 'uhJ.i 7="^''°" '° ""-^ ^^^' '"^^ entirely mis- taken the dimensions of the "purse" of the "Ex Governor," who has perhaps suffered more in purse from too great facilities of credit than many of h s neighbors who have always been less iidebt if •they have not been connected in so extensive bl' ness. He has, even at this time, far less reason ''stav\°tr '"'"T^ '° ^^^°<^^te 'and c y up'Te' pemfen f°'"' '"'''7'': "'=" ''""<^^^ds of^the'^^nde- ease and independence, he would be williuff to ev hatist the strength which remains to the afternoon of life in those labors of the l^eld which have been at once to them the source of health, wealth and true comfort. But jMr. Flagler says " there are thousands all over the eastern states who are barely able to live and who can have no better prospect-in the future,' who won d m a fe^v years by emigrating in compa^ nies and thus securing a neighborhood of friends and concentrating their small means in the cheap and fertile lands of the Wabash, make themselves mdependent for life." Wc appeal to every intelli! gent citizen who has travelled extensively in the West for the truth of our assertion, when vve say there IS a much greater proportion of the people resident at this time beyond the Niagara rive'^ and the A eghany ridge "who are barely able to live," than thei-e is m the poorest of the New England btates A greater proportion of the whole present popu a ion of the fertile West will encountel- mo^e destitution and poverty through life than the pres- lu^r'" "■"?.'''^'1,'''''°'"" °n the soil of New Eng- case ' "'"""" *'™"' ''"^ necessity of tlie The co,st of ajourney to Michigan, t.o the valley of the Wabash, orto Wisconsin, to most New Eno! land men vvith a family, with the outfit necessary to, his and their subsistence until he can procu-e a "To!" "''»;,<'''«^P ^-nd fertile lands" to which he cien^ n'l ,\ •=°"^'^nie means to an amount sufFi- cient to lay the foundation of his and their compe- tence and independence in the neighborhood from winch he started. The "mere pittance" derived from "inces,,ant labor" in New England will not be found so co.ntem,ptible as some apprehend when compared with the vast products of the West No one expects that crops of corn and wheat will nrov. there without putting Uiem into the earth : and it is at least a question with us whether a greater value from an equal amount of labor may nSt be derived from cultivation of the soil in New England than from the very best soil of the West. MeS of capital there may cultivate their hundreds and their thou-' sands of acres with the use only of teams of oxen and horses; but the value of the crops there if raised to sell, is scarcely ever greater in proport on to the persona labor than the lesser crops in quan- tity produced here. The poor man without capital can procure much more ofthe necessaries and com- forts of life fi-om tilling the soil or other labor here than he can there. Such a man, if he has credit to hire money sulhcient for an outfit and to keep soul and body together until the first crop should be ob- tained in the "and of promise," would find him- self embarrassed with this additional burden of debt 'h -Tm ' V° "'P'^''^ ""'' disconrao-e him for years should he he so fortunate as to survive Ihenf: hs children after him, if necessity should teach them o be industrious and enterprising, 'mi.ht live in that precise age of every new country that should be the most prosperous; and of course the chance would Ifc increased that they might "make them selves independent for life." There is a kind of population e.vnctly adapted to ' the fair regions of the West, which is, and un'doubt ed y will continue to be, furnished to that country w, liout depopulnting New England, by holding foilh inducements foremisration which shall prov? ^ be dlusory and deceitful. This population is the mo e m.e ligeiit cbss ofpeopie m Europe who iiave means to bring Ihem to this country and to support the 1 until they can bring a portion of their land^ nto cultivation. We have frequent .notices of people of t nsdccription "emigrating in companies" and settling m separate communities from Holland Germany, Switzerland and other principalities of i>uiope riiese emigrants are tempted here by our free institutions, which alone would be an induce- ment for al who live under despotic governments o change their position,.. Pnch con'^muniTie: .,3 these, with ample means of subsistence, will do much better to fill up the f^rst. settlements of the West, than any "company" of emigrants from the eastern States who are possessed of means before they set oat "barely able to live" upon. Many such m companies and otherwise, have spent every tliino^ at hist in making the journey: and, sick in dis.ap! pointment after they arrived at the land of promise often sick and emaciated with the chills and fevers' of the climate have begged their way back; glad to return to ali the discouragements which this poorer, harder soil had affordecT, luJJ'T '"■' '^''''^;^°f people who, if they will yen- Uire he risque of diseases of the climate, may do well to emigrate to the West, Professional youn. men, lawyers, physicians, and perhaps clergymem may^tand a chance of more immediate intr^oduc- t on to business and of the promotion which results I rom success ,n a new and growing country than they can in an old. As there is mor? litigation and I IC3 other, so the lawyer will find most business • and as df "nla"r' 'ir",""'' 'Snes, more sickness , . d orofi, tf>' '" '''f P''3'^"=i''n will find more sure . Id pofitable employment; and even the cler-p:-;se, who have nearly dissi- co mini rVl"''"^ '" ""'P'"= "' *°° ""'<='> »"d be- coming rich m a hurry, tempered -down to the an- 1.ic,pat,on of rational gains from rational mean may perhaps better repair their losses and Jm property by going to the West than by tarrvinf le neighborhood where it will be mortilV n'^ o h"r fir^-r\ r "•""•''■- '''"' '^' ^'^^^''°" whiih^a^ men first startmo- point. - After all there'is an objection weightier than all others to the removal of the people of New Eno- land in mass to the West; and this is, the nea"fv absolute certainty that all who go there wiU hav^ to encounter repeated attacks ot>hills and fevers and severe bilious complaints before they beclme 11 i'oT W- ^^ ■ "'^"T ^' ""^ ''"'' '° Michigan or I no,s, Wisconsin or Iowa, there is at leastlin e- Tet r n "'" ""!=""' ^'" "°t survive fi4 ^eais Nay, old as are the settlements of Ohio, the wo last persons we hi-.ve seen ft-om that State re turned with the cadaverous, pale faces of apparent consumption. They came back to get their heath- and we were happy to be told that althou.l, » flesh had retreated until their bodies had b°ecc m tT,ro.|: ""'""^''i'^" '!'' ''"''""'•^ perspiration d ion^the^'^7 looked very like a speedy dissoiu- t on, they only wanted the fresh mountain air and the pure granite water of rough New England 'to res.ore them to perfect health in the course of two or three months. A young gentleman from this county,who had finished a collecriate educa 10 and who had been to Ohio two years, n^et us ! M^ °! '"'^P'-e-'^ent writing "cadaverous and pale " .ie said Ohio was a fine State, as it nndoubtcnily is -that It was fertile and flourishing ; but he said ? was not after all, ^vhat it was represented to bV and tha almost all such as went there w Ih lai.ej e.xpeclat,ons were disappointed. He had been ck nearly 11 1 the time he had been absent a d i» bought himself to be so clearly accliina ed hat west, but not to the jireeise spot where he Ind .=nf fered, when his health should be re tared afle h J ! -rival at his own paternal roof in New Hainpshi c - 1 .iL c.se 01 a ivorthy physician doing a good busi- ness and having accumulated a handsome estate by p.ac ismg man e.^trmsive roach in a healthy region neon 1. ^?T^ 0' .Merrimack, is ^vell known to^he for? \, " "'^'g'''^">'l>oo'l- That physician, be- - fo he attained to middle age, sold h,s stand 'and farm, reinoved with Ins wife and family, and settled ' down, at Peoria in Illinois, where in the cotirse of a single year he took the lead of all others in his pro! fesion : he had here extensive business, more than he could attend to. He was called In al directions by night and by day, for every body was s ck and needed medicine. But he .soon took the d .ea"e Innsclf, and others in bis family were attacked ;hs lef career wrs arrested, and a few short mon s witnessed the committal of both husband and w ft to an untimely grave. If no other objection than the diseases which are Iniost sure to attack the emigrant to all new set t lements of the West existed,nhis alone wm hi in-' duce ail such mhabitants of New England as now en,oy tolerable competence and prospe^rity to pat^se before they changed their position. But .rim wruer we have quoted, has attributed to u the in" I New '"y?"'r of contentment with remain gfn New England with that reason existing in his own fancy alone_a reason that we possess fesoirces to purchase "the abundant products of the West'' from means not participated by the farmer and abo e " generally-we do not hesitate here to take tl e hi o!-id o-ronnd that the men who have not abundance the small farmer who is not free and independe" t^'anl he person wno labors at day's works for his ^a v read, have a better chance for obtaining a lively ood and the means of enjoyment to remtin where bey are,than they do to remove to the West, even to the cheap and fertile alluvion bottoms of the Wa 1-64 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. bash '. While we have no disposition to condemn the "bold and enterprising" who remove there, we cannot admit the sequen.-e thai all who do not go there are "timid and faint hearted." 1 he man who refuses a challenge to a duel may be stigmatized as timid, when it will require a greater degree of mor- al courage to repress than to indulge the passion for fin-ht": so tlie man who encounters and over- Gome's all obstacles at home and advances to wealth by his own exertions in a country so unpronllsln^r as this, may claim credit for at least equal courage and enterprise with hiin who makes a dash at the far West, in the prospect that a rich and fertile soil will at once give him competence without the ne- cessity for further effort or enterprise. It five years industry and exertion are only ne- cessary to make a man independent in the valley of the Wabash,is thewriterqiiite sure that anequal effort will not do as much in many parts oi New Eno-Iaud.' The face of the whole country is so in- viti°ne again subjected to the wear and tear of elemental strife. The TEKTi.iRV EPOCH was of a milder character, and but little disturbance of the solid rocks appears to have been effected during those submersions, when the plastic clay, calcareous marls and strata of perfectly preserved marine shells, were deposit- ed. These scdemcntary matters appear to have re- sulted from a slovf and gradual deposition of clay and other fine sedementary ftatter, which beneatli the sea, became soon inhabited by numerous shell fish, and were imbedded in succession as we now find them, since the elevation of the land, above the encroachments of the sea. When we consider the several periods which 1 have briefly mentioned, it will at once reveal to a- ny reflecting person, that the world has been, dur- ing tlie lapse of ir.conceivable ages, subject to great revolutions in its geological organization. At one time, the rocks are worn down into soils, and bear their vegetation — then continents were sunk in the ocean's depths, and subsequently were raised a- gain, the soils having in the mean time, been con- verted, into rocks. By such considerations, we soon learn to respect tlie antiquity of the world ; and knowing that such records are legibly written xin the tablets of stone, we feel a natural desire to read and understand their meaning. Ancient allxjViai. soils, or riLtivicji. Subse- quent to the epochs of which 1 have spoken, we fiftd that another scene of violence disturbed the tranquillity of the great deep, and the northern ocean was liurled, with its seas of ice, over the land, sweeping the loose materials from tlie very mountain tops, and depositing them far south of their former resting places — while the grooves, scratches and water marks upon the surface of the fixed ledges, shew the direction in which the cur- rent passed. By ?uch a flood, (proofs'bf which are nearly universal in Maine, as elsewhere,) the soils were transported and commingled, so that we rare- ly find a soil similar to the rocks beneath it, but identical with that derived from other rocks, which occur to the north and northwest. Having already cited so many localities in proof of this position, 1 shall not here recapitulate, and the intelligent ob server will find so many iilustrations in Maine, to satisfy his rational curi*.)sity on tlie subject, that he need not long remain in duiibt as to the facts. Modern ALLUVIAL soils. The present cau-es which act upon the solid rocks, are both chemical and mechanical. Oxygen, from the atmosphere and from water, is constantly effecti.ig some portions of the work, especially where the rocks con- tain pyrites. Rivers, torrents, brooks, and even rain, are gradually sweeping away the solid rocks, by their continued action ; but mure pov.'erful than all others, is tlie action of freezing water, which, by an almost irresistibly expansive force, rends all rocks, into which water can find a passage, and crumbles down tliose which are poi'ous in their structure. Upon the coast, tlie sea, ever beating the solid rocks and hurling the loose fragments with the force of battering ordnance against the sliores, wears away the hn^ges, the detritus being either spread out on the bottom, or sifted up at the mouths of harbors and estuaries. Alluvial soils are produced by the transportation of fine particles, by aqueous agency, from higher sources, and are especially brought down and de- posited during freshets, when a river bursts its con- fines, and being diminished in its velocity, depos- its its sedementary matter over the intervales. The force of wind is also constantly removing fine par- ticles of soil from one district to another, and the dust of ages is of greater importance than is com- monly behoved. Enough has been said on thissub- ject to excite inquiry, and to stimulate others to look over the pages of nature, for their own s.Ttis- faction, and this is all that can be expected from introductory remarks, such as I now ofi'er to the reflecting observer. It must not be expected that any one locality is to furnish all the data for theirelucidation of a gen- eral theory ; but a discriminating eye will quickly select such as may bear upon the sul ject in ques- tion. Books, relatinjT the observations and experi- ence of others, should also serve to guide those who may engage in this study. In order to examine a soil, we must become fa- miliar with the mineral ingredients which enter in- to the composition of .ordinary rocks, and learn to discriminate them, even when masked by a cover- ing of stain from metallic oxides and vegetable hu- mus. By practice, this is easily done, where the particles arc distinctly visible to the eye, but when they arc reduced to a fine powder, then recourse must be had to the microscope, and to the separa- tion by agitation with water. In the field, there is but little difficulty in ascertaining the mineral in- gredients of soils, for there we can alwaj's discov- er some places, v.iiere they may be distinctly seen. In case the particles are too small for ocular exam- ination, then we must resort at once to chemical tests. In all cases where the quantitative deter- mination of the various ingredients of soil is un- dertaken, the work is ex'remely difficult, and re- quires a long course of experiments, which can on- ly be made in a well furnished laboratory; but it of\en happens that some more simple question is to be settled, which is all that is required for direct- ing the amendments or cultivation of the farm. Such, for instance, as the presence and quantity of vegetable matters, and of an)' salt or lime. These substances, any in<>"enio;is farmer may learn to sep- arate, or at least determine their presence or ab- sence, which may be suiricient to direct his opera- tions in the cultivation of his farm. A minute a- nalysis, however, is too ditlicult and complicated a task for any one who is not a professed chemist, having at his disposal delicate balances, crucibles of silver and platina, with all the other usual instru- ments of analysis, and a complete set of all the vari- ous reagents and tests, in a state of absolute purit}'. To furnish such a laboratorj', the farmer would have to expend tov much money. Considering how seldom he would hove to make use of it, he will find it vastly more economical to avail himself of tl;e sliill and materials of those who are duly pre- pared for such operations. While encraged in the geological survey of the State, I have always considered it my duty to make chemical analyses of such soils as were in any way remarkable, and I shall herewith present some of the results — such as will prove valuable to agricul- tuiists. I shall also describe the method of making a chemical examination of soils, for the purpose of aiding those who may feel desirous of learning the art. Analysis of soils. We have first to inspect the particles of the soil in question, in order to as- certain its principal mineral components, so as to learn to what class it belongs. The method of do- ing this has been described in my Second Annual Report. The soil must then be dried, either by the sun's rays, or by spreading it upon paper in a warm and dry room. It is then ready for mechanical sep- arations by seives. Having separated the pebbles, sticks, and coarse particles, we take a portion of the finest powder that passes the gauze seive, and agi- tate it with water, pour off the suspended parti- cles, and inspect the remainder, to discover the fine mineral components, which may be done easily by means of the microscope. The quantities of mat- ter suspensilile and not suspensible in water, are as- certained by drying and weighing the powders col- lected, on a filter. The above operations belong to the mechanical separation of the particles, and shed much light upon the nature of the soils. Chemical analysis. After the above opera- tions, wc have to make a chemical analysis ; and for this purpose, one hundred grains of the fine powder which passed the gauze seive, is to be weighed out and plae.ed upon a piece of sheet pla- tina, or even upon a quarter of a sheet of letter pa- per, and is to be dried at a temperature of 300 deg- grees F., or not above that point where white paper begins to turn brown by heat. It is then freed from water, and by weighing it a second time, the loss in weight indicates its quantity, (a) The next operation is intended to determine the quantity of vegetable matter in the soil ; and for that purpose, the soil, freed from water, (a) is plac- ed upon a slieet of platina, or in a platina capsule, and introduced into a muffle, or small oven, which is then heated red hot, until all the vegetable mat- ter is burned out of the soil, (the odor while burn- ing may be ascertained by smelting the gass given out by means of a glass tube, placed over the burn- ing soil,) and if animal matter be present, the odor will be similar to that of burning feathers, while the vegetable matter smells like that of burning peat. After the vegetable and animal matters are burned out, weigh the soil again, and the loss will indicate the quantity of organic matter (b) The soil is now ready for the next step, which is to ascertain the quantity of soluble matter it con- tains. Place it in a thin glass flask, (a clean oil flask will answer,) and pour upon it a sufficiency of distilled water to cover it to the depth of half an inch ; then pour in an ounce of pure muriatic acid, and boil it for an hour. Then dilute with water, and filter the solution through a folded double filter of India paper, placed in a glass or wedgewood ware funnel, collect the solution as it drops, in a glas phial or decanting vessel — wash the soil, which is all thrown on the filter, until the water passes tasteless. Remove the filter — dry it, with its con- tents— then separate the outside filter, and burn the inside one, with the soil which it contains, in the muflle,as before described. Burn also the out- side filter, the ashes of which must be weighed and deducted from the burnt soil and filter, (c) Weigh the insolulile soil, (c) and its loss indi- cates tlie soluble matter taken up by the muriatic acid. This serves as a check upon the next oper- ations, and will shew if any matter has escaped de- tection. The solution which had passed the filter, is now to be returned to the clean flask, a small quantity of nitric acid being added, to convert the oxide of iron into the per-oxide. It is next to be boiled for fifteen minutes, and then pure liquid am- monia is to be added in excess, so as to precipitate all the per-oxide of iron. The whole is now thrown on a double filter, as before, and the per-oxide of iron will remain upon it, while the solution passes the filter, and must be collected, as before described The per-oxide of iron, and the soluble alumina, are now together upon the filter. Wash v/ith water, until the solution passes tasteless ; then dry the fil- ters, separate one from the other, and burn tliem separately. Weigh one against the other, and tlie per-oxide of iron and soluble alumina will be oli tained. (d) From this, the alumina may be sepa- rated by a new attack— or it might have been tak- en from the iron, before weighing; the former op- eration being preferable. Tiiis operation is done^ by melting the alumina and per-oxide of iron in a silver crucible, with thrice its weight of pure pot- ash; then dissolve in water and add more pure pot- ash, until all the alumina is taken up, and the per- oxide of iron, remains pure ; filter, wash dry, ig- nite, and weigh — the loss is the alumina, (e) and the remaining matter is per-oxide of iron, (f) Tbe filtered solution,, after the separation of the oxide of iron an4 alumina, is now to be treated for lime, by means of the oxalate of ammonia, and a white preeipitato of oxalate of lime will form, if a- ny is present, and may be s«'parated after it has subsided, by filtr.ation. Wash, dry, ignite, to de^ THE*FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 167 stroy the oxalic acid — add a few drops of a concen- trated solution of carbonate of ninmonia — heat to dull redness, to expel tlio carbonate of ammonia in excess, and weigh; this is carbonate of lime, (o) Now add up the results, and if you have obtain- ed all the components of the soil, and have met with no loss, the sum will be exactly 100 grains. If there is any considerable loss, 3'ou must take an- other portion of the soil, and test it for other sub- stances, and repeat the analysis. It is seldom necessary to make a thorough anal- ysis of the matters insoluble in acids, since thev have not an immediate influence upon vegetation ; but to know tiie future state of the soil, it must be done. In that case, you must take the dry insolu- ble soil, grind it to the finest powder — weigh it a- gain to be sure you have not lost any of it — tlien mix it with four times its weight of pure carbonate of soda, and melt it in a platina crucible. After fusion, soften it with water, and dissolve the whole of it in dilute muriatic acid. Evaporate to entire dryness, in a glass or porcelian basin — stirring it towards the end of the operation, to prevent spat- tering; then, when it is entirely dry, moisten it with muriatic acid, and dissolve the soluble muri- ates in water. Boil — then filter the whole on a double filter, as before; W/'sh it for twentv-four hours with pure hot water — wliich passing tasteless, remove the filter, dry, separate the two filters, burn one against the other, and weigh ; the substance is a pure white powder, and is silica, (h) It ought to be weighed while it is warm, for it absorbs water hygrometricallv. From the filtered solutions, you are now to sepa- rate the alumina, (i) per-oxide of iron, (k) and lime, (1) as bef(_\"e described ; and if your results balance the amount operated upon, you have obtained all tiie products. If not, test your solutions for inaff- nesia, (m) manganese, (n) and for potash, (o) Test your alumina also, for pliosphoric acid, (p) Magnesia is detected by means of the phosphate of soda and ammonia solution most readily, with whicii it forms a white precipitate. Manganese is thrown down by carbonate of soda, from its acid solutions, in the state of a white powder, which becomes brownish black on burning. Potasii is tested by means of tlie solution of hydro-chlorate of platina and soda. The above is one of the most common analyses of soils, and there arc so many operations required, that not more than a dozen analyses could be made in four months, unless we could carry on several at a time, as we are able to do in a regular chemi- cal laboratory. Besides the above method, we have also to de- termine the quantity of matter soluble in water, in order to ascertain the soluble salts. For this pur- pose, take 1000 grains of the dry soil, and boil it in a glass bottle, with a pint of distilled water ; filter, and then evaporate one Iialf of the solution to dry- ness, and weigh the residue — re-dissolve it and test the nature of the saline matters. Test, also, the other half of the solution, separate the products, and weigh them separately. For the discovery of common salt, chloride of sodium, note whether cubic crystals formed in the evaporated solution, wliich is salt, (q) To detect the presence of any muriate, use a so- lution of pure nitrate of silver. If any such salt is j)r('SL'iit, you will have a thick curdy precipitate of chloride of silver. Collect it, wash, dry and fuse it in a counterbalanced porcelian capsule. Its weight denotes the quantity of muriatic acid, which is 25.36 per cent, of the clilonde of silver. Solu- ble chloride, (r) Any sulphate may be detected by the muriate or acetate of barvtes, which gives a white precipitate of sulphate of harytes. Oullect on a filter, wasli, dry, iguile, and weigli. It contains 34.37 per cent, of sulphuric acid, indicating a sulphate of some ba.ie. (s) The presence of any salt of lime, is detected by the solution ofoxaiale of ammonia, which gives a white cloudy precipitate of tiie oxalate of lime. Collect, burn, and weigh. You will have the quan- tity of carbonate of lime, (t) Potash and all its saline combinations, give a yel- low precipitate with the chloride of platina solu- tion, (u) Nitre is detected by deflagration with charcoal and by testing the result of potasli. (v) By referring to the letter against each step of the analysis, it will be seen whether the work is com- plete ; and it may then, be drawn up thus — the weight of each article being inserted opposite to its name : (a) Water of absorption. (b) Organic matter, animal ox vegetable. (c) Insoluble soil. (i>) Per-oxide of iron and alumina. (e) Alumina — separated. (f) Per-oxide of iron — separated. (n ) Carbonate of lime, (Ii) Silica. (i) Alumina. (k) Per-oxide of iron. (1) Lime. (m) Magnesia. (n) Manganese. (0) Potash. (p) Phosphoric acid. (q) Sea salt. (r) Soluble chloride. (s) Sulphate of some base. (t) Soluble salt of lime. (u) Potash, or any salt of that base. (v) Nitrate of potash, or nitrate of any alkaline base. The small letters refer to the operations subse- quent to the gross analysis, and are seldom requir- ed, excepting for the purpose of detecting the pres- ence of soluble saline matters, as descril)ed in an- other section. To ascertain the quantity of vegetable matter, so- luble in carbonated alkalies or ffc//tf, the following is the process proposed by Dr. Dana, with some es- sential modifications. Take one hundred grains of the fine soil, dry it at 300 deg. F., or until paper browns. Then place it in a flask, and pour upon it a solution of fifty grains of carbonate of potash, dissolved in four ounces of distilled water; boil it until it is satui'ated, then let the soil subside, and pour off the solution upon a filter. Add to the res- idue a similar alkaline solution, boil again, and pour off in a similar manner upon the same filter. If the last solution was colorless, all tVie soluble vege- table matter is tnken up, and the soil itself may now be washed out and thrown on the filter, and washed with boiling distilled water until it is taste- less. Dry the powder on the filter at 300 deg., weigh it, and the loss shews the quantit}' of vege- table matter, soluble in alkaline solutions. Burn the weighed residue, until all the remaining vege- table matter is consumed ; weigh again, and the loss is the insoluble vegetable matter. The Lolution which has passed the filter, is of the color of port wine, if it contains vegetable matter in solution. Take a portion of it, and neutralize the alkali by nitric acid ; then test it with a solution of nitrate of silver. It will give a dense precipi- tate of a grey color, wliich turns redish brown by exposure to light. Treat the alkaline solution with lime-water, in great excess, and you will then throw down a buff colored precipitate or geate, orulmate of lime. Wash this on the filter, with diluted acetic or muriatic acid, and you will remove the lime, and pure geine, or ulmic acid will remain. The iusolubl-: matter on the fir.'^t filter, may now be analyzed for its mineral elements, in the usual manner; but the salts will have been converted in- to carbonates. Thus, if gypsum was present, it will be found converted into carbonate of lime. The above process, suggested principally by Dr. S. Dana, v/as used by Professor Hitchcock, in the analysis of the soils of Massachusetts. It is a good method for the purpose above indicated, but the varyintj quality of the vegetable and animal mat- ters is not fully shown by it, nor by any other or- dinary method, the process by the deut-oxide of copper beinf^ requisite for the analysis of highly manured soils. In Maine, however, we have most- ly vegetable matters to deal witli, as the organic ingredients in soils, and this process is, therefore, applicable, and has been used by me in several a- nalyses, as above modified. Dr. Dana suggested the occurrence of sub-phos- phate of alumina in soils, and I found in one in- stance three per cent, of this matter in a soil from Wilton. It is highly probable that it has been over- looked by chemists, since it so closely resembles pure alumina, and precipitates with it. According to the above described processes, we have analyzed numerous soils from Maine, the re- sults being given below, and again resumed, in a tabular form, at the end of the Report. Is it best to transplant ^Hpph and other Fruit Trees in the Fall ur Spring? To several readers of the Monthly Visitor who have made of us this inquiry, we cannot find a more satisfactory answer than is contained in the follow- ing article From the X. V. Weekly Journal of Commerce. Taausplantiug Trees. I notice in your valuable journal, an article in which one of the editors opposes his experience to the notion of a Boston brother, in regard to the proper time for transplanting trees. It may not be amiss to state for the benefit of those farmers who despise book-learning, tJiat in this case, theory and fact agree. It is well known that all the food whioh plants draw from the soil, is absorbed by the ex- trcmcties of the root fibres, or rootlets ; and that tlie difiiculty of transplanting, arises from tiie im- possibility of preserving all those fibres, whatever care may be used in the operation. When a tree has been moved, it is deprived of a portion of its nourishment, till new fibres have been emitted from the roots in sufficien! numbers to supply the place of the injured ones ; and if many have been broken, or the tree is not able to replace them quickly, it languishes and dies. The best time for transplant- ing is evidently that at which plants are in the best state to emit new fibres, and best able to subsist with little nourisiiment from the earth; and the worst, that at which these conditions are reversed. In autumn, trees are employed in laying up a store of food for the coming year. As the leaves fall off, the sap thickens, deposites a saccharine sub- stance on the sides of its vessels, and finally entire- ly ceases to flow, and the tree becomes torpid and remains lifeless through the winter. This then ia not the time to transplant. Young trees may inp deed be taken up at this season, and having been kept indoors, may be set out again in the Spring, without danger. But it is quite a different matter to put a plant into the ground when all its powers are going to decay, audit is not able to form a sin- gle new fibre, or even to preserve those it already has. Except for the shelter from the cold which the dirt round its roots affords, it migiit as well be exposed to the winter on a bare rock. In Spring, however, the case is quite different. Then the plant derives its nourishment in a great measure from the saccharine matter deposited the preceding year, and is employed in putting out new fibres to absorb sap from the earth, and new leaves to elaborate it. If moved at this time, its means of living are hardly affected at all ; only its situation is changed. Ev- ergreens, however, may be transplanted at any time except when pci-fecting their fruit, as they have a constant flow of sap. If you will allow me, it may be well to mention some other results which follow from the principles mentioned ab't>ve. One of thest? relates to the prop- er time for cutting tlmb^^r. The winter is not that time ; for then the wood contains more soluble mat- ter than at any other season. It is the soluble, sac- charine matter contained in timber, which by its easy decomposition induces that of the woody fibre. The liquid sap evidently has nothing to do with it, for it is all dried out in ihe process of seasoning. What is the best time may admit ofa question ; but it must be after the saccharine matter has been ex- hausted in the Spring, and before it has begun to be deposited again in the Fall. Trees should also be pruned in the Spring, when new wood Is forming ; for then the wounds are soon healed; and the plants being in their most flourish- ing state, are best able to bear injury. But a wound made in the fall, remains open and exposed to the influence of air and water till the next season. For the same reasons grafting should be performed in the early part of the year, though not till the sap is in full flow. R. H. Finni Piltimatrs Joiiinal of October. Observations on the Ncav Haven Tornado. Bv Prof. Olmsted, of Yale College. Ontheolst of July, ]83!J, there occurred, on the western skirts of the city of New Haven, Ct. a tor- nado of the most violent class. The preceding morning had been cloudy and sultry, and immedi- ately previous to the tornado, a thunder storm seem- ed approaching from the west, attended by some appearance of liigh wind. I was, at the time, a- bout a mile eastward of the storm, observing the phenomenon from my chamber window. The clouds betrayed that singular agitation, which usu- ally forebodes a hurricane, and the vane of the neighboring steeple was constantly shifting its po- sition. A short time before the tornado commenc- ed, the wind blew fresh from the southeast, having been in this quarter during the preceding morning; it changed suddenly to the south, and in a moment more it was west, where it continued fixed. Ac- companying those changes a heavy rumblingnoise was heard, not unlike the passing of a long train of railway cars, which was audible in every part of the city. Such were the only fhcts of importance which I had an opportunity of observing at the time ; but the circumstances have proved unusually favorable for investigating the laws of the storm, occurring as it did at midday, and so near to us that we have been able to repeatour examinations of the grounds a number of times. Among those included within the limits of the tornado, were several accurate and intelligent observers, who marked the phenomena with much attention; and even those who were buried beneath the ruins of their houses, hav« oil 168 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. survived to tell tlieir story. In addition to these peculiar opportunities for ascertaining tlic facts re- specting tlie stovni, I have had tlie still greater ad- vantage of comparing my own observations with those of my friends, rrofessor Stanley, Mr. A. B. Halie, and Mr. E. C. Herriek, all of whojn have taken the gre.itcst pains to investigate the phenom- ena and laws of the tornado. Hence the facts which I have to state, are, 1 think, the result of bet- ter ojjportunities for observation, and of a more e- laborate and careful examination, than has been usual in storms ot' this class. In order to make our descriptions intelligible to strangers, it may be proper to premise that the city of New Haven is situated at the head of a bay, that sets up five miles from the north side of Long Isl- and Sound. It is built on a plain which is bound- ed on the west by a low range of hills, called the Woodbridge hills. At the northwestern and nortli- eastcrn angles of the town are the two celebrated bluffs, called West and East Rock, respectively, well known as the southern terminations of the chains of trap mountains, that e.\tend northward through Connecticut and Massachusetts. The storm commenced in the low ground at the eastern base of the Woodbridge hills. Its course was N. E. by E. across a level region occupied by farm- houses, cornfields, and gardens for a mile and a half. It then ascended an inclined plane to a higher level, and passed through a wood towards East Rock. Bounding over the emmence, it descended its eastern declivity, and lost itself in an extensive salt meadow that lies eastward of the mountain. Tliroughout this region its progress was indicat- ed by marks of the greatest violence. Nearly cv ery tree that came in its way through the open country, was prostrated or broken off; six houses, and a number of barns, were completely demolish- ed ; several other houses and barns were unroofed ; fields of corn, then just earing, were laid close to the ground ; and indeed the whole space over which the tornado had passed, presented one uni- form scene of ruin and desolation. In extent, this tornado appears to have been very limited. Its length did not exceed four miles, and its average breadth was only sixty rods, varying, however, a little at different places. Its duration at one place did not exceed half a minute, and its progressive motion may be estimated at 40 miles per hour. These estimates are made by comparing the impressions and statements of various individ- uiils who were within the limits of this storm. The appearance of the storm as it approached, was deliberately contemplated by numerous ob- servers who saw it coming over the plain. All de- scribe it as a strange cloud of terrific aspect, white like a driving snow storm, or light fog, and agitat- ed by the most violent intestine motions. It came suddenly upon them with torrents of water— "there was a rush — a crash — and it was gone." When first seen coming over East R-ock, it seemed lifted above the ridge of the mountain, but fell nearer to the earth as it descended the eastern <\^clivity, and renewed its work of destruction when it reached the plain. Let us now trace more particularly those facts which liave a bearing upon the laws which govern this storm. 1. The first great fact that strikes us, is, that all the trees and other ol)jects that mark the direction of the wind whicli prostrated them, are with very few exceptions, turned inwards on both sides tov.-- ards the centre of the track ; while near the cen- tre, the direction of the prostrate bodies is coin- cident with that of the storm. 2. On more minute inspection, we find prevail- ino- a remarkable law of eurrature. This is most favorably seen in corn fields, as tlie prostrate corn indicates the course of the wind at each spot, with great precision. The law is this. Commencing on tlie northern margin of the track, the stalks of corn are turned backward, that is, toward the S. E. • proceeding towards the centre of the track, their inclinations to the south become constantly less and less, turning gradually towards tiie course of the storm, until when we reach the centre, they lie to the N. E., exactly in the line ol the storm. This curvature is in all cases more observable on the northern, than on the southern side of the track. In the latter case, the stalks of corn lie more near- ly at right angles to the course of the storm, (but inclining forward ;) still, on reaching the centre, tliey turn to the northeast, and become coincident with that course. 3. Numerous examples are seen where the bod- ies as they fell towards the centr',- of the track, or after they had iallen, were turned farther round towards the direction in which the tornado was moving, that is, towards the northeast. 4. The ruins of buildings that were demolished, are scattered ia nearly a right line towards the cen- tre of the track; but they frequently are strewed I quite across the central parts, reaching in some in- stances almost to the opposite margin, in this case, they are often found covered with trees, and other bodies lying in precisely the opposite direc- tion. .^). In a fev,' instances very limited spots are found whore the prostrate bodies, as hills of corn, lie in all directions. Examples occur where, one portion of the same hill of corn is turned westward and an- other portion eastward. , In a garden near H.^ are a few rows of pole beans apparently untouched by the storm, while within a few feet on either hand, tlie most violent effects are e.vhibited. Near L., a barn was demolished, and a dove-cote scattered iu fragments, while a hen-roost which stood feeblv on blocks, was unharmed. — Large trees in the immediate vicinity were torn up by the roots. A house that stood ijetween I. and and L. was completely torn in pieces, leaving noth- ing but the southern half of the ground floor. In the room of this floor, a woman was washing, and another was at work in abasement room immediate- ly below, while her child was asleep in a cradle in a room above, at the northeastern angle of the house. They saw the tornado approaching ; the woman in the basement ran up and caugiit her child in her arms, and immediately afterwards found herself and child in an open field a few paces north of the house, the child having been carried only a few feet from the spot where they wore, while the mother was carried eighteen or twenty feet farther to the westward. The other woman meanwhile was swept from the floor where she was standing and carried northward and deposited in the cellar, the floor of the northern half of the house having been borne away along with other parts of the building. None of the partv were seriously injur- ed. A bureau that was in the room where the wo- man was washing, was carried half a mile to the eastward, and portions of it were found sticking in the sides of a barn, having penetrated the thick wall of plank. A silk cape was also taken from this house, and carried over East Rock to the dis- tance of three miles. In a barn that w*as blown down on the east side of East Rock, a boy that was on a load of hay in the barn was transported across the street and deposited in a neighboring field un- harmed. In other cases, however, forces seem to have act- ed with great violence upon the individual parts of bodies. Numerous instances occurred where hens were completely stripped of their feathers. A wag- on was taken up along with the shed in which it was standing. The shed was scattered in frag- ments, and the wagon was carried northward a hundred feet or more and dashed sideways against a barn, leaving a full impression of one of the wheels on the walls of the barn. Having here nearly rcachctl tlie centre of the tr.ick, it took a turn to the northeast and was deposited at the dis- tance of several rods in an exceedingly mutilated state, the top having been carried olf and not yet found, and the strong iron springs broken and bent in a manner that denoted an exceedingly violent action. No part of this violence is to be ascribed to the force with which it fell to the ground ; for it must have fallen very gently, since the ground was scarcely broken at all. The same fact was observ- ed in the case of trees and other hea\y bodies that were raised to the atmosphere and transported to a distance. They did not generally appear to have fallen with the ordinary force of falling bodies. These torces which acted upon tiie individual parts of a body olten appear to have acted in con- trary directions. The legs to the same table were found deposited at the distance of many feet from each other in diflerent directions ; and this was true also of the hinges of the same door. We examined diligently for evidence of an ex- plosive force acting on buildings from within, in consequence of a sudden rarefaction of the air on the outside of the building, agreeably to what is re- ported of the New Brunswick tornado, and of oth- er similar storms. We found but one case that fa- vored such a supposition. This was the case of a barn where tiie walls were thrown oui on every side, and without much apparent violence. *Tlie referf nces in tliis parasrapli are to a diasrain in Silli- man's Jiiiinial, wlilctl we liave not the nieaiiB ot copying.— Edi. J. C. tiow-a-days hardly know, at least they would pre- tend that it would be immodest and not at all lady- like to be presumed to know, whether the milk comes from the udder or the horns. "The rosy milk-maid," the title of a song which we remem- ber to have often heard when a boy, is an animal not known in modern natural liistory ; and as to a young lady with thick shoes, a checquered apron, her sleeves turned up, and a handkerchief tied over her head, though the apron should be clean and the handkerchief as white as snow, and ever so pretty a pair of black eyes and ruddy cheeks peeping out from under it, it would be an idea too shocking for one of your modern exquisites even to dream of; and if presented to her abruptly, while looking in the glass at her inotislhi de lahifs^^ with her satin shoes, her gilt hair comb, her paste ear rings and her insect waist, as crooked as the limb of a scrub- oak, she would not probably recover from the fright for a week. We say we have no hope of recovering the good old habits of former days. Revolutions never go back. Yet in this respect we have lost a great deal. Men are seldom neat enough in their habits to be trusted with milking. They have not the patience to wash their hands or to wash tlie udder before milk ing. They are not gentle, and often abuse the an- imal by their kicks aisd thumps. They are in a hurry in the morning to get through a business which they dislike ; and they come home tired at night; the cows are necessarily milked at an un- seasonable hour ; and the business is very often verj' badly performed. Women, on the other hand, are more patient, more gentle, more faithful, more neat ; and we were about to say — they ought to do the milking. The morning air would be bracing to their muscles, (if the modern girls have any mus- cles, for there begins to be a reasonable doubt in this matter ;) and the odor of the cow has been long known to be, and is often recommended by physi- cians as medical. But we will not say what we were disposed to say, because it would be useless. It is utterly vain to attempt a contest with fashion; for according to Franklin's proverb, "he that spits against the wind spits in his own face." We must however, be just : and in riding tiirough Dedham last week at the close of the day, it was quite re- freshing to see in at least four cow yards woman in her appropriate sphere ; and by her pleasant looks and her gentle conduct as she sat at the side of the bountiful cow, evincing her gratitude to Providence for his richest of all the benefactors which Heaven has given to man in the form of a quadruped. H. C. j\*cic Eyt^land Farmer. Women JVlilkiug. Thirty years ago it would have Ix'en almost as diflicult to find a man milking as to find a woman mowing, except in cases of very large dairies. In this respect matfers are greatly changed : and any hope, for augfit we see, of getting back to the old practice, would be vain. Half of the young girls Disease of Hobses, &c. — I see a great many cures for disorders in cattle and horses, in your Genesee Farmer. The Ringhojte is a great plagae to horses, which is easilv cured. Take one oz. of camphor, one oz. of oil of spiivC, one cz. of harts- horn, and* one oz. of spirits of turpentine- — put these in a phial and shake it well ; — when it is fit for use put it on the foot above the ring, and rub it with the finger till it comes to the skin. It will take a week to use it on one foot, which it will cure, be he ever so lame or long standing, but the ring will remain. To care Sroiirs in cattle or horses : take the seed of the narrow leaf dock — (it is a yellow root) — and give them a handful of the seed in their feed. It will stop it immediately, be it ever so severe. Or take a tea-spoonful of pulverized red chalk, and give it to a beast, and it will cure. I had a spring colt sick with the scours, and I made inquiries of several old people about it; they knew nothing for it ; 1 took, my own remedy. I took a handful of the dock seed and steeped it in the mother's milk, and poured about a gill down the throat, and it cured it at once. ,i cure for the Blind Staggers in a Horse. — When- ever you perceive it, bleed them well in the spur veins, and physic them well with tamarack, which will soon cure him. I am yours, AlEXA.nDER M'DoiBALL Wampsville, August 2G, 1831). When a horse is sick in winter, he must be cov- ered. Every humane and reflecting person mustrejoice at the leaving off the fashion of cutting oft'the horse's tail. It is clear that nature produces nothing in vain. The tail may be trimmed ; but never forget tliat a horse, harrassed by flies, has no otlier means than his tail, to brush them off and that it ma)' pre- vent accidents, in keeping him to stand quiet. Vclocitij of Lightning. — It has lately been ascer- tained by a series of ingenious experiments, that the velocity at which lightning, or the electric flu- id moves, is not less than 2UU,000 miles in a siugle second of time .'^ THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 169 Two days at West Cambridge, Ms. "Should auld acquaintance be forijot, And never brought to niin' ; Should auld acquaintance be forgot And days of auld lang syne? "We fwa have run about the braea And pu'd the gowans fine ;" Der.th laid him low — we yet survive To talk of days lang syne. It is more than forty years — and forty years is no small item in the life of one who still feels like a young man — since the editor of the Visitor spent any considerable time in viewing the ground and neighborhood of his earliest residence. The old people of that day rest from their labors ; the young men have become old, and a new generation of strangers has sprung up with an infant succeeding race to supply their place in active life hereafter. The most early male intimate of the first ten years of our life, a few months our senior, to whom the last verse quoted above applies, sleeps in the grave beside his father and mother and a long line of an- cestors common to us both. With many others, our more recent associates and acquaintance, he has been cut otf, and we have been continued to witness a more severe duty and a lengthened trial in the events of the present life. Our stay was not long enough at West Cam- bridge to make new acquaintance ; and, with tiie exception of the friend who kindly entertained and introduced us to the several places we visited, and a few of his family, we cannot say that even those whom we knew many years ago appear in any oth- er liglit than as strangers. Our visit was so late in October as not to be able to witness vegetation in all its lu.xuriance ; most of the crops of the season had been gathered. Indeed the farmers of this little town are so much in the habit of producing crops for the market at all sea- sons, from early spring to latest autumn, that there is no particular time when the whole productof the year is growing upon the ground. Population and extent. Ice Houses. The town of West Cambridge was incorporated in the year 1S07, from a parish of Cambridge bear- ing the Indian name of Menotomy : between it and Boston, from which it is distant six miles to t^e north-west, lies the town of Cambridge, the seat of the University. The town had a population in 1S30 of 1308 — it is hardly two miles square, and embra- ces only about the ninth part ofacommon six miles square township. Of this small territory more than two hundred acres are ponds, from which, as a mat- ter of profitable traffic, large quantities of ice are taken in the winter for transportation by sea to the West Indies and other southern countries. Large ice houses are constructed on the margins of these ponds in a manner so simple as to teach every ob- server how very cheaply nn ice house may be con- structed for any famjly. The house is erected on the shore of the pond much in the shape and of the same coarse materials as a common barn or other out-house of a farmer. The whole interior, with the exception of the places of entrance from the pond on tlie one side and trom the place of loading for transport on the other, is lined up with boards or plank ofsufficient strongtli, and the vacant space of one fool or more between the outside covering and inside lining is filled with hemlock or oak tan which has been used in the preparation of leather. When the house is filled with the blocks of ice tak- en from the ponds at the proper season, common rye straw or salt hay is used for bedding at the bot- tom, and to fill the interstices between the layers, as well as to close up the doors of entrance. The upper covering of the ice in the building, which usually extends not above the level of the plate, is simplv the placing on the top of the ice a layer of straw or hay under the roof. A great invention. Progress of Mechani- cal Science. Besides the streams running from these ponds in West Cambridge which discliarge themselves to the sea through Mystic river on the north-east of the peninsula of Boston, there is a brook originat- ing at no great distance from the north-west line of the town, whose fall is so rapid that dams are erect- ed within the distance of little more than one mile for approprTafmg its waters nine different times. On this stream are erected several grain mills do- ing an extensive business, besides works for dyeing and printing calico, pulverizing drugs, medicines, and dyc-stuifs, and various other manufactures. More than forty years ago the machine for manu- facturing hand cards for cotton and wool was in op- eration, by which at a single process tlie wire was drawn from the blades, cut, bent and inserted so as to complete a common hand card in a few minutes. This machioe was invented by Mr. Alios Whit- TEMORE, a native of West Cambridge, prior to the expiration of the last century ; and the late Rev. Dr. Holmes in his "American Annals" mentions the invention of Mr. Whittemore as one of the on- ly two extraordinary discoveries in mechanics dur- ing that century. Those discoveries have undoubt- edly been eclipsed by others of the present centu- ry. Forty years ago, who dreamed of the wonders which are now worked by steam ? who then be- lieved that man and matter, by means of this agent, might be made to outstrip the fleetest horses on the land, and to fly on the water as with the wings of the eagle .^ The manufacture of cards at West Cambridge, by the application of steam power, is carried on extensively by three sons of the invent- or who is now deceased, and by their uncle, Hon. William Wihtte.more. The total value of the manufactures of West Cambridge in the year end- ing April 1, lb37, was estimated at $3r2,500. Great Agricultural Improvement. But it is not the value of the manufactures or the peculiar local position of West Cambridge, to which we would call the attention of the readers of the Visitor: the great agricultural improvements rcliick have been made on this spot, the persevering indus- try, the enterprise and skill of the West Cambridge farmers, are here noted, that we may encourage farmers farther in the interior to "go and do like- wise." We well remember, although then but a mere youth, many of the localities of West Cambridge, as they existed forty years ago. The town embra- ces all the varieties of soil. The north-western half consists of nearly as hard and rocky soil as we have ever seen. At the foot of these rocky hills commences a more level territory, a small portion of which only is choice land somewtiat resembling river alluvion, but a much larger portion is either apparently barren pine plains or swampy, low grounds, some of it originally morass, and all of it producing in its natural state coarse meadow grass or bushes. No one could realize better than we can the wonderful improvement that has been made by the present generation on the land occupied by their fathers half a century since. We have been absent, and the scene of the whole improvement struck us at once, while others of our age, witness- ing the progress from step to step, do iHit see the whole at once. Forty years ago the rocky and rough part of the town was, with few exceptions, dry and unproduc- tive pasture, much of the ledges covered with bar- berry bushes and savins. Nut trees prevailed in that part which remained in forest, and were now and then left for shades in the pasture grounds. — ■ Thorn locusts were also natural in the hilly grounds. A portion, and but a small portion, of the low mead- ows was mowed, producing coarse hay scarcely worth the labor of cutting, curing and housing it. The arid pine plains produced little or nothing. The change wrought upon the grounds is truly astonisliing. Whether the soil be hard pan and rocks, or morass trembling for want of foundation, or simple sand parching vegetation at the appear- ance of the sun, the West Cambridge farmers have found out the way to make it all productive. It is true they possess advantages of location which the farmer farther in the country does not possess : they are tempted to stimulate the earth to early and in- creased production by the demand for the articles whicli it bears. Manures of various kinds, and clean cultivation, are'the great secret of the extra- ordinary process. Common stable manure carted six to eight miles from Boston costs them not less than seven dollars a cord : night manures from the city and its environs are procured at still greater inconvenience and expense. Cost what it will, the cultivator here stints not his arable grounds. Where a second always and sometimes a third crop is ob- tained from the same ground in one season, a sec- ond application of manure is frequently made. The farmers of this town have brought up the produce and value of their lands by a diligence that is rare farther in the interior. We tarried three nights, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with tlie friend and relative near our own age with whom we had been most intimate, by whose dwelling was the main road to market. Saturday and Monday mornings at two o'clock the market carts were on the move, and the passing cf the njatket-men was kept up till day-light. Formerly tl)« sales at mark- et wore effected by the countrymen tlicmselves: of late years the load is all taken up by the market- men in the city occupying stalls, so that the farm- er is not detained, but at once returns to his busi- ness. A farming neighborhood. Where people are so successful from their own efforts as are those farmers, the mutations and chan- ges are much less from year to year and from one generation to another, than in places of more sjiee- ulation and less production. It is very rare in the country that you see the same neighborhood of families continue. Children are brought up to oth- er occupations than those of their parents, and fam- ilies are scattered in pursuits of speculation and trade, which too oltcn turn out to be unfortunate. Whole neighborhoods frequently change positions within the space of a few years. On the road irom the meeting house towards Watertown is a village, close for farmers, extending for the distance of one mile, containing some twenty families; and it is be- lieved there is not a single instance where the di- rect descendants do not inherit and occupy the the same land owned by their fathers. The spot to which we allude is one of the most lovely and inviting in creation. In vain may we travel west or east for lands more productive, for scenery more beautiful in the green season, for all the fruits of summer and autumn more plentiful and luxuriant, than are to be here found. Here the land yields ten for one what is necessary for the sustenance of its population. Here labor is crown- ed v/ith a flowing return hardly less than the finan- cial gains of the dreaming speculator. This community of farmers seem to have gained a knowledge of the best methods of making land productive from their own experience. They ven- ture much expense in preparing their grounds ; and they hardly ever fail to produce the desired result. A secret of their trade is, to make their crop the more certain by leaving nothing undone that shall contribute to its early growth. By so much as land is improved for future use in its present cultivation, so is the present crop to be taken from it made sur- er from the same cause. The West Cambridge farmers understand all this ; and they attempt to raise no crop where their ground is not prepared in the best manner. Extraordinary profit from Strawberries. They are also vigilant to seize on every thing which the land will produce turning to the best profit. Without expending any thing for mere or- nament, their fields are no less beautiful than the grounds of wealthy individuals who expend large sums for their artificial decoration. The early fruits are produced in abundance at West Cambridge. It was remarked during our visit that more money was taken in the town for the single item of straw- berries sent to market for each of the present and a few past years than was taken thirty years ago in a year for all the agricultural products put together which were sold from the same town. Orchards furnish great gains. The apple orchards in this town, now covering plats of ground which were late unproductive, rough ground over which Cittle ranged, put to shame most of the orchards in the interior. Every tree yields the best of fruit for the market — every tree is either budded or grafted, and whole rows of trees are found bearing the same kind of apples. The bodies of the trees themselves show the same superior thrift as the fruit gathered from them, and as does every thing of the fields in which they grow. Two hundred, three hundred, five hundred and sometimes a thousand barrels of carefully pick- ed choice apples are produced in a single year by one farmer. These are at once bought up in the fieid the present season at the high price of three dollars the barrel. Most of the apple trees are of the rapid growth of the last few years; and they cover ground which is profitably cultivated for other crops without much interfering with the production of the orchard, which yields the more abundantly from frequent ploughing and manuring. An extensive Piggery. We visited one establishment near the Spy pond in West Cambridge which will be thought remark- able: it was on ground very near the precise spot where in company with a grandmother and some elder female cousins, at the early age of five or six years, all of us got lost and wandered in terror late in the afternoon, in a swamp of the high blue berry bushes. It is now a place for hogs, where no less than nine hundred of these animals, from tlie smallest size to the lusty two-year-old wcicrhintr eight hundred to a thousand pounds, are kept. And how will the reader suppose so many devourers could be sustained pent up in a pen of not more than one or two acres, without starving .' It is in this wise ; — Some five or six years ago the proprietor of this hog establishment engaged to pay the munici- pality of the city of Boston twenty-five hun- dred dollars a year for the delivery on the spot of the ofl'al collecU'd from the kitchens of the several families in the city who had not other means of disposing of it. This oftal was fed out daily to as many swine as it would keep. The first contract of two or more years turned out to be of great profit to the proprietor. A second contract was made, aud tbe sum w«b adT«aced to thirty-five huudreii 170 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. dollars a year, and the proprietor is taxed a further sum of about five hundred dollars a j'ear for tolls, as he is compelled to pass out of the city over Cra- gie's toll bridge, the town authorities of Charles- town not permitting the ofti?nsive matter to be brought over the Warren free bridge, which leads directly through the compact or city part of the town. With the increased expense the proprietor has made his thousands every year. The feeding is said to be equal to tlie rearing of one thousand hogs in a year weighing three hundred pounds each. Tlie hogs are taken from tliis {eed and fed on corn a few days befox'e they are slaughtered for the market, so that the most astute pork eaters can- not possibly distinguish between the meat of these and the best family-kept hogs of the country. If the keeping was all the cost, at the high price of ten cents the pound, which has been the lowest price for pork in the market, the income would be thirty thousand dollars a year. The price of pork, now reduced as it is to six cents the pound, will still furnish a grand profit to the owner of the West Cambridge piggery. The profit on the hogs is not the only gain of the establishment. The manure here made has had the effect to double the value of the land all around it to the distance of half a mile or a mile. Six large wagon loads of ofial, containing with much that is offensive much of the best living of the luxuriant livers of Boston, remnants of roast turkeys, roast beef and plum-puddings, with now and then a sil- ver spoon and fork, are daily brought to tiie pigge- ry. They are spread at three different times in the day over a large plank platform on which the ani- mals feed. Six farmers of the town contract daily at the price of two dollars and a half per day for the leavings upon the platform, each taking his turn on a different day of the week (Sundays ex- cepted) in filling a large wagon such as every con- siderable farmer owns and appropriates almost ex- clusively for transporting his cord of manure wher- ever he can find it. The pine plains supplied with this manure^thc sterile ground that formerly pro- duced little or nothing — yields such crops of rich garden vegetables as no one previously acquainted with them ever dreamed he should there see ffrow. Among the practical operators on the land in West Cambridge, without asking of them, we take the liberty to use a few names, not because others may not be their equals, but because they happen to have fallen more particularly under our observa- tion at the time of our recent visit. A practical Horticulturist. Mr. George Pierce, anative of West Cambridge, whose father had acquired a handsome estate from a farm in the rocky part of the town, lived for seve- eral years at Chadestown, where he had less than a single acre of ground, from wliich, following the Bos- ton market,he obtained an annual income of nearly a thousand dollars. He lefiCharlestown and remo. ved to the city of New York, where not being well pleased in business, he returned and commenced an establishment at West Cambridge for grind- ing and pulverizing bones for the purpose of ma- king manure, at an e-tpense of several thousand dollars. He found a ready sale for the pulverized manure, but he soon used up all the bones that could be obtained in the vicinity ; and there being another bone establishment at Roxbury nearer to the city of Boston, he sold out his steam engine and apparatus. He purchased seven acres of ap- parently the most sterile, worn-out pine plains land in the town of his nativity. This land he has pos- sessed and cultivated only four years ; and he has acquired the art and ability of procuring more from this ground than we could suppose the best ground on earth would produce. His successive plough- ings and rnanurings are such that this hungry sand through vhich, on the theory of some farmers, the water would run and disappear as it would in a seive, retains the moisture and withstands the drought equal to the richest pan soil. On a plat of about one-fourth of an acre of this ground a fourth crop the present year was actually under way. First was raised early radishes taken from the ground in May — then ppas early in July, followed by cucumbers q^uite early enough for pickling ; and in October the ground was green with spinach to be covered up and pulled for the market in the mouth of March. Among his articles for the mar- ket was about one-third of an acre of the common dandelion which grows spontaneously in many mowinn- fields: these he with some diliiculty ob- tains from the seed. He says the crop turns out to be very profitable ; they are continually cropped near the root, and a new shoot immediately.springs up. He had about one acre of strawberries, from which upwards of two thousand boxes of that fruit were picked last sujnmef : these at 37 l-'2 to 50 cents a box, for which they readily sold in market, produced not a small profit on a single acre. Be- sides the strawberry, Mr. Pierce was cultivating the raspberry, which thrives under cultivation with great luxuriance. He expressed the opinion that he could make of the blackberry, which grows in the hedges and around piles of decayed wood or rocks in neglected fields, a profitable articls for the market, as that is sought and prized equally with the strawberry or raspberry. From the production of his seven acres, Mr. Pierce has taken in the market, as by memorandum kept, nearly or quite four thousand dollars the present season. The extraordinary growth of fruit trees on ground cultivated as is that of Mr. Pierce deserves to be mentioned. There were a very few trees on the ground, which bore the first year peaches of indif- ferent size and quality. These have improved on the manured cultivated ground each year until this year peaches of the largest size and finest flavor were obtained. Peach trees from the stone three years ago were taken up and transplanted large enough to bear fruit another )'ear. Mr. P. hesitates not to say that he can extend a peach orchard over his ground without lessening in any perceptible de- gree the other crops to be taken from it. He has tried and used the various kinds of ma- nure : pulverized bone manure he has used, and thinks it valuable — he also made use of the manure of the great piggery in his vicinity, which he es- teems good for his ground : he likewise has applied the strong night manure, which, as yet, is taken from the city to the country in its crude state in Massachusetts, and not pulverized and rendered innoxious to the faculties of taste or smell as in the city of New York ; and this has a powerful effect : but his opinion is, that for ready operation and lasting efi'ect in any and every description of soil no manure will'go before the horse manure obtain- ed from the stables where the animals are fed with grain or meal. Mr. Pierce is of opinion that the business of a common market gardener may be better carried on without the interference of that of acommon farm : planting, hoeing and haying come at a time and in- terrupt the constant attention and watchfulness necessary to the °peedy growth of the garden ve- getables. The expense of labor on a small piece of ground cultivated like his is very great ; the re- sults of such nurture and kindness as he bestows to the vegetable growth are truly astonishing. In his case the value of experience and excellent judgment and skill is apparent beyond question. Seven acres rescued from worn-out barrenness, as is the ground of Mr. Pierce, is not quite enough for his purpose. Along side of it of the same qual- ity he has hired an additional field of two or three acres which cannot he sold, and which he cultivates for a present crop as he does his own land, which is bounded on one end by the shore of the pond and dips to the south in a sort of half amphitheatre. Here he has his green house for the forcing of early plants, in which, when- the sun is too far removed or fails to show his face, artificial heat is introduced. From what was the pond itself, sand has been car- ted in until some half acre of ground has been formed : this, with the manure applied, produced the first year large crops of tomatoes, cucumbers, itc. and will very soon become first rate land. Mr. P. says he wants no more than twelve or thirteen acres of land to produce every thing he would wish to raise. An extensive farm made from waste lands. In the easterly part of West Cambridge is the farm of Mr. Amos Hill, which includes probably more territory than any other farm in the town. His farm embraces mucli of the land of the town which was low and swampy. When Mr. H. pur- cha.-!ed it more than thirty years since, the whole territory produced hardly a sufficiency to support a single family. Swamps have been ditched and re- claimed under his hand, which yield good English hay to the amount in a year of two or three tons to the acre. Much of the reclaimed land is v.'orth two -and three hundred dollars the acre. Mr. Hill rais- es annually an immense amount of vegetables for the market. His ample barns are besides filled with hay, and his granaries are full, enabling him to add to the pursuits of his neighbors that of the exten- sive rearing of cattle. Few men, from their own efforts, have brought so much ground into fruitful bearing as this gentleman — few have give)! a smil- intr civilized face to so great a space of savage waste — few have equalized into thrifty bearing rich soil so great a portion covered with alternate bog and quagmire, the resort of the mink and inuskrat, and creatures living both in water and upon land. He possesses the rich value of all his labor in the improved lauds which constitute tlie extensive farm in the midst of which stand the comfortable and el- egant dwellings and out-houses occupied by him- self and his children. His premises may be made ample by subdivision for himself and children "to the third and fourth generation," and furnish to them all a much surer road to wealth than that pur- sued by travellers to a far country. A farmer upon the best natural soil. Of the farms of Mr. James Hill and Sons, it being a rainy day and he being absent at the time of our visit, we passed over that part only which was the residence and location of our earliest re- collection. The "pond-hole," in which when a mere child the editor had well nigh been drowned from venturing upon and breaking through the brit- tle ice — the pond hole, from which after the re- treat of winter used annually to return some hun- dreds of speckled turtles, one of which was caught many years in succession with the name of an older Hill marked on the shell at the date "177.5"— the pond hole, at one extremity of which grew flags sufficient to bottom all the kitchen chairs of the neighborhood— the pond hole, the shores of which among the reeds in the drier seasons of the year were sometimes the resort of the woodcock and snipe and that other bird which derives its common name from an act of its own volition when starting on the wing; the pond hole, had disappeared en- tirely. Fed by the accessions of every shower and from a considerable stream at such times running into it with no corresponding outlet, tlio water of this pond was often some eight, ten and perhaps a dozen feet in depth, and spread over something like the area of an acre. The present owner of the land filled the bottom of the pond with rocks through which the water, being conducted to it by a cover- ed under-drain, is filtered and carried off by other covered drains in different directions, where it is used when it passes to the surface in other lower grounds for the purpose of irrigating snd fertilizing several acres. What was the pond itself is now the richest soil. The labor and expense of bringing about this change, the disappearance on the surface of both the stream and the pond, must have been trreat : vet no present beholder, who does not recol- Fect both, might be at all aware of the work under ground over such a productive field. This part of Mr. Hill's premises, consisting ofa- bout ten acres including what was the "pond hole," for a century has probably been the most product- ive spot of that size in the town. Never has there been a year when it was not highly cultivated — never did it fail, within the recollection of the old- dest person living, to yield an unusual crop; and whether laid down to grass or ploughed for tillage, it produced alike a faithful return for the labor and expense bestowed. The spot was never more pro- ductive than it has been the present season:the crops, two or more generally from the same ground, with the exception of a few roots, had been taken away when we saw the field in October. Much of the tillage and garden portion had been turned with the plough in part preparation for the succeeding season It will be impossible any where to find a soil more rich to the eye, with a blacker, deeper vegetable mould, in which vegetation starts and grows without knowing any stint or hindrance un- der a congenial sun, than this choice spot presents. The hip roofed house erected after the fashion of one hundred years ago with upright front of two square rooms and a long kitchen and buffet in the rear, on these premises, has been altered in shape, and made to look very comely in a modern dre.ss : the venerable old barn had been worn out and torn down a long time since, and the place where it stood and the yards about it united with the adja- cent field. A new and beautiful barn of some eighty feet by fifty has been erected with an ample cellar under the whole, directly over the ground where the ancient temporary brook sometimes eon- ducted water to the pond hole, and probably over the conduit which under cover now condiicts the water in the same direction. This barn from the floors to the beams was filled with mows of hay and various kinds of grain. On thi.^ spot forty years ago thore was raised much fine fruit — the old fashioned orange and bell among the variety of pears, various kinds of peach- es from the yellow and crimson-cheeked rareripe to the ordinary fall clingstone, cherries and plums with the high flavored quince, more grateful to. the smell than the taste, with the early geueiing and seek-no-further for early eating, and the pearinain, russet and cony apples for later use. Scarce a tree was left that bore any of these. An ancient winter pear tree that was smitten with lightning forty-nine years ago, and some two or three of the apple trees, were left as the representatives of olden time. Nu- merous apple and other fruit trees now supply the places of those which are absent — all of them evin- cing great fiealth and vigor of growth, and bearing the best of fruit. The great elm, which stood in the load near to the house, remains as it was without THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 171 much apparent increase in size. That venerable tree is probably near two hundred years of age — it covers a great extent of ground, i-eaching nearly to the wall on either side of the way — it is difficult for either man or boy to reach its limbs without the help of a Iony us attended. The most that \vr have heard of this was the notice contained in anoth- er portion of this paper of premiums for three most extraordinary crops of corn, to wit ■ 131 bushels 7 quarts, 130 and 116 bushels on three different acres of land upon islands in the Winnipisseogee lake. The meeting in Cheshire was on theiJoth Septeni- teraber; and although no premiums were ofiered, the specimens of cattle, sheep and swine antl of va- rious agricultural products were such as reflected honor upon the excellent soil and li-iisbandry of that county. More farmers attended than ever before attended in that county on any similar occasion. A spirit of pride and zeal in the calling was awakep.- ed ; a determination ta go forward and try, w j,s manifested ; a conviction that agriculture is the foundation stone of the nation's growth and pros- perity has there become general, and will not here- after be turned by any other "wind of doctrine." As for the young county of Merrimack we were extremely fortunate in the selection of a place that can turn out "bulls of Bashan" and oxen and cows that will be no where excelled in the State. The cattle of that neighborhood have been much im- proved by several farmers uniting ten years since to purchase a bull of an improved foreign breed. Much however is due to the excellent pastures up- on the high grounds ; and more probably to the at- tention paid \o the rearing of their cattle. Fine teams of oxen — some farmers with four, five and six yokes each — were shown. In the ploughing match, however, we did not admire the driving — there were too many words and too free use of the goad-stick and whip. We saw in another place cattle working with spirit and the full exercise of strength — not a word from the mouth of the driver, not a blow, but only a motion of the whip-staff from his arm. The exhibition at Boscawen was contin- ued two days — it was late in October, being tlie \>ii\\ and liUh of the month ; but two "sweeter days of all the year" could not have been selected. Tlie collection of farmers was numerous beyond that of any former year. We had hoped th^t some of the inieresting reports, as well as a list of the premi- ums, would have been published. The report on butter made by the elder Col. Kent of this town was replete with that attick salt and elegant irony which had been prominent in the young man and will not be obliterated by age : hiscotemporary and neighbor, whose poetry and whose wit had been ac- ceptable on many siniilar occasions, should have been present here and responded to the allusion which must have brought him upon his feet, though his xxndex standing had threatened him a failure. A- bout forty new members joined the society : sutfi- cient money was paid upon the spot to cover the annual premiums ; and the prospect now is, that a very good exhibition this year will be succeeded by a better next for the county of Merrimack at Bos- cawen Plain. May other counties having no exlii- bitions "go and do likewise." In Massachusetts, the County Agricultural Exhibitions have been more animated and better attended than in any former year. The shows in old Essex, Middlesex, Berkshire, Hampden and Plymouth were never excelled in those counties. That at Worcester on the 9th of October we at- tended personally, arriving in the latter part of the day. In numbers attending, it probably exceeded any thing of the kind in that State : it was thought there were present some eight thousand people. The locomotive, propelling the passenger cars on the rail road from Boston to Worcester, loaded with about eight hundred passengers, was powerless as a cumbrous baggage wagon to move with its load up- on the rise of an inclined plane until moved by the living load itself! Every thing connected with the Worcester exhibition is done in a style worthy of the wealthy town and county bearing the name. The town of Sutton bore ofl' the palm of horned cattle in an enormous team of seventy-five yokes paraded through the town. Many fine cattle of im- proved breeds — swine enormously encumbered with fat — sheep whose wool would make the most beau- tiful cloth — represented truly the agricultural en- terprise and wealth of that great agricultural coun- ty : the butter and cheese corresponded with the character of tlie cattle and the neatness of the best dairy women. The ploughs and agricultural im- plements exhibited were numerous, as were other ma^iuiactured articles not directly connected with agricultural operations. Beautiful specimens of the finer cloths, of domestic silks, of fancy work of va- rious kinds by ladies of all ages, were also pre- sented. The Worcester Agricultnral Society, with its a- bundant resources, having had various donations, has a great and favorable effect upon the production of the county ; and it is a good indication that most of the men of the professions and others en- joying public office in the county, take hold of ag- riculture with zeal. The late Governor now Sen- ator Davis made an interesting report on articles of special improvement. Three sons of the elder Le- vi Lincoln, who left his profession to cultivate his farm, are a.nong the active patrons of the Worces- ter Society. Ex-Governor Lincoln has for sever- al years presided at the meetings of the Society ; and no man can be betterat home than he is in that cliair. This gentleman has done much upon his own premises towards improving the breed of cat- tle in New England, having introduced ihera from abroad. The united efforts of tlie most enterpris- ing men of all professions to stimulate the farmers are attended with abundant success, as is demon- 172 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR stratcd by the advances made at each succeeding agricultural exhibition, at the "Heart of the Com- monwealth." The State ofMAiNE, theyounifeat of the six New England States, and more c.vtensive than all others in territory, is taking the stand which becomes the largest farming State of tlie North. Thus far the forests of valuable pine timber to her population have been a curse rather than a blessing ; with lit- tle profit to any body, the "lumbering business" has been extensively pursued much to the neglect of improvements in agriculture. But the day has ar- rived when timber lands will be dulyjjrized by the owners of the "oil — the forests remaining will be spared, and the excellent lands where timber has been wasted will be brought into cultivation. That new part of Maine now in dispute with Great Brit- ain is eminently well calculated for the production of wheat; and "she can, if she will," supply all the cities and large towns of New England with flour. No State has advanced more rapidly in agricul- tural improvements than Maine. The farms in the valley of the Kennebeek, particularly in the county of that name, are said to be scarcely inferior to the best farms in the old counties of Massachu- setts. That county, in addition to two able agri- cultural newspapers, the Farmer at Winthrop and the Cultivator at Hallowell, has a spirited County Agricultural Society, the good effects of which are felt in each annual exhibition. Somerset, further up the valley, has also its county Society — so has Cumberland, near the sea-board — so has Penobscot, in a more easterly and newer region. Perhaps some other counties have similar associations. Vermont, which is truly the Green and the Mountain State, with her many sinuous rivers and beautiful level roads in the midst of the mountains, and magnificent hills and swells and travelled roads also surmounting them ; Vermont has a much easier, more friable and pliant soil than any of her other New England sisters. For rearing splendid cattle, for the abundant production of butter and cheese, she has, in her exuberant meadow lands and pastures, vastly the advantage of any otiier State. She used to export breadstuff's for her eld- er sisters near the sea-board ; but of late she has paid millions of dollars for western flour ! This ought not so to be. The characteristic enterprise and industry of her farmers need only to be put in full requisition to enable her to raise more of every production common to her soil than she shall con- sume. Vermont has one or more Agricultural Societies, Caledonia county, whose products generally pass through this place to market, has an association which has done something towards inspiriting her citizens to put forth their best efforts. There are many farmers in Caledonia who are not behind the farmers of older regions of New England in the valuje aijd amount of their productions. The Scotch Bettlers of Barnet and Ryegate have been famed ev- er since the settlement of those towns. Il'asliington county, we believe, has her Agricultural Society. There are farmers in that county who keep dairies of from fifty to a hundred cows, and who raise for the market from ton to twenty tons of pork. The soil of Vermont in its natural State is not less fertile than the best soil of the Western States ; it is far more healthy. Industry and enterprise, with a steady hand, wlien applied to the tilling of the soil, are sure to be successful. Connecticut. This State has agricultural as- sociations in several of her counties. The late Jud<'e Bucl was on his way to deliver addresses at two of them, viz: at New Haven, and Norwich in New London, when he was seized at Uanbury with the disease which terminated his useful life. We are not sure thai there is not an agricultural society in each county of the State. The agricultural shows at Hartford weie formerly splendid. The fertility of the Connecticut river valley is equally great in that State as in Massachusetts and Vermont above. There are no Letter farmers in the world than the Corjnecticul farmers. The townsliipa in New Hampsliire settbd principally by emigrants from Connecticut are among the best farming townships of the State; witaess Walpolc, Claremont, Cornish, Plainfield, Lebacon, Hanover, Lyme, Orford, &c. A greater quantity of produce in pro])ortion to its area of acres is perhaps given by Connecticut than any other State in the Union. In comfort, conven- iences and neataess of farm 'houses, barns and yards, the Connecticut farmers go before all others ; and the same character has been carriad to \yh.itever new section of the country that has been settled by emigration from Connecticut. Weeds cannot grow near our conijnon cultivat- ed plauU without materially injuring lk*B». This is doubtless in part owing to their consuming the nutritive matter containeil by the soil, and in part, also to their over shadowing the cultivated plant, and thu.f depriving it of the direct action of the sun ; but it is also in ])art owing to the nature of matter which they deposite in the soil. The com- mon opinion that weeds poison the plants near which they grow, is not mere imagination — it is founded on fact. — Farmer' s Register . where they first grew as possible. It will be an ob- ject for many of our farmers to plant nurseries. The budding with the best fruits and the rearing of trees is said to be an extremely simple process to those acquainted with the business. Further of Apple Orchards. There is not perhaps a fourth part of the cider U8«d in New Hampshire that was used twenty years ago. Scarce a family then could make a dinner without cider upon the table. Now it is more com- mon every where to find it dispensed with. The disu.se of cider has run into the destruction of the common orchards. This will be found to be a grand mistake; for if not used for cider, apples will be found even more valuable for other purposes. Or- dinary sweet apples, fed to cows or hogs, will make, bushel for bushel, more milk rnd pork than pota- toes. Sour apples fed out in the same way, if boil- ed, are also good But the best use to which we may put apple or- chards, the use which sliould induce every farmer to keep thrifty apple trees growing in each vacant spot, is to raise the best kind of fruit for eating. Grafted winter apples now sell quick in the interior at the price of a dollar a bushel. A single acre of ground may be made to produce five hundred bush- els of apples in a season : the same acre planted at the same time with potatoes may produce one bun- dred and fifty bushels, or it may turn out thirty bushels of corn or oats, or a ton and a half of good English hay. Good apples are the best kind of fruit for many purposes that can be found ; and they may always be profitably used if they are too plenty to bear the highest price. Mr. Joseph Pi.neo, jun. of Hanover, N. H. lives on a farm with his father who emigrated several years since from Lebanon, Ct. He has paid great attention to the procuring of tlie best kinds of ap- ples, and has selected within a few years about three hundred different kinds of choice apples, ma- ny of which are in bearing. A few days ago he called on the editor of the Monthly Visitor, and presented him with one of each of the following va- rieties of magnificent apples : The Bell Sweet, a native of Enfield in this State ; the apple measuring fourteen inches in circumfer- ence and weighing one pound. The Russet Sweet, very large, a native of Weath- ersfield, Vt. The Sweet Pearmain, an admirable apple, native of Hanover, N. H. The Siceet Gilliflower, elegant and rich in the col- or of its skin, also a native of Hanover. The Wcatkersfield Sweet, a native of that town. Dcweifs Pumpkin Sweet — a beautiful apple for preserves, and native of Royalton, Vt. Tracy's Sweet, native of Hartford, Vt. The Sugar Street, being sweetest of sweet apples, a native of Hartford, Vt. The Aodlicad, an apple of excellent flavor, which originated at Newburyport, Ms, The li'ine Apple, so named for its tartness and flavor, brought from New Jersey hy Mrs. Brewster of Hanover. The Latham .'ippic, of the finest taste and flavor, being first produced on the farm of Arthur Latham, Esq. of Lyme, N. H. Tracy's Greening, first produced on the farm of a gentleman of that name in Hartford, Vt. The Wilder G>fCH/;/ir, common to many orchards, brought from Massachusetts. The Shop Apple, found in Norwich, Vt. The Monstrous Pippin, a very large apple, bro't from Long island, N Y. The Golden Pippin,, an old and well approved fruit, brought from England. The .\ew York Russet, a fine winter apple. The Blue Peanftain, an excellent although a com- mon apple, brougjjt from Massachusetts. The Pound Royal, a frequent but good fruit. The Red Seclinofurlhcr, a beautiful and uncom- monly well flavored winter apple, native of Nor- wich, Vt. The Bell Flower, a pative of England. The Black Gilliflower, a long apd well known good apple. The Orange Pearmain, from Massachusetts. Mr. Pineo suggusts as his opinion that the rea- son of the failure of apple trees brought from the rich mirseries of Massiiehusctts and New York is, that they are taken from a warmer to a colder climate, from ground that had been highly stimu- lated with manure, and transplanted in acolderand perhaps poorer soij. Apple trees from the nursery •hould be taken to- ground as nearly similar to tl)*t Mw [pswick, Oct. 26(A, 1339. Hon. Is*Ac Hii.L,^S(>; — Having been a reader of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor since its com- mencement, I think it the duty of every individu- al engaged in agricultural pursuits to contribute all in their power to its usefulness, even if they can (as is mostly my case) do little more than give a histo- ry of their embarrassments and failures. Five years ago a farm adjoining some land I then and still own was otFered me at a low price, and I purchased it. It had been for more than thirty years in the hands of one of the "shiftless ones of the earth" and was called a worn-out farm. Such por- tions of it as had been ploughed at all had been kept under the " skinning process" until nothing more could be got from them. A large proportion of the mowing land had not been fallowed for many years, and this had saved it from being filled with that Hydra headed monster, witch-grass. At the time of my purchase I had no expectation of living on the farm : but circumstances made it necessary for me so to do. In April 1835, I commenced by moving the barn to a more convenient place, and soon after removed my family. When I got well settled, and had time to look about me, I found my sit- uation nearly as discouraging as Mrs. Rowlandson's after her nineteenth remove : 1 however was oblig- ed to make the most I could of it. Being an invalid pensioner of the United States, I am not able to labor much, and have annually paid much more for help than my pension amount- ed to, whii^h any able bodied man could have done himself. My first year's farming about half filled the barn, and I had plenty of room the second year. Last vear 1 built another, principally for a grain barn ; and at this present time i have them both well filled, and was obliged to carry my wheat to a barn at a distance for the purpose of storing and thrashing it. When I commenced farming I enquired of a neighbor who had lived near the farm for sixty years if I could raise wheat : his answer was he did not think it possible. He did not raise it him- selt, or believe I could. He advised me to sow an old field which had been planted time out of mind, with spring rye, as I could procure no manure for it. 1 sowed, however, one half acre of it with wlieat and one and a half acre with spring rye. From the wheat I had ten bushels : from the rye nine and a half bushels; being more than three to one in fa- vor of the wheat, and the land was of equal good- ness. The whole piece was sowed down to grass, and the next season yielded a tolerable crop of clo- ver and witch-grass, which was mowed one year. The spring following the sod was turned over care- fully with the plough and rolled down hard; about ten loads of old manure were then spread to the a- cre, and harrowed in, and wheat was again sowed. The crop was as good as any 1 have had on planted o-round. The present year it was sowed with wheat for the third time and yielded l^andsomely, and the grass appears much more promising than it usually looks in the fall after wheat. A year last spring I sent to Boston for a half bushel of Black sea wheat, and the same of Italian spring wheat, but on account of the high price of the latter I did not receive but two quarts. I sow- ed them, and from the half bushel of Black sea I had four and a half bushels ; from the two quarts of Italian, one bushel — both yielded better than our common wheat last year. In 18;!H, 1 let one and a half acre of land to the halves, to be broke up and planted. The sod was turned over smooth and rolled down : it was ma- nured with noi more than twelve loads to the acre, and planted with corn and potatoes I received 70 bushels of potatoes and 15 bushels of ears of corn ^a small crop. The present season I split the corn hills and harrowed all down smooth. I then run a horse plough through it lightlv,so as not to disturb the eod turned under last year, and without putting on any manure whatever, (as I had none for it) 1 sowed three bushels of Black sea wheat. It was a thrifty and beautiful piece : it stood one tljird tal ler than our best bearded wheat, and as firm as a rock against the storiiis that entangled and nearly prostrated our bearded wlieat ; but not so against dogs and woodchucks, which on one third of it in- jured it much. Good judges said the one and a half acre would yield forty bushels ; but as I intended it all for seed I let it stand until it was thoroughly ripe, and no doubt it shrunk some and wasted more. It yielded thirty-five bushels, and is all engaged for seed at two dollars per pusliel, it being the only wheat of tjie kind raised hereabout*. THE FARMERS^ MONTHLY VISITOR. 173 The crop on this acre and a half last year paid me all expense, and the wheat from the same land the present year gave rne a net profit of over $50, after deducting all expense. My bearded wheat with a much better chance has yielded the present year but seventeen and a half bushels to the acre : the Italian the same ; and I can see but little dif- ference between these last. My future crop will be from tlie Black sea wheat. I believe it will yield more, thrash clearer and much easier than the bearded wheat, and stand firmer against wind and rain. Preparation of thr. seed : — The first wheat I sow- ed in 1835 was prepared after the manner of those days, viz : washed well in water and lime mixed in, and immediately sowed. The consequence was that when the heads came out of the sheath or stalk nearly one fourth of them appeared to be covered with black powder, which is one kind of smut I suppose. My present rule is to soak in a strong brine at least twenty-four hours, and then while it is wet stir in as much lime as I can get in, and let it stand in the lime as long as I can spare it : a week is better than a shorter time. I sow as early as I can prepare my ground, and have never been troub- led with the fly, weavil, rust or blight, or had any failure from other cause than the grounds proving too wet. Wheat should he cut early. Nearly all our farm- ers let their wheat stand too long. When I had the rye cradled I have mentioned in a former part of this communication, some wheat was accidentally cut on the borders of the adjoining wheat field, two or three weeks before the usual time of cutting. These I noticed and carefully gathered and when dry, shelled. On comparison I found the first cut was much the plumpest grain. Since that experi- ment I have cut my grain early, and it has gener- ally made from forty to forty-three lbs. of good flour to the bushel of sixty lbs. Last year I let two a- crcs of ground at the halves, to be sowed with wheat. It had been well manured and planted with potatoes the year before. Four bushels were sow- ed upon it, and it was a pretty good piece. When I thougiit it time to be cut, I called upon the tenant who was sick, and offered to get itfor him, or to get my half, and let him pay me in labor. He thought he should be able to cut it soon, and as he showed some reluctance to have me meddle with it, and ap- peared to think it of no consequence to liave it har- vested, I said no more about it. He had it in the barn in about two weeks after, and it was soon af- ter thrashed. I received twelve bushels for my half of the two acres, which was a smaller crop than I overbad from good land. I carried two bushels to mill and received twenty-seven pounds of flour to the bushel — a poor powdery stuff. I then carefully measured one and one fourth busliel of my own ear- ly cut wheat (many of the heads of which were green when reaped) and carried to tiie same mill. No toll was taken : the bushel and peck made fifty- four pounds of good flour, being equal in quantity and superior in quality to the two busliels of late cut wheat. Potii.tocs. I have planted the past season the fol- lowing varieties of potatoes, viz : early kidney, Chenangofor early use, Rohan forcuriosity, white. La Plata reds, and Orono black potatoes. My white potatoes were struck with the blight, and did not yield more than one hundred bushels to the acre. Rohan yielded thirty-five and a half pounds from thirteen eylets — nine of which weighed eleven lbs. Tlie Orono potatoe, which is the very best for the table with which 1 am acquainted, produced one hundred and sixty bushels on little more than five- eighths of an acre, with about six loads of manure and nine bushels of seed. These were planted from the 4th to the 5th of May, and the tops were per- fectly green until the fore part of October. They arc considered the very best by those who have purchased them of me, and are a new article in this place. In your address before the Cheshire County Ag- ricultural Association you ask, "May not the almost universal prevalence of weeds in the potatoe fields this season have caused the blight of that crop?" I answer, it was not the case with mine. 1 planted white potatoes on ground that had not been under tillage for more than forty years ; aside hiil, facing the south, in part shaded by apple trees — that part of the field exposed ta the sun was early touched with the blight, while those shaded by apple trees remained perfectly green and yielded double the quantity of the others. Our white potatoes appear to be nearly run out : no other potatoes of mine were injured by the blight. My opinion is, that the blight was caused by the hot weather, and that what injured our potatoes saved many fields of corn. Mine at the fore part of August promised nothing, but proved a pretty fair crop. Should you think proper to publish this " long yarn" of mine, I may hereafter give the results of my five years' farming as regards profit for the en- couragement of some of our able bodied young farmers, who have put their hand to the plough, but are still turning a wishful eye towards the fertile prairies of the west. As I have kept a daily journal for five years, it will show that notwith- standing ill health, bad seasons, &c. 1 have found farming profitable. Yours respectfully, JAMES SPAULDING. The Farmer's Glory. [Written for the late Agricultural Exhibition at Boscawen, N. H.] BY GEORGE KENT, ESQ. "I am a true laborer ; I earn that I eat, get that I wear ; owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness ; glad of other men's good, content with my harm ; and the greatestof my pride is to see my ewes graze and my lamba 3Uc\i.."-Shakspcure^s*^Jis yoiilikeit.'' Time rolls his course along— And every Fair occasion With us turns out a song. Or sure a good oration ; When both are well combin'd, To help along the story. The Day, with hearts in union join'd. Becomes the Farmer's glory. For here, in rich display. Is found each sort of notion — Out-doors are herds in full array, And in are flocks in motion. While stocks are down fn other lands, And post-notes go a begging, Our stock is money in our hands, Without the risk of i^g^^'»g- True farmers all — we earn our bread — No Priceing nor Sworticoutiiiff — Save pricing beeves so much ahead, Days drovers come about in. For others' good wc have a smile — For others' woe a sorrow — To-day we joyous are the while, And hope to be to-morrow — For farms our HilU- are fine, Our fields yet boast their Green o' Our CoflrAfr-hills by far outshine Lands where the flocks go lean o'. Nature and art have here essay'd Their wonders to exhibit ; Mechanics, Farmers, every trade, Receive a well-earned tribute. Kind Heaven its smiles has lent, To cheer our happy nieeling — Wisely we've learn'd to be content Without the sheriff's greeting. The salutations that we prize, Are found in smiling faces. That beam on us with woman's eyes, And speak her thousand graces. While round the festive board. We meet our joys to heighten. Those treasures only will we hoard, Tliat every year nia}^ brighten. With thankful hearts and tongues, Our ^'Harvest-Home" well cherisli. Yet look aloft to Nature's God From autumn fruits that perish. EngHsh Ai^riculturc. The good land of England is much more pro- ductive than that of America — and this superiority is probubly derived, not so much from greater orig- inal strength of soil, as from more skillful agricul- ture— depending mainly on two great facts, faithful tillage and faithful manuring. The English farmer does not believe that there is any thing necessarily inherent in the nature of good soil, w'.jch makes it productive, independently of nutricious matter and foreign aliment returned to it by the cultivator, as a compensation for the crops it has yielded. Hence his first, his principal care, IS to collect and form manure from every possible source. Nothing is more common when one is travelling in England, than to see in the roads adjacent to the fields, heaps of compost, consisting of turf, tops of vegetables, as turnips and carrots, the stubble from the wheat fields, which is cut by a second reaping afler the crops have been removed ; dead animals, the oft'als of barn yards and staWes, and in short, every thing which is capable of being converted by putrefaction into vegetable mould. It is therefore because this business of manuring is so perfectly understood, and so diligently prac- tised in England, more than from any other cause, that their lands are so much richer than ours. In- deed, is it any thing more than an imitation of the economy of nature ? Professor Sillimans Travels. DinsmoorS Patent Corn SheUer. Mr. Olonzo R DiNSMooR of West Chester, N. H. has invented and obtained letters patent for a Corn-sheller more simple in its construction and more readily put in operation, than any corn shcller within our knowledge. It is operated by hand ; and a single person will shell clean from the cob three ears where a person could shell no more than one in the usual way. Fifty bushels of corn ma^' with ease be shelled in a day on it by one man. It is cheaper than any other machine, the riglU and the operating part being furnished by the pa- tentee at the price of one dollar and fifty cents. David Currier, Jr. Esq. of Chester, and several other farmers of that and other towns testify of this Corn-sheller in a written statement now before us, that *'its cheapness, durability, and the ease with which it is operated, exceed any thing we have ev- er met with." From seeing it operate a short time the editir of the Visitor is inclined to unite with those gentlemen in recommending it to the farmers *'a8 a highly useful labor-saving machine." J^^One of the machines, left at the granary of the editor of the Visitor, may be seen by any per- son who has the curiosity to witness its operation. British Agriculture. The New York ''Spirit of the Times," referring to the intelligence from England received to the month of October, says — "The Agricultural Soci- eties in England are mustering in great force to celebrate their anniversaries. The most distin- guished noblemen in the realm take part in tliem, as well as the wealthy farmers ; the result is un- questionably most propitious to the formation of ag- ricultural knowledge, and the profession is elevat- ed in public estimation. The papers are filled with reports of the dinners by which they uniformly commemorate their meetings, and the eloquent speeches are given at length. To this good feeling, to the intelligence thus circulated, and the emula- tion excited by the prizes offered, are we in a con- siderable degree to attribute the palmy state of English agriculture, and the constant improvement of English stock. May we soon rival the "old country" in these appliances for improvement and their wholesome fruits I" Broiras Improved .■ilviunuch, i*ochrt. Memoran- duviiind .Icrount Booh for the year 1840. — We are again presented with this convenient.little annual, which is in a suitable form tihvays to be carried a- bout the person, and in which with its appendant pencil it is almost impossible any one should fail to make a memorandum of every important event which has occurred, is occurring, or will occur in the course of the year, as the blank space for es.ch day is at hand. The lawyer, the doctor, the min- ister, the merchant, the farmer, the laborer by the day, week or month, the matron at Iiome, the young lady in the kitchen or parlor or away from home, the young woman in the family, or at the factory, the hoy and girl in their teens; in short, persons en- gaged in almost any imaginable employmenteither public or private, will find tliis little publication of much more use than its cost. A proper use of this book will change the spendthrift into an economist — it will induce the heedless to become watchful and vigilant — it will enable the forgetful to remem- ber what should not be forgotten. The farmer or workingman will find such a memorandum, ke])ta- bout his person, in which he habitually enters any thing of moment as it occurs on the spot, to be a most usefel aid in explaining every transaction of importance in life. The pocket memorandum, kept by each individual after the transactions of the year have been minuted against the day in which they occurred, would present reminiscences that might be of great interest in years of after life. The child of future years might be instructed by an example of diligence and fidelity, which a diary of this kind should unfold when its keeper should sleep in the dust. Hogs that are shut up to fatten should be kept warm and dry, and they should be kept clean in- stead of being confined to dirt and mud, 6 or 8 inch- es deep, as is the case with many. It is not possi- ble for hogs to fatten fast unless they are comforta- ble, and they cannot be comfortable while covered with filth and exposed to cold and wet, instead of having a good warm nest. Hogs should have .pure oarth occasionally, and a little charcoal. — Jinoii 174 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Atwood's Planting Machine. Experiment with Lime on Potatoes. Nathaniel Holmics, Esq. of Sandbornton, this year made an experiinenton a crop of potatoes with slaked lime. He mi.ied one cask of tlie Thouns- ton lime in about twenty bushels of loam. The ground was a light loam inclining to sand, on the Winnipisseogee branch of the Merrimack, and of no extraordinary fertility : green stable manure was applied at the rate of ten full ox-cart loads to the acre. Only about one gill of lime was applied to each hill ; and the product of potatoes in rows side by side was an increase of at least one third, wherev- er the lime was applied. The potatoes were of su- perior quality : some of them may be seen at the residence of Mr. Clement, the State Treasurer. [Fig. 42.] The editor of the Monthly Visitor has recently witnessed the operation of a planting Machine, of which the above is a representation, invented during the present year by Mr. Moses Atwood, jnn. of Hampstead, N. H. We do not know how this machine would operate in a rocky, rough field — it seems to us in that case the regularity of furrowing, dropping and covering must be interrupted. We have never been able to make a profitable use of an^' planting or sowing machine which drops and covers : tlie uncertainty that the due quantity of seed is deposited i."i such as to induce us to forego this method of committing the seed to the earth ; and we continue to drop our seed in the old way, by hand. We however yield the point that Mr. Atwood's machine is the greatest improvement of all the seed- sowers that as yet has come to our knowledge : it drops corn very fairly at the appointed distance, four or five kernels to a hill; and on a plain field of well pulverized soil, we do not d»ubt it will furrow, drop and cover well at the same operation. It is described to us as "one of the most convenient and labor-saving implements ever introduced to the notice of the practical farmer. It is simple in its construction, certain and regular in its operation, and no way liable to get outof order. It is calculated for planting in hills or drills, corn, beans, Ac." "The utility of this machine consists in its immense saving of time and labor. It opens the furrow, drops the seed, covers it over and rolls it down ; and all this is easily done at one operation by the power of a single horse." The price of the machine complete, with the right to use it, is about twenty dollars. A good hit. The following from the Iowa Sun is deserving the attention of every one of our readers ; the con- cluding item is quite important, and rounds the pe- riod well : — "/n/rrnn/ Intproreinciits/' — The system we plead for, though attended witli much toil and expense, will not require a State tax of a single cent, nor much, if any legislation. It is pre-eminently a ''democratic" system : it is to be begun by the peo- ple, and will be for the exclusive benefit ofthe peo- ple. It is only for every farmer to mend up his fenc- es, till his ground well, have ii well prepared for ])lanting, have the crops in seasonably, tend tiiem well, keep down the weeds, see that his horses and cattle are fed and treated so as to make them thrive, keep his imple.nents in order and in their places ; for every fatlier to rule his family well, govern his children, form their minds and manners by good instructions, train thera up in the habits of indus- try, honesty, and sobriety, provide them with com- fortable clothing, send them t^ school, paj' for their tuition and have a care for the company they keep ; for every husband to treat his wife as a bosom companion — for every woman to love her husband, and to prove a helpmate for him, to keep from gos- siping, to spin more stocking than street yarn, to keep the house tidy, and tlie family clothing clean and well mended ; — for every damsel to keep all grease spots from her clothes, darn the heels of iier stockings, remove beau catchers from her head, and novels from her library, to do much with needles, and store her head with useful ideas ; for every voung man to go decent, but to buy no better clothes than he can honestly pay for, work hard, behave courteously toothers, especially to old men, to guard against self-importance and insolence, if much in company with ladies, to black his shoes, trim his hair, throw away his cigar and quid, attend preaching regularly, and hold his tongue if he can- not talk sensibly, and to get married when he is twenty-five, if he can find any one to have him ; for magistrates to execute the laws ; for tavern- keepers to keep better food than brandy ; for towns to have clean streets and good side-walks, to re- move every nuisance, and every thing injurious to health ; favor good morals ; for every district to support good schools. In fine, for it is impossible to enumerate all the objects embraced in our scheme, for every body to cease to do evil, and learn to do well, attend church on the Sabbath, mind his own business, and take a newspaper. " A LARGE Hog. — We notice in several of our ex- change papers an account of a very extraordinary hog raised in Wallingfbrd, Vt., and sold for ttro hundred dollars to a gentleman who designs to transport him over the country as a show. He weighs, it is saiti^sixteen hundred pounds and is three OT four ijears old ! He is a monster indeed. We several years since saw a hog that weighed 1350 lbs. and was thought to exceed every thing in the hog line. There are, at this time in this town, sev- eral very large hogs, one owned by Mr. Timothy Rix, which is estimated to weigh eight or nine hun- dred pounds, and is not vet, we believe, eighteen months old. Should the creature be kept until he reacliss the age of "three or four years," we doubt very much whether the Wallingford hog would have much to brag of when compared with the hog of Mr. R. Mr. S. Bliss also has a very large hog, which in the course of a year or two, could be made to go ahead of either the others alluded to. He has a iraine to build upon, and should be kept lor the purpose of showing that some things can be done in this section as well as in other parts. HarerhiU, .'V. //. Republican. FRriT.— We were presented one day last week, by J. Pineo, jr., of Hanover, in this county, with fifteen specimens of the fruit which lie is endeavor- ing to introduce into this region. The fine llavor and noble size ofthe apples — six of which weigh- ed o lbs. 'i oz. — go beyond that of any fruit which we have before seen north of the valley ofthe Pis- cataqua and the Merrimack near the sea-board. — The prevailing opinion among our farmers that choice fruit cannot as well be raised in this region as on the coast explodes at once in the presence of the Peannain, Pippin, Russet, Nodhead, Potash, or Gilliflower ; and we hope the introduction ot* ihein, by grafting, may he dui}' considered by those who esteem good fruit as an edible at home or for the market. — Haverhill., N. H. H'hifr. Beat this who can. — Thp News, a newspaper printed at Chelsea, Orange county, Vermont, no- tices a heifer Calf belonging to E. C. Rehington, Esq. of that village, which, at the age of six months and ten days, weighed 502 1-2 lbs. The luxuriant hills of Orange county turn out some of the finest beeves in the world ; and for the exuberance and excellence of soil, we have never seen, even in western New York, any tract of land superior to the "hill town" of Randolph. We have not yet had the pleasure of passing through that part of the country where Chelsea is situated. Great crop of Wheat. Mr. Isaac Adams of Jafi"rey, N. H. raised on ground measuring one acre and one fourth, fifty- seren bushels of Black sea wheat the present year. Several farmers of this town (Concord) have this year raised their hundred bushels each ofthe Black sea wheat. On common high ground sward pre- pared the previous year by ploughing only, as in the preparation for rye, a greater crop of spring wheat is produced than the usual crop of winter rye, with much more certainty. Our neighbor Colby, near whose premises stands the Bradley mon- ument erected to perpetuate the remembrance of an Indian massacre, a mile from the main street west, has this year raised more than a hundred bushels of excellent wheat, besides a fine crop of Indian corn on ground which, in the presence of our river in- tervales, had been considered too rough and poor for cultivation. That portion of " Rum hill" em braced in Mr. Colby's little farm, without the use of "the creature," has been brought into a state e- qually productive with the best part of the inter- vales : the man who with his own unaided hands brings as much productive ground into use as Mr. Colby, deserves well of his country. The land within two miles of the State house that has not as yet been brought into cultivation is .nuch more valuable than its old proprietors had generally sup- posed. .Mcchanichs' Fair at Boston, October, 18.39. At this exhibition 23 gold medals, ]2'J silver medals and 233 diplomas were awarded by the Massachu- setts Charitable Mechanicks' Association for im- proved or newly invented articles exhibited. Al- most every variety of elegant manufacture, of all the different kinds of material, whether of wood or metal, whether of animal or vegetable growth, whether of articles to plea.^e the fancy or taste, or calculated for use and necessity, is iiiclu- ded in the list of premiums. The inventors and owners include many incorporated companies and individuals in all parts of New England. Looking over this list we are surprised at the progress whTch mechanical skill has made not only in the produc- tion of all the elegancies of life which were for- merly obtained in foreign countries alone, but in improving every machine and implement that comes into common use, and inventing many kinds of labor-saving machineiy. Such exhibitions as those held annually at Boston and New York, are calculated to bring into actioi. the best efi'orts of Y''ankee ingenuity. Great Fair of the .Imcricnti Iii.stitute, at .Xcw York, Oct. lir3'J. At this Fair, which terminated on the last day of October, some 1500 difterent ar- ticles of American Industry were exhibited, pre- senting a number even beyond the exhibition of the Mechanicks' Fair at Boston. The spirit of emulation, generated by this exhibition, which is visited by many thousands, we hope, may have a " tendency to check the passion for importing arti- cles of mere fancy to pamper pride and profii^acy. A Cashmere shawl at the price of a tliousand dol- lars— a silk dress which shall cost enough to buy a farm — the decorations of a parlor tiiat shall' be bought with money that would support a dozen persons comfortably through life— not one of which items will add to the comfort of those who obtain them — are better prized because they come from abroad. A letter from a great city of the West mentions that a brother of a young lady late of this State had sent out to Europe to buy her a wedding dress. How fallacious and false is the pride that is gratified by indulgencies such as the.se! How mortifying to that pride would be the reflec- tion that it had been guilty of such folly, when real necessity in after life should stare him in the face ! The poor industrious man may enjoy a clear con- science in the midst of privations, and smile at want: ofthe poor eztraragant man, how just would it be to " laugh at his calamity and mock when his fear cometh!" If any portion of creatures with THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. J75 the stamp of the face Divine must luxuriate in ex- travagance, must throw away thousands for useless decorations either of their persons, their dwellings or their vehicles of pleasure, let tliem do their own country so great a favor as to employ American industry at home for articles of more value and of greater elegance than can be imported either from the British islands, from France, Italy or the far- thest India. An aged Soldier. There resides in the town of Andover, N. H. a pensioner of the United States, named Samuel M'GuiNN, who was born at a place called Wick in Scotland : his father, he says, was a farmer nanied James M' Guinn — tlie maiden name of his motlier was Elizabeth Southerland. He was impressed and put on board the ship Arabcl of Greenock in Scotland, in the year 1775, when he was in his for- tieth 3'car : she was a private transport vessel. The Arabel having been captured on her voyage by an American armed vessel, he arrived at Boston a prisoner. He was exchanged at West Point, but instead of joining the British army, he enlisted in- to the American service, and served long enough to be entitled to a pension under the act of 1818. He is ai, this time 104 years of age, and lives with a wife much 3'ounger than himself: he is poor, but lives comfortably — is extremely neat and cleanly, and retains his reason and recollection of ancient events perfectly. He never returned to or corres- ponded with his relations in Scotland, because, as he says, he feared the forfeiture of his life would be the consequence of his discovering himself. The above facts were obtained of Hon. Israel W. Kellkv of Salisbury, who resides within a few miles of M'Guinn. From the Genesee Farmer. Bone as a Slanure. The use of bone as a manure for crops, particu- larly the drilled or root crops, is rapidly increasing in this country, wherever the ground article can be procured, and it appears to justify all the reasona- ble exjiectations that have been formed respecting its application. Mills for grinding bones have been erected near Bostoij, New York and Troy, where the dust is sold by the barrel or bushel, and where tried, has generally been highly a]iproved. In all our cities or large villages, almo.st any desirable quantity of bones could be procured, were it of con- sequence to preserve or obtain them ; and as the expense of a mill for grinding cannot, we think, be great, would it not be well to have one at least in every place where a saving or sale of this mate- rial is )iractlcable. Bones simply crushed are use- ful, and their effects are more durable than when made line ; but when applied in tlie form of dust the effect is quicker and more sensible. That bones should be an active manure when ap- plied to plants, is evident from their composition. According to the analysis of that excellent chem- ist, Mr. Hatehett, the component parts of bones are chiefly four, — the earthly salts, fat, gelatine and cartilage. The earthly salts are three in number : First. Phosphate of lime. Second. Carbonate of lime. Third. Sulphate of lime. The following is a table calculated from the a- nalysis and experiments made on the bones of dif- ferent animals, and of human species, by the same chemist: Kinds of bones, 100 parts. Q t-:o r P ^ ^ S ""• en ■ 'TD 3 3 P C c 0 ■-^ Human, 23 63 0 2 100 Horse, 9 67 T.as 22 100 Ox, 3 63 2 2 100 Sheep, 16 73 0.5 1.35 100 Swine, 17 b2 1 30 100 Calf, 2.5 54 21 100 Elk. 1.5 90 1 7.5 100 Experience in the use of bones has proved that the o-elatine is the most valuable part of the bones, and this analysis proves, tliat of all bones those of man and the calf are most servicable as manures. In Eno-land, the dust made from bones brought from the battle fields of Europe, has been most es- teemed, and until that source of supply was ex- hausted, ship loads of them were imported annual- ly for grinding. Boiling bones for the purpose of making portable soups by extracting the fat and gelatine, injures them for the purpose of agricul- ture, in proportion to the quantity extracted. Bones from soap makers when crushed, are little more than the salts of lime ; and these, though very val- uable on some soils, (particularly the phosphate,) can be obtained cheaper other ways. The average quantity of gelatine is not far from 1 16 of the bone. Bones, then, to produce their full effect, should undergo no roasting or boiling processes, that shall extract any of their essential parts ; and it is proba- bly owing to the different treatment the bones from which the dust has been made, has undergone, that the value of different parcels of dust is so various ; and hence also has doubtless arisen the somewhat conflicting estimates of those that have used this manure. A lot of dust made from bones from which the gelatine had not been extracted, used by one man,would justify a favorable report ; a lot, which by being made from bones from which the gelatine and fat had been extracted, would be little better than lime, would naturally disappoint the user, and produce a report unfavorable to its virtue as a ma- nure. From the Ciios [Jeiimcrat. Comparison between the iveather in Lan- caster, N. H. and Wisconsin Territory. Below we present our readers with statements of the weather, during the month of September, at Beloit, Wisconsin, and at Lancaster. The table of this town v/as kept by Maj. .Inhn W. Weeks ; that for Beloit by Hazen Cheney, Esq. now of that place but formerly a resident of this vicinity. The fol lowing is the weather for Lancaster: — Bunsise. 2 P. M Wind. Weather. I 31 67 W Fair. « 38 75 S W Clear. 3 48 75 S W Fair. 4 48 75 W 5 46 69 S£ Light r. 6 49 69 S W Cloudy. / 54 74 S Fair. 8 52 68 S Cloudy. 9 58 60 S Rain. 10 54 61 W Fair 11 37 56 S W Clear 12 42 53 W Cloudv. 13 41 52 NE Fair.' 14 29 59 W 15 30 60 S E 16 53 59 S E Rain. 17 54 71 S Fair. 18 50 67 S W Rain. 19 54 61 W 20 43 64 N W Fair. 21 45 67 N W 22 42 70 s w 23 54 o5 NW 24 31 51 N W Cloudy. 25 44 50 W Rain 26 44 44 W 27 25 52 W Fair. 28 26 42 N W Cloudy. 29 27 43 W 30 31 42 " The following is tl e weathe r for Beloit : — 6 A. M. 12 M. 6 P. M. Weather. 1 47 70 68 Fair. 2 48 77 71 " 3 50 81 74 (( 4 56 E" 68 ii 5 62 7b 73 Morn, cloudy day f. 6 59 68 65 Fair. 7 51 74 69 a. m. show, p m. f. 8 65 80 6S Fair. 9 51 63 54 Cloudy. 10 24 62 65 Variable. 11 40 57 59 Fair. 12 38 53 44 i' 13 Frost 34 68 59 u 14 50 52 61 a m rain p m cloudy 15 62 66 66 morn, cloudy day f. 16 38 64 58 a m fair p m cloudy 17 52 52 57 Variable. 18 40 68 66 Fair. 19 51 81 68 a m f. p m show. f. 20 52 79 72 Fair. 21 59 84 84 (( 22 50 76 56 (( 23 36 66 64 It 24 38 64 50 Variable. 25 46 55 55 Fair. 26 30 60 60 " 27 45 44 43 " ex a flight of snow in morn. 28 32 49 40 Cloudy 60. p m rain 29 40 48 48 Fair. 30 22 54 44 From an inspection of the above tables, we infer that the average difference through the month in fiavor of Beloit is about fixe degrees. It appears to us, that the difference of five degrees, is hardly asuflicient compensation, for the fatigues, and per- ils by 'land and water,' which the emigrant experi- anees in travelling all the way to Wisconsin. Coal in England. — Her coal is eighteen hundred feet below the surface of the earth. As late as the thirteenth century, coal was prohibited by royal proclamation, from being burned in London, be- cause it was a public nuisance ! J\'ow, the quanti- ty used in that city annually, ia not less than 2,- 500,000 tons for fuel, and 230,000 tons for gas — Great Britain yearly consumes and exports 30,000,- 000 tons ; of this 61.5,255 tons goes to foreign coun- tries, and 40,000 to the United States. Labors of the Srcedish Army. — It appears from a statistical account of the public works of Sweden that from 1818 to 1838, the Swedish army per- formed, in works of public utility, 5,360,700 _/'okc- nics (the jovrnce is the day's work of one man ;) viz: canals and rivers, 4,164,000; roads and bank- ing, 130,000 ; civil constructions, 241,000; fortifi- cations, 501,700. It is by this means that, in 1832, the canal of Gothia, which connects the North Sea with the Baltic, across the widest part of the Swe- den continent, was completed. Yesterday the great sale of cattle under the di- rection of the American Institute took place at Harlem. The prices ranged from $1,100 for Bulls to .$50 for Bull calves, and from ,«f;475 to f 265 for Cows. The famous Sir John, owned by Mr. Wil- liams, brought $1000 ; the Harlem Comet, owned by Mr. Hall, $560, and the Red Comet, owned by Emmet, $475 ; the imported Cow Seraphina, own- ed by Mr. Williams, brought $472, and the others $250 to $265 ; one Boar Pig sold for $150, and oth- ers with Sows ranged from ,>!!i60 to $35. JV! Y Gazette, Oct. 23. Exchanges. — Kvery commercial paper has so much to say about exchange and the rate it bears in the market, that it may not be useless to make some explanation on this subject. Prior to July 1834, the value of a pound sterling of Great Brit- ain was $4,44, in this country. By the alterations of the standard of gold coinage in June of that year, our gold was debased and become less valuable th.xn the British; consequently the value of the English sovereign, the representative of a pound sterlmnr, rose in nominal value in this country and the stand- ard was then fixed at the Custom House at $4 SO : it was, however, and is now actually worth $4 86 and a fraction over. Still the practice is retained of quntini' the pr'"e of exchange upon the pound sterling of S4 4 , For instance we observe m the papers that i x change is selling at 9 1-2 per cent above par in New . York ; it means no more than that 9 1-2 cents are added to each dollar of the pound sterling of $4 44, which i.^ a fraction over forty two cents, to bring it up to the actual pound sterling in Ehgland where you wish to send your money. This is pre- cisely equivalent to the sovereign standard weight and 22 carats fine. It is therefore easy to perceive that this mode of selling or quoting exchange is founded upon a false par value and absurd. It should conform to the fiictand be stated at so many dollars and cents for the sovereign of $4 S6. By the common mode of quotation, it would appear that exchange on Lon- don is bearing a premium of 9 a 10 per cent, when in fact it is at its actual par value ; that is, it costs no more to procure a bill of exchange on England for a hundred pounds sterling than it does to buy a hundred sovereigns or so many Spanish dollars as they will come to nt the value of a pound ster- ling in our money. — Portland Courier. The following prices brought by some of the fe- males at Henry Clay's, jun. sale, near Lexington, considered in connection with the times, are such as to encourage the liberal improvers in our domes- tic races of animals. Victoria, white, 2 years old, by C. Curie, for $835 do roan, 3 years old, by A. &. Win. Warner 745 " " " " " " ■ '510 520 340 Venus, roan, 5 years old, C. Curie, Fanny, roan, 1 year old, J. G. Giles, Dutchess, roan, 4 months old, J. R. Dunlap, Jane, red and white, 9 months old, A. & Wm. Warner, Daphne, white, 5 months old, J. G. Giles, Beauty, roan, 2 years old. Snail & Caldwell Daphine was sick and doubts were expressed as to Beauty's 'Steeimg.— Lexington, Klj Intelligencer. 300 230 176 176 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Life Preserver ertra. — Our Friend Dr. Howe, of BillericQ, writing to Dr. Smith of the Boston Med- ical and Surgical Journal says, he kept a list of the names of the oldest men, dead or alive, within the circle of his ordinary practice, looking hack 20 years, and he finds that of 67 men, from 73 to 93 years of age, (average a fraction over 78) 54 were smokers or chewers, 9 were non-comsumers, and 4doiihtfnl. He never heard, however, of but one case of life prolonged by the use of tobacco, accompanied by satisfactory evidence. At the ever memorable battle of Benning-ton, there stood in the ranks a New Hampshire militia man, by the name of Jon- athan Wheeler. This Jonathan was a man of Her- culean strength, with red, bushy hair, a peculiar squint of the eye, and with fighting propensities strongly developed; he was, moreover, a dead shot — cool, deliberate, and calculating. He was pre- pared for action; in his cartridge-box were twen- ty-four rounds of ball-cartridges; in his canteen a pint of potatoc whiskey ; in his breeches pocket, an iron tobacco box of ample dimensions, which had once belonged to his grandfather, old Adoni- jah Wheeler, of Scataquog. When the heat of the battle was over, and Jonathan found time to take a quid of the tranquilizing weed, upon draw- ing the box from his pocket, he found, with aston- ishment unutterable, the indentation of a musket ball upon the lid. His trusty box had received the charge of some sharpshooter, and, in all probabili- ty, prolonged the life of as brave a fellow as ever swung a knapsack. ^J' We are of opinion that tobacco has a much more deleterious efl'cct upon the constitution than IK generally apprehended, either when snuffed, chewed, or smoked. 'J'he editor of this paper in the course of twenty-five years became an inveter- ate snuff taker, till a large box full would go away in a day. He found he must leave off or become miserable ; he made trial at first to leave off grad- uallv. This only sharpened the appetite. Six years ago he mentally promised himself (not aloud to anybody, lest he should break his promise to the world) that he would take no more snuff. This he accomplished with less ado than would be made in weaning a common infant. The leaving off dis- covered to him that the tobacco had as bad an effect in unhinging and disturbing tlie whole nervous system as ardent spirits probably might have hid. Tobacco die wers and tobacco smokers are worse off, if possible, than snuff takers. They may live longer than the rum-drinker ; and some constitu- tions possibly may not suffer essential injury in tlie moderate use of tobacco. But there is danger that moderate smoking and chewing may create an in- ordinate desire for the weed, wliich is certainly poisonous, and likewise create an irrepress'-ble thirst for 'trong drink. We have known many mea who, though they chewed moderately, leave off; and as a consequence in the course of a few months, gain pounds of healthy flesh. Whether used for chewing, smokingor snuffing, we challenge any lover of tobacco to the proof of its having accomplished a greater good in any case than to allay the toothacli for the moment, or settle the stomach after eating: too much dinner. BRIGHTON (T.\TT(.R MARKRT.— Nnv. II, 1839. (Krported Tor the Boston Diirly Advertiser & Patriot.) At market MOO Heel Cattle, 850 Storei, 27fi0 Shee[i, and lySOSwinn. About 950 Swine were reported last week.— Prices— Bfef" Cattle— First qualllv atr>25aS7; ^ec.)nd qtial- tty57r. a 0 2.") ; third qn^iliry 4 50 a ^5 2.5.— BHrrplIins CaiHe— A pulfiiient nuinher v\ ere nut piirihased tueatnblish prices. Stores — r^aies dull ; very few pinchriserp al markei. pmhaiily on oicouni of the election. Wti quote yearlings $10 a 12, two year nldglSaQij ('owa and Calves— Dull ; no sale^^ noiti:- ed. Sheep- Lots were taken at SI -iO, 1 <>3. 1 81, 2 00,2 2.^., and $2 50. .'^witie— Lots in peddle were takf-n at 4, 4^. 4^. for Si.ws. ;ind 5, a 5^ fur Harrows. At retail, 5a 5\for t?ows. and (; a (j^ for Marrow's. There wa-' a lot of Bei ksliire Shuala at market, some of which were ftill blooded, and ---old, but we did not tearn the price. Reported for the Jofirn:iI of Commerce. NEW YORK CATTLE :\1ARKET, Nnv. H. At market, \\^,Q head <'r Heef Cattle. inrliidinpSO left over from lust week, and lon from the Souih ; 70 Mildi Cow§,and 221)0 Sheep and Lambs. The Snpiilies of Beef being large for the demand, a reduction in prices was submitted to; sales of G50 head at finm $ti to S^. averaue S"? t*'*" 10' tl»- *'"'cl> Cows— Demand rair ; 50 ^o\A a^ SX5 to $40. and 45 to §50.— Sheep and Lambs continue in lair demand, ITOit sold. Sheep at S2to$:i, and 3^ to §4. Lambs at I J to $2. and S'^ to $3;^. Dresffd Hops 5 to J!*^., the 100 lbs. Hay— tiales by ihe load at 57 to 75 cents the 100 lbs. PHILADELPHIA CATTLE MARKET, Nov. 7. Beeves — The arrivals at .lohnV Union Drove yardforihe week were about 400 head, which sohl at a shade lieiier than last week, and more brisk We qnote prime ;u $? '"i"; E^od $7 50;"conini..n S'' "0. Cowa and Calves— The arrivnN at Thompson's yard for the week was 230 head, all hot 70 of which were disposed of. The !«ales were doll and at a re- duction from our last report. We quote 22 a $23 per head. — Hots- eoOhead cuiistiintHi the week's supply, all but wO of which were .-Sid d at S~ •'>'*■ Sheep — the market has been pleniifully supplied at prices ranping froni 1 50 to $-1 .'.0 per head. Hay— Goi.d Timothy is brisk of sale at 90 a 100c lbs. ; Timothy arid Clover, &5 a 90 per do. No change in Straw- Rye seUs readily nt former rates. — N. Am. BALTIiVIORE CATTLE MARKET, Nov. 8. The number of Beef Cattle offered at market was not so large as ta-l week, but l'nll> equal to ttie deniand. The pri cen at which iliey si-ld jangcd Ironi $8 to 7 50 per 100 Ibe. ac- cording toqualily. From the Boston Cultivator, Nov. 9. The M arekts.— \o great rlniige of properly, or the pric es, have l:iken place in tin- inatkr^ls. Flour u ill >et be be- low six dollars. There is an abundance of li, and the hold- er- want the money- There Is no probability of extensive »ales of it in England. The Meat Market is n liule h.wer. and drovers must take less Ibr grass led beef. Neat stock must bear a L'ood prii e, for there is a real scarcily In the country, bui then there is a scar city nf iMotie\ . Park is (loirp Itetter thar in the fore part of last \veek. Good ho-is have been sold readily this week at eight cents. Butter is lower than it has beei). Wiih prnper altent on twice as much oiay be obiained for the ic.^f buttt-r , but «e Bactifice more on lhis;.riicle than on our un current bills. Meats, at '•etn)!, are not much reiluced ; it m PAceedinply inconvenient to alter prices down ward. Mo.^t hndies descend with more facility than they rise. It is not so with reiall prices. The following table exhibits in brief, the im- mense amount of property destroyed by fire, and where located, since the first of October last : — Location. Fires. Buildimrs dcsi'd. Loss. In New York, 7 5J $1,600,000 In Mobile, 6 450 1,600,000 In Philadelphia, 2 53 1,000,000 In Alton, 111. 1 12 20,000 In Newark, N. J. 2 9 55,000 In New Orleans, 1 6 20,000 In Norfolk, Va. 1 2 10,000 In Aiken, S. C. 1 10 100,000 In York, Pa. 1 1 5,000 In Louisville, Ky 1 1 10,000 In West Boylston.l 2 600 50,000 24 $4,040,000 UOSTON BANK NOTli TABLE. Corrected for Ihe Boston Cliltiv.-ilor. {C5- Tlie bills of all llie hanks in the iNew England States, which are in good credit, are received at par, on depasit, hy the following h.inl^s, viz; — \tlas, .Atlantic, Conunerrial, Ea- gle, Freemann', Globe, Hancock, [l:iinilton. Market, Me'- i hants', Middling Interest, .\oilh, (Oriental, State, .-ilffolk, Shoe and Leather Dealers*, Treniont, Traders', bhawinut. Union, Washliigion and Mechanics. The Pulfolk Bank tr.insacts all Ihe business feinting to Country Banks, foi the above named Banks. S):j- All the Rhode Island Banks, 10|per cent, diiconnt. LIST OF BROKEIY BAKK9 I .^ NEW E.VGLArtO. Burrilvilie, R. I. (.'oniinonwealth, Boston, Fulton " Kilby Frr»nHtp. South Boston, Lafayette " Chelsea, (Chelsea, Casline, Me. Derb, , Conn. Eagle, N. Haven, Conn. Fitiiiicrs', Belcherlown, Ms. Kennebec, Me. Nalialit Bank, Lynn. P.issainaquoddy, Eastport. Scituate, K. L V\'isL-assei, Me. Roxhiiry at Koxhiiry Norfolk, Floiir. — A correspondent of the New York Jour- nal of Comtnerce writes from the interior of New York, that fanners arc holdingback their wheat for hicher prices, and he tliinks the amount of flour that will go forward before navigation closes will be but littlc''larger this year than last, notwithstanding the abundance of the crops. PoRK throughout the country will be abundant this season. We have seen good pork purchased from our market carts within a few days for six cents the pound. Beef is also reduced in price, and may now be liad at reasonable rates. Poultry is abundant, and good chickens have been purcha- sed wtthin a day or two for six cents. Willi a lit- tle money now one can do pretty well, but the pinch of the game is to get that little. — Portland Jidc. Oldpriees returning. — The Dayton Journal states that a contract to deliver 1000 barrels of flour at ^3,62 1-2 has been made by a miller of that vicinity . The Middleton (O.) Mail states that a lot of corn ■was sold in Hamilton last week at 25 cents per bushel, and that another lot could not find a pur- chaser at that price. In the rich corn districts of Missouri, 12 1-2 cents per bushel is now the stand- ing price. — Cleveland Herald. The surplus bread stuffs in America fortunately »re large, and will probably all go to Europe ere our next crops are in the garner. What will be the extent of our next crop, who can answer? What then onght to be the policy of the farmers ? NEW YORK MARKET— Nov, 9.— ColTeo from 9 to II ctfl. ; cotton 1 1 to 14 ; dry poods, " scarcity of customers un- precedented"—nothing doing Flour: deinnnd for England fallins oir — for France continued — Western ."« 0'3 lo 5 T.t, [nt Boston l> 2.'> lo ti :I7.]. Exchange.- Pliilailel|diia 19, Mobile 15, and at all r.ltes he'tween. Bank notes— New l-;ngland I only, except Rhode Island, and so up to 2.5 dipconnl. .Mon- et.— .\o grent inijiroventent ; Ironi 2, lo H per ct per nionth- 'riie sacrifice of the merchants unparalleled, between the ruinous e.xclianue and the no less ruinous iisiirv . — Silurdny, 12 o'clock. Exchange (ui England down to-1\and,'i. Spe- cie continually coming In— more confidence, tirdr rs for flour to England countermanded. Some houses have failed that stood firm for the last :in years. Flour — Genesee down to .^ .10 and 5 ('.'2. Corn— sales at fio— Hats 41. BosroN No ntalerial change in inonev market. "i^Inrks is much depressei.'." lleie and in New York the mercliaiits ezUl on kojie for the better. — Vfia Hampuhin Seritmet. Prices of Beef Cattle. — We cr.py from our files of the last five years ttie prices ol beef cattle on the first of Novem- ber of each year ; — Nov. I, 183-1. Prime S'1,'^5 a 5, good 4 a 4,''.n, cows 3,50a 4. .10. Nov. 1, 1635. Prime $.■> a 5,33, good 4,50 a 5, small cattle :ln 4. Nov. 1,1836. 1st quality 5,50 a li,25, 2d do. 5 a 5,50, 3d qiialiiy 3,.10 a 4,50. Nov. 1, IR37. 1st quality 6 a 6,50, 2d do. 5,25 a C,7.5, 3d do. 4,25 a 5,25. Nov. I/1B38. 1st qualiiy $7,50, 2d do. 0,75 a 7, 3d do. 5,75 a G,25. Nov. I, 1839. 1st quality $6,75 a 7, 2d do. 5,75 a 6,25, 3d do. 4,.50 a 5,25. The price of pork and other meat has gradually risen in the same proportion with that of beef, but ihey all. seem now to be taking a start downward. — .X'alnnial Kn^le. The present subseribers to the Farmer's Monthly Visitor icho intend and wish to continue it beyond the year, tcill do the editor n facor by making appli- cation for a renewal of subscription through the same source it iras obtained last year. Gentlemen who may do us the furor of acting as agents in pro- curing subscribers can make remittances through the Post Masters of tkrir sereral towns, which may be done free of postage. Subscribers who wish to re- new will recollect }hat all papers will be discontin- ued until they make application for renewal. That no interruption may take place the reneioal had bel- ter be made before the first of January. List of b.mks in New England, whose charters have ex- pired : —Sulton Hank, Wilkiio-oovllle, .Mass.; Farmers and Mecnanics' I'a« tucket, R. I 1 Bath, Ualh, Me.; Wiiithrop Bank, Me.; Kennebunk iJank, at Aiundel, .Me.; Bangor l!:nik. Me.; ^aco Bank ; Newbuiypott Bank ; Concord, (Sparhaivk cashier) N. H. Pheni.x Bank, Nantucket. The Middling Interest Bank commenced redeeming its bills under five dollars, Sept. IG. BILES NOT RECEIVED AT THE 3CFF0LK BANK. MAINE. Oxford Bank at Fryeburg, fraud. .\gricultiiral, Brewer Me. G to per cent, discount. Bangor (."onimerrial, 10 to Oldtown, at Oroiio, no sale Damariscotta Bank, 10 to Georgia Lumber C«. at Portland to 5 Calais, at Calais, 10 to Stillwaler Canal, at Orono, 5 to Westbrook a*. Westhrook, 3 to 5 Washington Co. at Calais, 15 lo City, at Portland, . 5 to NEW H.SMP9H1RE Wolfeborough Bank, 75 o MASSACHUSETTS. Norfolk, at Roxburv, 10 to MidiUesex, at Cambridge 5 to Ftlllon, ai Boston, 30 lo Kilby, lU lu Coiniiionwcallh, Boston, "30 to M'ddling Interest, 20 to Nahant, 80 Chelsea, »U Itoxbiirv, at Roxhnry, no sale Farmers' anil .Mech.iiiics' Ad- ams, South Village no sa e VEHUO>T. St Albatip, nt St Alhans, Essex, ill GuiJclh.nll, 75 Manchester, at Maorhesler, to 5 ;CO«NECTICVT. Slamford, nt Stninfnrd, to 5 lUiricepori, at Bridzepurt, to 5 Fairlitld County Bank, lo 5 ^0=- Bills of the Frankfort Batik, M*?. areac'in received at llif ^illfrolk Hank. Alsti, Lataytlte n;uik, Ranpor, The bills of thf following' Banks are :^iill rtcvived : Old Cuniderland Bank, rurtiand j Waierville Hank j Mendon liank. Banks in New Ynrk City par. to Jpr. cl. dtscount. " Stale of N. Jersev, to 5 \* »' City of Phil ulplphia, 15 to »' *' Slate of Nfiw York, .5 to " " City of Baltimnre, ]'Vs " " Districtof Columbia, 15' (o " THE l'AR3IER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A MONTHLY NEWSPAPER, IS PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM P. FOSTER, Hill's Brick Block, Concord, J^. H. JAMES BURNS, 104, Washington st., Boston^Ms, J. N. BOLLES, JVo. 1, Market Square, Prom- dcnre, B. I. The Visitor is issued from the 6ftccnth to the twen- tieth day of each month. Each number will contain sixteen pa^es of quarto siz» on paper calcutnted for prfservation and ttn a fair and beau- llful i\ pe. The subjects will be illustraied with engiavinga. The terms will be fifivcnty-Jive eevL^ a year pnijnbU always in ad- vance. For all subscribers less than 24, .A penis- will he allowed a deduction of 84 cents each— for all over 24 subscribers on any one agency 12^ cents each will be allowed. Thus, (op six subscribers four dollars— twelve, eJRht doUara— eiElitetn, twelve dollars— twenty-four, fifteen dollars, will be remitted. Single numhera. twelve and a half cent? each. All subscri- bers will commencp with the first number of the year. {)5-Conimunicaiions by mail, will be directed to \X\h~ LIAM P. F<*ST£a, t3onoord,W.H. THEF Conducted by ISAAC HIIiL. " Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breasts he has made las peculiar de.positcfnr substantial and genuine virtue."-} efttlrsov. VOLUME 1. CONCORD, N. H., DEC 20, 1S39. NUMBER 12. A New Hampshire Farmer. In a late number of the Farmer's Monthly Visi- tor we introduced to our readers a g'entlejnnn of Jafirey, N. H. whoso premises we lately visited, Tiz. John Conant, Esq. The farm of this sjentle- man is situated near the foot of the sublime Monad- nock : it is composed of about two hundred acres of the soil peculiar to that region — the higher cul- tivated ground more or less rock}', some of it too full of rocks to be turned up with the plough, and all of it having with lonm at no very great depth a gravelly, hard and tiinty pan and subsoil : the low- er ground consisting of tVesh peat meadows, the bottoms of former ponds of water which Iiave be- come drained by the lowering of the channels of the streams flowing from the fountain head towards the ocean. One of these fresh meadows has been made the subject of an interesting experiment bv Mr. Co- nant, in which he has been amply remunerated and gratified for expensive labor. It is a bottom of sev- eral acres nearly surrounded by the hard hills, with a single outlet : in this area for many hundred years vegetable matter had evidently collected at first covering the surface of the water on which at length grew trees, and subsequentl}- the ingenious operations of the beaver erecting a dam to aid in the construction of his own safe dwelling had kil- led the growth of wood and converted into natural grass tlie ground where the waters flowed off. The meadow, when Mr. Conant begun upon it, was lit- tle better than a quagmire, shaking for many feet Around under the tread of a man, and yielding a crop of ^v'ild grass scarcely wortii mowing. His operation commenced with a main ditch near the centre and the digging of minor ditches in a trans- verse direction communicating to and with it. The Bmaller ditches were generally filled with the su- perfluous small stones which were found in the vi- cinity, and their surface covered over witii the veg- etable mould of the reversed sods taken from the top of the ground. Piece by piece the surface of the ground wus dug ever, the roots and logs of wood extracted, and many hundred loads of hard gravel taken from the adjacent high land placed upon the ground. The palpable surface of the meadow seems to be swimming on water below ; and to give it hard- ness r.nd consistency, and enable the cattle and carts to pass over it in the summer season, it be- came necessary to cart upon it many tons of rocks and pebbles. The carting of these and the prepara- tion of the ground was generally done in the win- ter or early spring, before the frost had entirely broken up the crust. After the first clearing, pota- toes were planted, and this crop, pulvCiizlng and softening the ground, was followed the ne.xt season by oats, stocking down to grass, after having spread upon the loam and gravel stable or compost ma- nure to the amount of eight or ten ox loads to the acre. Thus prepared, the cr.Tp of Timothy or herdsgrasa and red top vras tufned out for several years at tlie rate of about tiiree tons to the c.^rQ. When the better grass runs out and becomes less in quantity, I\Ir. Conant's practice is to plant again with potatoes and stock down to grass with a crop of oats, repeating the sa:.:ie quantity of manure. — This renovation is better to take place perhaps as often as once in six years. A finer crop of potatoes we no where snv/ growing the present year tiian upon I\Ir. Conant's meadow; and these were plant- ed directly upon the surface without ploughing, only striking the hoe far enough into the sod to procure material for the covering of the seed. — Such was the nature of this ground -a fine rich black vegetable mould — that after a second hoeing the whole potatoe field was as clear as a well- weed- ed garden ; and the tread between the hills was Bofl and sinking like that upon an ash-heap. The ground itself was rich beyond that of our best allu- vion upon the rivers, and required only the peri- odical stimulant of a small quantity of manure to bring the vegetable growth to full perfection, and in the greatest quantity. Mr. Conant has done upon his farm, even beyond what many of the best farmers have done. He has not only constantly improved it and obtained from it an independent living, but he has contrived to make more money on less labor. His farm is not even now in that high state of improvement of some farms which we have described near to the seaboard — it is however peculiarly well adapted for pasturage, and this is of the kind requiring no la- bor. His improved meadows and his upland mow- ing, consisting of a few acres laid down after being highly manured, turn him cut a great quantity of iiay in.proportion to the ground he goes over. He keep; many young cattle, and cov.s sufficient for a good dairy. lie also keeps from one hundred to two hundred fine wooled sheep, to which kccpino- his fine pastures and his abundant ho}' are v/ell a- dapted ; and in the winter his ruta baga are fed out to them. He had only a single yoke of oxen, an enormous pair measuring seven feet ; and he show- ed us a piece of rocky and heavy grass sward ground of two acres which he had broken up with these oxen alone, holding plougli and driving the oxen himself. He generally jircparcd and planted only between two and three acres of corn in ayear, and as many acres of potatoes: his corn ground is prepared by the application of from forty to fifty !oad.s of good manure to the acre, tlie coarser part spread and ploughed in,- and the finer part placed in the hill at the time of planting. The corn fol- lows a potatoe croj) planted on the broken up sward land of the previous year. His ruta baga is sometimes raised in the corn-field — sometimes on land by itself well manured. Another source of profit has been his extensive orchard, sufficient in some years to produce one hundred and fifty to two hundred barrels of cider; and when this would not sell, the surplus was manufictuicd at his own distillery into cider brandy, which could be con- veniently kept on hand till it would sell well, or be transported wherever it would bring a price. Year after year Mr. Conant with tlie aid of a sin- gle hired man, except in the time of harvesting or haying, has carried on this extensive farm, and ac- complished his most important improvements. It will readily be perceived that the greater portion of his products, as well the growtix and increase of his cattle and sheep as his apples and cider furnish- ed for the market and his grain and p jtatoes raised beyond his own consumption, were almost so much clear profit. Such anian, so studious of gain, witlr so much judgment and skill in bringing it about, when he has once attained to abundance, seldom spends'so liberally as does tliis gentleman. He has no children, only a wife who in good calculation and majiagement keeps along side of him; and in seasons of leisure he is free t5 incur the expense of travelling, either with or T>':thout her, for the purpose of obtaining imformat'on and witnessing the improvements and grovrth of the country. Such a man, so observant and so correct, in the course of time, from self-instruction becomes ca- pable of furnishing a mass of information toothers, although lie may have received onl}' that meagre education wliich the country schools afforded to farmers" sons t'orty and fifty years ago. He is in the habit of preparing and- delivering addresses and lectures at lyceums and otiier places. Through such a man, to give to our moiiihly intruder more variety, we had rather speak tiian speak ourselves; and in this number, having asked of its author the manuscript, we have taken the liberty to jiublish nearly the whole of his address delivered befort; the Cheshi-e Agricultural S-e:cty in the yearl83S Tiiis address, althougli before published and circu- lated in Cheshire county by our bi>other Cooke, in the Cheshire Farmer, is v.'ui'thy of more extended circulation. Our readers every where will be pleas- ed and edified by its perusal, because it comes from a man the best part of whose agricultural knowl- edge is obtained from his observation and experi- ence while tilling the ground. Perhaps no practi- cal farmer of the country has a better right to write out and deliver his opinions ; and these may be of quite as much use as the best lucubrations of those who have written ten times as much as Mr. Conant. From Mr. Cotiant's .iddress delivered before the Cheshire Jig rieultural Society, Sept. 18-38. .Vgriciilture the first, the most important and most sure and pleasant employment. One of the first employm»nt3 assigned toman was tillage of the earth. For we. read in Genesis that "The Lord God took the man and put him in- to the garden of Eden to dress and to keep it," and that "Cain was a tiller of the ground, and brought for an offering to the Lord Die fruit of the ground." Cultivation of the earth may well be termed the foundation of all other emiiloymcnts ; for on agri- culture and its products the great human family must depend. The ships of the merchant may lie in the harbor, the labor of the mechanic may cease, the din of the manufactory may be heard no more, still the world would be comparatively little affect- ed : but should the farmer cease to cultivate the soil, all other em|)loyments would witlier and die. Farming is, of all occupations, most pleasant and independent. It requires not only physical abili- ty, but mental exertion, and by these very requisi- tions, creates a vigorous state of the body and mind. An individual cannot bo placed in a more happy and a more elevated station, than that of a cultiva- tor of the earth. True, he has his cloudy days, and the seasons are sometimes unpropitious. His crops are cut short and his profits diminished. Yet he has no cause for complaint, but much for thank- fulness, as he depends for success upon his own exertions and the blessings of his God. Advance in Education, Science, Arts and ]1Ianufacture.s more rapid than in Agriculture. Withm the last half century, the inarch of the human mind has been rapid ; and especially during the last twenty-five or thirty years. In the United States, the means and facilities of education have much increased, and new inven- tions have been greatly multiplied. In New Eng- land, a great revolution has taken place in the arts and sciences. Thirty years ago, we had no rail- roads, no locomotives, few manufactories, and very {'ew canals; mechanic arts were in a low state, and labor-saving machines rudely constructed, or whol- ly unknown. The opportunities for obtaining an education were then very limited. But how is it at the present time ? The means of education are abundant, and still increasing, and our modes of instruction have been highly improved. In the Now England States, the old school houses have been replaced with new ones, or have been repair- ed and altered so as to conform to the most improv- ed plan of construction. A large amount of mon- ey is annually raised by the several towns, and ex- pended for the benefit of these schools. The ex- isting laws which require such appropriations are v.-ise and salutary ; for on the public schools the great mass of the people depend for an education, and it is to tlicco schools, perhaps, that the New England character owes its peculiar distinctions. Academies have sprung up in all the principal towns, and many of them are well endowed. School books have been greatlv improved, and new ones prepared on almost all branches of knowledge. Our country is chequered in every direction with rail-roads and canals ; and the facilities of traveling are such, that the traveller reaches his destination in the far west in a Ics number of days than it formerly took weeks. Nearly every water- fall on our largo rivers, as well as small streams, is studded with manufactories and their villages, which have sprung up as it were by enchantment. The mechanic arts have been greatly improved. ExanijilcE mijfht be given in almost every depart- ment, ii'om tlio mrunfacture of a cotton gin, down to that o''an awl era button. Many new and use- ful inventions have been sought out, and old^ones improved, until abetter article is furnished, in nu- merous instances, at one tenth of its fprmer ex- pense. Large numbers of labor-saving machines have been invented and brought into use. The old, ill formed, inconvenient houses, with their large chimneys, are in many instances gone, and in their place is the neat and convenient dwel- ling, warmed by a cast iron fire place, or its more economical stove. Education, science, internal improvements, man- ufacturing, the mechanic arts have all advanced to- gether. But has agriculture advanced in the same ratio.' We think not, especially in New Hamp- eliire. We now propose to point out what we be- 17^ THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISlTOIV lipvo to be some of the piincli.al causes, why agri- culture in New Hampshire, has not advanced in the same ratio with other occupations. Cntise* Of the depression of Agriculture in Kcw England and especially «» New JIampshire. One of tlie principal causes is very readily trac- ed to tire large amount of new, cheap and iertile land of Ihe west, and the inducement it holds out to the adventurer or new settler. From this sec lion of New Hampshire, during the last few years, emitrration has been very -great. Many of our ac- tive>oun"- men have jrone to seek a home in the ereut pratries or fancied Elysian fields of the west; and the benefit of their labor m the cult.va- tion of our soil has been lost. Many of our farm- ers have sold their land to their neighbors who had more land before tlian they could eubivate to ad- vantage, and have gone to swell the population ol the western States. . Another reason for the tardy march of agricul- ture in this vicinity, is clearly to be seen in the gi- gantic strides of internal improvements, and the high prices it has paid for labor. Many of our ac tive youu" men have been drawn off to graduate rail-r'iads'and build their locomotive; ; to construct the almost countless number of steam boats that ply on our great lakes and mighty rivers. There has been also a constant demand for mechanics to erect manufactories, build their machinery and furnish them with operatives. Another cause I would notice, the general man- ner sofrevalent at the present time, to engage m some easier and more lucrative employment, than the cultivation of tlie soil, by which we have been deprived of the services of some of our most active Touug men. . The low state of agriculture may in no small de- gree be attributed to the present easy and cheap method of transporting meats and bread stufts froin the new, rich and fertile districts of New York and the west ; in consequence of which, our large cit- ies and manufacturing villages, the mechanics and many of our fanners have found it cheaper to sup- ply themselves with provisions, bread stuffs in par- ticular, a great distance back in the country, than from the iariners in their.own immediate neighbor- hood. And notwithstanding the high price of la bor, produce has been so low, until two or three of the last years, there has not been suthcient induce- ment to stimulate our agriculturists to exertion ■ and a better cultivation of' their farms. Another cause, and the last 1 shall mention, is the want of scientific agricultural information — and the general apathy to it, which has led us to KMowLEDOE, since the National Board of Agricul- ture was established, by numerous periodical pub- lications on rural economy, and by that increase of wealth whicli flowed from the eiortionof the farm- er, and which naturally stimulated a search after new improvements. According to the measure of new imp: - . -- attention bestowed upon the education of farmers, it may be expected that improvement will hereaf- ter advance. The man of uncultivated mind may hold a plough or drive a harrow in an efficient manner, but he will seldom introduce an improvement, or be the means of efiecting any change in the established system of rural economy." If the advance of agriculture in England and Scotland is justly attributable to their more exten- sive information and superior skill, which has been attained by means of agricultural publications; would it not be a fair deduction, to suppose that similar means of information would produce simi- lar results in this community. It is of no inconsiderable importance that every farmer should be so much of a chemist, as to as- certain the nature and properties of the soil he cultivates, so as to adopt that kind of grain and grass the most suitable and from which he can ob- tain the greatest profits. Wheat undoubtedly has been some thirty or forty per cent, more profitable in this country the last two years than any other grain we have cultivated. This may be in some measure owing to the seasons, and to the high price of flour, but not wholly. I have annually raised it on my farm since 1S16, and have not suft'ered loss by it, so often as I have by my corn crop. And, on an average, It has af- forded me more profit than any other grain. Importance of cultiTntiug n rariety of Crops and the more saleable Stock. Another subiect perhaps we do not always duly consider, which is, what kind of stock is the best adapted to the situation and peculiarities of our farms.' Whether a stock wholly of cattle, or sheep is best.' or a part of each is better? whether a dairy and making of pork is more profitable and better adapted to "our situation, than raising young cattle and fattening them.' or whether all these may not be profitably combined.' Every farmer must decide these questions tor himself. Much must depend on the particular sit- uation of h.s farm, and for which purpose it is best adapted. Each is profitable or otherwise in pro- portion to its good or bad management ; and we can manage each just in proportion to our skill and means. There is perhaps, very little difference, as to the move alon- in the old beaten track of our fathers, \ profit of either system, taking a series of years in tne miHround of alternately planting and sowing i together^ as every branch of business will sooner the same field, contented with the scanty reinuner Btion it aftorded. The circulation of facts and the diffusion ' of information the cause of improvement in Great Britain. I would recommend to every farmer to take some well conducted agrirultural journal, in which he will find from time to time, the experiments of otli- «rs and their results, which he may adapt and_ ap- ply to his own cultivation without the loss of the •Xperiment. The surprising improvement in the agriculture of Great Britain, within the last half century, is attributable in no small degree to the circulation of facts and experiments by means of treatises, pamphlets and other agricultural papers. It is to be hoped the time is not far distant, when the larin- «rs of this country and elsewhere will give to this lource of information its merited attention. In proof and illustration of the above statement, permit me to quote from a British work, Brown's Treatise on Agriculture : „ ■ ■ "The greai body of cultivators in Great britain, ■whose farms are of considerable extent, have gen- erally received a suitable education, by which their minds are enlarged and animated with a desire to improve their condition in the world, and rendered equally quick to perceive,and ready to ado])t, such improvements as may occasionally be proposed. In former times it was objected that farmers were obstinate and bigoted, averse to every kind of innovation upon the established practices, and persisting in ancient systems even after their defi- ciency and inutility had been ascertained in the most decisive manner. Whatever truth there might formerly he in the objection, its force is now completely removed, there being no set of men whatever'more open to conviction or more willing to adopt new practices, than the British farmers of the present day. Thischaaje of disposition has been accomplish •dbj A«EBBi;Ar..CIKOBI.ATIOH or later find its level I am of the opinion, however, that whenever sit- uation, circumstances and peculiarities of soil are such, that we can combine the different branches of husbandry at a time, on the same farm, it will be equally profitable and more safe, inasmuch as we shall always have some articles that will sell for cash, enabling us to pay our taxes, and other necessary expenses. Value of a steady purpose. But when we have determined on our system or method of husbandry, it will in general be more profitable to pursue it steadily than often to change, as in changing, we generally suft'er loss, and we are not unfrequently behind the times. I nted with a number of fanner qua am ac ho in the summer of 1S36 changed their stock .-if neat cattle for sheep, and found themselves precisely in this situation : and they have their last spring clip of wool now on hand, or have disposed of it at a re- duced price. Necessity of changing nnd improving Stock. When we have determined what kind of stuck is the best suited to our farms ; another inquiry should immediately arise, how and where shall we furnish ourselves with the best and most improved breed.' This inquiry, I fear, has been too much neglected, or wholly" disregarded ; as many of our stocks too plainlv tell. Verv many of our farmers have kept the s?me stock,"and their descendants for a series of years, without ever attempting to change or cross them with others : the result is, they have continued to depreciate in size and value. There are, however, many worthy exceptions; as there are a considerable number of farmers who have paid much attention to selecting their stocks, both of catlje and sheep, and improving them by crossing the breed and by a selection of the best orAeRicofcTURAt animals from a di.ti.nce. Gentlemen of this des- cription we presume may be found in every town in the county, whoso influence is more or less ben- eficial, and which we should do well to imitate and if possible to excel. Importance of thorough cultivation. Permit me for a moment to call your attention to the advantages of a 'horough cultivation. Is it a fact, that many of cur farmers, cultivate too much land ; more than they manure as it should be in order to raise it to that state of tilth, which would be the most profitable.' I am free to confess, that 1 have done so, in many instances : and further I believe so far as my knowledge extends, it is a common error among farmers in general, in the rough towns in this county. The great desideratum is to obtain the greatest amount of profit from our labor, combined with the cultivation of the soil. It would be somewhat difficult, perhaps, to deter- mine what amount of manure would be necessary for a given quantity of land in order to insure the greatest crop of grain or grass ; as much would de- pend on the tilth the ground was in, when the ma- nure was applied, as well as the strength of man- ure. There is, however, butlittle danger of apply- ing too much, and if we err, it is always best to err on the safe side; theret'ore we should apply a sufS- cient quantity to insure with the blessing of Provi- dence a good crop. If we arc all of us satisfied that it is more profitable to grow from thirty to forty bushels of wheat upon one acre, than ten or fifteen ; that it is less labor and more profit, to grow four hundred bushels of potatoes upon an acre, than to cultivate two acres for the same amount; that it is cheaper, easier, as well as more profitable, cut- ting twenty tons of Timothy or herds-grass hay on ten acres, than to mow over forty acres for the same quantity, and that of an inferior quality ; if these are facts, and I presume no person will at- tempt to deny them, would it not be well for each of us to enquire as well as try the experiment, if we can raise the same or a larger quantity of pro- duce from a less quantity of ground, by a more thorough cultivation, especially as we shoulu ever keep in view to make the most of labor.' More fullv to illustrate the above position, I will quote a paragraph or two, in point, from the New- England Farmer. '''That more is to be gained by cultivating a small spot of ground well, than a large parcel indifferent- ly, is a truth illustrated by the following apologue from a Roman author: — A vine dresser had two daughters and a vineyard; when his oldest daughter was mdrried he gave her a third of his vineyard for a portion ; notwithstan- ding which he had the same quantity of fruit as formerly. When his youngest daughter was mar- ried he gave her half of what remained, and still the prodliction of his vineyard was undiminished." C'o/!/mf.//a,iv, cap. 3. Pliny mentions a freedman, who having much larger crops than his neighbors, was accused of witchcraft, and brought to trial. He produced in the forum a stout daughter, and some excellently constructed iron farming tools, with his oxen, and said "TUese, Romans, are my charms." He was acquitted. — rihiy's J\'at. 7/ii(. xviii, 6. The above quntation from Roman authors, whe- ther true or fabulous, may peihaps have a tendency to lead us to inquire, wliy it is, that we more fre- quently endeavor to add acre to acre and field to field, as our means increase, than to better our condition by a more thorough cultivation of^ our farms ; by raising our cultivation to such a height, that two thirds or one half the quantity of land, shall yield the same amount of produce, and bring more income as less labor will be required. Root Cultivation. The root culture in Riita Baga, and Mangel Wurtzel, is beginning to attract the attention of tlm t'armers in this couiay to a considerable extent. How far it can be pursued with profit, is yet to bo determined. The principal and most important in- quiries are, what kind of soil is best adapted to their culture .' What kind of manure is best, and what method of culture will insure the greatest crop, with the least labor.' Ruta Baga. It is, we believe, conceded by English as well as American agricultural writers, "that the true Turn- ip or Ruta Baga soil is a sandy loam ; and we have no doubt it is correct. In proof, and illustration of the above, we would observe, we saw last Sep- tember two fields of Ruta Baga Turnip, on land of this description, in Winchester, of the largest size we have ever seen. One of the fields belonged to the Hon. Joseph Weeks : the other to Mr. Al- exander. The writers all agree, that green or un- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY TISITOR. 179 fermented manure ia best witli a proportion of lime or ashes ; but differ as to its application. It is recommended by some, to apply the manure in the furrow made for the purpose of drilling in the seed, and ridged by turning two furrows on to the manure, and sowing on to the ridge : others recommend spreading the manure broadcast, and ploughing it under, and sowing on the level in drills. I think the latter method will be found pre- ferable in practice, it being less labor and the ground not so liable to be impaired by drought. Further, writers all seem to agree, that the best method of cultivation is by drilling them. They vary as to width, from twenty inches to three feet, — probably a medium would be preferable. I cul- tivated a small piece of Ruta Baga last year, one third of an acre only ; it was a piece of good land inclining to a clay loam that had been to grass .sev- eral years until the year previous, when it was ploughed and cropped with potatoes ; last spring we ploughed it early, harrowed it, and about the twenty-sixth of May ploughed it again, and fur- rowed two and a half feet apart, manured in the furrow with ten ox-loads of mixture of green ma- nure and swamp-muclc of about equal parts ; cov- ered the manure with eartli,and sowed on the ridg- es. We limed them several times the first ten or fifteen days after they came up to protect tiieni agaiijst the ravages of the small garden fly, &c., for the want of better implements we tended them principally with the hoe. We thinned them to the distance of from five to eight inches apart, and the vacant places were filled up by transplanting from the supernumerary plants. They were not harvested until late, when it appeared there were two hundred and twenty-five bushels, of fifty-six pounds each, being at the rate of six hundred and seventy-five bushels to the acre. The exact ex- pense of cultivating, harvesting, Ac. cannot be es- timated, as it was intermixed with other farm-work; but I am of the opinion, it must have been some- thing more than we usually bestow in cultivating the same quantity of ground with potatoes. I do not hesitate to say, that the profits to be de- rived from the culture of tiie Ruta Baga, are suffi- cient, if correctly appreciated, to insure it a place in the field of every cultivator in this county. Mangel Wurtzel, It would seem (if confidence can be placed in the best agricultural writers,) is better adapted to our soil than Ru'.a Baga. I find in the third vol- ume of the Complete Farmer, the following remarks under the head of Mangel Wurtzel. "The soil for these roots should be a loam inclining to clay in good tilth, well manured, and made to a good depth." Jonathan Powell, Esq. Corres- ponding Secretary to the Pcnnsijirania Agricultural • Society, in giving an account of his mode of culti- vating this crop, says, "My soil was not naturally strong ; it has been gradually so much deepened as to enable Wood's plough No. 2 drawn by four ox- en, to plough fourteen inches deep. Fresli barn- yard manure was equally spread upon the surface, and ploughed under in the early part of April in quantities not larL'er than are generally used for Eotatoe crops in tills county." And under the same ead, wc find the following; "The soil on which Messr.?. Tristram Little and Henry Little, ofNew. bory, Massachusetts, raised their premium crops in 1824, is a cl.iy loam. " It appears from the above remarks, that the clay ' loam is the proper soil for the Mangel Wurtzel; if that be a iact, very many of our farms arc not wanting in land well adapted to their culture. The method of culture recommended is very similar to that of the Rutp Baga; with the addi- tion of deep ploughing. .And further, tlrey are ad- mitted to be preferable fur fattening cattle and feed- ing milcli cows. It also ai>pears that this root is more productive than the Ruta Baga: as the . "Quantity to an acre, tiic premium cop of the Messrs. Little was thirty-thic-e tons ten hundred weifrht and fourteen pouuds to an acre." Col, Powell's was much larger. With the above authority and facts in view, I « would cheerfully recommend this root to your at- tention and trial. Rotation of crops on high stony land. Much has been said of the value and practical ntility of rotation of crops. I have examined va- rious authors on this subject with some degree of attention, and find but little that seems to be valu- able, as it does not appear to be well adapted to our ' situation. It is recommended by several writers, to continue a rotation of crops for a sei-ies of years, by alternating with roots or corn and small grain. Hut it would seem that this system cannot be car- ried into profitable effect, except in the neighbor- •• hood of large towns, whore manure is readily ob- tained ; or on the rich and fertile alluvial soils in the valleys of some of our large rivers. For every cultivator must be well aware, that it will not be found profitable to cultivate his farm for a series of years, with a rotation of root and small grain crops, without a constant supply of manure, which in general cannot be adequately ob- tained. And wesliould tlien neglect our grass crops, which I deem first in importanre lo the farmer. Perhaps the rotation that most farmers now actu- ally pursue ]s not very defective ; — that is, to plough annually a suitable quantity of their mow- ing land, that bears the least grass immediately af- ter haying, cropping it the following year with po- tatoes orsome otlierkintl of roots. Second year with corn, when care should be taken to spread a suffi- cient quantity of green manure to put it in suitable tilth for grass. Third year with wheat or some other kind of small grain, wlien it is or should be seeded down with grass. We would recommend twelve quarts of herds grass seed, and four pounds of clover to the acre ; or omit the clover and add a small quantity of red top, and it will generally pro- duce grass well for six or seven years. Maple Sugar. Whilst others are trying experiments with the Beet, let us endeavor to apply ourselves to the bu- siness of making sugar from the Maple. And we can see no possil>le reason why the manufacture of sugar from the Maple cannot be so far systematiz- ed and perfected as to make it profitable. Most farmers at the time maple sugar is made can attend to it without derangement of their other business. It is the opinion of numerous gentlemen well qual- ified to judge, lliat there is a sufficient quai.tity of sugar trees in this county to furnish an adequate supply of sugar and molasses for the use of the inhabitants of the county. And further, 1 am credibly informed, that the small number of fifty trees may be made profitable when well managed. If so, those gentlemen who have from three to six hundred trees, and attend to them, must find sugar making a lucrative employ- ment. Manure the life of the Farmer. Manure and its application-^ may well be termed the true philosopher's stone of the farmer. With- out manure it would be aliuost in vain to cultivate the soil, which would soon become cvhausted, and afford a very trifling rcmnnerntion. If then ma- nure is of so much importance, it is of the first consequence that we make u^~c of all the means within our reach, to increase it in quantity as well as quality ; and this may be done in various ways. In the first place, it is highly important that our barn yards be so situated and constructed as to re- ceive and retain the wash from tlie barns, sheds, &c. Also there should be a good hng pen with a suita- ble yard: and care should be taken to replenish these reservoirs with mud from the swamp, cleaning of old ditches ; loam from the brink of the field or sides of the road ; leaves from t:ie wood lots, potatoe tops, and every other vetfet^'ble substance within our reach, tliat is not valuable for other purposes. These various articles, especially swamp mud, when saturated with the salme matter from the barns, &-C. and mixed with the manure during the summer, become a valuable compost. And further, we should never dispense with having a sufficient supply of good water in tlie barn yard for our stock, as it is not only a great saving of manure, but flesli to the animals, and is far less labor than to let them stroll to a distant spring or brook. Swamp mud, properly fermented with lime, is said to make a ve- ry active and valuable manure. The Governor of New Hampshire in an address before the members cf tlie Merrimack County Ag- ricultural Society, Oct. 1837, obsi-rres, "One of the Shakers recently told me, they had been in the habit of buying the best of Thomaston lime, which %vilh transportation cost them at least three dollars a cask; of breaking and slacking it and mixing it with mud collected from bog-holes or turfs from the sides of the highways, in proportion of four or five casks to an hundred common ox-loads; and after due fermentation and mixture, they have found this compo.^ition not less valuable than an equal quantity of the best of stable manure." If the above remarks are correct, (and no doubt they are, as I find them corroborated by various writers on this subject) it is an easy and cheap method of obtaining manure, and well adapted for top dres- sing. The Hon. John Welles of Boston, who has made several experiments with lime in the prepar- ation of compost manure for a top dressing, recom- mends that it bo prepared hy first placing a layer unslackened lime, and so continue until the materi- als are used up; and in twelve or fourteen days, shovel it over and it will be fit for use.' This gen- tleman made use of lime in proportion about one casks of Thomaston lime to five loads of loam or mud, and he has for more than twenty years annu- ally made use of lime "for agricultural purposes to the extent of more than one hundred casks." He further says, "To my surprise I found the effect produced to be equal to what is usual from common compost manure." Lime as a top dressing on a wheat crop is undoubtedly valuable on many kindf of soil, especially when there is a deficiency of calcareous matter. Benjamin Cutler, Esq. informs me that he has made use of lime at the rate of twenty bushels or more to the acre, as a top dressing, by sowing it on in a fine pulverized state, when the wheat was a few inches high, and considered himself well re- mnuerated in the wheat crop. The Hon. Levi Fisk observed to me, that he used two tierces of Thomaston lime last sprmg by sowing it on nearly two acres of wheat, leaving a small piece in the same field unsown, and is confident he realized twenty-five per cent, more wheat in consequence of the lime. The above and other similar experiments, are conclusive evidence in my mind of the importance and value of lime as a manure. Application of Manure. The method of preparing and applying manure must in 7ome measure depend on what our inten- tions are for the present and the following crop. The compost or other manure that is carted out and lefl in large heaps in autumn, to be used the following sjiring for corn or roots, should be brok- en up, with an iron bar as early as possible in the spring, and when the frost is out shovel it over, and mix it with about one third green manure, that of sheep is preferable. Fine slackened lime may be added with profit at the rate of one bushel to an ox-load of manure, and in about five or six days it will commence a fermentation, when it will be fit for use. Wiien the intention is to prepare land for a wheat crop, and stociting down to grass the following year, there can hardly be a doubt but tlie better system is to apply seven or eight cords of green manure to the acre, as early as the season will ad- mit, and plough it lightly under, as the gases, while fermentation is going on, will tend very materially to enrich the soil. The above quantity of manure with twenty loads of compost put in the hill or furrow on an acre, will generally place land in such tilth, as to insure a large crop of corn or roots the first year, a good growth of wheat the second year, and a profitable crop of grass for six or seven years after. The most gratifying earthly occupation. With the blessing of Heaven this association has it in their power vastly to increase the means of subsistence in this county, without diminishing the comfort if its inhabitants, so that ere longour bills and valleys shall be seen smiling with an increase of verdure and fertility. The spread of agricultural information will have a tendency to spread indus- try and promote virtue ; so that an increase of pop- ulation will not be an increase of vice and misery. And while that increase will give strength and energy to our government against external ene- mies, it will unite together a more impenetrable ]?halanx, to maintain our rights and liberties against the encroachments of usurpation and tyranny. Alexander the Great fancied that if he could but conquer the world he *^hould be able to turn the stream of happiness to its fountain, and then drink to his satisfaction. Rut what was his mortifica- tion and disappointment, when he found all was wormwood and bittf rnesi^. We need not inquire why it is that so Hsany men, after faithfully serving their country, and discharg- ing their higli duties with fidelity, retire to thecul- tivation of the s)il to spend the evening of life. If agrfculture has so many charms over all other employments, as to induce the man of power, am- bition, wealth and pleasure, as well as the great and good, in all ages, to engage in it, in the even- ing of life, devoting the remnant of their days, to rural scenes, realizing satisfaction and comfort ; ought we not to be grateful to the Giver of all good that so pleasant an employment has fallen to our lot, leading us far away from the turmoil and bHstle of public life ; the perplexities and anxieties of many other professions. And may we be excited to redoubled exertion in extending scientific acd practical information, on the great subject of agri- culture, for the benevolent purpose of benefitting of mud or loam a« the ease mav be, then a layer of' the mass of the people, and renderings them happy. 180 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. In the laat Monthly Visitor we referred to the splendid exhibition of the Agricultural Society of the cr.unty of Worcester, central .n the Comnion- wcallh of Massachusetts. One considerable item of this exhibition was llie Swine . and as the per- fection of swine may be considered the best evi- dence of good husbandry, we have concluded to select the report on that subject, even though other reports of equal interest may be passed over. The family of Lincolvs was mentioned as a- rnong the patrons of the Worcester Agricultural Society. With perhaps a single exception the sons 6i the"late Levi Lincoln of^Worcester, who was oppointed Attorney General of the United States by Mr. Jefferson at tlie commencement of his ad- ministration, were educated as lawyers. The fa- ther served at first to the trade of a blacksmith, and was nicknamed by his political cpiionents '■Vulcan by way of derision : he received his education late in life ; but not only did he attain to eminence as one of the most able advocates at the b^r of his time, but he wielded tlie pen of a ready, a vigorous end an able writer. Of tlie five sons, one Ixas been Governorof Massachusetts, a Judge of its Supreme Court and is now a representative in Congress. Another, who removed to the State of Maine, was repreaentative in Congress and Governor of that State previous to his decease in comparatively ear- ly life. A third, said to be not less talented than either of the others, also removed to Maine and di- ed young. The three surviving brothers all reside in their native town of Worcester The youngest, who has for several years been a representative in the State Legislature, has likewise ofliciated for several successive years as Chairman of the Com- mittee on Swine for the Worcester Agricultural Society. Happening to be present at the Worces- ter exhibition in 1836, we heard the Chairman read the report at that time. It was* a tempestuous, rainy day in October, and tlie exhibition of animals was consequently small ; but the ready wit and rare humor of the report, read with a serious face and nasal twang as we then supposed nf some Yankee farmer from one of the hill towns, drew forth shouts of applause. From that day to this we had been careful to look out for each succcs.sive reportofthe Worcester Society on Swine, and have never been disappointed in a rich treat cj.lcalated to excite the risibles. The Lincoln family have long been uudorstood to be volunteer writers for the periodical press : in old times the " National Agis" of Worcester v/as their organ of communication. The politics of both the paper and the family may be said to have ehanged in the course of thirty-eight years. Wil- liam Lincoln is still a principal writer in the same paper, which is valuable for its liistorical reminis- cences and its various facts and speculations. The immense library collected at Worcester by the An- tiquarian Society, makes ita spot f;ivorable for men of talent and taste who soon acquire tlie habit, of turning out abundance of matter for the press. Mr. William Lincoln is one of those ready writers ; and this remark will not be better illustrated than by tlie fact that the examination was made, tlie judgment of the committee collected, and the report written out and read on one and the same day. Not less for its wit and humor, than to show the superior breeds and excellence of the swine in old Worcester county, do we publish Mr. Lincoln's last report entire. Worcester Agricnltnral Society* Judges of SicinG.-' William Tjincoln, Worcester, Chairman'; Arte- mas Lee, TempletoFi ; Nathaniel Rand, Lancaster; Ebenczer D. Ammidon, Soutlibridge ; Otis Adams, Grafton; Charles Sibley, Barre : Abel Wiiitney, Harvard ; Warren Hunt, Douglas. Report. The advancement of the Society in prosperity and Usefulness may be measured' bv the progress of improvement among the swine. In 1833, twenty- seven of the most int^restinjr of ail the animal ra- ces, graced the festival of the farmers of Worcester; in 1839, eighty-one have honored the husbandman's holiday with their presence ; — in 1833, there wcrre only two boars at the show; in 1830, eighteen have been present; — in 1833, six competitcrs"entered in- to the peaceful contest for premiums ; in 1839, twenty-four have quietly disputed for prizes and praises: — in 1833, two towns of the county were counted here ; in 1839, eleven towns of the com- monwealth have represeiited the upcommon- wealth of pigs. Our school master has been abroad. Abel Whit- ney, Esq., who was and is a "judge of swine," has bean absent is-ith the ploughs which he now uses tertead of pecciis and elate. Had his associates been at home t-l the orithmetic that, excellent in- structor and ready reckoner imported to his pupils, the precise relations of the past and the present might have been given. Df'prived of his counte- nance, the sum can only be stated in the simplest form. It may be assumed, that as ii7 are to 81, and as 6 are to 24, and as 2 are to 11 and 18, so were the persons, pigs, and places of 1833 to those of 1839; and so are the various merits of the first fair to the multiplied excellencies of the last exhi- bition. Eighteen boars were in the pens : — out of the pens there were other boars ; but they were not en- tered for the premiums the}' deserved. The committee were invited to unite with the delegation of tlie Massachusetts Society for pro- moting Agriculture, in bestowing the liberal re- wards offered for tlie encouragementof good breed- ing in Worcester county. The honor of the ap- pointment was enhanced by the pleasure of being aided in the execution of the duty by tlie Hon. John Welles and H.Ccdman, Esq., of Boston, and by the advice of the Commissioner of Agriculture, learn- ed in the laws of the land. The equality of excellence of swine produces di- versity of opinions of committees. The boar of James H. Clapp, of Belchertown, son of an English noble pig of the Berkshire family, was round and square, long and broad, fat and finely formed, of hi£rh descent and pure blood. The boar of Samuel A. Knox, of Grafton, descended from the same race on the father side, inherited the virtues and possessed more than the graces of his illustrious ancestors. Their merits were lo ne^arly balanced, that tlie difference was too fine to be split. Money may be divided more easily than merit. The com- mittee of tbe State Society, declining to award the premium of twenty dollars to either of the compe- titors when they would have desired, if It had been possible, to have given the first reward to both, have instructed the chairman to report, that they bestow one gratuity of ten dollars on Mr. Clapp, and another of the same amount on Mr. Knox. Fine representatives of t'^ie four footed beauties of Berkshire, were their two animals. In the five points of good liojs, the small head, short legs, long body, broad back and large hams, they were exem- plary. To these qualifications were added ears as silky, eyes as bright, and faces with smiles as gen- tle, as have ever been' worn with bristles. The early matuiity and ready disposition to gain fiesh, completed tiie character of perfect porkers. It was represented tlial they v.'ere small eaters, and tliat their aptitude to fatten was such, tliat they could almost live without food, and thrive on little more than nothing. The art of eating is coeval with the science of living. Eating is uniform : living is various, and has been carried on in many ways. Lu'nig u-Uhout icork has been popular among all civilized nations: it has not furnished steady employment, and at times has been over laborious. Livi.vg without means has been practised in all ages, but never rose above a mean condition. Lrring by one's icits has been attempted, but the business has always failed for want of capital. Living zcithout caiino has not been extensively u.sed. There is an ancient account of a quadruped wliD was taught the mys- tery, but as soon as he acquired it he perished, and the secret died with him. Amateurs less gifted with legs, have endeavored to revive the discover- ies of the old v.orld. While millions of well filled pots, steaming as did those cf the founders of inde- pendence, send up their savorj' incense at noon- tide from house and hotel, there are some who drop the solid substance of beef and pork to grasp at the fleeting shadows of diet, until they become so deli- cate and pale as to have no blush in the shade, and to cast no shadow in the sunshine. Asfcd error and youthful refinement, like other extremes, have held a meeting. Tbe spendthrift of old wasted his substance in sumptuous banquets, till necessity com- pelled him to pnrlake of the frugal tare of the swine ■of Palestine. The prodigal of liealth, in modern days, returns to the feast on husks, but the swine arc not guests at his board, nor do they become revellers on tlie banquet of air. It is but too true, that the manly and vigorous appetite of our forefathers, which could compass whole hams and sirloins, and disperse whole fleets of ducks and coveys of fowls, to sustain. their ath- letic frames and vigorous spirits, has sadly declin- ed. The degeneracy of the eating capacities of their descendants, lias been attributed to tbe ex- cessive cultivation of curls and whiskers, which, by their exuberance, obstruct the mouthy tend to ex- haust the vital powers, enervate digestion, and in- fringe the provisions of that great charter of health and happiness, the human constitution. It is agreeable again to return to the pigs, v/ho indulge in no fanciful extravagancies. The boar of Samuel A. Knox, of Grafton, might be mentioned frequently without the repetition of his praisi-s exceeding liis merits. He came to the age nf discretion at six months, two daj's ogo. He was of the weight of ^70 pounds at 9 o'clock this morning, but from the ttiitiraony of his rapid in- crease in goodness and falin-ss, may be much heav- ier now. A slight touch of the blood of the Mac- key breed, mintrlcd by his maternal ancestors with the Berkshire, make him more excel in all the stan- dard marks of a pig. He bore the name of jUrtJor, and was worthy of that h\fr\\ rank in the infantry line. His claims to tbe '■five dollar bounty ' for ser- vices in the department of national defence, which feeds the valor of the citizen soldier, and invigor- ates the right arm of the State by providing ra- tions for its militia, were too strong to be denied, and the County Society's first premium was award- ed to him. The second premium of three dollars was sward- ed to Peter Fay, of Soulbboro', for a full blooded Berkshire boar, of the age of 7 months 9 days, and of the weight of 250 pounds. The labors of the committee were not diminish- ed by bestowing two premiums where eighteen were merited. There remained a crowd of compe- titors deserving respectful notice. The United Brothers of Harvard exhibited a Berkshire boar, whose appearance was evidence of the success of the society of Shakers in keeping every creature cejinccted with them in good condi- tion. He carried his notions of neatness and pro- priety so far as to decline the exercise of rooting lest he should soli the cleanliness of his nice black coat. The connnittee recommend that a gratuity of i^2 be given to Seth Blanchard, in behalf of the Brothers of Harvard, as a slight testimonial of ap- probation for the imj)rovements in good farming made by that Industrious community. The Berkshire boar of Eden Davis, of Webster, seemed to be aristocratic in his manners. He ar- rived in a cart drawn by four oxen, and did not alight from his carriage to enter the parlors provid- ed for the pigs with carpets of green turf and wain- scotting of ehesnut rails ; but this proved to have been owing to the rooms being entirely pre-occu- pied. Mr. Davis would benefit agriculture if he would allow his pijj to continue locomotive, and let him run to every farm which could be reached by a team as-itrong and well trained as that which re- joiced in the honor of drawing his pork. It is re- commended that the Society bestow a gratuity of two dollars to Mr. Davis, to be expended in food and 'edging for his excellent cniinal, as a compen- sation for the misfortune of being excluded from his proper place. "While the supremacy of the breed of swino from Old England has been acknowledged, the claims of that of New England origin must not be neg- lected. The boar of Marvin Wesson, of Phillips-- ton, was of the "^fliller's breed," and looked as if he had taken tolls from the meal of his master, and could repay the dt.'bt by furnishing him with a mul- titude of meals. It is recommended that a gratuity of two dollars be bestowed on a pig having the solid and substantial worth of Yankee character. Weaned pigs, not less than iVmr in number were numerous, with all the premonitory pymptoms of future excellence. The first premium of six dol- lars for the rising generation. of swine, is awarded to Harvey Dodge, of Sutton, for four Berkshires, who promise much to benefit posterily. Seven pigs of William Eaton, of Worcester, sturdy New Eng- landers, received a second premium of ^3. Whenever it is necessary to approach female so- ciety, it is proper to proceed with great caution. In this opinion the membersof the committee, hav- ing constituents around 1 heir firesides to whom they are responsible, could not formally concur wilhou' consultation. The sow of Elca:iar Porter, of full Berkshire blood, brought with her five interestrngtesiimonials of her accomplLsbments in good breeding, in five plea«nt little pigs. Her own fair face and finely rounded form Were so satlst'actoi'y proofs' of the L,-nod living of the American Temperance House^; that the certificate of being kej)t well at the hotel wliere she resides, was not examined. A venerable Berkshire matron of Harvey Dodge, ■ of Sutton, appeared in a cart. If there was want of room without her carriage, there was no want of arr)' thing but room within. Her narrow jien wnsi ornamented with a flourishing family, and thisCoi- * nella of the swine in her humble apartment-, might, like the Roman mother, have pointed to Iier chil- dren-and exclaimed "these are my jewels." For this breeding sow, the second premium of three" ^^ dollars is awarded. Massachusetts has encouraged all that is useful and excellent. Her government has cherished ag- riculture by appropriations for societies, by provid- ing for cai eful surveys, by bestowing bounties for THE FARMERS' MONIHLY VISITOR. 181 the production of grain, and by employing first rate talent in developing the resources of the soil and the best modes of cultivation. Her citizens feed improvement as they fatten pork. The ancient commonwealth gathers up precejits and holds out practice to teach by examples. Great examples and worthy of imitation, were fifteen swine of the Old Bay State, from the Lunatic Hospital. The principle that all things have beginning, middle, and end, has some exceptions : the hogs of Massa- chusetts seemed to be without particular beginning or end, with nothing middling. They would have been cubes of pork if they had not I)een rounded into spheres for the more perfect symnietrv. They were sober and solid, as all is belonging to the in- stitution of which they are members. They were bearers of despatches from the Snperintendcnt,com- municating a remarkable instance of resistance to the authority and order of their home. "Two of the fattest and best of the swine," writes Dr. Woodward, in his letter bearing even date with these presents, "remain behind." Before they left tlie stye they manifested repugnance to the excercise of the authc ity wliich disturbed tlieir re- pose—they were urged to advance till they had cleared the pen, when they turned up their noses, planted themselves on broad constitutional ground, and refused to advance. They were fluttered and entreated without good effect, and finally were com- manded, but to no good purpose. They seemed to believe that they had state rights and could nullify the measures of their general government. Their pride could not be roused by the prospect of seeing the public, or even by the promise of meeting the "judges of swine" — nor could their sense of jus- tice be excited by the argument that their good keeping deserved from them cheerful acquiescence in the arrangements of the great exhibition. So far as their ideas could be understood by those who had not studied their language of signs, tlieif did not lihe the law which compelled them to remove from their places of business where they had ac- cumulated large personal estates — thev regarded it Qs anti-sumptuary — and questioned the power as well as the right to enforce such enactment." Tkese bold rebels have been placed in close con- finementin the custody of a faithful keeper, there to remain with no better food than bread and water, until they should be converted to non-resistance. Should they continue contumacious, they will be brought to trial at the next December term of the court, and the painful necessity will exist of in- flicting capital punishment for their offences. It should be remarked, that to drive a pig pleas- .intly is an accomplishment as rare as it is elegant. . This branch of education has not yet been intro- luced in the seminaries for instruction ;— it is not aught in the Noimal schools, or the colleges of "Jew England — it can only be learned in the uni ersity of nature. Much liiischief and great diver ity of practice have resulted from the negl*ct of the study of the art. Some have attempted to en- iice the pig into the way in wiiich he should go, bv the moral suasion of meal : if he was of the gentle Herkshire race, he would seriously incline his ear lo an ear of corn, but not unfrcquently halted. — C>thershave preferred the coercive process of fast- ening the fifteen standard cord of compulsion around Ilia nose : if the pig was ^'■striped" he would not r.iove an inch on such terms. Neither time nor place allow the discussion of the comparative ad- '■an'ages of the two modes, or the attempt to recon- le the discordant views in regard to being led or Some of the swine who obeyed the summons to tome from the Hospital, looked as if they had for- ffitten to bring their heads. The omission might have been ccilsidered contemiit, and to have justifi- ed sentence to a confinement as severe as that re- nt ly endured by witnesses who have been unan- vtr::l)lL- in other courts, to stand committed until lerated by the habeas corpus, which enhirges the 'dy of poik from the prison of the barrel. But it loeared that for the coavenicnce of travelling, ey had 'packed their heads too deeply in their unks lo be again taken out. The dissolution of • e copartnership existing between head and body, ■ the pressure of rojie or the motion of knife, is it considered agreeable ; to have the chief end ibalmed in pork must be delightful. While ese animals, remair- under the care of Dr. Wood- ward, the loss of the extremity is of slight conse- quence. At the Hospital, second hand lieads are cleaned, repaired, and refurnished, so that they go af well as new ones, and perhaps the skill which e.\ists in the institution, might take down a small understanding and set up a lamer one. It would be impossible in one day to express the *cutiments of the committee in viewing the con- gregation of swine. They can only hope to delin- o the virtues of 81 hoga by appendiagSl motes, exhibiting portraitures of the manners, morals, feed- ing, breeding and fatness of each. Compelled to part abruptly from their friends, they can only state generally — tliat the boars of Lowell Sibley, of Sut- ton, halCRosebrook; of Joseph J^pherson, of North- bridge, full blooded Leiccstersliire ; of Alfred Mow- er, of Charlton, of the Berkshire family; of Amo- ry Holman, of Bolton, one fourth Mackey and three fourths Grass breed ; of Lewis Chapin, of Worces- ter, native born; of John Barnard, of Worcester, from the Bigelow stock; of Aaron Howe, of Shrews- bury, half Berkshire and half Leicestershire ; of Lovell Southwick, of Sutton, v/ith the Bedford feather; of Eleazar Porter, of Worcester, one of the headless hogs of the Hospital ; of Benjamin P. Rice, of Worcester, a citizen of New England; of Levi Bowman, of Westboro', of the Berkshire breed ; and of Harvey Dodge, of Sutton, one fourth Berkshire and three fourths Grass breed — have fail- ed to obtain premiums ; not by reason of any defi- ciency in their own merits, but by reason of the ex- traordinary excellence of their successful Berkshire rivals. We must not covet our neighbor's goods : every member of the society might honestly desire to have all the pigs of these gentlemen, and must wish that each of them should receive thanks for their exhibition of fine animals. Jt is necessary to be long where there is no time to he short. Far towards the last in the order of reports, come the "Judges" of the society and the swine: in the order -if merit the last should be/r.sr Bulls are good — oxen great — heifers graceful — and all the ucut stock in and out of the husband- man's household, elegant and amiable : Hoos are ornamental and u.seful. They constitute the beau- tiful of the farm yard. They filUhat remarkable space, only one step wide, separating the sublime from the ridiculous. The swine have stood in the dignity of conscious worth while the whole delega- tion to tlie annual county convention of herds and flocks have gone by. It has been their consolation under their preference given to others in the pro- cession, that for them the post of honor was a sta- tion in a private pig pen. There, surrounded by attentive friends, with the affections of those who have fed them and in their turn will be fed by them, and the endearments of domestic circles, supplied with happiness by the pailful three times a day, they could fill large jjlaces in life, and fill many plates of the hungry in death. If yesterday had been to-day, or to-day was to- morrow, the report of the committee would have been more brief; — in short, if this year had been next year, the chairman would have had the honor to report nothing. All which is respectfullv submitted. WILLIAM LINCOLN, Chairman. Worcester, Oct. 9, 1^39. Important facts. We observe with astonishment and regret, the conclusive evidence which appears in every direc- tion, that the business of agriculture does not re- ceive that attention due to it in this country, but it is treated with absolute neglect, compared with other pursuits. This ought not to be, and the in- habitants of this country will yet learn, that they have committed a gross error by abandonino- the cultivation of the soil, for less independent and more precarious modes of obtaining a livelihood. Who has ever heard of such a state of things as now exists here.' Wo have a soil as fertile as any that the sun ever shone upon : a country almost boundlcjs in extent, and so cheap that any man may purchase a farm with the proceeds of a few mouths labor, yet wo are actually importing for consumption, immense quantitiee of agricultural products from foreign countries ! A people thinly scattered over land unequalled in fertility, and ex- haustless in its resources, are buying their bread at enormous prices, from countries so overburthe'n- ed with inliahitants, that political economists have feared that the earth would fail to produce suffi- cient to support them. Such an extraordinary and unnatural circumstance should excite attention and awaken the inquiry as to its cause. The fault, as we have seen, is not in the soil, nor is the country overrun with inhabitants. It is, therefore, evident that the cultivation of the soil is neglected, otherwise we should bo exporting agri- cultural products, but it is easier to show thp fiict, that agriculture is neglected, than to find a sufii- cient reason for this neglect. We apprehend, how- ever, that it will be found to spring in a great measure frr.m the same causes which have produc- ed much evil in the country, and the bitter fruits of which we are now reaping. The first and chief of these causes, is the inordinate thirst for wealth, which pervades every class of society, and induces Bien to abaadoa Ikeir lagitimate business to en- gage in some wild, hazardous speculation, in the hope of becoming suddenly rich. It is also too often the case that the farmer becomes tired of the moderate and gradual accumulation of property by the products o,f his land, and leaves the cultivation of it to engage in the business of commerce or man- ufactures, lie finds out his egregious mistake when it is too late. The property he had accumu- lated is often squandered and lost in consequence of his ignorance of his new business, and he again sighs for the cheerful and independent mode of life whicli he has abandoned, when it is out of his power to resume it. We have in our mind num- berless instances of this kind, where industrious and prosperous farmers have been lured to their ruin, by being induced to lay aside the implementa of husbandry, and engage in the universal .scram- ble after sudden wealth. There is anotlier great error prevalent upon this subject and that is, the business of agriculture is generally looked upon as less respectable than that of commerce, manufactures, or the professions; .and wealthy farmers, instead of teaching their sons their own business, most usually transform them into n.erehants, lawyers, doctors or doniinees. — This is all wrong. Agriculture is the very back- bone of all business, the mainspring of all wealth, and should be regarded as a profession of the high- est respectability It gives those engaged in it a feeling of independence, genuine nobleness with- out ostentation, honor, honesty, and firmness, well calculated to perpetuate the free institutions of our happy country. The truth of the eloquent pane gyrics of the ancients upon this employment, may be more easily realized here, than in any other country upon earth. We confidently hope" to see public opinion speedily righting itself upon this subject, and to find people seeking their perma- nent interests, and advancing the prosperity and glory of our wide domain, by engaging more gen- erall}' in this healthful, honest and independent, business. — V. 1'. Sun. T e S Beet. The culture of this root has, in many instances, been attended with the most extraordinary success. The Harrisburg Keystone gives, in the following extract of a letter from Judge Lewis, some imper- tant testimony upon the subject : " In the month of April last, 1 planted about an acre of sugar beets, for the purpose of feeding tha cattle during the v/inter season. The ground con- sisted of several patches, some of which had been used for potatoes fhe year before. After it was properly prepared, deep furrows were run through it two feet apart, ;n which manure was afterwards deposited, which was covered by running a furrow on each side of the first, and thus forminir a small ridge over the manure. Along this the beets were dropped and covered by means of a species of hand drill of my own invention, composed of a piece of 2 inch plank, about a foot long, in the shape of a triangle, with three old harrow teeth formed like small shovels of the proper shape, and a handle of about 4 1-2 feet long, with a calibre about the size of a rifle bore, through which the seed were made to descend into a furrow formed by the front tooth ; they v/erc covered by the two hind teeth. Tha seed were dejjos-ited in tlie row about a foot apart. On the first of Nov. instant, the beets were taken up. The product of 44U feet was weighed on the hay scales, and amounted to 6^0 lbs., which counting 60 pounds to the bushel, would be 13 1-2 bushels. The whole product of the acre at this rate is 1353 bushels. This will ensure me plenty of good milk and butter during the winter, and may serve to show that the beet is Avorthy the attention of far- mers who have no intention to make sugar. I con- sider a bushel of oeets nearly equal in value to a bushel of oats. i353 bushels at 30 cents would make the yield ot an acre J«^405 90."' As. we ourselvei.. dabble a very little in farming, ve will add the particulars of an experiment of our own in raising th-~ sugar beet. A patch of three quarters of an acre was twice ploughed very d^isp and very richly manured with stable manure, atter having been well limed (100 bushels to the acre) the preceding ycdr. The seed waa planted by hand in drills, and when the plants xvere up, they were thinned out by hand, so as to leave them about a foot apart in tha drill. The ground was kept tolerably free of weeds till the plants had obtained a considerable growth, after whicli they were not much attended to. The beets were gathered during the first week of this month, and the produce was 650 bushels-- %veighing fourteen tons six hundreds ! The hoga and r.ne cows eat them greedily either raw or boiled. T' e horses as yet,Tefu3e,althougk 1R9 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. mixed w.th ,T,cal-or sprinkled with salt-or wheth- er raw or boiled. . The value, however, of these vegetables for milch C0W9 is very great. U improves both the quantity and quahiy of the milk, without impart- ing to i't any disagreeable flavor.— ^^/iany?'"/"'"- The late Judge Uuel. To no man is the country so much indebted for improvement in Ao-nculiure as to this eciitleman : as a ustful, practical, safe farmer, he probably ex- celled all others. Born in humble life, he was ed- ucated in the profession of a meehanic. Betore he was twenty-one years of age, lie was engaged in the publication of a village newspaper at 1 roy , and from thence he afterwards was successively a publish»r at Poughkcepsie, and at Kingston, upon the Hudson river. During the war with Great Britain in 1S13, he established the Albany Argus, and succeeded,against thn late Solomon Southwick, the editor of the Albany Register, in procuring the appointment of State Printer for New York. In " this position he continued to publish the Argus un- til 1821, when he turned his attention more exclu- sively to the cultivation of the ground, having pur- chased a tract of apparently barren sand hil s some three miles out of the city of Albany, on which he ■ettled.and wjnch he converted into "a garden spot of unsurpassed fertility," that became at once to iim a source of great profit and enjoyment. Only a few weeks since the death of Mr. Jiuel, Mr. Southwick has also paid the last debt ol nature, havino' suddenly died of apoplexy. Of the two rival printer? and editors, bolo- men Southwick was the man of greater genius-a political writer whose style was more nervous ana Flowing. Jesse Buel was not as able and as fluent, but excelled in a political newspaper for his superi- or discretion and judgment. Mr. Southwick, hav- ine once gained a fortune from- the public patron- ag-e, lost it more than twenty years ago by boldness of speculations in Albany city lots, which f.U on his hands, and afterwards struggled with discoura- ging poverty till the day of his death. Mr. Luel probably at no time gained for himselt a large es- tate—made all his calculations safe, and m all like- lihood died worth as much as he ever possessed at any former period of his life. Both of these gen- tlemen conducted periodical publications at (he times of their death. Mv. Southwick published a weekly jotirnal at Albany called the Family iNews- paper, and Mr. Buel published the Cultivator monthly, an agricultural sheet which had gained on Imm'ense circulation : this paper had been grad- ually increasing for the six years in which it was published until it was issued to the number ol twenty thousand. Of these he circulated about two thousand in the State of Virginia. The Cul- tivator has had a grand effect upon the agriculture of the whole country. Millions of money have been, or probably will" bo, added to the productive wealth of the country as the effect of the labors ol a single individual in this journal. We are free to confess the opinion that no man in this country who ever undertook to conduct an agricultural newspaper was so capable to impart the rien, Lyon and Webb, of Boston, are now pubhsli- inga collection of onirinal and selected works en- titled "The Scliool Library," to embrace two se- ries of fifty volumes each, the one to be in lb mo. averaging from -5 ) to 280 pages, to be called the Juvenile Series, and intended for children of ten and twelve years of age : the other is 13 mo, of 350 to 400 pages, for the use of more advanced ] scholars and their parents. For this last work Judge Buel had given the publishers encourage- ment that he would furnish the waiter to be com- prised in two volumes. We happened to be in Boston at the ofiice of the publishers on the day the news of Judge Buel's death was received m that city. The public have already been apprised that the Judge was on his way from the city of Al- bany to the ?ity of New IJaven, where he was ex- pected to deliver an address before an agricultural societv on the 25th September, when he was ar- rested'at Danbury, Conn, by a disorder ot which he lintrered until the Cith October, when he died.— Dr. \Vcbb, one of the publishers, informed us that only a few days before, he received a letter from Judo-e Buel, saying he had the first volume for the Library prepared and would send it on his return from Connecticut : but, anxious to procure the man- uscript without delay, the publishers wrote and re- quested it might be sentbelbre he left for Connect- icut. The work had been received and was under the process of stereotyping when we- were at Bos- ton on the yth October. Since that period the publishers have sent us the printed volume entitled "The Fiirmcr's Compun- ion; or Essnijs on the Principhs anil Practice oj jlmcricau Hv^bundrij:' For many years we have taken into hand no ,folume more interesting than this posthumous work of its lamented author ; m it he has thrown together more valuable practical in- formation useful to every man interested in tilling the ground, than all the other works we have ever seen. Having asked liberty of the publishers, we intend to make extracis from this book for the \ is- itor. If Judge Buel had done no other service dur- ino-his life than to write and compile this book, his^ merit would be incomparably greater than that ot most men who attain to the higliest political hon- ors. ■ The volume of the Boston publishers also con- tains the "address prepared to lie delivered before the Agricultural and Horticultural Societies oi New Haven County, Conn, Sept. 25, ll=3il," which was received and r lower than the above. It is tube remembered, tha- sixty years ago, the average was probably not on quarter so much as it is now. Loudon states the average product of wheat I' England, at 24, 28, and 32 bushels per acre— raea.' average 26 bushels. The preceding references are made to old-sei tied countries— to lands which have been und.-r culture for many ccnluries—to lands which weio once worn out by bad husbandry, but which havo been renovated and rendered highly productive fc; the new system. , . « In ITflO, General Washington, in a letter to Ar- thur Young, computed the average crop in Penn- sylvania, then one of the best wheat-grown ; Stales, as follows :— wheat 15 bushels, rye 20, brr- ley 25, oats 30, Indian corn 25, potatoes 'o. IV: Strickland, who resided in Maryland about for',- years ago, in a report which he made to the British Board of Agriculture, gave the average product c. our wheat crop at 12 bushels the acre, and 1 Dutchess county, then, as now, our best cultival county, at 16 bushels. Bor'dlcy, about the period we are referring .", stated the average yield of Indian corn, onih.j Eastern Shore of Maryland, at 15 bushels perac These quotations are sufiicienl to show, that -.n our old-improved districts, the crop.^ do not in a.-/ wise compare with those grown in Flanders, bf-. land, and EngUnd,— and this difference m prod "t is owing entirely to the different modes ol manag.r, v the soil ; for wherever the new system has haJ . fair trial among us, it has been as succcsslul as has been in Europe. We will illustrate still further the difference - tween the two systems, by stating the products, - ; their value, on the same land.i, under the old i . t under the new system of husbandry. We are furnished, in Rees's Cyclopedia, v many statements, demonstrating the superiorit; ■'- the new over the old system. We will [uote st - - of them. The first comparison is made "n a tr... devoted to grazing, breeding, and tillage ot 31 ■ ores, in Yorkshire. Under the old mode of ■ bandry, the net profits amounted to £316 11 uudertt* new avetem th« tame landa gav» a THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 193 profit of j£596, making a difference of £278, or nearly one iiundred per cent., in favor of the new syatem. Tlie second is that of a tillage farm of 139 acres in Lincolnshire. Under the old system the profits were jC 130 — under the new £4o2 ; dif- ference in favor of the latter £322, or 2.50 percent. The third statement exhibits the profits of an acre of land, being the medium of a farm of several hundred acres, in Yorkshire, for six years. Under the old system the profit was £1 9s. 3d. — under the new £17 Cs. 9d. — an increase of more than 1100 per cent. The medium value of the acreable prof- it in England is stated at from 27 to 36 dollars per annum. We have spoken of Mr. Coke as one of the be.it farmers of the age. He owns a large estate in Nor- folk, England, a portion of which he has been per- sonally improving for half a Gentury, the residue being occupied by tenants. The rental upon his estate has risen, in fifty 3'ears, in consequence of the improvement in liusbandry which he lias intro- duced, from £r>,flOO, to £40,000. The Hofi'wyl Agricultural School farm, in Swit- zerland, under M. Fellenburgh, comprises 214 a- cres. Lord Brougham, after visiting this farm, and making inquiries of the Principal, says lie found the average annual profit of the pattern-farm alone, for a period of four years, amounted to £t^8() sterling, equal to about $4,000, exclusive of the cattle concern, which is kept separate. The last case we will cite abroad, is that of the farm belonging to the Agricultural School of Mo- egelin, in Prussia, under Doctor Von Thaer. The school was established in 1809. In twelve years the value of tlie farm was increased from 2,000 to 12,000 rix dollars, by the improved mode of culti- vating it. The cases we have quoted, we admit to be extra- ordinary ones ; yet they are not without parallels in our own country. Agriculture has been in a stale of progressive improvement in the valley of the Hudson, for thirty and forty years. The lands have been increasing in value in consequence. — The change has been so great in some districts, that farms which twenty years ago were sold for 20 to 25 dollars an acre, have recently been sold for 100 to 120 dollars an acre j and in other cases, particularly on Kinderhook plains, farms which were bought thirty years ago at five and ten dollars an acre, have lately commanded sixty and seventy dollars. Few farms of tolerable land in Dutchess, Orange, or other river counties, conti- guous to the Hudson, can now be bought at le:;s than from 100 to l.'>0 dollars an acre, in conse- quence of their increased productiveness, caused by improved lius'iianclry. Doctor Black has demonstrated, in his prize es- say, published m the American Farmer, that every acre of arable land in New Jersey, which now sells at from ten to thirty dollars per acre,-is intrinsical- ly worth five hundred dollars per acre ; that is, if put under a judicious system of husbandry, every acre may be made to yield a net profit of thirty dollars per annum, equal to the interest on five hundred dollars, at G percent. And Mr, Johnson, of Maryland, in a speech which lie made it! Con- gress in 1637, cites a case in Delaware, near Do- ver, where land was bought, a few years ago, of medium quality, at thirty dollars an acre, by Messrs. Siiijile and Pennewell, which has paid in its product for all outlay in improvement, and the owners are now receiving, in the farm crops which it gives, an annual clear income equal to the inter- est ofyire hundred dollars an acre. We will ofier but one other illustration in sup- port of the great superiority of the new husband- ry. It is that of John Ilobinson, Esq., an intelli- gent^ and iudujlrious Scotch farmer. Fifteen years ago, Mr. llobinson bought a farm on the banks of Seneca Lake, three milea from Geneva, at ten dol- .lars an acre. The farm was considered worn out. Mr. Robins.Tn, with the aid of sheep, li'me, manure, and good luisbanilry, has made it produce, over and above the expense of culture, and tlie support of his family, an annual income equal to the interest of one hundred and fifty dollars an acre, — and the farm is still in a slate of progressive improvement. The income from 400 acres is now $4,000. Mr. Robinson has refused $100 per acre lor the whole. We might multiply instances of worn out lands being brought into a highly productive and profit- able stale, by the new husbandry, if it were neces- sary ; but almost every old settled district furnish- es examples in point. Enough has been sho,wn, or may be seen, to justify us in saying, that under the new system of husbandry, every aore of arable land, if any where contiguous to navigable waters or a good market, may in a few years be made to yield a net annual profit, equal to the interest of two hundred dollars. And we may add, that with ■uo'i sR income, and the iodnttjy and eeoaomy which belong to republican habits, there are few employments in life better calculated than agricul- ture to render a man independent in circumstan- ces and in mind, and rich in all the elements of substantial happiness. rriMii the Bislon CuillvaUir. Gu feeding Cattle. It is not good policy to suffer our neat stock to grow poor at this season of the year, and there is no need of this, if we pay proper attention to the subject. This is the season to make use of our vi'hite turnips, and our pumpkins, which will not keep long, and store cattle, as well as those we are fatting, stioulil all have a share. Milch cows need something of this kind to prevent their becoming dry at this season, and roots and green leaves are more suitable for this purpose than any kind of hay, and are more agreeable to the palates of tlie cattle. Hay of all kinds at this season, affects the milk, and is apt to give a bitter taste to the butter. Corn- stalks and husks have not any such effect, and therefore these should be dealt out in the fore part of winter, while the cows are in milk. Cows when well kept, should never go dry long- er than two months at a time. They are not better in summer for having gone dry a long time in win- ter. They should be in the habit of giving milk through most of the year. It is true they need bet- ter keeping while in milk, but the value of the pro- duct will do more than repay the expense. If it be too cold to make butter, the cream may be used to advantage without churning; and all the wash is wnntod for the store hogs — it will cause them to grow faster than will any kind of food. Calves require particufar care in the first of the winter. Roweu hay and roots, in small quantity, are excellent for them. Cattle of all descriptions lie more comfortably, loose, than when fastened to a stanchion, but they require more room. They seldom suffer, in New England from cold, provided they are out of the wet and out of the wind. Open sheds and open barn cellars are to be preferred, especially for young cattle, to tight barns, where the air is soon render- ed unfit for respiration. It is as absurd to suppose that cattle are more heal- thy for being closelj' penned up in winter, as that human beings are, when shut in a close room. Fe- males who seldom go out in winter have more colds — three to one — than those who arc every day ex- posed to the weather. If we have not room for our cattle to run loose under sheds or barns — if we must tie them up to a post and compel them to stand 16 hours in one po- sition— let us not compel them to stand on plank floors — let us throw a quantity of loam under them, that it may become impregnated with the liquid manure, that nothing may be lost. We have often seen cattle so stalled, that all the liquid manure was wasted — and this liquid would have been worth as much as all the other part, in case of proper care to have it absoibed. A taitliful description of Illinois. Goffsloicn, Dec. 1, 1839. Hon. Is*AC Hill, — Dear Sir: — I know of no way to be of greater service to the public, than by forwarding for an insertion in your truly w'elcome Visitor, an extract of a letter from a worthy gentle- man of lUiiiois, dated " ,Juhji, 1839. "The face of the country is generally level, or gently undulating; and the prairies are easily cul- tivated, requiring liut little more team to break them up, tiian it does common grass lands : six or eight oxen are sufficient. The wild grass that covers them is easily de- stroyed the first year it is cultivated. The prairies are of two kinds : sand and clay prairies as they are usually termed, and both of them are fertile as well as all other lands in this county.' The sand prairies are best for corn, and the clay for grass. — There is a small prairie in this county about ten miles square, which produces annually about half a million bushels of corn for exportation, besides vast numbers of cattle and hogs are fattened upon it. They seldom use a hoe in cultivating, doing it with a horse and plough. For a few years after these lands are broken up, and before they become foul with weeds, one man will cultivate from thirty to fifty acres of corn, obtaining from fifty to seven- ty-five bushels to the acre. It is said one man near Vincennes, raised one hundred and fifty bushels from one acre last year. It was of a more produc- tive kind, however, than is usually raised here-; a kind called the Baden corn. This prairie is com- posed of vegetabls mould and a small portion of saad exteadmj to the di!>ptl» of four or five feat. and as fertile as any land in the United States, ex- cept the American bottom as it is called, rui tho Mississippi river — producing all kinds of vegeta- bles whicli are used in New Kngland, besides some others — such as sweet potatoes, castor beans, and formerly cotton. The basis of the soil upon the upland is clay and sand, mostly of the former. It is generally much more fertile than it is in New England. Tho timber consists of oak of several kinds, white, black, cup, post and chincoe pine : of these, the three last are most durable and are us. ed principally for fencing. Red oak grows in tho bottoms, what we Yankees call intervale. Tiiero are three or four kinds of walnut, which are called hickory. Black walnut and poplar are the kinds of timber usually employed for finishing. The pop- lar is a ditlerent tree from that which arrows in New England called by that naine. It resembles bass wood ver)' much. Sycamore abounds along the rivers and grows sometimes to a enormous size. It is not a valuable timber, as it is difficult to split, and soon decays. "Vast numbers of hogs are raised upon the nuts which abound in the woods. But as corn led pork is worth more in market, many farmers will getujj their hored from Portlock to Biddeford, sucli as are five or six years old. He chooses such as are small horned, and of a yellow colored horn rather than white — small bones, as such beasts thrive best — rib bnues round, not flat — a thick hide bad — a very tliin one objectionable — bhade bones, chuck — very thick and heavy in the bosom, aa much weight lies there — the heavier in the shoulder the better, i but not to elbow tjut — v-vi-y wid* tad sqaar* frow 183 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. If the points down to the thighs— middling intlie bel- ly— not cow-bellied — nottucked up.' As a graiicr te is right; but this is not the true working Dev- onshire ox. The Wilderness "far West." Rev. William T. Boutell, a native of Lyndc- borough in this State and the soa of our old Iriend JVIaj. Nehemiah Boutell nlio has often been in our Legislature, has lately visited his native State from the far west. This gentleman, after receiving a liberal education and completing his theological studies, under the patronage of the American Board of Missions has been engaged in the business of instructing the Chippewa Indians. His place ef residence for six years was at the distance of six hundred miles westward and further into the wil- derness than the westerly point of Lake Superior, on Leach Lake, whose waters are discharged to the ocean southerly through the Mississippi. The place of his residence was in the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, and more than a thousand miles northwest from the settlements in Wisconsin. — Leach lake is farther north than the sources of the Mississippi river laid down upon the maps; yet Mr. Boutell mentions that there is another consid- erable lake running into the Mississippi itiil fur- ther to the north and west of the Leach lake. The winters commence early in the month of Novem- ber, and the summer season is considerably shorter than the summers in this part of New England ; yet Indian corn there is a safe crop. The charac- ter of the country is a dense growth of wood on a Tery rich and deep soil. Mr. Boutell last year raised two hundred and sixty bushels of potatoes on land which he prepared himself He had a single ox brought through the forest from St. Peters, the nearest American settlement on the upper Missis- sippi, which he yoked singly and worked as a horse is usually worked. He was alone with his little family among the natives, with the exception of a French Canadian servant and his Indian wife. The wife of Mr. Boutell is a half-blood of French and Indian extraction — a lady of fine manners and superior inlelligence, who received her education at Mackinaw. Mr. B. arrived at his place of resi- dence in the fall and subsisted with his family dur- ing the long and dreary winter which followed on one and a half barrels of flour and fifty pounds of pork. A kind of fish about the size of the com- mon alewife abounds in Leach lake, different from any other kind known in the northern lakes— this fish bears the Indian name of Twtel-o-bee. It is tak- en in great quantities in the fall and hung up on poles without being gutted or dressed, and Ts eaten by the Indians without salt or other condiment. Mr. B. said, running short of provisions as he did in the latter part of winter, he could eat these raw fish with jTood appetite. It is well known to travellers that communica- tions are kept up through the great northtfcstern lakes by theFrenchCanadian voyageurs. These men are in the employment of the gentlemen of the Northwest fur companies, and are hired for a small stipend. Their food generally is Indian corn cook- ed in a portion of lard or fat, which they consider to be good living. They are carriers of goods, and they navigate in batteaux where the water is suffi- cient—in Indian canoes in the smaller streams. Their strength, nerve and agility in passing over the worst paths and roads by the portages is repre- sented by Mr. Boutell to be equal to beasts of bur- den. One of these voyageurs will divide a barrel of flour into two sacks, slmgone over his back and the other over the nape of his neck and go upon the run over roads knee deep in mud ; two of them carrying a boat-load over a distance of six or eio-ht miles with astonishing celerity. Mr. Boutell, after under,, oing all the privations of the wilderness for six years, hesitates not, for a less compensation than other gentlemen receive for less service in a more easy position, to return to his charge of instructing and enlightening a heathen tribe who entertain strong prejudices ao-ainst the doctrines of the Divine Saviour, whose life was •pent in doing good. He goes back to them in the ensuing spring. We liave seldom conversed with a man of his age more intelligent and better fitted for the business of his employment. His ruling motive must be the good which he imparts to the destitute and the ignorant— not the money which he is paid for his services. From the Philadelphia Farmer's Cabinet. Manner of dividine an Cx for the TabU. [Fig. 45.] For the information of some of our readers and especially our young friends, we publish th cut, which represents the method of dividing an ox for the table in most parts of the United S e above Stat«& •n;-: th:"^^ '"'-''" "- -'''"' - -^'^- •^-v.a.ng .nto^ai;;;;^- buruirn^;;:, :;^^::i: Method of Coohng-mnd Q««r/e,-._Sirloin, roasted-Rump roasted, or steak, or .tew-Edge-bono boiled-Round alamode, boiled, or savory salted beef-Veiney piece, sleak, or r^ast, or baked or saU ed-Thick flank, steaks or corned-Thin flank the same-Legran, boil, soup, or stew-Lecsoup L; stew. Fur« Qi/«r(fr.-First cut. 2 ribs. roast-Second c„. 9%;k= .^J.^tuLa cutr 2 ribf roast " mutton, piece- or stewing, Fourth cut, 2 ribs roast-Chuck rib, boil or stew, or for making gravJ-Slouder of : Ued'' r"' '-^''r'f''" «^'';'^' •""' °' '""P- "' beef sausages-Bnfket,\oil or bouiU , or s.ewm'^^ '^"Vered orll;Lr^;i^;;xzr waT 'Snif ^;;;;^ t ;:'^::z/c' r::T';T \-^ "--' upper part of the boiler at C, are placed two tube!, with . op colks OneJthV^^''. ^' """ x;^^-Th::ete^:-,^-r^-d^ ways to issue forth. But should'Tvlte^r in'p'lL^ o^ra'^^t Tu^rnlt' wiU tre'ar'rha™ tT^L" f" IS too full of water. In th s manner ih/ ■,,i»r,A..„i u . ""'?;"="" win appear tliat the boiler there ,s a deficiency or excess olwate'r in the" oiler ^' '"™"^ ""'" ^'°P"°'^''' '■'^«"'-«» «'''«">- The quantity of water could A ■ .1 J . 'P'"""" '■y "='■''"'=> ^'"^ a sliding board below bv which th^ ^„^ h„ dy, IS withdrawn, so that a wheelbarrow or vat may be plfced below, lid the S at ' to ,t. By means of an apparatus of this kind, rooU^^and 'other parU of pknt^ may b^ , louucaj msjinei.— Farmer's Cabijietj f "« maj oe i renient and econo 1 at once emptied in- •teiunfid in aoea> THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 137 Ftom Iho Philadelphia Farmer'B Cabinet. Harnessing Horses. Under this he.d comes th^.q""''"" "'',,\w ''bul direction of the traees, or, as " '«%g''""'^"/' ''^ ■ less clearly been called, the angle of mchnat.on ol he Uneot- traction. This question appears to have been Iways considered one of great .mportance. the point has been frequently discussed, and var- ou.op nions have been advanced; some -v.ng re comrnended ittobe horizontal, others .ncuned and as they have each in the.r turn, m den.ons atmg the coVreclness of their own theory, proved the er- ror of others, there can be no presunpt.on ,n laj - ing them all aside, and in takmg a d,fterent,but at thf same time, a more simple and practical v,ew of thr case. By referring to a figure, we see that ,f AD represent that portion of his whole we.ght which is relieved from his fore legs and A E the direction of the traces, then A F .s the measure of the horizontal pull upon the carnage. Now, At bears a constant proportion to A B wh.ch represent, the strain upon the legs ; and A D bemg constant A B, and consequently A F.ncrease or d,mm sh according as the angle A D B .s mcreased or d,mm- ished: that is to say, the horizontal pull appl.ed to the carrlainployments of life; but in this great business,in which its in- fluence would be most potent and useful, we con- sider it, judging from our practice, of less conse- quence then the fictions of the novelist. We re- oard mind as the efficient power in most other pur- suits ; while we forget, that in agriculture, it la the Archimedean lever, wliich though it does not move a wo"rld, tends to fill one with plenty, with moral, hcaltliv and human happiness. Can it ex- cite surprise,'that under these circumstances of trross neglect, agriculture should have become among us, in popular estimation, a clownish and ignoble employment .' In the absence of professional agricultural schools, could we not do much to enlighten and to raise the character of American husbandry, by making its principles a branch of study in our district schools? This knowledge would seldom come amiss, and it would often prove a ready help, under misfortune, to those who should fail in other business. What man is there, who may not expect, at some time of life, to profit directly, by a knowledge of these princi- ples ' Who does not hope to become the owner, or cultivator of a garden or a farm .' And what man, enjoying the blessings of health, would be ataloss for the means of an honest livelihood, whose mind llu\%Ilo^aiiuaicij'i-imj ••. to ' on the back of a garden chair, he will not only walk himself, but push en the chair; or a child who is yet too weak to stand, cr.n, if part c.I his weight be supported in a gocart, not only move himself, but also the frame which supjiorts him.— These are very familiar and lioiiiely comparisons, but they are cases exactly similar to the thr^e posi- tions of the traces ; and the argument will equally f^j the means of an honest iiveiiiiooo, wiiose .u...>. apply to horses as to men. It istiue, Wf rarely use ii^d been early imbued with the philosophy ot rural for draught a horse that can hardly stand ; lul the culture— and who would rather work then beg . _ ___. -.i.i^ 4k,.f n in-<^i- h.--r,vv hrirne. nth- j^jj early acquaintance with natural science, is calculated to beget a taste for rural life, and rural /-I .-„_C* ^«,1 Urtni-vf - trt ease a portion of the animal's weight is borne by the Uaces, and is transferred by them to the car iaee A F is here small, but the strain upon he g^AB, is also proportionably less thaniu the selond case, where the traces are horizontal. In fiff 4.4, where the traces incline downwards, we •ce that the horizontal force A E is much more consid- erable ; but, at the same time, A B is increased, and consequently the muscular exertion required in the legs is prepnrtionably great : in fact, here a por- lion of the weight of the load is transferred to his shoulders. ^ , The comparative advantages, therefore, ot tlie three, do not follow any general rule, but depend .impiv upon the peculur qualities of the particular animal employed, and his relative capabihties ot lifting and pulling, or the proportion existing be- tween the weight of his body and his muscular strength To render this mora clear to our own case is very possible that a large heavy horse, oth erwisc not strong, or one which ,t v.as net desirable to fatigue, might pull better ai:u long, r, if part of the weight was borne upon the c:irriage,fr if,in oth- er words, the traces pulled upwards. And we know by experience, that in the case of stage-coaches, where, owing to the speed, the weight of the horse's body is already generally a burden to him, it is dis- advantageous to increase the weight by inclining the trac'cs much downwards ; on the contrary, where we wish to obtain the utmost effect of a pow- erful horse, or of ahorse that is muscular, but with- out much weight forward, it is highly advantage- ous to augment the effect of his gravity by inclin- ing the traces even as much as 15 degrees, or about 1 upon '3 ; the strain upon the traces will be then considerably increased, and the effect augmented, provided always that he is able to exert the neces- eary strength in his legs. As far, therefore, as the mere force of traction is concerned, there is no par- ticular angle which will always produce the great- est effect— but it must depend upon the particular capability of the horse; and this in its turn varies, and is affected bv circumstances; for the same horse that upr.n a level road requires no addition to his weiirht, might bo materially assi.~ted by a slight addition when ascending a hill, if not continued too lono-; and most horses would be benefitted consid- erably by the opposite arrangement in a descent, that is, by a portion of their weight being borne up; they should at least have no additional load thrown on them while descending a hill. IJons that arc shut up to fatten should be kept warm°and dry, and they should be kept clean in- stead of beiiitr confined to dirt and mud, six or eight inches deep, as is the case with many. It is not possible fur hogs to fatten fast, unless they are comfortable, and they cannot be comfortable while covered with filth and exposed to cold and wet, in- stead of having a good waim nest. Hogs should have pare earth occasionally, and a little charcoal. CaiCUiateu LU urytri. ti iti.>Lt -..-- » ] labors, a source of pleasure, profit and honor ; to stimulate to the improvement of the mmd— to ele- vate and to purify it— to self respect, to moral de- portment. And It will tend to deter from the for- mation of bad habits, which steal upon the igno- rant and the idle unawares, and which consign thousands of promising young men to poverty and disgrace, if not to premature graves. A knowl- edge of these principles, to a very useful extent, can be acquired with as much facility, in the school or upon the farm, as other branches of learn- ino-. Why, then, shall they not be taught ? Why shall we withhold from our agricultural population, that knowledge which is so indispensable to their profit, to their independence, and to their correct bcarinir as freemen ? Why, while we boast of our superior privileges, keep in comparative ignorance of the principles of their busmeis, that class of our citizens who arc truly the conservators of our free dom ' We know of but one objection— the want of teachers. A few years ago, civil engineers were not to be found among us. The demand for them created a supply. We have demonstrated, that we have the materials for civil engineers, and that W8 can work them up. We have materials for teach- ers of agricultural scieuce, vvhicli wecanalso work up. Demand will always insure a supply. Georoe Ffrost, Esq. of Durham, N. H. informs us that he weighed on the 9tli December, a half blooded Durham short horn Bull Calf six weeks old produced on his farm, whose weight was found to be two hundred and ninety-two pounds. Gen- tlemen of independent means like Mr. F. do their neighbors and the State a great service by the in- troduction of such fine animi/ls as his calf If a present and immediate profit does not always re- sult, it rarely fails in the end richly to remunerate the enterprise and public spirit which has an ey« to the general improvement of th» coontr/. 1S8 For Hie Farmer's! Monlhly Vielti.r. Stoddard, N. II. w»^?h"°.''"'' "^"^ '""""ly called Limnick, and was about seven m,le, square,cnntainin. nearlyfor bemj taken oft and adj„,ned t„ Sullivan and i\el- Bon ,t now contains about forty square miles. The ougii, iN. H. fjg i,rougl,t the greater part of his provrs.ons for the first year on his baek. This was about the year 1765. About ten years aTr Z Ii>d,ardsons, Copelands, and Toioues be,ran to em' ■grate to ,l„s town ; and many of t+,eir deseendan^s a.e now hv.nff |,ere. There is a house now stand! nj bu.lt by Israel Towne, Esq. about ITSS Xn he first settled here; the water from th^ ves" roof ol whrchruns into the Connecticut river and from the east side „.to the Merrimack river This town, a, most know, is mountainous-beinff a na ■ of the r.dge of land between the above risers - i • cept"M:rH ''",' "' '"'"■^'■'^^ C^-'y - l^i^h -- ' , cept Monadnock mountain. Just before a storm hins"\"th:u'T ^^'T "^"""'"'"^ <■-'" "-n;::™ ■wlcf.l "f"n"^^ ""^ '"'"'i^'"'' miles distant. ' is sa^u?,t r ,u" '"'' ^"^^ *■""'" ^^''^" the air I oieirrnTi^'LT' ''"'''"' '"^ "^^ '^ -- '■ Clfe'shlre"' Vr" r^'''\^'^""^ P^^'^' °^ »"}• '" I Beaso but ne r V ""'"'t P^'""' '" ""^ ''"■"'"er Beason but people from the adjacent towns and over one hundred feet in rieoTl, Ti . P'^ces not gained much in popZttr' mcrTs o"' Tl?: cen.us shewed 1J48 then, and there has been but .Itle .nerease s.nce. The reason is, people are eavmg the "h.llsand the mountains" (an'^ we have ndTn°vilh:ri """^rr^^^""""^ °" "- '°""-^' ana m\,i ages. Thirty years ago f attended a iC: ::!'"'',]"" ^-y ''"'•^'^ Mou„tstodda d there were then eighty scholars :-now the same at Ha'lf thfl »ut from twelve to sixteen sdo"^ andoi^h ir r^"'''^"?S^ ^"''^ ^'<"' *°™ down; and one half of the other half are tenantless Bu ve have something to comfort us forThe desola i tio^is of our hills in the fruitfulne.ss of our valleys ' runsU.ought::J-;;^:;- .-S-S--S with four or five horses. Now we bring four oi five tons with the same team. But this advantage has cost us much. We are like Issachar, a stron^ff "t couching down between two burde'ns. Thais' the two roads, one from Concord to Kecne rum i^,; csTko d^ ;""-^' ''" 'T"' ''"'' "- "ti,:" (iC For= on the route^r"'"^;"?'''^ """" '"''<^^ '" "',s town wh.eh r " ^"''°" '° Charlestown, N. II Wping'-the^m i:'r;;:air "'°"-"'^ '^""-•> "-^"^ I would just sny, I think public roads throu Vi were satisfied thft they went " h'rou'^ /nd' w^r^ clenched on tother side of the earth'! Some aU ed them ; but salting thistles when the la d vvas worth but tendolkrsan acre, was like «L:in bird's tail to catch it, "cost mo're than ifeo e'To^'"^ When they were m plough land, laying down and mowing would kill them. About 1830, Canada th.B.les haP « from H 'jv^'1.tt:nnr"'Elr'7" ^'^^"^^^ '' of the P»t,.ni nmn^rV; ^1- <-onimis3ioner ^o Thi, >u ^' ^^•■'^hington, two season, a- go_ i his was then planted in our garden-it had fofvU iff ""'.'" "" "-^'' ^°''' hutbecLe hepreyof fo« s before it was fit to be gathered. ^^ Jone.'i 7ff '^'r ^=^P''='" ^^heat sent by Mr Jones IS difi-erent from the common wheat ■ it ez pands into several rows, and its shape is irregular being nearly an inch through in the cen re^on a fcttened side, and half an fnch the other way in i^T7, ^°" "'" P"'"' ""here the head is^nserted Ml he ,: d 1° "^' "'^"''^ ^"-^ ^'-"- de reasmg tiJl the head tapers oft' to a point. ^ reslmbl /""' f """ ^Sypt'-.'n wheat very much Hon Very respectfully, I am. Sir, lour obedient servant rsaacHill. ^MASA STETSON. The wonders of UorticHltnre. proceeded trom the diminut'^ ^ild W^ '"rTa" A.i tbf r ^^^:'-°"',»-^» the ancestor of the filbert •ml the cubaut, while the luseiouB plu« c«« elai« 1 Things thas I have seen. i have seen a farmer walk up to his knees win ab!e „l'""7 ""°"°"'' """""'' '" 8-ng to 1°, s able , when for years his garden had been unpro' tr;,'!: ^:^r"' "^"^-^ "'-^'^ - "■-•> - hi» in lifsTn^-an^dt^e^^ "strp'f ^ ^''"7,''^ " ^^^^ putting It off till anoTher": /.ruttrte.;:- t:^;s of his crop was destroyed =ieaierpart oflriars 'unl'ir ["-"r, P'°"*rhing around bunches ,L,, ""''' ^"' field was so taken with them hat he was compelled to abandon and nlve uu o 'Imor.'""" """"'^ "™ asa blackbeny pate,":': aoiareler'" " ''™'"[ P"' "JP ^'^ ^""^k fi,ddar in downit », T""" '¥' ""= '^"' "'ind would blow clo«n the stacks; m which condition they would .emain unt, the fodder was so spoiled that^iirhalf starved cattle would refuse to eat it, and he would r;:!:i;iS;^''--"^ ~"-h ';^!, making its cost there $1,63. At Odessa, the average price is 75c. per bushel but the wheat is of an inferior quality, estimated at 40 per cent. less tlien American, which in reality increases the price to .Ij; 1,06 per bushel. The cost of importing wheat from Odessa to England is sta- ted by the English journals at .52 cents per bushel, increasing the price, as compared with American wheat, to $ 1,57 per bushel. At the ports in the Baltic, the average price ii 63 cents per bushel, but it is a small grain, coarse and brown, and full 33 per cent, inferior to American, increasing the price in reality to $1,^4 — the cost of importing it in England adds about 20 cents inorc, making .$ 1,44. In the United States, the price at the place of export averages § 1,20 per bushel, and the expense of transportation adds about 30 cents, making $1,50 in England. The Egyptian wheat is of so inferior a quality that it will not sell in England. Trieste has within a few j'eors become an exten- sive grain depot, for the Kingdom of Hungary, which is one of the finest grain countries in the world, and will, according to present appearances, prove the most formidable rival to the wheat grow- ers, as the supply from that source is increasino-. — . This wheat which is equal to the best Genesee wTiite wheat, is now imported into England at a cost of $ 1,.5'2 per bushel. The people of Hungary arc entirely an agricultural people, without a sin- gle manufacture, arid England is doing all she can to encourage the trade with them. At Hamburg, the price averages only 79 1-1 cents per bushel, and the cost of importing it to England', adds only I'd cents, making I'S 1-2 cents. Tiie quality of the wheat, however, renders this appa- rent cheapness in reality no cheapness at all, it being entirely in consequence of the great inferiori- ty of Holstein and Hanoverian wheat. Th^ Enc- lish merchants have been known to prc!"er Danlzic wo THE PARMER'S MONTHLY TISITOR. wheat when thf* difFerence in price, free on board, amounted to 60 cents per bushel. The price of wheat at Dantzic, has for a course of years averaged $1,48 1-2, and the cost of impor- tation in England adds 30 1-2 cents, making $1,79 per bushel. — J\*ewburijport Herald. Exercise. If you would enjoy health, take czcrcisc and be temperate, and if you attend to these things prop- erly, you will liave but little use for either physi- cians or medicines. Temperance, exercise, and rest, are the sure guarantees of sound health and vio"or, if you have naturally a good constitution, and almost the only sure means of amending and pre- serving a weak and deficient one. Persons who take proper exercise, and combine thatexercise with temperance, are -eldom sick ; and those who fly to medicines on every trifling cause of complaint, in nine cases in ten, might relieve themselves by ab- staining from food for a short time living on light diet, and taking as much exercise as will cause perspiration, without impairing their strength by excessive fatigue. Exercise, for the purpose of throwing ofl' the excrementitious or bad matter of Uie systeni,is much better then any medical means; not only because it is the means which nature her- eelf prescribes, but because, unlike medical drugs generally, it strengthens, instead of weakening the system. We are always to suppose, from the fact of the horrible fetor or stench, v/hich arises from the bodies of those on whom fevers have just been broken, that retention of that bad matter in the sys- tem, contrary to nature, was the real cause of their febrile or feverish disorder ; and does it not follow, that by getting clear of that matter by natural means, before it has time to accumulate and pro- duce malignant and obstinate disease, is niixh bet- ter then to force the rilal organs into a d.^structive action for producing the same effect? In other words, do you not know, that when you force the stomach into laborious action, or indeed any other vital organ of the system, that you always weaken and impair its energies, and lay the foundation of many di^eises to which the system under other circumstances would be a stranger. There is no icitrhcraft about the diseases to which we are all liable ; they are all matters of plain rea- soning between causes and effects, to the full un- derstanding of every man. Are we not witnesses daily and hourly ofthe beneficial effects of exercise, in the cure of diseases in which both medicines and medical men have failed ? Half the diseases of delicate women, and, in fact, nearly all the diseases connected with hysterics and hypochondria, arise from want of due exercise in the open, mild and pure air. Instead of stewing in a close room, and indulg- ing in moody and gloomy anticipations, and instead of lying in huge feather beds until nine or ten o'clock in the morning, dozing through morbid dreams and vainly courting sleep, the woman of deli- icate nerves and infirm health, and the gloomy hypochondriac, who has probably not sweated for months together, ought to spring from the feather- couch at day-light; view the opening landscapes of nature, jusf kindling into life and beauty under the beams of the rising sun, and breast the pure moun- tain breeze ' I have just told you, that exercise will not only preserve your health ifyou have a good constitution, but it will frequently give healthy action and strength to a weak deficient one. Cicero is descri- bed by Plutarch as being at one period of his life thin and weakly ; so much so indeed, from the de- bility of hig stomach, as to be able to eat but once a day, and that a very small quantity. In this debil- itated and weakly condition, he travelled to Athens for the recovery of his health, and so great were the effects of his exercise, that, together with the gymnastic exercises of the place, he became firm and robust, and his voice, which had been before squeaking and harsh, was changed for melodious, deep, and sonorous tones. The same writer, Plu- tarch, describes the great Roman warrior, Julius Ctesar, as being originally of very delicate health, pale and soft skin ; and of very feeble constitution by nature, and subject to fits ; but that,by a milita- ry life, using coarse diet and great exercise, he aotonly became inured to the hardships and expo- sures of war, but healthy, active, vigorous and strong. It is not worth while to give more instan- ces of the powerful influence which exercise has on I the human system ; if you wish to know more about it, look at the brawny arms and strong chests ' of sailors, who are always pulling ropes, and con- ' tend- no- with the winds and storms of the ocean; look at the strong figure of the sturdy woodman, who maV.es the forest bow to the sound of the axe; and indeed all those persons who are engaged in ac- tmj and laborious callings I and then, by compar- ing these people with those who are always confin ed to their houses, books and sitting postures, and trades which prevent them from moving about, you will be able very easily to see the effects of exer cise much better than I can describe and tell you of them. I feel confident in saying, that by exercise on horseback for women, and exercise on foot for men, together with some attention to food and drink, this dreadful disease, called ^/ys/^f/j^/rt or indi- gestiony which paralyzes both body and mind, and makes existence itself a burden, together with the whole train of nervous diseases to which we are subject, may be cured completely without the aid of medicine, by laying down and following syste- matic rules of exercise, rest and diet. Ahott. A short Sermon. Iloic to make money. — Do you complain that you have nothing to begin with ? *Tom,' you say *has a farm, Harry has a thousand dollars, but I have nothing.' I say to you look to your hands, and tell me what they are worth. Would you take one thousand dollars for them, or for the use of them, throughout your life.^ II you can make a half a dollar a day by them, would it be a bad bargain, for that sum is the interest of more than two thousand dollars; so that ifyou are industrious and Harry- is lazy, you are twice as rich as he is, and when you can do a man's work, and make two dollars a day, you are four time as rich, and are fairly worth four thousand dollars. Money and land therefore are not the only capital with which young men begin in the world. If he has good health and is indus- trious, even tiie poorest boy in our country has something to trade upon : and if he is besides well educated, and has skill in any kind of work, and adds to this, moral habits and principles so that his employers may trust him and place confidence in him, he may tlu'n be said to set out in life, with a handsome capital, and certainly has a good chance of becoming independent and respectable, and per- haps rich as any man in the countr}'. *Every man is a maker of his own fortune.' All depends up- on the right principles, and they are these: 1. Be industrious : Time and skill are your cap- ital. 2. Be saving : Whatever it be, live within your income. 3. Be prudent : Bay not what you can do with- out. 4. Be economical : Let your economy be al- ways of to-day, not of to-morrow. 5. Be contented and thankful : A cheerful spirit makes labor light and sleep sweet, and all around happy, all of which is much better than being rich. JJnonijmous iiinde ai BOS'ION MARKET.— Drc 10,1839. ASHES.— We understand that there hove been larce pur- chases in New York, fiT foreign shipment, which has caused an imiirovemenl. 'Jhere is a small Btnck at prearnt in this market. Fales o( a few Pearls, at .1, nnti Puts, at 41 c iisr lb. - - ' . 4 t COFFEE— Sales comprise <4everal hundred bags Rio, 10 \ a lie per lb — yuu loga M. Dominyo. JO a lU^c. and 20U h^gs Poiio Cahello, 11 a 1 l^c per ih. There was an auction eb t of 2UU bags Rio,al 9 a y^c per lb. rash. COTTU.N — The advices, per steamer Liverpool, at \ew Vork, are mure favorable than previouB iccounte, A few hundred bales h-ivt- arfived this week from New Orleans, and about ;iOO bales have been eold to inanufactureis at l^aMf per lb. 6mi>s. luO dodo, ^ood fau, al V6\c per lb. 6 mo«. The new cropcnmes to niaihet euitier than usual, and is viioiight to lie 1,700, (Ht« bates. FISH — There has been a further decline in prirfu and ttie mar kelconltnufs exceedin-.ly dull. Biilei IJank 2, 311 a 3,5(1 — Bay $i a2i, and Hake I :U a 1 33 per qutl. 'i'heie have been sales ot a few faies Mackerel ai r», 9Jand SI I per bbl. A sale of Nova Scotia No. 2 superior in:^pection was n $10 cash. FLOITR— During the past week the Flour marker has been very dulland prices have declined about J on all descrip- tions. Sales ron<|irise Cenesee i\ to fig. Fred?rrcltsburs and Philadelphia i-j cash and Ij) on I mos. cr. i;ilAI\— From the nori arnval of •xpecled Buppliea, h.ild- eis hive acquired more tiimness, and theie have been ealr^ yellow flat corn old crop 7Uc and White do do, (i4 a (i5c. New crop two to ihree cents less per bitshe!. Little doiiies- tic Rye in maiket, and prices nominally ihe £ams. Son (hern Oati«,33cand Norlhern 4;t a 4oc. per buVhel. HOPS— The sales of liie week comprise about 160 bales- first sort from grcAvers at H a 16c cash, and dtnlers for shipping 17 a \^ per lb. on a credit ot tO to 90 dajs. IKON— There have been large i.iiporlaiions the past week — and the only sales tn it have conio toour knowledge have been 40 ton PSI old Sable, at a declined on formerquutationt and GO ions Swedes at $90 per ton, 9 mus. cr. LIME— During the past week there have been sales of a- bout 100 ) C4dks ;it 9J. per. cask. MOLASSES — Sales comprise I.'iO hhds Trinidad 28a 30c — 200 do Cuba Muscovado in lots to the trade 97c 6 mos — and a cargo ol 161 do Havana to a distiller at 23^ per gall tj PROVISIONS— Considerable ha? been doing in Beef and Pork, ^vithout causing much change in prices. Lard contin ues dull— Sales by auction of 400 kegi, ul S^c, 4 ino«— 50 bbls do do at 7,5 8c per lb GO days. RICE— There has been a sale by auction of 4£) easks Caro- lina new crop, at 3 tiS a 3 75 per 100 lbs cash. WOOL— There have been sales the past week to a moder- ate ext«nr, bof Bfrt mifflclpnl t« Pfttthltah prlc^si NEW YORK MARKET. From the Journal of Comrneri e, December 12. COTTON. — The market has exhibited no new feature.— The stock on hand conlirities low and prices have been well sustained. 'Ihe enleg embrace 750 liales Upland, at 9 a 1 Ic ; 730 do New Orleans, 10 a 12 ; 100 do Florida, io a 11, and 50 do Mobile, 9 a 12. HOPS,— There is some improvement, and holders of first sort are firm at 17 a 19 cti. About Mi bales of Western, fir«t -ore, have been soldat la a 19cts. The supply in tnaiUet is fhort. PROVISIONS.— The demand fur Beel and Pork has been iiiniied, and but litHe demand lor Lard. The inquiry for Butter and rheese has been lair. The sales have bi en of Beef, mes9,$l2a.SI2.'^.0; prime, SS a .'gS 50. Pork, uiey<), §14 as 15 ; new do, $i3 a$15 ; prime, $Ul 50 a $11 ; new do §10 agll. Lard, new, city reudeted,9 a 10c; Noriiiern, new, 8 a 9c i Western, old, 7 a t-Jc. Hams, new, lie ; old do 2 a Cc. Smoked Bref 10^ a 11^ c. Butter, Goahen, 15 a 20c ; Welch, in tubs, 13 a Itic ; Dairy, in firkins, 13 a Ibc. Cheese. dairy, 7 a 9c. SUGAR. — Supplies of the new crop from Louiaiana are now on their way to this market. Box Sugars are i ct. lower this week. The sales have been 250 hhds. Poito Kico,5,5 a7ci9 ; 100 do St. Croix, 7^ a 9^ tts ; 50 do New Or- lenns, o cts ; 600 boxes brown Havanna, 6J a 8 cts ; 200 do white do, &ia lOi CIS on the usual lime, and 300 bbls. and bags white Brazil, 7 a 7J, rash.. TE.AS. — The balance ofthe cargo of the-ship Horatio wai ofi'ered at auction on Friday, and i-fa catalogue ol 6C61 pack- ages, about half were sold, as follows : Hyenn at37Ja47i; Voiini: do, 36 a 62 ; Gunpowder and Imperial at 47 a 55; and Souchong at 27 a 28c per lb, fi mo?. MONEY EXCHANGES.— There is no material change in the Hupply of money. The banks discount about all thesai- isfactory short business paper which is offered tliem, and we hear Tery iilile complaint. Money Stocks declined until th« arrival ot Ihe Liveipool. Her news eeni tliem up, but they fell back somewhat on the next day, and the closing pricei were in general lower than a week aco. Bills on Riipland re- mained steady at 9 a 9^ premium, and on France at 5f30a95. Wednesday noon. Corn is dull. Northern r ew can be had at about 70 cts, old has been fold ai 66 a 7(.'c. Sales Rye at 70c cash, and 7oc lime, and dull. Domfsiic ejichangen continue Improving, the s.ile* are, Philadeipliia and Baltimore ,73a 8 Rirhtuorid 8 a — ^.'harlejton 3 a 3i Savannah 6 a bi Au<:uftla 7 a 7^ .Maron 9 a 10 M.ili'Ie 83sa 9 Ntw Orleani b a — ^diNa:85ippi 18 a 2U BRIGHTON CATTLE MARKET.— Dec. 9, 1839. (Re[iortcd for the Boston Daily Advertiser Sl Patriot.) At market, 7.50 Beet cattle, 275 Stores, 13D0 Sheep, and 450 Swine. I'riccB- Bsef Caiile — We shall quote to correspond with last week's prices winch, however, were liardly fu^- taitifd for a like qiialil V — first quality, $(3 75 ; peciuid quality, fi aS'>-'''l; tiiiid quality 4 oO a $5 50. Barrelling C.itile- >le39 5 50. No. I, $5. SI ores^Year lings 9 a $ 12 ; two jear old, 15 a $21). Sheep— Lois weie taken al 1 ti2, S2and 2 63. Swtnc — A lot of selected Barron r ai-ljc, a lot of large Sons at 3, a lot at 4, and tme entire lot tu close at 3^ and 3^. At retail, from 4 too^. Reported for the Journal of Commerce. NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET, Dec. 9. At market, COO head of Beef Cattle, incliidiim 100 leftover from ia/t w^ek, 50 fnm- the Sonlh ; and the balance from line State — 35 Milch t.'ow s, and :)4i;0 Sheep and Lnmbs.— 'I'he demand for beel continued to be very hiniied, and the prices were from 25 to 50c the cwt. less than last week ; 300 were disposed of at from 5,i 10 t^, averaging §7 the 100 Ihjt. Milch Cows — 25 sold at 35 to $4». Sheep and Lambs — The supplies being large for the decnand, Ices price was siibmll- ted to; palkt uf '^000 Sheep al 2 to $4. Laii-ibs at 1 to ^2.^. PIIILAnELPHIA CATTLE MARKET, Dec. 5. BeevcB — The arrivals rit John's Union drove yard foi the week were 440 head, the cales of « huh «ere dull f.t a re- duction from laEt vv.ek's rates. We quote Irom $0 to 7 50 per cut. Cows and Calves — Tlie ariivals at Tliompssn's yard E\-ere 130 head ; sales dull nl from $25 to 50. Hogs— Full 350 head, which were disposed of at from $() to 7. Diessed lings are Bold from the wagona, at from §1* to 6 75 percwt. Sheep- arn »ery dull of t»akii— maikei full. — N. Anier. BALIIMORE CATTLE MARKET, Dec. 6. There is iioehangft iu the price ol Reef on the hoofelnee lifJi week. The supply in mtirket wad greater than the de- mand, and of about 450 head that w eie oflV red, 31)0 were sold al $S for prime, and $7 per 100 lb lor Inferior quality. Wo have heard of no purcha.^e of live hogs by the packers. A- Im. lit 5110 were brtuglit to market (his week, neaily nil of « hich have been slaughtered by the droTtrs. Wagon Turk \H pellingat $6 25 to b 50. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A >JONTni,Y NEWSPAPER, IS PUBLISHED Bf WILLIAM p. YO^T^K, WW s Brick Block, Concord^ .V. //. JAMES BURNS, 104, mtshington st., Boston, Ms, J. N. BOLLES, J\'o. 1, Market Square, Provi- dence, R. J. The Visitor is issued from the liftecnlh to the twen- tieth day of each month. Each nttniber will contain sixteen pages o( quarto pJre on paper calculated for preservation and on a fair and beau- tiful tvpo. The subjects will be illustrated with engravings. The terms will be aeoentij.fiis cents a year payable alttays in ad' vanec. For all subscriber-i less than 24, Agents will be allowed a dejuction of tf£ cents each — for all over 24 subscribers on any one agency ly^ cents each will be allowed. TImis, (or six subscribers four dollars— twelve, eight dollars — eighteen, twelve dollars— twenty-four, filteen doilais,will be remiiied. Single numbers, twelve and a half cents each. All subscri- bers will commence with the fir^t number of the year. ftJ^Communications by mail, will be directed to Wflj* thb FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. INTENDED TO PROMOTE THE INTEREST OF THE FARMER: TO DEFEND THE DIGNITY OF THE AGRICULTURAL PROFESSION, AND ENCOURAGE THE PRACTICE OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY. BV ISAAC HILL Vol. 2, for 1840. PUBLISHED BY JOHN M. HILL, ?0R THE EDITOR. INDEX TO THE SECOND VOLUME OF THE FARMER'S MONTHLY ViriilOK, ISIUJ. Agricultural newspapers. Address of I. Hdl before the Candia 16 34. 50 11 TJ GG ^ 87 111 118 119 120 123 130 Lyceum, Ag. meeting in Boston, Jan. 13, Ag. investments are not unprofitable, Andre Major, tailing of, .\gricuitural premiums. Art of Heallli, Agricultural liints, by J. Corant, An acricultural editor in office, Agriculture, the early history of, '• in Great Britain, Amoskeag, IN'. H. remarks on, A'^riculture treatise on, by Judge Buel, 13(1 Apples, to preserve for winter, 160 Amateur Farmer, lljl Agriculture,practical improvements in, 164 Ames. Thomas Esq, obituary notice of, 171 Architecture, Farm House, by S. Gilman, ,m 118 Articles of special improvement in Merrimack Co. N. H. report on, 181 Ashes value of, 1^*^ Agricultural census in U. S. 52 Action of lime, . ''■8 Anticipated benefits of a Geological ; survey, B Brighton Market,statement of for 1339, 15 Dutchess Co. N. Y. 172 Dwelling houses remarks on, 46 Division of labor, 31) Disease in calves, ''6 Different breeds of elieep compared 164 Ejiping K. H. wheat crop in, Europe, renovated husbandry of, Every day rules, Eng. Ag. papers, extracts from, England, agriculture in, European agriculture, notes on. Eastern Railroad English summer. Earthquakes and their efiects. Education oi' ,\griculturists, Experiment with buck-horn hedge. 16 35 42 43 70 6'J 71 lljl 136 137 170 101 Butter, essay on, by the editor. Birds, value of, Bnel Judge, essay on the importance of agricnlture, British Agricultural newspapers, Bosawen K. H'.JVlr. Stone's tarm in, Buel Judge, a self-made man, Baigrie John, a Scotch farmer, Bartlett Levi, letterfrom, Brown corn, Bots, remedy for, Berkshire swine improved, Bakewell Robert, Batchelder's corn planter, witli cuts, Buck-thorn hedge, experiment with Borer, damage done to trees by. Bog meadows, reclaiming of, Butter, packing of, Belgian husbandry. Bee-hive, social economy of Bog meadow redemption of, Barnet, V't. Brown J. 2d, communication from Brother Jonathan's wife's advice, &c. Butter, report on, Hock farming. 17 18 26 27 32 36 41 44 5y 65 79 89 101 1U7 109 112 135 142 113 152 159 173 181 lyo Forest trees, cultivation of 5 Farming in New England, H Franklin, N. H. paper mills at, &,c. 25 Frost F.lias, letters of to the editor, 47 Farmer in Maine, letter from 54 Fruit trees, grafting of, 63 Foreign wars, 64 Farmer's life, by H. Coleman, 86 Farm House .Architecture, by S. Gilman. 108 129 Farmers philosophers, HI Farmers vvives and daughters, 129 Fruit trees, management of, 140 Farmer's Song, by J. Dana, ' 156 French Hon. Daniel, obituary of, 174 Farms in Merrimack County N. H. report on, '■' ^^^ Farm of twenty acres compared with one of forty, 183 Farm House architecture, 177 178 Farming in Kentucky, 12 G Leavett Dudley, essay by, 63 Lightning rods. Inquiry, 85 Lowell Ms. rise and progress of, 130 Lightning, effects of, 141 Lyndon Vt. 155 Lime in Maine, 161 Labor, wrong notions of, 167 Long-eared corn, from R. Boylston, 170 ' V- ^. ■ . Management of sheep, report on, 1 M. communication signed, _ 4 Merrimack Co. Ag. Soc; reports of ^ ^ committees at, 6 Milk, methods of keeping. Miller Gen. grandmother of. Manures, calcareous for renovation of land. Miss juri minerals of. Mountain scenery, by Dr. Morrison, Maryland State of. Mowers, instructions to, Merrimack Co. N. H. fanning in. Mountain pastures. Musings, poetry, by S. C. 18 23 30 32 67 77 80 83 83 81 Chinese tree corn, Caladonia Count), Vt. Cattle, extraordinary mortality of, " essay on, by Frof. Emmons, Can and cant, difference between Coke Thomas W. the great farmer. Chap, on roads, dwelling-houses, &c. Census of Agriculture in the U. S. Chemistry, Connecticut, State of. Census of 1840, Carey, Matthew, and his wife. Clergymen farmers. Calves, disease in. Curd cutters improved Cider, making of. Gaylord W. Esq. letter to the editor, 9 1-4% Geological Survey, ■ 22' Growing corn, 3J Green cropping, a plan of 42 Gray Harrison Esq. green house iStc. 224 Good sense from a practical man, 145 Geological survey of N. Hampshire, 173 Geology, lecture on, by M. F, Morrison, 184 Gapes in Chickens, Garden and field vegetables, Oiafting J'ruit Ircco, H 185 186 187 122 63 63 Mississippi, depreciation ofproperty in, 94 Meado\v lands, 127 Maine, State of. 161 Mount Katadin in Maine. 163 Monthly Visitor, Prospectus of, 176 Markets, (••iee last page of each No.) Merrimack County Agricultural So- ciety 1340, 180 Mares and colts, report on, 181 Milking. 187 ManurS, 190 Manufacturing towns, 123 130 Miscellaneous discourse, 10 Mutton, proper age of sheep for, 141 12: 4 4 11 13 28 35 46 52 53 75 86 89 92 96 96 136 105 Conant JohnTcommunication from 107 Cheshire Farmer, editor of, 108 Canterbury, N. H. Shakers at, detailed notice of, 113 114 115 116 117 Chickens, gapes in, Cheshire Co. (N. H.) Ag. Soc Carpeting. 134 Cahdonia Co. (Vt.) .\g. Soc. address before by the editor, 148 149 150 101 Caladonia C^o. Vt. tisu days in, 152 153 Corn, l<«ig-eared 170 C,attle i'nd sheep, utility of select breeds of. 178 Caledonia Co. Vt. statistics of, 179 .; .^ u a remarks on, 179 Chester, ?f. H. farming & orchards in, 188 Chadwi fence, 127 Stark Gen. lines to, by V. 139 Sheep for mutton, proper age ot', 141 Smith, J. K. Esq. address of at Dub- lin, N. H. 145 St.Johnsbury,Vt. 154 Sheep, different breeds compared, 164 Silk, importation of, 165 Salt for animals, 166 Statistics of New Hampshire, 171 Sight of a pastoral life, (poetry) 188 Schools for farming, 189 Scotch farmer, 36 Social economy of a bee-hive, 142 Sub-soil ploughing and draining, ^ 132 Sheep essays on, by S. W. Jewett, '16 Statistics of Pauperism, 138 Short-horned cattle, 22 Too much credit, 3 To^vn corporations, value of, 19 Turnip husbandry in England, 37 Trees, the way to plant, 46 True policy of the farmer, bi The Stranger, poetry, by E. M. 69 Tares, 70 Ten Hills farm, Charlstown Mass. 103 Thatcher B. B. obituary notice of, 110 To make wives love their homes, 142 Thomaston, Me. 161 Twenty acres enough for a farm, 183 Obituary notices^ 110 174 Dropscy, cure tor. Danger of new theories, Dead Sea, watei-s of, Drought, severe, T.Mirliain cow " Blos'^om,'' Dan\illc, Vt. 69 85 95 1C9 l.'!8 153 Plouglis and ploughing, remarks on, 5 Poetry. A winter scene, 5 Peter'boro' N. H. interesting facts about, 23 ■•' " town of 100 yeare ago, 2*1 Potatoes, important experiment with, 27 Paddock J. A. Esq. letter from, 27 Potatoes preparation offer seed, 28 Ploughing, inquiries in regard to, bv L. Bartlett, Esq! " " 29 Product of seven acres in three vears, 29 Poultry, ' 43 Philosophy, 53 Pot.Uur/fy, sheep ate two and a [half pounds per head daily— *1hey thrived upon it, and drank three quarts of water in twenty-four hours. "Oftii', the same as barley. ^^Buc/iichcat, sheep ate witii great avidity and with the best results as to healtii and liveliness. A sheep can eat from three to four pounds, and drink from two and a half to three quarts of water in twenty-four jiours. ^^Of good hatj, a sheep can consume four and a half pounds, and drink from two and a lialf to three quarts of water in twenty -four hours." Mr. W. A. Kreisig, a celebrated farmer in East Prussia, considers that one pound of oil-cake meal is as nutritious as two pounds of good hay. 80 lbs. clover hay* equal to 100 lbs. meadow hay; 80 lbs. lucerne and sainfoin, equal to 100 lbs. of meadow h.ay ; 200 lbs. sound and well cured vetciies and pea vines, equal to 100 lbs. meadow hay ; 300 lbs. sound barley and oat straw, equal to ICO lbs. meadow hay ; 400 lbs. sound wheat and rye straw, equal to 100 lb:?, meadow hay ; 100 lbs. water turnips, equal to 40 lbs. of pota- toes, or 50 lbs. of mangle wurtzel. Mr. John Philip Wagner says, in his work enti- tled "Contributions' to the Science and Treatment of Wool and Sheep," that "200 pounds of pota- toes, 266 pounds of carrots, 350 pounds of ruta ba- ga,-and 90 pounds of clover hay, lucerne and sain- foin, are eacii of them equal to 100 pounds of good hay." Your committee beg leave furtlicr to cite the practice of a few of the most celebrated breeders of sheep in Germany, and firstly that of Mr. Al- bricht Thaer, of Moeglin, in Prussia. Potatoes and straw constitute the main feed for his large flock of 1500 during winter. He cuts them into small sli- ces, feeding them alternately with straw. Wlien his pastures, in the fall of the year, begin to fail, he commences feeding potatoes by scattering tliom in the field in such quantities as he deems sutfi- cient, with the best efi'ect upon their healtli and condition; his flock fully attests that siieep may be kept principally on roots and straw ; and one of your committee, who has been familiar with siieep husbandry, both here and in German^', confidently believes, from his knowledge on the .=jultjeet, that the same practice can be profitably applied in our sheep husbandry. Mr. Block, of Schieraw, in Silesia, Germ.any, one of the most intelligent and experienced breed- *A'ote by the Translator.— The clover in Germany grows finer than the clover in this section of coun- try— it resembles more the Pennsylvania clover — and yields two crops a season. It is cut when in full blow, and well cured in cocke. era of^heep, keeps a flock of 500, in the following manner. He fodders six times a da}'. 1st fodder — SO? lbs. rye straw, of which they ate 53 lbs. 2d fodder — 130 lbs. oat straw, of which they ate 97 lbs. 3d fodder — the dry sheep received 160 lbs. of pea vines, of which they ate J20 Iba. the ewes received hay 120 lbs. 4th fodder — potatoes mixed with cut straw 750 ibs. rye bran 31 lbs. oil-cake meal 8 lbs. barlev meal 33 Iba 822 lbs. 5th fodder — the ewes received hay 12U lbs. the wethers rec'd 160 lbs. pea vines, of which they ate 120 lbs. 6th and last fodder — 208 lbs. of rye and wheat straw, of which they ate 52 Iba. Total amount consumed per day 1651 lbs. The flock was of superior quality, the animals large and always in excellent condition. Count Magnis, of Eckhardsdorf, gave to 100 breeding ewes, the following per day : 1st fodder — straw and clover hacker 69 lbs. 2d fodder — the same 69 lbs. 3d fodder— clover hay 100 lbs 4th fodder — potatoes and straw hacker, 72 lbs. 5th fodder — straw 75 Iba. Total 385 Ihs The Electoral flock of Rennesdoif, the private property of the king of Saxony, consisting of 400 breeding ewes and rams, 1000 pounds of hay in two meals, and at night a foddering of straw, was their daily portion. Although there might be many «ther valuable practices of the German shepherds cited, but youi committee fearing that they have already exhaust- ed your patience, forbear to enlarge upon tliem: they therefore leave that subject and proceed to the consideration of the second proposition, namely, water : All domestic animals require water in proportion to the quantity of dry provender they consume; and sheep require p^irticular attention in tliis re- spect, as well as some care in regulating tlie quan- tity, according to circumstances. Warm springs are always to be prefer,ved, though individuals are frequently to be seen eating snow, which may gen- erally be attributed to fever ; and is by no means to be considered a substitute for water. It is desirable that the flock should be able to drink without wetting tlieir feet or wading into mud, both which are not only very injurious by creating disease in the foot, but deter sheep from drinking as often as inclination promnts. Protection against the inclemencies of the sea- son is tiic third consideration in the "feeding and management of shee]> in winter." It is almest as necessary to their health and prosperity "s Ibod it- self, and for this reason, comfortable shelters should be built for them; they not only do mucli better, but it is a great saving of time, fodder and manuro. It will be found that ten tons of hay, fed to sheep that liave warm shelter, will go furtlier than twelre tons fed out to them from a stack, and when they have no other protection from the inclemencies of the weatlier than the side of a stack or fence. — Such stables, if properly constructed, will at least pay from fifteen to twenty-five per cent, interest annually. This alone should jirompt iiie owner of a flock to provide comfortable lodging jilaces for them. But "a merciful man is merciful to his beast." Each full grown sheep requires six square feet of room, including racks. The stable should be eight fi?et high, with windows in the upper part, that may be closed as circumstances may require. The floor over head ought to be made tight, that nothing can fall througli. They must lie well lit- tered, as it will add much to the health and com- fort of the animal. If they are not well littered, the dung accumulates, and creates an offensive smell; sheep arc then very loth to enter them. It is but too often the case, that when farmers do shelter their eheep, the stables contain a mass of dung, so offensive that tlie flock would not enter ihem, and if forced in and confined there, would prove injurious ; and hence the prejudice, "that housing sheep is injurious to their health." Your commitlce regret, that circumstances over which they have no control, prevented their com- ing together sufficiently early to do justice to the importance of the subject committed to them. FRANCJ9 ROTCH, Chairman. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Too mach credit. "There are too many persons engaged in mer- cantile pursuits who have experienced the disad- vantages of too great a facility in procuring the loan of money. It is stated in Hunt's Merchant's Magazine for November, that in 1802, Mr. Carey was elected by the Senate of the State a director of the bank of Pennsylvania, which station he oc- cupied until 1S05. He mentions, as a disadvan- tage to him from the position, the lenity shown by the other directors, whereby his debts rose extrav- agantly high. This evil he urges with great warmth and zeal, as one which several times in business life came near bringing him to bankrupt- cy. "I printed and published," he declares "above twice as many books as were necessary for the ex- tent of my business ; and in consequence, incurred oppressive debts — was laid under contribution for interest to usurers, which not only swallowed up my profits, but kept me in a constant state of pen- ury. I was in many cases shaved so close that they almost skinned nie alive. To this cause, my difficulties were nearly altogether owing, for I did a large and profitable business almost from the time I opened a bookstore." The late Matthew Carev of Philadelphia, who died a few weeks ago at an advanced age exceed- ing eighty years, from an irtjury received by an accident while riding in his carriage, was among the most noble spirited, enterprising men of the country. He has been an extensive writer and ed- itor both before and since he left active business in the hands of his sons: we have seen volumes of literary periodical magazines which he conducted and published as far back as the year 1790. Re- cently the house with which he was connected, di- vided into two firms, has undertaken and publish- ed works on science, art, medicine, geography, &c. &c, the magnitude of whose expense would astonish persons who deal on a small scale. Near- ly every work of the imagination, novels, romances, stories of fiction and stories of fact, plays, poems, &c. which have been reprinted in this country, were first published by them ; the house has even been at the expense of purchasing original manuscript copies from' eminent authors in Great Britain, that they might precede all others in the early issuing from the press of the most interesting books ; Scott's Waverley novels were by them procured in tliia way. The wonder is, that in all these great en- terprises the concern had not, in the course of the last thirty years, failed many times. None other than such as the indefatigable, laborious, system- atic Carey, or liis advice and resources of mind, could have carried through so great a weight. Matthew Carey was a native of Ireland, and probably came to this country poor ; he and his family are Roman Catholics. He was among the early opponents of John Adams' administration, and, we believe, at one time published a political newspaper ; during the last war with Great Brit- ain he wrote a political book called the " Olive Branch" which had a great effect on public opin- ion. He changed his political couise, and early became a zealous advocate tor the tariff and the "American Sy.stem" as it has been styled, and has written and published more on that subject than a- ny other man. His course for j'cars, since he re- tired from active business, was to write and first print in pamphlet form, and send his printed es- says to the various editors. This was done gratu- itously, and must have been no inconsiderable per- sonal expense in addition to the severe mental la- bor which he encountered. On the tariff he was over-zealous ; but no man in the country was more honest. His zeal in all matters which he under- took to discuss had no bounds : he was irritable and impa'ient towards those who did not conform to liis opinions. In matters of business he was rigid in the exaction and exi'cution of every obligation. His living in his family might not be considered extravagant for a man of fortune in a city so pol- ished as that of Philadelphia. He was attentive and liberal to strangers : on our first visit to Phila- delphia more than twenty years ago, he was almost the only acquaintance we made, and we was in- vited to dine on fish in the time of Lent, cooked in different ways, and was treated with sparkling Madeira and with two hours conversation at his ta- ble. We had no idea, until we find the confession from under his own hand, that he kept up his great book establishment in the manner he has described ; that in consequence of extending business too far he "was laid under contribution for interest to usurers which not only swallowed up his profits, but kept him in a constant state of penury." Nowhere but in Philadelphia, where has always been abundance of capital, could he hav-e succeeded in such a state of things for a single year. His enjoyment must have been marred — his mind must have been kept in a constant perturbation,by his pecuniary respon- sibilities. The lesson of this great man ought not to be lost on others, and especially on young men, nine out of ten of whom who do business with the cities, read- ily venture far, very far beyond their depth; and of consequence nine outof ten ofthem fail of success. They seldom find that "profitable business" which can survive the close sliaving which Mr. Carey de- nominates "almost skinning alive." This gentleman is only one instance of thou- sands wliose misfortune has been the facility of loaning money at banks. The editor of the Visitor, from the same cause, has suffered in a pecuniary point of view what he never could have suffered if there never had been a bank. In his earlier bu- siness he first started with a loan of four hundred dollars, being a part of what was promised him with which to begin a political newspaper, which was not then on the popular side or the side of lib- eral patronage : instead of giving us the money on a long loan, it was obtained on our own name and those of two friends who volunteered to aid us, who was then not worth a dollar, at a bank ; and six months did not pass over our treads before all the names on the note were sued. When and how we obtained the money to pay the loan before court, any more than we obtained it to pay debts in hundreds of cases, we cannot now tell ; but tlie burnt fingers then kept us out of the bank for at least half a dozen years. We did not, to pay great cash expenses in a publishing office wheie cash was not easily obtained in return either for news- paper subscriptions or for the books which we print- ed, submit to shaving to a very great extent. Our paper makers furnished their paper at a fair cash price, except for the newspaper on which they gave us a longer credit at a higher price ; and we gave them our notes generally at three or four months grace. These notes were in nine cases out of ten taken at a great shave by the great shaver who for- merly resided here and made his cool hundred thousand : as he is not known at the present time to have a residence any where, it may be no viola- tion of propriety to speak of him. He treated us honorably and fairly. Our notes which he pur- chased bore no interest until they were due. He always waited our convenient time for payment. — His first offer was to exact no more than six per cent, for delay until ho notified us that he wanted the money — after that payment might be delayed, but he was to receive twelve per cent, interest as long as the indulgence continued. This last con- dition was afterwards altered to nine per cent, where it stood at the time of our last dealing. Some how or other we did an expensive business on a very long credit generally to our subscribers and patrons ; and all the time we never asked any usur- er to shave notes on our account; but those who dealt with us were prodigiously skinned on notes of our signing to the amount of many thousands of dollars, and have long since gone with others to the "tomb of the Capulets." Business went on in this way until about the year 18J9, when a friend now deceased persuaded us to assist two young men to start in business by procuring a discount at the United States Branch bank at Portsmouth, which might be had at a little better rate than at other banks. This note was dis- charged by our payment in ten per cent, checks on the principal and a renewal every four months. — The young men wanting more aid, we procured for them another thousand dollars, from the same bank, which was paid in the same way. Theirbu- siness did not well succeed ; — we waited for our advance to be refunded until they had settled and paid every other demand, and the last payment was made' to us more than twelve years after the advance was made. Our credit however soon be- came "too much" with the Oirectors of the Branch at Portsmouth : we never took out of that bank a dollar for our own proper business ; but the direc- tors referred many men of this vicinity to our name as their most satisfactory security. We gave it in several instances on security which we supposed ample. For this we paid only one thousand dollars smart money, the principal on the note failing and our sureties covering their property. While in bu- siness we believe the Casliier of the Branch will do us the justice to affirm that application to the Bank was never made in our name that was denied by the directors; and no note of ours ever laid over a day for protest except by accident or neg- lect of the carrier between this town and Ports- mouth. Here was a fascinating introduction to the bene- fits of bank credit up to the year 1825, when the charter of the old Concord Bank having expired— - a charter under which two banks with the same name had operated for the previous twenty years — the stockholders of both applied to the Legisla- ture for renewal; and two charters were granted under the regulations of a general law on banking requiring that there should be no bank with a cap- ital less than one hundred thousand dollars. We had no stock in either bank, and had no interest in the application for renewal ; but we had an inter- est in the charter for a fire insurance ofnce, there not being an institution of the kind in the State ; and the want of such an institution was seriously felt by almost every loss from fire that occurred. The charter of the insurance required that the cap- ital should be in bank stock, as the most conven- ient for its operations and for payment of losses. We had a considerable interest in the insurance company : the stockholders of the Merrimack County Bank were obliged to put in operation move stock than they could conveniently fill up. — These two events brought us at once into the bank, of which the stockholders elected us a director. From 1825 to 1829 we remained in the officeof di- rector of the Bank : this place gave us, as it did the venerable Carey, opportunity for obtaining at any time all the money we wanted. We not only helped ourselves, but we assisted otliers in obtain- ing loans at this bank. Up to the time of our leav- ing the business of a publisher, all our bankingbu- siness was conducted as nil customers should con- duct in a bank — there was no instance of a note of ours laying over unpaid. This gave us too much credit: it gave too great facilities for obtaining money to those who succeeded us. The conse- quence was, the business was spread beyond what it should be. In.3tead of discharging existing debts, new business was undertaken and additional debts contracted, so that the termination of six years found the book and newspaper establishment in the hands of our successors much involved, and the weight of our old debts still existing in the bank. The business, from its expansion, had not sustained itself— much less returned any portion of the orig- inal capital invested. If the facilities for bank ac- commodations had not existed all this time, a safe and a very profitable business might have been pur- sued, instead of which, all the parties were for the moment seemingly Involved in ruin. To settle and adjust the responsibilities in which this state of things placed us, our condition, amidst the honors of office and the confidence of our fellow citizens, has been all the time nearly or quite as unpleasant as that of the excellent philanthropist described in his own language. With him we might say, that our difficulties during the last ten years were near- ly altogether owing to "too great a facility in pro- curing the loan of" money ; " although, unlike his case, our difficulty has resulted from the use which others made of our credit, not the voluntary use we have made of it ourselves. Hon. I. Hill,— Sii- .—Should you deem the fol- ing recipes worthy a place in your valuable paper, you are at liberty to insert them. TO MAKE VEAST CAKF.S, OF PORTABLE VEAST. Prepare one quart of strong hop water, nicely strained. When boiling hot, stir into it one quart of rye or wheat flour. After doing this, add about one teacup full of cold water. When it is as warm as new milk, ad'J three gills of good yeast. Let it stand ten or twelve hours. Then stir and knead into it, as much Indian meal as possible. Roll it out thin, and cut It In cakes three inches square. Dry them on aboard, inany airy place in the shade. When thoroughly dried, tie them closely in a bag. Two or three hours before wetting your bread, break three or four cakes into just water enough to moisten them, and you will have very good yeast. These cakes arc very convenient, and will retam their goodness si.x months. TO THAW mOZEN EGGS. Put your eggs (even when the shell is cracked) into cold wate", and place it where the water will warm very gradually. When it is a little warmer than new mTlk, place it where it will remain about the same temperature for an hour or two. On break- ino- your eggs, you will find them as good as fresh ones, which never have been frozen. TO MAKE PCMPKI.N SAUfE. Boil your cider as you would do to make apple. sauce. Cut your pumpkin in pieces about as large as a quarter of an apple, and stew it as you would apples. This has much the same flavor as apple sauce, and is quite convenient where pumpkins are more plenty than good apples. REMEDV rOK BURNS. Steep the bark of Sumach root, and boil it away until it is very strong. Then add hog's lard, aud THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. hnil it until the water lias all evaporated. A little of this applied to a burn will check the inflamma- tjon instantly. It has been known to cure danger- oil.'! scalds, when physician's remedies have failed. ELDEB-BERUV SYRLT. ~ P;-ess the jnice from the berries through a thick cloth, so that it may be pure. To a quart of juice add a quart of molasses. Tut it in a cool place. This is an excellent cathartic for any person, espe- ciallv for children, as it is to them quite palateable. ^ PRUDENCE. B— c— w— n, Aug. 1839. Shaker Village, Merrimack Co., jV. II. Dee. 1 i:^, 1 S39. Ho.N-. Isaac IIii.l,— i'sfccmfrf Friend .—We have taken several copies of the " Farmer's Monthly Visitor" the past year, and are much pleased with its contents. Our farmers and gardeners have de- rived much new, interesting and useful informa- tion and instruction in perusing them. yVii have examined the several numbers for this year, and are of the opinion, if properly stitched and bound, they will make a superior first class book to be used in district schools in this Society and at Enfield the present winter, at least a part of the time ; as they contain a great variety of reading — written in general in easy, fluent style, and treat on such subjects as are important and es- sential to be familiarly uuderstood by all of the ris- ing generation. Please therefore send us twenty-si.^ copies of the first volume in addition to our former subscriptions, and oblige Your friends, FRANCIS ■\VINKLET, ISRAEL SANBORN, , AVILLIAM WILLARD. For tlie Knrmer'8 Monthly Visitor. Hon. I. Hill, — Dear Sir :—l have just risen from a second perusal of your Visitor, not less in teresting than instructive, and no less instructive than effective to diffuse information, and a profita- ble medium for the enterprising farmer of tlie Gran- He State to communicate their ideas mutually, and thereby becoming an Agricultural school for the general instruction of farmers. An agricultural periodical is the best and only agricultural renova- tor that every fanner may afford. I have no doubt, sir, but ere long there is to be a surprising change in tiio alTairs of tlie husband- man. The most vigorous and active of our youth are now seeking their fortunes at the far west; many are reaping the rewards of misguided ambi- tion in the grave. Others too, under the misappre- hension of the lite of the agriculturist, liave chang- ed the line of employment for several successive generations of their venerable forefathers; and their bright geniuses are found to be the source of many misfortunes to themselves and much to the embarrassment of their wiser brethren, who have been contented to be found yet at the plough. J- How numerous are the blessings of the social farmer, combining the joy and comfort of his con- tented lot, compared with the speculator or gentle- man .' No tide of capricious fortune clouds his brow. Social comfort and domestic happiness are allotted to him : he tastes by his fireside enjov- ments that the highest stations know not of. Our first parents tilled the earth ; and it is on- ly by the watchful care of the husbandman that the existence of the human race is prolonged. Besides, there is still another roa.'ion in favor of the occupation: it affords les.s inducements to mis- chief than any other occupation. Casting ourej-es over this land, where do we find the profligate anJ criminal, but among the idle .' Visit the State pen- itentiary ; and observe those miserable vagabonds strolling through our cities : how few of them ev- er knew the labor of the farmer ? Happy in the end would it be for many youths who are now so opposed to this profession, were they obliged to serve a good seven years appren- tiship at this or some other good trade ; and then to be turned out in this wide world with one hun- dred dollars, good health and an industrious con- tentcrfi/r;iHij' by 7na7ntre. And in tliis opinion I am myself fully confident, by my own experience. Last summer 1 sowed nine rows of ruta baga seed, about three rods in length. They were all furrow- ed in the first place in the direction of the corn and potatoes which followed. In all the furrows, ex- cepting one, I shovelled in pulverized manure from the hog yard, and then drew on the mould to raise a ridge. The mould was drawn on to the furrow in which there was iio manure, in the same man- ner. I then drew a drill upon the lop of the ridge and sowed the seed. In the row which had no ma- nure, I had one bushel of turnips. In the row ad- joining, which had manure, I had three bushels. — Had I put in a double quantity of manure, I believe I should have had a double quantity of turnips. I meant to have written more about Mr. Keely's method of preserving seeds, and some other things brought out in our conversation, but my time for writing at present has expired. 1 wish you much success in your enterprise, and if I can contribute in any manner to the usefulness of your paper, will gladly do it. J. W. POLLARD. Hampton Falls, Dec. 12, 1839. ing," which was far from being true. C. Concord Silk Farm, December 16, 1S39. P. S. Perhaps 1 ought to add to the above, to be strictly correct in the account, that I did not plant quite the whole ear of this corn, for I gave away enough to plant ten lulls, and also further that a- bout one dozen of the hills planted were lost en- tirely, besides a number more injured by water standing on them, during the uncommon rains. of last s])ring. Farming in Vermont. method of Improving Seeds. Excellence of the Ruta Baga. For the Fanner's Hontlilv Visitor. Mr. Editor:— I have recently had an interest, ing conversation upon agricultural improvements with Mr. John Keelt, of Haverhill, Mass. who is known in this vicinity as one of the very lipst far- mers. He is both a scientific and practical farmer — getting all the knowledge ha can from books and Chinese Tree Corn. Gov. Hill, — D^ar Sir : — As there ha* been con- siderable said respecting what is called the Chinese Tree Corn, I will with your liberty add my experi- ence also in raising a small quantity of it the past season. I received one ear from the store of Messrs. Breck & Co. Boston, last spring, which cost twen- ty-five cents. I planted it on tlie 'Ith of May, in the best part of a field with sufficient manure to raise of the common yellow corn about fortv bush- els to the acre. The hills were planted about f'our feet apart, wiiich made rooni enough to plant a hill of early potatoes between each hill of corn. The potatoes were dug in July, and did not at that time obstruct the growth of tlie corn. It was hoed three times, and began to silk the 6tii of August. Some of the ears were in the milk and fit for boiling the 15th of September, and on the Sfrth, some of the earliest ears were sufticienlly ripe, and were gath- ered for seed. The severe frosts of the Cilh and 9th of October injured a part of the crop, which was not fully ripe. It was harvested the 11th of October, and measured five bushels of ears. It is a stately kind of corn, growing from eight to twelve feet high, and also very jirolific — on some hills I coniited twenty-six ears, and only three ker- nels were planted in the hill. It will be seen by the above dates that this vari- ety of corn i.s three or four weeks later than our common yellow corn, which makes it out of the question to be cultivated for a field crop in this lat- itude. But to the lovers of green corn for the ta- ble, I would recommend the cultivation of it in tlie garden. It is certainly in my opinion very fine ;and there are but few if any seasons when not enough would ripen for seed i.i a warm location. It is the more valuable for this purpose, ay it is in a proper state for cooking when generally all the other kinds are flinty enough for the mill. Tlie greatest sin of Mr. Grant Thorburn of New I'ork, as I conceive, was in his recommending it as an early variety, 'ripe enough for cooking in two monthsafler plant- Cai.fdoma County in Vermont, which is sltiiat^ ed in the same parallel of latitude with the upper and most northern county of New Hampshire, is one of the best grazing di'-tricts, producing beef and pork and butler and cheese of greater excel- lence and quantity in proportion to the population, than any other region of New England. Much of that county forty and fifty years ago was settled from tlie State of New Hampshire, and from Essex and Middlesex counties in Massachusetts. In a very few years after leaving this region, those who had made the first clearing on their farms returned in sleighing time with their span of horses and lumber boxes loaded with the rich product of their industry; large fat hogs, firkins of butter, new milk cheeses, sometimes herds-grass and clover seed, wlieal, flour, oatmeal, &c. iVc. The county derived its name f'roni the most ancient name of old Scotland herself, as well it might ; for Eome ol the best farmers that can be found in New Eng- land settled in that county ; and to their example jirobably do we owe the greater improvements made by the Yankee Bettlers themselves. The but- ter and cheese of Barnet and Rylg.^te are no- where exceeded in New England. For several years has the highest premium at the annual fair and exhibition at Boston, been awarded to fiirmers in Barnet for the best butter. The difl'erence in the value of this article is much greater than the dif- ference in the price which it bears. Butter is re- duced in price one third or one fourth in the recent fall of produce generally : the same butter that sold for twenty-five cents six months ago, now sells for eighteen cents. For our own family use we pur- chase butter, supplying with our few cows some of our neighbors with milk. We bespoke at the exhibition at Boscawen a firkin made by our friend Mrs. MoRRir.L of Canterbury, whicii obtained the second jirtfmium, and paid I'or it twenty-two cents a ])ound. This butter goes further in the using, and was actually cheaper than some other butter we about the same time took at the store at eighteen cents the pound. We mentioned in a former number the excellent butter of Mr. New- man, whose farm is on the high grounds of Wash- ington, forty miles to the westward : he turns out for the American House in this (own from five hun- dred to a thousand pounds in a year. With the butter furnished for Mr. Gass, he sent the editor of the Visitor a firkin of fifty pounds and the bill receipted attwenty cents the pound. Thisseemed not to be exactly right when good butter was every wliere selling at eighteen. Nevertheless we paid the bill. We are now able to say thai our two fir- kins of butter at the highest price per pound were the cheapest purchases of butter we have marie since the month of June last. We might have prais- ed both perhaps quite as much if cash Ijad not drawn quite as liaril upon the pocket. They may liereafler consider us in price, when they leari that our family will siand along side of any other of its size for the consumption of excellent butter, if not of bread, beef and pork. The Barnet butter that obtained the grand prece- dence at Boston could by possibility be but little better than our Canterbury and Washington sam- ples. But there was, twenty-five and thirty yearn ago, something facinating and romantic in the an- nual visits of the Ryegate and Barnet Scotchmen, who never failed to call and pay us their year's newspaper subscription wlien they passed down with their freighted sleighs. Tliey were generally tall men, and their comfortable winter dress of homespun was surmounterl with a large cap made from the fur of the bear, the wild cat or the fox : they were real Cameronians, jilain hearted men, whose tongues disguised" not the honest purjioses of the heart, nor failed to s|ieak tt) the face the faults they discovered in otlu-rs. Last summer we passed the Connecticut river on the opposite side from these Caledonian towns in Vermont; but we have not yet stept foot aiuong them. We intend to do it hereafter. Meantime we take the liberty to introduce a new Ploi'gii whicli is coming into use among the Cal- edonians of the Green Mountains. We are sorry that the person sent by thr- Barnet farmers t<3 try THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. the Ploufjh on Corscr Hill arrived at so late a point of time in the exhibition as to be unable to make the desired arrangement. Only one of the ploMfrhs sent us by Mr. Stevens has yet arrived ; and tliis, before it can be used ne.xt spring, must be repaired from the injury it received on the way. There is much good sense in the reasons offered in favor of the Moors and Mason Plough iu the letters botli of Mr. Stevens and Mr. Somnier, which follow : we have HO doubt that in wet and heavy land tlicir mode of ploughing is decidedly better than the ploughing by turning the furrow flat over. Barnet, October 14lli, 1830. Hon Isaac Hii.l, — Dmr Sir: Yours of the 7tli jnst. I received, and have forwarded by Mr. Burt one of Moors and Mason's number one plnui'hs. 1 have this morning sent the other hy my friend Mr. Esder, who will be at West's tavern in Boscawen Wednesday next. 1 have directed Mr. Esder to see Mr. West as well as the Post Master, and to have the plough on Corser Hill exhibited as you have directed, in your name. You requested me to give you a written description of Moors and Ma- son's ploughs. Having had but little advantages other than at a woman's school, in a log school house nearly forty years since, I am not able to give a scientific description of these ploughs. — Therefore I leave that part to some person better acquainted with technical terms. We have jn this town several of the Scotch iron ploughs. Some of eaid ploughs were imported several years since : others were made by Scotch emigrants settled in the vicinity of Albany, New York. These Scotch ploughs are termed Small's ploughs improved. — Tiiese ploughs are all wrought iron, except the ex- treme part of the handles, say five inches, which is of wood. Moors and Mason's ploughs, I consider an improvement, as the mould-board is longer and of a better shape, receives the furrow with greater ease, and places it at a proper angle, say about 4.^ degrees, and that without breaking the furrow. A span of common horses well trained will break up one acre per d»y with ease. I ploughed last spring on my meadow one and a half acre per day ; some days more, where it had been mowed three and five years. I have until within a few years been in favor of laying the furrow flat; hut of late years, I have adopted the Scotch method of plougliing ; have the furrow lap about half way, and at an angle as near 4-5 deg. as practicable. 'VVhff n the land is properly ploughed, 1 sow my grain before harrowing. The grain will come up in rows, as thougli the same had been sown by a drill machine. The roots of the grain penetrate into the decayed vegetable mat- ter much sooner than in ground where the furrows are turned over flat. From e-n, and present new attractions inducing the attendance of additional hundreds to our agricultural fairs. The ingenuity of our countrymen is contmually devising some substitutp for the most curious and intricate mech- anism of other countries ; and tlie various articles which are substituted by American manufacture Boon discover tliat^rait in the Yankee character, to improve on every thing which passes through thuir hands. Of the great improvements of the present century Americans can claim their- full share. — Fulton first gave the strongest impetus to the steam engine as a means of transport, w hicli bids defiance to the winds and the waves, and which carries thousands of tons over land with the celerity of a winded messenger. Whitney's cotton gin was the first oT a series of inventions lessening hand labor ten for one in the manufacture of articles of cloth- ing. For the greatest improvements in cotton and woollen manufactures, the world has been indebt- ed to American artisans; and what comes to us from Europe as best, is soon made better under a second application by American hands. The true policy is the encouragement of all improvements, hot only by gratuities and prcmiun}s, but by giv- ing them all the notoriety possible; and the com- mittee will be pleased hereafter to witness at our agricultural exhibitions every thing curious and useful that may come under the head of special improvement!^. Those submitted at this time to the committee will be noticed seriatim. No. 1. A patent Scythe Sneath, by Edward H. Barrett of Warner. The improvement of this in- strument is, so adapting the handles or nibs that it may be worked by arms longer or shorter, and al- tering the hang of the instrument so as to mow ei- ther smooth or uneven ground : another improve- ^aeiii is the filing the scythe to the sneath witliout the necessity of a wedge or other fastening. Mr. Barrett has discovered enterprise and lalunt as a mechanic exceeded perhaps by no other man in the county. Although his extensive buildings, ma- chinery and materials were not long since swept off* by fire without adequate insurance, he was not discouraged : new buildings upon the same ground have soon succeeded the conflagration, and Mr. Barrett gujjpllL^s manufactured articles which are extensively used througiiout New England. Of ihese articles the improved scytlie sncatlis have during the last year been furnished by hundreds and thousands. Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and G, arc articles of silk manu- facture irom the persevering hand of Mrs. Na- thaniel Kimball of Hopkinton, to wit : three silk handkcrciiiefs, a pair of silk gloves, a silk vest, a silk apron and a silk bag. At each annual return of the last four shows in this county this lady has continued to improve in the manufacture of silk. By means of an invention of her own, she spins on the common wool wheel silk from the cocoons with as ^reat facility as the best of spi'isters would tow or linen. She superintends every thing per- sonally— liatches the eggs — provides the food for tlie worms — winds the cocoons, doubles and spins the thread, warps and weaves it into cloth, and fi- nally converts it into the precise article to be used. Mrs. K. this year well succeeded in perfecting the cocoons of fifteen thousand worms, which all did re- markably well, and she exhibited raw silk as their product partially prep.^red for the manufacture of about thirty yards of cloth. For her commenda- ble efforts, for her great ingenuity and industry, she deserves a higher premium than the funds of the Society will permit them to award. No. 7. A pair of Linen Hose by Laban M. Chad- wick, deserving a premium not only for their beau- tiful fineness and texture, but for the "special im- provement" which introduces flax into fashion and use as an article of manufacture. No. 9. Bee House, Bee Ilives and rich speci- mens of Honey, by John Searle of Franklin. Mr. Searle deserves the commendation and praise of the friends of humanity and industry for inventing a perfect system of procuring abundance of honey and at the same time preserving tlie life of the use- ful winged insect which produces it. His apiary is an invention curious and interesting — safe for the "patterns of industry'," and will induce hun- dreds to procure and keep bees who without it would never have attempted it. The specimens of honey as they were placed originally in glass jars by the bees themselves were a great curiosity. No. 11. A Ladies' Linen Cap, manufactured from the flax by Mrs. Brown of Dunbarton — an el- egant article. No. 12. Two Ploughs; the one manufactured by Messrs. Frouty and Mears of Boston, and the oth- er by Messrs. Moors and Mason of Barnet, Ver- mont. These ploughs are of high reputation in the districts where both have been extensively used. — The Vermont plough is said to be well adapted to heavy soils : it lays one furrow half upon the oth- er, the edge forming an angle of forty-five degrees from the surface. This forms little furrows upon the top into which the grain falls when sown : in these tlie grain lays upon the edge of the turf, and is covered by the harrow two or three inches deep. In this position the grain takes quick and firm root in the edge of the decomposing grass and fibrous roots, and follows down this richest and fermenting part of the soil to the bottom of the furrow. The Boston plough turns a broader furrow, aiid may be better adapted to light dry soil. Both of Iheploug^is are Undoubtedly excellent of their kind. Neitherof thes? plonglis was entered for premium. No. 13. Four Bottles of Writing Ink or Fluid by Currier and Hall of Concord. This article ha"s been universally approved wherever it has been used. Running freely from the pen, it gradually changes to a beautiful blnck, which improves and grows brighter by age. The ink was not entered on the Secretary's books for premium. ^The committee recommends the following a- wards, viz : No. 1. ToEdward II. Barrett, Warner,forScythe Sneath, ^i 00 No. 2 to G. To Mrs. Natlianiel Kimball, Hopkinton, for various Silk Arti- cles 3 00 No. 8. To Laban M. Chadwick, Bos- cawen, for Linen Hose, TOO No. 9. To John Searle, Franklin, for Bee House and Apparatus, 2 00 No. 10. To Miss Jane Rolfe, Concord, for Wrought Shawl, 50 No. 11. To Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, Dun- barton, for Linen I.ace Cap, 50 ISAAC HILL, for the Committ«». Reports on Carpets aud Carpetiug. The committee on Carpeting reports, that only three specimens were exhibited. 1'liey regret that no more of the Ladies of Merrimack, hundreds of whose parlors are covered with the work of tlieir own hands, should come up to the I^air with their samples, and induce to greater competition. No. 1 was a beautiful sample of work, even, fine and well wrought ; and to Mrs. Martha L. Pillsbury of Boscawen is awarded the first premium of three dollars. No. 2 was an excellent piece of goods, but would not compare with No. 1, except in the delicacy and beauty of its colors, in which it excel- led. To Miss E. C. Badger of Warner, is awarded the second premium of two dollars. To Mrs. Thom- as Little of Boccawen for a piece of stainif arpet» ing the committee recommend the award of the third premium of one dollar. To Miss Sally Eaton, for the only Counterpane exhibited, as there was no competition, the com- mittee recommend the award of fifty cents. ISAAC HILL, for the Committee. An incident of a severe storm. Preserv- ing Ice, During the late severe storm which commenced in the evening of the last Friday in December, and which on the prevailing notion that the last Friday gives character to the weather of the following month, would indicate the terrible termination of this present montii of January ; — during that storm which blowed more fierce sixty miles in the interi- or than any easterly storm we before remember, and in which was showered down rain only at Bos- ton, leaving bare ground, but nearly tv^'o feet of snow upon the highlands fortj" and fifty miles out of ^ Boston — a large and beautiful and strong ship, the Columbiana, which was moored in Charles river, under the lee of the peninsula of Boston, broke a- drift about three o'clock in the morning, and, urg- ed by wind and tide, was driven stern on against the old Charlestown bridge with such violence as to carry away two piers, and dushed cntirchj through the bridge, as if no obstruction had been in the way. She was next brought up against the newer War- ren or free Bridge, which withstood the shock, but not witiiout injury : her stern then swung round and struck against the wharf near the draw, with such violence as to shatter and demolish a dwelling house one and a half story high, which had been erected on the bridge, and was occupied by the fam- ily of the man who kept the draw. Of six or sev- en persons in this house, all escaped with their lives : one was tliroVi'n into the rirer, but was for- tunately rescued. The thip was new and strong, and suffered little injury : she was of the line of New Orleans pack- ets, and was loading with ice procured from the ponds some five or ten miles out of Boston. As thiciicr ice than any tliat had been made in No- vember and December was loading on board this ship, some one inquired how and where the ice wag procured.^ The answer was, that it was old ice wiiich had been taken from the ponds a year before and secured in the commodious ice-houses erected on their margin. To those persons who like ourselves have been so unfortunate as to be unable to keep ice from melting away as earl}- as the last of July, it may be important to be instructed how to do it. We find in the last Philadelplila Farmers Cabinet, copied from the British Gardener's Magazine, the follow- ing method of housing and preserving ice, as prac- tised by Mr. James Young, a British gardener : "In the month of December or January, when the water pools are frozen to a sufficient thickness, say one or two inches, proceed to break tho ice in pieces, and draw it oft' the water with iron hooks, conveying it to the ice-house in carty, as quick a3 possible. Before throwing it into the house, three or four men should be employed to break it in small pieces, about the size of common road metal. Then carry it into the house, where two men should be again employed in pounding it alnio;t to powder. Lay the bottom and the sides of the house with a layer of wheat straw three or four inches thick. — After there are about two feet of ice thus pounded, take ten pounds of salt, and dissolve it in ten gal- lons of boiling water. W^hen the salt is sufficient- ly dissolved, pour it on the ice through a common garden watering-pot ; thus going on regularly eve- ry two feet, watering, and laying the sides with strav; till the house is filled, finishing with o. double quantity of salt water. After it has bren in eight days, and when it has subsided, fill up closely with small bundles of straw, to exclude all air as far as possible. "An ice-liouse filled in this manner will be found, when opened in summer, to be as firm as a rock, and to require o.t all times the forc« of a pick-ajtd THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR 9 to break it. It will be found to keep three times longer than the coniinon metliod of filling ice-iious- es, and is more suitable for being received from tlic ice-iiouse for use, as it will keep three times longer when exposed to the air. I was induced to try the above method, on account of our ice-house being placed in a very exposed situation. Tiie sunshines from rising to seltinaf on it, and it was found im- possible, before adopting liiis plan, to keep ice a- bove a year, and now it keeps three years, and the last of it 13 as good as the first." A practical and useful writer. There are some writers from whom words of in- struction and interest flow as steadily as the run- ning stream which discharges its waters into tlie ocean ; who think and reflect as if by mathematic- al demonstration, and whose words and sentences follow in regular order which exactly adapts itself to the mind open to receive information. Such a writer we believe will prove himself to be,if tlie fact be not already denmnstrated to thousands who have read the Genesee Farmer, Willis Gavlord,^ who is hereafter to fill the editorial seat lately occupied by the deceased Judge Buel in the Albany Culti- vator. This gentleman resides at Otisco, in the county of Onondaga, New York, one of the richest agricultural districts of that richest agricultural State; he lives there, seldom leaving his hughman in aiding the productiveness of our fielda. The farmer is beginning to feel that he is not only the bone and sinew of the nation, the base of the so- cial superstructure, but that education, and the power that springs from knowledge and intelli- gence, may and should be his. With the increase of useful knowledge and general informationin the mass, will be a corresponding increase of self re- spect and mutual confidence, directly calculated to still further elevate and improve the cultivation of the soil. Farming is found not to be the employ- ment of mere brute force as it was once supposed to be ; but that wisdom, science, and intellect find here as profitable and honorable a field for their ex- ercise, as in any other pursuit or profession in life, is a truth admitted by every one whose situation in life, or observation of cause and effect, has render- ed him competent to the formation of a correct o- pinion. "I am pleased to learn that the farmers of the Granite State appear to properly appreciate the value of your labors, and the worth of the Visitor. I shall always be happy in making it known to ni}' brother farmers, for so far as regards the circu- lation of such papers I have alwaj'^s found the more good ones were taken in any neighborliood, the better for all, and the greater the desire for such reading. I think there is not a county in this State in which so many agricultural papers are circulated as in this county, and probably no one that furnish ea a greater amount of produce for market." Growth of Wood and Timber. We readily give place to tlie communication of Mr. Emeky of Ivennebunk witli the letter of Gen- Dearborn of Massachusetts. There is evidently a want of attention to the growth of forest trees in most of the New En^^land towns, the advantages and value of which are not di\\y appreciated. For the houses, barns, and other buildings which are necessary to be erected witliiu tlie distance of twenty and thirty miles from the seaboard in this State and in Massaciiusetts, the largest and most valuable part of the lumber is either shipped from the State of Maine, or brought down the riv- ers from a biug distance in tiie interior. The ex- pense of this Inmbcr is greatly euaancod by the cost of transport i'rom the port to whicii it Jias been shipped. Twenty, thirty, and even foity dol- lars the thousand feet ibr inch boards is not an un- common price; and of the really elegant and con- venient wooden farm houses and barns which are annually erected, a single building will in aoine ca- ses cost as much money as the price of a farm, buil- dings included, fifty or an hundred miles furtlier in the country. Perliups few men have thought upon or calcula- ted the rapid growth of the trees of our forests. That land which is most rough and most stenl of the common agricultural products seems to be the most natural and most rapid in the growth of forest trees. The white and pitch pines, wliich are the most useful as buildiug timber, grow on what is considered the poorest land. There are many se- cond growtii white pines in the valley of the Merri- mack not yet fifty years old that are large enough to be sawed into sume of the best of finishing boards for the interior of dwellings. In years gone by the young pines springing up in the pastures and fields were cut down at once as unwelcome intru- ders. He was considered a slovenly farmer who spared them ; but where they have been spared in worn out pastures and fields, the value of the poor ground has been increased by their growth be- yond calculation We had much rather base our calculations on what actually transpires than to suppose gains on paper from what may take place. The idea of making eighteen thousand dollars oreven half thatsum from ten acres of land in ten years, cultivated in growing locust timber, is too extravagant to induce the farmer to undertake the business in earnest. Jt savors too much of those pictures upon paper which have led hundreds and thousands into ruinous speculations. A more moderate profit ought to satisfy, and a much less profit will satisfy. If great gains were practicable and certain in all cases, large gains would only answer the purpose of small ones. A small thrift, the product of actual labor, is of more value in the end than ten times the amount gained, in a lottery or by any otlier gambling process. Well, if we may not gain one or two tljousand dollars an acre from the cultivation of locusl tim- ber, we will show how much has been gained by a small investment without labor. There are exten- sive plains and other tracts of land near the rivers and their sources in New England which have hitherto been esteemed of little value for oultiva- tion. There has been a mistalce in this estimate ; for it is our belief founded on successful experiment that much of the plains will hereafter be found most profitable for, cultivation solely. Of these plains there are several thousand acres within the limits of the town of Concord ; a large tract liea over the river against this village at the distarice of from one to five rniles. Until within a few years the land was considered valuable only for tiie growth that was upon it. The wood and timber taken off, the price was merely nominal. Any one who has passed over the lower bridge from this place to Pembroke will have seen a beautiful pitch pine growth of trees of the size of a man's body and upwards. The growth upon the ground, cut down to day, is worth a dollar a cord, and will pro- duce from twenty to thirty dollars to the acre. — That land was bought at auction about twelve years ago for from seventy-five cents to a dollar and fifty cents the acre. It is now worth at least thirty dol- lars, giving to the purchaser and owner, after pay- ing taxes, whicn has been the whole expense, a gain of more than one hundred per cent annually in the growth of wood upon the ground, independ- ent of the rise in the valae of the land itself. Here has been no*' cultivation," no "occasional manur- ing," no expense for seed or nursery : nature has done all the work. On the plains nature needs no assistance from man : if he will desist from spread- ing wide conflagration with wicked intent, a profit will accrue from these naked lands at the price of ten dollars the acre in the growth aloiie of from twelve to twenty per cent, and a further advance of at least si.\ per cent, will annually be gained upon the rise in value of the soil itself. We have forty acres of similar land, which cost seven years ago five dollars the acre,$;200. The wood and timber had been so much taken off that wliat was left was considered of little value. Our first operation was to take from the piece indiscrim- inately logs sufticieut for thirty-five thousand feet of boards mill measure, worth, after paying all ex- pense of cutting, hauling to the mill, sawing and bringing home, six dollars the thousand, and pay- ing tor the price of the land. Since that time, on clearing less than half of the Und, as many more mill logs and about three hundred cords of wood worth one dollar the cord, have been taken off. Tlie value taken from the purchase of ."iSSOO is at least equal to $700 ; and on fifteen acres of the forty there are sown eigliteen bushels of rye from which, if there bean ordinary crop, we will obtain two hundred bushels, worth double the cost qf clearing, burning, plougliing and sowing. The land ailerv/ards will be worth twenty-five dollars the acre for almost any kind of cultivation- 10 THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Take the Stale of New Hampshire from its east to Its westerly line at any distance short of eighty miloB north rifthe line of Massachusetts, and tliere is scarcely an acre, that is not a dear ledge of rock or covered with water, which is not valuable poor ground covered with growing wood in many cases to be worth the most lands of easy productive soil are The E found The cleared some cases much less valuable. There are poor lands in the vicinity of Merrimack river — lands so poor that twenty and thirty years ago, after the best pine and oak trees had been cut down and wasted, they were disclaimed by their owners, rather than pay the taxes — that have increased from the growth of wood to a value above the best lands of some cultivated farms, and have been sold from thirty to fifly and a hundred dollars the acre. Little need be done in the way of cultivation to realize a fortune to the owners of land whicli has a young growth of almost any kind of wood. The poorest lands produce the different kinds of pine and white birch ; and while the former is valuable both for timber and fuel, the latter is so rapid of growth as to be considered more profitable than any other kind of wood, and makes the best of fuel when it is dried and seasoned undercover. Much of the high land is natural to the growth of chesnut, which is considered the most durable, more durable than the cedarfor posts to be inserted in the ground. Chesnut is the favorite of all oth- er kinds of wood for the foundation of rail roads — better and less expensive than granite itself, be- cause the interest on the difference of expense will supply the wood faster than it decays — the wood is much better calculated to prevent injury from frost, and the heavy wheels pass over the chesnut rails with much more ease to the passenger and less risque of breaking down than upon the less e- lastic foundation of stone. Extensive contracts were made one year ago to furnish chesnut timber of exact dimensions for the Eastern rail road. The chesnut trees will spring and grow ad infinitum from the roots of the old stump ; twelve and fifteen years will be sufficient to increase the new shoots into timber for posts of respectable si7.e. Reflect- ing on the number of these which will grow upon an acre, and supposing them to be worth standing upon an average ten cents each, the growth in ten or twelve years would be worth at least a hundred dollars. This would soon realize a fortune to the owner of a few hundred acres. In the interior of New England we hardly need be at the pains to procure seeds and plant forest trees. If we will take care of those which are now growing or may of themselves spring up, we may in the course of one generation have most valuable timber lots. Near the head of the Londonderry turnpike, and within a hundred rods of the main ■treet in this town, on land now owned by Theo- dore French, Esq. is an elegant grove of white oaks, every one of which the owner would probably consider to be worth at least one dollar. Since our remembrance the trees of that grove, the most of which are nearly afoot in diameter, were not much larger than a man's wrist. The growth of wood is so rapid that the increase of our forests, without encroaching on land neces- sary for firming purposes, may be made sufficient for consumption of both timber and fuel to a popu- lation twice as large as that at present upon tlie soil of our State. much individual wealth having been gained in the pursuit of the latter. The interior trade of Ports- mouth seems to have fallen away within the last 30 years before the greatcr'facilities for trade of other seaboard towns. Trade has wonderfully concentra ted within the last twenty-five years ; the larger trade of Boston has gone south to the city of New York ; and the smaller import trade of tlie second- ary seaboard towns of New England has concen- trated at Boston. Other towns, as New Bedford, have flourished and risen to importance purely by business connected with the sea. Portsmouth, with greater advantages of position and business, has done less by \^ay of increase. Next to Portsmouth as places of business and population are the towns of DovKR and Nashua, formerly Dunstable. Dover is situated upon a branch of the same stream, the Piscataqua, whose entrance forms the harbor of Portsmouth : it was first settled near the same time. Thirty years ago it was a village of little hu.siness. Situated near the falls of a river, extensive cotton and woollen factories, worked b) water power, have been erect- ed ; and the buildings and people have increased four fold. Within the limits of the town surround- ing the populous village and in the adjacent towns, are many excellent farms. These are more valua- ble for their proximity to the market which the manufactures afford ; and the manufacturing indus- try derives a corresponding benefit from the abun- dance which the farmer produces. Nashua, in its present location, being a border town nearly central on the line of Massachusetts separating that State from New Hampshire between the ocean and the Connecticut river, is new within the recollection of most persons beyond middle age. Thirty-five years ago, where Nashua now is, with its magnificent brick factories, its half a dozen churches of the various Christian denominations, its spacious and neat dwellings, its wholesale and retail stores, its rail road depot busy four times a day with cars and passengers and merchandize, and its 6,000 inhabitants, was only an unemployed stream of water, making its sluggish way through a barren plain of bastard pines and white scrub oaks. There was but a single tavern and a dwell- ing house and store at " Indian Head," where the road up and down the Merrimack unites with the principal road farther west and central through the county of Hillsborough. It seemed to be but a place f'or the starveling and the lean-kine ; and if any one had said at that time " here will arise a beautiful village of six thousand inhabitants with- in the life of the present generation," he would have been set down as a visionary, giving to "airy nothing a local habitation and a name." Nashua village is situated near the cofluence of the river of the same name with the Merrimack, tiaving its source thirty miles south-west at the pond in Ashburnham which within the distance of two miles from the highest source of ttie waters feeds in a short space and in successive water-falls many mills carrying machinery for making all the variety of chairs, jjails, tubs, &c. &c. which have been described in a former number of our Visitor. The fall for the great factories at Nashua has been gained bv digging a canal from rapids in the river some three miles above their location. This canal was constructed a great part of the way through a discouraging sand bank, which at first frequently broke loose and discharged towards the ocean the deposits that had been collected with great labor and expense as an embankment to give direction to the waters destined to be the moving power. A fresh impulse to the business and jirosperity of Nashua has been recently given by the extension of the rail road from Lowell to that place. This rail road carries vou to Boston, tlie emporium of New England trade, a distance of forty-three miles in the incredibly short space ef one liundred and thirty minutes I It has been in use more than one year; and as yet there has been nn accident in all its operations Injurious to any human being. With the aid of this road persons either on business or amusement may leave home after l)re:ikfast in the morning, spend eight hours in the city of Boston, and return to supper In the evening, jiassing in the time over the distance of eighty-sl.x miles. But the most excellent trait in the ohiracter of this elegant village which has arisen from the bar- rens, is that of its moral and religious culture. The last Sabbath of the year which has just flown and Is now numbered with the time that is past recal, was spent by the editor of the Visitor, wliile op his way to Boston, at Nashua. Here are five denomi- nations of christians, Calvinlstic Baptists and Con- gregationalists, Methodists, Unitarians, Universal- Ists, each with its separate place of wor.ship. We have seldom listened to a more interesting discourse than that of the Rev. Mr. Osgood on the last Sab Rocial, moral, and religious relations of the people were freely stated and dilated upoH. The cler- gymen of the different denominations are in the habit of interchanging and supplying e^icli others' desks; and at the evening lectures the different so- cieties flock to the same meeting. The Unitarian meeting liouse, situated in the same charming grove with the cemetery for the dead recently set apart as a miniature imitation of Mount Auburn, had been dressed in fine taste for the festivities of Christmas: the " fir tree, the pine and the box" were interwoven as the tapestry ; and the windows were brilliantly illuminated before a crowded audi- ence. The discourse brought into view the memo- ry of some who had departed, recounting as well their expiring words as the character of their lives. The service of the evening, highly interesting to a stranger, must have been a *' sovereign balm to ev- ery wound" of the connexions and friends of the departed. We were delighted with the spirit of the clergy and people at Nashua. Four or more sfTcieties, each taking its place in the Sabbath evening lecture by turns ; the minister prepares thirteen lectures for the year to be delivered at his own church. By understanding, if not by agreement, the time of his lecture interferes not with the time of any oth- er. The subject as well as the time of the dis- course is understood by all the people in the village. Having ample time for previous preparation, the performance may be made niuoh hotter than a hur- ried third sermoH delivered at the qloec of every Sabbath evening. " How good and how pleasant it is to see breth- ren dwelling together In unity." Every man as he advanceB in life finds it to be his interest, as it will contribute to his peace of mind not less than to hii worldly prosperity, to repel all covetous jealousy from his bosom. Nothing is gained eve'n by rivals for the public favcr in any kind of business by becom- ing objects to each other of " envy, hatred and mal- ice." Even if there be not room enough for all, all can best live together in a spirit of harmony and kindness each towards the other. The Mil- lenium will never arrive until those who call them- selves christians can tolerate christians of other de- nominations; the strongest evidence of true Chris- tianity is exhibited in that charity which forgives as it would be forgiven, and concedes to others who may entertain a w'rong belief the right to embrace whatever opinion conscience dictates. A spirit of catholic charity seems to be gaining ground in thfe religious conimunitj' even among the the severer sects. We are quite sure that the rigid demeanor of old times is done away in a generation A disconrse about some of the priucipal towns of New Hampshire, and about that charity Avhich Christians shoulO enter- tain toward ■ each other. There is no city within the limits of the State of New Hampshire: its more than two hundred townships, each with a population varying from twenty persons to nine thousand, are all of a simi- lar character. Most of the towns have villages, generally near their centres : at these villages the professional men, the clergvman, the lawyer, and the doctor, set themselves down. The mechanics of the various occupations, and the trader, who of- tentimes is the most important pef.ior.age of the whole corporation, uniting in his own person the of- fices of chairman of the board of selectmen, over- seer of the poor, representative to the general court and justice of the quorum, are likewise found at this point. The- largest town corporation of the Granite State, Is Portsmouth, containing at this time a po- pulation of about nine thousand inhabitants. Tills town Is the only considerable seaport, having one of the best, if not the very boBt and safest harbor in the United States — it was the place of first set- tlement by the whites within the present State lim- its. It is a place for ships and commerce, more or less of the former being annually built bere, and bath afternoon of the erpiring year, in which the which la growing up. Taking up a printed copy of a beautiful hymn written for the consecration ser- vice of a church in our own village which num- bers comparatively few votaries within the limits of this State, we were pleased to find its author to be among those who had not formerly looked upon this denomination with the most favorable eye — an individual too who, although by nature among the most kind and amiable, had suffered much in the public estimation from being supposed to be of that class in a great question of agitation who think with unconverted Saul that they are verily doing God service by persecuting with intolerable zeal all who differ froin their own opinions. The spirit breathed through this hymn, beautiful as it is in itself, is heightened to extacy when it comes over us as a voluntary offering from one whose faith and whoso worship had not been the faith and worship either of the "earthly house, an emblem faint of that a- bove," or of its "minister," with "hands ever clean and heart most pure." CONSECRATION HYMN, For St. Paul's Chu.ch, Concoril,jY. H. Jan. 1,1340. These walls we dedicate to thee. Father Supreme ! to who^ be given, In union with the Sacied 'Phree, All praise en earth, nnd all in Heaven;. These portals, opening li t!iy praise, Welcome tlie King of Glory in; This choir, resounding Zion's lays. The songs of Heaven on earth begir,. This altar, lighted from above. We consecrate to thy great name ; lis holy incense, truth and love, Shall ever rise, a living flame. Iti minister, thy servant, Lord — Hands ever clean and heart most puro — Faithful shall preach thy Holy Wora, The great salvation to secure. The witness of this earthly house — An emblem UilDt of thit above, THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 11 Not made with hands— shall be of vows Rcdeera'd in faith and truth and love. Shepherd of Israel ! We thy sheep In pastures green would e'er abide, Safe in Thy charge — whom neither sleep, Nor slumber loses from Tliy side. Farming in New England. In New Hampshire we have few farmers with as numerous herds of cattle, as many acres under cultivation, and as large quantities of any given crop, as are found in other countries, or as in other parts of this country. Farms of 500, 1,000,2,000 and even 10,000 acres are common in the island of Great Britain; plantations in the southern States are frequently of as large extent; and farms of five hundred and one thousand acres are common in the prairie lands of the west. Kz-ra Meecii, who re- sides on the shore of Lake Champlain above Bur- lington, and William Jaii\ts of Weathersfield, opposite Clareinont in this State, on Connecticut river, are the two largest farmers of whom we have had particular notice in the State of Vermont. The first gentleman sometimes has his five and eight hundred acres of wheat in a season; and the latter his hundreds of improved cattle and his ma- ny hundred sheep on one of the most beantiful al- luvial tracts upon tlie fertile valley of the Connec- ticut. Judge Meech, a man of giant stature, a- shrewd in calculation as he is enterprising in busi- ness, was the artificer of his own fortune: he has made his wealth, it is said, exclusively by farming. He commenced with the first settlement in Ver- mont; and, as he once informed us, while clearing his lands for a crop, he continued to go ahead by hunting furs up the Onion and Otter rivers in sea- sons when he could not conveniently work his lands. Consul Jarvis is a native of Boston — re- ceived the honors of Harvard College — was educa- ted perhaps to the bar or as a merchant — resided several years at Lisbon in the kingdom of Portu- gal as consul and agent for the United States, and while there introduced many of the fine wooled merino sheep into tliis country, the exportation ol which had been sedulously prohibited by the gov- ernments of Sp.iin and Portugal. Some time after his return he purchased the estates now composing his ample domain; and for the last twenty years has steadily pursued the occupation of a farmer on the banks of Connecticut. Near the latter gentleman on the New Hamp- shire side resides his kinsman, Doct. Leonard Jarvis, one of the most extensive farmers of this State, who has for several years been engageiTin the fortunate pursuit of wool growing, and who at a single sale has taken as much money for fine wool of his own clip as would purchase the price of one of the largest farms of the State. The farmers on Connecticut river, for some cause, have been more fortunate than in other parts of the State in gaining wealth. Many there real- ized the gain of handsome estates before most of the farmers on the less fertile and more rough parts were able to dispose of any surplus produce they might have at a sure profit. Twenty and thirty years ago farmers living beyond fifty miles from the sea board were discouraged from laising grains and other articles of provision, because they conld not dispose of them for ready pay in the interior, and the price at the market towns was so low and uncertain that they could not with safety encoun- ter the risque and expense of traiisporting them. Better roads and more numerous mouths to con- sume them have since greatly changed the aspect of things. Prices are sometimes depressed ; hut it rarely occurs that the farmer is obliged to waste or lose any kind of produce that costs him labor. Of late years the numerous manufacturing and mechanical establishments growing up in almost every direc- tion., giving employment to liundretls and thousands of consumers, increase the demand for most kinds of agricultural production. What farmer feels any uncertainty at the commencement of the year that his dairy will not pay him for all the labor bestowed upon it.' that good butter and cheese will not bear a good price .' that his beef and pork, even though it may not always command the highest price, will perish on his hands.' that labor will be thrown a- way in cultivating his Indian corn, rye and wheat not necessary for his family consumption, and in curing the hay to be laid up in his barns ' The keeping of milch cows has always been a good business in the hill towns of New Hampshire; it is necessarily connected with the raising of cat- tle. A farmer who keeps a stock of twenty, tliir- ty, or forty head of cattle has frequently found the road towealtli to be sure. Wealth is a compara- tive term : John Jacob Aator of Mew York, who with accumulated millions is not half as independ- ent as many a farmer worth from two to ten thou- sand dollars, would not admit a man to be rich who was worth short of half a million of dollars. There are many farmers who may be considered well oif in a pecuniary point of view who raise less than their hundred bushels of grain and keep less than a dozen head of cattle. These do all their work without hiring, and are able to purchase and pay for every thing to make themselves and families comfortable. Such a man may be more independ- ent than a king, and in his own way contribute to the general improvement. He may do his full share in the advance of his country to the highest state of prosperity, and well deserve equal applause to those who with more extended means accomplish more. Extraordinary mortality of Cattle. An old acquaintance, Oliver Whiting, Esq..of Wilton, whose farm is situated near the mountain ridge that divides Temple from Peterborough, whose dairy of forty or tifty cows had been des- cribed to us, and whose reputation we had known for many years as one of the most thriving farmers of the State, was the object of inquiry of the friend who had collected and brought us gome forty sub- scribers for the V'isitor in that town. We were pained with the information that his dairy existed no more ; and that for the last year his only stock of cattle kind consisted simply of two indiiferent cows. A '* grievous murrain" or something of the kind, had attacked his flock of oxen and cows and carried them off with a rapidity truly appaling. His oxen faltered while in excellent flesh they were working in the field, and soon died : his cows were taken off in a manner no less sudden. On exam- ination of the bodies of the creatures, the melt was found to be distended, and the Mood and flesh dis- covered symptoms of early putrefaction. It was remarkable that while Mr Whiting's flock were thus aftected — one dying after another, almost at the moment they seemed to be in perfect health — none of the cattle of the neighborhood sufl"ered in the same manner. Alarmed at their condition, Mr. W. caused those remaining in health — and as we understood all died that were attacked — to be driv- en away and disposed of. None of the cattle after they left his premises were understood to have died or to have been afl'ected with tlie same disorder. We have heard of isolated cases of diseased cat- tle during the past few months ; some dying of what was supposed to be the horn-ail, and others of what was called murrain, which is described by veterinary authors as havinga variety of symptoms and being too indefinite to be identified. The dis- order of Mr. Whitney's cattle differs from every case of which we have heard, or t'rom any descrip- tion we find of diseased cattle in any book. The nearest description found is in, an interesting work on cattle, recently published in Kngland, and written-by Youatt, which v.-e extract below; — "The Journal dcs Sacayis for 1682 (more than a century and a half ago) contains an account of an epidemic which destroyed a great number of cattle in most of the provinces of France. The history of its symptoms shows how little was then known of the diseases of cattle, or how useless were the examinations that were made by scientific men, and for the purpose of enlightening the public. The animals ate and worked as usual until they fell dead in a moment. [Here is a similarity to the case of the cattle of Mr. Whiting.] The explanation of this is a little marvellous, and docs jiot quite agree with the previous story. ' A violet colored vesi- cle is found under the tongue, on which an eschar or scab forms in five or six hours, and on the falling of the eschar, the animal dies; and when he was opened, the intestines were in a state of gangrene, and so was the tongue, for it often fell to pieces.' This was the gloss-anthrax or blain, which has already been described, but of a verv maUgnant character, and associated with murrain, as sometimes found to be." Virgil, la his Georgics, by very far tlie most beau- tiful of his poems, and containing many gcod ag- ricultural precepts which modern improvements have not rendered obsolete, gives a history of the murrain as it devastated some of the Roman farms before the Christian era. We pre:;ent the transla- tion from the Latin by Dryden: " Here from the vicious air and sickly skies, A plague did on the dumb creation rise ; During th' autumnal heats th' infection grew. Tame cattle and the beasts of Nature slew, Pois'ning the standing lakes and pools impure; Nor w'as the toodi'ul grass in fields secure. Strange death ! for, when the thirsty fire had drunk Their°vital blood, and the dry nerves were shrunk. When the contracted limbs were oranip'd even then A wat'rish humor gwell'd and ooz'd again, Converting into bane the kindly juice. Ordained by Nature for abetter use. The victim ox, that was for altars )>rest, Trim'd with white ribbons and with garlands drest. Sunk of himself, without the god's command. Preventing the slow sacrificer's hand. Or by thu noly butcher if he fell, Th' inspected entrails could no fates foretell; Nor laid on altars, did pure flames arise ; But clouds of smould'ring smoke forbade the sacri- fice. Scarcely the knife wa» rcdden'd with his gore, Or the black poison stain'd the sandy floor. * « w * The steer who to the yoke was bred to bow, (Studious of tillage and the crooked plough) Falls down and dies; and, dying 'voids a flood Of foamy madness, inix'd with clotted blood. The pining steer, nor shades »f lofty woods. Nor tlow'ry nieatls, can ease, nor crystal floods Roll'd t'rom the rock : his tlabi>y flanks decrease ; His eyes are settled in a stupid peace; His back too weighty for his thighs is grown. And his unwieldy neck hangs drooping down." No remedy for murrain, after it has seized on its victim, is given as effectual. The disease of trua murrain is said to be highly contagious — and it finds a powerful auxiliary in some peculiar states of the atmosphere — probably like the yellow fever and other disorders of man. The better way to treat diseases in the first in- stance is to avoid them by every possible expedi- ent. More can be done by man to avoid sickness by exercise and diet than is generally supposed. The prescriptions of the physician may be avoided in four cases out of five by taking previous care of the stomach in omitting to overload it, and of the circulation by healthy and vigorous exercise. So most domestic animals can be kept in health by omitting to feed them, or by preventing their eating what is injurious, and by keeping their bowels open and free of passage. The best remedy for murrain in cattle or swine is said to be the administration of physic as to a human person. Salt and charcoal are good for hogs at all seasons : salt mixed with a little salt petre should be given to cattle, sheep and horses in both winter and summer. Sometimes a more pungent cathartic may be administered to these animals of the brute creation with equal ben efitas to the man who suffers from too high li»iaj» and too little exercise. Horse Kake. The accompanying descriptions and wood cuts will enable any common carpenter readily to con struct a Horse Rake either of the common or re volvingkind. The common Horse Rahe. Fig.l. This is made of a piece of strong scantling, three inches square and ten feet long, into which about fif teen teeth are inserted horizontally, and of strong white ash or other tough wood. The teeth should be about 22 inches long, and one inch by one and three quarters at the place of insertion, and taper- ing on the under side, so as to give them a slight turn upwards at the point, toprevent their running into the ground while using. The draft ropes are attached to the end of two projecting pieces of 13 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. wood parallel to the teeth, at eaeli end of the rake. These projecting pie- ces shonld be about one third of the length of the teetji. Those unskilled in the use of the rake, sometimes attach the ropes at once to the ends of the head; in this way it becomes almost entirely unmanageable. The forward ends of the draught ropes are to be fastened to the horse's collar, leavrng space enough between the horse and rake for the collecting hay. Handles, like those represented in the figure, (Fig. 1.) are to be inserted in the head near the middle, for guiding the teeth and lifting the rake from the ground when necessary. In using this rake, instead of the teeth moving onward upon their points as in the common hand rake, they run along flat upon the ground, passing under and collecting the hay; when full, the handles are thrown forward, the rake emptied, and lifted'over the winrow for another load. The rake thus passes backwards and forwards acroEs the field, always emptying opposite the last heap, and thus forming regular winroivs at right angles wiih the path of the rake. A few hours practice will enable any one to use this rake without difficulty, the only skill required consisting in keeping the points of the teeth just so low as to pass under all the hay and yet not run into the ground. When small obstructions occur, the handles are depressed, thus rausing the teeth to rise, and the rake passes freely over. Large obstructions as stumps and stone heaps, require the rake to be lifted from the ground. The chief recommendation of this kind, is its cheapness and simplicity. A|lgood one need cost no more than two dollars. It may also be used on rougher ground than the revolving rake, as it is more easily lifted over ob- structions. Where the ground is very uneven the teeth should be much shorter. When once become well accustomed to the use of it, work may be done nearly as fast with this, as with a revolving rake, though much more laborious. Twelve acres of hay, part of it yielding ne.Trly three tons to the acre, on a meadow of the writer, were raked into winrows by means of one of these rakes, in about six hours^ working time. It possesses another advan- tage over the revolving rake — it may be used for scraping the winrows into heaps for drawing, and if the hay is stacked in the field, for drawing the hay to the stack, A man with a rake and horse, not only raked the hay, but drew it at the same time to the stack, a distance of from ten to twenty rods, 3.1 fast as an active man could pitch with a fork. A hand rake need scarcely ever be used on the meadow, as all the scattered hay may be raked up in a ehort time, after the rest of the hay has been drawn off. The horse rake is very useful in raking stubble of wheat, and eminently so in pulling and gathering peas. ShafYs, instead of ropes have been attached to the head of the rake, and have been strongly recommended ; but they diminish the simplicity of the rake, and appear to possess no advantage on the whole, and forgathering and drawing hay, are positively detrimental. (F.g. 2.) The Retolvin:r Rake. This is much more complex in its construction than the common horse rake, but possesses advantages over it in ease and expedition in raking. Its peculiar advantage is the facility- with which it may be unloaded, requiring for this purpose but a slight elevation of the handles, and without stopping once in crossing the whole breadth of the meadow. Its construction is as follows : — The head A B, iig. 2, is a piece of strong scantling, three inches square and ten feet long, through which eighteen holes, one inch square, are made to receive the teeth, which are pieces of the strongest white ash, one inch square and three feet long, projecting equally on both sides of the head when inserted, and forming a double row of teeth, each about eighteen inches long. The draught chains or ropes D D, are attached to the forward ends of two curved arms E E, which are connected at their other ends to the head !t( the rake by iron straps passing round the head so as to allow it to revolve freely. G, repre- sents a portion of one of the curved arms, showing the hole formed by the iron strap, and H represents a part of the head which turns in this hole. These arms are held firmly together by the cross piece I. An improvement in the curved arms is made by constructing them of two pieces at right an- gles, in a form »iinilar to a carpenter's square, the first or Bhort«st piecfi ris- ing perpendicular from the head, and the other projecting forward, and to whicli the draught chains are attached. By this construction, more space is allowed beneath these arms for the collection of tlie hay. The cross rod K, connecting the handles C C, serves for guiding and man- aging the rake. Tliesc handles are connected lo the head by a contrivance precisely similar to that of the curved arms. At the middle of the handles is a cross rod P P, upon which tiiriis the small frame M, which is connected (by turning joints,) by means of the rod N, to the cross piece I. This rod must be of just such length, as to cause the frame M, when pressed down upon the teeth by the handles, to touch them within about half an inch of their points; by this, the teeth are pressed flat upon the ground while raking. To empty the load this frame is raised by the handles beyond the reach of the teeth, and they pass it freely without touching. The rake is unloaded by means of the following contrivance. Outside of the handles C C, are two pieces of wood F F, turnirig freely upon the two projecting ends of the rod P P, as pivots, with their lower ends resting upon pieces of iron fastened crosswise on the head of the rake, just outside of the joints connecting the handles to it. The shape of these pieces of iron is shown in a detached view at O. When the handles are raised, the pieces F F, are thrown forward on tliese piec»s of iron, until they strike the projecting part of them, when they immediately act as braces, and cause the rake to rise with the handles. The points of the teeth thus strike in the ground, and the horse continuing in motion, cause the rake to make a semi-revolution, emptying the load, and (browing the back row of teeth forward to be filled as before. The handles C C, should be perfectly parallel, that the pieces F F, may play fre»'y. S, is a strong iron brace, fastened at each end to the handles, and at the middle to the cross rod P P. The cost of this rake is about six dollars. The revolv- inor rake is better adapted for use on large farms and smooth meadows, and the common horse rake on small farms and rough meadows. — Genesee Far- Farming in Kentucky. The State of Kentucky is a tract of land resting upon limestone : and the ground is more or less fertile in proportion as the stone is farther from or nearer to the surface. Asa grazing country this State is probably unrivalled. At this time the spirit of agricultural improvement in that State appears to be more effectually aroused than in any other section of the country. Im- provement in the breeds of cattle, horses and swine, has here taken effectual hold : the prices paid for full blood Durham cattle, for imported stallions and breeding mares and for Berkshire hogs, in New England would be deemed enormous : five to ten thousand dollars for a horse, two thousand and upwards for a Durham cow, one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars for a full blood Berkshiie boar or sow, are too high prices to be tolerated in this region — they leave too much at risque on the life of the most healthy animal. The "Franklin Farmer," an agricultural newspaper published at Frankfort, the seat of government, presents, from week to week, interesting facts in re- lation to the agriculture of Kentucky. The fanners of Kentucky do business on a large scale, as well they may where thrift and profit come from the ground spontaneously. The last number of the Farmer now before us pre- sents two items in the farming of Benj. P. Gray, Esq. of Woodford, this sea- son. They have in Kentucky a kind of feed for cattle which grows in what is called " woodland pasture," bearing the name of " blue grass." The editor of the Farmer says "the crops of blue grass on our woods nearly equal in value the corn crops of offr northern brethren." "What crops, cultivated in open land, are more profitable than our woodland grass, at with as litlle la- boras acrop of wheat, and grown and pastured without cultivation.-" From sixty acres of this woodland grass, at an expense of about jjglOO, I\Ir. Gray produced three hundred bushels of cleaned blue-grass seed \vorth three dol- lars the bushel ; and including the feed upon the same land, obtained a prod- uct worth in cash^iHSS. Pasturage in Kentucky rents at four and five dol- lars to the acre per annum : the profits from Mr. Gray's sixty acres were more than three times the amount and beyond the price of rent. The same gen- tleman sent the editor a present of a " firkin of most delicious butter," be- ing a specimen of 4000 pounds which he made the present season at his own dairy. Delicious butter, such butter as is produced from the hill farms of New England, is a rare article in the great western country. Pennsylvania, however, produces as good butter as we find furllier north ; and it will be a- mong the greatest attractions to the west if the farmers of Kentucky and the other new States shall follow in the footsteps of Pennsylvania in the manu- facture of butter and cheese. F3r the Fanner'..; Cahiiiet. Crows outAvitted, A premium on crows' heads in Connecticut, as well as a desire on the part of a farmer of that State to save his corn, by diminishing their number, in- duced him to place a dead animal near a piece of wood-land, where he had erected a suitable brush-house, in which to ensconce himself, within proper shooting distance of the decoy. Flocks of crows visited and feasted upon the animal, when the farmer was absent from his retreat, but whenever he w'as laying in wait for them, with his gun, not one would venture to approach it, although with wistful eyes and watery mouths they beheld their favorite viands from the tops of the neighboring trees. He continued to visit the de- coy house for many days, and, with anxious solicitude, awaited the approach of the wile* crows, but not one would venture to dine upon the delicious dead horse, whilst he was there secreted. Discouraged by his want of suc- cess, he stated the circumstance to a neighbor, who at ciuce informed him, that he could succeed in shooting them, which his diseon^filled friend had very strong doubtings about. However, they both immediately repaired, with their guns, to the brush-house, and, after a short time, the neighbor re- quested his urtsuccessfnl friend to take his gun with him and go lioine, while he remained in the retreat. He set across the field towards hi:? house, and as soon as he .was out of shooting distance from the animal, down came the crows to their repast, and the neighbor firing aipong them, killed a large number. The farmer, seeing his t'riend's success, returned to him and ob- served, " the cruv.'s are cunning critters, but they can't count," X. A good farmer is generally a true friend, an alfectionate husband, an ex- cellent parent, and an honest man ; and it is anestablishad axiom that a wcZ/ tiUed farm denotes the supervision of an enlightened mipd. THE FARMER'S iMONTHLY VISITOR. 13 English Sheep. /»f\\\^ v'> Ml I [Fig. 3.] The New Leicester. As a lowland alicep, and destined to live on good pasture, tiie New Leices- ter is without a rival — in fact he has improved, if he has not given the prin- cipal value to, all the other long-woolled sheep. The head should be hornless, long, small, tapering towards the muzzle, and projecting. horizontally forwards. The eyes prominent, hut with a qui- et e.xpression. The ears thin, rather long, and directed backwards. The neck full and broad at its base where it proceeds from the chest, but gradual- ly tapering towards the head, and being particularly fine at the junction of the head and neck ; the neck seeming to project straight from the chest, so that there is, with the tlighte^t possible deviation, one continued horizontal line from the ruinp to the poll. ' The breast broad and full ; the shoulders al- so broad and re unci, and no uneven or angular formation where the shoulders join either tiie neck or the back, particularly no rising of the withers, or hol- low behind the situation of these bones. The arm tlcshy through its whole extent, and even d )wn to the knee. The bones of the legs small, standing wide apart, no looseness of skin about them, and comparatively bare of wool. The chest and barrel at once deep and round ; the ribs forming a consiuerable arch from the spine, so as in some cases, and especially when the animal is in good condition, to make the 'ipparent width of the chest even greater than the depth. The I)arrcl ribbed well home, no irregularity of line on the back or the belly, but, on the sides, the carcass very gradually dimini:ihing in width towards the rump. The quarters long and full, and', as with the fore- legs, the muscles extending down to the hock ; the thighs also wide and full. The legs of a moderate length, the pelt also moderately thin, but soft and e- lastic, and covered with a good quantity of white wool, not so long as in some breeds, but considerably finer. This account combines the main excellences both of Bakewell'sown breed and CuUey's variety or improvement of it. It is precisely the form for a sheep provided with plenty of good food and without any great distance to travel or exertion to make in gathering it. The principal recommendations of this breed are its beauty and its fulness of form, comprising, in the same apparent dimensions, greater weight than any other sheep ; an early maturity, and a propensity to fatten equalled by no other breed; a diminution in the proportion of offal, and the return of most money for the quantity of food consumed. The sheep wliose portrait is represented in the previous cut, belonged to the Duke of Bedford. THE SOUTH-DOWN. The hill sheep is adapted to more elevated situations and shorter feed on the natural and permanent pastures; able also to travel, without detriment, a considerable distance to the fold and to the down. There can be no hesi- tation in tixing on the South-Down as the model here. l^he following is the substance of the description of this sheep by Mr. Ell- man, who, if he may not be considered, like Mr. Bakewell with regard to the Leicester, as founder of the breed, yet contributed more than any other man to it.-i present improvement and value. The head small and hornless ; the face speckled or grey, and neither too long nor too short. The lip.s thin, and the space between the nose and the eyes narrow. The under jaw, or chap, fine and thin ; the ears tolerably wide, and well covered with wool, and the forehead also, and the whole space be- tween the ears, well protected by it, as defence against the fly. The eye full and bright, but not prominent. The orbits of the eye — the eye-cap, or bone, — not too jirojecting, that it may not form a fatal obstacle in lambing. The neck of a medium length, thin towards the head, I'utenlarging towards Ihe shoulders where it should be broad and high, and straight in its whole course above and below. The breast should be wide, deep, and projecting for- wards between the fore legs, indicating a good constitution, and a disposition to thrive. Corresponding with this, the shoulders sh'uild be on a level with the back, and not too wide above ; they should bow outward from the top to the breast, indicating a springing rib beneath, and leaving room for it. The ribs coming out horizontally from the spine, and extending far back- ward, and the last rib projecting more than the others ; the back llatfrom the shoulders to the setting on of the tail ; the loin broad and flat ; the rump long and broad, and the tail set on high and nearly on a level with the spine. The hips wide ; the space between them and the last rib on either side as narrow as possible, and the ribs, generally, presenting a circular form like a bur.'.el. The belly is as straight as the back. The lees neither too long nor too short. The fore legs straight from the breast to the foot ; not bending inward at the knee, and standing far apart both before and behind ; the hocks have a direction rather outward, and the twist, or the meeting of the thighs behind, being particularly full ; the bones fine, yet having no appearance of weakness, and of a speckled or dark color. The belly well defended with wool, and the wool coming down before and behind to the knee, and to the hock ; the wool short, close, curled, and fine, and free from spiry projecting fibres. The South-Down is adapted to ahnost any situation in the midland part of England ; it has a patience of occasional siiort keep, and an endurance of hard stocking, ef[ual to any otiier sheep; an early maturity, scarcely inferior to that of the Liecester, and the flesh finely grained, and of peculiar good flavor. '^ "€0^^^:'tfe.-^Vv [Fig. 4.] The Cheviot. "^ ' "^ The Cheviot Hills are a part of that extensive and elevated range which extends from Galloway through Northumberland into Cumberland aiid West- moreland, occupying a space of from 150 to 2U0 square miles. Tiie majority of them are pointed like cones ; their sides are smooth and steep, and their bases are nearly in contact with each other. The soil, except on the very top, is lertile; and from the base to the summit of most of them there is an un- broken and rich green-sward. On the upper part of the liill in Northumberland, which is properly term- ed Me Cheviot, a peculiar and most valuable sheep is found. They have been there almost from time immemoriah Tradition sa3's that they came from the border district of Scolland ; but they are totally different from the black-fac- ed sheep and bear but little or no resemblance to the original dun-faced Scot- tiali stock. How two breeds so totally different from each other, came to in- habit the neighboring hills of Ettrick forest and the Cheviot hills, neither history nor tradition has attempted to explain. The Lanimermuir farmer, an ardent admirer of them, says, that they are hornless; the face and legs generally white ; tlie eye lively and prominent; the countenance open and pleasing ; the ear large, and with a long space from the ear to the eye; the body long, and hence they are called "long sheep," in distinction from the black-faced breed. They are full behind the shoul- ders, they have a long straight back, Ihey are round in the rib, and well pro- portioned in their quarters ; the legs are clean and small boned, and the pelt is thin, but thickly covered with fine short wool. The wool extends over the whole of the body, and forward behind the ear, but leaves the face uncover- ed— a circumstance that gives a very pleasing appearance to the face and head. The muscle and the wool fall well down toward the knee ; and altho' on the thigh the wool is somewhat coarse, the farmer is compensated by the abundant growth of it on that part. Sir John Sinclair's description of them in 1792, and before they were thus changed by the admixture of the Leicester, is here given in a somewhat con- densed form: "Perhaps there i.i no part of the whole Island where, at single sight, a fine woolled breed of eheep is less to be expected than among the Cheviot hills. Many parts of the sheep walks consist of nothing but peat bogs and deep morasses. During winter the hills are covered with snow for two, three, and sometimes four months, and they have an ample proportion of bad weather during the other seasons oi the 3'ear, and yet a sheep is to be found that will thrive even in the wildest part of it. Their shape is excel- lent, and their fore quarter in particular is distinguished by such justness of proportion, as lo be equal in weight to the hind one. Their Imjbs are of a length to fit them for travelling and enable them to pass over bogs and snows, through which a shorter legged animal could not penetrate. They have a closer fleece than the Tweedale and Leicester breeds, which keeps them warmer in cold weather, and prevents either rain or snow from incommoding then). Their fleece is shorter and consequently more portable over moun- tainous pastures. They are excellent snow travellers, and are accustomed to procure their food by scraping the snow off the ground with their feet even when the top is hardened by tVost. Thc-y have never any other food, except when it is propnjcd to fatten tlieui, than the grass and natural hay produced on their own hills. Their weight, when fat.^ is from 17 to 20 lbs. per quarter ; and when fed on heath and kept to a proper age, their meat is fully equal in flavor to any the Highlands can produce.'' Old times — ueAv times. The Farmer's Cabinet notices the fact tliat, eighty -eight years ago (in the 3'ear 1751) the exports from the port of Pliiladelphia, when the then Province of Pennsylvania contained sixteen thousand families numbering less than one hundred thousand souls, were 12i*,i'G0 barrels of flour; 8G,UU0 bushels of wheat; r;U,74o bushels corn ; 5I*I.Miogsheads, 812 tierces, 28,338 barrels, 7,- 588 quarter casks of bread, besides 2-19 tons of the same in bags and sacks ; 925 barrels of beef; 3,431 barrels of pork ; 9,8(35 hogsheads, 454 half hogs- heads, 39 tierces and 221 barrels of flaxseed ; 4,912,943 staves ; 4,491 bars of iron ; 205 tons of pig iron ; 320 rhestH of furs ; 112 barrets, 6 boxes and 2 tierces of gin.seng. 14 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. The exports of that city would indicate not only a general industry in the population which appears greatly to the disadvantage of the present produ- cers in the United States, but a former fertility in the soil of Pennsylvania and the surronndingeoun- trv of West Jersey and Delaware equal to the pres- ent fertility of the great West. Every new coun- try produces in .ibundance when the forest is hrst taken away. The rough part of New Hainpsliirc, the round hills and swells which are to be found in the most elevated grounds that were settled during and near the close of the revolutionary war, were at first as productive as western New York or Ohio. Previous to and during the revolution, New Hamp- shire exported Indian corn and other bread stuffs. It was the productive industry of that period which l.xid the foundation of individual wealth and com- fort that have since been enjoyed. The fault of this generation is, that it buys too much and sells too little ; there is a great excess of imports over exports. It is a bad sign that we can buy cheaper than we think we can produce ; for wherewith shall we find the means of buying if we raise no surplus to sell .' Household manufactures are not worth the attention of females when every home-made article can be purchased cheap. When handsome ginghams can be bought for twelve or fifteen centu a yard, why should our farmers' wives and daughters spin and weave them from cotton that will cost more than half the price ? Why should they knit stockings with many hours' labor when beautiful wove stockinga can be bought by the dozen at twenty-five cents the pair.' Why should they card, spin and weave wool for fine or coarse wear, when the price of a woman s wages will buy moie cloth than she can manufacture in the time i" If our home manufacturing establish- ments filled up the space formerly occupied by the industry of our fire-sides, the case would not be so bad : but these manufactures are undersold, more in the articleu paying the higliest tax under the ta- riff than by the free articles, by foreigners. And cheap as every imported article supplying the place of the domestic article is, the lover the price, the greater the cheat, and the more sure the poverty and inability to purchase. How deep is the disgrace of the present day, that our forefathers of seventy and a hundred years ago on this ground exported bread stufls, and tliat we have to purchase them from abroad? that they manufactured the clothing which we obtain from beyond the seas .■■ that they saved dollars by their own industry which we now expend ? that they were gaining where we are losing .' At that time there were few non-producers in the whole com- munity. Almost every man and woman who w.as blessed with physical strength earned wherewithal to feed and clothe them and those who were their helpless dependents. Now fashion leads to a life without work : the most shrewd and most astute would spend their efforts in procuring and teaching the art of living best by living on the labors of oth- ers ; and their "pride of life " is that "lust of the eye" frorevelling in wealth gatheredby the sagacity which places the poor under obligation for the very oppression that brings about his starvation ! Nine- ty-nine in a hundred of the cheaters cheat them- selves and drink deep of the misery which they would inflict on others : the one of a hundred lords it over his fellow creatures, the greater villain if, which is most likely, he cover his wickedness un- der the hypocritical garb of affected individual charity, but the more detested if with a bold front he glories in the infamy which gives to him all his consequence. The whole community bleeds, that so large a portion of mankind is prone to the injus- tice and the passion of seizing and living on the productive labor of others, rather than honestly to work for their own support. With great pleasure do we publish the following communication from a farmer on the rough grounds of Hillsborough county, the son of an old friend whom we had not seen for many years, but who yet lives as the firm friend of man and of his coun- try, whose bounty he enjoys as a soldier of tlie rev- olution under the act of Congress of In.Vi. In the same town a compatriot pensioner died not many months ago at the unusual age of one hundred '.nd four years Uea. Weston must now be more than ninety years of age. He settled down on the land where he now lives at the close of the contest which gave his country liberty. He cut down the forest with his own liands— reared and supported a family, and obtained wealth which was worth to him as mucli as millions in liiglicr lile obtained in other occupations. His son settles down beside him ; and evinces by the following essay, probably the first he ever wrote for the press, that if he was not brought up to a book education, he has been a successful student of the great book of nature. Forlhe I''armer'-< Monlhly Visilnr. To Ex-Gov. Hill,— Si>:— I have read the Monthly Visitor for one year, and find many pieces well worth the attention of every judicious farmer: but there are some other matters, about which I have seen nothing written, and which I intend to notice. Brier Hedges. The first matter to which I would draw the at- tention of farmers is the brier hedfje that is fre- quently found surrounding fields enclosed general- ly with stone wall. Around many of these fields will be found a thrifty ring of briers and brush three or four feet wide. Suppose there are two and a half acres in the field, at that rate the brush and briers will take up about one-eighth of an acre of the best part of the land for grass. Now I would ask if we have twenty square rods to spare in such a field, whether it would not be best to have the plat of brii-rs in tlie centre .' If you plant this small field with corn, surely your boys will not have their feet and legs so much scratched while riding horse to plough. But there is no need of havifig them in either place. My method of late years is, when I am about to break up a piece of grass land thus enclosed, first to take my oxen and cart and hitch my plough to the end of tlie axle- tree : tliis will bring the furrow as near to ihe wall as you wish to have it. I make two furrows near as I can get them. The ground ploughed up by these two t'urrows I cart off and lay it either on wft land or in my hog or barn-yard in the fall, except- ing where the land descends from the wall, in whicli case I carry nothing aw.ay. The two furrows thus disposed of, Ihe field is ready for the plough. I then turn the first furrow on the outside into that which 1 have taken out. This leaves the field lev- el— no higher against the wall than any where else. In this way it is easy to keep the briers out, the land being mellow up to the wall. If there is one started, when I am hoeing, I pull it up with my hands generally myself: my boys are a little afraid of their hands. When I come again to lay my field down to grass, it is level to the wall : there is no ridge to encounter the scythe, and I generally find the best grass in the field on this reclaimed land, after the upper soil has answered a most useful purpose in another place. Treatment ot Pastures. My next object of notice is pasture land. Much is written on the subject of agriculture : of that much little is said about this most important part of every man's farm. Many farmers are short I'f pas- turing on aco.iunt of their land being either bound out or covered with brush, brakes and pod, so that from five to ten acres are necessary to pasture a cow But perhaps some will say their land is too rough to be ploughed. I recollect the editor of the Vis- itor passed through Mason, near where I live, a- bout thirty years ago, and stopped at the house of my father, t)ca. Rogers Weston : his second wife arid my mother-in-law, whose maiden name was Frost, 'has often told mo she first instructed you to learn the alphabet. If you then took notice of my father's land you will acknowledge it to be very rough. My farm is about one fourth of a mile dis- tant from my father's and equally rough. Sir, I would say the soil in the neighborhood where I live is good when we can find it; but it is some work to clear the stones off so we can dig into it. A gentleman and lady passing my house last fall no- ticed a piece of wall six feet wide and five feet hitrh. The lady asked the gentleman the use of such a great wall : his answer was, to get rid of trouble from the stones. Thrijshlng Machine. Whe have seen a Thrashing Machine of an im- proved construction, designed to be driven by two men, which it is st:iteil will thrash and clean at the same operation, from fiftj- to seventy-five bushels of grain per day. Il is the invention of a Mr. Da- venport, of Mont \'ernon, N. H. Its construction is simple, and it is easily transported in a one horse wagon. We have not seen it in operation ; but from inspection tlRTe is every reason to believe that if will fulfil its promise. The grain is separated from the straw, the straw carried to a convenient distance from the machine, and the grain passes immediately upon the riddles and comes out clean at the bottom. It is easily placed and worked on a barn floor. Its price is sixty-five dollars, and we believe it can be afforded at least fifteen dollars cheaper than that. It is said to have been in oper- ation a 3'ear, and is likely to prove of great value to the farmer. C. H. .Vete England Farmer. Gaiden seeds and Gardening. Gardi-ning is my nest subject. Every good gardener should raise his own seed, which he may do at much less cost than to purchase it. The rootf from which seed is raised should be set out as soon as the frost leaves the ground'in the spring, where there is nothing to keep the sun from ihem, or to break off the west wind, if you want good plump seed. If you set them behind a fence, you will be pretty sure to have blighted seed. My meth- od is to set them eighteen or twenty inches apart, and keep the ground clear of weeas, hoeing a little earth around the roots, which prevents the stems from falling to the ground. The safest way is to raise seed every year. I pre- fer new seed to old. Onion seed is as good the sec- ond year as the first — the third year not so good, and the fourth year good for nothing : I know this from sowing seed raised the same year four succes- sive seasons. As for beet, parsnip and carrot seed, I do not know how long they will be good ; but I should rather not sow either kind more than two years. Many people find it difficult to clean onion -! seed ; my method is to rub the seed from the hulls — shake 't in a pan or other vessel and take off as much chaff as can be separated conveniently upon the top from the seed. The vessel is then filled with water : the bliglifed seed and chaft'swim upon the top and are easily separated from the pliunp seed which sink to the bottom. The seed thus cleaned is found to be all good. I have obtained from about nine square rods of ground, which I commonly sow with onions, from thirty to forty bushels in a year. Tliis ground is neither dry nor wet — about the right kind to pro- duce Indian corn. For about fifteen years I have put two ox loads of green manure late in the fall upon it and ploughed the manure under. In the spring following, as soon as Ihe frost leaves the ground I sometimes plough, and at other times without ploughing, rake the ground over in one flat bed. I mark the rows straight through the bed by the edge of narrow boards, leaving them about eight inches apart. 1 have usually prepared the bed and sowed it in a half a d.iy with my own hands, assisted by a boy from seven to ten years of age, who covers the seed. I am satisfied that by sow- ing early, the flies are not so apt to destroy the plants. The onions ripen in my garden about the middle of September. Unripe onions I find are hardly worth carrying into the cellar. I sow my garden with no other machinery than was invent- ed by Adam when lie was first placed in the gar- den. John Conant, Esq. of Jafney, in the address pub. ed in your last Visitor, gives it as his opinion that level ground for raising carrots i..i better than drills or ridges. I have raised carrots for several years, when, with a little expense, one and a half to two i and the last year I raised between seventy and acres of the same land would much better do the same service. My farm is small — it consists of on- ly about sixty acres, woodland and all. Of course I have little pasturing, having with an expensive family as yet been able to purchase no adii'tion. — About ten years since I began to plough my pas- lure land, one, two and three acres in a year, .-iiid planted with corn and potatoes one or two years — always two years when there are brakes and brush to be eradicated. I h;ive not found means to ob- tain much manure for it without cheating my oth- er land, so that 1 have commonly put about four ox loads to the acre in the Iiill to give the crop on ear- ly start. I have in almost every year procured crop enough from the ground to pay for the labor. When I seed it down, I sow eight quarts of herds- gra;s and seven or eight pounds of clover seed to the acre. The pasture thus prepared holds out much better than laud that is mowed : one acre will afford more feed than four acres before it was ploughed. ghfy bushels on not far from fifteen square rods of dry, loamy land, sowed in ridges, two rows on each ridge from six to eight inches apart, and the ridiTCB not far from twenty inches distant from each other. Several years* experience has satisfied me that carrots do much better in ridges than in tho other way ; they are easier wed and kept clean — . the sun has a butter chance to warm the ground, and the tops do not so much cover the ground. — Ridrres about eighteen indies apart with one row to a ridge may be even better than the double ridge from there being less work in weeding. Sow gardens early. I sow my beets, carrots and other garden sauc» early: and find the benefit in having a plenty ol these earlier than those who sow late. My rea- sons for sowing early are, that the seed is more sure to come up well when the ground is moist ear- ly than when it is dry late, and the garden flea is not as likely to lane tha early as tbs later plant. If THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 15 the seed fails, or the insects destroy the young plant, there may be time for a second sowing perhaps as soon OS those wlio sow late from fear of the seed rotting in the ground. Value of root cultiv tion. There is no doubt in my mind that the cultiva- tion of roots tor cattle, swine and horses is a busi- ness of profit and worthy the attention of the farm- er— such as the ruta baga, mangel wurtzel, sugar beet and carrot. I made trial of carrots this last fall for my fatting hogs, by boiling and mixing them with a liltli- Indian meal. I thmk my liogs have done equally well as they have done when I fed with clear meal. If I should have my health an- other year, my intention is to sow something like an acre and a half with those roots. 1 am well per- Bunded we can raise them at less expense than we can raise the same value in potatoes. The sugar beet or carrot is the most valuable for feeding cat- tle, swine and horses. Making our farms a little better every year, as every farmer maj' do by an economical use of his time and means, we may gain something and get a comfortable living here among the rocks ; and per- haps we shall be as well off as those who go to the far West when we have done with this world's goods. i am not personally acquainted with the editor of the Visitor. I never saw him but once, and that was at my father's house about thirty ysars ago, when it was a social meeting, talkmg about "old Menot- oney" (the place of his and my adopted mother's nativity) the "signs of the times," &c. I have al- ways considered him as my friend ; and I would ask who is our friend, if he is not the friend to the farm.er .' Yours with respect, SAMUEL WESTON. Mason, Jan. 8, 1840. Statement of Brighton Market for 1839. 25,954 Beef Cattle, Sales estimated at 1,116,624 15,2»2 Stores, 02,400 Sheep, 26,088 Swine, 2."),S30 Beef Cattle, 9,573 Stores, 104,640 Sheep, 20,104 Swine, 427,056 214,650 143,534 18-38. $1,901,864 Sales estimated at " $3,058,004 1337. 31,644 Beef Cattle, ■'1 16,216 Stores, I Sales estimated at 110,2;16 Sheep, 17,052 Swine, J $2,449,231 1836. Sales estimated at $1,858,202 36,504 Beef Cattle,") 11,858 Stores, 82,630 Sheep, 15,667 Swine, 1635. 51,096 Beef Cattle, 1 15,872 Stores, [ Sales estimated at r J $1,878,032 en dollars which at the time of high prices costs him twelve and fourteen dollars the barrol ? If he sells not to exchange, but to lay up or obtain the money for other purposes, he will best meet the loss without repining. The farmer free from debt can kee]) his produce till it will bring the best price, and take all advantage of fluctuations of the mar- ket. We do not like to hear a farmer s.ay it is cheaper and better to buy his pork than to raise and fat it when it will bring only si.\ cents a pound. Does a pound of pork afford less nutriment when it brings six cents than when it brings ten cents .' Suppose nearly every l)ody who raises pork sliould leave it off because it will not bring so much as the price of the articles necessary to feed it : the con- sequence would at once be to raise the price of pork and depress the prico of the ai tides on which pork is fed ; and the fevr who continued to keep hogs and fat them might soon command almost their own price for all they would have to sell. Again: ifaman, a farmer, raises neither pork nor any thing else, because it bears too low a price for the labor, where shall he obtain money to pur- chase the article he may want even at the depress- ed price .' Water is an indispensable article of dai- ly and hourly use ; in this part of the country it costs nothing, and is generally esteemed to-be of no great intrinsic value, because it is within the reach of the lazy and improvident as itisoftlie vigilant and careful. Of what value would water be estimated, if it should become scarce, or could be procured only by wearisome labor? Yet man is ungrateful to his provident Maker who does not value this article higher than silver aad gold. — Man is also ungrateful when he complains that the creatures and Iruits of the earth are so plentiful that they will not pay his price for rearing and preserving them. season for gathering it canoes are rowed among tho grain. A blanket is spread upon them, and the grain is beaten upon the blankets. It is, perhaps, of all the cerealia, except the maize (Indian corn) most prolific. It is astonishing, amidst all our ea- ger and multiplied researches, that so little atten- tion has been bestowed upon this interesting and valuable grain. It has scarcely been known, ex- cept by Canadian hunters and savagci, that such a grain, the resource of a vast extent of country, existed. It surely ought to be ascertained if the drowned lands of the Atlantic country, and the im- mense marshes and stagnant lakes of the south, will grow it. It is a mistake that it is found only in the northern regions of this (the Mississippi) valley. It grows in perfection in the lakes about Natchitoches, south of 32 degrees, and might prob- ably be cultivated in all climates of the valley. — Though a hardy plant, it is subject to some of the accidents, that cause failure of the other grains. — The grain has along slender hull, much resembling thit of oats, except that it is longer and darker. In detaching this hull the Indians use a process of drying, that in most instances destroys its germin- atincr principle. Those who have found this grain unpleasant have perhaps eaten it when smoked and badly prepared. There is, probably, the same dif- ference in quality, too, as in other grains. The grain that we have eaten was as white as the common rice. Puddings made of it tasted lik^ those made of sago." 93,100 Slieep, 23,142 Suine It is gratifying to learn from the foregoing ta- bles (presumed to be correct) that notwithstanding the (Jepreci.ation in the prices of cattle during the last ye.nr, the amount of sales at the Brighton mark- et was only about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars less than that of the year 1838, when, the prices of catlle, sheep and swiiie were at the high- est point. The fat beeves kept back in the country on account of the fall and w^-.ich will be driven in during tlic present winter will probably bring the amount raised for sale in 18'J9 greater than the a- raountsold in 1838. There ought to be no halting in the raising of cattle on the part of our farmers even at the pres- ent prices: cattle are really high enough in pro- portion to every thing else. Fluctuations, e.t- pansions and contractions in demand and price, are at all times inconvenient and injurious to some- body : they never would take place, or they would be of much less frequent occurrence, under a prop- er system of currency and credit. It is really too bad that a man of the greatest labor and enterprise should sometimes experience greater losses in pro- port'on to the extent of his efforts — for instance, that he slumld pay the liighest price in purchases for feeding, and be obliged to sell at the lowest price the creature fed. The difl'erence is not so great to the man who raises not nuich beyond his own consumption, and buys only what he pays for in his own produce. AVhat matter is it to the far- mer, that pork sells for six instead of tenor twelve cents n pound, if he purcliasos with it flour at sev- V, iia Rice of the West. ^KMilford, MassncUuselts, Jan. 9, 1840. " I will do my best to get as many subscribers as I can for the Visitor, as 1 think the paper is do- ing a vast deal of good. It gives the farmers that kind of knowledge which they most want. "I wish to be informed in respect to the cultiva- tion of the liild Rice found in our Northern and Western lakes and rivers. I believe it may be rais- ed in our flowed meadow and swamp lands thatare flowed tor running our factories. If you or any of your correspondents'will give the necessary infor- mation through the medium of your paper — how the seed may he procured, and the manner in which it may be cultivated— you will confer a great favor on many of your readers, as well as on Your humble servant, PEARLEY HUNT. , We have no personal knowledge on this subject, but solicit from some friend at the West who has, the information asked by our correspondent. Of all the books on the Western country we find none so interesting and so particular as Flint's "History and Geograpliy of the Mississippi Val- ley ;" from that book we extract the following in- formation, which we do not doubt will interest our readers as it has interested us : "Wild Rice, called by the French/oWcs avoincs — by the Indians, mcnomtnc. It is found in the greatest abundance on the marshy margins of the northern lakes, and in the plashy waters on the up- per courses of the Mississippi. It grows in those regions on a vast extent of ccuntry. It is^ there that tiie millions of migrating water fowls fatten, before they take their autumnal migration to the south. It is there, too, that the northern savages, and the Canadian traders and hunters, find their annual supplies of grain. But for this resource they could hardly exist. It is a tall, tubular, reedy water plant, not unlike the bastard cane of the southern countries. It very accurately resembles the cane o-rass of the swamps and savannahs on the GulfTif Mexico. It springs up from w.iler,s of six or .'ioveii feet in depth, where the bottom is soft and muddy. It rises nearly as high above the water. Its leaves and spikes, though much larger, resemble those ofoats, from which the French give it itK name. Its culm is jointed, as large as the lit- tle linger; leaves broad, and linear, jianicle more than a foot in length; the lower branches w'ith spreading barren dowers, the upper with t'erlde and erect ones. The seeds are blackish, smooth, narrow, cylindrical, about three quarters of an inch long, deciduous. Il is suid to hurc Iceii iHscvfirrd in thr linoks nf Mufsachuselts. When it is intend- ed to be preserved for grain, the spikes are bound together, to preserve them from the ravages of buds and water fowls, that prey upon them in immense numbers. It thus has a chance to rijicn. At the Acknowledgments. [nrThe Editor of the New York Daily Whig has forwarded us several English newspapers received by the late arrivals : he uiust have understood the pleasure we derive from perusing these newspa- pers at all times of leisure, thus to have been at the pains to minister to our gratification. The Editor of the Faujiikr's Mo.vtulv Visitor is underobligations to the newspaper press through out the country for the favorable notice which his journal has received. Contemporary agricultural papers have noticed his labors with a kind and gen- erous spirit, speaking well of every effort that de- served praise, and silently passing over any thing that might be censured. The daily Press of the Cities, which is devoted more to the concerns of commerce and trade and the noise of political discussion than to the domes- tic arrangements and economy of the farmer, has taken frequent occasion ;to extract from us, and to speak well of us. Among other papers which do not exchange with us, and whose editors of course are paying subscribers, we mention the Times and Evening Journal of Boston, andj the Journal of Commerce of the city of New York which gives us an exchange. The weekly paper issued from the last office is always received in good time to assist in making up the latest foreign and domestic mark- ets, and is worth many times the price it costs us. There is an industry and tact in collecting and im- parting useful information in that Journal that may well commend it to the support even of the Farmers of the interior, who will obtain in the weekly sheet all matter of interest that appears in the daily news. The editors of political newspapers throughout New England, and especially the political newspa- pers of every denomination through' thi.^ State, liave extracted from and commented upon the arti- cles in the Visitor in a manner of which we have no reason to complain. Every thing regarding our paper thus far has been pleasant and agreeable. Especially does it invigorate our pen to be visit- ed and have our works commended by judicious farmers from the various towns, who practically know much more about agriculture than we can be supposed to know. When they tell us that our la- bors are infusing a spirit of improvement in the farmers of their neighborhood — when they tell us that our news of others' success arouses many to a determination also t^ deserve success — when they" tell us that we have awakened men who have long pursued a system of cultivation caicubited to ex- haust the sod and had become so discouraged as to think they must leave it, to try a different course, and adopt the renovntins process vpon their lands — when they tell us that the Farmer's Monthly Visi- tor is welcome to the winter fire-side and is con- sulted a.i a monitor by the old as well as the young, by males and females; — when they communicate with us in these kind words of approbation, wear© cheered onward, and induced to redoubled efforts to please and gratif)' the thousands who look to our columns for information. Tho^e icishinfr to obLuin thcist rohinie of the I'is- itor can hare the bach numbers sc7it to their address at the regular sulscription prices, bij sending a line to the pw'disher free of pos'a^c. 16 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. The Wheat crop in Epping. t>ear SJr— After seeing .V"ur estimite in the ninth number of the Visitor of half a million bush- els of wheat raised in the State the past season, pivingto each rnin, woman and child in the State, one and a half bushels, I have taken particular pains to ascertain the quantity raised in the town of Epping. 'Ihe number of Inisliels I have ascer- tained \iijiftccn hundred and sixty-four; but as there are some few persons I have not heard from, I will say the whole number is about sixteen hundred. Comparing the town of Kpping so near tlie sea board, with larger wheat growing towns in the in- terior, the present year's product will very well a- gree witli your estimate. The kind raised was principally Black sea wheat it was generally sowed about the seventeenth of May ; the yield was from ten to twenty bushels for one of seed sown. But several farmers are of opin- ion that if they liad sown a less quantity than one and a half bushels to the acre,they should have had a larcer crop. It is the belief of most farmers in this town, that about one bushel of the Black sea wheat, where the land has been well manured and duly prepared, is a sufficient quantity to the acre. Owing to the scarcity of seed last spring, there was notlo much wheat sowed as there would have been if there had been plenty ; but I think the town will plentifully supply itself with breadstuff; there were raised about as many bushels of rye and barley as oi wheat, and about "double tiie num- ber of bushiils of Indian corn as of all tlie other grains ; so we shall not be obliged to go to llie sea board except for a small quantity of the finer flour. THOMAS WILLEY. To the editor uf the Visitor. Hj" With the foregoing letter the writer sends a list of subscribers from Epping, and their advance pay for the year 1840, and adds ; " I intend to send you more subscribers, for 1 feel a deep interest that every farmer, whether small or great, should avail himself of the privilege of perusing so valuable and highly interesting a periodical journal as the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. The first number of the first volume lias been tome more than four times the value of the amount of subscription paid for the whole twelve numbers." Epping is situated thirty miles southeasterly from Concord, and twenty miles due west from Portsmouth, with the valley of the Lamprey river, a tributary to the Piscataqua, running through the town from east to west, only a few feet more ele- vated than the ocean into which it is emptied. The town contains nearly twenty square miles and J2,- 760 acres, being little more than one third the size of a SIX mile township : population about 1300. This population are almost e.\ lusively of the class which cultivate the ground. " CiNciMXATUs,"now an octogenarian, who has bern distinguished in po- litical life, and who wrote a series of essays in the New Hampshire Patriot many years ago principal- ly on the subject of agriculture, with several sons settled in life, resides in Epping : a family of more wealth than alm-st any other in the State But independent of them, there are few communities better off than the mass of the people of Epping. Its farmers are generally rich, and perhaps even in more easy circumstances as to peciniary matters than their most wealthy family. The soil of Ep- ping is not by nature as strong as that of Notting- ham, Deerfield and Epsom, w lich are elevated several hundred feet above it — much of the mead- ow and pasture land is flat and cold a:d of thiU mould: no inconsiderable part of it is natural to a white birch and poplar growUi which is generally esteemed poor land. All this the Epping farmers have found out a way to make fertile and profita- ble. The compost manure piles on the highway are a sure indication of good farming in any town. KicHARD WuiTF., Esq. of South Hampton, rai- sed the present year, from fourteen quarts of seed, fifteen and a half bushels of Black Sea wheat. — South Hampton is still nearer to the sea than Ep- ping. rich experience, generally told in a way to please farnu-rs. As. the best proof of merit, more than two hundred subscribers are furnished for the Cul- tivator in Framingham, a town numbering a popu- lation of less than three thousand, where its editor is best known. For the first vear of the Monthly Visitor the State of Massachusetts has spontaneously given us more than one thousand subscribers ; and for the second vear, our publisher in Boston thinks he ciin easily procure four times that number. It will be obser- ved that the character of our paper is more gener- al than local — that it embraces matter which makes the former numbers of almost equal interest with the current numbers. No man or woman who has read the twelve numbers of the last year has yet told us that he has not got his pay; no subscriber who has talked with us on the subject has said he shall not renew his subscription. If any one does fail, it will be not because he does not consider the Visitor worth twice its cost, but because he may not at the moment have seventy-five cents in his pocket, or because he may not at the riglit time sec the agent who holds the subscription. Subscrib- ers will remember that at any time of the year they may obtain all the back numbers; and that the post-master of their town is authorized at any time to forward the price of their subscription free of expense of postage. FROM THE POST MASTER GENERAL.— Jj" Remittances bv Mail. — '■'■ .i Postmaster may enclose money in a letter to the Publisher of a J\'eics- paper., to pay die suhseription of a third person, and frank the letter, if written by himself" Note — Some subscribers may not be aware of the above regulation. It will be seen, that by requesting the Post Master where they reside to frank their let- ters containing subscription money, he will do so upon being satisfied that the letter contains noth- ing but what refers to the subscription. NRW YORK WHOLESALE PRICES Jan. IG. Corrected fronilhe N.Y. Journal of Commerce. Beeswax, wliila, ;t.^ cts. Caiiriles, '.nllnw, ll'.c. l-<.al, Schuylkill. $7 50. CnlTee, 9 lo 1 Ic. (.^ottnn, 9 to 12c. Feather*, Amcr. Ttf^e, Flax, Aiiier. 71 to 6c. Miilcx, ftio Gr. 15c. Lime, 'I'nninnslrin, $1 25 Leather, o.ife foIe,25c. .Molas.= e.s, alio '.lie. Oil, Linseed, 57 to C7c. " .Sperm winter, $1 20. Beef, City, .^I'J.iU. I'otk, mess, SI;*. Ilamp, 7 lo lie. Lard, 7 to — c. Butter, Goshen, IStn'i'?. (^heei^e, Ainer. 7 to 9i:. l'la«t.-r, S2 25. •i.ill, Tit. Island. 33c. 'iigars, ."i.! to lOr. Tallnw. Amer. 9lol0c. U'ciol, Amer. Sa\.. 57c. rinur, wheat, S5 75 to 0 25. " rve, s:i 75 lo 4 00. Whe.nt, Vir. SI 1" lo 1 15. Uve, Nor. 68 to 70c. Cfirn, 51) to 00c. tats. Nor. 30 to 10. BANK NOTE T.ABLE. Corrected for the Dover Gazette, January 20, 18-10. LIST OF BROKEN AND CLOSED BANKS. Boscaiecn, January 4^/t, 1S40. Ilos. Isaac Hill, — Dear Sir: — 1 want to give you the account of the increase of one Rohan po- tatoe, weighing only twelve ounces, from which grew two large bushels, weighing 130 lbs. ; mak- ing 2,080 ounces, and 173 ounces from one. I paid one cent and a half an ounce for the seed; and I think it cheaper than the common kind of potatoe. Yours respectfuUv, ■ P. KIMBALL. MAINE. Bantiot Imnk. Banpor. Bank ofOldtDwn, Onmo. Bath hank, Castine. Daniariscntla bank, tftxtoril hank, Fryebnrg. Ilallovvell & Au[;Li»ta, M Hal lovvc II. Kennehunk hank, .\rundtl. Kennebec hank. Hallnnell. •OlilCiiniberland bank, Porl- land Penotircot hank, Bnngiir. People's hank, Bannor. Pa3samdia()uuddy batik. East' (inn. Saco bank, Saco. Waterville liank Walerville WInthrop bank, Winthrop. Wisc^isset bank, Wiscasset. Washincton Co. bank, Calais .MASSACHU.^ETTS. Bank of N'nrfi.lk, Koxhiiry. Berk hire bank, Piinfiehl. CiiinniO'i wealth bank.Bosltin. tjlielsea hank, Chelsea. Egst'j bank, Salem. KiiM.in har.k. llosion Farmer's bank, Belchertown. fFrand Fariner'rt & Mechanics' bank, .\dniiis, new. Franklin bank, Boston. Kilby hank, Boston. Layfai eltc bank, Bnslon. .Miildiiiifj Interest hk. Boston. Middle^ex hank, Cambridge. *iMetid(in hank. Mendon. \ewliuryport bank. .\alinnl bank, Lynn. Phn'ni.x bank, .Nantnckcl R.iUniry bank, Koxbiiry. -button jhank, WilkitisonviUe. Wobiiin bank, Wohiirn. IIHDDE ISLAND, nnrrillville bank, Biiriillvllle. Farmer and Mechanic's bank, Pawliickel. Farmer's ICichango hank, Gloucester. CONNECTICUT. Derby bank, Derby. do pay at Fulton hank New York. Facie bank. New Haven. NEW HAMPSHIRE. Hillsborough bk. .\mhcrst. Concord, (.Sparhawk Cashier.) *Blll9 sllll received. THE MARKETS. NEW YORK, JAN. 14. THE MARKF,T.— Genesee Flour is .ifiered nt SO ."^0 wllb- out bnyFrs. A sale was made ol fancy Jersey at .$0."0, and that IS the holding piire. I'orn 58 a ii*^c. The sales of t^it- tnn for the day are 900 bales at drooping prices. A parcel of clinire N. Orleans sidd at lUc Ih Sturks have fallen liack decidedly, not from any new state of affairs, only those who run luires up on the basis of the news from England, prove to have gone too far. Bills on Englantl are pleniy. DOMESTIC EXCHANGES. Philade'phia and Baliimore Riihnioiid Charleston Savannah .'\iigusta Macon Sevr Orleans .Miss:sstppi London Agricultural NeAVspapers. There are tliree .'\gricultural papers published weekly in Boston, viz: — the.^V^e England Farmer, the Yankee Farmer, and the Cultirator. These publications are all prosperous ; and probably the oldest one of them has more patrons at the present time tlian it had when there was no competitor in the field. The most recently established paper, the Cultivator, numbers before the end of its first year about four thousand subscribers. The editor of that paper, William Buckminster, Esq. but re- cently was a I'armer in Framingham, a lull town some twenty-five miles out of the city : his paper from week to week teems with the i'ruits of his oia — S"a — :i.i a 4 5 .a — 7 a S 10 a — 3| a 4 25 a .19 7J a 8 Journal ofCnminerre BOSTON, JAN. IS. FUnir — Prices have iinpioved in .\tw ^'ort;. .ami a cdrrcs- pnndmc Improvement has taken p'nre Within a few diys — The closing sales of Genesee common brands, yesterday, were 6 62 a SO 75, cash ; the market is now firm at the Intti-i prices. Sales of ;^ a 40M hhls U ichmond $0 2.'i, cash. Grain — There is qiiile an active demand for Corn, which sells readily as it arrivi 9. The closing sales nf yellmv 11 o are OH, and while (.1 a t;4c per bushel — which is a llltli- lou - er. A patcci •■I' very inferior New Orleans snidat aucriim. \epterda4-, at 5'2r pet bushel, r»r 5:lc ca-h. Sales of Souiltvin Oats, 3S a 40c, and no .N'oitlicrn oi Eastern in .ii.irket. NEW ENGLAND CATTLE MARKET. BRIliHTON, M.inday. Jan. 13. At tnarkcl 0.50 Beef Cat tie, 130 Stores, 1050 Sheep, and 40 Swine. Prices— Beef Cal- tl,. — We qunle In corresptmd with last week : first qualitv, 350 25 ; second qunliiy. $5 .'lO a .SO ; third qunliiy, 4 50 n $5-2.5. BarrellingCattle— Mess 550 ; No. !,S5. Mores— Very fe\v sales we-e etfecled. Cows and Calves — We noticed a few t,!ites — $27, :12, 35, and .10. Sheep — I ols were siddaIS2 25, 2 75, 3 50. 4 25, and 4 50. Swine — 1'husenl market were ped died atlroin 4 to 6c. Nor KECi-IVEU .'VT THE bliFFULK BANK. ban:cs. Ma I. -IE. — .Azricultural, Brewer, Bangor Commercial, Calais Bank, Calais, City Bank, Pertlaml^ Dainariscitta Bank, Frankfort Bank, Fiankfort, Geor:;i.a Luuiher Co. Puitland, lilohe Bank, Ringor, Mi-ri aiilile Hunk, Uausnr, Mednniak, WaUh.boiough, .Sli Ivvaler Canal . Ortoio, Bank of VVcsthrook, \\'rsthrook, .New H amc^hire. — V\ulfeboroi;gh, .M.%5».iCHC9EiTs. — t.belsea Bank, Fu tnti, Boston, MddliiiL' Interest, Boston, Norfolk, Roibury, Middiese.x, Cambridge, Nahant, Lynn, Rhode Island. — Providence^Bills, Scituale Bank, Sciluatc, .\11 otht-is III the Slate, Vebmo>t. — Bank ol Bennington, Bank ol .Moiitpelii-r, f^Ionipelier, B.ink of Wind-. .r, Windsor, 'Bank ol .Manchester. Manchester, Hank of Orleans, Ira-hurg, Hank ol S'. A'han.-, St. Allians, Essex, Guildhall, Veryeniifs Bank, Vergennes. Co w H EcTicL' r. — Briitgt port Bank, Fairfield County Bank, Housaloiiir Railroad Banking Cr'. Stamford Itunk, Stamford, lD=By request of a committee of the Lyceum of the town, the Editor of the Farmer's .Monthly Vis- itor will deliver an address on the subject of Agri- culture at the meeting house in the centre of Can- dia, .\. H. on Wednesday evening, at six o'clock, February 17, 1840. Jigents and those se>.ding the naines of subscri- bers to this office are requested to icriic them in a leg- ible hand, and also to be particular in endorsing the. names of the towns and states in which they reside, as ice frcfjuently receive complaints of carelesncss iii sending papers, when such mistakes often arise Jroin neglect on the part of those who send directions, which in 7nany cases it is impossible to understand. It dU. JO a m 10 a a 15 — a 10 10 a 15 10 a 15 10 a — 10 a — JO fi 5 :\ (i — n ao 5 a — a 75 a HO ;to a 20 a 25 15 a — 5 n t- a 60 A a 1 a ao 2 a ;* z a a 4 u a a a ^i ^h 10 a 75 — n 1 n \ 4 J I 4 6 a a 4 NEW YORK CATTLR MARK-ET, Jan. Kront llie Journal of Cotni At Market, 850 Bf-ef Cai« 13. lerre. 70 Milch Co'.vs, and -2000 ijilirpp and Eninha. Prices lieciined sliphtly. Beef C;itllp — St)ld from 6 ro HJ, av. $7,\ per 100 Ihs. Milch i^ows— £;o sold jit 30 to ,^43 each. Sheep and Lamb.^ — Sheep sold at 1 V io.'$4, Lambs at 1% to $3 each— inlets demand— 1000 sold. iray,hy the load, Fold at 6'! to T.'ic. ptr 100 Ihi. THE FARMEU'S .liONTIILY ViSiTOR, A MONTHLV NK.WSPAPER, IS I'LBI.ISHED BV ISAAC HILL, IfUrs Jhick Block, Concord^ A'. //. JAMES BURNS, l'J4, JVashington si., Boston, Ms The Visitor will be isi^ued on the last day of eacli month. Theferms will be ntvcntv-fipt ceutsa year payable always in ad- rancf. For all ^jihsc fibers less than 9 f, Ageii'ti'Will be allowed a deduction of 6'^ cents eacli — for all over 2-1 subscri!,ieis on any one agency i2J cenis each will be allowed. Thns, lor six subscribers fonrdolUr? — twelve, eight dollars — emhteen, twelve dollars — twenty- four, fifteen dollars,w ill be rem ill*: d. Single numbers, twelve and a half cents each. ■ AH subscri- bers will commence with the first nunibei ol the year. J):::>- Coiiimnni<.ations by mail, will bz directed to the Publisher, Onpi'rd, N. '.\. COIVDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. ' Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breasts he has made his peculiar dcpositcfor substantial and genuine Di/iMB. "-Jefferson. VOLUME 2. CONCORD, N. H., FEB, 28, 1840. NU?vIBER 2. THE ViSITOH. THE DAIRY. Batter an article of necessity. No unimportant item in the consumption of ev- ery family is the article of Butter. The good liver could not supply the tabic tor a single day without the use of butter in some process of cookery, if not in direct application upon the table. Good yellow- sweet butter upon the table wdl atnne for almost any other deficiency except it be bread alone; and without butter an abundance of every thing else will not suttee to supply its place. We eat butter with every thin^r that is dry — we melt and mix it with the most of edibles tliat are moist. Without it, our toast is insipid, our gravies are unsavory ; the calce, whose dougli ia unmixed with butter, is not welcome to the palate — the meat, whose cookery is unbasted with butter, is rejected bythosc of healthy appetite and hearty digestion. In fact, without this article in daily use as well in the family of the day- hiborcr as of the man of wealth, the business of eating, the great business that sustains our physic- al nature and constitution, would be considered an intolerable and unpleasant, instead of a desirable and gratifying part of our lives. What would the provider for a Now Kn|pjand fam- ily do without butter.^ His wife or his housekeep- er might be, and she ought to be, of tiie most pleas- ant temper. She should be of that patient disposi- tion which makes the l>est of every thing — whicli supplies every temporary privation and disappoint- ment by substituting from her own invention and ingenuity whatever deficiency it is impossible to supply. She should be rich in that experience which has tauijht all tlie variety of household ex- pedients for making a good and savory dish from t!ic materials that may be within reach. But what shall be done in a common famdy, even with such a female at its head, wlio for days and weeks sliall be deprived of butter, or of the more important ar- tiple from whicli batter is made ^ Necessity mny force mankind to habitual priva- tion. If thrown upon the shores of some inhospi- table island, men and women may subsist wiiere, in a land like this "overflowing with milk and lion- ey," it m'-glit be supposed they would starve. But deprive one of our cities, or even one of our con- siderable villages for the space of any three months in a j-ear of the article of butter ; and what would be the consequence .'' The condition of those daugh- ters who liad left tlic dairies and farms of their fa- thers to reside with husbands in a society more compact if not more pi-lished, would l)e considered as intolerable from tliis single privation alone: they would long to be restored to the fire sides they had left, again to participate in that daily repast which was made most palateable by the butter which they had churned, the cream wliich they had skimmed, the milk v/hich their hands had drawn from tiie looing herds of their own paternal flock. If under a false construction of that article of the Consitution of the United States which allows Congress to rejulate commercial intercourse, the national legislature were to i)rohibit the importa- tion of butter into the port of Boston, what priva- tion, what embargo short of the inhibition of bread and luea would so soon call out a general re- tiistancc of its inhnbitants ? Cors, that of rooting out the spontaneous and noxious weed from auiong the necessary and useful grains, plants, &c., we have been at considerable expense in making and preparing machinery and effecting improvenients for tlie purpose of manufarturing HOES (a sample of which we send you to-day by our very respcataldc citizen and farmer, Dea. Epps Buruham, who is aliout establisliing himself in Con- cord) ttiai »C believe are not inferior in point of workmanship, utility am! d'.'.rability to any now manuliictured in our country. Our hoes ..re made of the best double refined cast-steel, of thicker gaae than many cast-steel hoes have been made of in latter years, and are tempered but about two inches upon the edge. The remainder of the hoe not being tempered, renders it much less likely to crack or^be broken, wlierethe shank (as we term it) is riveted on. The plate of the shank is larger, re- quiring four rivets instead of three, as has been usual "the hoe plate and shank both being counter- sunk their thickness, and thoroughly riveted, makes it very improbable that the hoe will ever failin that part, unless it is done by some uncommon strainer blow. We have spared no pains in procuring the best article for handles that can be found ; all se- lected from a large lot, paying price accordingly. We make our ferrules wide of Russia iron, well brazed, in preference to making them all of brass, being much more durable ; and we key the hoe fast to the handle. But, sir, this minute description of so simple an article is perhaps entirely useless and unnecessary, for when it falls under the observing eye of a thor- ough-going and practical farmer, he will rc-adily ap- preciate all its valuable qualities, and it is most certain that he will readily observe the defects, should there be any. If you deem the article wor- thy of any notice in the most valuable Visitor of visitor.^, you are at liberty to make any remarks you please, or make such disposition of this com- munication as you think may best promote the in- terests of the farmer. Very respectfully yours, ISAAC BALDWIiN & Co. Value of Town Corporations. There are no corporations better managed than the many little Republics existing in New England called Towns. These since its fust settlement have sustained the " lienor, safety and welfare" of our citizens. Nine-tenths of our efl'ective government are derived from the towns and their authorities. When the first blood was spilled at Lexington, the town authorities rallied to furnish the men and the means for resistance : when the sword of the ene- my or destitution thinned the ranks of the Ameri- can army, the several towns filled them. Whatfur- nishes now, and what has for many years furnish- ed the mean.? of general instruction to our youth — what makes and keeps in repair our excellent pub- lic roads— what furnishes at the instant support for the destitute, the sick and dying, but the govern- ment of our tov.ms .'' These purely republican governments, speaking always the direct will of the people, are the nurse- ries where our best statesmen receive their qualifi- cations. For when a man once thoroughly under- stand.s the duty of head-servant in a town — when he has faithfully stood for a season in the capacity of one of the "fathers of the town," he will be qual- ified for the higher employment of legislator or mag!5trat3. It is much to the credit of most of our country towns that they have supported their great annual expenses gcnemlly without incurring debts whose annual interest is a continual burden upon them. Some of tliem are obliged to lay out large extra a- mounts of money in the construction of roads and bridges : if this is not all collected and paid at once, the whole amount is usually discharged in a few years. We remember no where to have heard of a more enterprising sjiirit than that displayed by the little town of Campton, situated almost among the moun- tains, oil the main spindle of the Merrimack. The toll-bridge in that town was carried away in the freshet of last winter : its proprietors, interested in iiaVir.-^ltliough notin rebuilding the bridge,forced '^ ' „ , .. (irion the town. As and at the With the foregoing letter we received two oftlio within described hoes well set in their handles, bright and templing enough to any n.an who ever handled tlie hoe to commence at once the work. — In easv ground, no man could be excused for being lazy W'ith such a hoe, which is quite as convenient for cutting up, as it could be lor covering up, grass and weeds We are glad to be informed, that Mr. Baldwin, who is among the most ingenious and substantial mechanics of°the State, has made arrangements lor the manufacture of these hoes upon an extended scale, being able to furnisli them to the traders by the dozen or the hundred, lie has heretofore well succeeded in making the article : as he now makes them, his hoes are better than they ever have been before. The machinery for the manufacture is car- ried by water-power on a stream running into the Contoocook at the village near the south line ol Antrim In the county of Hillsborough. At the season of hoeing, after we shall have tri- ed them, occasion may be taken again ^to notice these hoes in the columns of the Visitor, its construction as a iici^.'.r:L one man the wh'de town undertook it expense of eight thousand dollars they have erec- ted two beautiful bridges across this stream within the town limits. To do this an extra tax as high as five doll.ars on each rateable poll was necessary , but the men who could work had the advantage, every one havinew Jersey, alluded to in a former discussion, is what is called a freen sand, composed of silex, potash, and iron. It^yields potash, and thus neutralizes any acid substances which may exist in the soils, to which it is applied. Every observing traveller in passing tlirough dit- ferent countries, perceives that the soils of different - countries possess properties peculiar to themselves. Thus limestone soils seem most congenial to the production of wheat; and granitic soils to that of grass. Each rock may be traced by its peculiar vegetation. The soils on the trap-rock formation in this Slate are distinctly marked. ■ A great part of the State is of what is called the diluvial formation. In this case there is an evi- dent removal of the earth's surface or soils by some violent convulsion in a sort of wave, from the north to the south. The proofs of this deluge in its ad- vances south may be distinctly traced. Thus in a diluvial formation the soils will be found to be com- posed of the same elements as the rocks some miles distant to the northward of that place ; and maybe very different from the soil, which might be said to belon-T to the place, where they are found. As ev- idence of this movement south, the rocks in the vi- cinity of Providence are evidently formed from the disintegration of rocks of the grey wacke formation some distance to the northward. The greywacke rocks are those composed of other rocks of various descriptions collected together In a miscellaneous combination, and cemented by a kind of argillace- ous paste. In Maine there are abundant proofs that the whole soil of the country has, in many places, been removed southwardly. In Thomaston the soil is evidently of diluvial formation. Portland rests upon a tbrm.atlon of mica and lalcose slate ; but the soil is granitic and evidently transported from the vicinity of Brunswick. The diluvial soils were transported by some ex- traordinary change in the earth's surface produced, it may be, by a deluge or some similar catastrophe, uvial soils are formed from the washing of high All places into those which are lower, by rams or fresh- ets, and take place by a gradual deposit ot earths or sand from water thus rendered turbid. 1 lie di- luvial soils have a higher antiquity than the alluvial. The fertility of alluvial soils is owing, in a consid- erable measure, to the fine comminution of the par- AO THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. tides of which they arc composed. This nllowsthe roots of plants to spread themselves fretdy- There is much vegetable matter mixed up with them, though these soils are not remarkable for its abun- dance. Upon an examination of the alluvial soils of the Mississippi, tiic Ganges, and the Nile, they are found nearly to resemble each other, with the vegetable matter contained in them in a finely di- vided state. The mixed elements of soils liave a powerful ac- tion upon each otlier, and upon the plants w^hich grow in tliem. Their earthy parts have an electro- motive power, which operates not only by the roots but by the leaves, A fertile soil consists of ele- ments in a positive and a nej^ative electric state, fairly balancing each otiier. If the soil is acid, it !b barren ; if alkaline, barren. The acid is in a negative, the alkaline in a positive electric Btate. Vegetable niannres become acid or negative ; ani- mal manures positive or nikoline : they must be combined in order to produce "the best results.— When peats alone are used for manuring soils, tlic results are not always favorable. Farmers pro- nounce it a cold substance. In this natural state it abounds in acid properties and produces sorrel. We may render this substance one of the most valu- able of manures by suitably pi'eparing it, according to the experience of many farmers. Peat ehorild be combined with some alkaline or basic substance, which will neutralize the acid which prevails in it, and then it will supply an abundant nutriment to vegetables. Peat is composed of mosses which grow and then continually decay, giving place con- stantly to a succession of these spliagneous plants, intermixed with leaves and decayed trees. Thev abound on the sea-board. Swamp mud resembles peat in proportion to the decayed vegetable matter which it contains; and is adapted to supply tlie manure we want. Peat beins; dug out, another growth of it come.^ forward, and alter a while its place is supplied a- gain. On Bh>ck Island, vi'hero it abounds, it is tised altogether for fuel. In this place the peat contains 98 per cent, of vegetable matter. Our peats contain from SO to 97 parts of vegetable mat- ter. Swamp mud consists of vegetable matter and earth, making a good manure wJien its acid prop- erties are neutralized. Several farmers in the neiTli- borhood of Boston have experienced its value. — Peat can be substituted by proper management for manure. A distinguished farmer says th?t farmino- cannot be carried on in his location without peat. Two farmers within his knowledge have mixed three parts of peat with one of stable duno-. By mixing it with lime and animal manure, ammoni- acal gas is produced, which dissolves the peat and converts it into a powerful manure. Lime is higlily useful in its application to soils. In bone manure it is found in combination with phosphoric acid. The crenic and apocrenic acids unite with it and form manures. All manures be- fore they act, become converted into salts. Soils are in an acid or natural state. Large tracts of country, which are now barren, by proper applica- tions, might be rendered fertile. A larm within his knowledge, which was a blowing sand, a pine barren, and almost hopeless, on which ten busliels of corn to an acre could scarcely be grown, by the judicious application of ashes, iias been made to produce forty to fifty bushels to tiie acre. The Dr. here illustrated his position by givino- the chemical analysis of certain soils in Rhode Isl- fcnd, which it is understood will be presented to the public in his report in a detailed form. Methods should be taken to render the insoluble matter in Boils soluble, that it may be taken up by tiie plants; and it is desirable that this process should proceed gradually. If acidities abound in the soil, correc- tives must be applied. It is easy to convert one quality of soil into another. The value of geoloir- ical investigations is not properly estimated. An analysis of soils is greatly wanted. The statistics of agriculture are greatly wanted. Farmers are not exact in their observation of their crops. Ma- ny valuable agricultural districts are bottomed up- on clay. TJiis is desirable in order to preserve the manures whicii.nre applied to them. In soils where the manures applied pass through them by infiltra- tion, much loss is sustained; and they are not fa- vorable to agricultural products. This infiltration of manures is doubted by some, but the condition of our wells proves it. Tlie water in a barn yard is never pure. As much as a tea spoonful of veg- etable to a gallon is often obtained from waters which are considered pure. Tliis may be seen by any one who will evaporate the Boston waters to dryness. In the purest water obtained from lakes, 1 1-2 grain of vegetable matter to the gallon may be obtained. In tiie water of Boston, 3ti grains are found to the gallon. Soils brouglit from 150 feet depth in this neighborhood, are found charged with vegetable matter. Land with a foot of top soil on a gravel!}' sub- stratum may be unproductive. This is the case with the soil on Scekonk plains, which has a foot of soil containing II per cent, of vegetable matter; but manures applied pass through it by filtration ; and it suifers from drought. All our waters come from the top soil. Clay is a retainer of water. Bog iron ore is found in soils and is prejudicial to vegetation. There is a ready way for a farmer to test his water. By the appl-- cation of a solution of lunar caustic to a glass of water, if it contains vegetable matter, it w^ill be- come red. Distilled water will not exhibit thisap- pe^ra^'cc. Saline maUeri-" abound in soils in the form of car- bonates, sulphate.'tand plinspiintes. Lime is an im- portant amendment to the soil by causing it to fur- nish nutriiaent to the plants. It is a chemical rea- gent and decomposes manures, and does not, as has been supposed, form insoluble matters. In the ash- es of wheat, lime exists to the amount of 15 per cent. It is found in some proportion in all soils. The carbonate of lime is a valuable amendment to soils, and especially to those which contain iron or copperas. Gypsum is a powerful stimulus to veg- etation. Lime in the form of a covbonate is easily applied. The management of lime is too generally raisunderstood. Fields perfectly barren have been rendered fertile by the use of it. There are few exceptions to this fact in Rhode Island In some cases its npplicatinn has been triumphantly success- ful, and in many cases of failure, the lime has been found to be highly magnesian. There are various matters connectcl with these suhjecls which will furnish excellent texts for discussion hereafter. — The action of manures is particularly important. Science here is of great importance. Certain acids in soils have been discovered by Berzelius. The crenic and apocrenic acids. These are found in the soils of both hemispheres ; in the soils of the Mississippi and the Nile. These soils closely re- semble each other. The soil of the Nile contains 2.S per cent, of the carbonate and piiosphate «^n'.rrie. The soil of the Ml;£:rc:ppi has less iron and more clay. The introduction of science into ngriculture has been of great benefit. How soils arc to be render- ed fertile or how corrected, have hitherto been mat- ters of empiricism. We should desire to act nn- derstandingly, not ignorantly. The nlianges which take place in the progress of the growth of plants, arc remarkable. In the germination of the seed, carbonic acid is given out, and oxygen absorbed. After the leaves are form- ed, they absorb carbonic acid and give out oxygen. When the pUnt ripens, they give out carbonic acid and absorb oxygen. All manures act on the foli- age. If plants are overstrained, they fail to pro- duce fruit. It is important to find the proper point or limit of manuring. A distinguisjied gardener engaged to produce a geranium leaf as large as a cabbage : it was effected, but the plant perished in the effort. Bleaching powders or chloride of lime, arc a powerful manure, and produce astonishing elfects on vegetation. The auimoniacalgas or Sal Volatile, operates powerfully upon plants, and this matt^'r is produced by the fermentation of barn manures. In soils which are porous it is advisable to use manures in a long state. The manures which arc obtainable are different in different places. Exper- iments have hern made with bone manure, lime, and ashes, and, as reported, with differeut results. There are, undoubtedly, differences in soils, w'hich affect their operation. These subjects deserve in- quiry and observation. Agricultural observations should be made exact and certain. As the pursuit becomes intelligent it rises in dignity. Why should farmers be ignorant of their great art, when it is the aim and boast of every other profession and pursuit, to study their art thoroughly .•' Agri- culture may be rendered scientific; and science \yell applied must conduce to render it more profi- table. Facts in these matters are of the highest impor- tance. In Maine ashes were thrown away. The Long Island farmers are willing to send to Massa- chusetts to obtain them. The intrinsic value or efficiency of the material cannot be affected by the different estimation in which they are held. Peat we see in some places is highly esteemed as a ma- nure. In many places it is utterly neglected ; and this can arise only from ignorance i-f its value or of the proper mode of applying it. Facts, he repeated, are of the highest importance. Peat in a crude state, is not suited for application to the land. It must be decomposed, and its acidi- ties corrected. A farmer in Rhode Island has ' made niucli use of swamp mud compoundud with fish, the Menhaden, which are taken in their bays in great abundance. The eight cart loads of swamp mud or peat, he applied one barrel of fish. This compost is denominated fish-pie. The rotting of the fish decomposed the peat, and the peat absorbed the amiuoniacal gases, which escaped from the de- caying fish. To farmer deemed this mixture of equal value with tlic best of unmixed barn manure. On a level field, planted with corn at right angles, every row manured with this compost was distinct- ly observable and was twice as large as that part dressed with hog manure. At the harvest the crop from the rows manured with this compost gavo an increase over the other parts of the field of fifty per cent. Any decaying animal substance, on being mixed with it, will produce a decomposition of peat. The physiology of vegetation is a subject de- serving of much attention. The mode in v:hich plants receive their nutriment from the soil is not, as has been supposed, by capillary attraction, but the vegetable food in a liquid form is forced into the minute vessels of the plants by an electric or volatic agency. This is the discovery of a French- man by the name of Detrochet, and is called by him nidosmose. [t)r. Jackson here illustrated this matter bj' a small apparatus.] This operation is at once suspended by the presence of certain substan- ces, such as sulphuretted hydrogen or one drop of fcecal matter in the vessel. Acids and alkalies in their combination, act as galvanic batteries, and for- ward the process of vegetation. The physiology of plants should be studied by the farmer. Innumerable, curious and wonderful operations are continually going on before liim. No situation is more favorable than his to intellect tual and moral improvement ; and no employment more interesting than the contemplation of tjie phe- nomena of the natural world. The green sand spoken of is as ditficult of solu- tion as the feldspar in granite. In Swp'lfVi liio carbonate of potash is us^d to decompose the ni- trate of htr.e, which is formed in their artificial nitre beds, which are similar to compost heaps. Nitre is produced abundantly in our dun;^ heaps. Many other salts are produced by chemical chan- ges, wliich are continually going en in the earth and air. The putrefaction of animal and vegetable substances is productive of various changes, and of substances useful in vegetation. TliC crenic and apocrenic acids are always found in soils, and the degree of their presence, when ascertained, will in- dicate the applications to be made to the land. The skeletons of all plants and animals have lime for their bases. Sllex gets into plants in a manner altogether mysterious. It is found in all plants with hollow stems, such as many of the grasses, in wheat and the cereal grains, in bamboo and flag. The crenic and apocrenic acids oper- ate to dissolve sllex. The absorption of plants is not wholly by their roots, but by theirleaves, which are the lungs of plants and gather the carbonic acid gas from the air, and its carbon is converted into solid wood. Nature pursues her operations in one eternal round, and all things combine i;iutuol- ly to assist and modify each other. Plants are liighly beneficial to liR- and health, In absorbing and decomposing the elements of the air, and re- turning that portion which is necessary to res- piration and lifo. Agriculture is yet to make great advances in this country. The value of peat lands is very im- perfectly understood. A farmer in the vicinity of Boston, distinguished for his scientific and practi- cal skill, has ol)tained one hundred bushels of corn to the acre upon redeemed peat meadows; and ob- tains from these lands an income of ten to tvrelve per cent, profit. Land might be cultivated witli much more skill and to much higher profit in pro- portion lo the skill applied. Liquid manures omong us are almost entirely wasted. Night soil is often thrown away, and yet it is one of the most efficient of manures. With all our advantages, we bring Indian corn from Africa, and the country of the Nile furnishes us with peas and beans. The population of China is immense and support- ed wholly from the soil. The allowance for a Chi- na man is indeed small, as three dollars per year will serve to keep soul and body togetlier; but even to earn this, every person does and must work. — Among this people agriculture is carried to an ex- traordinary degree of perfection. With us too large a portion of our people are devoted to trade ; and the pursuits of rural industry are deserted for the hazards of speculation and commercial life. As we cross our breeds of cattle that we may improve our stock, it would be fortunate if we could so cross our farmers and mex-chants that the habits of exact- ness in keeping accounts and the enterprise and spirit of progress which distinguish the mercantile TF1E FARMERS' MON I'HLY VISITOR. classes, could be in some mensure transferred oi infused into our farmers.— JV'. E. Farmer. Remarks of the Hon. « m. A. Hares, of South Benrick, Mc, at the Third .Igrirultur- luarl Meeting at the State House in Boston. (Reported for tlie N. E. Farmer.) Judge Haj-es began his remarks by e.xprcssinc the pleasure he felt in meeting the farmers of Mas" sachusetts; and though he did not anticipate on his coming to town, being called upon in this way, he was liappy to encourage an object so valuable as that contemplated by these meetings, aoricultu- ral improvement, by giving an account of'liis own operations and the success which had attended them. Farmers constituted a common fraternity, • and as their sole ebject was the improvemunt of tins important art, whose interests involve the in- terests and comforts of every class in society, he should make no apology for speaking of plain mat- ters in a plain way. This was the fiTst time he had been called upon to address a meeting of farmers upon the subject of agriculture, and he must there- fore claim their indulgence. He had derived so much pleasure from reading heretofore the reports of these agricultural meetings, made by the Com- missioner, that he felt it to be his duty when call- ed upon, to contribute his part. He should first relate his experience in the rais- ing of wheat. He had attempted the cultivation for many years and with very imperfect success. It had been generally destroyed; but whenever he had succeeded, it was always upon high land. In I8;38 he purchased of the Shakers, in°Canterbury, N. H., one bushel of Black Sea wheat. He sowed' it upon an half acre of loamy land, upon which the previous year he had raised a crop of mangel wurt- zel ; some ti.-ne previous the land had been ma- nured with muscle bed. The crop appeared very promising, but was destroyed by the grain insect and he obtained a return of only eiu-ht bushels. His belief was that the crop was sowed too early. The last year he sowed his wheat much later in the season, and from two bushels sowing on an acre of land, he gathered 41 bushels. His success in this case he considered attributable to his late sowino- owing to which circumstance the wheat did not come into flower until the season for the depreda- tions of the insect had passed. He applied to his Wheatland si.tty bushels of leached ashes, a matter which experience has satisfied him is of very great advantage. Like success has attended a similar management in the culture of wheat in other pla- ces. He thinks much of the particular kind of wheal sown by him, as he has never known it to be injured by rust or mildew. The kind here spoken of is a red wheat. In the town of Shapleigh, on good ground, the crop on a part of a field sown with common wheat was worthless ; while the Black Sea wheat in the same field, gave 02 bushels from one bushel of seed. On the subject of the evening's discussion, Soils and Manures, he should give his views, founded upon long practice, as he had cultivated a farm un- der his own personal superintendence, for twenty- four years last past. Lands in good condition can easily be made better; while lands which are poor and exhausted are with much difficulty raised up. Various substances may be applied, but the main de- pendence must be placed upon vegetable matter in and upon the soil. His first object, with a view to enrich his farm, is to collect vegetable matter for litter; leaves and straw and waste substances of every description. He collects leaves even late in the spring, as litter for his styes. These seem to be small gatherings, but in the course of the sea- son, where this habit of saving exists, the accu- mulations becoms very considerable. He is accus- tomed yearly to mow his pastures and gather all the braltes and ferns and coarse grasses on which cattle will not feed. In this way his pastures are greatly improved. There is a "better quality of gra*s comes in, and the quantity is much increased. He is accustomed, likewise, to mow his stubble grounds. He cuts the weeds and the old stubble close for litter for his stock, and he does not find that his grass is injured by this mowing. He thus collects a large quantity of vegetable waste, and uses in his barn a large basket, vvhicli will hold sev- en or eight bushels, to distribute it as litter to his stock. Th? o-reat advantages of this management appear in the increase of his manure and the com- fort and consequent thrift of his cattle. He is in the habit of collecting large quantities of swamp mud, which he deposits is his barnyard, to be trodden upon by his cattle, and he places large quantities in his hog pens. He suffers this to remain through the sumnier, deeming it not ad- visable to turn it over. After keeping this through a winter and summer, ho carries it out upon his I lar.d. He likewise casts soil into his yard ; carries [in a large amount of bog mud ; the wash of the house, likewise, is conveyed to the same place; and he has always swamp mud on hand to place in the yard that the offensive liquids may be absorbed He uses lime, likewise, in his compost heap. For many years he hae practised using from ten to thir- ty casks per year. He deems it most favorable to health, and as far as the uninterrupted health of a I very numerous family may be considered a test in the case, the prudence and benefits of the practice are perfectly established. A great object with him, and upon which he lays most emphatic stress, is the nsingof all the vegeta- ble matter which he can collect°or apply, for" en- ticliing his farm. He never carries his manurcout in the fall ; and he regrets his want of a manure cellar, as he thinks much would be gained by keep- ing the manure under cover. He does not deem it necessary that it should undergo a fermentation or decomposition before it is carried into the field. He applies twenty loads to the acre. He begins at one side of his field, and, laying eight successive ' heaps in a rew, at the distance °of one rod apart, and the rows likewise one rod apart, it will require' just twenty times eight heaps to dress an acre. The distance at which the heaps should be placed apart, is ascertained with sufficient accuracy by taking the distance from the hind-end of the cart to the forward feet of the cattle upon the tongue as the measurement of a rod in length. He ploughs his ground about six inches deep, carefully and com- pletely inverting the sod. He seldom ploughs his manure under, excepting where he would ratse tap- rooted vegetables ; but having laid his land flat, he spreads his manure and then harrows it and cross harrows it until a fine tilth is produced. His corn is planted three and a half feet apart, and is care- fully hoed three times without making any hill whatever ; and he is careful to suffer no weeds to remain among it. It is suffered to stand in the field until perfectly ripe; and the stalks are not cut until the corn is so far advanced that there can be no adyant:ige from them to the ripening of the ear. His butt stalks also are saved with o-reat care ; and when stowed away, his corn fodder be- ing intermixed in alternate layers v/ith wheatstraw, the straw itself is rendered more nutritious and sa- vory for his cattle. If he plants potatoes, he is careful to plant whole potatoes and of a good size. The sprouts from such are stronger, and the crop is a fortnight earlier. The potatoes are hoed twice and the ground kept clear from weeds. The second year the ground which has been in corn is not ploughed nor the sod disturbed or re- verted ; but it is harrowed in both directions by the cultivator managed by one man with a horse. The wheat is then sowed at the rate of two bush- els to an acre, or barley or oats as he may choose, with grass seeds. He has been in the habitof raising esculent roots for his stock, of the value of which as feed, hs has a high estimation ; mangel wurtzel, carrots, turnips and ruta baga. He likes the ruta baga very much as feed for his horses. He planted "last year two acres of carrots and rutabaga upon green sward, managed as he has said, and obtained one thousand' bushels. Potatoes are sometimes made the second crop in the course. In that case his land has two ma- nurings; and so with other esculent vegetable crops. After haying, and even late in the autumn, he devotes much time and labor to the improvement of his lands. He carries sand on to clay lands, and clay OH sand lands, and finds much benefit from this intermixture of soil. He deems the principal advantage resulting from this process, to be upon land which he cannot plant, the covering up of all the vegetable matter on the soil, by which means It becomes rotted and improves the staple of the soil. This he deems a matter deserving particular attention ; this covering up of veo-ctable matter and converting it into manure. He pursues this work even until late in the autumn, when the ground is frozen. He obtains much swamp mud. He has exten- sive meadows, which have two and a half feet depth of mud resting upon blue clay. He has at- tempted the redemption of this land by digcrino- a centre ditch three feet in width and twofcet^in depth, and cross ditches at right angles %vith the main ditch, and emptying into it. ° These cross ditches are two and a half feet wide at top, la inches at the bottom and one foot in depth. They occur as often as once in two rods. After the ditching is completed, gravel or sand is carried on to the meadow at the rate of one liundred loads to the acre and manured. It is then sowed liberally with herds grass and clover. The ditches require to be cleared out once in three years, and the mat- , tcr collected in them spread upon the land. In this 21 way they may be kept in good condition for an in- definite period of time. His own improvements in this way are of twelve years' duration and withoul deterioration. ^ In 1833, he undertook the redemption of four acres of this kind of laud. He covered it with gravel, which was spread immediately. The next spring when the ground was thawed to the depth of two or three inches, Iw harrowed it most thor- oughly ; he then sowed herds grass and followed it with a bush harrow. Tlie crop of grass which he has since obtained from this land was at least two tons to the acre ; and the moss in the land was completely decomposed. He is accustomed to use alternately his p»lure» as mowing fields and his mowing fields as pastures. He finds a very great advantage from this course ol management. He ploughs his pastures, even though he has no manure to apply to them ; ■ and though he cannot fence them against his cattle. He inverts the sod, laying- it completely over ; and then sows his grass seed. In this way the feed of his pastures is greatly improved both in quality and guantity. He ploughs his pastures, getting a crop of Indian corn and then laying down his la'nd with Indian wheat and grass seeds. The Indian wheat, 1. e. the Tartarian buck wheat, is deemed by him a good crop, and the flour much esteemed. Whea he has no manure to apply to the land, he ploughs It in a shallow manner, but, at any rate, it should be occasionally ploughed and sowed with grass seed. Judge Hayes has done much in the improve- ment of his live stock, having obtained an improv- ed Short-Horn bull from Greenland, N. H., where this valuable stock has been some time reared, and from which the beautiful ox Columbus was descen- ded, an ox whose superior is seldom seen. He closed his remarks much too soon ; but ho has kindly promised that we shall soon hear from him on these subjects— an engagement which he cannot too soon fulfil. We shall hold him strictly to his word in this case ; and being a lawyer, and knowing the consequences of neglecting " to take up one 3 paper," we mean to sue him if he does not pay the note at maturity. The account he has given of his farming opera- tions so far, will be read with much interest and instruction. His improvement of his pasture lands deserves particular attention. We have oft^m urg- ed It upon farmers ; but he is the only man we have yet known to practice it. H. C. Froin tlie .M:i:,;i f*e:iner. Mr. Holmes : — I have noticed with much inter- est some remarks in your late paper on the evils of using tobacco, but the writer dwelt more on the uso of It in the shape of snuff than in any other way. I have for a long time considered the use of this narcotic poison, as doing immense evil in our land, particularly among the young. How fre- quently we see them with the quid in"' their cheeks or a long nine, or a pipe in their mouths, strutting Ihfough the street corrupting the atinos])here a- round them : this is not all, they are destroying their own energies of body and nimd, .for it is the testimony of the most respectable Physicians in tlie land that tobacco taken in any form weakens ths body, enervates the mind; the use of it is a practice dirty, filthy and ungentlemanly, and ought to bo immediately abandoned by every one, who has any regard for f,:s own respectability and happiness, or the comforts of others.- I have written the above for the purpose of in- troducing the followii g cxtractfrom'a Poem deliv- ered by Rev. Charles S. Adams before the Anti-To- bacco Society, at Harwich, Mass. which 1 find in my Sailor's Magazine for Jan. 1840; and if you can find room for it in your valuable paper it would gratify me much, and save some one from the hor- ror of n^jrvous maladies. g. g. Il'inthrop, Jan'y 17, 1S40. "And then, my friends, just think there's naught exceeds , * The filth that from the chewer's mouth proceeds Two ounces chewed a day, 'tis said, produce A half a pint of vile tobacco juice. Which if continued five and twenty years (As from calculation it appears,) ' With this foul stuff would near five hogsheads fill Besides old quids a larger parcel still. ' Nor am I with this calcul.ition done :— He in that time has chewed half a ton— A wagon load— of that whi.ch would of course hicken a dog, or even kill a horse. Could he foresee, but at a single vie*-. What he was destined in his life to chew, -And then the product of his work survey, He would grow sick and throw bis quid away. Or could the laas, ere she had pledged to be 22 .THE FARMER'S MONTHLYjnSITOR. Ills lovino- wife, her fiitnrc prospect sec ; Ciuia 2- but kn„v; tl,ut through his mouth ,vould In thi"si>ort life, this dirty loa'>-;"^J^ff^' Would she con«-"' «" ^''•^<' ''"* '""'' ^°' J' , ' And, ;«ddcd to Ills filth, become b.s w.fe ? Nor is this all-thls dirty practice leads, To kindred habits and to filthy deeds Uslno' this weed, an able statesman thinks, Creates a thirst for stimulating dr.nks. Full many a one (who envies him his lot.) _ Smokes, and cliews, and drinks, and dies a sot. If you would know the deeds of him that chews, Enter the house of. God and see the pews. The lady's parlour, carpet, painted floor, The chimney piece and panels ol the door, Have all in turn been objects ol abuse. Besmeared and stained with his tobacco juice. I've seen the wall, beside a certain bed Of one who chews tobacco— near the head- Bedaubed and blackened with this hatelulju.ee, While near it lay old quids for future^use. I've seen Ihe woman who loved snuft so well, (How much she took no mortal tongue can tell,) Pick up old quids and dry them by the fire. And o-rind them up to satiate her desire. I've s° en the bride u'|.on her wedding gown The dirty pipe and filthy weed lay down. And then prepare the hateful thing to smoke, Before she had the nuptial silence broke ; And like a daughter true of mother Kve, Her new-made husband she did not conceive Was constituted head, and not a lunh, She smoked herself, and gave the pipe to him ; And he, like Adam, in submission true, ^ Took from her hand the pipe, and smoked it too. growing region laying upon the surface w ere it tie previous frost existed, it is very likely that the flow of maple sap will be more than common in a- bundance in the coining spring. /• j The maple trees of the second growth are iound to produce the sweetest sap. The rapidity with which this growth has sprung up during the ast twenty years has astonislicd the owners of land m many places. Not only is this tree valuable for its capacity to yield sugar, but it is also among tne best timber trees of the country. A nil grown rock maple, that is a perfect tree of the original growth, within a few miles of Mernmack river, is said to he worth at least fifty dollars to be appli- ed as the keel of a ship, cwiivr. It is from the sun-ar tree that the beautiful "bird ^ eye maple," used by cabinet makers and carpen- ters extensively, is procured: this is becoming as common in finishing the elegant panelling of steam boats and shljis a.s the best mahogany. Mr Hugh M Coi.lkv, formerly of Dunbarton, N H. who removed a few years since to fayston, Vt. a few days ago brought to this town with two horses 1464 feet of rock maple boards, three eighths of an inch thick, for which he received seventy- ' three dollars. Mr. M'Colley made from his maple trees last year 1800 pounds of sugar, and intends to increase the quantity produced the present spring to 4(100 pounds. We hope to '^f- •■i''''^' ^^ ^'''' close of the sugar makinc, to announce the success which shall at- tend the operations of the present year. And we respectfully invite from those who undertake this business statements of the quantities produced by individuals in the several towns, together with the expense of the manufacture, for publication in the Visitor. . Good pork finds a good market. We remember at no time of seeing so great a quantity of pork on the way to market as has pass- ed through this town from the northerly sections of this State and Vermont since the season of sleiMiing commenced. The road between this place and Nashua has been covered constantly w. sleighs : the stages could not pass the road «'.thout the loss of an hour or more taken up m turning out The trains of lumber boxes sometimes con- Bisted of two, sometimes of a dozen m the same company. What a great pity it is that some of e rail roads at the east and south, could not have the benefit of such a transport as is daily lorced oyer the deep snow and deeper sand up and down the Merrimack ! Yet since the first great reduction in the price of pork in the early winter neither he increased quantity sent forward to market, nor the very depressed pric«s of hogs in the gre.at western market, has been able to keep the price down here. In the Boston market the supply has not been hard- ly equal to the demand ; for in the first week of the present month the average rise was one cent in a pound. Common hogs sold quick at "■■";t«v^"S those weighing over three hundred wentoff at / 1-4' '^'^The fact is, the New England pork of the pres- ent year is better than it has usually been, ^ork fattened as our pork is need fear no competition with the Western pork. The Vermont tarmers, who have extensive dairies, excel almost all others in the production of fine pork. It is no uncom- mon event to see upon their lumber sleighs hogs marked witli the weight of over five and six hun- dred pounds each at the age of eighteen months. A Mr. Emerson of Thelford, Vt. produced this year on his farm and brought and sold them in this town a slauirhtered sow aged twenty inonths,and .ler four plos twlevc months of age. The meat of the BOW weighed 6-.15 pounds, and the four pigs averag- ed more^than 400 pounds each. Anticipated benefits from a Geological Survey. plains of thS Connecticut river valley : of course the former are n.t so good and so productive lands as the latter. , . . The primitive rocks of the mountains, which are continually wearing off and washing through the streams below, undoubtedly give character to he soil of the alluvion upon the beds of the rivers: the soil of the whole face of the country was original- ly rock, and partakes of the nature of that ],articu- lar kind of rock which formerly abounded in the vicinitv- The'benefits which we expect from accurate ge- olo, 430 and 4'30 lbs. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 23 From tlie Genesee Farmer. To cure VVouMds on Horses and Cattle. T became a suliscriber at l.ho commencement of the 3(1 volume of tlie Weekly Farmer, and in the first number of that vnliimc I found a recipo to cure wounds on horses and cattle, which alone has been worth more to me than ten years' subscrip- tion, and I think it would confer a favor on thy patrons to republish it in the present volume. SILAS G.WLORD. Skancatdcs, 7th mo. 26, \'*'i\^. The followlnsr is the receipt alluded to in the above note of Mr. Gaylord : — As there are many useful receipts hidden from the public, for the sake of speculation in a small way, by many who would bo thought somcthinir of in the world, I am induced to lay before the public a recipe for making /./»"■ of oil, so called, which perhaps excels any other for cure of wounds on liorscs or cattle, and which has long been kept by a few only in the dark. Feeling a desire to con- tribute to the good of the public, but more espe- cially to the farmers of Genesee, I send you the following very valuable recipe for publication • — 1 oz. of green copperas, 2 do white vitriol, 2 do common salt, 2 do linseed oil, 8 do West India mo- lasses. Boil over a slow fire fifteen minutes in a pint of urine; when alii.^ost cold, add one ounce of oil of vitriol and four ounces spirits of turpentine. Apply it to the wound with a quill or feather, which will immediately set the sore to running, and perform a perfect cure. Yours respectfully, STEPHEN PALMER. Midillrhurij, Dec. 10,1832. Gen. the Miller's Grandmother and Hand Wheel. The Scotch-Irish who first settled Londonderry in this State in the year 171;', were a people dift'er- ent from the comn'ion Irish or Scotch who have since emigrated to this country. They were de- sci-ndants of those Scotch and English who, about the year 1656, in the time of Cromwell, were indu- ced to settle in Ireland on lands f.)rfeited fjr the Popish rebellion of 1741, or by the adherents of the king. Afterwards on llic return of James to the throne, the Catholics who had been driven out were so far reinst.ated as to turn the tide of perse- cution on their oppressors. The Protestants flew to arms and shut themselves up in the fortified towns. Many perished witli hunger — others by the sword. The hostility of the Roman Catholics on the one hand, and the indifferent protection af- forded by the Church of England on tlie other, rendered the position of the Presbyterian Protes- tants in Ireland extremely uncomfortable. Instead of being identified with the Irish, they were a class of peo|ile entirely unlike and opposed to them. A portion of these people determined on removing to America: their first prominent pitcli was the town of Londonderry, N. H. so named for the place from whicli the most of them emigrated. From the first settlers of Londonderry and those following them from Ireland went out many of the first settFers of JVeze Boston, .Untrim, Pitcrhorough, and perhaps some other towns of New Hampshire. In some things these Scotch-Irish settlers were in advance of their English neighbors. They brought with them (says Dr.' Belknap) to this country the first little wheels turned by the foot (wlieels for spinning linen) that were used in the country, and the first potatoes planted in New England, which from them have ever since been called Irish pota- toes. Potatoes at first made but slow progress in the productions of the farm. Since the recollection of (jur motliers and grand-mothers the laying up for winter use of solargc a quantity as five bush- els of potatoes, was considered as little better than labor lluown away ; they were hardly thought to be an article worth saving. They were not then used as food for cattle, sheep or hogs. Turnips, beets, carrots and parsnips were in much more common use in the preparation of the ordinary food of man. When we consider how great a space potatoes occupy as well in domestic diet as in fur- nishiniT food for various animals, we wonder what then supplied the place of this vegetable. Some neople even entertain the notion that without cook- ed potatoes to accompany it they cannot make a full meal upon meat. We wish the introduction of the Scotch-Irish linen hand wheel had been equally successful in its pragress as the cultivation of Irish potatoes in this country. The Londonderry matrons and maids and their descendants had the art of spinning fine llnen'to far greater perfection than [their English neighbors. The time was within our remembrance when the fine linen thread of Londonderry was sought for in the various country towns of New England. It was then e.\tensively used in making elegant and substantial articles — in manufacturing beautiful calico and muslin dresses and other orna- mental covering either for the body or tlie bedroom. It probably then occupied the place of much of the silk and. the finest prepared cotton twist that is now used. In his Peterborough centennial sermon, Rev. Mr. Morison says: — "Early in our history, the hand-card, the little wheel and the loom with the hand-shuttle, were almost the only instruments of manufacture in the place. Tkr. trrnntl-innt/icr of Govcnwr AlifUr paid for four hiinilrcd mrcs of iand in fine linen, made ciUirclif (except g-ctlinir out the fUu) hij her own hands." Here is an example for the ladies of New England that would be worth following. Affected fe.'Jiale delicacy and refine- ment have si'.rely nursed a race inferior to the first mothers of our land. We know not how or why the linen hand wheel has been thrown aside : it ought to be restored. So ought the farmers of New England to keep up the fashion of growing flax. This article, on well prepared ground, may be made a sotirce of profit. Where the climate is too severe for the growth of the mulberry, let the experiment of rai- sing flax be revived. The fitmily manufacture of linen will best indicate the talent and capacity of both male and female. He must be a good farmer who knows how to raise a good crop of flax — to save and secure the valuable seed — to dew rot or water rot it, and finally to break and clean the flax fit for the hatchel. And the young lady, who un- der tlie guidance of a faithful mother, has hatchel- led and spun the beautiful fibre upon the hand wheel, wove and whitened her damask linen table cloths, her twenty pair of sheets, with double sets of pillow cases, her white fringed window curtains, &c. &c. will better recommend herself to a good hu.sband tlian she who has had thousands expended in teaching her the use of the pianaforte, wliich, if she ever had a taste to play, must be tlirown away in a day or a month after marriage. We are glad the example of Gen. Miller's grand mother has been put upon record. So far as our sheet goes abroad, we will commend that example. We hope to see the hand wheel again brought into fashion. Young ladies will look more interesting when plying their fingers to the distafl" than when touching the soft tones of the harp, or playing on an "instrument of ten strings." Notice to Agents and Subscribers. The Farmer's Monthly Visitor is afforded at its low price because it is casli in hand fioni the sub- scribers ; " a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." We cannotconsent to opsn accounts witli individual subscribers except with those persons who we know will pay the year's subscription the first time they have epportunity to send it to os. But those Jlirints u-hu hove heretofore sent us ad- vance pn>jnients, and who can procure more than twentijfonr in number, u-ill he permitted to tahe in per ma ncni subscribers without insisting on advance payment — the agent being responsible that themoney shall be remitted to us within the year. When the money is remitted, such agent will inform us ho a many of such subscribers will be continued on the same terms for the succeeding year, jl failure to pay icithin the year will lie considered ii voluntary abandonment on the part of the agent of one half the prescribed deduction for the .Igencij. . We have the January number which will be supplied to all new subscribers. According to our last year's subscription these back numbers will be all taken up befjre the month of June. Every agent who has received and already sent subscrip- tions is invited to extend his efforts for new sub- scribers. [1j= In the course of a few weeks we shall have sets of the volume for 1839 bound in beautiful stamp covers. The price for the volume will prob- ably not exceed one dollar. The same volume will be on sale by the Agent in Boston. "Despise not the day of small things." Among the letters of the invited guests at the Peterborough centennial celebration we select that of Mr. S.iMUici, Appi.eton of Boston. This gen- tleman is a native of New Ipswich, and first com- menced business by keeping a small store in his na- tive town : he was once connected in a store in the adjoining town of Ashburnham, Mass, in partner- ship with Col. Joseph Jewett, who was for many years afterwards the only trader in that town, and who after our recollection openly expressed his deep regret that some of the matrons of the town having got a taste of Souchong in visits to their friends near the seaboard, should be so extravagant as to compel him to keep an article in his store more expensive than plain Boliea tea. Mr. Apjilcton for more than forty years has been a successful merchant in Boston : he is now amonjf the wealthy men of the town, paying an annual cash tax equal to the value of a good farm. He is likewise one of the fninders of Lowell. He was invited as one of the proprietors of ^ the Peterbo- rough factories; and if common fame does him jus- tice, he is a man of a million. This gentleman, dovibtless, now looks with no less pleasure on the ^^ nine pence lau.ful money" which he earned by hard lalior in assisting to drive cattle through the woods, than he did at the time it was earned. Hist small exchange of " tea, sugar, coffi.'c, pins and needles," for " fine linen" indicates the same in- dustry and care which are indispensable to assured thrift. Mr. Appleton, until lie started in the world for himself, was the faithful son of an industrious father; and not the least valuable knowledge which he gained in early life was that taught him in per- forming the labors of the field. ''Boston, Oct. 22, 1839. "Gentlemen, — I|havc received your letter of the 16th inst. with a polite invitation to attend the cel- ebration of the First Centennial Anniversary of the town of Peterborough, on the 34th inst. I much regret that it will not be in my power to at- tend said celebration, as it would afford me much pleasure to meet my friends and acquaintauces at that place. I have known Peterborough for about sixty years, and observed with pleasure its rapid growth n population, agriculture, manufactures, arts, sci- ences, literature, &c. &c. My first visit to Peterborough I will relate, mere- ly to show some of the ciianges that have taken place since my recollection. Fifty-nine years ago last April, a man with a drove of cattle passed my father's house in New Ipswich, on his way to a pas- ture for his cattle in the town of Hancock. Being in want of assistance to drive his cattle, aad seeing a flaxen haired boy at the door, he bargained with m; father that I should assist him on his way as far as the mills in Peterborough, distance ten miles ; for this service to be performed by me, my father received nineprncc, lauful money; we arrived at the mills — a rickety saw and grist mill, standing on the site where the Peterborough Factory nowr stands, about four o'clock. The man of cattle then offered me half as much ns he had paid my father, and a night's lodging, if I would go on with him through the woods three miles to Taylor's Tavern. I readily consented, and pocketed the easli. At that time there was only one house (Dr. Young's) between the mills and the tavern. All the rest of the way was a dreary wilderness. But enough ai mv first visit to Peterborough. — I propose, withS your permission, Gentlemen, the following toast : The first Settlers of the toicn of Peterborough, — The Smiths, the Wilsons, the Steeles, the Mori- sons, and many others ; celebrated for their indus- try, perseverance, prudence and honesty. Also their sons and grand-sons whether at home or a- broad ; they have done honor to themselves, to their native town, and to their country. Their virtues and talents have shed a lustre on every pro- fession, political, judicial, ecclesiastical, medical, military and scientific* I have the honor to be, most respectfully, gentle-, men, your obedient, humble servant, SAMUEL APPLETON. P. S. Gentlemen, if you have not on hand more toasts than time, I beg leave to propose the follow- ing;— The first Matrons of Peterborough, — Who like the matrons of King Solomon's time, laid their hands to Uie spindle and distaff, made fine linen and sold it to the merchants, f and looked well to the ways of their household. Also, their fair daugh- ters, of the third and fourth generation, who, with- out handling the distaff, by the ahnost magical use of the spinning jenny and the shuttle, can clothe themselves in silks and fare sumptuously every day. • * Among" my acquaintances may be reckoned Judge Smith, General Wilson, Doct. Smith of Cin- cinnati, Rev. Mr. Morison, General Miller, &c. t Ffty years ago the writer of this kept a small store at New Ipswich, and exchanged tea, sugar, coffee, pins, needles, &c., for homespun fine linen, made by the matrons and fair daughters of Peter- borough." 21 THE FARMER'S xMONTHLY VISITOR. The town of Peterborough ''One handred years ago." The perusal of a pamphlet sent by a friend containing the proceedings at acelehratipri of liic coiupletion of a century since its first settlement of the inhahitants of Peteucokougii, a town situated near the foot of the Monad- nock, in the county of Hillsborough, gave us unwonted delight. In these pro- ceedings the wliok' town, without distinction of party or sect, participated: many natives of tiie town resident in otiier parts of the country, were pres- ent; and others', who could not conveniently come, wrote letters. Rev. Joii.v HopiiiNS Morison, a native of this town, now a settled cler- gyman atNew Bedford, Mass. delivered the address on this occasion. From this address we extract the first sentence : "A hundred years ago this whole valley, from mountain to mountain, from the extreme north to the extreme southern limit, was one unbroken forest. The liglit soil upon the banks of the Contoocook was covered with huge and lofly pines, while the rocky hills and ricli loamy lands were shaded with maple, beech and birch, interspersed with ash, elm, liemlock, fir, oak, cherry, bass, and other kinds of wood. Bogs and swamps were far jnore extensive then than now; and the woods, in many part.-, on account of the fallen timber and thick under brush, were almost impassable. The deer and the moose roamed at large; the wolf and the bear prowled about the hills; the turkey and partridge whir- red with heavy flight from tree to tree, while the duck swam undisturbed upontlio lonely, silent waters. The beaver and the freshet made the only dam that impeded the streams in their whole course from tl'ic highlands to the Merrimack ; the trout, pickerel and salmon moved through them unmolested; while the old IMonadnock, looking down in every dircciion upon almost in- terminable forests, saw in the hazy distance the first feeble encroachments upon tiie dominion winch he had retained over his wild subjects for more than a tliousand years." There are few places in this or any other country having no advantages in position for accumulation by trade or other extraneous causes, that are more distinguished than this town. Consider that from 1729 to 1740 its first settle- ment was a struggle as it were between life arid death ; and what she has done in the following ninety years ! Few of the country towns have bred and brought up a race of men of so high an order of intellect and so much enter- prise. The first impetus given to the growth and properity of this tow'n was the acquisition of some thirty or forty families of the same race of Scotch-Irish fi-om the north of Ireland that first settled the town of Londonderry in the year 1719. Among the descendants of theie may be mentioned the families bearing the names of Morison, Steele^ Smith, Wilson, Grcgg^ Stuart, Wallace, Gordon, Scott, Lltilc, Mitchell, Ritchie, Ferguson. One of the most cuterprii^ing and intellectual families ever raised in the State of Nev.' Hampsliire was that of the Peterborough Smiths. The father was William Smilh, who was a delegate to the Provincial Congress of 1774, a man "of singular discretion, modesty and goodness ;" and the mother, whose maiden name was Morison, w-as " a driving, energetic woman.'' The seven eons named in their order were Uohcrt, Jehu, William, James, Jeremi- ah, Jonathan ami Samuel. " Ti;e seven sons, (except one who died when young) were all uncommon men, and have had in the town for the last sixl}' years an influence possessed by no other family. Seventy years ago, if we may trust to one v^-^ho then knew ihem well, a more rude, uncouth, impudent set of boys was not to be found in Peterborough." Of the seven sons, we belieye, only the three youngest survive. The oldest of these, Jeremiah, has ttt different times Iiold the otrice of Chief Justice and (lovernor of the State. He commenced Ihe practice of law in 17S7, and was elected a representative in Congress a^i early aK the j'ear 1701. For the last twenty years lie has been in private life, having ia that' time lost all his family — a wife and son and tdaughter. WitUin the last ten years he is again married to a lady much ycunger than himself, by whom he has one child. He visited Congress in the year 1336 ; and he tliere met for the first time in thirty years the late President of the United States who was a representative from the State of Tennessee with him in 1707. The veterans were two of the only five mem- bers of tlaat Congress who yet survive. Of the six Smiths, Jeremiah alone received a college education. The yoimgeM ion, Samuel, was enterprisini*; beyond almost any other individual of the Slate ; he was tiie founder of much of the prosperity and wealth of ihe town. Where he did not possess the means to go forward in any enter- pxise, he never failed to seek and find them somewhere. Had iie been in some positions, h'^ might have amassed millions of property ; but a life of se- vere labor and unparalleled activity was not rewarded accoiding to its des- erts. Overexertion has laid a noble structure partially in ruins, to be reno- v.ate.d and renewed by the Builder on high. The four other son*, we believe, tave been all distinguished farmers. They have undoubtedly experienced much less of the vicis:;itudes of life than the two others; they have had a more certain success, because they engaged in tlie sure occupation. Dea. Jona- than Smith is at this time one of the best farmers of his town; and his situa- tion \z such an one as well might entice the wealthy or tiie proud man from the city to the country. Another brothe*, John, we liave seen ; and of him does tlieauthor,of the century sermon truly say "he perhaps united in him- eelf all the eharnctcristica of our town in a more remarkable degree tlian any other man, joining to the gushing emotions of a child, strong powers of thought, integrity, courage, and an infinite fund of wit." This gentleman, if we remember arlglit, was killed in tlie year 1621, by falling from a load of hay : his death threw a gloom over tiie town. Fov/ places in the country with an equal population have turned out such a native race of strong men as the generation of Peterborough, which is now passing off the stage. The Smith family may be taken as the hcau ideal of ibis race. The Steclcs are another family falling little short of tiiem. Never did people enjoy a more unlimited exercise of the tongue than the men of Peterborough. Meeting abroad at the county courts audon other public occasions, they were Ishmaelites towards cacli other in every thing pkort of blows. '1 he mighty man gloried in his might even when victory was gained at the expense of truth : but his prostrate antagonist neither asked or received commi'ieration because his loss of vantage ground was by no means to be imputed to his greater delicacy or better sense of propriety. With the disposition for unlimited abuse in the unruly member, with an abundant flow of v.it never withheld when there was opportunity to let it ofT — the men of Peterborough may be characterized as excellent in most of the social dispositions and usages that give to eoeiety its great charma. Gener- ous and humane, they were generally men of undoubted courage. Mr. Mor- ison mentions the fact, that in the battle of Bunker Hill, althougii there were only from seventy to eighty families in tlie town, twenty-two citizens of Pe- terborough were present, and seventeen actively engaged in the fight. Six citizens of the town, in the previous French war, rangers in the company of Robert Rogers, were slain in battle in one day. At Bunker Hill, '* Lieut, (afterwards Captain) William Scott, early in the action, had one of the bones of his leg broken just below the knee. He con- tinued coolly paring balls and handing them to his soldiers. He was among tlie very hindmost in tlic retreat, wlien he received in his tliigh and in the lower part of his body four additional balls, and, bh-cding at nine orifice*, fainted upon tlie field. When he came to himself, a Britisii soldier was stand ing over him with his bayonet, and asked with an oath if he did not deserve to be killed. " lam in yourpowyr," was the reply, "and you can do with me as you please." He was rescued by a Britisii oilicerand permitted to remain unmolested on the field. He was carried a prisoner to Halifax, wlience by the assistance of a friend then residing in the enemy's countiy, he found nieana to escape and return to his friends. Of tliis veteran the orator mentions the fact of his having rescued in July 1702, nine persons, four of whom were small children, from a watery grave — the boat in wiiich he and they were, being upset in a tempest on the Delaware river, and no one except himself being able to swim. The editor of a Boston paper announced the fact at the time with this addition : — *' For the honor of Capt. Scott, an old and valiant soldier, a son of Massachusetts, this circumstance should be handed down to posterity." The instance of Capt. Scott, (continues Mr. Morison) "■which by no means stands alone in our history, may serve to illustrate the courage which has al- ways been a prominent feature in the character of our citizens. And it has run through the whole eliaracter, distinguishing alike their habits of tiiought, of social intercourse, of public and private enterprise. In whatever they have undertaken they have gone forward with the sanie fearless spirit. If at any tin)c a man has iiad hard thoughts of his neighbor, he did not whisper it about in private scandal, but the offender was the first to hear it. There has been no secret underhand dealing, but' their voices were always loud, tiieir gait e- rect, their conduct open. While ready to maintain their own and their neigh- bors' rights, the}' have also, it must be acknowledged, never been backward in proclaiming their own merits. Yet they have not been a conceited, boast- ing race, hut men who knew their strength, who judged correctly of their merits, and would not suffer others to destroy or impair their just apprecia- tion." The orator says — " Loud talking has alwa^'s prevailed here :" we have some- times heard it from the natives when away from their domicil; and we were quite ready to declare, whenever a stranger in the crowd very decently dress- ed, a six foot good liver, fiush in countenance and tolerable fair in face, was liolding forth in conversation louder than all others around him — " that man is from Peterborough." But we will concede one exception ; and this may bo because, as we are told by Mr. Morison, " the family from which he sprang lived in the northeast corner of the town, which seemed cut off from the rest." That exception was tlie gallant Gen. James Miller, who being a native of this town was present at the centennial celebration. This excellent soldier, wliose modesty never allowed iiim to proclaim " tiie mighty meed of his large honor" only in the act itself which merited praise, was born in 177C). His father, James Miller, sen. and a twin brother inherited a farm together, "upon which they lived fifteen or sixteen years, enjoying the produce in common, with no exact division of labor or the fruits of tiieir labor. The family were remarkable for simple hearted truth and kindness, and at the same time great manliness and courage." The Wiunipisseogee Lake and River. A more charming and delightsome view with the naked eye is not perhapfl to be seen in America than that from Red Hill in the county of Strafford, N. H. The view from the top cf Mount Washington in a clear day is magnifi- cent : the mountains in different directions seem like waves of tiie sea — but the eye rests on little else beside mountains. From Red Hill the eye des- cries objects — villages and isolated buildings, green fields and forests, the golden wheat and paler rye, and flowing corn — the flocks of cattle andsiieep: More beautiful than all ou the northwest, the Squam lake at tiic southwest foc-t of the Sandwicli mountains, some six or eight miles in extent each way, studded with islands; and the lake Winnipissiogee nearly in its whole ex- tent of about thirty miles with its hundreds of islands, resembling liquid sil- ver run jnto a vessel of unequal surface, portions of which ^are too high to be covered. If tiie view of Winnipisseogee as a whole from the Red Hill summit ia beautiful, tiie appearance of the lake at different points with the islands and surrounding scenery as we pass around and near it in the vernal season, is scarcely less enchanting. Its shores, unlike those of Lake George, are not surrounded with precipitous mountains forbidding settlement : tliey are a- mong the most fertile lands of the State; and tiiose islands upon the lake wJiich have been brought into cultivation contain some of our best farms. — On two of these islands tlie last year three different farmers have raised 131, 130 and IIG busliels of shelled Indian corn to the acre. The area of the valley of tliis lake presents an ampliithcatre of about fifty miles in lengtli by from twenty -five to thirty miles in breadtli. On the north at the distance of from five to ten miles the range of the Ossipee mountains extends some fifteen miles, and on the south tlie Guustock mountains extend nearly the same distance as a parallel. Commencing at the easterly end of the lake on the north, standin t in their order upon the shore, are the towns of Wolfeborough, Tuftonborough, IMoultonborough and Centre Harbor — on the soutii proceeding easterly are Meredith, Gilford and Alton : tiie islands be- long to the town wiiose sliore on the main land is nearest. There are proba- bly twenty ponds of from one to six miles in diameter in the seven towns surrounding, which empty into this lake : the most of these are at an eleva- tion cf several feet above the level of the lake, and some of their streams|fur- nish fine mill seats. There are besides other considerable streams running* down from tlic mountains on either liand, constantly contributing to the wa- ters of the lake. The level of the lake ia at an elevation of not far from five hundred feet v bove the level of the eea. There are other considerable feeders of the Mar- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISSTOR. M riniack larger than this — above It tiie main branch of Peniigewasset, having its source in tlie Iiighest mountains running across the county of Grafton; and a frw milca below its confluence witii tliatniain branch, the Contoocook, wliich embraces the waters running from the Monadnock near tiie south line of the State to those of Kcarsarge and Ragged mountains near its centre. — But no stream gives so much permanence to the Merrimack river below as tlie Winnipisscogee river, which is fed immediately by the lake from which it derives its name. The Winnipiss(y)gee river runs the distance of about fifteen miles from tlie lake before it unites with the main stream at the flourishing village of Frank- lin : ilj waters never vary over four feet (except dammed up by ice) between the highest freshet and dryest season of the year. Tliey are clear and pellu- cid as silver. This river is one of the most desirable and available water pow- ers in t!ie country. Experienced manufacturers who have built and own mills on streams near the seaboard, after they have seen this stream, say that with all the additional expense ol the present transport, the same mills erected on the Winnipisseogee would be more valuable than at the point of their present location. There are yet no companies of extensive capital loc?.ted upon this stream. Its fall in the distance of fiffceen miles is estimated at 234 feet. The outlet of the lake commences at its southwest arm, and is the dividing line between the towns of Gilford and Meredith. At this outlet the fall is four- teen feet when the lake is at the highest point. Here a new village has sprung up called the Lake Mills, at which there are two cotton factories, four saw, two shingle and two clapboard mills, and one iron foundry. Between this river and Meredith Bridge, whose direct distance is only one and a half miles, the river passes through two beautiful oblong bays of considera- ble extent. The village of Meredith Bridge on both the Meredith and Gil- ford sides has a population of probably 2000 inhabitants : here are falls in the river of eleven feet, with four cotton and one ticking factory, one saw, one clapboard and ivvo shingle mills, one grist and one clothing mill. Below Meredith Bridge are the Sandbornton bays, through which the river has its course. The Great Bay divides Sandbornton, which is a peninsula surround- ed by water on three sides, from Meredith, also a peninsula surrounded on three sides; this bay extends some seven miles to the north and is two to four miles in breadth. From the Great Bay to the Little Bay, below Union Bridge in Sanbornton, the fall is sixteen feet ; and at Union Bridge there are three saw mills, two grist mills, one clapboard and two shingle mills. From Union Bridge to Philbrick's dam, in the distance of three and a half miles, the fall is eleven leet ; and from this point to Sandbornton Bridge, one-fourth of a mile, the fall is six feet more. At the village of Sandbornton Bridge are three saw mills, one sattinelt and cassimere factory, three grist mills and one cot- ton and one shingle mill. From Sandbornton Bridge to the Steep Eddy, a dis- tance of two miles, the fall is thirty feet: here is a saw mill, shingle and clapboard mill and trip hammer. From this point to Peabody, Daniell and Company's paper mill, near tlie confluence of the Winnipisseogee with the Pemigewasselt (where the united streams take the name of the Merrimack) the fall in the distance of little more than two miles, is one hundred and fort ij feet. The Smilhville Factory Village is situated on both sides of the Winni- pisseogee river, which divides Franklin from Northfield, and is of conse- quence partly in both towns: at this village there are two cotton mills, two paper mills, one sattinett factory and three machine shops. We have been thus particular that we might impress on our readers who participate in its benefits below, the value of this excellent stream both as a water [)ower for extended manufactures, and as the plain source of the steady water power tliat furnishes the g.reat manufacturing establishments which already exist or are in preparation at Amoskeag and Lowell below. Without the reijervoir of water in Winnipisseogee in a dry season, which flows through this river in no inconstant supply, the largest manufacturing establishments in America would be comparatively of little value. Not more steady to them has been the constant supply of water from this source, than has been the par value of those manufacturing stocks which have depended on this w^ter for its supply. The cut which is presented below is a representation of the paper mill and contiguous buildings belonging to Messrs. Peabody, Daniell and Co. being the lowest manufacturing establishment on the Winnipisscogee river, and within the distance of half a mile of the principal village of Franklin situated on the westerly bank of the Merrimack. April 27, 1837, these gentlemen encountered witli only a partial insurance the loss of their mills, machinery and stock, by fire, to the amount of ^bout ^25,000. In the fall of the same year they erected less expensive buildings, be- ing those shown in this plate : the expense of Ihese was about ^15,U00. Their paper machine is a curiosity worthy the attention of every man who inter- ests himself in the improvements of the day : it is the invention of an Euro- pean, and benrs the name of its inventor, being called the Fordonier paper machine. Those who worked at the iiand process of paper making thirty years ago never dreamed that paper could be made with the facility and in tbe manner it is completed by this machine. A lot of paper sufficient for an edition of books can be completed from the rags in twenty-four hours. In the same week the rags have been transported from Concord, the paper made and returned, printed into newspapers, and again returned to Franklin. By the Fordonier machine the paper is gaged so as to come out at a uniform weight and thickness; and the texture of the paper is decidedly better than that manufactured in any other manner. Messrs. Peabody, Daniell and Go's, machine was made at Windham, in Connecticut, by Phelps and Spaftbrd. — The ingenious inventor has never derived any advantage from his labor: his patent was defective from the deficiency of a single word in the description. The machine takes the pulp in a liquid state appearing like thin milk por- ridge, and at once converts it into a continuous roll of uniform paper of the desired thickness, which is readily cut into sheets of the various sizes. So superior is the Fordonier paper, that the printers are reluctant to use any other when they can obtain this. The cost of the machine was $4,000, ex- clusive of }lt!300 for transportfrom Connecticut. This machine saves an immense personal labor. Messrs. Peabody, Daniell and Co. have manufactured during the year 1840 with their machine about two hundred tons of rags, averaging about two thirds of a ton per day. In an adjacent mill, where they manufacture with one of the cylinder ma- chines in common use an inferior paper, they consumed about one hundred and twenty-five tons. Their sales of paper in the time were very near $46,- 000. They consumed, principally in their drying apparatus, about five hun- dred cords of wood. Their number of operatives, men and women, averag- ed only about sixteen persona. To produce an equal quantity of paper in the old way, the labor o? probably forty persons would be required. The transport of two hundred tons each way from Franklin to Boston, a distance of about one hundred miles, is an item of no inconsiderable expense for one establishment. At ten dollars the ton tliis expense would be four thousand dollars. A rail road to that point would reduce the cost of transport at once more than one half, and ultimately to less than one fourth the pres- ent price. In such an event how decisively would the value of water power, which is found in the two hundred and thirty-four feet fall on the Winnipis- seogee river, be raised to the present owners? Brought within half a day's journey of Boston, this river, whose waters are as pure as those of a living spring, from whose overflow no danger to the moat perfect security is ever apprehended, and of whose failure there need be no apprehension, would b© more valuable than we cam now appreciate. VIEW OF PEABODY, DtANIELL AND COS PAPER-MILLS AT FRANKLIN, N. H. afi THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Prom the Ftitmer's CoiDpntiion. By the late Judge Buet.. The importance of Agriculture to a Nation, There is no business of life wliich so higltly con- duces to the prosperity of a nation, and to thf luip- piness of its entire population, as that of cultivat- ing the soil. Agriculture may he regarded, says the great Sully, as the breasts from which the state de- rives support and nourishment. Agriculture is truly our nursing mother, which gives food, and growth, and wealth, and moral health and charac- ter, to our country. It may be considered the great wheel which moves all the maciiinery of society ; and that whatever gives to tiiis a new impulse, communicates a corresponding impetus to the thou- sand uiinor wheels of interest which it propels and regulates. While the other classes of the commu- nity are directly dependent upon agriculture, for a regular and suflicient supply of the means of sub- sistence, the agriculturist is able to supply all the absolute wants of life from his own labors ; though he derives the most of liis pleasures and profits from an interchange of the products of labor with the other classes of society. Agriculture is called the parent of arts, not only because it was the first art practised by man, but because the other arts are its legitimate oftspring, and cannot continue long to exist without it. It is the great business oj civil- ized life, and gives employment to a vast majority of almost every people. The substantial prosperity of a country is always in the ratio of its agricultural industry and wealth. Commerce and manufactures may give temporary cons.'quence to a State, but these are always a precarious dependence. They are effeminating and corrupting ; and, unless backed by a prosperous agricultural population, they engender the elemenis of a speedy decay and ruin. Venice, Genoa, Por- tucral, Spain, &c., each in turn rose to wealth and power by commercial enterprise. But they all now exhibit melancholy evidence of fallen greatness. They have fallen, in succession, from their high standiuc, victims to the more robust energies of ri- val powers, or to the enervating and corrupting in- fluence of commercial cupidity. They exliibit nothing now in their political or social institutions, and but little in their agriculture or in the useful arts, that can be admired or coveted, by the citi- zens of our free country. Great Britain has now become ascendant in commerce and manufactures, yet her greatness in these sources of power and op- ulence, is primarily and principally owing to the excellent condition of her agriculture; with- out which she would not be able to sustain her manufactures or her commerce, in their present flourishing state, or long retain her immense for- eiarn possessions, or any thing like her present pop- ulation. Only one third of her inhabitants are suid to be emplo^'cd in agriculture ; yet the labors of this one third, such is tiie high condition of her hus- bandrv, suffice to furnish subsistence for the whole. Five millions, of all ages, produce annually, from her limited soil, seven hundred millions wortli of atrricultural j>roduce, averaging about one hundred and forty dollars for each man, woman, and child of her agricultural population. The recently pub- lished letters of the Rev. Dr. Humphreys are so conclusive and so instructive upon this subject, not only in regard to the importance of agriculture to a nation, but as showing the susceptibility of this art of high im])rovenient and great productiveness, that we here quote an extract in illustration of what we have stated *'It is the opinion of competent judges," says Dr. Humphreys, 'Hhat the advances made in the agriculture of Great Britain, during tlie last sev- enty or eighty years, are scarcely exceeded by the improvement and extension of its manufactures, within the same period ; and that to these advances no other old settled country furnishes any parallel. That they have been very rapid indeed, the follow- ing figures and.comparisons abundantly show : In 17(if), the total growth of all kinds of grain in Eng- land and Wales, was about 120,000,000 bushels.— To this should be added, perhaps, 50,000,000 for Scotland— ninking a total of 170,000,000. In 1635, the quantity in both kingdoms could not have been less than 340,000,000 bushels. In 1755, the popu- lation of the whole island did not much, if any, ex- ceed 7,600,000. In lc^31, it had risen to 16,52o,160, being an increase of 9,000,000, or 120 per cent. ! Now, the improvements in agriculture have more than kept pace with this prodigious increase of de- mand for its various productions; for it is agreed on all hands, that the lG,50tl,000, or rather tlic 17,- 500,000, (for more than a million has been added since 1831,) arc mucli fuller fed, and on provisions of better quality, than the 7,500,000 were in 1735. Nor if. Great Britain indebted at all, at present, to foreign markets for her supplies. Since 1H33, she has imported no grain worth mentioning ; and till within the last six months, prices have been so ex- ceedingly depressed, as to cull forth loud complaints from the wliole agricultural interest of the country. England is, at this moment, so far from wanting any of our bread-stuffs, if we had them to export, that she has been supplying us all winter liberally frnm her own granaries; und, according to the latest advices, she has still bread enough, and to spare. Again, it is estimated by British writers, of high authority, that the subsltence of 9,000,000 people costs, in raw produce, no less than £72,000,000, or £^ for each individual, per annum. According to this estimate, the annual product of this great branch of national industry is $;350,l)UO,0(tO more at present than it was in 1755 ; which is more than twice the value of the whole cotton manufacture of the country, in 1831. Now if it costs $350,000,00i), to feed the increased population of 0,000,000, then to feed the present population of 17,500,000 mut^t ccst near 700,000,000 ! Wliat an amazing agricul- tural product for so small a territory 1 And yet it is the opinion of practical men of the highest respec- tability in England, that the raw produce of the isl- and might well nigh be doubled, without any greater proportional expense being incurred in its production ; thy.t is to say, 25,000,000 people might draw their subsistence from that one little speck in the ocean ! Now tec have a territory more than fif- teen times as large as the island of Great Britain ; and what should hinder it, when it conies to be brought under no higlier cultivation than some parts of England and Scotland, from sustaining a popu- lation of five or six hundred millions of people ? This would give to Virginia something like thirty minions; to Illinois and Missouri, about the same number each ; to New York near twenty-five mil- lions, and so on in proportion to the other States. I am quite aware that this estimate will be regard- ed as extremely visionary and incredible, by many of your readers; but not more so than it would have been thought In the middle of the last century, that England, Scotland, and Wales could ever be made to sustain thirty-five, or even thirty' millions." A Cfty may flourish by foreign commerce — by be- coinmg the carrier of other nations, as Venice and Genoa have once done; — till foreign aggression, or foreign rivalshlp — contingencies of no unfre- quent occurrence in the history of nations — shall blast its prospects, and reduce it like the cities we have named, to ostentatious beggary, or consign it, like Tyre, Peruepolis, Petra, and other cities of the East, to ruin and oblivion. A toicn or district may flourish by its niaimfac- luring industry, as many have done in ancient and modern times, as long as it can exchange Its mor- chundise for the means of subsistence and of wealth ; but if its dependence for these contingen- cies is upon foreign lands, its prosperity is unsta- ble. The interchano-e may be interrupted or de- stroyed by war, by the want of a demand for its commodities, or a failure in a supply of the neces- saries of life. A country can only continue long prosperous, and be truly independent, when it is sustained by agricultural intelligence, agricultural industry, and agricultural wealth. Though its commerce^nay be swept from the ocean — and its maufnctures perish — yet, if its soil is tilled, and w^ll tilled, by an in- dej>endent yeomanry, it can still be made to yield all the absfdute necessaries of life ;-^lt can sustain its population and its independence ; — and wiien its misfortunes abate, it can, like the trunkless roots of a recently cut down tree, firmly braced, in, and deriving nourishment from, the soil, send forth a new trunk, new branches, new foliage, and new fruits ; — it can rear again the edifice of its manu- facturer, and spread again the sails of its commerce. But agriculture is beneficial to a state, In pro- portion as its labors are encouraged, enlightened, and honored — for in that proportion does it add to national and individual wealth and happin(,'3S-'.: • ; Ji^ricultvrc feeds all. Were agriculture to' bo neglected, population would diminish, because ne- cessaries of life would be wanting. Did it not sup- ply more tlian is necessary for iis own wants, eve- ry other art would not only be at a stand, hut eve- ry science, and every kind of mental improvement, would be neG;lected. Manufacture?: and commerce originally owed their existence to agriculture. — Agriculture furnishes, in a great measure, rawma- terlals and subsistence for the one, and commodi- ties for barter and excliange for the other. In pro- proportion as these raw materials and commodities are multiplied, by the intelligence and industry of the farmer, and the consequent improvement oftlie soil, in the same proportion are manufactures and commerce benefited — not only in being furnished with more abundant supplies, but in the increased demand for their fabrics a*!^.d merchandise. The more aofriculture protluces, the more site sells— the more she buys ; and the business and comfort of society are mainly influenced and controlled by the results of her labors. yi^rifuftiirc, directly or indirectly, pays the bur- dens of our tn/cs and our folls^ — which support the government, and sustain our internal improve- ments ; and the more abundant her means, the greater will be her contributions. The farmer who manages his business ignorantly and slothfully, and who produces from it only just enough for the sub- sistence of his family, pays no tolls on the transit of his produce, and but a small tax upon the nom- inal value of his lands. Instruct his mind,*and a- waken him to Industry, by the hope of distinction and reward, so that he triples the products of his labor, the value of his lands is increased in a cor- responding ratio, his comforts are multiplied, his mind disintliralled, and two thirds of his products go to augment the business and tolls of our canals and roads. If such a change in the situation of one farm would add one hundred dollars to the wealth, and one dollar to the tolls of the state, what an as- tonishing aggregate would be produced, both incap- ital and in revenue, by a similar improvement up- on 250,000 farms, the assumed number in the State of New York. The capital would be augmented two millions, and the revenue two hundred and fif- ty thousand dollars per annum. ,lgriculturc is the principal source of our iceaWi. It furnishes more productive labor, the legitimate source of wealth, than all the other employments in society combined. The more it is enlightened by science, the more abundant will be its products ; the more elevated its character, the stronger the incitements to pursue it. Whatever, therefore, tends to enlighten the agriculturist, tends to in- crease the wealth of the state, and the means for the successful prosecution of the other arts, and the sciences, now indispensable to their profitable management. JiirricuUurists arc the guardians of our freedom. Tliey are the fimntalns of political power. If the fountain become impure, the stream will be defil- ed. If the agriculturist is slothful, and ignorant, and poor, he will be s])irltless and servile. If he is enlightened, industrious, and in prosperous circum- stances, he will be inde])endent in mind, jealous of his rights, and watchful for tlie public good. His welfare is identified with the welfare of the state. Ho is virtually fixed to the soil ; and has, there fore, a paramount interest, as well as a giant pow- er, to defend It, from the encroachment of lorelgn or domestic foes. If his country sufters, he must suffer ; if she prospers, he too may expect to pros- per. Hence, whatever tends to Improve the intel- lectual condition of tlie farmer, and to elevate him above venal temptation, essentially contributes to the good order of society at large, and to the per- petuity of our country's freedom. .Agriculture is the parent of physical and moral health to the state — it is the salt which preserves from moral corruption. Not only are her labors useful in administering to our wants, and in dis- pensing the blessing of abundance to others, but she is constantly exercising a salutary influence up- on the moral and physical health of the state, and in perpetuating the republican habits and good or- der of society. While rural labor is the great source of physical health and constitutional vigor to our population, it interposes the most formidable barrier to the demoralizing Influence of luxury and vice. We seldom liear of civil commotions, of crimes, or of hereditary disease, among those who are steadily engaged in the business of agriculture. Men who are satisfied with the abundant and cer- tain resources of their own Uhor, and their own farms, are not willing to jeopard these enjoyments, by promoting ])opular tumult, or tolerating crime. The more we promote the interest of the agricul- turist, by developing tlic powers of ini.id, and ele- vatiurT his moral views, the more we sliall promote the virtue and happiness of society. The facts which are here submitted must aflord ample proof, that agriculture is all-important to us as ii nation ; and that our prosperity in manufac- tures,in commerce, and in otlier pursuits of life, will depend, in a great measure, upon the returns which the soil makes to agricultural labor. Itthere- fore becomes the interest of every class, to cherish, to encourage, to enlighten, to honor, and to re- ward those who engage in agricultural pursuits. — Our independence was won by our yeomanry, and it can only be preserved by them. After all, the price of pork in the market la not so bad as many had anticipated. The last report of the country farmers who had been to the Bos- ton market was that good smoll hogs went quick at 7 cents : and hogs wcigliJng over 300 at 7 1-2 cts. THE FARMER'S MONTHLYJ^STTOR. 27 From the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 1 A Proposition. The Farmers of .Xnc England devote too much time to manuid labor. No dictate of con,^o„ sense can be ,a,ner_than T, """'.■; m'u^ucl V, b^rpromote tbe great that use "' '."'« "^^^,^'' 'y;^ trivial objects, or to pur- objects of lite, ^o pursue iriv_^^ ^j^^^^^^^l^^ ^^ ^^^^ for cnstant labor. But were tliero no means oi lor consiani i.inui. r , (Vmilv it bv no means lp>;spninir the expenses ot a taniiij, ii uy f;n::v:ri,at tl. 'present syste-v^ nn.t be pnrsu d. It is not a necessary consequence bat >f tbe arm er spends more time in intellectu. P""^;"''^' ^ mus diminish his income. Ag,"<'"","'„Vadditimi so far advanced that study can .i.rnisb no addiUon 'The amount of labor bestowed upon the last mentioned piece,including the difr^rinrr and putting Z,,l\h,. cellar was at the rate of lourteen days Jo ^he acre In this estimate tbe work of the re"' is included; and considered e„ual to that of a man This fourteen days work at the price for la- ^^:;'^o'd^;:^,Xv:lue"f"gbtbushJlsofp^a- ?f^:^ie,uantiy_perac. planted at U-ony^^ ----?^;;^^S^'r:-:.-"-i.r!:: --:^^v;rlb:r-5=;^x^- 'r'- '^?';";t ilt mr mlb^^-e t; tbe Uws ''rhealt/ While 1- cultivation ol the earth is an r.n 1 duty the obligation to cultivate the no- ;-:^-is;:::^^r:l:^-ni:;::r^'^nin/without :;ro;.:;Sl:!aion"t:inbi'convenient to consider ''"rMooUrlReligions Instruction. To attempt .„ ; iS -.--• •■7r/r':;,ftrsSp::e Slfs:;S-^;ntr:;?bU.d,j.es£or. ed to Ibe study of the principles on «h,chtnese "''s^YnteTlecU.al Education. Independent of that ^. intuiecuiai Y n-eneral nformation ''h'^'?.''rve?vrne b ud foss/ss, no man can 'frl^e science of agriculture without much ^^^;^:rr:«^m. i£^r:;^,udr::it:r !;;i::':;:^;.StnotC^'i:b:r,buthemustre^ 1^ r fleet- and for these he .nust have time. The treasu es ^t h ? ^et c ^_^^ j^ ,„„. ;£r;;;""ir-:=»,«i^s. ;:;,--- q,„rli.i; wealth. Tlie inf.Tenc. is t'bi". 'I'-^f't' '. ,.cU;;fir,sno'i:;:;p=te.\be,.rmerthan ■Tf:lur^ no conclusion can be drawn from what ^^m«s;ia^bfs;ir^.^^ of labor between the mind and body i» better than "''."obedience to the laws of health O- S-f, objection to the present system ° 'f "^f,;^^ '^^„ . shortens life. By statistics which have b en co lected at different times, it »PP'^"\t''^ .,X if a- ens life as much by over exertion, ^.^ ^^e protes sional man does by neglect of ^.''•■■^cise. Indeed how often do we find fanners at the "go o* "'' "' J^ titl, tbe stiffjoints and deorepid forms whicbbn to those ol three score and ten ? This '^ '<■ '''f ^ imate effect of transgressing the laws of beaUh. But besides the violation which ,s done to na.un- thi, endless toil defeats its own ob)eet. 1 he man v^o^ai:.; ten years for labor by negloeting to cu - tivate his mind, and wears himself o"' t^" >,^;" before the "debt of nature" is due, cannot surely '''Ti^r:r::^ations it is believed -e sufficient to establish tbe affirmative of the prop^s^tmn at the head of this article. OBSbRVA lutv. Keene, Jan. 13, 1840. _ •IV.tlie E.l.tororilier..nner-..Mn.,thlyV.si,„r. Deau S,k :-Having taken.notes of the result of whole expense of llu- crop, which will make the cost of the potatoes only three cents per busheh The manure 1 do not take into the account, ex- cept the labor of getting it out as ,t ,s an art^le that costs the farmer nothing: ^1 '-""g'', i^ ""b, e i„>porlance. It may be considered ' ' tj'' » « which the husbandman must pay back to H'e so as i return for the bounties received, and without 1 wluch t will cease to reward his labors. Besides, he pot toe is generally planted as a Preparatory .„ fi. the irround for the subsequent crop ot wh^;.^ to whfch'aud the crop still to follow the ma- "•^.:';:::::e':f^S^tm the field last f.11 was twentV cents per bushel, being higher tlmn usua on account of the general short crop. This w, 1 ^"veThe very handsome profit of sixty ^f'^Jf' fars from one acre of land, after paying all expen- '"Tho intelligent farmer, by comparing the two modes of cultfvation, will readily see the .g«at^-v- n? m labor, in that last described, which,.! the m's were merely equal, would be of vast nnpor- tance- but when w^e find tire crop one quarter greater the advantage of its general adoption would be in- a culable. ^As a preparation for a crop of grain the next season, the two modes are yet to Le test ed . but from the sta.en.ent of Mr Whitney, that aUhou.h twice well hoed, and althongh he wet over the piece once and pulled up all 'I"" -'"'^^'^e could find, from the wetness of the season it was [mnoss hie to keep the weeds down, and many V e fi und to have seeded, I should suppose the piece hoed might be in uo better state tor a crop of ffrain, than the other. ^ Fo^ the benefit of those farmers who have not vetnrocured that useful implement, the ro ler, I ^vi I's at", that Mr. Whitney doubts whether its use in his experiment was of any advantage, and use 111 "'= \ 1 , . f _t ,,, nart. S,K :-Having taken notes o"'^ ;;="';;. •^{-^^^ ,,,,11 dispense with its use, at least m part, an experiment made by Mr. N.'.vvei.l V\ ,,n > ^ M t at^>e J ^^ ^,^,„t. the potatoes will ex- this town, in the cultivation ot the Potaloe which "^ "^ j. t|,„ ^„d thereby receive great- Ihowr: v'ery great saving of bd.o;, - w^^^^^^^^^^^^ "."/avtlag™ from the m'anure, if the furrow should crease oft,, crop, I have Urought ,t in^^ valuab J not^e pres^d dow., by U. rolle.^ It niay lie i 1 , Initthe «round .he;,:^eU,X^.^ti;c=s of y^r valuable ^°'A;tughthe,ntrc^ueU™oft,.Hol.^^^^^ is, I believe, destined to be ot ""''"^ ^'^ , -j should known. ^hit broke up a piece of ""f':;:;r^hi{!';^"i:::;^:^^'ccountof the rust, ^=^;th:'t^:'l?^^K-' on precisely the same de b^l ^e^ ;';;c;n\ained an acre ; but the ground was caef"lly measured, as well as the crop, and rUnrate account kept of the labor expended from which the calculations were made, for the ac- curacy of which I will hold myself responsible, I am, sir, very respectlully. Your obedient servant,l| JAMES A. PAUDOCK. Craftsbury, Vt., Jan. 27th, 1840, !;;:rbim;Sof tbose-helps which the Agricultural ^_^^^ ^T Th^'S:;^;: on^^ n'is a^very P-^ - 1 !!:— ^^'^'^ ""^'^ ^^"'"" ;/,S^L'^,-':u;;i?^to?;=K ^ti^^^^^^ce^fi^^th:;^::;:^!^^ "^^-^-:a^:er^hez^>:::;,^ri.x:>:^"i:;::h 1- .,„„ ii.irHs of the year, almost the wnoie iime, „;niia t,-i reouirc comment, uwing vu i..i= : ,°tom! the ."nter evenings, ^vhlch of course em- fa ^ce most of .h"t;.ue left for improvement, be- A British Agricultural Newspaper and British Agriculture. Amonweek a year previous; Foreign News and cfuntryNews; Notice of an A-ociation or re- wirdini^ the good conduct and habits ol Kbortrs and o v r -, a^n essay on Ploughs; notice ol a new a'chJle'cilled the Scorches for b«--g -"- and vegetable matter upon the soil , « ^^^^ 7„ turns oT the quantities and prices of Br. sh corn wheat, barley, oats, peas and beans) in aJl the id principal towns in England and Wales ; Report of the number of Quarters and avt-riige price of corn »nd grain in the several counties in England and Walfs, which governs the duty ; Notices of the Ooimtry grain Markets, the prices and quantities on hand in all the considerable towns in Encr. land, Wales, Scotland and Ireland ; Foreign Gram Markets on the continent and in the United States; another essay "on that most important implement the plough ;■• Notices of the Turf, of horse racinir in the varieus parts of tlie kingdom ; of a run with the Shropshire Hounds; of a Novel Steam Appa- ratus ; of tlie Farmer's Magazine; of the State of Society in England in the Middle Ages; of the Sportsman a inontlily periodical; of improvement in the application of water power ; of the St Hele- naRat; of the Water ofth« Dead Sea; sfEn- gravings of a Fallow Deer and a Ram in the Fann- er « Magazine; of a National Arboretum about to be planted ; of the decline of British commerce and manufactures in tlie last four years ; of two hundred pigs drowned and smothered, and several other articles of miscellaneous intelligence ; Prices of shares in the Railways, mines. roa°ds, joint stock banks, and of other miscellaneous stocks; Minino- intelligence, with prices and sales of copper ores' a City Article, containing a summary of all the news Mceived for the week ; progress of the stocks during the week ; courses of Exchange with for- eign cities; prices of foreign funds; an editorial Mticle recommending life insurance for the benefit ef after widows and children to the tenant farmer- communication on the mode of selectin-r judo-es of stock at the Sinithfield show ; a meotm^ for ar- rangement of the managers of the English A..ri- cultnral Society ; an essay on the use of two Snd four horse ploughs,— another on the breaking up of Rward land, another on turf draining, and nolice of the Rohan Potatoe ; Manufactures of the British cities ; Review of the Foreign Corn trade ; account of corn arrived in London during the week ; a list of the. vessels laden with grain which have passed the Sound and are bound to British ports ; notice of an Agricultural Seminary in Ireland ; Agricul- tural Reports of the crops in the various counties ; comparative statements of tlie imports of grain in- to Liverposl for corresponding weeks the two last years, and other statements of the grain trade in "JV "'y^'. ^'"''^'"S of 'lie Farmers and discussion of Lord Weston's Drill System; two articleson the Weston Tithe Commutation ; Farming in O-xford- shire; Improvements in Agriculture; Treatment of horses; on Draining; Gardening Operations tor the week ; Agricultural Intelligence from vari- ous parts of the country; Country Cattle Markets- Potatoe Markets ; Smithfield (London) Cattle Market; statement and comparison of supplies of fat stock between Nov. 1838 and Nov. 1839; Wool Markets; Quantities of imported wool in London en which duties have been paid ; Provision Mark- ets; Hop Intelligence and Hop Duty : Tallow- Trade ; Coal Market ; Commercial Markets at Bris- tol and Liverpool, Hull and London; Prices of Metals; of Raw Hides, Sheep and Calfskins; Hay Markets ; Declarations of Insolvency : and a great variety of Advertisements, the most of which on subjects pertaining to Agriculture. Of the articles advertised we observe Poitvin's Patent DisinfectedManure and Clarke's Dessicated Compost: these are both prepared from Night Soil the first according to a process used by French ag- ricultural chemists—it is sold at Is. Cd. per bushel (about 38 cents) and twenty bushels are sufficient for an acre. The Dessicated Compost is a prepar- ation of Night Soil and animal matter- and one hogshead of '36 bushels is sufficient for raanurino- two acres ; price three guineas and a half per hogshead. William Grounsell advertises a'Drop Drill, ivhich will deposit Manure and Seed at any distance or in any quantity that may he required. ' Thomas Bigg, chemist, offers a Slieep Dipping Composition lor curing the Scab, preventing the Fly and destroying tlie Tick and all other insects injurious to the Flock. W. Courtney offers Medicines for Animals— As- trmgentBalls tliat cure creatures in scour and loose- ness ; Animal Restorative that cures inward and outward swellings, bruises, hurts, strains of all kinds, Ac— Fly and Vermin Powders, that kill and prevent the injuries of flies, ticks, &.-. ; Mance and Vermin Ointment; Worm powders ; Cholic Drought that cures horses in five minutes, &c. Webster's Manganese Ink, "limpid a's water and flowing from the pen with the utmost freedom '' which (like Currier & Hall's with which we are now writing) causes the writing to become Maclccr by age instead of turning riistj/. Crosskill's Patent Clod-Crushor Roller ; and a lJ[gJlARAlEjrS^MONTHLY VISITOR. Four Horse Thrashing Machine, whch will thrash 40 quarters (320 bushels) per day. The Farmers' and General Fire and Life Assur- r.n?'" 7i-nZV."'^ Annuity Institution, with acap. ital of £cOO,nOO, IS advertised, One tenth of the prohts of this institution to be appropriated to air- ncultural objects-one tenth to be reserved as a Rest to add to the capital stock, and the other four hlths to be annually divided among the share hold- ers. It ,s also proposed out of the capital stock of the institution to advance loans, either temporary or permanent, to farmers upon the security of their policies. Life insurance is also done in this compa- ny, by which the man who marries and goes into business at the age of twenty-seven years, on the payment of twenty pounds per annum, secures a thousand pounds for his family at his decease As most of the farmers of Great Britain do not own but rent their farms, and as the surviving widows are seldom able to continue the occupation, insur- ance on lives (which is only another name for gambling)is there considered to be the better policy Adopt this principle on any other ground than a mu^ tual assurance for the v/hole community, and it will be found to be a severe taxation for the benefit of the tew owners of the stock. Tuxford's Patent Reeing Machines are advertis- ed : by which sprouted, mouldy and perished grains, smut balls or bladders (without breakin..)^ oats shells, worms, weevils, garlic, rat and mice dirt, arj separated from the good o-rain. The Yester Patent Brick and Tile Machines, in- vented by "the most noble, the Marquess of Twee- r^u V'/" """""^ """ 'Advertised improvements. [1 he Marquess ofTweedale commanded a re criment in Canada, during the war with Great Britain which was brought in immediate contact with the American regiment commanded by the brave Mai (now Gen )M Neil at the battle of Chippewa near the falls of Niagara.] There is, in short, scarcely any subject or matter connected with production and agriculture that is not noticed in the sheet entitled "The Mark Lane Lxpress:" it is a sheet of statistics which preserv- ed a hundred years hence would afford materials for an accurate history of the growth and progress of the British isles. It proves that country, althonah doomed to encounter an extravagant government a profligate race of non-producers living upon the' labors ot the poor, low wages and high prices for everything sustaining life-the burden of a na- tional debt consuming a large portion of the whole income of labor ;— this agricultural newspaper proves the British islands to be far in advance of the United States in improved cultivation anil pro- ductimi oj the ground. Our farmers should be taught a useful lesson from this fact The United States are blessed with many privileges of which the laboring classes of Great Britain are deprived Nmety-mne of every hundred of those farmers here wlio labor in the soil own the ground which they cultivate, and through this ownership reap all the benefits of their permanent improvements - of course they have much stronger inducements to enter upon the new system of husbandry, the con- slant improvement and renovation of lands which IS so successfully practised in England and Scot- and. The ta.xation and rent of the soil in Eng- land would swallow up the whole proceeds of the agriculture of th»common farmers of New Eno-. land : yet by introducing and pursuing the hi-rh^r and more systematic cultivation, improvino-''tlie ground constantly, the English tenant is not°only able to pay enormous taxes and rents to his owner but m his turn, with the practice of economy, and with good calculations, becomes himself a rich economists that they will find the means of livini, ■T/liir"*^ earning property where others would hardly hve. The first will turn to good account every kind of pursuit they take hold of: the last will make but little headway when every thinj seems to be in the way of encoura..ement ^ ^ Mr. 1 ETF.R Stone, a farmer of West Boscawen, on thrfi'rTV 'V'^ '-" ''"; ^vooled sheep and lambs on the first of January of this year he had 100 hay- His 100 sheep which remain are an improvement Tr M »or'-^"'""^ ''"^ '^"-i^^^J for sheep and wool sold $26o in cash. ^ About eight years ago Mr. Stone purchased six acres of swamp land, not overflowed, but with standing water near the surface, filled with flags and water bushes; the price paid for the whole was twenty-five dollars. There was a hard gravel bar at the outlet: with two hands besides IiTmself n three days a dram was cut through this bar to let off the water. A ditch was cut through the centre, and another ditch near the edge round the swamp, all meeting near the outlet. The bushes were cut down ,n June in August the drains were comple ed ; and in September the surface was so dry that the fire swept over the whole. Four acres ot the meadow was soil or peat of the depth of two to hree feet-the remaining two acres was more shallow. The ground was cleared by further ex- trac ing and burning up the nols and" rubbish : the whole expense of clearing, if all the work had been hired, might have been twenty dollars the acre No manure was put upon the ground ; but herds grass and foul-meadow grass were sown upon it. 1 he first year s pi-oduce was five tons of hay— the second year was more ; and the meadow yielded last year at least seven tons of good hay. Such natural reclaimed swamp land as the fore- going IS of great value to the farmer, who has up- land which he wishes constantly to improve be- cause, without an outlay of manure m the first in^ stance it furnishes the means of generally enrich- ing all the arable land upon the farm to which it U attached, by turning out several loads of manure for every ton of hay. We are however of opinion that the swamp may be made still more profitable bv suitable cultivation. Let the ditches be cut ove'r and cleared out as often as once in five or sixyears and their contents be spread over the surface of the ground. This will keep the meadow drained so It may be cultivated by breaking up the sward and planting with potatoes or perhaps corn Then spread oyer the ground a dozen loads of warming manure to the acre, and stock down to grass with a crop of oats or peas. Land treated in this way ot the peat swamp kind, or whose soil is composed of decayed leaves and other vegetable matters, will hardly fail to produce two and three tons of the best English hay to the acre. While we avoid her expensive government, the ambition of her rulers which has imposed an enor- mous burden upon posterity— while we avoid those aristocratic distinctions of royalty which enable one family to make serfs and slaves of others— while we avoid that ostentation which spends millions in the mere gew-gaws and frippery of some raree .Imw of titled, worthless royalty; let the Farmers of tlie United States so far adopt the improved system and good calculations of British Fanners as make in many successive seasons "two spears of orass and two blades of corn grow where but one -rrew be- ore. jlnd this almost every man in the euuutrv has only to leitl, to bring it about. For llie rar'ier'B Monliilj- Visilor. Tl,e difference between Can and Can't. Cont. I do not know a word in the vocabulary of language that sounds so forbiddino-, and so stasr- nant in Its effects, as the word Cal't. It seeins irreconcilable to every thing in morals cr philoso- phy. It checks the current of life, and brino-s all the active energies of body and mind to a "dead stand : It makes the present a cold winter's waste and a desert of despair; the future, an inextrica- ble wilderness, the entrance of which is but the commencement of an interminable labyrinth of darkness and wo. (-'ait- Faith shines upon it with the brio-htnes. of the diffusive and benign rays of a meridi°an sun. It wakens and cheers every thing into active life and energy : it removes mountains, crosses track- less oceans, makes the desert smile with teem- ing life and beauty: it turns the current of mighty streams, opens canals and rail roads, crosses conti- nents into unexplored regions, builds states and empires, and erects temples whose spires point to the immortal future, in the paradise of God Can /.stands fixn-d like a mountain of ice ; while Can, , sever progressing in tlie cheerinn-s rays of the light of truth. These are the two great moral and physical, repulsive anu propelling powers of life. Young man, choose ye this day which yri -ill ^"'"'- C. N. C." An example of farming in Boscawen. As the great value of an agricultural newspaper s, that It presents the results of the bust common e.tper.eiice of many, thus enabling the farmer to derive advantage from the practice of others as well as from his own individual practice, so it may be proper to introduce familiar cases in a familiar %vay. There are many men so good managers and For ihe F.umer's Morillily Visitor. On preparing Potatoes for seed and table use. Ill the year 1837, potatoes were scarce. I cut off the seed end to plant, and saved the but or stem end for table use ; which is the best method I know of to preserve potatoes for summer. The cut worm having destroyed my corn, I planted with pota- toes, and being short of seed, I planted one bushel THE FARMER'S MOiNTHLY VISITOR. S9 of tlicsc Gtem ends, and found the crop to be large, and of a better quality than common. I have tried the same method since and have always found it to be beneficial. The reason is, we select the larg- est to cut; and there will be fewer stalks in a hill, and these will be large. N. W. Temple, Feb. 1840. Plonghing. Sliall thcfurroio he entfrely, or on- ly partialhj laid over? Warner, Feb. 4, 1840. Mr. Hij.L — I received the first number of tlie second volume of your " Monthly Visitor" a day or two since, and after readinjr Mr. Stevens' and Sominers' letters, on tlie Moors Plough and pIouijhinCT, tile oft repeated question, of '* When doctors disagree, who shall decide.''"' very forcibly occurred to my mind. _ Soon after our cattle show, I liad occasion to write to Mr. Phiuuey of Lexington, Mass. who is thouglit to be one of tlie most successful, and best farmers in Massaciiusetts. I herewith furnish you with an extract from my letter, and his reply — " There were two Scotchmen from Vermont there with the Moors plough, and as Burns said of death, " The queerest shape that ever I saw." — However, 1 believe Mr. Coleman and Gov. Hill think very favorably of them ; Mr. Hill so much BO that he lias ordered two of tliem for his own use. But I think differently. It was tried at our Fair. It sets the furrow at about an angle of 45 deg. and leaves tlie grass or stubble sticking up between eacli furrow slice. Gov. Hill says it is well adapted for raising crops on wet and lieavy lands. My opinion is, that land so wet as to need such a plough, is not fit for corn or potatoes. It had better (the sward) be complete- ly inverted and stocUe'l 'JtTrri ;o grass, or be drain- ed, so as to be dry enough for hoed crops, when completely turned over and rolled. The system that you have been practising and recommending for a dozen years, I think is the best course that can be pursued. If coarse manure is spread upon the sward, and turned under in the spring ; that, with the grass, roots, and vegetable iiiatter,soon begins to ferment; gassca are generated — if the sward is completely inverted, the volatile parts of the manure will work their way up — or attempt to — through the turf and soil, which will imbibe or take it up and retain it for the use of the growing crop. But if every furrow is up edgewise, the gases immedi- ately pass off through the openings into the atmos- phere. Again, if there is a severe drought and the sod is coiuplel^ly inverted and pressed down with the roller; the evaporation that is continually going on from the earth, when it arrives up to the Bod,froinits spongy texture, retains the moisture and the crops sulVer much less, than if the ground was ploughed by the Vermont plough. These are my views upon the subject, but per- haps I may be in an error." Reply. ''East Cambridge, A'ov. 3, 1839. "Ten years ago in my own neighborhood a plough that would not have left the furrow slice standing edgewise, would have been laid aside as worthless. ■Give your neighbors a few practical proofs of the effect of tliis mode of culture. It will do more than twice the labor expended in preaching and reason- ing. The arguments in its favor, theoretically considered, are too plain to admit of a question in minds open to conviction ; still many will doubt until they see proofs of its utility. A Mr. Clark of Nortliainpton last week visited my place. He has a farm, which seven years ago was of so thin a soil and so much worn out by cropping, that he consid- ered it hardly worth cultivating. On seeing the method recommended by me, ho immediately set himself about turning over his green sward and keeping it undisturbed during the rotation. He has now one of the most productive farms in that section ; and this has been done almost without manure. The instances that he relates of his suc- cess, even upon poor pine lands on his farm, of this mode of culture, are much beyond what I had ever contemplated. It may require some time and con- siderable effort by llie friends of this method of ploUL'hing, but eventually it must and will prevail. " Your Ex-Governor Hill paid nie a flying visit at Lexington, the week after you were at my place. I found him very ardent in the cause of Agricul- ture ; so short was liis stay with me, that I had no opportunity of explaining to him my system of ploughing. I have tlie vanity to believe I could convince him tliat he had better burn his Vermont ploughs the moment They arrive ; and procure one that would turn the furrow Hat." Sometime in November 1 wrote to Mr. Wm. Clark of Northampton, Mass. In his letter, in speaking of his poor pine lands, he says, " My first object has been to get grass to groic on these lands. And the second to apply Mr. Phinney's method, with which I suppose you are familiar. I have been uniformly successful in regard to ihc first ex- cept in case of severe drought; and judging from the short experience which 1 have had, 1 know of no pine plain so poor as to be incapable of becom- ing fair mowing land — say one ton or one and a half tons per acre, of clover, herdsgrass and red- top, by the aid of a little plaster, with suitable ploughing and rolling — with a suitable quantity of grass seed, even without manure ; and when ma- nure can be furnished, of course the crop will be much better. My course is first to plough even and thoroughly the whole ground, to the requisite depth, say at least four inches, and as much deeper as the soil (if there is any) will allow, to eight or ten inclies, and after a day or two to dr)', let the ground be settled down with a heavy roiler. This implement lies at the foundation of profitable cul- tivation on these light lands : without it or some substitute, 1 consider them of little or no value j but with the roller, I know of no lands that give a better return for the labor bestowed; except it be rich warm intervales that usually receive a depos- ite from an annual overflow." LEVI BARTLETT. Remarks. The above was intended only as a private letter from our friend, Mr. Barti.ett ; but the discussion presented a question so interesting that we have asked liberty to publish it. On no disputed point dividing the opinions of our best practical farmers would we pretend to decide for CuV readers : there are fev/ practical men who are not better judges than the editor of the Visitor; and we had much rather, as we do not intend to be the means of misleading any man, that each of our readers would make up an opinion for himself, than to rely on ours. We have great confidence in the good sense and judgment of Messrs. Stevens and Sommers of Barnet, Vermont, whose letters were the basis of the article in our last /number relative to Moors and Mason's plough. They gave their reasons in favor of a svstein of breaking up ground, where the furrows should be turned only at an angle of about 4o degrees. We thought those reasons to be conclusive, especially in reference to sward lands of heavy, wet mould. There are not perhaps any other two farmers in New England in whose skill and judgment we should repose more implicit reliance tliau in the two correspondents of Mr. Bartlett, Messrs. Piiinxev of Lexington, and Cl.\rk of Northampton, Mass. These gentlemen are decided in their opinion that the system of ploughing where the sward is com- pletely inverted by the plough, the edge of each succeeding furrow shutting down and fitting close to its predecessor, is preferable to any other. Now in reference to all light lands we .are dispo- sed entirely to agree with the latter gentlemen. We cnn readily conceive the value of Mr. Clark's method of treating light pine plain lands. He says he knows " none of these so poor as to become in- capable of becoming fair mowing lands." A sward once produced on these lands, the Prouty and Mears plough, striking as deep a furrow as the sur- face loam will admit, turns the sward under to the depth of from six to ten inches — the deeper the bet- ter. To this operation may succeed the application of more or less manure, either coarse orfiue,spre«d over the surface; and thus harrowed in, or what will be belter if it can be conven-ently done, plough- ed in about lialf the depth of the first ploughing. If ploughed, let the harrow afterwards level the ground, after which pass over it a lieavy roller. Then plant in furrows with Indian corn or potatoes in hills at right angles ; tlie rows may be marked out with chains drawn ovfr the ground, or a slight furrow may be struck with a horse plough, if fur- ther manure shall be applied to the hill. In hind thus prepared it must be manifest, that the ground will have the advantage of every particle of manure placed upon it. Ploughed immediately under, the strength of the manure cannot esi.'ape from the surface; and be the soil ever so ligiit, tlie in- verted sward at the bottom must prevent tlie strength of the manure passing below that. The inverted sward, while it shall remain undisturbed by the plough or hoe above, will act in the double capacity of imparting strength to the upper surface and of protecting the growing crop from drought. It will nourish and protect the ground probably for a term of three or four years ; for after the rooty fi- bres of this sward shall be decomposed, the rich vegetable mould into which it shall be changed, drawing and retaining moisture as well from abov« as from underneath, will continue to impart health and vigor to the plants through the roots reachin* it, while vegetation on the same kind of land not thus prepared will perish with drought. It is easy to conceive how profitable much of the light sandy land now esteemed of little value may be made by an operation of this kind. The ma- nuring and renewal of this land should come round at least as often as once in four years : 1, corn with manure — 2, barley or oat.s with clover — 3 and 4, grass and pasture. Or this maybe extended with a root crop one year before returning to the manure; but new should there be un the same ground a repeti- tion, of the same erop. This li^ht land, ao easily cultivated, by a treatment of this kind, applying with the jmanure sometimes plaster, Bometimes ashes, may be always kept at the highest point of the most profitable cultivation. A gentleman at Nashua, on the pine plain a littla below the factories, the last season raised five hun- dred bushels of oats at the rate of sixty bushels to the acre. The ground in its natural state was the driest, sandy pine land : it was well manured and planted with Indian corn in 18351 : to this crop in 1S39 succeeded the crop of oats, sixty bushcla to the acre, wliich would certainly have been consid- ered a remarkable crop upon the best intervale or upland farms. Of the completely inverted sward on wet, heavy grounds, we are in more doubt. Tliere is mucli plausibility in the plan of turning up, instead of completely turning over the furrows, for the pur- pose of letting in the roots of the grain or potatoes below or between the decaying sward. Itseemsthat the wet, heavy ground, must be lighter from this operation, and that the crop will more readily re- ceive the benefits of the decaying roots, said by some to be equal to twenty tons of manure to the acre. But after all, even this wet heavy soil may in the end derive a greater benefit from th« slower decay of the sward which shall attend the complete turning over and rolling down of the fur- row. It is reasonable to suppose that the inverted swird laid even to the depth of ten or twelve inch- es, must contribute to make the land lighter, it the soil is composed of adhesive clay, we do not think it can be safe to spread manure previous to ploughing, and turn it deep under the sod: ita strength will with difficulty rise so as to benefit the crop upon the surface. The better way to treat this laud would be to plough deep spread manure upon tlie surface, and plough in at about half depth without disturbing the sod; afterwards before plan- ting pass over the roller. All these suggestions of our own we hope our readers will receive for what they are worth. Eve- ry farmer must, after all, make up his own judg- ment, as every thing depends on the nature of his grounti and his ability to bestow more or less labor and expense upon it. Product of seven acres in three years. To show what the so:l of New Haiiipsliirc in its natural state is capable of [iroducing, we take a caso casually mentioned to us without any intention of* publication. A farmer in Bethlehem (a hill town some twelve miles east of Connecticut river, and about eight}' miles north of Concord) three ycar« ago ploughed up "even acres of hill pasture ground which had been cleared eight years, and planted it with potatoes. It had never been manured, nor was any manure now applied. The yield of pota- toes was, however, 3500 hundred bushels, or about 350 bushels to tiie acre : at \\i\ cents per bush, this crop would bo worth $312 50. Next spring (1838) the ground was plongiied and prepared for a crop of wheat, and yielded 165 bushels, worth on an aver- age $1 75 per bushel, $288: including straw the value of the wheat crop was at least iftSOO. With the wheat red clover seed v.'ns sowed, and in 1830, 1400 lbs. of clean clover seed, worth 14 cents alb. were taken off; value ,^l!!(3--say seven tonsof clo- ver straw at .^4, which it was richlv worth for ma- nure, ^;S8 added to $l!l()— ,«224. 'Whole product of seven acres of land in tlm-e years, ^835. The entire labor and expense bestowed on this land, at the highest rate, could not have exceeded one hun- dred dollars a year; and thus we find seven acres ctf land, which in that position would not probably exceed in price more than from ten to fifteen dollars the acre, giving an annual profit, after paying all expenses, of twenty-five dollars the acre for each of three succeeding years ; and this too, after the cream of the first eight years had been taken from the same laud. What belter land, or what better encouragement can the farmer desire than is to be found among the rough hills of the Granite State.' Surely if any other land is of easier tilth and \v\\\ turn out 50 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. m(»re abundant crops, wc can g-o into no region where there is abetter demand and higher prices for every thing that the land will produce. Here we have that lienllh whicli is denied in more fertile flat countries; we have pure water, wliich is as muclia"stalf of life" as bread itself: we have all the comforts of schools for onr children and asso- ciations tiic best we could choose. We may have an equal abundance of all the good things thnt mo- ther earth affords, with those who lire where less labor may produce more in quantity. But there is a point in thn encouraginfr succes- sive crops of the Bethlehem farmar, to which we will call the particular attention of the reader: in th.it point lies the great error which, if pursued, will carry New England headlong in a downward course. That point is tills — that, in tlie course of taking three successive valuable crops from the ground — taking from it each year a greater value than its whole estimated value, nothins as yet has been returned to it as a compensation. Tlie land has done all and more than its owner could ask; but every one must see that if the same system shall be pursued, the land in time must become " worn out." If after one or two years it shall he laid down to pasture, and be annually fed with cattle for seven years more ; when it comes to be plough- ed again for potatoes, the crop will be much less than the last crop — tlie succeeding crop of wheat will be much diminished ; and instead of 1400 lbs. of clover seed for the third year, the proprietor mav consider himself fortunate if he shall-liarvest BOO lbs. Aslnuch labor will be required to raise and gather the crops of the three last years as of the three first years. Now let us suppose the condition of our Bethle- hem friend had been such that lie might, as well ns not, have put on ten loads oi' manure fo the a- cre, wortli in tin* country, with all the labor about it, ten dollars: his crop ot potat^t's would not have been less — his crop of wheat would have been more — his clover seed would have been much in- creased ; and his pasture land for the succeeding eight years in all probability would have been worth double: leaving a second rotation of pota- toes, wheat and clover, as valuable as the first. We may be a little too fast. It-Js not too late to make of the seven acres whicli have done so well all that we would have tliem to be. Let a second rotation be commenced the next season with twen- ty stout ox-cart loads of manure to the acre : the clover roots ploutihed under, :iud the ground plant- ed with Indian rurn. This corn erop might be from fifty to an hundred bushels to the acre : the suc- ceeding crop of wheat would, in an equally favora- ble season, much exceed the tirst crop; and after- wards for clover, mowing or pasture, the land would be more valuable than ever. There Is much valuable n"w land in the county of Grafton and in Coos, the next county above. This land produces in the first instance grand crops and great profits. Some of the beautiful pine tim- ber land is worth a hundred dollars an acre ; and after this is cut down the same land is generally good. The higher rock-maple, birch and beacli lands, and even the lands with tlie "black growth" of hemlock and larch, are valuable for the produc- tion of rye, oats, ])cas, grass, potatoes, and some- times Indian corn. The firstcrop will always more than pay for the clearing. The after treatment of this land is all important : the most of it in its nat- ural state will prorint — say double tlie quan- tity of matter to a number of the V^isitor ; the price of subscription has been five dollars a year ; but the editor has reducfd it to half that sum to every t'uture subscriber whotiiall send two names. This publication is now seven years old; its ed- itor is one of those practical men who has benefit- ed himself and the public by unwearied per.sever- ance and effort. He has done much to rescue Vir- ginia below the Blue Ridge from tliat sud condition in the production of her soil in whicli her position had placed her. Mr. Ruthn has personally carried out a series of trials of the nature and value of cal- careous manures applied to worn out soils, and em- bodied his experiments in an essay upon that sub- ject, embracing a volume. This essay has been well received ; and other Virginia farmers and planters are treading in his steps in the use of the same aijplication to their worn out lands. The kind of calcare'ius substance made use of by Mr. Ruffin is shell marl, which abounds under ground in many extensive tracts of old Virginia. This material is found to operate with greatest effect on soil of "good apparent texture," producing sorrel and pine, but whose acidity prevents a fertility and growth of the more useful vegetrble productions. Mr. Rutfin, in the course of practice, has discover- ed the fact that some kinds of soil will bear the application of a greater quantity of marl than other kinds — thata light soil may be injured with six or eight hundred bushelstoihe acre, while the crop.s upon th*^ same ground may be doubled for a series of years with only three hundred bushels. The nature of this shell marl, like that of ordinary lime, is to operate most usefully where there i.s most crude vegetable substance in the ground to be ope- rated upon. Mr. Ruffin's improvements upon his farms an I his efforts through his monthly journal are c;ilcula- ted to have a very extensive effect on the Agricul- ture of his State and of the whole southern coun- try. The use of calcareous manures in this coun- try is new ; we cannot doubt that much remains to be developed concerning them in the geological researches that have been csmmenced in varlou^i parts of the country, under the patronage of tlie States, and by the experiments of scientific men who may volunteer in their examination. Mr. Ruffin has carried his practice farther than any other man at the south in the use of shell marl. His experiments will adapt themselves to that whole region of country upon the Atlantic, little more elevated than the sea itself, which abounds in the material he has used. Further in the miei;^.: Z':A amons the moun- tains we are of opinion that there are mafenatslor cnricJilng the ground, the value of which has hard- ly been dreamed of by ninety-nine in a hundred. Much of that under-soil which appears to be im- perfect clay may be rich in nutriment to the earth. WTiat enriches the alluvion upon our rivers but those finer calcareous particles, that are left by the subsidence of every rise of water .^ The min- eral substances are scarcely less valuable than the vegetable matters brought down by the overflow of waters. That there are millions of loads of cal- careous manures under ground in the interior be- yond the regions of the shell marl, can hardly ad- mit of doubt. Mucliof this matter, when first ap- plied to the soil, may Iiave little or no eflect, or it may seem to be injurious in its operation : ihe se- cond year its value will begin to be felt — the third and fourth years it may change the face of the ground entirely. In various positions we believe we have discovered a value in the under soil much greater than the loam or vegetable mould lying over it. On ground but a short distance (rom the main street in Concord, overlaid with a mould of only a few inches in thickness, a hard clay sand raised and mixed with the mould upon the surface becomes in the space of two or three years a rich soil, increat^wng in depth as the subsoil is stirred up and turning out successive vegetable crops with- out the application of any other manure. The practical chemist has yet much to do in de- veloping the nature and value of our soils. We are of opinion that a most valuable and lasting soil will be that which has been considered cold and forbidding — a thin heavy mould resting upon a re- tentive subsoil of apparent clay. We likewise be- lieve that much of the pine plains will before many years become our most profitable arable lands ; that the art and mystery of converting this into land adhesive of moisture and retentive of the strength bestowed upon it, will be discovered. The proper use and application of manures arc vet but imperfectly uuder.'«;t'^od in many jiarts of this country. How sliould they l)c, wliere the soil at the first clearing was so fertile as to seem to need no manure ^ and where the necessity of ma- nure has not been felt even when the land was worn out, because other vlrfjin soil lay along side to supply its place .•' Tho first cultivation of a fer- tile country, from the condition of its posses- sors, leads to inevitable exhaustion; nor will reno- vation fillow until the greater ))f>rtion of the whole ground ii\\7i\\ be taken up in cultivation. Happy is it for New England that we have arri- ved at that point where renovation has not only commenced, but Is progressing, in some parts, with all desirable rapidity, and in others which, slow and sluggish at first, must be accelerated so that tiie present generation shall live to witness a great and general improvement. Enterprising men near the seashore, who have converted ground literally worth nothing into fruitful fields 3'ielding the an- nual income of a value of thicc to five huudicd dol- i THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 51 acre say they care not if the ground be | and army, all our other principal exports Irom ag- Dckv'or even if it be sandy and sterile, riculturc, as well as from the forest and the sea, n obtain plenty of manure to feed it. hnve remained stationary or declined during the lars to the hard and roc so tliiy can obtain plenty The niateri;ilfor improved cultivation will be found in any part of our country upon and near it; and most old land in New England may be doubled and trebled in value by laying out a much less sum in its renovation than its present value. Imports and Exports of the United States. Accompanyini; the report of the Secretary of the Treasury of tlie United States to Congress, are ta- bles of the imports and exports of the United States from tlie year 17:10 to ]8o8, exhibiting in separate columns, "total value of imports — value retaiijed in the country for consumption — the quantity of each article — the country from which they were import- ed, and the State or territory into which they were imported : t.f the exports, the total value— tlie val- ue of those of domestic origin — of foreign origin — the value of each article exported — the State or territory from which the export was made — the for- eign country, and tlie amount to each exported. 'These tables do credit to the industry of a hand that never tires, who has been for the last few years at the head of tlie Treasury. They are ne- cessarilv imperfect and conjectural in some instan- ces, and in early years, because the aggregate im- ports not being specified by law, depend upon the estimates of diflcrent persons, and because prior to the yenr 1S03 the exports were not regularly dis- tinguished in the returns as to the quantity and value of the different articles, and these depend up- on estimates which may be erroneous. Of the results noticed by the Secretary in the ar- ticle extracted below, we would call the attention of farmers who pay the expenses of the govern- ment through the taxes of the custom house to two or three prominonl facts ; 1. The great article of cotton whose export has risen from merely nothing to a sum greater than all other ex])ortcd articles put together — amounting to sixty or seventy millions of dollars in a year — has been swelled to its present amount without a- ny protective duty whatover. 2. The imported manufactures of leather from the State of Massachusetts, an article never thought of as asking a protecting duty — exceed in value «» the manufactures of cotton and woollen exported from the country, which have been for the last twenty-five years the articles crying aloud for pro- tection. 3. The imports of woollens, in the face ot the high duly which imposes a tax of from four to eight dol'lars (including profit) upon every broad cloth coat made of imported cloth, has increased during the last twenty years from an average of seven to twelve millions of dollars in the year. We cannot do the farmers a better service than to show hov>', where and in what this country has grown, and in what depreciated in the following deductions from tlie course of produetion and trade at different times : "It appears that the whole imports have not more than doubled since the first four years of the Gov- ernment, while the exports of domestic produce have quite quadrupled. "Again : Though we formerly exported more ot the foreign merchandise imported than we now do, yet the consumption of it, since tho.se earlicstyears, has not increased much over a hundred per cent. last, forty years "For example : Those of tobocco, ranging near six and seven millions; flour at about four millions; lumber at two and three millions; rice from one to three millions; pork at a million and a half; and fius at nearly three quarters of a million; have remain- ed almost stationary. While the exports of fish have actually fallen from one and two millions, to less than one; of beef from one million to half a million; and of butter and cheese, from one halfto one ninth of a million. Indeed the only material increase in any of the important articles of export, besides raw cotton, has been in domestic manufac- tures. These, from one million in 1793, have aug- mented to more than eight millions in 1838. "So great have been the changes in someofthem, affecting to a certain degree the aggregate export- ed, that''in the single Stale of Massachusetts, slill_ distinguished for its fisheries and manufactures of cotton^'and woollen, the fabrics from leather, hum- ble as they may seem in character, now yearly ex- ceed in value either of those or any other of its great articles of production, and equal nearly one- fourth of the immense exports of raw cotton from the whole Union. • "These results show the strong direction which industry often takes from natural causes, such as soil and climate, as well as from habits and other peculiarities whether accompanied or not by spe- cinl legislative protection. "This circumstance is further illustrated by some of the changes in the principal articles of import. During many years, the demand for those made from cotton has been very great. By means of tlie increased public taste for their use, and the reduc- ed price of them through improvements in the ma- chinery, the imports of cotton manufactures have generally been larger than those of any other ar- ticle. "On an average they were eleven millions annu- ally, for the last three years; and in 1836, they reached seventeen millions notwithstanding all the flourishing establishments for those manufactures here, and their success to such an extent, that con- siderable amounts of the domestic fabric have long been exported. "The imports of silk were formerly smaller m amount than those of cotton, and in 1821 and 1822, only four to six millions yearly. But of late, some of them having been oxempted from duty by Con- gress, and others more recently having become free liy means of judicial constructions, and the demand for all of them having been also quickened perhaps by the progress of luxury, those imports increased in 1836, to twenty -two millions, and during the last three years, have been, on an average, quite twelve millions and a half. "Specie stands next in the list, the imports of it having, in the same period, been enlarged from three and five millions, to aboul twelve yearly; and those of coffee, from four and five millions to eight, though considerable portions of these are as form- erly re-exported. "The imports of woolljins have also in the face of a high duty, and an increasing manufacture of them at home, continued to be nearly seven mil- lions annually, for the last twenty years ; and in 183(3, they rose to twelve millions. But it is worthy of special notice, that with a while our population has, within the same period,] population to clothe augmented since 1821, quite increased quite four hundred per cent "This disparity has arisen chiefly from the facts, that larger proportions of our people are now in- gaged in the manufactures and agriculture, and supply much more than they once did, the pro- ducts" of both for home consumption. For one se- ries of three years, about a tliird of a century ago, and another about twenty years ago, the imports were nearly as large as during the la-st three years. "The clianges in the amount of some of the lead- ing- articles bfith of export and import have been ve'i-y extraordinary. As to the first, the exports ot raw" cotton, witho'ut reference to the increased con- sumption of it at home, have altered most. They have augmented from a few thousand dollars worth to sixty or seventy millions. This vast increase has happened without any real aid from a duty, winch should be regarded as protective, but cliiefly by means of a congenialsoil and climate, assisted bv a remarkable improvement in preparing cottim lor market, which has proved to be one of the most fortunate inventions on any subject in any age- By the lani-er capital and population devoted to the cultivation of this great staple, and by the increas- ed domestic demand lor other articles of our own production, to feed and clothe the greater numbers employed in its cultivation, and in many flounsh- ng manufactures, as well as in an enlarged navy seventy-five per cent., the great imports of cotton and woollen have augmented but little. And if those of silk have increased tlirre or four fold in a- mount, yet such is the enlarged demand for them, and the extended facilities for producing them here on a small capital, that without the aid of any leg- islative protection in most cases, indications exist, that the growth and manufacture of silk may be es- tablished in this country, wider and deeper than a- ny former article under the highest laritV. - "It is a striking fact, that a direct bounty on the growth of silk before the revolution, leading to a cultivation of it in Georgia and the Carolinas sous to denominate them "silk colonies," failed to ac- complish as much as has recently been effected in almost exery quarter of the country by increased skill, experience, and enterprise, in defiance of ihe reduction of some duties, the total repeal of others, and the absence of any bounty from the General Governinenl. "Some of the alterations in the trade of particu- lar States and cities in the Union, as well as in our commerce with several couiiirics abroad, are re- markable. First stand the exports from New Or- leans. Thiscity wasnotwithintheboundariesof the Union till several years after the constitution was adopted, and the exports amounted to only two mil- lions in 1811 But in 1838, by having become the principal outlet of so many new and flourishing communities, the exports from it exceeded thirty- three millions, or six millions more than any of our oldest and largest cities or even States. In only the first quarter of 183!l, they have in fact gone be- yond eighteen millions of dollars. The immense growth and fine central position of New York, have aftected its imports much more than its exports. — The latter were in 17!)1, two and a half millions, or more than New Orleans twenty years after ; and in 1811, were twelve millions, or six times those (.>f New Orleans in the same year. But they have since increased only so as to average twenty-six millions during the last three years, instead of thir- ty-three millions of New Orleans. Again ; Mo- bile, a city not originally within the limits of Ihe Union, and the seaport of a State not large e- nough to be organized as such till thirty years af- ter tlie Government went into operation, is now the fourth in the Union in exports, shipping nearly one half as much domestic produce as New York, and more than all, whether domestic or foreign, of the ancient prosperous, and commercial Stale of Mas- sachusetts. But from South Carolina, her rich and ample exports still exceed botli the two last, and indeed all others in the Confederacy except the two first mentioned Slates. "Passing to the imports, though New Orleans has increased nearly four fidd in the last twenty years, and presents an aggregate of fourteen or fif- teen millions yearly, yet she is only the third, in- stead of the first in the Union. Some other cities pos.ses6 capital and facilities to exceed her in re- spect to those, and to supply the smaller wants in the lighter kind of foreign merchandise of these great agricultural Slates, most of whose bulky ex- ports more steadily seek the ocean at the mouth of the mighty stream on whose banks and tributaries they flourish. "The imports into New York now constitute over one-half and indeed nearly three-fifths of those within the whole United States. In 1802, they were a little more than one fourth of the whole. In 1821, they had enlarged to but twenty-three-mil- lions, while in 1836, they reached the astonishing aggregate of one hundred and eighteen millions. In^thc reduced business of 1838, they were nearly eighty-nine millions. Besides these changes in the imports, those of Boston alone among the old cit- ies and States have indicated a continuance of them proportionate to what they were in 1802.— Those of Philadelphia, while remaining similar in aninunt, have declined in their proportion to the whole, nearly one half Those of Baltimore, les- sened still more in both views; and those of Charles- ton, Norfolk, and Savannah, in a ratio beyond even hers. "But several of those cities have at the same time exhibited an increase in their domestic trade and maniitiictures, which has amply atoned for a diminution in their foreign commerce, though the details are omitted on the present occasion, as not being so appropriate for explanation here. "The countries abroad, with which our foreign commerce has been conducted, and the changes and proportions of it, are matters of no little interest, and of more immediate connexion with the finan- ces. It appears that our exports, from being con- fined during a colonial state, almost exclusively to England and her dependencies, suddenly changed, and^in consequence of the revolution and subse- quent difficulties, increased to France, for the first ten years of the Government, to about twenty mil- lions annually, or nearly double their amount to England. Since that period they have increased with the latter to near sixty millions yearly, and remained aboul stationary with the former, or at on- ly one-third of that amount. "To Spain the exports are next in value, having increased from four to eight millions without in- cluding any part of Spanish America, now inde- pendent, and classed separately. "But it is a remarkable fact, that the imports from all those countries have remained stationary or de- clined. Our foreign supplies, as above remarked, have not increased but half as much as ourexports, and those supplies are drawn by our enterprise and new marts and tastes from a wider sphere, extend- ing indeed, more or less, to almost exery portion of the habitable globe. "Thus from England, those imports formerly fluctuated from twenty-three to eighty-six millions annually, and during the last three years averaged only sixty millions : "While from France they have usually been aboul lialf that amount. Some five or six millions less from Spain than France, and with China and India, about half as much as with Spain Connected with this subject, and further illne- m THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR tratire of results unfavorable to the interests em- barked in our foreign trade, is the fact, tliat the ton- nage engaged in it, having been in 1838, only 810,- 447, was actually less than what appears in the re- turns thirty years ago. In 1800, those returns ex- hibited 01(1,059 tons, and in 1810, no less than 084,- 969. The tonnage owned abroad, which is engag- ed in this same business, being lately unmolested hy European wars, has also become si.x times in quantity, what it was twenty years ago. On the •ontrary, the rapid improvements in the domestic trade from 180,153 tons in 1704, to 1,086,238 in 1838, or an addition more than five fold, is an evi- dence of the jfroatly increa.^cd commerce at home, and the dilTusionof it over regions more widely ex- tended. Finances of the Nation. [Abridged from the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for the Onondaga Standard.] Estimated Receipts for 1840.^These are es- timated by the Secretary of the Treasury, at .«18,- 600,000, as follows :— From Customs, it is estimated the sales vi-ill be three and a half millions. In Michigan, the sales in 1836, exceed- ed five millions of dollars. In 1833 they amount- ed to only one hundred and fifty thousand. In Mississippi, the amount sold in 1836, was over three millions, while in 1838, it fell to ninety-six thousand. " Public Lands, Miscellaneous, Balance in Treasury, Jan. 1, 1840, $15,000,000 3,.500,000 100,000 $18,600,000 1,156,335 $20,156,335 Aggregate of efficient means, Besides the receipts thus estimated, there is due from the Banks wliich suspended specie payments in 1837, .«il,149,904. And there will be due from the U. S. Bank, next September, $3,526,576. Due from Banks, $3,576,480. The Secretary thinks it "not prudimt to rely exclusively on the collection of these debts," for means to make up the necessary funds, should Congress see fit to make the appro- priations requiring this amount beyond the other estimated receipts, a course not in accordance with the views of the Secretary. He advises the utmost possible retrenchment consistent with national in- terests. Public Expenditures. — It appears that the ex. penditures of the General Government for 1839 »re about 6 millions less than in 1838,— and that the estimate for 1840, are still less by about 5 mil- lions. Estimate for 1840.— The Secretary of the Treas- ury estimates the appropriations for 1840, as fol- lows : — Civil, foreign intercourse and mis- cellaneous, $4,981,344 19 Military services, pensions, &c., 8,213,610 74 Naval service, 5,085,645 62 Mineral Rceoarces of Dlissonri. The mineral treasures of Missouri are but par- tially disclosed. The State has long been known to possess immense deposites of lead ; recent ex- aminations go to show that copper, iron and coal al- so abound. The St. Louis Republican gives some account of Dr. King's late survey of the valley of the Osage river, from the mouth of that stream up to the American fur company's; establishment, be- yond the State line. Lead, copper, and iron ores were found on both sides of the river, similar to those abounding in the soutlierti parts of the State. From Oceola on the south side of the river, and from Warsaw on the north, as far as the State line, a coal region exiends. The coal is represented as bein^ very abundant, and in many places so near the water's edge, that mines might be opened and the coal thrown into a boat on the river. The veins of iron and of coal are in many places contiguous. It is stated that in the coal district, salt springs a- bound — but none are discovered where the primi- tive formation of limestone exists. A geological survey of the whole State, it is tliought, would dis- cover vast mineral resources in other parts of Mis- souri. These are the treasures which, to an indus- trious people, are more valuable than mines of gold or silver. They furnish means of employment to the active faculties of man; they require labor to be made available; and the uses to which tliey are applied presupposes a flourishing state of the prac- tical arts. — Baltimore American. $13,280,600 55 There are besides, appropriations for the War Department which first become chargeable upon the Treasury in 1840, amounting, to 1^1,236,000 ; in the Navy to $340,000; and public debt $10,00o! And there are $2,750,000 in Treasury notes due in 1840. TREASuitif Notes.— The Secretary of the Treas- ury states in his annual Report, that the Treasury Notes vnrcdrcmed do not exceed the amount now due from Banks wliich suspended specie payments in 1837, and the Bond dui' from the United States Bank of Pennsylvania in September next. Exports and I.mports. — The Secretary of the Treasury estimates the Imports of 1839, (that of the first three quarters of the year being ascertained,) nt about 157 millions,— and the Exports at about 118 millions, — showing an excess of /;n;)or?i for the past year of about 30 millions. Tlie Exports for 1839, exceed those of 1838, nearly 10 millions. Of tliis excess, only 5 millions consists in domestic produ«e. The Imports ibr 1830, are almost 44 millions greater than in 1838. Excess of Imports. — The Secretary of the Treas- ury gives in his recent annual Report the astound- ing fact tliat during the past ten years, the Imports ol the United States have exceeded the Exports by two hundred and twelve mitUons of dollars Al- lowing seven and a half millions as a fair amount of annual profit on our foreitin trade; and the bal ance against us is onehundrcd and thirty-seven inil- bons. And of this balance, ^hout thirl,/ tivo mil- hons was rolled up the last year. The "Secretarv says that this latter fact "must furnish another proof of one im.mediate cause of the present ne- cuniary pi-essurc.'' Can any reasonable man doubt the correctness of the Secretary's conclusion ' .,f ■"'f%°'l P''-»i-'c LANDs.-The receipts from the sale of Public Lands were over 24 millions of dol- of the sales for the previous forty years. For 1*40, For tJie F.Trmer's .Monthly Visitor. To core a sick Cow. Mr. H. a neighbor of mine, came to my house in Jan. last, and informed me he had a valuable cow, that was apparently well in the morning, and when he put her up at night, she would not eat, and for three days had neither ate, nor drank, nor chewed the cud. Her belly was full and somewhat swol- en, and no excrement had passed off; he had giv- len her two strong cathartic potions. I told him I once had a sheep in like condition, and that a lady happened at my house, while I was preparing med- icine for it, and said she thought the sheep h°ad lost its cud, and if so, to make one of the inner bark of sweet elder scraped fine and mixed with un- inelted hog's lard, would cure it. I soon made a couple of balls and put them into the sheep's mouth ; the sheep chewed and swallowed them and immediately commenced chewing the cud, and was well. Mr. H. gave his cow a like cud that evening at 9 o'clock, and found her well in the morning. N.W. Temple, Feb. 1840. WOOL. Few are aware of the importance of this article as an item »f our productions, or the amount which it already reaches in the sum total of value. Two years since, the number of sheep was estimated at 12,000,000; it is now not less than 15,000,000.— Allowing the estimate of three pounds per head, the clip of 1830 would be forty-five million pounds of wool. We have been careful observers of the price of wool, and find it has ranged from 40 to 60 cents per pound, some few lots going above as some have fallen below the prices named. To be sure of being witliin the amount, we will take the average at 45 cents, and at that rate, the last clip of wolil would be worth more than twenty millions of dol- lars. Yet this is but one item in the productive industry of the north. At the present prices of sheep and wool, the bu- siness of growing them is a profitable one, and we may think with safety be calculated upon as a good one for time to come. Wool of good quality could hardly fail to pay as an article of export to England or France, should present prices be maintained, and the supply for home consumption in this country be exceede'd. To prove that growing wool is a good investment of money, we have only to look atlhecost, expen- ses and returns of a flock. A flock of good ewes with proper management, will hardly fail of doub ling their numbers within the year, and if to the sale of the wool the value of tiie lambs be added, it will be seen aft»r deducting the expenses of keeping, that a handsome profit remains. But to have good sheep, or good wool, more attention must be paid than usually given. Sheep that get their living by hook or by crook ; that are allowed to gather in their fleeces all the burdock and other burweeds that line too many of our roads and fen- ces, and fill our woodlands ; that are exposed to all the vicissitudes of our severe and variable cli- mate without shelter, or barely make a living through the winter, cannot be expected to raise many lambs or produce good wool. Wool and silk are to be the great sources of our supply of cloth- ing hereafter, and their importance to the country will be proportioned to their general use. — .inon\j- mous. Commerce of the United States. Appended to the Treasury Report, as communi- cated to Congress, is the following statement, ex- hibiting the va?ue of imports and exports of the United States in six successive years, ending 10th September last. The amount of imports during the past year has surprised every one ; being great- er than in any former year except the great spec- ulation year 1836. On the other hand, the amount of exports has been greater than in any former year except in 1335 and 1836.— .AVw York Journal of Commerce. VALUE OF I.MPORTS. Year endinir thirtieth of September. Messrs. T. & M. W. Eato.n, Franccslovi'n, N. H. say they have tried the White Beard, Mala- ga, Tea and Black Sea Wheat, ai>d have also rais- ed the Italian Wheat for the last three years; that the latter has proved more productive than any other; and they have the Italian Seed 'Wheat for sale at their residence and also at the store of 1. and N. Dane in said Franccstown, at $2 per bush- el. inrOur friends at Canterbury or Loudon, who have pure Black Sea Wheat of their ov.n raising, will confer on us a favor by furnishing a frv.- bush- els, which we want for our own use and for friends at a distance to be sowed next spring. Brighton Mahket.— 'I'iie |.rif,es o! i.pcl' c:iule on .Motiilav Fell. 17, ncre h.ni(lly kf |it ii|i .tt llic r;ile nC u,e uvo loevion's ^ weelis Tlie lirsl qiialily Itll noni sr.'Unml JT 00 m .J!! 7.'i per liunilreil. Second qiMlitv iitoo.l ,il gsao to $6 .V). 'I'liird quality,^,i25 lo.$5 75. Cows anil Calves .$33 to S^''- t^heeii $a70 1o$.'i. No Swine al inarliel. New York Cattle .Market, Per fifty catllc were this il.iy si-lJ al (i li par hundred. 17. Sf ven hundred and 9 dol ars— uveiaye $7 50 is:i4 l«3.') 18.16 IC37 IS.W 18:J9 1831 1835 183') 1837 1838 18.39 Fiee of dnlv. $t>8,:i93,180 77,9411,491 92,0.'>li,48l b9,a.v0,f:31 6n,8i!n,no.5 72,940,719 PHyiiii duly Pa' ing .ipe- 'foul. ad valorem. t-fic duties. $3.5,008,207 SSS.S19,!H4 S'2H,.WI,330 , 4.i,SI7.740 2fi,l:B,5(19 I4!l.s95,744 .'in.343,3M 38,.58fl,l(B iS9,980,ll.l.i 37,716,374 34,10.3,g|.2 14I,9S9,SI7 97,(190,180 2.i7nf;,9|.T 113,717,4114 4a,.'-.(>.i,-:l9 43,00.5,103 157,009,560 VALUE OF E.YPORTS. Year ending thirtieth of Scptcmlier. nome^tic prudii.ie. S8l,0'>4,lr,l i»i.it;i,neo 100,910,080 95,.'i61,4l4 96,033,821 100,951,004 Foreisn mer elianilize. $33,319,811 iao,504,-l95 ■2l,74li,3fi0 2l,8.'>1,9fia 12,4.59,795 17,408,000 Tola I. 8104,330,973 I31,n98,.577 128,004,040 117,419,370 108,480,010 J 18,359,400 Value of im- porlp. S10i',5ai,.3,3a ll'l,89.),749 18'.i, 930,035 140,1189,317 113,717,404 157,609,560 PuiLioELAHii, Feb. 14. Sales at 7 50 to $3 for ben! sort. New York, Feb. 15. 2.'i0'l barrels Genesee flour so'd .-.t S6 37 foi exporlalion. Kyij 70 ci ills, Corn C8 cents per busil- cl. Hills on London alS.Tid 9 per cill. premillin. Kt- ! chanje on Philadelphia 01 ptii cent, disooiint. The price of wheat throuuhonl 11 e ^nale of Ohiont I ho last dates was 50 cents ihe liu-shel— com 9j cents. Flour 3 .5'! per barr. I. To k ni Ciiirmnaii liail i isin from 4 to5rriils. rile qiiaiilily ol pork p;it up .ii rniL-ion.lli wiis »lily iiboiil one third nsinuch us in Ibe u iijlcr ol ,8;!.:' — 9. THE FAItMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A MONTHLT NKWSPAPER, IS PUBLISHED BT JOHN M. HILL, Iliirs Brick Block, Concord, .V. //. JAMES BURNS, 3, Water st., Boston, Ms. The Visitor will be issued on the last day of each month. ThelerniB will he ssventy-JtvE cents a veariniiiableaUpays in nd- vance. Porall subscribers less than 91, .\j!rn'tswill be'iHniveil a dednciion of 83 cents each— for all over 21 subscribers on any one agency lai cents each will be allowed. Thus, lor six subscribers four dollars— twelve, ei^lit dollars— ciuliletn, twelve dollars- twenty-four, nrieendoilars.will be remitted. Single numbers, twelve and a half cents each. All subscri- bers will commence with the first number ot the year. J)0^ Communications by mail, will be directed to the Pablishet, Concord, N. H. r^ ^0- MONTHLY COXDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. " Thost who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breasts he has made his peculiar depositefor substantial and genuine otV<«c."-Jefferson. VOLUME 2. CONCORD, N. H. MARCH. 31, 1840. NUMBER 3. THE VISITOR. A self-made Man. The late Judge Bcel. [/Vo7it the Eulogy on his life and charactir, pro- nounced before the A'cio York State .Igriiultvrnl Hocictij, Feb. 5, 1840, iy .4. Dean, Esq. of Albc:- ";/■] The subject of these remarlis was born in Cov- entry, in the State of Connecticut, on the fourth day of Januar_y, 1778. He was the last born, and the last that has died, «f a family of fourteen chil- dren. His father, EliasBuel, held the commission of Major in tlie war of our revolution, and was a fair sample of the plain, unassuming, straig-ht-for- ward character of the New England farmer. As an instance in proof that the end of the good man is peace, it deserves to be mentioned, that the advanced years and declining strength of this ex- cellent sample of iSew-Eugland's earlier popula- tion, together with his aged consort, received for the last five years of their lives their stay and sup- port from the filial affections of their youngest child ; until, fully matured, and at the advanced age of8G j-ears, they both left this world, and as if their union had become indissuluble by bonds that had been tightened by nearly three fourths of a century, they left it within the brief period of six weeks of each other. AVhen he had arrived at the age of twelve years, the family, including himself, moved from Coven- try to Rutland, Vermont, and two years afterwards, when he had completed the age of fourteen, he be- came an apprentice to the printing business, in the^ olHce of Mr. Lyons in Rutland. The young apprentice distinguished the first four years of liis term by a close, assiduous, and unre- mitted attention to the attainment of the printing art. In June 1797, he formed a connection in busi- ness with Mr. Molfit, of Troy, and commenced the publication of the Troy Budget. This was contin- ued until September, 1801, when, at the age of twenty-three, he married Miss Susan Pierce, of Troy, and immediately moved to Po\ighkeepsie, where, in connexion with Mr. Joiner, he com- menced the publication of a weekly pape/, called the Guardian. This was continued about a year ; after which, he entered into another co-partner- ship, and commenced the publication of the Politi- cal Barometer. This last proved to be an unfortunate business connection ; and after about a year's con- tinuance, either through the mismanagement or dishonesty of his partner, he found himself reduc- ed to utter bankruptcy. This is, I am sorry to say, rather a common his- tory ; and many, thus situated, abandon hope, and yield themselves up tn fatal despondency. Not so Judge BuEi.. With the unshaken assurance of success which naturally results from the firm de- termination to deserve it, lie saw, with apparent indifference, the slow, labored, and rather scanty accumulations of some si.x or seven years sudden- ly swept from him ; and read, in this lesson of mu- tability, at least llie chance of elevation, as well as depression, in individual condition. He never, for one moment, lost confidence in the general integrity of men, nor ni the ultimate success of industry and application. He h'ft Pongbkeepsie and removed to Knigston, where he established a weekly paper called Ihe Plebeian. Here he continued during the peric to 181 o, applying himself with diligence and activity to his business. Durinff a part of this time, he sustained with rep- utation the office of Judge, in the Ulster county court; and by his persevering industry, and well directed application, he not only retrieved his loss- es, but also acquired some considerable real and personal estate. In 1813, his reputation as an editor and a man having made him favorably known to the public, he was induced, through the exertions of Judge Spencer and some others, to remove to the city o! Albany, and to commence the Albany Argus. The next succeeding yeir 1S14, he was appointed prin- ter to the State, the duties of which, together with the editorsliip of the Argus, he continued to dis- charge until the year l&liO; at which time he sold out with the determination to abanden the printing business. It is worthy of remark, that while engaged In this business he ahvayn performed himself the la- bor essential to its successful prosecution. He was always the setter of his own types, and, until he came to Albany, the worker of his own press. Is tliere not something in the very nature of the print- ing art, that tends to originate and perpetuate hab- its of severer industry than any other occupation or calling .•' After disposing of his printing establishment and business, he purchased a farm of eighty-five acres of laud near the city of Albany, which then helped to compose that tract of land lying west of the city, and appropriately denominated the *'San- (ly Barrens." Th.at which, for some years past, has been so extensively and favorably known as the "Albany Nursery," then lay an open common, unimproved, covered with bushes, and apparently doomed to everlasting sterility. These un|)romis- ing ajipearances, which, to a common mind, would have presented insuperable obstacles, served to in- crease the efforts, rather than damp the ardor, of Judge Bkel. Difliculties, hindrances, obstruc- tions, were with him every day familiars. Hismind iiad been, in some measure, formed under their in- fluence. He recognized and acted on tiie doctrine, that where God has done little. It Is incumbent on man to do much ; and that nothing in this world is ever lost by courting situations that require the ex- penditure of unremitted effort. Man was made to labor, both corporeally and mi ntally, and his haii- piness in life depends much more than he is gener- ally aware of, on the strict obedience which he yields to this primal law of his being. On this farm he continued to reside until the time of his death. Under his untiring and well di- rected industry, the most unpromising indications soon disappeared, and as a i^ractical commentary upon the truth of hi.> agricultural doctrine, and in proof that he in reality practised what he preached, it may be mentioned that the same acre of land, which in 1821 he purchased for $30, is now worth, at a moderate estimate, $;200. While residing on his farm, since 1821, he has several times represented the city and county of Albany in the jiopular branch of the Legislature of this State ; has been for several }-<}ars, and was at the time of his death, a Regent of the University; and in the fall of 1836 received the whig support as their candidate for the office of Governor of the State of New York. He retired to his farm at the age of forty-three ; a period of lile when the mind has attained the full maturity of its varied powers. He carried with him a sound body, the result of a good original constitution, of strictly temperate habits, and much active exercise in the prosecution of his business; and a mind well stored with valuable information, of a charaiiter the most available for the common uses and purposes of life. So far as his pecuniary circumstances were concerned, he might, at this period of time, have been justified in dispensing with further labor either of body or mind. He was no longer conijielled to act under the spur of ne- cessity. But his ready perceptions, and accurate feelings, convinced him of a truth, which others are often dnuined to acquire from a sad experience — that a life of labor is, of all other kinds of lite, the last that should be terminated by an age of in- activity. Men violate the laws impressed by God upon the condition of things, when they assign to their declining years an inglorious ease in the ex- penditure of that fortune, which the successful in- dustry of their manhood had accumulated. Tlieie is alsj in all highly gifted minds, that are endow- ed with clear, strong intellect, combined with con- scienciousness, a deep feeling of responsibility for the due exercise of their powers, in a manner the most advantageous to their fellow-men. God has^ placed a double safeguard over the advancement of man, by leaving the means that conduce to It in charge both of the impulses that originate from s»lf, and of the promptings derived from his high moral nature. The mind of Judge Bo»l fortunately had the sa- gacity to perceive both where his industry was the most required, and could be rendered the most a- vailable. Of the three great interests that divide between them the labors of men, viz: — the agri- cultural, the mechanical and manufacturing, and the commercial; it is not difficult to perceive that the first has long been the nwDst important, and the most neglected. The last, or commerce, Is much depondent on the other two, and may always be expected to flourish where either agriculture or mechanical and manufacturing arts yield their mul- titude of products. Between the other two, there is a mutual dependence ; agricuUuro furnishes the support of life, and the mechanic arts, in their turn, supplying the instruments of agriculture. Of these two, the mechanic arts had received iclatively much the most attention. To advance them, man's in- genuity and inventive powers had been severely tasked ; and science was required to furnish its contributions; and the devising and employment of labor-saving machinery attested, and ma varie- ty of instances, the triumphs of mind over the in- ert materials every where abounding in nature. — But while the mechanic and manufacturing arts were thus prospering, agriculture was allowed to labor on unaided, and unenlightend in the knowl- edge of itself The new and virgin earth on this continent, that had been for ages rearing and re- ceiving back into Its bosom the lall tree of the for- est, and the waving grass of tlie prairie, required, at first, in many places, but a small quantity of la- bor to ensure ample returns. When the soil began to give evidence of exhaustion, instead of attempt- ing its restoration, new fields were brought under the dominion of th" plough. The great mass of agricultural population, so fHr as their business was concerned, were little more than creatures of hab- it. Men lived, and .labored, and trod the same paths, and" performed the same circles of action, v.'ith scarcely a single well settled principle for their guide, except that the same field ought not to be taxed to grow two successive crops of flax. The principal, and almost the sole object in view, was to realize as great immediate returns as possible from the smallest amount of labor, without any re- gard whatever to the exhausted condition in which they might leave the soil ; much like the traveller, who seeks the rapid accomplishment of along jour- ney, by driving so far the first day as to destroy his horse. The new system of agriculture, with which the name and reputation of Judge Buel Is essentially identified, consists in sustaining and strengthening the soil, while Its productive qualities are put in- to requisition ; in rendering the farm every year more valuable, by annually increasing both its pro- ducts and its power of producing ; like the travel- ler, who instead of destroying his horse the first day, should so regulate his motion-, and administer his supplies of food, as to enable him to make addi- tional progress every successive day, until the com- pletion of his journey. This new system — new I mean in this country — has been principally carried into eft'ect by manuring, by draining, by good til- lage, by alternating crops, by root culture, and by the substitution of fallow crops for naked fallows. The efforts of Judge Buel have greatly tended to make honorable, as well as profitable and im- proving, the pursuits of agriculture. He clearly perceived that to render the farming interest pros- perous, it must stand high in the public estima- tion. So long as it was conceded to be an occupa- tion that required little more than mere habit to fol- low, and that it was indifferent to success, 'wheth- er the man possessed great intellectual power, or A mind on a level with the ox he drov»', it could not be expected that_ any would embark in It unless necessity compelled them, or the very moderate extent of their mental bestowment, precluded any reasonable chance of success in any other. He taught men that agricultural prosperity resulted neither from habit nor chance ; that success was subject to the same law In this, as in other depart- ments of industry, and before it could be secured, must be deserved ; that mind, intellectual power, and moral purpose, constituted as essential parts In the elements of agricultural prosperity, as in those of any other; and all these truths he enforced by pretept, and illustrated by practice. By these THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. means he has calh'd into the fieUl of agricultural 1 his departure, to furnish just this volume, for just hibor a higher order of mind ; has elevated tlie stones that interrupt the plough sliall be cleared out— 1. To break up and plant with potatoes with perhaps ten loads unfer- mented straw manure to the acre. 2. Indian corn with manure spread equal to fifteen loads to tlie a- cre, and all the better if ten loads of rich compost or other fermented manure can be added in the hill ; the corn hoed at least three .times, and not a weed suffered to ssed on the ground. 3. Spring sowed wheat with clover and herds grass seed. 4. Grasi. 5. Grass. 0. Pasture. 7. Pasture. 8. Oats. 9.. Rutabaga or other root crop. Returning afterwards to the Indian corn crop with the effect- ual manuring. If the pasture be excluded, per- haps it will be advisable to hold the ground to mown (Trass for the third season. In farms which are found feasible there will be no less benefit from ploughing, manuring and cultivating pasture grounds than the fields generally appropriated to hay and grain. Deficiency of manure — how supplied. I may be met with the objection that the system of rotation cannot be pursued while there is the present deficiency of manure. I answer this ob- jection by saying" that the difficulty will only exist at the beginning. The first acre made rich will furnish the means not only of its own renovation but to enrich the second acre. The new husband- ry is predicated on the principle tliat the ground possesses the inherent means of greatly increasing its own production. Besides there are external aids that may be commanded on the premises of al- most every farmer. His swine and his cattle, his horses and sheep, will convert almost every veget- able substance mto means of fertilizing the ground; the mud of sunken holes, the leaves that fall from the trees, the peat of tlie swamp, the turf by the sides of the highways, the chips of his door yard, the ashes from his fire place, the briars from the sides of his fields, the rotten wood in his forests — in fine, every thing partaking of animal or vegeta- ble matter that is subject to decoii:position — may, Vv'ith the aid of useful domestic animals treading upon and working them over, double and treble bis ordinary quantity of manure, so that the more the farmer applies in the first instance the greater will be his means of increasing Ihe application. The methud of rotation like the first will be found in the course of one routine, separating the arable of any farm into as many lots as there are years in the rotation, to make even those farms which are now esteemed to be good farms of double and tre- ble the value of their present estimation. Lands that are now worth twenty and thirty dollars the acre would be worth a hundred ; and mucli land that is not valued so high as the interest of a hun- dred dollars to the acre might be made to yield a nett annual profit of twice that amount. Leasehold Estates. Another point in British husbandry is v,-orthy the attention of American agriculturists; and that is the tenure of their leaseholds, requiring specific treatment of lands by which tiieir improvement is constantly progressing. There it is made for the' mutual benefit of landlord and tenant that land should be placed and kept in its highest state of production. It is truly wonderful that the tenant in that country should see his ivay clear at the very outset, before he raises a crop, to make an expendi- ture of fifty or sixty dollars to the acre : he holds hii land upon a long lease— he takes the lease for its worth without the improvement; and it is ob- viously more for his advantage than for that of the owner, that he should raise the product of the land as high as possible. He is not the owner of land, but ife possesses capital ; bis business is cultivaiion of the land, and this business he pursues with no less prospect of gain than the merchant who com- mences with a capital. Both occupations are car- ried on for ijain ; and if the farmer possesses abun- dant capital, his profits will increase with the grea- ter outlay judiciously applied to the smaller quan- tity of land. In this country, particularly in the interior towns, the situation of landlord and tenant is in . the majority of cases reversed, so that there is com- monly an expectation that alarm will be the worse to be rented even to the most judicious tenant. The rent is from year to year, or hardly ever so long as a term of five years. Each successive ten- ant'and each sucressive year presents dilapidation and destruction of buildings and fences— the win- dows broken, the boards torn off, the roofs more and more leaky— the gates and bars broken down the posts rotted— increasing gaps in stone walls : the crops are taken from the most productive fields without a return of their fertility; the hard grounds are made harder, and tlie easy cultivation made more rough ; briars and weeds and bushes are suf- fered to usurp the best part of the soil ; in short, the farm is scourged, and if its former treatment had been tolerable, its new occupants will be very_ likely to take from it a greater annual amount of depreciation in value than they can actually afford to pay for its use. Now in all parts of this country, abounding in numerous blessings and in every inducement for improvement, a speedy stop should be put to the treatment of farms such as I have been describing. If administrators on estates or guardians of niiuors who frequently have the charge of rented farms have not the capacity to make ;eontracts with ten- ants that shall assure them to be kept in at least as good state as that in which they are found, such managers for the orphan and widow should be taught by statute and held accountable for a better management. A long leased farm in Massachusetts. hands of tenants Farms may be placed in the with equal safety and equal security as in the island of Great Britain. I have in my mind a farm in Medlbrd, Massachusetts, about four miles out of Boston, which has been carried on by tenants ever since the close of the revolutionary war. This farm embraces perhaps two hundred acres, and is a part of the estate which was formerly called the " Fiyal farm," owned by a family which left the country at the commencement of the revolution. With my father who purchased the crop of grass on a small portion of tliac farm, more than fbrty years ago I raked hay upon the marsh near Mystic river . since that time I have frequently passed it; and on the invitation|of its present tenant 1 intend, if Providence shall will it,in the course of tlie next sea- son, to visit it for the purpoic of amore minute in- spection and description. What was properly the Ry- al farm has been tenanted by two geijllemcn farmers who learned to work with their own hands when young, and both of whom from the ground have made money enough each to pay for the farm itself It was an excellent hay farm ; and tlio main object has been to furnish milk for the market. I met the present occupant of the farm a few weeks since at the house of an old acquinlance in Boston, who THE FARMERS' MONTHLY VISITOR. 39 had from this farm by him been furnished with milk without a week's intermission for thirty-seven years. The veteran farmer, seventy-eight years old, called to settle his quarterly milk score, which was always marked down at the house when de- livered. He had so increased the product of tliis hired farm as to be able to keep sixty cows where his predecessor kept about twenty, until in advan- ced age he had divided off a portion to his son ; and nliw keeps only forty. On this hired farm lie had planted an orchard, which, under vigorous growth, is yielding him a great annual profit. Much of the ground on tliis farm has been made to produce at least four fn one. Both of the tenants, the first of whom has deceased, were men of intel- ligence and character ; both had l)een representa- tives in the legislature and magistrates; and if they were unable to purchase tlie extensive premi- ses which they have so long tenanted, both of them by industry and application become possessed of abundant means to be purchasers and owners of other farms. The price of annual rent paid for that part in the possession of the present occupant is twelve hundred dollars, what would purchase a good beginning for almost any young man in the interior of the country ; this sum is probably three or four times as much as all the premises paid v-ihen he took the land at first. The improvements which have been made at the sole expense of the tenant have thus raised the rent to the owners; and his eminent success shows that the improvements have been no less to his advantage than to theirs. He has even found it for his advantage to go to the ex- pense of improvements which may be considered permanent. The beautiful apple orchard which he has planted and grafted, yielding him several hun- dred dollcrs annually, may be considered of this cliaractor ; and he mentioned another improvement, undertaken at the expense of several hundred dol- lars, which other farmers on their own premises will do well to undertake, as many may do in the interior towns without so great an outlay. He con- structed a cellar under the extensive barn upon his hired premises, in which he preserves, and from which he feeds turnip and other root crops in the winter; and he informed me that he was amply paid for the excavation in the excellent manure he found under that barn. The ground where the barn stood was naturally a light porous sandy loam, ly- ing four or five feet deep u])on a hard pan or siib- sofl : he found the drippings from the cattle pens had drained through the upper loam and the sand, so that tke bottom next to the pan had been chan- ged into the richest jiart of the manure. This he mentioned as conclusive evidence that the rich ma- terial placed on the ground sinks deep in the earth where there is no pan or clayey substance to arrest it, and dees not, as some suppose, lly ofi" from the 6urlace into the air. How farms should be teased. The present condition of the Medford Ryal farm will furnish proof tliat land, when it is rented, un- der a course of constant improvement, will be no less beneficial to llie tenant than to the owner ; and that, where the lease shall extend from five to ten years, if either party bears the exclusive ex- pense of the improvement, the party making the improvement will be a gainer, although not in the proportion of the party which lias the advan- tage of gain without the expenditure. To remedy the evils wich are so common in rented farms — to avoid the ruinous etfects resulting from a posses- sion which is understood to mean that the occupier shall carry oft" whatever he can force out of the soil witliout any return, and that the owner is to be compensated for the depreciated value of his farm in a higher rent— I would recommend that leases should be specific, requiring a given amount of manure for every acre cultivated— that for eve- ry useful tree cut down or suft'ered to decay, at least two young trees should be planted to supply its place— tliat the roofs of all buildings should be newly shinHgh, and manure in the hill, or spread and har- row Tn the manure. To me this appears bad poli- cy. By this processniost of the soil that was turn- ed up by the first ploughing is thrown back from whence' it came, and the turf and vegetable matter brought to the surface, and much of it blown away and dissipated by the winds and sun, and many of the square piece's of turf lie in a situation to dry up and aft'ord but little food for the growing crop. Other fanners, after ploughing sward land in the fall or spring, sow with oats without manure, and sometimes they get a good crop, but nearly the whole support and growth of the oats are a direct draft upon the land without much return; and_ by many oats are considered an exhausting crop : if so, the land is in a much poorer slate than before ploughing. There is another practice that I think repugnant to good husbandry pursued by some farmers, in let- ting their winter made manure remain in their yards and at the hovel windows till September or October; then cart it out and spread it upon their sward land, and plough it in for a crop of corn next season. We usually have heavy rains in October and November ; and I think there can be no ques- tion but mucli loss is sustained in the value of the manure by leaching. Many farmers say plough in your manure deep — it never goes down ; it will al- waj's ascend. Such persons do not appear to be fully acquainted with the subject. Men of science, who have analyzed stable manures, tell us there are several ingredients in the dung of cattle, two or more kinds°of salts that when dissolved afford food for plants, and several kinds of gases. If ma- nure is left exposed upon the surface of tlie ground the gases would soon be disengaged, and from their volatile nature be dissipated and lost in the sur- rounding atmosphere. The salts or soluble parts would be dissolved, and from their specific gravity descend into the earth ; and the depth they would descend, if it be a gravelly subsoil, depends upon the amoiuit of rain ; some portion, no doubt, would penetrate as far as the water soaks dov.'n. From the above it would seem, if it is fresh or what is called "long manure," it should always be plough- ed in ; but as short a time as possible before plant- ing, that it may undergo fermentation or decompo- sition beneath the soil, for the obviouS reason that all m.atter undergoing the process of fermentation produces heat. The greater the heat the more ra- pidly the gases are evolved or given off. These gases are the stench arising from ]iutrefied animal and vegetable substances ; and as tlieir tendency is always upwards, they will work or endeavor to work a passa.-e up through the soil that covers them, and the soil will become imiiregmitcd by tlieni, as woollen cloths imliibe and retain the smell of musk or any other powerful odour. Thoy also Harm and lighten the ground, and prove beneficial THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 41 to the grrowinnr crops, which imbibe some portion nf their food from the ntmosphere through their leaves. The sails aio dissolved by the de^ws and rain; they are taken up by the soil, as a sponge takes up and retains water ; this water impregnat- ed by the salts is sucked up by the rootk-ts of tlie plants, and is their food. From these facts it would seem to he the best way, in all cases, to plough in green manure, if it must he used greeny and most ad- visable that old or well rotted manure should be liar- rowed or ploughed in very shallow. It having un- dergone fermentation, its tendoncy to heat is lost — its £fases have lakmi to themselves wings and flov^m away, and left only the salts and vegetable matter. The chief good to be derived from decom- posed manure is from its remaining soluble salts, and consequently the le.ss depth it is turned in the better. But a system of farming pursued by some of the most intelligent awd successful farmers in Massa- cliusetts is very ditierent from any of tlie methods described above. Their long manure of the previ- ous winter is mixed in their yards, barn cellars, or fields, near where it is wanted to be used the next season, in the spring or early part of the summer, with twice the number of loads of swamp muck, peat or good loam, where it undergoes a moderate fermentation. The following spring — early in May — their green sward is ploughed over as smooth and ilat as possible, then pressed down with a heavy roller, and from ^0 to l>0 loads of this compost to the acre, then thoroughly mixed by the harrow, and then planted witli corn or potatoes. These who pursue this metliodare satisfied that this com- post, for the corn croj), and for the permanent im- provement of the land, is equal, load for load, to green stable manure. By this course Ip&y double or treble the value of their manure. While upon this subject, I will furnish you with the opinions of some scientific and practical men whose knowledge in these matters may be of some use to farmers ;- — Dr. C. T. Jackson of Boston, says in a communication to the Editor uf the N. E. Farmer, ^*The loss of the saline matters of ma- nures by solution and tiijiltratioii is vastly greater than is commonly supposed by farmers. The evap- oration to which so much loss is attributed, is but ft drop in the bucket, in comparison with that of so- lution. Some maintain that manures never pene- trate beyond the depths of a few inches ; but this is a great error. The important ingredients, viz : the Boluble salts penetrate the earth to enormous depths, and we find animal matters in the well wa- ter of Boston 150 feet below the surface. 1 know also instances where deep well water, formerly free from saline and animal matters, become charged with them two years after the top soil had been cul- tivated and dressed with animal manures." Mr. Colman, editor of the N. E. Farmer of May — 163S), says — "Another point whicli seems settled is, that the activity and usefulness of manures are increased in proportion as they are kept near tlie surface, and as they with the earths with which they are combined are brought in contact with so- lar and atmosplieric iiiflueiiCLS. Placed directly upon the surface, much of their usefulness is lost by evaporation. We cannot do this exactly as we would; some of the manures will be u^cessarily exposed-; some will be of necessity placed too deep: but though the expression may not be grammati- cal, we think, we shall be best understood, when we say that manures should be cocered, but notiit- Mr. Buckminster, a good practical farmer and now editor of the Boston Cultivator, says on the subject of planting corn: — "A number of our sub- scribers have informed us witiiin a week past, that they have abandoned the practice of putting ma- nure in the hill, and prefer s])reading their fine ma- nure evenly over the ground, and mixing it even- ly with the harrow liefore planting. They say the labor is less — the crop better, and the land is belter prepared for future cultivation." "Green sward should not be*ploughed early in the spring. The sod rots much faster after the orass has grown a few inches. We have sometimes ploughed in green vianiire^ and buried it under tiie sod, on llie supposition that we must eventually have the benefit of it, if not immediately. Good crops may thus be obtained in high loams, but we have some doubts about the utility of the practice. Manures of all kinds, want lo be mixed and incor- porated thoroughly with the soil ; and we doubt the propriety of placing them where they gannot be stirred during the summer." Dr. N. C. Keep of Boston, a gentleman of mvich chemical and scientific knowledge, in a communi- cation to the N. E. Farmer last May on the subject of manures, says : — "All salts that dissolve readily in water will soon escape from the soils. A few of them are volatile, and may rise in vapour, but the major part of them, more parlicul;ir]y in com- post manures, are most volatile, but more nr less soluble in water. Jusl so far as they are dissolved in water, they are capable of being carried down by rains, until they get beyond the reach of the rootlets of plants. The loss of manure by evapor- ation, I apprehend, is occasioned by manure being exposed while fermentation is going on ; then the gases are let loose and readily ^y off, but by having present, four or five times its quantity of the de- cayed vegetable matter so abundant in our peat bogs, we have an absorbent, which most etTectual- ly prevents the escape of ammonia. Tliis is t!ie volatile salt, and if we cannot get vegetable mat- ter, we should take the soil for an absorbent." The right application, and tiie most economical method of using manure, is a matter of great im- portance to the farmer : it is a subject that should be thoroughly investigated : and as there are so many different ways of applying it to the land, (and all for the same object, viz: increasing the crops and the improvement of the soil) ii seems that some of the methods must be wrong. But that farmers may be stimulated to ascertain the right way, is the object of this comnmnication. L. B. Warner, March 1840. Thrift of New Hampshire Farmers. As the Summer approaches, we are reminded of the beautiful view from an outside balcony on the upper story of uur domicil fronting the Frog ponds. The intervale up and down the river for full five miles, in width from one to two miles, through which the fair Merrimack meanders, shews with tolerable distinctness the partition fences and the varied crops ; the village on the main street is^ overlooked to the distance of half a mile south, and a mile north, and the village on tlie east side two miles and a half north-east is prominent to the view, as are the three bridges connecting the two extremes and the centie of the village with the east side. The position being low in the village, we have not an unobstructed view ofthc mountains. Excep- ting when a reflected atmosphere shall enable us to have a fair view of Gunstock, we can see few dis- tant mountains. We cannot mistake Old Cardi- gan at the distance of forty miles which strikes the eye in the space opening between tiie South Church and tiie State House; and looking up the valley by the ridges siiutting down to the river in Canter- bury and Northfield, we perceive two other high prominences. The most distant of these (forty-five miles) is Red Hill, and the nearest (twenty-two miles) is the mountain between Sandboruton and New Hampton, v.'hich has an abrupt termination on the east shore of the Merrimack ojqjosite the vil- lage of Mill iu the county of Grafton. We had been in the habit of looking upon this last mountain as we passe ; Since readincr the remarks ,- 331 per annum. Were trade and consumption in proportion to the population and the country on an equality of condition with Scotland, the Irish rev- enue would have been nearly £8,000,(JU0. By rais- ing therefore the condition of Ireland to an equali- ty with Scotland, six millions a year might be ad- ded to the revenue. — British and Foreign R'jvieip. Profit Extraordinary. — There is at this time in the possession of a respectable farmer at Fenny- Stratford, Bucks, a very fine sow, of the Berkshire breed which has produced wi'jiin fourteen months two titters of pigs; which pigs have been sold, and fetched the extraordinary sum of £89 Is. 2 l-2d. And, what is more surprising, the same sow has now a litter of nine pigs by her side, worth at least throe pounds. — jVortkampton Herald. French Duties on Foreign Cattle. — The Commerce, alludivig to the petition of the butchers of Paris for a r'jduction of the duties on cattle im- ported into France, makes the following observa- tions. Thi; subject is one in which all classes, but especially the laboring and middle classes, are deep- ly interested :— "The high duties upon foreign cat- tle are generally complained of— the country, and especially the department of the Seine, feels them as a great evil. The markets of the capital are bad- ly su'pplied, the cattle are of inferior quality, and the price of meat is constantly rising. The higli price of meat coincides with that of corn, and con- sequently the laboring classes of society are suft'er- ing dreadfully. The petition of the butchers ot Paris reveals facts which cannot fail to fix the at- tention of the legislature. In 1834 the average price of meat in the contracts for the hospices and hospitals of the capital was 06 1-2 centimes the kilstrramme; in 1839 it was 1 fr. 4 centimes, and it wTll not be less this year, thus showing an in crease of 37 1-2 per cent, upon the price ol 18.34. Another fact not less important, which is stated in the petition, is the degeneration of oxen, which for some years past have yielded one-fifth less of meat and tallow than formerly ; the meat is not so good and more cows are killed for the markets. In for- mer years the number of cows slaughtered annually f,.r the Paris markets was only 40U0, It is now 20,00U. We are suft'cring therefore both m price and quality." A Remedy against "Bursauttee" ajionc Cat-, TLE.— For some weeks past a vast number of horn- ed cattle, at Purfleetand in the marshy lands in its immediate locality, have been attacked with a dis- ease which has. proved fatal to many ot them. The disorder, which is by no means common in this country, is, in tropical climates, termed "Bursaut- tee," or the murrain of the rains, the sympt-ims ot which are manifested by the tongue and the parts of deglutition becoming much swollen and inflam- ed, insomuch so, that the animal after a while is un- able to swallow or even masticate its food In Ben- cral and the (owcr provinces of India, this disease i's b'v no means unfreqiient among cattle, especially during the periodical rains. The method pursued by the native cowherds in such cases is to .apply the actual cautery (a hot iron) to the neck and fau- ces, and to rub the tongue and palate with coarse salt, administering to the suftermg animal shortly 44 THE PARMER'S MONTHLY YISITOR. ftfterwardri *i oocoanut shell full of castor oil. This mode of treatment is for the most part attended with success, and it is nut iniprobahle but that the Bame efficacious remedy would follow a similar course of treatment, if exercised towards the cat- tle laboring under tlie like malady in this country. Profit from TiiuRounct Draining. — A farmer in Lanarkshire, whose name we are not at liberty to use, tried the effects oi thorough draining on a small field of four acres. Two acres of this field were drained in every furrow, the subsoil being re- tentive, but the upper soil was favorable to the growth of green crops. The other half was allow- ed to remain undrained, as the whole had been un- til the winter of 1837. In spring, 1838, the whole field was worked for, and planted to potatoes. The potatoes were sold, and the result was, that the thorouirh drained half yielded £45 an acre, whilst the undrained only realized £13 an acre The drained land thus yielded about three and one half times the undrained ; and supposing that the drain- ing cost, at the utmost stretch, £10 an acre, the first crop, notwitiistanding, not only repaid that cost, but left £^2 an acre more than tJie whole crop, per acre of the undrained land. "What an encour- agement docs this simple fact and single instance of profit hold out to farmers to spare no expense and indulge in no hesitation in thoroagh draining retentive bottomed land 1 — Quar. Jovrnal of JJgri- cultiire. Slaugiiam. — Copy or a Hand-Bill. — '* Farm- ers of England ! be up and stirring. Owners and occupiers of land ! your cause and interests are onG and the same. Will you put no hand to tlie plougli when the season for action has arrived, while the manufacturers and mill-owners, who boast Hhat they owe no allegiance to the soil of England,' are incessantly agitating for the repeal - of the corn laws, and crying for cheap bread, which only meaas half wages. \Vill you stand all the day idle, careless or ignorantthat your safety is at stake — your ruin at hand. Hear what the American President most truly observes, in his opening speech to Congress. Speaking of agriculture, — *No means of individual comfort is more certain, and no source of national prosperity so sure. Noth- ing can compensate a people for a dependence up- on others for the bread they eat; and that cheerful abundance on which the happiness of every one . depends, is to be looked for nowhere with such re- liance as in the industry of the agriculturist and tne bounties of the earth.' Shall your farms be thrown out of cultivation, and England brougiitto depend on foreigners for food ? If so, then you must drink the dregs of the cup whicli political quacks are mixing for you ; — if ye would not, be xip and stirring !" — Sussex Express. Farming in Northfield, N. H* The following statistics of a single school dis- trict, wiiich have been furnished by a reader of the Visitor, may be taken as a fair specimen of the in- terior farms in New Hampshire : School district No. 2 in Northfield, Merrimack county (commonly called liyhill district) contains 1600 acres of land and 16 farms, varying in size from 50 to 175 acres. The population of this dis- trict is 105, and the legal voters are 33. The en- tire male population of sulUcient age are laborers. Two are unable from age, and four others from tlic same cause do only light work. Three hands were hired into the district during the last summer; and there are eleven working boys over ten years of age. The labor of these men and boys is the fair amount to carry on the sixteen farms during the year 1839. On these farms was raised last summer 857 busli- els of wheat, besides the usual quantity of Indian rorn and other grains and vegetables, together with hay sufficient to winter from 150 to 175 head of taxable cattle, 25 taxable horses, 300 slieep, and tlic due proportion of untaxed stook. The correspondent who furnishes the foregoing facts describrs one of the above enumerated farms as containing 150 acres, of which 30 only are suit- able for mowing and tillage, the remaining 120 a- cres being so rocky and rough as to be fit only for pasture and woodland. The father of the pres- ent owner ofthis farm (Mr. J. K.) commenced op- erations upon it between forty and fifty years ago. His m^^ans were very limited at the commence- ni,ent ; but he was, what nine out of ten of tlie pioneers who settled down upon and cleared the forests of the interior hills ®f New Hampshire af- ter fighting for liberty in the revolutionary war proved to be, a hard working man who looked well to his ways ; and he soon gained the means for en- tertaining strangers with that old fashioned hospi- tality which gratuitously furnished them with good living while they remained under his roof. His house was the place of resort for may years for the Quarterly Meetings of the Methodist Society. In the course of a few years he was able to erect a large and commodious dwelling house, barns and other buildings, which were annually filled with the products of his labors. In the year 1814, con- sidering how hard and rough were his premises, and hearmg of tlie high fertility of the soil *'on the banks of the pleasant Ohio," he became somewhat affected with what was then called the Ohic* (now the Western) fever, and without disposing of his property at home, travelled in that country in search of a better place of residence from March to Jul}. Returning to his family and friends, he lived '.mly a few months ; and at his decease the rough farm became the property of his son the pres- ent occupant, who in all the commendable moral qualities and industrious habits well fills the place of his immediate ancestor. The farm continues to be one of the most pro- ductive and profitable of its size in the town. For the last ten years the average annual crop has been from 150 to 200 bushels of Indian corn, 100 bush- els of wheat, with the other usual proportions of small grains and vegetables— hay sufficient to win- ter from twelve to fifteen head of taxable cattle, two and three horses, with other young cattle and colts, and from twenty to thirty sheep, with a few tons to spare. The entire gathered produce is rais- ed from the thirty acres which is alone capable of improvement: the rough pasture sustains most of the live stock for six months in the year. This is a sjiecimen of the first settlers and pres- ent population of the roiogh State of New Hamp- shire. It is that portion of our community part of which at present enjoys the greatest happiness — the only portion which can be said to enjoy ster- ling independence ; for how could the lawyer, the doctor, the trader, the mechanic, or the manufac- turer subsist himself and his family without the founchition aid of the industrious farmer, who dives into the soil and causes it to yield food for. man and beast .-" "The Brown Corn." From the crop of Brown Corn raised last season on the premises of the editor of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor was selected from forty to fifty busliels of seed corn, all of which might have been disposed of months ago, and only sufficient of which remains to furnish our friends with a small quan- tity now and then and for our own use. If woiiad five iiundred bushels of that corn, we verily believe we could at this late point of time dispose of the whole at the rate of three dollars the bushel ! Several farmers who have called on us for this seed corn have expressed the determination to use it somewhat in the manner it has been cultivated by Mr. Brown on his Winnipisseogee farm — to put more manure and more labor on the ground, and thus to obtain the greater crop from the smaller quantity of land. Mr. Brown has given his land that attention which will warrant a great croji on almost an_v ground in almost every season. He takes land which hasbeen broken up from the sward one year previous and with the aid of a comnmn quan- tity of unfermented barn yard manure has produc- ed one crop of potatoes. After the crop of pota- toes has been taken off in the fall he spreads twelve to fifteen loads of manure to the acre and plnuglis that in. The next spring, he spreads another sim- ilar quantity of manure over tiie same ground, and ploughs th:it in also. The two operation'^ make the whole ground as light as a well prepared gar- den, and the mixed manure furnishes the fuod for the corn which aids in its constant growth when cold weather might arrest it in ground that h;td not this preparation. As a third atid last operation be- fore planting the ground is furrowed at tlie distance ofabou* two feet nine inches to three feetone wav, and finely pulverized barnyard or compost manure is placed at the rate of a common shovel full to a iiill-at the distance of about eighteen inciiestotwo feet apart in each row. Seed is planted sufficient to sustain three stalks, and this number only is suf- fered to grow in tho hill. The common grub or wire worm will be found seldom to work in land prepared in this manner ; and if there be any stragglers of tiie vermin which usually destroys corn hills, the stimulants in the ground will very soon throw the growing corn be- yond their read). The corn may be cultivated to Kuit the taste of th;>se who would either make up a hill around the stalks, or leave them to take root witiiout a hill ; and either the plough or the culti- vator may be used to work among it. It should i>e carefully hoed at least three times ; and the fourth time, rather than sutTtfr weeds to obtain a head a- mong it. When we were first informed of Mr. Brown's method, we thought too much expense and labor were laid out upon the ground. On further reflec- tion, we think his plan to be better than would be the application of the same quantity of manure and one third less labor in proportion, to double tiie quantity of land. The two acres would produce about the same quantity of corn. If no more, there would be a loss of the use of land and the addi- tional labor. The subsequent capacity of the land to yield a crop will likewise be taken into consid- eration. The one acre for the next year will be in a condition to produce a greater and more sure cor- responding crop of wheat, or oats, or barley ; and stocked down to clover and herdsgrass, would for two or more years yield a greatly increased crop of at least one third. One acre of land treated in the manner Mr. Brown treats his corn crop, in our o- pinion, taking a series of five or six years with a rotation of crops, would yield nearly as great a quantity of produce with one third less labor than two acres of land with the best of common cultiva- tion, and half the quantity of manure applied to the acre. The value of the Brown corn is, that it producc-a a compact ear with the smallest cob covered with the corn from bntt end to tip, and the kernels larg- er and heavier than any other kind of corn we have seen ; that it grows on a stout, but not a high stalk whicli lets in the sun to the ground although the hills stand near each other ; and that it matures and ripens in the field almost as soon as the smaller Canada corn, which has both a diminutive stalk and ear. Our crop of last year was out of the way of frost the first week of September; For the I'^atmeiV .Month ly V'iaimr. Roots as food for animals* Hon. I. Hill, — Dear Sir : — One would think enough had been written in your useful Visitor and elsewhere, on the use of roots-as food for animals, to induce every farmer to make a trial of them ; but farmers must have "line upon line" and tlie certain experience of many, or they will not be prevailed »upon to leave the beaten paths of their fatliers. For more than twenty years I have raised more or less of roots, as food for my stock, and I find them to be cheap, good and profitable food ; they supply the deficiency in hay, and especially of poor meadow hay, of saccharine and succulent matter. I believe with plenty of roots, cattle and horses will thrive as well in winter as summer, and tJiink if we fed more liberally with them, we should receive more profit and more satisfaction in the tending of them. All will allow that potatoes are good food for cattle ; but few will give them a fair trial, be- cause they can sell them for twenty, thirty or forty cents per bushel; carrots, beets, (the sugar, mangel wurtzel and red) ruta bagas and English turnip are all easily raised and valuable. The last y?ar I raised 380 bushels potatoes, 98 bushels carrots, 6G bushels ruta baga, 20 bushels sugar and red beets. 1 have fattened one cow, that suckled two calves till September, two heifers and" four hogs, with the help of twenty-four bush- els meal made of corn and oats. If I had sold the whole of the meat at the rate 1 did sell more than three fourths of it, it would have amount'^'d to S;180. I have now left a good supply for milch cows, in winter and spring, and five calves. If 1 had rais- ed enough to give one peck per day to each of mv oxen and cows, and fi»r tlie young cattle in propor- tion, 1 think 1 should have found it profitable in tha saying of hay and in tiie improved condition of the stock. The exact value of roots as food for ani- mals, I am not able to state ; perhaps the article iieaded "Roots compared with hay," Vol. 1. p. 103 of the Monthly Visitor, is nearly correct; and if the reader has not the hist volume, I should advise him to send immediately and get it, for it is worth more than tlie publisher's price. The above potatoes were a light crop, stricken with rust, raised on two acres; old field broke up in the fall previous to planting, manured with six- teen loads to the acre of strawy dung. From an experiment made on a few rows, I think if I had spread about tlio same quantity, i)eside3 that put into tiie hills, my crop would have been nearly double. Eiglity-one bushels of carrots I raised on nine square rods of ground not highly manured, which is equal to 144U busliels to the acre : the other 17 bushels were raised in the garden — ground not measured. Tije ruta bagas were raised in one corner of a cornfield, of a clayey soil, too wet and wormy for corn. We did not rneasure the ground, but judged that if it had been planted with potatoes, we should not have had more than twenty-five or thirty bush eU. N. \V. Temple, Feb. 12, 1S40. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 45 Construction of Roads. Surry, County of Hancock, Maine, Jan, 29(A, 1840. Hon Isaac Hir.L, — Sir: — Noticing in your Visitor for April an article headed "Iliglnvays in New England ;" and from what I had seen, beingcon- vinced there was less practical knowledge of the manner in which roads ought to be made than on almost any subject of equal importance, I com- menced a short communieation on (he subject for your paper. It was laid a- aide to attend to some pressing business, and occurred not again to my mind till in looking over some unfinished papers it caught my eye. i now avail myself of a few moments of leisure to give you the result of some thoughts and experience on the subject, which if practised upon would give to the public a good road at all seasons of the year — at not a great increase of ex- pense. I will say more — that if durability is taken into account, the cost will be less and a va.'it amount of money saved to the people. It is not sulTicient that a road when finished should present a uniform and and well made appearance, but it mast be kept in sJiajje ail the time it is in construction. Tha proper form of a road is the segment of a circle witu the exterior sides of the ditches at an angle of forty-five degrees: if at a greater angle, tlie earth will not keep its place. 1 am now sujiposing the road to be what I should call a single one, and made in clayey land, generally supposed to be the most difficult to form into a durable road to resist heavy wheeling, but which I am confident cnn be made as good and nearlv as permanent as if Macadamised at a very small proportion of the expense. The surface ofclay-j ey soils is generally a clayey loam about a foot in depth : this is the worst material that can be used for a road ; but, as it would cost too much to remove it at the expense of the road, (and the owners of the adjoining lands seldom understand their own interest sufficiently to take it off themselves to use as a top dressing or for a compost heap) and it can be made use of to advantage' if properly managed: I will suppose the land on which tlie road is to be made to be of that description — a clayey loam with a subsoil of clay. Tiie first step will be to remove all stumps, roots, and stones. This when large or heavy may he greatly facilitated by the use of a tackle with a double and tre- ble block with this purchase, provided the lever be ten feet in length, and the chain fastening it to the stone or stump be only two feet from the lower end with the tackle attached to the upper : the power would be increased twenty times, that is, one yoke of o.xen would be etjual with such a purchase to twen- ty without. The very large stones may however be blown instead of remov- ing them witli a tackle. After removing all the stones and stumps., the plough is to be put in ; but if drains or causeways are required, 1 should recommend their being made tirst, care being always taken to sink the culverts or drains so low that the bottom siiould be at least six inches lower than the bottom of the side ditches. Before cominenciijg ploughing, let the centre as well as the sides of tlie road be marked by short stakes. The ploughing should be done by back furrow- ing; that is commencing a foot from the centre and turning towards it : the furrow slice should be narrow that tiie ridge may be sharp. When ploughed it should be harrowed lengthwise of tiie road, beginning on the outside or ne.xt the ditch — let it then be scraped with a siiovel scraper crosswise, taking care I to put it as much as possible into proper shape. In other vrords, let the earth Inot bo left by the scraper in lieaps, but delivered from it gradually. After scraping let it be again harrowed as before. If the ground was not very rough, the centre will not require to be ploughed again : but should it be ne- cessary it must be again back furrowed, commencing as before about a foot from the centre — again scraped and harrowed as before. Tlie ro.ad ought now to present a good appearance. It will however not be quite high enough in the centre, and the ditches not sufficiently deep ; but its most important de- fect is, that the material of which it is now composed is loam. To remedy these defects it will be necessary to run three furrows on each side of tlio road and scrape them into the centre, taking care to preserve the shape of the road : harrow again, then plough two furrows on each side, and scrape as be- fore, and tlie road is ready to be finished with long Irish shovels. In this fin- ishing great care mustbe taken to fill up all slags, to have the road perfect in shape, a gradual curve from the outside of the ditch to the centre of the road. If the work has been well done, the loam will now lie covered with a good [thickness of the hard clay pan from the ditches, the bottom of which will be deeper by at least six inches than the surface of the pan ; and if pains is taken |to carry off the water from the side ditches by side drains,thc water will never be able to soak into the road by running on the surface of the pan from one side to the otlier, following its inclination ; and as the road has always been kept in shape, the water that falls upon the road and whicli may penetrate a few inches will on striking the next strata find its way into the ditch. The road is now in coats like those of an onion ; and if the upper one be reii- dered perfectly smooth and then covered with about three inclies of gravel, it will become as hard as if Macadamized, and will bear any wheeling. I To render ray description still plainer, I give a diagram of tlie same, Twenty-two feet. Where it can be afforded, and the amount of travel would warrant tlie ex- pense, tlie ditches should be made suflicieiitly broad to admit of the passage of a sled or sleigh. This would ensure good travelling at all seasons of the year, as the enow and ice ivoiild remain in them till the crown of the roud lie- came perfectly dry, as a road thus constructed is never penetrated to any great depth by the frost, ami will be dry in a few days after the snow is off' On turnpiked roads, the snow will generally blow off from the crown, but will be found in the ditches. In tlipse dioirranis I have given my roads more height than would be ne- cessary or even proper, to shew more plainly the manner in which tiie road is t,T be formed. The principal defects in ronds in this country are — they are too flat have shoulders to the ditches on tlie sides nest the road, and the ig-ater is very imperfectly carried off from the side ditches : tlie side ditche.--^ are not deep enough. It is indispensable that they he belew llie surf'nce of of the pan. The road is not kept in shape during its construction, and the consequence is, that after the water has peiietrated the .surface of the ro:id,it is retained i.u hollows in the next strata instead of being able quickly to roach the ditche.^, causing a moist spot in the road which is soon cut up by wheels. In sandy soils I have but little e.xpericncc. Where they can be covered with a slight coat of clay, I should construct the road in the same manner as I have reconimended for loam. Uut if clay cannot be obtained without much expense, I shcuild try hollow instead of crowned roads with preventer ditch- es on the sides. 46 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Tlie advantages from this kind of construction are, tliat there would, it is believed, be no ruts ; the sand on ilie sides being luglier than in the centre would be continually tilling them. The water would b6 carried otT in the centre, and in so porous a soil could do no damage if proper preven- ter drains were made outside of the road to carry ofFal! the water except what fell upon the road it- self. , ^^ The best covered drains for roads arc made by laying stone sides covered with split cedars about four fest in length, or flat stones. In repairing roads it is very seldom they should be broken up with the p'ougli provided they have been once well made. Taking off the shoulder that time has gradually formed on the sides of the side ditches witii a pick-axe and shovel, and throw- ing it into the centre, will restore the road to its former shape at less expense. Where this will not furnish earth enough, it is better to obtain it from the crown of the small hills on the road, thus low- ering the hills by repair of the roads. For this pur- pose single horse carts ought to be used unless for a very short distance and then hand carts are to be preferred. The cast iron plough A 2 1-2 Howard's or Nourse's of tlie same size are the best. A larger one requires more team than is profitable. Long handled Irish shovels are the only ones that ought to be used. Your obedient servant, EDWAliDS. JARVIS. For llie Fanner's Muiithly Visili.r. Mr. Editor, — Sir : — As the accumulation of ma- nures is or ought to be the first object of the farmer, 1 will with with your consent point out one com- mon error as regards this most u.seful article. It is this ; farmers make a practice of carting off their straw and selling it to the stable and tavern keep- ers for about three dollars a ton. Now if this straw should be used at home for the purpose of littering their own stock, it would make at least one cord of good manure, as good if not better than is sold at the"f tables for three dollars, which at the same lime- will cost two dollars to remove and one dollar for the transportation. Thus the farmer who exchang- es his straw for manure loses by tin; bargain at least three dollars on every ton, besides depriving his cattle of a warm dry bed when they greatly stand in need of it to enable them to retain their health and flesh. The farmer who sells his straw and purchases no manure is a loser in a still great- er measure in the opinion of A YOUNG FARMER. A chapter on Roads, DAvelling Houses, &c. 'I'o the Eililor of tlie Visilor. Sir, — In your travels about the country, the fact may have come under observation, that in no branch of domestic economy and arrangement did proprietors of the soil fifty or an hundred years since more sadly err than in the courses of their roads, and the location, form, size, and internal ar- rangement of tlicir habitations. They seem, in very nrany iiistancc», to have selected places upon wliich to build, at the summit of swells of greater or less difficulty of access ; and this plan being often a- dopted, many of our roads, as a necessary conse- quence, even to this day, arc over hills, or swells of land, at all seasons hard to ascend and descend ■, in winter extremely blfak, and often blocked up witli driving snow. The farm, and even other houses, now standing of a former age, and indeed many of modern fin- ish, are not planned or located with due regard to economy, comfort and convenience. Far other- wise ; for in addition to being unnecessarily large, in a multitude of cases they are placed as if great- er regard was manifested for enjoying summer breezes than that their inmates should bo shielded from the searching blasts of winter. Tliis is cer taiiily wrong. The reverse should occupy the at tention of every person who is purposing to build — particularly an agriculturist; and so far as his trrounds will possibly admit, have in view to guard against the rigors of winter, rather than court the breezes of the summer solstice. It is very common to observe, say upon bleal highways running from east to west, over which north, north-west or north-east winds sweep with violence, largo and cold farm houses and farm buildings, upon the sovth sides of such roads; — the house fronting the north ; its doors [ilaceii in front and at the west end ; the barns, (or the flocks and herds therein,) exposed to cutting blasts ; sheds in uncomfortable positions ; the well just as likely as otherwise, across the road ; in short, the entire es- tablishment badly planned at first, and unwisely Butferedto remain from generation to generation. Fanners, and all other inhabitants living upon these swells of land are now beginning to be put to much additional toil and expense through the erroneous judgment of those who have gone be- fore: for in addition to inconveniences arising from a false taste in building, they are put to the task of drawing most of their timber and fuel from the val- leys to the hill top ; and, indeed, the "balance of trade" is much against them throughout all their agricultural or mechanical operations, in this up- hill and downhill transportation. The authorities, moreover, from time to time, change the course of roads from the hills to valleys : and dwellers upon the old lilirh roads are subject to new inconven- ience ; and have abundant reason, doubtless, to la- ment the want of due discrimination in those whose "lands, tenements and hereditaments" they are now owning or occupying. There is, perhaps, no one thing, in our rigid cli- mate, that requires more care than the proper loca- tion and internal finish and arrangement of human habitations. It is so with all ; the tanner no less — it may be more — than respects other men ; but the subject does not receive that attention which its importance demands, or which is perceptible in ma- ny other descriptions of men's calculation and in- dustry. So far as circumstances will admit, ought not a change to be efi'ected in the size and location of farm houses and outbuildings, and the attention of aiarts smooth, large eqtuil sized potatoes, and very few only small, and were superior, quantity and quality, to any of the other rows planted. Seed, 58 bushels ratio per acre. Crop, 502 " " " In tlic 6th row, the butt ends of the potatoes us- ed in tlie 5th row were planted in this row — tliree pieces in each hill ; the seed weighed 3 lbs. 10 oz. The crop was one bushel and four quarts. Tiic po- tatoes were not so large and more smaller ones a- mong them than in the 5th row. Seed, 21 bushels per acre. Crop, 457 " In the 7th and last row, the potatoes cut in the common way into two, three or four pieces, accord- ing to tlie size of the potatoe — three pieces planted in each hill : seed weighed 1 lb. 0 oz. This row produced three pecks and four quarts fair, mid- dling sized potatoes. Seed, 11 bushels per acre. Crop, 353 '* " According to the above experiment, good and fair potatoes are best for seed ; and the seed end best fur planting : and when potatoes arc very scarce, the eyes only may be used for seed. ELIAS FROST. Plainfield, March 11, 1840. Cpticnl Fbeiiomcnon. rialnfichJ, .X. //., March &k, 1840. rion. Isaac Hii.l, — Dear Sir: — I observed in the Feb. number of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, page 30, that you on the 14tli January la^t saw distinct- ly the tops of the Gnnstock mountains from Con- cord street, and tiiat by the intervention of Oak Hill tliese mountains are shut out of view from that point in Concord street from which you ob- served that singular phenomenon. The article con- cluded with a request for a scientific solution. If you think the following demonstration of the cause of that "optical phenomenon" worthy of insertion in your valuable agricultural paper, you arc at lib- erty to publish this explanation. The phenomenon was occasioned by refraction oi^ light from the Gunstock mountains. In order to explain Ibis unusual rrfraction'ii will be necessary to premise a few of the laws connected with rays ofligiit. Rays ofligiit always pass in straight lines if not interrupted ; yet when they pass obliquely from one transparent medium into another of dif- ferent density, as from glass into water or from wa- ter into the atmosphere, 7v/]/5o/ /''^/(^ have tlie line- ar direction and are bent or refracted more or less out of their former course in proportion to the dif- ferent densitiesof the medium through which these rays of light pass. If a portion of a stick be immersed obliquely in water, the stick appears bent or brok-^n at the point of immersion. Tlie light reflected from that part under water and that i)art out of the water is not reflected alike, but at dilTerent angles, and the stick appears crooked. Immerse the stick entire- ly, as il by enchantment it becomes straight. The angles of reflection are equal, and the stick is seen straiglit : the refraction of light is equal. To shoot at a fish under water the aim must be directed below the fish, or the aim will be in a straight line above it. The depth of water ai>pears less than it really is from refraction*of ligJit. As these illusions can be easily dispelled from exper- iment on the spot, they excite no astonishment, and are regarded merely as curious facts. The following simple experiment will illustrate and plainly prove the illusion produced by refrac- tion, of light fron a denser into a rarer viediinn. — Put a piece of silver in a bowl and set it on a table near a window or in a light place; let tiie observer take a position so far from the howl tliat the edge of the bovv^l shuts out of view the piece of silver. Then let another per:?on fill tlie bowl with water without displacing the silver. Wiien the howl is filled. l!ie wliole of the silver piece will be brounht into full view. From the refraction ofligiit from tlie silver piece, tlie rays of light from the more dense medium of water, being reflected from the silver when they enter the atmosphere of a less dense medium, are refracted and bent down so as to meet the eye of the observer; and the piece of pilver appears raised in a straight line above the edge of the bowl. It will be readily observed that in the above^ experiment tlie effect produced by refraction of light is to raise the silver or raise the eye in a straight line with the edge of the bowl : in either caselhe silver piece would be seen. If we suppose the silver piece to be the Gunstock mountains, the edge of the bowl the hill, and the position of the observer from tiie bowl the position in Concord street, it will account for the appearance of the Gunstock mountains on the 14th of January. To produce the phenomenon observed on the I-Ith of Januarv, tliere must have been a difference in (he density of the atmosphere between the Gun- stock mountains And the street in Concord. On that day an unusual density of tlie atmosphere oc- curred between the two termini either north or south of Oak Hill, The atmogpliere is condensed and rarifiedby some of the following agents : — cold, heat, humidity, c- lectricity, northerly and southerly winds, some- times the upper strata of the atmosphere is con- densed and at other times that portion contiguous to the surface of the earth. A perpetual change is continually taking place in the density and light- ness of the atmosphere. Owing to these causes, there is a difference in heat and cold in the same day in the same parallel of latitude. The subject is full of interesting matter; but I trust sufficient has been said to demonstrate some of the causes which produced that singular and cu- rious optical phenomenon. ELIAS FROST. Error. In tlie last number of tlie Visitor men- tion was made of the flock of fine-wooied sheep kept by Mr. Peter Stost. at West Boscawen, be- ginning with 120 and ending witli a year at 100 somewhat improved, that he received for sheep sold $265 in cash. Since our first conference with Mr. Stone he lias made a more accurate calculation, and he finds tlie money and profit received was ijf;375 14. We made the sum less than it actually was $100, and he imderrated it $10 24. A portion nf Mr, Stone's farm is alluvion on Blackwater river which had been made sterile as a common pitch pine plain by long cultivation with- out the due quantity of manure. He has commenc- ed the work of reclamation by spreading over a piece of less than two acres 200 loads of black swamp muck, which has been freezing and thawing througli tlie winter. With this he intends to put forty or fifty loads of stable manure as a prepara- tion for a crop of corn. We mueli mistake if the result of his labor and expense shall not be a re- muneration of at least four fold on this ground in as many years. Acknowledgments* From Messrs. Darid Pmutij and Co. No. 19 and 20 North Market street, Boston, tlie editor of the Visitor acknowledges the receipt, free of charge, of two sizes of their elegant Greensward Plouglis : the one calculated to plough deep in sward land with one yoke of oxen or pair of horses, and the other for a double team of oxen or oxen and horse or horses. Of either of these ploughs we believe the Farmers, on their first examination, will express their approbation by saying ''that plough looks well" — and we hope, wlien our workmen shall have given them thoronali trial, they may be able to say that '-tJiey run light and steady" — "hold easy" — "go straight ahead, and shut in tlic furrow com- pletely." For the centre draught plough as patented by Pronty and Mears, the Massachusetts and Maine Mechanics Societies have awarded diplomas in 1837 and 1838, and the former Society a medal and di- ploma, in 1830 ; and the Massachusetts Agricul- tural Society in 1838 a premium of 20 dollar?. The American Institute of the city of New York, in Sept. 1830, on a trial of competition of the differ- ent ploughs, awarded to the Greensward|Plough C. of Prouty and Co. for its ease of draught and excellence of work, tlie Gold MedAil of the Insti- tute. This is probably a.s high a compliment as was ever bestowed on any agricultural implement. The excellence of the Prouty and Mears Plough is, that it is said to save from 25 to 33 per cent, of the power m. cessary to tlic ordinary plough, pay- ing tor it.self in ploughing a field of ten acres; and that it completely inverts the furrttw, cracking the S')ll without breaking the sod, and shutting it in to the edge of the preceding furrow. We shall soon see how valuable this plough may become. From Messrs. Joseph Bred- and Co. publishers of the New England Farmer, whose seed store is kept at Nos. 51 and 52 North Market Street, Boston, the editor has received the following gratuitous present, heintr a portion of the seeds imported from Eng- land by the Hon. Daniel Webster and by him se- lected during his lale visit to that country, to wit : One quart each Surry Goulding Drop Wheat, Whittington Wheat and Donna Maria Wheat ; One quart each of Kent Tartary Oats, Dutch Po- land Oats, and Ilopetowp Winter Oats ; one quart Chevalier Barley ; one quart each of Harrowtoii 48 TFIE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, Suffolk Brans aiui Mumford Horse Beans; one quart eacli of Sprinew Farmer are Messrs. Thomas and Bateman, the latter the proprietor of a very extensive seed store : the paper is conducted with great industry and talent. Its proprietors, we think, will not stand beyond the term of one year the price of fifty cents to subscribers. Mr. Tuck- er, who published his monthly paper at that price, has found it expedient to raise his price to one dol- lar. Probably a majority of the subscribers of the Visitor would rather pay us tor our labors one-fourth of a dollar more each, than that we should get dis- couraged in the pursuit of our labors by the small- ness of compensation at the end of our second year. The two first numbers of the Farmer's Compan- ion, published in Philadelphia, asheet of thirty-two large octavo-shape pages almost in exact i.niitation of tliat valuable paper the Farmer's Cabinet of the same city from which we have made numerous ex- tracts, have been received. The indefntigable ed- itor of the Cabinet, Francis Wiggin.'^, Esq. in de- clining health having left the latter paper, com- menced as editor of the Companion ; but before the publication of the second number he was number- ed with the dead, leaving a wife and. children who had been entirely dependent on his labors as a wri- ter. • Among the new agricultural publications which are continually coming to us, we notice as now up- on our table the Carolina Plnnlr.r^ published by A. S. Johnston, and edited by R. W. Gibbe.s, M. D. at Columbia, S. C, with this significant motto from Doct. Franklin : ''What signifies wishing and hop- ing for better times.'' We can make llie times bet- ter if we bestir ourselves." The price ^2 50, and the paper weekly. Also the Tennessee Farmer^ eight pages folio size, published monthly at Knox- ville. Ten. and conducted by L. F. Clark, A. M. Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in East Tennessee Qpllege — at $1 50 per ann. Our attention has also been called to a very neat paper of four folio pages published in B'liston by an association of gentlemen, entitled Maslrid Visitor^ detotnl to Instrumental nnd Vocal Music: adapted to adult and juvenile readers^ and published semi- monthly at 31 per ann. Select pieces of music are printed in each number; the matter of the paper is of a serious cast; and from the specimen wo are inclined to the opinion that the paper my be worth more than it will cost, either in the capacity of a moral or musical instructor. Improved Berkshire IIo^s, The Shakers at Canterbury and Enfield, N. H. have recently much improved on tlieir breed of Berkshire Swine by tlie introduction from New York of two beautiful males, which are the off- spring of the latest imported Berkshire Swine from England. We are informed that they will be able to supply, at fair prices, full blood, three fourths and half bloods from six weeks to three months old, during the season. Wg have in preparation and wilt publisli in a future number of the Visitor an article setting forth more particularly the value of these improved Hogs. The absence of tlie editor of the Visitor and his avocations during the last month, and tlic state of his health during most of the portion of time he was at home, prevented him from payingthat attention to all the suggestions and communications of his many correspondents that he considers to iiavc been their due. Any omission in the published matter of the present number will hereafter^ be made up. ■ The continued exertions of those friends who kindly volunteered to extend our circulation last year, with the efforts of others continually coming to our aid, must secure to the Visitor a patronage which will place its continuance beyond contin- gency. To the end that the paper may continue to deserve the good opinion which has been ex- pressed of it in many and different directions, the editor will continue personally to bestow not less than his wonted labor on future numbers. THE MARKETS. New York Cattle Market, March 23. Deinand ("or beef brisk with a siPiall advance : nearly all in market taken from $7 to S9J— average S^J ri>r IWO lbs. exclusive of oHal. iMilch coH's sold from 525 to SUS. Sheep sold brisk fmm $2i to $G ench. Sales of hay at from 50 to IJ9 cents per 100 lbs.' PHtLA-DELAHiA, M,*rcn 19. Salf s of beeve? nl ^G to $7 50 per 100. Cowa and Calves S23 to $30. Sheep from $2 50 to $5. Live Hogs at §5 75 to $6- Baltimoke, March 20. Beef Catile sold at §i} for inferi- or, $3 for supeiiui anti prime. Live Hogs at $5 50 to gG per c \v I . IIiiiGHTON Mi^KET, Mabch 23. Pales quicker than here- tofore at about ine panic prices. Extra beef cattle ,$7 ; first quality, $6 75 ; secuuds, SIJ25 toft G50 ; thiid quality, $5 50 to $(>. Working o.\en, n large number sold : prices $72, 80, 81, 90, 100, two pairs $1 12, 11.^, and 120. Cows and Calves $35, 30, 37, $-12. iSwint- — ^lots at 4| to 5 cents : retail price G cts. for sows, 7 cents for barrous. t^lietp sold the week previ- ous ai $3 25 to $5: a few fine cosset wethers at Sl*^* New York, March 21. Prices : Cotton %\ toO^ cts. Cof- feo 9i to IJi cents. Cud fish per quintal $2 .^0— .Mackerel per bbl. SIO to 10 2.5. Hops, growth of 1839, 40 to 45 cents perlb. : stock unusually light in the market. Molasses 23^ to30 cents per pallon. American Linseed Oil, 70 cents per gallon. Rice, $3 12 per 100 lbs. Sugars, contmon 6 lo 7^ c^nts : white prime llj tis. Tea?, Hyson 57 cents, Young Ilvson 60, Hvson skin 35 to 37. Flour, Genesee §5 50 to 5 62. Wheat, bushel, 108 to 115 cents. Kye 55 to 56 cents. Corn, 85 cents. Oats 33 cents. Boston, March 25. Genesee Flour, small sales, $6 per bbl. SdUtliern corn 50 to 35 cts. per bushel Oats, Southern, 35 els. Hides, dried, II to 14 cts. per lb. Hay, pressed, de- clining, glO per tfin. Molasses, stock large, 23 to 28 cts. gal. Lime, Thnmaston, plenty at K'S to 90 cts. per cask. Seeds. Hutch while clover 12-^ ; red 13 per lb. Herds grnss§2lo2 25 per buslisl. Wool, a muderate demand — prices unsettled. Monet. The New York Journal of Commerce says $100,- 000 was recently loaned in that city at 6 per cent, on bond and morttiai-e lur ten ye;irs, ami that persons of unduubled credit are oflered money at 5 per rent, payable on demand. BtsiNEss. The Journal of CoiiKuerce says more than twenty tliou.^and barrels of flour have been shipped from Philadelphia within the last fnur weeks : so large a business in that deparimeui was never done in that port before in the same time. There is a irrcat demand for freight ships. Thu J, of Cum. says live eighths nf the ship Tallcot were sold by auction at the rale of $45,700 for the ship, being $.3000 more than It cost to build her two years ago. The Mobile Chioni- cle says the ship Encland lately cleared irvm that port lor Liverpool witli 30n3^l-ales of cotlnn. The amount of her freight, at the rales now paid, will exceed S4l),')i)0. New England Agricultural Warehouse A N D SEED STORE, JOSEPH BKECK & Co. Xos. 51 and 52 JS'orih Market Street, Boston. For sale at this Establishment, the greatest xaiieiy ofGar- den, Field and Flower .'■(ciis, iI(llla^^uus Pliiuis, Bulbous Kouis, Green House Plaiiis, Fruit and Urnamenral Trees, &c to be found in the counirj'. Air^o, Agricultural and liditiLultur.Tl Implements and Tools i.f every description, w hole^ale and retail. A gfneral assorlmeiil i>t Cnrdiii Seeds, embrarin!: many new varieties, neatly hibelled with directions for their cnl- ture, at 6^, I9\ atid 2£ cents per paper. Bi'Xes of Seeds assorted for lamilies at §1 and i^i each. floxfs of assoiicd ^ee.'s for retailers, from $8 to^SO, irom which a liberal discontit will he made, for cash. Seeds by ilic pound or bushel will be furnished to dealers at the lowest prices. TIIE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR? \ niONTni.Y NFUSI'APER, TS PUBLISHED DY JOHN M. HILL, Hiirs Brick Block, Concord, J\\ II. JAMES BURNS, 3, Water st., Boston, Ms. The Visitor will be issued on the last day of each month. Thcterms will be seventy-five cents a ijcarpayabh'.alirays in cd- vance. Forall subscriber-; less thaii24, .VpentswHl beallowed a deduction of 85 cents e;»h— for all over 24 subscribers on any one aiiency I2J cents each will be allowed. Thus, lor six :«ubscrihers four dollars— twelve, eight dollars— eliihtetn, twelve dollars— twenty-four, fifteen dollars, will be remitted. Sincle numbers, twelve and a liaU cents eacli. All subscri- bers will commence with the lirst number ot the year. {K^-- CummunicationB by m.ill, will be directed to the Publ!*ho?, Concoid, N. 11. o ^ THE FARME sitor: ^ CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. ** Those V'ho labor in the earth ure the chosen peopl cof God, whose breasts he has madr, his peculiar depositcfitr substantial and genuine 7??"riKC."-jEFFEii90N. VOLUME 2. CONCORD, i\. H., APRIL 30, 1840. NUMBER 4. THE VISITOR. New England Thrift and New Englnud Intellect illnstrated in the history of the first hundred years of the town of Wil- ton, N. H. What Boil, what holy ground was Yankee Free- dom built on ? 8ucb ground aa that nround, upon, beyond The noble hills of Wilton. Lexington, Bunker Hiil, White Plains, tlie best blood was spilt on, TJiat flow'd in veins of noble spirits rais'd around, upon, beyond The glorious hills of Wilton. What reg'ion bcbt fires, rouses, inspires a genius like Jolm Milton ? That elevated land around, upon, beyond The gladden'd hills of Wilton. Er.ijAir Stockwell, Esq. in his acceptable pres- ent of an octavo pamphlet of more tlian on« hun- dred pages, containing an acconnt of the Centen- nial Ccle'jration of the Bettlenieut of Wilton, N. H. has faroisiied half a day's reading, which reviving all the recollections of the first fourteen years of a life spent under the paternal roof has awakened sensations of much deeper and more thrilling in- terest tliem would the perusal of the best written story of the lives of warriors or statesmen having little or no affinity to the country in which we live. Wilton is a small township of New Hampshire hardly equal to the dimensions of a township four miles squ.ire, measuring only between fifteen and sixteen thousand acres: it is situated upon the eastern declivity of that ridge ot" land, which be- ginning in New London county in the State of Connecticut passes nortlierly to the line of Massa- chusetts and thence tlirougli the entire width of the latter State from north to south central in Worces- ter county, strikes the line of New Hampshire forming its back-bone from north to south, and di- viding for the distance of one hundred and fifty miles the waters falling into the Connecticut from those falling into the Merrimack. The eastern de- clivity of this ridge towards tiie Merrimack is of greater e.\tent than the western tic livity which fa- ces the Connecticut. At suitable' distances from south to north are transverse ridges and valleys which convey the waters of the several tributary stieams from the mountains and tiie higher back- bone ridge to one or the other of those main streams. The hills of these transverse ridges in many cases are almost as high and magnificent., as the higher mountains. We have quite recently been inform- ed that there is a point of the great Wiiite Moun- tain ridge in Coventry, in the State of Connecti- cut, from which Mount Washington itself, in a clear air, is descried at the distance ci" more than two hundred miles ! The elevation at both points cuts off the height of the intervening obstacle which usually shuts out the distant object in the rotundity of the earth. The little sjieck of New England, whose history for the* first hundred years of its settlement has so much interested us, is perched upon and among the hills at an elevation approaching a moun- tain height: its south line is hardly six miles from the line of Massachusetts, having only a single township (Mason) in New Hampshire intervening. Through the town from its southwest corner to the centre of its eastern line, in a valley of stupendous hills upon either side and with very few acres of al- luvion, pours down the main branch of the Souhe- gan, whose southern sources are under the Weta- tick mountain in Ashburnham, and uniting with another considerable stream running from the same mountain ridge further north, furnish the water power for many extensive factories and mills in New ipswich and Mason : lower down in Wilton other two trii>utaries from Temple and Lyndebo- ough unite with the main stream, which spreads out in a more level country below, forming the beautiful hop farms in Milford and other valuable alluvion farms in Amherst and Merrimack, where it unites with our own river of the same name eight miles above tlie uiouth of the Nashua, wii-Ee course md whose valley is from the same south-westerly direction. Settlement of Wilton. The first pitch made in the mountain town of Wilton, which unlike the most of its neiirhboring towns has not a single pond or an extensive mead- ow, was niadp in the north part of the town by two families from Danvers, Ms. by the names of Put- nam and Dale in the year 1739. For the first three years, the wife of Jacob Putnam was the only wo- man who resided permanently in the town. Dur- ing th" winter, so great was the depth of snow and such the distance of neighbors, that she saw for the entire space of si.x months only the members of her own f.imily. Caleb Putnam, the grandson of this lady, exhibited on the day of the celebration, a hill of corn raised on the land where the first settle- ment was made a hundred years before. And John Dale, grandson of the original settler of the same naiiip, raised last year more than four hundred bushels of grain on the farm cleracd by his ances- tor a century before : this gentleman now resides in the first two story frame house erected in the town. The eldest daughter of the first settler, John Dale, taught the first school kept in the town, and for several years was the only teacher. Conflicting titles. The whole region of New Hampshire westerly of Merrimack river, for many miles north of the present line of Massachusetts, was at first claimed by the latter; and the duplicate grants made by the government of that colony and by the Masoni- an proprietors under the colonial government of New Hampshire were formally years fruitful sour- ces of contention. The grant of Concord which W..5 made by Jlassachusetts was the prevailing grant, because the first settlers pitched down here under that grant; hut the original grant of Bow of nine miles square, covering not only our neighbor- ing town on the south, but much of Pembroke on the east side of the river, and nearly the entire lim- its of Concord on both sides, made by the New Hampshire authority to Jonathan Wiggin in 1727, did not give us up until the township had been paid for a second time after the agent of the Massachu- setts proprietors, the elder Timothy Walker, who was the first settled minister, had made three voy- ages across the Atlantic with the view to bring u- bout the great object. A part of the town of Wilton fell v.'ithin a Mas- sachusetts grant made before the Masopian propri- etors obtained a footing under Gov. Benning Went- u'ortli, vv'lio was first recognized as the head of a distinct colon}- in New Hampshire in the year 1741. In consequence of the distinguished services ren- dered by the Massachusetts soldiers against the French and Indians of Canada in the year 1690, and their "great sufferings," grants of land were made to meritorious individuals by the colonial government. Ashhurnliain, Ms was originall}- granted to Thomas Til-ston and others of Dorches- ter, and was called " Dorchester-Canada." To "Samuel King and others who were in the expe- dition to Canada in 1690, and the descendants of such of them as are dead," was made the grant of a township six miles square embracing the whole of the p/esent town of Lyndeborough, about two miles of the northerly side of Wilton, and a portion of the easterly line of Temple, by the Council and House of Kepresenlatives of Massachusetts in the year 1/3.5, under the name of "Salem Canada." in this part of the town was the first settlement of Messrs. Putnam and Dale froiij Danvers. After- wards in 1749, the remaining portion of Wilton, in- cluding also the south-eastern part of Temple, was granted to the heirs of John Tufton Mason to pro- prietors in shares of 240 acres each, with the re- servation of twenty shares for the use of the grant- ors. Little progress was made here for the first ten years of the settlement; and it was not until the 2d of January 1765, that a charier of incorpora- tion issued by Gov. Wentworth under the name of Wilton, it being derived from an ancient borough of the same name in Wiltshire, England. The hardships and sufferings of the present pion- eers to the fast settling territory "far west" bear no comparison to those of the first settlers of New England. The horrors of Indian warfare then were such as to justify our ancestors in the utmost hos- tility to the abftrigines : the treacliery of the In- dians was often met with corresponding treachery of the whites ; and a war of extermination against the children of the forest was esteemed as no less justifiable than the destruction of dens of hissing poisonous serpents. When Wilton was first set. tied, it being out of the path of Indian resort, wo have no accounts of any real attack. They were not, however, without fears of attacks from wild beasts: the terrors of the catamount, the wolf and the bear were within our memory often talked over by men and women around a winter fire-side. It is mentioned in the pamphlet that so late as 1737, Abiel Abbot, being in the woods unarmed, waa pursued by a bear and driven upon a tree, wiiero the animal continued to watch until, wearied by the delay and annoyed by a small dog, he left the ob- ject of his pursuit. Those only who have gone miles into the woods, not over good roads — not over roads which v/ere passable with carriages of any sort, — but through paths where it was even difficult to pass on horse- back— tliose only who are able lo realize the siiut- ting up of all patlis even to the nearest neighbor by such immense depths of snow as in winter sometimes covered the greaterjjart of t1ie high ridges between the two great rivers of New Eng- land, where the snow-shoe boeanie an invention of necessity even to enable the settler to obtain his supjily of fuel in the midst of the forest — those on- ly who have obtained the materials for making bread by back-corrying a bag of Indiin corner grain to the nearest mill, a distance of ten, fifteen and twenty miles over drifts and through devious paths ; — can exactly realize the situation of our an- cestors in the interior of New England seventy -five, and a hundred years ago. From the address of the Rev. Epfiraim Peabo- DV, of New Bedford, Ms. a native of Wilton — an address which does great credit to both the head and heart of its autliur — do we extract several in- teresting incidents wliich have occurred in the last hundred years within the town of Wilton. The following stor}^ will strike all our readers as an il- lustration of the value of social relations and near neighborhood. Can it be wondered that our fa- thers enjoyed and prized higher the social meeting and greeting of friends and neighborhood than do those of the present generation, when we read the following ? The first death and burial in Wilton. "The first death that Ovicurrcd was that of John Badger, in Feb. 1740. He died in the night. The nearest neighbor was three miles distant, and the ground was covered deep with snow. His wife composed hira on the bed as for rest, left her chil- dren, (of whom she had three, the oldest but eight years of age,) with their breakfast, and with strict injunctions not to awake their father, as he was a- sleep, and putting on her snow-shoes proceeded to seek assistance. That indeed was a dreary morn- inuf as she went lorth through the solitary woods of winter. Death is in her home, and her children wait her return. Uphold her trembling heart, thou Father of the fatherless and widow's God 1 Neigh- bors returned with her. A tree was hollowed out for a coftin, and so in the solitude was he commit- ted lo the earth. Death at all times comes, chilling the lieails of men witli awe and fear. Even in pop- ulous cities, in the midst of the throng and busy voices of life, an awful sense of solitufle rests on those who witness the departure of the dying; and days and years shall pass, and they who beheld the scene shall enter that chamber with silent steps and hushed voices and a shadow over their souls. Whatthen mnsthavebeen her lonelines6,-a solitary widow in the wilderness. She must watch by the bedside of her children alone ; her tears shall be shed alone — she shall no more kneel by her hus- band's side to pray — his voice shall no more waken her at morning, and when the night approaches she shall unconsciously look forth to the forest, watch- ing for his return, who shall never return again." Itlinisterial and School Funds, and fleeting House. With the ecclesiastical history of most of the Keo' ^ N ■50 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Eng'a id towns is intimalcly onnncctpd tlie liistoi^ of that l}iilation, some travellnig two, some four, and some five and SIX miles, were early and steady at church on Sun- day. In summer on horses that carried at least double— in winter on sleds drawn by oxen— those n-ho were unable to walk \yere transported to cJiurch. This wus the earlv practice in Wilton as It was in most of the New England towns. It is mentioned in this liistory that tlie first chaise in Wilton was introduced in 1770 by the first minis- ter, Kev. Mr. Livermore, and was the only one pri- or to the revolution : gig wagons, now so 'common, were iiot known until Idia. Double horse sleighs, to hold as many as ten or twelve persons, were there introduced as early as 1777, and then beo-an to supplant ox-sleds. " Dorchester-Canada," now Ashburnham, the place of our residence, which was settled as early as Wilton and had its hill meeting house of much the same age and in better styl? than we have ever seen any other of the kind, and which has now a village pop-jlation of nearly a thousand people, as late as 17.06 had not a chaise or other whe«l carriage of plensure. In the winter of ISOO, at a Thanksgiving gathering a wortliy farm- er of the same town v\'ho had only a family of daughters, drove his oxen and sled laden with the precious burthen to unite in the joyous evenino- meeting of both sexes. " Unanimity in snpporting the clergyman. For the first eight years of the existence of Wil- ton, the same unanimity pervaded that town that has prevailed In many other towns in New England in relation to their religious affairs. The business of supporting the minister of the town was former- ly as much a matter of municipal regulation as is now the support of schools, the taking care of the poor, or the building and repair of common high- ways. The three fust clergymen of Wilton were, Rev. Jonathan Livermore settled Dec. 13, 1763,and resigned in 1777; Rev. Abei Fisk, settled Nov. 1776, and died April 2], 1809; and Rer. Thomas Beede, settled March 2, 1803, resigned Jan 23, 1820. As a fact illustrative of the change of the times, iVIr. Peabody says— "When Mr. Beede was settled in 1803, there was not a dissenting voice in the town, not one who declined paying the minis- ter's tax on any ground whatever." An excellent man and minister. With the settlement of the Rev. Mr. Beede in 1803 first commenced the acquaintance of the edi- tor of the Visitor with that town and many of its respected inhabitants. He remembers an distinct- ly as though it were but yesterday the faces of her ancient Abbots, Burtons, Batchelders, Gray, Greelcs, Livermores, Morgan, Parkhurst, Petten- gill, Putnams, Rockwoods, Russell, Spauldings, Wilson, Whiting and oth.ers; but as a clergynmn and guide, as the pattern of Christian peace and usefulness, respected by all, beloved by all, who ' for the space of twenty years was never known to utter a reproach or to deserve or receive reproach, the name of Thomas Beede, not only in his own town of Wilton, but in all adjacent towns within the compass of twenty miles, is embalmed in the memory of the oldest inhabitants. Our residence was at first ten, and for the Inst thirty years has been about forty miles from Wilton; yet have we had frequent opportunities to "read, learn, mark, and inwardly digest" his many excellent precepts, and to admire both his social and relicrious charac- ter. He froqntntly supplied the pulpit at Amherst, where we resided in our minority; we have not on- ly listened to his sermons, but the manv which his hearers called into print, the hand which now writes has composed almoEt exclusively the lypvs of sev- eral in each year for seven successive years ; and we never saw from his pen or heard from his mouth an unmeaning, a weak, an ill-natnred, or an im- moral sentence or idea. If any man has lived in this State whose power of " mora] suasion" has been exercised beyond that of another, and exer- ei.sed lo be felt, the esteemed clergyman of Wilton who has been named is that man. The usefulness and efforts of Mr. Beedo were not confined to the desk ; they were directed to the worldly not less than the spiritual welfare of the generation which has been born and grown up since the commencement of the present century. Living on a sin.Tll salary which we believe hardiy equalled four hundred dollars a year— a finished scholar, a writer with all the ease and purity of style of an Addison — he was the voluntary instruc- tor of the j'oung men of his town and vicinity. Rev. Warren Burton, a native of this town, and the author of a book entitled the " District School as it was — by one who went to it" — pays his min- ister and instructor the following compliment in a speech at the celebration : " My earliest impressions about a "minister" were, that he was the most awful being in the world. Next to him the school-master, jiidgino- from what I had heard, appeared to my imagination awful above all olhers. With what profound dread was it then, that I look my way for the first time to the winter school; for the awful school-master whom I was to meet was no other than the still more awful minister — that great man, tall man, dressed in black, who preached and prayed in such solemn tones on the Sabbath. How my heart fail- ed me and how my little frame trembled as I enter- ed the school house door. But how difti?rent was my experience from what I had anticipated I That awful man received me \vith so sweet a smile and spoke in such tender tones, and in all things treat- ed me and all the rest so gently, that my feelings were at once changed to those of confidence and love. Never shall I forget the delightful impres- sions whicti this near intercourse m.ade on my ten- der mind. Never after that did I see him in the pulpit with any other than feelings of respectful affection. He too fitted me for college, and thro al! my earlier life my mind received good infiuen THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISIT0R. 51 ces from him. His benignant countenance and gladdening smilp will be among the last images that will fade from my remembrance." Rev. Samuel Barrett, a clergyman of Boston, who also received his education at Wilton, thus spoke at the celebration, of the same good man : "And in this connexion, let njo, as my heart prompts, make respectful and afI(?ctionate mention of him who niisistered at this altar, both when I came, a little child, to the town, and when in parly manhood, 1 left it — of him, who, on the spot where 1 now stand, poured upon my head the sacred wa- ters of bnptism, from whose hands I received fijr the first lime the elements-'jf the holy communion, and to whom, as pastor, instructcr and friend, I was for many years under oblra-ations that cannot be cancelled. When my brother who preceded me pronounced the name of Beede, and spoke of tlie services he rendered to the children and youlij of his flock in the early period of his ministry, many, very many, I am sure, were the hearts in this as- sembly, which, with ntine, responded most feeling- ly and gratefully, and sent up the prayer that his last days might be his happiest." From what was said of Mr. Beede at this cele- bration do v.-e learn more than we have ever before heard of his continued usefulness at home. He was frequently in this town as Chaplain of the Legisla- ture, and for many successive years was he the Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons. In his own town he originated a Lyceum, which has flourished for more than twenty years; and he met with and presided over the meetings of young men who as?'nciated for literary and moral inrprovement. Mr. Burton says '4ie introduced new subjects of at- tention, and excited an uncommon interest among his pupils." ( There is not perhaps another town of the size in the Stale from which so many have graduated in a College education as the town of Wilton The whole number is twenty-nine. Of these twelve stud- ied or are studying divinity; three are physicians, six studied law, and the remainder have beeji em- ployed in diiferent occupations. Eleven of these bear the name of Abbot. Three are descendants of the late Doct. Rockwood — a distinguished phys- ician, who brought up his family with great econo- my, and lived on his farm in a small one story house that could not originally have cost two hun- dred dollars, but who near the close of his life erec- ted a splendid brick mansion high studded and with many spacious rooms, to be occupied bv his poster- ity. Two are sons of Capt. Samuel Greele, who in the year 179S while riding to town meeting was stricken down a corpse by a falling tree, and at the place of whose death the sons have erected a neat marble monument commemorating the event. The Greeles reside, one nt Boston and the other at New York, having each become independent in proper- ty. Both were educated after the sudden death of the father Of the Abbots, the elder is the vener- able Abicl Abbot, D. D. the ofliciating clergyman at Peterborough. Another, Samuel Abbot, Esq., educated as a lawyer, left his profession — invented or much improved upon the method of extracting starch from potatoes, which is extensively used in cotton factories — pursued the business first exten- sively in Wilton, and about a year ago lost his life in his own burning starch mill in the town of Jaf- frey. In all the social relations, as the generous patron of religion and education and of Christian charity, the deceased Mr. Abbot hardly knew asu- perior. "To the liberal support of schools and religious instructions (says Mr. P(_abody) I think we may trace in a great measure, several very important re- sults, such as a general intelligence and a taste fur intellectual pleasures and pursuits, and the general good morals. It is not known, for example, that any native of Wilton has ever committed a crime which has subjected him to any of the severer pen- alties of" the law. ^ *^ It may be owing to this that Wilton has never been able to support a law- yer. The only one who ever attempted to settle in the town, 1 am told, was starved out in about Ihree months." We think the tewn owes moro to the labors, the example and the excellent character of ihc minis- ter who resigned his office in 1829, than to almost any other single cause, for its improvement and its high character of intellect, enterprise and intelli- gence. The town has not increased in number per- haps a hundred for the last fifty years : from 1775 to 173G it increased from G2\i to 1013 souls — its population has never been greater than it was in 17y0. When Mr. Beede was settled and continu- ed the sole minister of the town the amount contri- buted besides the income from the ministerial fund was only $263 a year. Now there are three meet- ing houses and three societies — two congregation- al and one Baptist : the tax on the town for the sup- port of these exceeds $1200 in the year. The religious societies of the town harmonize as well as tliey do in otiier places: all meet to wor- ship within a few rods of each other. The elder society has a numerous Sabbath school established by Mr. Beede more than twenty-five years ago — the other societies instruct their youth in the same way. The division in the congregational societies took place in a spirit of great unkindness towards the pastor a few years before he left. The leader of the scceders was the late Dr. Rockwood — a man of great energy of character, who before had been as friendly as he afterwards became hostile to Mr. Beede. The lamented Samuel Abbot — a man of undoubted talent and piety — was the champion for Mr. Beede and the liberal party. We much lamented to see the good man in his disagreeable position. He had spent his life and his strength tor the good of Wilton : lie was too poor to en- counter opposition and adversity. Broken down for the moment — (we speak not to censure, but to praise) — for a space of time he drowned his disap- pointment as hundreds do under less difriculties ; but we rejoice to be able to say that the last infor- mation we have of him is, that in the evening ofj life he is carrying out the remnant of his days in the same spirit of temperan^ie and usefulness as characterised the whole of his early years, and the first twenty years in which he sustained his pastor- al relation to the good and generous people of Wil- ton. Meu ami measures of the revolution. Of the revolutionary services and spirit of the people of Wilton, Mr. Peabody thus discourses: " There was nothing peculiar in the history of Wilton during the Revolution. It endured priva- tions and f^iiared losses of substance and of men, in common with other New England towns. At one period or anotiier, for a longer or a sliortcr lime, nearly all the inhabitants, capable of bearing arms, were enrolled in the army ; and every able bodied man served in the war, either personally or by sub- stitute. Nearly the whole population turned out to meet Burgoyne, and many were witli Stark at Ben- nington.To show how heavily the war bore on all the towns, it may Ire stated that the population of Wil- ton, when the revolution commenced, was but six hundred and twenty-three, of wiiom, there were but one hundred and twenty-eight between the ages of sixteen and sixty. Of this number, twenty-six were in the army in 1775. Of the soldiers from Wilton, twenty-two died or were killed in the war. Of the number who were out in the momentous struggle, but two remain. One of them was out four years ; the other during nearly the whole war, and on almost every battle-field where the great contest was decided. They still remain, examples receive twenty head of cattle to be as many months old as they should serve months in the army. One of these bon:is is published in the book, which pla- ces the matter beyond question. The sum paid by the town to each soldier who served three years was compounded at $lfiO in silver; and the town made up likewise the personal expenses for cloth- ing. Declaration of Wilton Independence, 1774 This patriotic town, in July deliberated upon, and in September 177-1, adojUed a covenant of Non-Im- portation and Non-Consumption of British goods — among other things "in the presence of God, sol- emnly and in good faith" engaging to each other, "That from henceforth, we will suspend all com- mercial intercourse with tli" said island of Great Britain, until the Parliament shall cease to enact laws imposing taxes on the colonies without their consent, and until the pretended right of taxing is dropped, and Boston port opened, and their and our constitutional rights and privileges are restor- ed." We extract again from Mr. Peabody's address : — "The worth of the habit of self-government was signally seen at the commencement ot' our Revolu- tion. Then the laws of the land were virtually set aside. The general government was entirely cast off. Courts of law and the bench of justice were swept away. The people were thrown back upon themselves, and almost all the afi'airs of the coun- try were transacted through their priihary assem- blies in t'le towns. Then was seen the wonderful spectacle of a people without law, amongst whom all the processes of government, at a most fearful crisis, were carried on as quietly, as steadily, as in the most peaceful times and under the strongest despotism of Euroiie. Tlic peojile had the habit of self government ; the habit of considering, and in great measure deciding lor themselves on the most important general interests. And though law was gone, the sense of individual responsibility remain- ed, and the habit of self rule remained. A very striking illustration of tiie in)portance of this habit of self-government is attbrded by an event that oc- curred on the first news of the breaking out of the Revolution. The warrants for town-meeting down to the time of the Lexington battle, were uniformly issued in his Majesty's name. For example, the last one before the conflict reads in this manner. — "To Amos Fuller, constable for the town of Wil- ton, Greeting — "In his Majesty's name, youare hereby required forthwith to warn all the Freeholders and other in- habitants, &c. &c. "Given under our hands and seal this 21st day of March, A. D. 1775, and in the 15th year of the Reign of King George the Third ; ' and this sign- to all of patriotism and wor'th. May God hold their <^ridgcs within tlie limits of the town, pursuing the Tem- ple branch, and uniting with the old road below Wilton west village. This road pursues its way in the valley several hundred feet below the hill farms of the town, and must have been constructed at several thousand dollars expense. Another road to Mason Village and the Factory village is con- templated directly up the main Souhegan stream : this will make very nearly a level and a direct road from Nashua to New Ipswich by and tlirough the hills, and probably carry the main travel from the south-western section of the State in that di- rection. What can be done exemprir'o, by -what has been done. To be able to contribute so mucli for the public — to support liberally schools within its own bor- ders ample for all the common purposes of educa- tion, besides paying expenses for academical edu- catioit abroad — to purchase articles of necessity merely for consumption, and to contribute the full share in supporting the State government and of the impost taxes which support the National gov- ernment— to fit out the many emigrants which ' have left it, and still to preserve tlie individual wealth remaining — this^ rough town of Wilton, small in dimensions, must during the first century of its existence have produced from the ground a value vastly beyond the mere consumption of its people. Since the time of its first settlement near- ly its whole capital has been earned besides the great expenditure on tlie race of men and women who have emigrated to other parts of the country. The confirmed habits of such a people will contin- ue to force them ahead, especially if they shall keep an eye to that maxim which should be the rule of every farmer — Never to suffer any portion of his land to grow poorer while under the cultivation of the plough and the hoe. When we consider the general ability of such a community as that of the farmers of Wilton, wlia procure every thing out of the ground, where men grow up and accumulate estates worth from $500 to $1000, and from that to $10,000 and even $20,- 000 in the steady pursuit of cultivating the soil; — when we see such a community almost entirely free from ]iaupcrism and able tn make any expendi- ture that may be required for the construction of roads and bridges within its limits; when we see them educating the whole rising generation, all in qualifications requisite for the transaction of busi- ness, males to become useful heads of families, and females to become partners and help-meets for their husbands in all conditions of life, and nursing mothers to a new generation that shall well fill the place of their parents ; when we sec so much tal- ent, so much refinement, so much of the higher or- der of enterprise spring as it were from the ground in a tract of country environed by mountains and high hills whose face is apparently hard as the rock of which it is composed ; when we see a town with- in the compass of four miles rearing up and send- ing forth in the space of fifty years a population equal to that which remains, increasing much in wealth that is kept besides what is carried away ; without the indulgence of inordinate vanity, we have a right to claim for the hardy inhabitants of New England, that there is no part of the known world that will compare with this country. "Ma- ny daughters have done virtuously ; but thou ex- cellest them all." Original Song, by Miss Sir.iii W. Livermore, sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle, by S. K. Liv- ermore, Esq., of Milford, at the Wilton Centen- nial Celebration. This town was all a forest deep, One hundred years ago, sir; The vales were low, the hills were steep, And rivers wander'd thro', sir. A few brave men, a pilgrim band. Sought this far-off location, — They saw it was a goodly land, And here they fix'd their station. Chorus — Yankee Doodle, here's tlie place, Yankee Dondle dandy. We like the right old-fashioned ways, They are so good and handy. From time to time the settlers came. And many a spot was built on ; At length the town must have a name, And so they call'd it Wilton. Now wake the harp, and tune the lyre, To sing of ancient days, sir; This rural theme the song inspire To sound old Wilton's praise, sir. Clionis — Yankee Doodle, &c. These good old days our fathers saw, Has fashion strangely alter'd ; From customs good, which tlien were law. How many widely falter'd ; The aged now remember when. All country folks must labor. And all who lived around were then, To all, a fi lend and neighbor. Chorus — Yankee Doodle, this was right, Yankee Doodle dandy, Ithelp'd to make the labor light. When neighbors were so handy. In homespun were the people drest, Of woollen, tow, or linen ; Their Sunday suits, which were the best, W'erc neatly made by women. And women then could v.'ash and bake, And also were good spinners; The maids could ply the hoe and rake, While matrons cook'd the dinners. Chorus — Yankee Doodle, &c. No draught from China's sultry land, Al morning meals was seen, sir ; The black cow* gave a beverage bland. Few drank tea, black or green, sir; And coffee was not tasted then, To make the cares seem lighter, Altho', 'tis true, that most good men Thought rum would make them brighter Chorus — Yankee Doodle, here we meet, Yankee Doodle dandy", With goodly cheer our friends to greet, But not with rum and brandy. Our fathers raised a house of prayer, When few there were to build it, And every Sabbath, foul or fair. The people nobly fill'd it ; To meeting went, both young and old, 'Twas then but little trouble, For none would keep a horse, we're told, That would not carry double. Chorus — Yankee Doodle, &c. So all on horseback then did ride. Unless they went by sledding,! And e'en tlie bridegroom and the bride Rode double to the wedding. t And though the girls, we're told 'tis true, Could not then dance cotillions. We know that all the country through, They used t® ride on pillions. Chorus — Yankee Doodle, all could dance, Yankee Doodle dandy, No master then was bro't from France, To make them skip more handy. And now the times, we say, improve, And learning is more plenty ; At railroad pace the peojile move, And when they're five and twenty. They've gone the rounds ^of learned lore — Are fit for any station — Then quickly pass, are seen no mora. And thus goes on the nation. Chorus — Yankee Doodle, &c. This season be a land-mark strong, To guide us on our way, sir. And as we pass through life along, • Let us not go astray, sir ; To good old days we'll bid adieu. And so we'll travel on, sir ; We'll wish for all, good hearts and true, And will wind up our song, sir. Chorus — Yankee Doodle let ns sing, Yanke Doodle dandy ; Oli time is ever on the wing. Improve it while it's handy. *Blach CoK. — The milk of the black cow was a quaint name for bean-porridge. ]SUdding. — Sleighs were not in use ; people rode to meeting in winter on sleds. \Wcdding. — It was the custom for the bride to ride to the minister's behind the bridegroom to have the ceremony performed. Censtis of .\gricultnre in the United Statds. We are happy to perceive tiiat this important sub- ject has been taken yp in the proper quarter, and that we are at least to have such an enumeration of the agricultural products of this country, as will furnish some safe estimate of the quantity produc- ed, and the districts in which they are grown. In reply to some suggestions made by us on this sub- ject, Mr. Deberry, the chairman of the committee of agriculture, has kindly forwarded us a copy of the instructions for the use and direction of the marshals and their assistants, from whicli we find that the following series of inquiries are to be pro- pounded to every farmer. Although there are some products it would be perhaps desirable to have in- troduced into this list in order to render it com- plete, yet it contains all the most essential items, and if carried out in tlie spirit in which it seems to have been conceived, it v.'iU be a collection of vast impovtance and value to the country. Had such a census of our agriculture been taken at every ten years, the comparison of the tables at different times would be of the greatest interest, as deter- mining the increase in the product of our fields, and the districts in which the greatest fluctuations have taken place. We have one suggestion to make in regard to this matter, which we consider of very great im- portance. It is this. Let every printer of a news, paper in the country, and all in the cities that print journals for distribution in the country, give a place to tlie questions which we copy below, and which will be propounded to every farmer in the United States. As it is to be hoped that there are few or no farmers who do not receive some journal, agri- cultural or otherwise, such a course would be the means of bringing the subject to their notice, and enable them to prepare their answers with great- er correctness than they might otherwise be able to do. If every fanner who receives a copy of these interrogatories, would at his leisure sit down, and write against each one tlte proper reply, not only would the labors of the marshals be great- ly expedited, but, which is of more consequence, a greater degree of accuracy would be secured. — The marshals will commence in June next, and proceed through their districts as soon as consis- tent with accuracy. The interrogatories refer to the crops of 1839, and to the products of that year must the answers relate. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 63 AGRICCLTURE INTERROGATIONS. What is the number of your horses and mules? How many neat cattle have you ? How many sheep ? How many swine ? What is tlie estimated value of your poultry of all kind.'! .' How many bushels of wheat did you grow in 1830 ? How many bushels of barley ? How many bushels of oats ? Ho'V many bushels of rye ^ How many bushels of buckwheat? How many bushels of Indian corn ? How many pounds of wool .' How many pounds of hops ^ How many pounds of wax ? How many bushels of potatoes? How many tons of hay ? How many tons of hemp and flax? How many pounds of tobacco? How many pounds of rice ? Plow many pounds of cotton have you gathered ? How many pounds of silk cocoona ? How many pounds of sn^ar ! How many cords of wood have you sold? What is the value of the products of your dairy ? What is the value of the products of your or- chard ? How many gallons of wine have you made ? What is th?; value of your home-made or family goods ? As intimately connected with these, may be ad- ded those relating to horticulture — which are as follows : What was the value of the produce of your mar- ket garden in 1839 ? What is the value of the produce of your nurse- ry and green house ? It is hoped that editors friendly to the cause of agriculture, or who have renders in the agricultur- al districts, will give a place to the above interro- gations, and invite the attention of those interest- ed, that they may be in readiness with their replies. Let the first effort for an agricultural census of the United States, be met in a manner that sliall ensure the desirable accuracy of the measure. — ftibany Cultivator. From the Tf niieseee Farmer. Why and because. Curiosity is one of the most prominent traits of the human mind. The little urchin, almost with his first words, asks"ic//?/ is this or that ?" And, in riper years, this spirit of enquiry does notecase. — Even the hoarjr headed sire, with his trembling lips, asks ^^ichif ie it ?'' To cherish this spirit of enquiry, this rational cu- riosity, is one of the happiest means of diffusmg knowledge, and of causing the great mass of com- munity to be enlightened and intelligent. This is the object at which we aim. .As one means of obtaining it, we shall continue a series of articles under the head of '*rr/(y and because.'^ All the phenomena of the material world, are ex- plained by the piinciples of Natural Philosophy, (using the term as hereafter defined.) We shall first answer a series of queftions de- pending upon the principles of Chemistry. After that we may take up Mechanical Philosophy. Our course will be, first to state and explain the princi- ple, and then propound such questions as are an- swered by it. So that, wlioever follows us through the whole series, will have as good a knowledge of practical Cheinistry, as can bo obtained by a short course of reading without the illustrations of a Lab- oratory. For purposes, which may appear hereafter, we •hall preface the whole, by a few definitions. 1st. Philoscphv. The word. Philosophy, is derived from two Greek words, (phileo, [to love,] and sophia, [wisdom,]) and signifies the love of icisdom. It is the general term used to denote the reason of things ; or an in- vestigation of the causes ot all the phenomena of mind or matter. Thus, the object of Philosophy is to ascertain facts, or iruths respecting natural olijects. The field of Nature is so vast, that no created mind can range through its whole extent. This has led to tlie division of Philosophy into distinct gciences. These are again subdivided into leaser portions, bearing to each other a beautiful and strik- ing resemblance. 1. That branch of Philosophy, which makes us acquainted with God, is called Thcologij. 3. That, which treats of man as a moral being, is called Ethics, or Moral Philosophy. 3. That, which treats of mind, is called Meta- physics, or Intellectual Philosophy. 4. That, which treats of matter, is called Phys- ics, or JS'nl.ural Philosophy. Thus we have the whole range of Philosophy di- vided inio four distinct brandies — the first teach- ing us the existence of an uncreated, eternal, omni- scient, omnipotent, omnipresent, benevolent Be- ing, from natural objects, hence called Katural Theology — the second teaching us our relation to God and each other as moral beings, unfolding to us the immutable principles of right and wrong — the third making us acquainted with that something within us, which thinks and wills, remembers and reasons, loves and hates, hopes and fears, enjoys and suffers, which wo call mind or intellect — the fourth making us acquainted with the laws and phenomena of the material world. Physics, or Natural Philosophy, is again subdi- vided into three branches, called JVatural History, Mechanical Philosophy, and Chemical Philosophy. TUc first branch, viz : A'utural History, makes us acqu^iinted with the form, structure and habit of natural bodies. This is again divided into Miner- alogy, (including Mineralogy proper and Geolo- gy,) Botany and /^oology. 1. Mineralogy, makes ns acquainted with the mineral kingdom ; i.e. the form, structure and habit of all unorganized bodies; including, not only the solid parts of the earth, but the loose soil, which we tread, the water we drink and the air we breathe.^ 2. Botany makes us acquainted with vegetables, i. e., with all bodies having organization, and vital- ity, without the power of voluntary motion. 3. Zoology makes us acquainted with animals,!, e. with those organized bodies, which have vitality and the power of voluntary motion. The second branch, viz. MecJinnical Philosophy, makes us acquainted with the laws, which govern masses of matter. The third branch, viz. Chemical Philosophy, makes ns acquainted with the nature and composi- tion of bodies. While Mechanical Philosophy has to do with masses of matter. Chemistry has to do with particles. The former regards change of place, the latter change of character. CUEMISTUY. 1. Definition. Most substances are undergoing a perpetual transmutation in their physical charac- ters. What at one time is soft, at another is hard, or what is hard, becomes soft; what to-day is sweet and palatable, to-morrow is sour, or nauseating ; what is now of pleasant appearance and agreeable odor, soon becomes disgusting and offensive; what is to-day an invisible gas, or floating cloud, or sparkling dew-drop, may to-morrow be a constitu- ent of a tree, a shrub, a flower, a fish, a bird, a beast or a man. These changes, whether natural or artificial, whether gradual or sudden, are purely chemical, and the laws by which they are govern- ed, come under the cognizance of Ciiemical Phi- losophy. Thus, Chemistry may be defined as that science which investigates the nature and composition of bodies. 2. History of Chemistry. Chemistry, as a sci- ence, can scarcely be referred farther back tiian the close of the seventeenth century. Previous to this, wiiat little knowledge had been accumulated, was cloistered with the Alchemist in his vain pursuit of the "philosopher's stone," or his idle dreams of a "grand catholicon."t It is, in (act, less than one "All natural bodies are divided into three grand divisions, termed Kingdoms, viz ; The Mi^'ral Kingdom, the Vegetable Kingdom, and the Animal Kingdom. All unorganized bodies are included in the Mineral Kingdom. Hence in the language of science, air and water are minerals. tThe Alchem'sfs supposed that the metals vrere only abortive attenips of Nature to make gold and silver ; and that there was a substance which would complete what she had thus begun. To this ima- o-inary power, they gave the name of "Philoso- pher's Stone." They also supposed that there was an antidote for all diseases, and even for age itself This was called the "Panacea," or "Grand Catiiolicon." Another of their visions was the "Alkahest," or "Universal Solvent," by which all bodies could be reduced to their original con- stituents. How far removed from the absurdities of the Al- chemist, are those men, who hawk about the coun- try certain nostrums, as cures for all the ills to wliich flesh is heir? Many of the Alchemists had the apology of ignorance for their absurdities. But whether modern quackery is more noted for ignor- ance or impudence, we will not say. hundred years, since the science of chemistry litis begun to stand forth disinthralled of the chimeras of Alchemy. The establishment of the Academy del Limerto, in IClSI, the Royal Society of London, in 1G60, and tlie Royal Academy of Science of Paris, in 16G6, brought a new era. About this time, the discover, ies of Black, Cavendish, Scheie, and Lavoisier, a- rose as bright stars in the horizon of science. — Since this period, and the adoptioH of the New Nomenclature, discovery has succeeded discovery in quick succession. Among these, none shino with such transcendant brilliancy, as those of the lamented Sir H. Davy. To him, perhaps, more than to any other one man, are we indebted for the application of chemistry to the business of hus- bandry. 3. Utility of Chemistry. Those sciences are the most interesting and the most profitable, which are the most intimately connected with our ordinary avocations. This being true, the proof is easy, that ivw, if any subjects, (morality aside,) have a more intimate connection with the weal or woe of life, tlian chemistry. We speak here only of its utility to people in the common walks of life. To such, chemical knowledge is useful. 1st. ".Is a source of wealth." Says Professor Accum, " Agriculture can only be rationally im- proved, by calling in the assistance of ciiemical philosophy; for it is chemistry that explains the phenomena of vegetation, germination, growth, ri- pening and death of plants." It aids the fanner in the selection, preparation tmd apnropriation of his manure, and teaches him the defect or excellence of his soil. It teaches the best mode of preserving animal or vegetable substances for domestic use. — In this and other respects, the Culinary art comes in fir a large share of profit. Tlie painter, the potter, the tanner, the brazier, the blacksmith, all carry on their manipulations by the application of chemical principles. Chemistry teaches the mason how to temper his cement, and to construct fire-places, furnaces and flues for the production and diffusion of heat; the tanner, the nature of his ingredients ; the black- smith, the brazier and silversmith, the nature and combination of metals ; the painter, the composi- tion and properties, of his colors. There is not a single process, in all the round of Agriculture or Arts, where change of nature is produced, which docs not depend upon the laws of chemical action. 2nd. A knowledge of chemical principles aids in the preservation of health. We do not refer to its utility in the hands of the physician. To him it is as essential as a knowledge of human anatomy. But we speak of its advantage to the farmer and mechanic. A little knowledge of the nature and composi- tion of bodies will enable us to avoid a thousand e- yWss resulting from the peculiar state of the ele- ments. By this we are able frequently to meetand disarm contagion in its most terrific forms. It di- rects in the selection of such articles of food and clothing, and such arrangement of apartments as are most conducive to health and comfort. 3rd. A third and last reason we have for recom- mending the study of chemistry to those in the or dinary avocations of life, is, that while it brings wealth and physical efforts, it opens a vast field for intellectual enjoyment. Professor Accum says: — "Chemistry is not only valuable as an art which supplies many of our wants, our comforts and Inx- uries ; its objects are sublime and beautiful in an- other point of view. It removes the veil from the fabric of nature, and makes us acquainted with all the phenomena which happen around us — it affords pleasure to the senses, and calls into action a laud able curiosity, which cliaracterizes the minds of those who are of a scientific turn ; exciting at the same time a spirit of rational inquiry, which is ca- pable of producing the most beautiful and striking phenomena, well calculated to serve as an instruc- tive and rational amusement." What farmer would not esteem it a greater pleas- ure, as he walks through his fields, to understand the nature of his soil — the mode of remedying its defects or increasing its excellencies, — the nature of his manure and tlie manner it operates, than to plod on year after year, fallowing blind tradition oi diiar-bought experience ? The scientific farmer has his curiosity both a- wakened and gratified. His researches, though limited, have drawn back the curtain, and he has caught now and then a glimpse into Nature's work- shop, and seen things most marvellous. He has seen that the charcoal upon his hearth differs, only in form, from the diamond that sparkles upon the lady's finger, or dazzles in the crown of royalty. He has seen too, that in the little salt-dish upon hia table, there sleeps a lion, which if aroused by chem 54 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. ical action, would devour a whole household at, a singl? meal. He sees himself constantly walking amid ele- ments the most tierce and powerful, held in subjeo- tion only by tlie laws of chemical affinity. Ke sees too, that if this affinity were but sliglitly interrupt- ed, the elements would break loose and wage upon each other llie most ternnc warfare. Mr. Hill : — I am a constant reader of the Monthly Visitor. There is no newspaper tiiat comes into my father's family tiiat I read with so much in- terest, and I wish I could send it into every family of the State. It is only a year or two that I have had opportunities of knoiying or hearing mucii a-^ bout farming ; and I delight to steol an hour from my academical studies to the cultivation of the field — plant ornamental trees, cultivate fruit and flow- ers— hear the delightful singing of the birds, and learn from your paper the improved modes of farm- ing— raising wheat, sheep, horses and cattle, so ne- cessary for the subsistence and comfort of ujan. "The task of working improvement on the earth," says Washington, "is much more deliglitful, than all the yaiu ,oIory wliichcan be acquired by ravag- ing it with llie most uninterrupted career of con- quests." This is true ; it is not only much i.nore delightful, but much more plausible. Agriculture, the first and natural business of man, is the most healthful both to the body and mind. 1 believe there is no employment of life which can add so greatly to the peace and prosperity of a nation, and to the happiness and contentment of its inhabitants, as the culture of the soil ; and there is no employ- ment which oflers so certain means of acquiring wealth, as rapidly, as is consistent with the enjoy- ments of life, as .'igriculture. The soil of ourcoun- try is peculiarly adapted to tlie interests of the far- mer : it is as fertile as any other in the world. One great error is prevalent upon this subject, and that is, atrriculture, as the business of life, is by some considered as less respectable than that of a mer- chant, or a manufacturer, or lawyer. This is not right. It is a profession of the highest respectabili- ty and independence. It has always numbered a- mong its votaries many of our most distinguished citizens. Even heroes, philosophers, and stati^smen have sought in rural employment, a relaxation from the cares and perplexities incident to a public life. The records of our own times, and especiall}' of our own country, afford instances of illustrious nicn who have been tlius preeminent. ^Vashington d.d not think it beneath him to cultivate the earth. — Jefferson was a farmer, and was not ashamed of his profession. The Emperor of China claims his roy- al privilege of annually holding the plough, from a custom of his predecessors, which he alleges to have existed 'long before the creation of the Moon.' Virgil, yei^s before the Christian era, extolled the pleasure of. rural life, and the happiness to be ob- tained by those, who,avv'ay from the noise and bus- tle of cities, cultivated their fields. Abraham was a herdsmon, and Horace pronounces the hus- bandman blessed. AVith such illustrious examples before them, it is strange that people should hold it in such a light. The ancient Romans venerated the plough, and a judicious and industrious hus- bandman was highly esteemed. There is no class in society, who have within their reach so many of the elemenls of human en- joyment—so many f'acilities for benefitting others, as the tillers of the soil. "The firmer," says Frank- lin, "has no need of popular favor; the success of his crops depends only on the blessing of God."' — The pleasures of agriculture are so various, and so delightful to nren, that they arr not easily to be de- scribed ; for in v.'hatever way it may be pursued, the mind may be continually entertained with the won- derful structure and economy of the vegetable world ; the nerves invigorated by the freshness of the earth and tlie fragraney of the air. Industry, intelligence and skill are indispensable agents in the biisiues-j of agriculture. A thorough knowledge of the views of distinguished scientific writers is essential to the formation cf an accom- plished cultivatoi'. Agricuiture requires a great variety of knowledge, more so, indeed, tlian an-y other art, and should, therefore, be studied with great application. It would, I think, be more con- ducive to the preservation of our facelties to ex- treme old age, were thai time which is now spent in indolence, or wasted in convivial pleasures, spent in the cultivation of the earth. But I shall not attempt to instruct or advise prac- tical farmers. 1 am too young to do either, and this is my first communication upon any suliject. If it should be deemed worthy of a place in the paper 1 take most delight in reading, it will be gratifying to the son of A FARMER OF MAINE. Hedges. Governor Hill, — Dcnr Sir : — If the following extracts of a letter from Mr. Samuel Cutis of Wash- ington city in relation to the evergreen hedge at the President's Garden are worth a place in the "Farmer's Monthly Visitor,'' you are at liberty to publish them. This letter was addressed to a friend at Kennebunk, Slaine. A SUBSCRIBER. Wuskington, March 23, 1840. De.ip. Sir :— Your letter dated ICth of February was not received by me till the 20th of the present month, having been absent from the city tlie last few weeks. Doubtless you have been expecting an answer ere this. 1 hasten to give you all the de- sired information in my power, in regard to the evergreens used here for hedges, as are in the Presi- dents Garden. This hedge is Red Cedar: it has been planted ten or twelve j-ears. They are very common here. But there are three kinds of indigenous shrubs, and at least one exotic, that are well adapted for the purpose. The Botanical names of winch are Pinus Canadmsis, or Hemlock Spruce, Thuja .Iccidcnlalis, American Arbor Vite, and Jiiiiiperis Virginiimcc, Red Cedar. All these are natives of our country, and the two former are admirably a- dapted for hedges. If you want to make a hedge of any of these, select plants about two feet high, lift tiiem caref'ully and preserve the roots as much as possible. Dig a trench from one and a half to two feet wide and about one and a half deep. Tlie soil must be well broken, to throw about the roots in planting ; keep the plants in tlie centre of the trench, putting them from four to six inches apart, mixing the shortest and the tallest, that it may be of one lieigbt. Water them as you proceed in fil- ling up, that the soil m.iy adhere to the roots and exclude the air. If the season is very dry, water tliem frequently. It is thought to make it more se- cure against large animals, to plant them inclining different ways, so that they may cross each other at nearly right angles. None of" ihem should be topped for a few seasons, except such as are much above the others in height, keeping the sides reg- ular, even by clipping or shearing once a year ei- ther in the month of April, or at the end of August. It is better to keep the top (when they have got to the height desired, which differs very much, gen- erally they are about seven or eight fi?et,) pointed than broad. The latter method retains a ncavy weight of snow which frequently breaks down, or otherwise deforms them. It will take about five years to form a fence sufficiently strong to keep out larne cattle. But it mostly depends on the size of file plants when they are set out, and on the strength of the ground. They seldom or never die out, and there are no vacancies if properly set out. But if one should occur, plant a new shrub, as nearly the size of tlie others as you can. As two of these are natives of your climate, and even flourish wild \vith3'ou,l think that a very strong as well as a very beautiful ever green hedge might.be formed of them. These plants may be had at Lambert's Botapical estab- lishment at Philadelphia. Lambert raises them from the seed, but they do not vegetate the first year : it requires two years for tiiein to grow six inches above ground. You have the Junipcris or Red Cedar in great quantity with you ; get plants about tiiriM- feet high from tlie swamps around you and set them out as directed above, and I fliink you can succeed in them. You desire a description of'the Precidcnt's hedge. It is not large; there are many others superior to it. It has been (as I said before) planted abmit tweU'e years ; its height is eight feet, the plant' are siyne of them four and five inches through. They are set out in a single line, and not inclined and were put about four inches apart. No cattle can get through it now. It is trimmed in April, and in fact was cultivated as directed above. Yours, &c. SAM'L CUTTS. Notes by "A Euliscriber" 1. It is believed t!:at evergreen plants for a hedge should not be set -:ca!'er together tiian eight or ten inches. If too near they will not grow, or ifthev do grow, some of tbem must die out to make room for others, and tne lirdge is thereby injured. 2. The approved course in other hedge plants is to select and set the largest together, and the smal- lest together. In this way the plants do better ; each has its share of rain, air, dew and sun. Other- wise the large and thrifty plants oversh.adow the smaller ones, keep out the air, &c., the growth is not uniform, and weak places are occasioned in the hedge. We believe this rule is applicable to ever- green as wall as other plants used in the formation of hed.'es; general directions for which may be seen in the Glii number of your 1st volume. 11. Five feet is sufficiently high for a fence. The fence is handsomer at five feet high than at seven, and handsomer, more uniform, and probably strong- r when set perpendicularly in a single row, than inclining so as to cross each other. Small plants should be used and cut down the first or second year so as to promote the growth of the small limbs at the bottom, or produce new shoots. Fur tlie Farmer's Monlhly Visitor. Potatoes. Much has been said and written on raisino- pota- toes ; and although I am not much of a farmer, yet I have taken some little pains to inform myself of the best way. 1st. I think the best land for potatoes is on our side hills which is generally a deep loam and eith- er moi,st. The potatoes are not so likely 'o be in- jured by frost as in lower land, nor so subject to blast and rust: moreover this is the nat'ural soil for a great croi>. 2d. As to manure, forty common loads is none too much for an acre. If 1 had a thousand acres ot land, and but forty loads of manure for my potiitoe ground,! would plant but one acre if the land was not rich. 1 am acquainted with two farmers who live near each other. The soil of their farms is very much alike : one uses forty loads, wliile the other uses eighteen to twenty loads of manure per acre. The first has generally 400 bushels of potatoes to the a- cre, and the last 200 to 250. This is not all the for- mer gains. His land holds out several 3'ear3 for other crops ; while the latter has but a small crop even the second year. 3d. The seed of potatoes ought to be changed every five or six years. Even if the seed is brought but two or three miles, the crop will be much bet- ter. 4th. As to planting, I think the rows ought to he about three and three and a half feet apart, and the hills eighteen inches or two feet apart, and the po- tatoes cut for planting — a large one in three pieces, and those smaller in two pieces fno small ones should be planted) and three pieces put in each hill. I have tried whole ones : they do not spread so well, and therefore do not produce so much as cut ones. I planted three 3'ears since 2 rows with 4 pieces in a hill, 2 do 3 do in a hill, 2 do 2 do in a hill, 2 do 3 eye end pieces in a hill, 2 do 3 butt end pieces in each hill. The butt ends weighed one-sixteenth more than the eye ends. The product was as follows, viz : — The rows with 4 pieces yielded 10 bushels — many small ones. Rows of 3 pieces,' 10 bushels — not man}- small ones. Of 2 pieces, 9 bushels — very few small cnes. The rows of eye ends, 9 1-2 bushels — many small ones. And the two rows of butt ends, 10 1-2 bushels ; and the best in the whole lot. I have tried it since with the same or nearly the same success. I should not have believed the butt ends would have produced the best crop if I had not tried it ; for some, even many of the pieces did not appear to have any germ ; and the reader has the same lib- erty not to believe until he tries it. I saw in y-onr last Visitor some experiments of Elias Frost on raising potatoes. He sa3's he plant- ed ."libs. 9 oz. of eye ends, and on the same quan- tity of ground planted 3 lbs. 10 oz. of the butt ends, and had the best crop and largest potatoes from the eye ends. Now be had ought to have cut the po- tatoes so that the butt ends would have been as large, and even larger than the eye ends, a« the butt end has fewer germs. If he will try again, and give the butt end a fair chance, he will proba- bly come to a different conclusion. STODDARD. The true policy of the Farmer. Our esteemed Stoddard correspondent says — *'If I had a thousand acres of land and but forty loads of manure for my potatoc cri-ound, 1 would plant but one acre, if the laud was not rich." And he at once shows how the farmer gains by citing the cases of his two neighbors where one plants with fcrty loads and the other with eighteen to twenty loads of manure to the acre. The first will hardly fail to get full pay for his additional manure in the first crcp, having double the quantity of po- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 55. tatoes ; and this gain Is pL-rhaps increased too, three and four fold in as many succeeding years. At least one third tlie labor on a given quantity of pro- duce is alsq saved by the higher tillage and manur- ing. The profits of farming would be immensely in- creased by a change of practice. It is our belief that the quantity of manure and dressing applied to one half the quantity of land annually planted with Indian corn in the four New England States would turn out in the same season a greater crop of corn than all that is raised within our borders. Let this be done with the same labor bestowed on the larirer territory ; and most of the farmers would be ereat trainers beyond this year's calculation. The lightest soil fir at least three successive years with- out any application of manure will produce a cor- respondent increased crop each year; and heavy soils from fonr to eight years. The farmers upon the Merrimack intervales may see an example in the town of Concord. That part of the intervale nearest our village has an upper mould mi.\ed with cold and heavy clay. Through a portion of this flows the water of two brooks cross- ing the main street, a part of which in the wetsea- son and after each successive rain is left standing upon the ground, and turns the natural growth of hay into sour grass. Within the last six or eight years a portion of this land owned by Gen. Low and Col Grover has been improved by tlie applica- tion, say at the rate of forty loads of stable manure to the acre, and a proportion of sand and gravel carted to the lowest parts; and this land, after the first crop of corn or potatoes laid down to grass, has produced for several successive years, never less than three tons and, frequently as high as four tons of excellent English hay, herdsgrass and clo- ver, to the acre. This hay has never been worth less than twelve dollars the ton ; and in some sea- sons hay of no better quality lias sold at sixteen and twenty dollars the ton. Adjacent to these two improved ^pots are sever- al fields of precisely the same kind of intervale land that have not yielded for many years and will notnow yield mure than half a ton of hay to the a- crc. This cold intervale land is valued only at for- ty and fifty dollars the acre — it will not pay for the use of that price cither as hay or pasturage, because Haifa ton of this inferior hay is worth nut over five dollars, barely paying for the labor and the taxes, witnout a dollar of income. Now if an acre of this cold land producing half a ton of poor hay in \U natural state is worth fifty dollars, what must be the value of an improved a- cre that will produce three tons of the best Eng- lish hay? Tlie small piece of land belonging to Gen Low, being nearer to our former premises, has been more particularly under our observation. Ever since the year 1832, that piece of ground, without ploughing, and perhaps but with once a liirht spreading of manure over it after it was laid down to grass, has averaged more than four tons to the acre in a year at a single mowing. Nothing flse, since the first application of manure, has been done to it than to take otV the crop. The great crop, we must believe, is derived not from the strength of the manure alone : the cold clayey soil, drained of its redundant water and stimulated by the manure, turns out the increased crop principally from its ov.-n strength. All the draining of this piece of land has been simply the opening of a furrow diich on either side leading to tlie main ditch through which the cnld brook passes across it. Let us make some calculation of the expense of improving an acre of ground so that the value of its crop may for eight years be increased ten fold, and compare the gains in the two cases. The value of an acre of land in its unimproved state is $50 : annual interest at six per cent. $3 — taxes say 50 cents, labor in takin^-; care of fences and getting oft" crop $3 — making $6 50. The crop of hay, half a ton, wor'h not over $5 and the fiiU feed 50 cents, $5 50, will leave the farmer minus, who hires both money and labor, one dollar for his year's crop. On the other hand, what will be the gain from improving the same land ? To its first price let there be added manure that shall cost $50 and ex- tra labor equal to $25 ; and let the manure and la- bor of the first year be distributed in a term of six years in each of which it will be of equal value : say interest on original cost of land $3; taxes, doubled in consequence of improvement, $1 ; labor in takinleapure ; elicited much useful in- formation ; stimulated agricultural inquiry ; and, in various ways, been productive of highly benefi- cial effects. This was to be regarded as the intro- duction of another series of meetings, the results of which, he trusted, would be equally agreeable and useful. It was gratifying to meet on an occasion where the conflicting elements of party strife could not be aroused ; and where any difference of opinion, which might be fiiund to prevail, could have no other effect than to encourage inquiry and experi- ment, the only sure roads to useful knowledge. In- telllfi-ent minds here b'*ought i^to collision would emit light ; but it would be light without heat. — This could have no other effect than to extend knowledge and improve skill in the great art, which lies at the foundation of individual subsistence, of domestic comfort, and of national wealth. The importance of this great art, agriculture, could not be over estimated. He tru.-*ted that the public mind would presently arrive at sounder and more comprehensive views of its great moment; its bearing upon the various sections of society, upon the general welfare, and the moral conditio i of the community; and elevate it to its proper rank a- mong the humane arts and the useful pursuits of life. The subject which he had the honor to propose for tlie discussion of this evening was, 'The Agri- culture of Massachusetts.' This subject particu- larly concerned them as citizens of the State, em- inently distinguished for its social privileges and improvments. Agriculture in Massachusetts had not received the attention wliich it might justly claim. Its progress had not kept pace ivith tlie ad- vances made in the mechanic arts and in commer- cial enterprise. It was not justly appreciated a- mong us. The soil of Massachusetts had been too much disdained and its climate pronounced unfa- voraide to agriculture. We were, in a large meas- ure, and to far too great a degree, dependent upon other places and countries for a supply of the sub- stantial products of the eartii, and the first neces- saries of life. We did not raise our own bread or potatoes ; and we imported largely of the necessa- ry supplies for man and beast. This was not as'it should be. There was noth- ing in the soil or climate of M-'.ssnchusctts incon- sistent with a highly improved and profitable a jri- culture. It was his confident belief that Massa- chusetts was fully capable of producing her ovrn bread ; and in this respect, what could be done ought to be done. Her power was the only llinltof her duty. In the good morals and good habits of her people, in their indiis'rj', temperance, frugali- ty, and general intelligence, there were all the el- ements of improvement; and the best foundation THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 67 for an intelligent, skillful, and consequently pro- ductive agriculture. In repeated instances lier crops liad licen remark- able. There had been raised seven hundred bush- els of potatoes upon an acre, more than nine I nn- dred busliels of ruta baga, more than seventeen hundred bushels uf carrots, more than si.x hundred bushels of onions, more than four tons of hay, for- ty bushels of rye, fifty bushels of barley, fifty bush- els of wheat, one hundred bushels of oats, and more than one hundred bushels of Indian corn. What had been done could be done again ; and instead of stopping short at what had already been reach- ed, we should never be satisfied without at least at- teuiptino- to go further. In some respects Massa- chusetts was singularly blessed ; and this is, in her capacity of growing Indian Corn. In respect to this magnifieent crop, magnificent from its hounti- fulness and its important uses, it was said by Ar- thur Young, that a country which could produce it, should he regarded, in an agricultural view, as eminently dislinj.ruished. Yet even with a capaci- ty for its abundant production, the produce of this crop was not a tithe of wliat it should be. It had been calculated by a gentleman well qualified to judge in the case, that the product of Indian corn in Massachusetts, did not average half a peck to every acre of her whole territory. It was easy to see, if the State produced a bushel of Indian corn for every acre, and this was by no means an ex- travagant calculation of what she ought to do, what a vast amount would be added to her resources, her comfort, and her wealth. The same remarks would apply with equal force to other crops, which might be cultivated with corresponding advantage. But little was to be expected until agriculture should rise to its proper place in the public estimation ; until it should be felt and acknowledged to be, as in truth it is, ne.\t to its morals, the highest interest of the community. To raise it to this point, we must have not only practical skill and experience, but the joint aid of science and intelligence, of la- bor and capital, to assist its progress ; and the force of public opinion and public respect in its favor. In agriculture e.vprrience is of great value. Ag- riculture is particularly an art resting upon facts. Tiieories are of little value excepting as they are directly deducible from actual experiments and well attested and acimowledgcd facts. It is a mat- ter likewise in which v/e might avail ourselves with essential benefit of the experience of others, who have pu'sued the art witli success and carried it to a. high degree of perfection, especially as far as our circumstances resemble theirs, and their rules and practices are applicable to our condition. The highly improved agriculture of England and Scotland would in various respects aftord most val- uable and instructive lessons ; an.d the Cornmis- Bioner added, that he had the highest pleasure in saying, that their distinguished tellow citizen, who had recently returned from his tour in Great Brit- ain, hiid at his request come to the meeting of the farmers of Massachusetts this evening, and would favor ui with his observations on foreign agricul- ture in its highly improved condition, and on its improved practices in their applicablencss to hus- bandry among ourselves. In mtelligent and prac- tical observation, in familiar acquaintance witii the agriculture of iNcw England, and in a just sense and comprehensive view of the importance of this great art, no one could be better qualified to make observations abroad, or to determine witli sounder judgment what would be applicable and useful to his countrymen at home. While, therefore, in comtion with others of his fellow citizens, the far- mers of Massachusetts tendered to him their hear- ty welcome on Ins return to his native shores, he would in behalf of the meeting, pledge to him, on this occasion, their respectful and undivided atten- tion. Mr.. Webster began with stating that he re- garded agriculture as tl\° leading interest of socie- ty ; and as having, in all its relations, a direct and intimate bearing upon human comfort and the na- tional prosperity. He had been familiar with its operations in lue youth ; and he had always looked upon the subject with a lively and deep interest. — He did not esteem himself to be particularly qual- ified to judge of the subject in all its various aspects and departments; and lie neither himself regarded nor would he have others regard his opinions as authoritative ; but the subjectiiad been one of care- ful observation to him, both in public and private life ; and his visit to Europe, at a scaion of the year particularly favorable for this purpose, had given him the opportunity of seeing its improved husbandry, and as far as might he interesting, or would have a bearing upon the subject of the even- ng's discussion, the agriculture of MassachuBetts, he would, as the meeting appeared to expect, say a few words upon what had attracted his notice. How far, in a question of this kind, the example of other countries was to be followed, was an in- qnirv worthy of much consideration. The exam- pin of a foreign country might be too closely fol- lowed. It would furnish a safe rule of imitation only as far as the circumstances of the one country corresponded with those of the other. The great objects of agricnUure, and the great agricultural products of England, and of Massa- chusetts, are much the same. Neither country pro- duces olives, nor rice, nor cotton, nor the sugar ca le. Bread, meat, and clothing are the main pro- ductions of both. But although the great produc- tions are mainly the same, yet there are many di- versities of condition and circumstances and vari- ous modes of culture. ' The primary elements which enter into the con- sideration of the agriculUire of a country are four; climate, soil, price of fand, and price of labor. In any comparison, therefore, of the agriculture of Enrrland with that of Massachusetts, these ele- ments are to be taken particularly into view. The climate of England differs essentially from that of this country. England is on the western side of the eastern, and we on the eastern side of the western continent. The glimate of each coun- try is materially affected by its respective situation in relation to the ocean. The winds, which prevail most, both in this country and in England, are from the west; it is known that the wind blows, in our latitudes, from some point west to some point east, on an average of years nearly or quite three days out of four. These facts are familiar. The con- sequences resulting from them are, that our win- ters are colder and our summers much hotter than in Enorland. Our latitude is about that of Oporto, yet the temperature is very different. On these accounts, therefore, the maturing of the crops in England and the powei of using these crops, cre- ates a material difference between its agriculture and ours. It may be supposed that our climate must resemble that of China in the same latitudes ; and this fact may have an essential bearing upon that branch of agriculture which it is proposed to introduce among us, the production of silk. The second point of difference between the two countries lies in the Boil. The soil of England is mainly argillaceous; a soft and unctuous loam up- on a substratum of clay. This may be considered as the predominant characteristic in the parts which he visited. The soil in some of the southern coun- ties of England is thinner; some of it is what we should call stony ; much ofil is a free gravelly soil, with some small part which with us would be cal- led sandy. Through a. great extent of country tills soil rests on a deep bed of chalk. Ours is a granite soil. There is granite in Great Britain ; but this species ot soil prevails in Scotland, a part of the country which more resembles our own. — We may have lands as good as any in England. Our alluvial soils on Connecticut river and in some other parts ot the country, are equal to any lands ; but these have not, ordinarily, a wide extentofclay subsoil. The soil of Massacliusetts is harder, more granitic, less abounding in clay, and altogether more stony, than the soil of England. The sur- face of Massachusetts is more uneven, more brok- en with mcuntain ridges, more diversified with hill and dale, and more abundant in streams of water, than that of England. The price of land in that country, another impor- tant clement in agricultural calculations, differs creatly from the price of land with us. It is three times as high as In Massachusetts, at least. On the other hand, the price of agricultural la- bor is much higher in Massachusetts, than in Eng- land. In different parts of England the price of labor is considerably various ; but it may be set down as twice as dear with us here. These are the general remarks which have sug- gested themselves in regard to the state of things abroad. Now have we any thing to learn from them,' Is there any thing in the condition ofEng land, applicable to ours ; or, in regard to which, the acriculture of England may be of use to Mas- sachusetts and other countries .' The subject of agriculture in England has strong- ly attracted the attention and inquiries of men of science. They have studied particularly the na- ture of the soil. More than twenty years a- o-o. Sir Humpluey Davy undertook to treat the suljject of the application of chemical knowledge to airriculture in the analysis of soils and manures. The same attentiOh has been continued to the sub- ject; and the extraordinary discoveries and advan- ces in chemical science, since his time, are likely to operate greatly to the advantage of agriculture. The best results may be expected from thero- — These inquires are now prosecuted in France with great enthusiasm and success. We may hope for like beneficial results from the application of sci- ence to the same objects. But all hough the circumstances of climate and situation and nature of the soil form permanent dis- tinctions, which cannot be chantfed, yet there are other differences, resulting from different modes of culture, and different fornis of ajiplyin.;- labor; and it is to these d.fferences that our attention should be particularly directed. Here, there is much to learn. English cultivation is more scientific, more systematic, and more exact, a great deal, than ours. This is partly the result of necessity. A vast pop- ulation is to be supported on comparatively a small surface. Lands are dear, rents are high, and hands, as well as mouths, are numerous. Careful and skillful cultivation is the natural result of this state of things. An English farmer looks not merely to the present year's crop. He considers what will be the condition of the land, when that crop is off; and what it will be fit for, the next year. He stud- ies to use his land, so as not to abuse it. On the contrary, his aim is to getcrop alter crop, and still the land shall be growing better and better. If he would content himself with raising from the soil a large crop this year, and then leaving it neglected and exhausted, he would starve. It is upon this fundamental idea of constant production without exhaustion, that the system of English cultivation, and indeed of all good cultivation, is founded. — England is not original in this. Flanders, and per- haps l.taly, have been her teachers. This system is carried out in practice, by a well considered ro- tation of crops. The form, or manner of this rota- tion, in a given case, is determined very much by the value of the soil, and partly by the local de- mand for particular products. But some rotation^ some succession, some variation in the annual pro- duc'.ions of the same land, is essential. No tenant could obtain a lease, or if he should, could pay his rent and maintain his family, who should wholly disregard this. White crops are not to follow one another. White crops are wheat, barley, rye, oats, &c. Our maize, or Indian corn, must be consider- ed a white crop; although from the quantity of stock and leaf which it produces, and which are such excellent food for cattle, it is less exhausting than some other white crops ; or to speak more properly, it makes greater returns to the land. — Green crops are turnips, potatoes, beets, vetches or tares, (which are usually eaten while growing, by cattle and sheep or cut for green food) and clover. Buck or beech wheat, and winter oats, thought to be a very useful product, are regarded also as green crops, when eaten on the land ; and so indeed may any crop be considered, which is used in this way. But the turnip is the great green crop of England. Its cultivation has wrought such changes, in fifty years, that it may be said to have revolutionized English agriculture. Before that time, when lands became exhausted by the repetition of grain crops, they were left, as it was termed, fallow ; that is, were not cultivated at all, but abandoned to recruit themselves as they might. This occurred as often as every fourth year, so that one quarter of the arable land was al- ways out of cultivation and yield. 'd nothing. Tur- nips are now substituted in the place of these nak- ed fallr.ws; and now land in turnips is considered as fallow. What is the philosopliy of this ? The raising of crops, even of any, the most favorable crop, does not in itself enrich, but in some degree, exhausts the land. The exhaustion of the land, however, as experience and observation have fully demonstrated, takes place mainly when the seeds of a plant are allowed to perfect themselves. The turnip is a biennial plant. It does not perfect its seed before it is consumed. There is another cir- cumstance in respect to the turnip plant, which de- serves consideration. Plants, it is well understood, derive a large por- tion of their nutriment from the air. The leaves of plants are their lungs. The leaves of tur- nips expose a wide surface to the atmosphere, and derive, therefore, much of their subsistence and nutriment from these sources. The broad leaves of the turnips likewise sliade the ground, preserve its moisture, and prevent, in some meas- ure, its exhaustion by the sun and air. The turnips have a farther and ultimate use. — Meat and clothing come from animals. Tiie more animals are sustained upon a farm, the nioic meat and the more clothing. These things bear, of course, a proportion to the number of bullocks, sheep, swine, and poultry which are maintained. The great inquiry then is, what kind of crops will least exhaust the land in their cultivation, and fur- nish at the same time, support to the largest num- ber of animals i* A very large amount of land in England i» culj 58 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. tivateil in turnips. Fields of turnips of three, four, and even five liundTod acres are sometimes seen, though the common fields are much less ; and it may be t>bserved here, tliat in the ripest and best cultivated parts of England, enclosures often, fif- teen, twenty, or thirty acres, seemed more common. Since the introduction of the turnip culture, bul- loejlis and sheep liove trebled in number. Turnips,^ for the reasons given, are not great e.-^hausters of the soil ; and they furnish abundant food for ani- mals. Let us suppose, that one bushel of oats or barley may be raised a.t the same cost as ten bush- els of turnips ; and will go as far in support of stock. Tlie great difference in the two crops is to be found in the farmer's barn yard. Here is the test of their comparative value. This is the secret of the great advantages, which follow from their cultivation. The value of manure in agriculture is well appreciated. M'Queen states the e.\tr.aor- dinary fact, that the value of the aniriwl manure anauallv 'applied to the crops of England, at cur- rent prices, surpasses in value the whole amount of its foreign commerce." There is no doubt that it greatly e.xceeds it. The turnip crop returns a vast amount of nutritive matter to the soil. Tlie farm- er, then, |tom his green crops, and by a regular Bystem of rotation, finds green feed for his cattle and wheat for the market. Among the lighter English soils, is that of the county of Norfolk ; a county, however, which he had not the pleasure to visit. Its soil, he under- stood, is light, a little inclined to sand, or light loam. Such soils are not unfavorable to roots. — Here is the place of the remarkable cultivation and 'istincuished improvements of that eminent culti- V -i-or, Mr. Coke, now Earl of Leicester.* In these Unds, he understood, a common rotation is turnips, barley, clover, wheat. Tlrese lands resemble much of the land in our county of Plymouth ; and the Bandy lands to be found in the vicinity of the Con- necticut and Merrimack rivers. The cultivation of green crops in New England deserves attention. There is no incapacity in our soil; and tliere are no circumstances unfavorable to their production. What would be the best kind of succulent vegeta- bles to be cultivated, whetlier turnips, orcairots, he vvas not prepared to say. But no attempts with- in his knowledge had been made among us of a systematic agriculture; and until we enter upon some regular rotation of crops, and our husbandry becomes more systematic, no distinguished success can be looked for. As to our soil, it has been re- marked there is n© inherent incapacity for the pro- duction ofanyof the common crops. We could raise wheat in Massachusetts. The average crop in England is twenty-six bushels to the acre. From his own iarm, and it was comparatively a thin and poor soil, he had obtained this EUinmer seventy -six busiiels of wlieat upon three acres of land. It is not, therefore, any wa;it of capability in the soil ; but the improvement and success of our husbandry must depend upon a succession of crops adapted io the circumstances of our soil, climate and peculiar condition. In England, a large portion of the turnip crop is consumed on the land where it grows. Tlie sheep are fed out of doors all winter; and he saw many larme flocks, thousands and millions of sheep, which weW never housed. This was matter of surprise, especially considering the wetness of the climate ; and ^biese i^heep were often exposed in the fields where a dry spot could not be found for tliem to lie down upon. Sheep were often folded in England by wattled fences or hurdles temporarily erected in different parts of the field, and removed from place to place us tlie portions of the crop were consum- ed. In some cases they were folded and tlie tur- nips dug and carried to them. In such case they were always fed upon lands which were intended tlie next year to be, as far as practicable, briiught under cultivation. He had seen many laborers in *This is a very extraordinary fact, but it rests up- on good authority ; and wiien it is considered Uiut this is of course the product of agriculture, as well as going iu the great circle, to renew and e.xtend these products, we must have strong impressions of the anvuing extent of this great interest. In tins case, cattle manure is valued at 4s. sterling; slieep at 3s ; horse at 4i. ; pigs, poultry, &c., at o.*;. per load ; siz~ of load not given ; mak.ng a grand total of £.59,eGJ,000 sterling, or nearly 3011,0011,1100 dol- lars. This isnnderstiiod to be -'exclusive of (quan- tity dropped by cattle en land during summer, au- tumn, &c., perhaps one third more; and exclusive of lime, moss, siiells, fish, bone dust, d:c." — Mc- Oiltcn's Briliah Statistics, p. 51. II. C. Hie has increa«ed the rental of his farms by his improvements, from twenty-five to two hundred thonsand dollars o. year H. C fields employed in drawing the turnips, splitting them, and scattering them over the land, for the use of the sheep, which was considered better, of- ten, than to leave sheep to dig for themselves. — These laborers would be so employed all winter, and if the ground should become frozen, the tur- nips are taken up with a bar. Together with the turnips, it is thought important tliat sheep should have a small quantity of other food. Chopped hay, sometimes a little oil cake, or oats, is usually giv- en. This is called tnmgh food, as it is eaten in troughs, standing about in the field. In so moist a climate as that of England, some land is so wet, that, in the farmer's phrase, it will not cirry sliccp ; that is, it is quite too wet fir sheep to lie out upon it. In such cases the turnips must be carried, that is, removed from the field, and fed out elsewhere. The last season was uncommonly wet, and for that reason, perhaps, he could not so well judge, but it appeared to him it would be an improvement in English husbandry to furnisb for sheep, oftener than is done, not only a tolerably dry ground to lie on, but some sort of shelter against the cold rains of winter. The turn'i.ps, doubtless, are more com- pletely consumed, when dug, split, and fed out. The Swedish turnip, he had little doubt, was best suited to cold climates. It was scarcely injured by being frozen in the ground in the winter, as it woufd thaw again, and be still good in spring. In Scotland, in the Lothians, where cultivation is e- qual to that of any part of England, it is more the practice than farther south, to house turnips, or draw them, and cover them from frost. He had been ereatly pleased with Scotch farming, and as the climate and soil of Scotland more resembled the soil and climate of Massachusetts, than those r< England did, he hoped the fanners of Massa- chusetts would acquaint themselves, as well an they could, with Scotch husbandry. He had had the pleasure of passing some timo in Scotland, with persons engaged in these pursuits, and acknowl- ed himself much instructed by what he learned from them, and saw in their company. The ereiit extent of the use of turnips, and other green crops, in Scotland, is evidence that such crops cannot bo altogether unsnited to Massachusetts. Mr. Webster proceeded to state, that one of the things which now attracted much attention among agriculturists in England, was the subject of tile draining. This most efficient and success&il mode of draining is getting into very extensiv,e use. — Much of the soil of England, a." he had already stated, rested on a clayey and retentive sub-soil. Excessive wetness is prejudicial and destructive to the crops. Marginal drains, or drains on the out- side of the fields, do not produce the desired re- sults. These tile drains have effected most impor- tant improvements. The tile itself is made of clay, baked like bricks; about one foot in length, foar inches in width, fff^e fourths of an inch in thick- ness, and sounds from six to eight inches in height, being hemispherieal, or like the half of a cylinder, with its sides enlongated. It resembles the Dutch tiles souietimes seen on the roofs of the old houses in Albany and New York. A ditch is suwk eigh- teen or twenty inches i» depth, and these drains are multiplied, over a field, sometimes at a distance of only seven yards apart The ditch, or drain, beintr du;^, these tiles are laid down, with the hol- low sid^" at the bottom, o'n th,- smooth clay, or any other firm subsoil, the sides placed near to each oth- er, some little straw thrown over the joints to pre- vent the admission of dirt, and the whole covered up. This is not so expensive a mode of draininp- as might be supposed. The ditch, or drain, need only be narrow, and tiles are of much cheaper transportation than stone would be. But the result ij so important, as vcell to justify the expense. It is estimated that this thorough draining adds often twenty per cent, to the production of the wheat crop. A beautiful example came under his obser- vation in Nottingl'.ainsh.re, not l:m,g before he lel't England. A gentleman was showing him his irrounds for next year's crop of wheat. On one side of. the lane, where the land had been drained, the wheat was already up, and grL>wing luxuri- antly ; on the other, where the land was subjectto no other disadvantage, than that it had not been drained, it was still too wet to be sowed at all. It may be thought sino-ular enough, but is was doubt- less true, that on stiff ebiyey lands, thorough drain- ing is as useful in drv, hot summers, as in cold and wet summers : for such land, if a wet winterer spring be suddenly fi.dloued by hot and dry weath- er, is aj)t to.' bepome hard and baked, so that the roots of [ilants cannot enter it. Thorough dr.iiii- ing, by giviuL^ an apportunity to tite water on the surface to be constantly esoapinj/, corrects this e- vil. Draining can never be needed to so great an extent in Massachusetts, as in England and Scot land, from the different nature of the soil ; but w" have yet quantities of low meadow lands, produc- ing wild, harsh, siur grasses, or producing noth ing, which, there is little doubt, might be ren- dered most profitable hay fields, by being well drained. When we understand better the impor- tance of concentrating labor-, instead if scat- tering it; when we shall come to esliiiiate, duly, the superior profit of "a little farm w-ell tilled," o- ver a great f^rm, half cultivated and half manured, over-run with weeds, and scourged with exhaust- ing crops, we shall then fill our barns, and double the winter feed for our cattle and sheep by the pro- ducts of these waste meadows. There was in England, another mode of'improve- ment, most important, instances of which he had seen, and one of which he regarded as the most beautiful agricultural improvement, which had ev- er come witliin his observation. He meant irriga- tion, or the making of what is calh^d water mead- ows. He Inid first seen them in Wiltshire, and w-as mu(-h struck with thein, not having before un- derstood, from reading or conversatio-,a, exactly what they were. But he had afterwards an oppor- tunity of examining a most signal and successful example of this mode of improvement on the es- states of the Duke of Portland, in the Nr rthof Eng- land, on the borders of Sherwood forest. Indeed, it was part of the old foreet. Sherwood forest, at least in its present state, is not like t'le jjine for- ests of Maine, the heavy hard \\-ord forests of ^he unredeemed lands of New Hampshire and Vermont, or the still heavier timbered lands of the West. It embraces a large extent of country, with various soils, some of them thin and light, with beautiful and venerable oaks, of unknown age, much open ground between them and underneath their wide- spread twanches, and this covered with heather, lichens ahd fern. As a scene to the eye and to the memory by its long existence, and its associations, it is beautiful and interesting. But in many parts, the soil is far enough from being rich. Upon the borders of this forest, are the water meadows of which he was speaking. A little river ran through the forest in this part, at the bottom of a valley, with sides moderately sloping, and of considerable extent, between the river at the bottom and the common level of the surrounding- enuutry above. This little river, before reaching the jdace, ran through a small tcwn, and gathered, doubtless, some refuse matter in its course. From this river the water was taken, at the upper end of the val- ley, conducted along the edge, or bank, in a canal or carrier, and from this carrier, at proper times, suffered to flow out, very gently, spreading over and irrigating the whole surface, tricklirigand shin- ing when he saw it, (and it was then November,) among the light green of the new-springing grass, and collected below in another canal, from which it was again let out, to flow in like manner over land lying still further down towards the bottom of the valley. Ten years ago, this land, for jjroduction, was worth little or nothing. He was told that some of it had been let for no more lii.in a shilhng an acre. It has not been manured, and yet is now most extensively productive. It is not flooded ; the wa- ter does not stand upon it; it flows gently over it, and is npjtlied several times in a year, to each part, s.ay in March, May, July and October. In Novem- ber, when be saw it, the farmers were taliing ofl' the third crop of hay cut this season, and that ciop was certainly not less than two tons to the acre. This last crop was mostly used as green food for cattle. When he spoke of the quaii'it;,^ of tons, he meant tons of dried hay. After this crop was off, slieep were to be put on it, to have Ian. lis at Christ- mas, so as to come into market in March, a time of year when they command a high price. Upon tak- ing oIT the sheep in March, the lajtd would be wa- ■ tered, the process of watering lasting two or three days, or jK-rhapseight or ten days, acCLiiJing to cir- cumstances, and repeated after the taking off of Cx-ich successive crop. Although this -,-. at(.-r lias no doubt considerable sediment in it, yet the general fact shows how important water is to thegrowtli of plants, and Irr^w far even it may supply the place of other aiources of sustenance. Nov/, we in Massa- chusetts, have a more uneven surface, nierevaUies with sloping sides, by many times more streams, and such a climate that our farms suffer much of- tener from drought than farms in England. May wt not learn something useful, therefoie, from the examples of irrigation in that country. With respect to implements of husbandry, Mr. Webster was of opinion that the Enijlisli, on the wiiole, had no advantage fiver us. 'I'lieir wagons and oarts were no better, their ploughs, he thouifht, v.'ere not better any where, and in soiiu- counties far inferior, because unnecessarily heavy. The sub-aoil plough, for whioh we have little use, was TME FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 59 esteemed a useful invention, and tlie mole plouy;li, which he had seen in operation, and the use of which was to make an under-ground drain, wiUi'iut disturbing the surface, was an ingenious contriv- ance, likely to be useful in clay soils, free from Btone and gravel, but which could be little used in Massachusetts. In general, he thought the Eng- lish utensUs of husbandry were unnecessarily cum- brous and heavy. Tin ploughs, especially, requi- red a sreat strength of draught. But as drill hus- bandry was extensively practised in England, and very little with us, the various impleiiients or ma- chines, for drill sowing, in that country, quite sur- pass all we have. He did not renieniber to have seen the horse-rake used in England, although he had seen in operation implements for spreading hay, from the swarth, to dry, or rather, perhaps, lor turning it, drawn by horses. There were other matters connected with Eng- lish agriculture, upon which he might say a word or two. Crops are cultivated in England, of whicli we knew little. The coTUinon English field bean, a small brown bean, growing not on a clinging vine, like some varieties of the taller bean, ran in what is called with us the bush form, like our com- mon white bean, upon a slight, upright stalk, two or two and a half feet high, and producing from twenty to forty bushels to the acre. It is valuable as food for animals, especially tor horses. This bean does not grow well, in thin soils, or what is called a hot bottom. A strong, stiff, clayey Irvnd, well manured, suits it best. Vetches, or tares, a sort of pea, was very much cultivated in England, although almost unknown here, and is there either eaten green, by sheep, on the land, or cut and car- ried for green food. The raising of sheep, in England, is an immense interest. Eudand probalily clips fifty millions of fleeces this year, lambs under a year old not being shorn. The average yield may be six or seven pounds to a fleece. There^are two principal classes of sheep in England, the long wooled, and the short wooled. Among these are many varieties, but this is the general division, or classification. The Leicester, and the South Dov.-n, belong re- spectively, to these several families. The common clip of the former may be estimated from seven to eight pounds ; and of the last from three to three and a half or four. Mr. Webster mentioned these particulars only as estimates ; and much more ac- curate information might doubtless be obtained from many writers. In New England, we were just be- ginning to estimate rightly the importance of rais ini- sheep. England had seen it much earlier, and was pursuing it with fiir more zeal and persever- ance. Our climate, as already observed, differs from that of England; but the great inquiry ap- plicable in equal force to both countries i--, how can we manage our land in order to produce the larg- est crops, while at, the same time we keep up the condition of the land and place it if possible in a course of gradual improvement .' The success of farming must depend in a considerable degree up- on the" animals produced and supported on the farm. The iarmer may calculate in respect to ani- mals upon two grounds of profit; the natural growth of the animal, and the weight obtained by fattening. The skilful farmer, therefore, expecis where he gains one pound in the fattening ol his animal, to' gain an equal amcuiit in tlie growth. The early maturity of stock ir eonsequently a point of much importance. Oxen are rarely reared in England for the yoke. In Devonshire and Cornwall, ox teams are em- ployed ; but in traveling one thousand miles in England, Mr. Webster saw only one ox team, and here they were driven one before the other, and in harnesses similar to the harnesses of horses. Bul- locks are raised for the market. I'- is highly desi- rable, therefore, both in respect to neat cattle and sheep) that their growth should be rapid and their fattening properties favorable, that they may be early disposed of, and consequently the expense of production lessened. Is it practicable on the soil and in the climate of Massachusetts to pursue a succession.of crops r He could not question it; and he had entire confi- dence in the improvements to our husbandry and the great advantages which would accrue from ju- dicious rotation of products. The capacities of the soil of Massachusetts were undoubted. One hundrc-d bushels of corn toan acre had been repea- tedly produced, and other crops in like ainindance. But this would n.ot etl'eet the proper ends of a ju- dicious and profitable agricelture, unless we could so manage our husbandry that by a judicious and proper suceesslcn of crops, the land would not on- ly be restored after an exhausting crop, but gradu- ally enriched by cultivation. It is of the highest importance that our liirmers should increase th power of sustaining live stock, that they may therefrom obtain the means of Improving their larms. The breed of cattle in England was greatly im- proved, and still improving. He had seen some of the best stocks, and many individual animals from others, and thought them admirable. The short horned cattle, brought to this country, were otten very good specimens. He said he had seen the flocks from which some of them had been selected, and they were certainly among the best in Eng- land. But in every selection of stock, we are to regard our own eliriiate, and our own circumstan- ces. We raise oxen for work, as well as for beef; and he was ol opinion that the Devonshire stock furnished excellent animals lor our use. We had sufiered that old slock, brought hither by our an- cestors, to run down, and be deteriorated. It had been kept up, and greatly improved, in England, and we might now usefully import from it. The Devonshire ox is a hardy animal, of size and make suited to the plough, and though certainly not the largest for beef, yet generally very well fattened. He thought quite well, also, of the Ayrshire cows. They were good milkers, and being a hardy race, were, on that account, well suited to the cold cli- mate, and to the coarse and sometimes scanty pas- turage of New England. After all, he thought, there could be no doubt, that the improved breed of short horns were the finest cattle in the world, and should be preferred, wherever plenty of good feed, and some mildness of climate invited them. 'I hey were well fitted to the Western States, where there is an overflowing abundance, both of winter and summer feed, and where, as in England, bul- locks are raised for beef only. He had no doubt, also, that they might be usefully raised in the rich valleys of the Connecticut, and perhaps in some other favored parts of the State. But, for himself, as a farmer on the thin lands of Plymouth county, and on the bleak shores of the sea, he did not feel that he could give, to animals of this breed, that entertainment, which their merit deserved. As to sheep, the Leicester were like the short horned cattle. They must be kept well ; they should always be fat; and, pressed by good keep- ing, to early maturity, they arc f jund very profita- ble. "Feed well," was the maxim of the great Roman farmer, Cato ; and that short sentence coin- prises much of all that belongs to the profitable economy of lii-e stock. The South Downs are a good breed, both for wool and mutton. They crop the grass that grows on the thin s;ils, over bods of chalk, in Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Dorsetshire. They ought not to scorn the pastures of New Eng- land. When one looks, said Mr. Webster, to the corw- dition of England, he must see of what immense importance is every, even the smallest degree of improvement in its agricultural productions. ^ Sup- pose that by some new discovery, or some impro- ved mode of culture, only one per cent, could be added to the annual results of English cultivatiim; this, of itself, would materially affect the comfor- table subsistence of millions ..f human beings. It was often said that England was a garden. This was a strong metaphor. There was poor land and some poor cultivation in England. All people arc not equally industrious, careful, and skilful. But on the whole, England was a prodigy of agricultu- ral wealth. Flanders might possibly surpass it. He had not seen Flanders ; but Engl.md quite sur- passed, in this respect, whatever he had seen. In associations for tlie improvement of agriculture, we had been earlier than England. But such asso- ciations now exist. He had the pleasure o*' atten- ding the first meeting of the National Agricultural Society, and he had found it a very pleasant and interesting occasion. Persons of the highest dis- tinction for rank, talents and wealth, were preaent, all zealously engaged in efl'orts for the promoti m of the agricultural interests. No man in England \.asso high, as to be independent of the success of this great interest ; no man so low, as not to be af-' fected by its prosperity, or its decline. The same is true, eminently and" emplntically true, with us. Agriculture feeds us ; to a great degree it clothes us^; without it, we eould not have manufactures, and wo should not have commerce. These all stand together, but they stand together, like pil- lars in a cluster, the largest in the centre, and that largest is agriculture. Let us lemember, too, that we live ill a country of small farms, and free-hold tenements; a country, in which men cultivate with their own hands, their own fee-simple acres ; drawing net only their subs'stence, but also their qiirit of independence and manly freedom from the ground they plough. They are at once its owners, its cultivators, and its defenders. And whatever else may be undervalued, or overlooked, let us never forget, that the cultivation of the earrh is the most important labor of man. Man may be civilized, in some degree, witlioui great progress in manufactures, and with little coinnieroe with his distant neighbors. But witiiout the cultivation of the earth, he is, in all countries, a savage. Until he steps from the chase, and fixes himself in some place, and seeks a living from the earth, he is a roaming barbarian. When tillage begins, other arts fidlow. The farmers, therefore, are the found- ers of human civilization. Agriculture in England. At the date of this writing (April IG) we have, by the late arrivals from Europe the Marklane Ag- ricultural Express of March 1(3. Speaking of the weather and the prospects of Agriculture, that pa- per says — '* We still continue to have very favorable wea- ther fi'ir the prosecution of out door work, and some quantity of spring corn (wheat) has been sown during the week: since Tuesday the wind has got round to the westward, the temperature has been higher, and the frost (which bad previously been very siiarp during the nights) has quite left us. This change will be highly beneficial to vegetation, and prove particularly favorable to the young wheat plant, which was beginning to suffer from the effect of alternate sunshine days and sharp night frosts. " By advices from Scotland we learn than the weather had continued favorable in that country for field operations, but it was stated that the au- tumn sown wheat had, in many situations, sustain- ed injury from the great changes in temperature, to which it had for some weeks been exposed, the sun having during the day time been very power- / ful, whilst the nights had been cold and frosty; we trust however that the change of weather experi- enced by us this week may have extended over the whole of the kingdom. " Owing to the iiirmers being still very busy in the fields, most of the markets had been sparingly supplied with grain, and wheat h-id further advan- ced in price, both at Edinburgh and Glasgow. *' Our letters from the north of Ireland inform ua th-.t considerable progress had already been made there with oat sowing, and a correspondent from Belfast states that if the weather remained fine for another fortnight all the oats would be gnt into the ground in that neighborhood, and the potatoe plan- ting might also be expected to be in a state of for- wardness by that time. Both in the north and south of the Island the deliveries from the grow- ers had been very small, and prices of all species of corn had been fully supported. A fair quanti- ty of oats continued to be shipped to this country and the west coast of Scotland." By the foregoing extracts it will be seen that the spring opens in England and Scotland for agricul- tural operations full six weeks earlier than in a great part of New England; and that country ii from ten to fifteen degrees of latitude fiirther north than we are. Wheat and other small grains there spoken (•{ under the general denomination of corn floiirish better in that island than in this country, bee uise the summer season is cooler (not colder) and because the direct rays of the sun are not there felt as tliey are here. In England, and we believe in Scolhuid although in a less degree, the absence of the sun prevents the successful growth of our Indian corn. In this particular our country has a decided advantage ; but theirs has a more sure prospect of large returns of wheat, barley and oats. We have seen peas and beans imported from Eng- land of the last year's growth, at the seed stores m Boston: these are more plump and of a much fairer aspectthaii any we find which are the growth of this country. Something is due to climate and to natural soil of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that their agricultural productions are better than ours; but more is due to the better preparation, the higher manuring, the more perfect ]iIoughJng, and the irenerally greater pains taken there in the cultiva- tion of the earth. It is remarkable that every kind and species of the production of the earth in the British and Irish market towns are as much a mat- ter of intelligence as the markets for manufactures and imported merchandize. Remedy for Bills. — Half pint vinegar, half pint sof' soap, half ]iint gin, and h:ilf pint molasses, well shaken together, mid poured down the throat of the horse while foaming. Mr. la.aac Lovejoy in the Albany Cultivator says of a horse severely attack- ed while on a journey, to which a dose wnsadii.n- istered, that ill a few minutes he was entirely re- lieved of pain, and was soon able to pursue his journey. 60 THE FARiMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Smith's Sub-soil Plough, Improved. tliis macliinp, the fiimior may be certain tliat his seed is put into the ground, and at the same time in the best possible manner. There has been a great difliculty in machines for sowing garden seeds : tiiey are very apt to clog up, and the farmer might go over an acre of land and not sow a single seed ; but not so with this; it so constructed that itcrninot possibly clog. In usinff this sower, the farmer can save one half of his seed, and do the work at less'than one quarter the expense of the commori v;ay of sowing his seeds, and liave it done in a much better manner; it opens the furrow, drops the seed, coTers it over and rolls them down. It will sow any kind of Garden Seeds ; say Ruta Baga, Mangel Wurtzel, Turnips, Carrots, Beets, Parsnips, Onions, &c. Hand Cultivator. [Fig. 10.] The most astonishing effects appear to have been produced by the inven- tion of the above machine. It is a necessary accompaniment to draining, and is also well calculated to make the most unproductive soil, fertile and profit- able. Breaking the sub-soil without bringing it to the surface, renders it per- vious both to air and water, and after a few years, by a greater depth of ploughing, the sub-soil is mixed with the upper and is found to be so com- pletely changed in its nature as to be capable of producing every species of grain. Major Wheeler's Paring Plough, Improved. ■"-•<>l->l>ll,4l..^„„„„,^,^llfjl^JZ~^ [Fig. 11.] The object of this plough is to take off the top of meadow and peat lands, for the purpose of reclaiming them. Frt m one to two acres can be pared in a day, and in the course of two or three days, if the wea'her is pleasant, it will be dry enough to burn. In this way meadow or peat laud may be made to produce large crops of hay, &c. Howard's Improved Cast Iron Plough. [Fig. 12.] This implement, one of the oldest and m.st useful employed on a farm, has undergone of late years, a wonderful ch.Tnge in all its most essential parts, and has been greatly improved. The cast Iron Plough is now most general- ly used among the best farmers, and considered decidedly the best. Among the different ploughs now made of cast iron, Howard's stand unrivalled.— They have been used at the different Cattle Shows, and Ploughing Matches, and have in all cases been approved by them. At the Brighton cTatle Show at the exhibition in October, 1333, they received tlie premium of $10, award- ed as being the best plough presented. Willis' Latest Improved Seed Sower. [Fig. 13.] STILL LATER. Willis has made some considerable improvement in his Seed Sower for the present year, making it as complete as time and hard study can possibly make t. He sold of the last year's improvement, oviir eighty machmes, being all 'hat was manufactured, (and could have sold at least fifty or sixty more had h»y been made,) »v«ry one of which jfave universal satisfactiori. In using [Fig. 14.] This is a very useful article for going between vcg-etables, in order to keep down the weeds. A man, with one of these machines, will do more work than four or five with the hoe. [Lr The foregoing are among the manj useful agricultural implements which may be constantly procured at thee.Ttensive Agricultural Warehouse of Messrs. Breck and Co. No. 52, North Market Street/Boston. Improvement in Breeds of Swine. From our own experience during the last five years, we are free to give the op.nion that tliere is so great difference in the breed of hogs simply, that a man had better pay five dollars apiece for some kinds of pigs at six weeks of age than to have other kinds given to him of the same age. There are some kinds, raw-boned, lank-bellied, and hump-backed, that \\ill not receive flesh, be they ever so highly ft-d : there are others, tolerably well shaped, of so dis- contented and uneasy disposition, that witli bellies full they annoy the whole neighborhood by their continued squealing. Others again are of so content- ed and easy disposition that they keep constantly quiet, and increase in weight and fatness on comparatively small quantities of food. The most interesting array of swine we have ever seen was tlie exiiibition at the farm of Elias Phinney, Esq. of Lexington, Mass. last October, during our short stay there. In the different pens were different varieties. The kinds most distinctly remembered were the Berlishire and Muckaij and the Moco breed.s ; and the most beautiful hogs we ever saw were tliose with the cross of about three-fourths Berkshire and one-fourth Mackay. Tliere was upon these more pork and less bone than upon any others : their bodies were long, and uniform in size from the ears almost to the point of the tail — their backs broad — their hams and shoulders thick — their hair white and thin with no bristles. Along side of these in another pen was placed anotiier liog pur- chased from a drove driven from the interior of New York — a large boned, pointed back and hmg snouted animal with tlie legs usurping the place of thighs and hams. This animal, if we mistake not, Mr. Phinney stated had for months consumed an equal quantity of food with all four of the animaU of mixed breed ; and it was proved from the different weighings that he gain- ed no more daily than each of them. Mr. Bement of Albany, N. Y. has had great success in raising swine ; and from him have been derived most of the Berkshire breed that las been intro- duced into this country. From an interestino- article in Bucl's Cultivator for January, written by tiiat gentleman, we extract the follow ing : "Many attempts have been made in Europe to improve the breed of the native swine, by selections nnd otherwise; but so far as the writer has been able to follow them up, there has been little success, and that little very elow- ly obtained, except only where resort has been iiad immediately to the Chin- ese bear. TJiis is particularly the ca.se with England, v.'hose efforts seem to have carried her, in tiiis department, as far beyond her neighbors as in that of the improvement of horses, cattle and sheep. Every county there boasts of its breed of swine, and certainly many lue very deserving, having deriv- ed their chief excellence from across more or less deep with the large white Chinese boar. Of these are the Leicester, the Bedford or Woburn, the Sussex and Cheshire. But the most decided improvement, and which by the care and skill of recent breeders, has now nearly attained perfection, wiis tliat of tho black Siamese boar upontlic old stock of Bcrksiiire countj'. This! understand, began about forty years since. The Berkshires were then mostly a lone, large, coarse, lop eorcd iiog, of a sandy or reddish brown, or white, witii black spots, and coming up, not unfrequcully, to the iiigh weights of SOO, and even 1,000 pounds. But it was a slow feeder, long attaining to maturity, an enor- mous consume/, and in common wiLli most of Entflands other varieties, an unprofitable beast. Vet possessing ratiier thicker hams and shoulders than the ntlier kinds, a longer, fuller body, and its meat aboundlna greatly in lean, the liLtle, short, fat, black mouse-eared Siamese told well in the cross ; and thus was produced the dark, splendid Berkshire, that at present occupies the same rank among hogs tJiat the Durham^ do among cattle. They mature quickly, and like the Chinese, can be fattened at any age, and still may be selected, when desirable, for great sizes; are prolific- breeders and the best of nurses ; thrifty, hardy, and of most excellent constitution. They are fine in their points, possessing remarkable thickuess in the ham and shoulder, and show a round, smooth barrel of good length, that gives a large proportion of side pork. They have little o'ffal, thin rind and hair, uid few or no bristles. Tho THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 61 meat abounds still greatly in muscle, and the hams particularly are highly prized, commanding aa extra price in market, being very tender, juicy and lean. As now bred, the Berkshire* vary somewhat in size, appearance and matu- rity. Tfiose with the finest heads, a dished face, and rather upright than for- ward ears, with a snugger shoulder and ham, and shorter body, most resem- ble the Sian]cse ancestor, and therefore are quickest to mature, and probablj' give the most delicate meat, and to one satisfied with a moderate size, are un- doubtedly to be preferred. Barrows of this description, if well fed till IS months old, casil}' attain 300 to 400 pounds, and weights within these limits are the most eagerly sought for at the Smithfield market, and are probably on the whole the most profitable for both consumer and producer. Others, generally of a straight nose, with a coarser head, and ears protruding well forward over the eye, ')r slightly lopped, with greater length of body, incline more for the original Bcrkshires, attain higher weights, and require a longer time to mature. There are individuals, however, occasionally possessing all the fine requisites of the former selections, together with the large size of the latter." The following is a beautiful specimen of the full blooded Berkshire sow, in which the reader will not fail to observe all those points which indicate a contented, easy disposition, and consequent aptitude for thrift : Berkshire Sow. [rig. 15.] The full blooded Berkshire is generally of a black or a dun color, and does not grow so large as the mixed bloods. The Editor of the Visitor has three half blood Berkshires, a boar and two sows, procured of the Shakers at Can- terbury. They are all purely white, being mi.xed with an improved breed which the Family had raised tor several years. They will not be a year old till June, and have been exceedingly thrifty with the small feed that has been furnislied them. One of the sows, we think, is as handsome an animal, as we h.ave ever seen in any representation. She is better than the following, because she carries out the length of her body in more uniformity, and she shows a broad back and haunches which cannot be imagined from the repre- sentation below. This Sliakcr breed of half bloods we think is full equal to the mixed Berkshire and Mackay breed of Mr. Phinney. The following is a representation of an improved Chinese breed mixed with one-fourth Berk- eh.ire and one-fourth native. This will not bear a comparison with our best mixed Berkshire sow procured from the Shakers. Hogs to be fattened with- out breeding we think are more valuable to be mixed than full blood Berk- shires. Swine for breeding are better to be full bloods, and these crossed up- on other improved breeds. Improved Chinese Styw. PEACE OR WAR ? We intend not to make our journal the herald of matter that shall be un- pleasant to any political party ; but as strong political feelings have "grown with our growth and strengtliened with our strength," and as those feelings ore probably well understood by all the readers of the Visitor, we cannot help alluding to political matters now and then — i:i a way, we hope, that will give otlence to none. If political and personal prejudice could operate on any one, it might well be supposed that the editor would be the last man in the country to speak in praise of two distinguished men whose opinions are copied into Hie present numberof the Visitor And if any thing appears like relaxation of our rigid po- litical principles in relation to those two gentlemen or to any other individu- als, our readers of both parties may set it tlowii that we are as rigidly parti- san and democratic as we have been at any time of life. Having premised this much, we say that Mr. Webstkr, in the speech this day published, discovers not only tlrj talent but the true tact of the great man. Like Henry Brougham of England, who said that the most valuable part ol the acquisitions of his whole life would be taken away by obliterating the first three years of his existence, we think the foundation of Daniel VVeb- ster's eminence was better laid in the personal toil and information gained on his father's farm in early life, than in all his subsequent classical studies and literary industry. We turn to another man whose political course, like that of Mr. Webster, has been a subject of our strong opposition, not to say detestation, for many years: we mean Henry Clay; and we here introduce him, because We are anxious to press on our readers our own opinion that the dark clouds that lower in our firmament will not termin.ate in war; that the peace of this gov- ernment and country will yet be preserved. The great man will appear in a naturnl burst of philanthropy and good feel- ing,— on fitting occasions genius and talents will break from the thraldom of strong prejudice borderintj even on moral obliquity. The genius of Henry Clay is intuitive; and when it bur'vts spontaneously from the fetters thrown around it by prejudice, it forces itself into the channel of right and justice. We have personally observed this on several occasions; but never have we been more gratified in the e.vhibition than on the occasion of a late debate in the Senate of the United States growing out of a report by Mr. Buchanan, Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations, on the disputed North Eastern Boundary between this country and Great Britain. We admire the tone of feeling exhibited on this occasion by the veteran Senator — a feeling which does equal credit to the heart which prompted it, to the country, and to the administration to which he is opposed. Not as a compliment merely to the distinguished Senator do we e.xtracthis observations into our humble periodical devoted almost exclusively to Agri- culture, but to show to our many reatlers strong reasons why we should NOT, and almost equally strong reasons why WE SHALL NOT HAVE WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. Preserving our honor, the integrity of our acknowledged limits, if we can settle the boundary question still prevent- ing the effusion of blood, the country will be blessed, and all individuals who contribute to the result, like Mr. Clay, whether they he of one political party or another, will deseuve well of the country. We extract from a report in the Washington Globe : Mr. Clay said — "There was no sufficient cause for war ; and he lock oc- casion to say, that so far as he was informed, the opinions both of the Admin- istration party, and of the party with which he acted, were that war was to be avoided so long as it could be dime witiiout compromitting the rights and honor of the nation. The Senate hail solemnly expressed the opinion that the question of right was with us, and all parties, every individual of those par- ties, so far as their views had been expressed, seemed determined to obtain for Maine, by some of tiiose modes by which national rights are asserted, a full and absolute possession of all the territory within her rightful limits. — But he must say that there were two modes of arriving at this result. One was by negotiation, and the other was by war; and these questions are to be decided by the united voice of the wliDle country, and by the Executive branrh of llie Government, as tlie case may be, and not to be decided by the voice of one single member of the Confederacy. If the honor of tlie country is assailed, the councils of the whole country must determine as to the man- ner and tune of vindicating it. He would take occasion to say for the bene- fit of the Senator from Maine, and the whole people of Maine, that whilst he believed them to be as valorous and as enlightened as any people in the Un- ion, he was not inclined to confide in their judgment js to declaring war, and the period at which this last resort may become necessary. If Maine expects the Government of this country to secure her rights, she must confide to the Government of this country the whole agency in settling the controversy. — If it is to be done by negotiation, it must be left to the E.\ecutive and his con- stitutional advisers. If it is to be by war, it should be left to tliat department of the Government to which the power of declaring war is confided by the Constitution. In saying all this, he meant nothing in condemnation of the state of feeling that had been evinced by the people of Maine. Justice was with her, and he sympathized with her natural feelings on this subject. Her claims had unfortunately too long been delayed ; but, notwithstanding that, he said that this Government alone should conduct the negotiation, and if war became necessary, decide upon the time and manner of commencing it. He could not, however, believe that this last resort was necessary. — There were two securities which he had for the continuance of peace. The first securify was that Great Britain, eulightened as her councils were, must perceive, what we know, that the right was with us; that she had no claim ; and after being satisfied with these facts, upon an examination of the neces- sary information, will ultimately concede the right to us. But let me sup- pose, continued Mr. C. tliat she docs not. Let me suppose tliat, after inves- tigation, she comes to the clear conviction to which we have arrived, that the right is with her ; that the territory in dispute, according to the treaty of 1783, is within her limits. What, then, will be the case presented before the world.' Two enliolitened nations coming to different conclusions on the same testi- mony, and unable to agree. What, then, are to be the consequences .' Is war, that calamity which every lover of humanity must deprecate, the only alternative .'' No, sir. There is another : there is a subsisting treaty stipu- lation contained in the treaty of Ghent, by which this question is to be left to the decision of an impartial tribunal, in the event that the two countries cannot settle it themselves. 1 say there is a treaty stipulation still subsist- ing ; and how do I make it out.'' It may be alleged that the matter having been once committed to the umpirage of a third party, and that party having given an award, the stipulation in the treaty was fulfilled, and it was no lon- ger in force. Not so. Tliere was an attempt at arbitration, through the in- strumentality of the King of Holland ; but it was an abortion — a failure — the King did not settle the question ; both parties acknowledged that he did not, and the treaty remains in full forci", binding the parties to refer this ques tion, if unable to settle it amicably themselves, to au impartial tribunal. But, putting the treaty out of tlie question, suppose there was no such stipulation, and that the two parties having iirought their minds to the conclusion that the right was witli each, were determined to persist on it. Sooner than resort to war, with all its calamities, both parties should agree to arbitration ; and I say that Enghnd, if she will not concede the right to us, must yield the point at issue to arbitration. Though this course may be attended with delay — thoutrh Maine may not arrive at the possession of her territory as soon as she wishes, yet she had infinitely belter wait the movements of two great nations, than that they should be inVohed in war. When we come to deciding on the question of war, all other means of settling the controversy huving fail- ed, that question is to be decided by the united wisdom of all, in reference to the condition of the whole country, in reference to the other interests of Maine besides the interest in question, and in reference to the probable issue of the controversy. "In relation to the military preparations of the British in the Canadas, of which the Senator spoke, Mr. C. said, they gave him no cause for alarm. — England was the weaker power — she was preparingagainst invasion from us; f)2 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. but (lid we appreliond invasion from the Catiadas ? He did not ai^ree with the Senator that our state of preparation was so defective; for, with the ex- ception nf one or two points on tlie Atlantic, where some additional defence was wanted, no prepara- tion was necessa^3^ Wlien gentlemen talked of our want of preparation, he did not agree with them. What I with fifteen or sixteen millions of free people, with their unquestioned valor, their love of country, combined with their means of transportation, and their warlike resources, to say that the country is unprepared ! We are, said Mr. C. ten thousand times heller prepared for war to- morrow With Great Britain — though not so much so, in all respects, as he could wish — we are infin- itely better prepared than we were at a former period — on the ocean, as'on the land, on the lakes as well as the bays ; and then we come out of the contest with honor. The construction of the great New York canal, our rail roads, our population pressing- up against the boundary line — all these are advantajjea which we did not possess in tiie last war. No preparation ! Sir, we have the best pre- parations that ever a country boasted of; we have sixteen millions of freemen, with stout arms and bold hearts, who stand ready to vindicate the rights of their country. As to the preparations of Eng- land in tlie Canadas, let her go on with them — let her bring her troops over, whether to quell insur- rections among her own people or to guard against invasion from our side of the line — that would nev- er, for a momebt, give him the slightest uneasi- ness. Whenever the honor of the country, by an injury inflicted on a single member of it, may re- quire us to resort to a war, though the beginningof it may be attended with a few disaster, he had no apprehension b«t, after a few months, we may be able to impress on England the temerity of forcing us into this alternative." InTestments in a$;riculture not uniiro- fitable. There are many persons of good estate, mer- chants, mechanics, prrrfessional men, and men with salaries in various public or private situations, who have spare cash for investment. For the last ten or fifteen years persons of this description have in- vested th'eir money in various ways. Some have invested in bank stock ; and where these institu- tions have boon well managed, their capital ha-^ been preserved, and a regular income has been de- rived. Others have invested in manufacturing es- tablishments ; and in a majority of the cases the capital has been either sunk in whole or in part, or at tiie best produced little income : still worse has it been for those who have risqued besides the capital they possessed an additional amount on their naked credit. Others have hugged their mo- ney to their bosoms, putting it out at u.^e only where they were sure of abundant sucurity and fin increase that should gain cent, per cent, in two, three, or at farthest half a dozen years; while oth- ers, not less avaricious but much less shrewd, have lent out their money at usury, and lost the whole from their eagerness to grasp more profits than safe security would give them. All these have been the methods of various in- vestments. If we could induce gentlemen ofthcse classes to turn their attention to aimther mode of investment, we really think we should do the conn- try quite aa much service as does the man who makes " two spears of grass and two blades of c rn grow where but one grew before.'" We believe there can he no more profitable method of invest- ment, than the turning of cash into the jiurchase and cultivation of the soil, provided the proper sys- tem and method is pursued. To effect this object the exliausting cultivation will not answer. No pleasures of gain can be derived to any person trom sucii a cultivation. But the renovating principle applied either to worn out lands or lands possessing the elements of fertility, but requiring artitieial iflanngcment to bring their latent powera into use, will be attended with results that siiall be gratify- ing beyond measure to him who makes the exper- iment. In m.aking investments in land good calculations are wanting. What lias most discouraged prudent calculators from making experiments is tiie expen- sive manner in whicli Ihey have been carried on without producing a corresponding profit. The fault has been that tlie n.an of money usually se- lects a beautiful farm or spot that has already been highly cultivated, paying something for fancy be* yondtbe real value of the land. He makes h'is ex- periment in the most expensive manner : perhaps he procures his seeds, his trees and plants from a region not adapted to his soil or climate. He un- dertakes to direct in some new course which he hflp read of, without ascertaining tlie fact that thi^ course should be applied to ground of entirely a different nature : ma}' be lie sows and plants at tlie wrong season, or he applies his seed tor a crop in a sandy soil that should be attempted only on a claycy^or heavy soil. In these and in many other ways he misapplies expense and labor; and the upshot of tlie matter is, that, afYer expending much tin?e, labor and money, he obtains so poor a return that the growing productions of the earth become to him an object of disgust. His eye revolts from tlie sight as he looks on the growth of luxuriant fields ; and he looks upon the pursuit of the farm- er as unprofitable and degradi«g. Now there is a possibility, a probability — nay, we believe an absolute certainty, to every man of sense who wishes to apply five hundred, one thou- sand, or ten thousand dollars to the business of farming, that his success may be equal to liis best anticipations and wishes. Instead of buying at a great expense premises that have already been brought to their best production, let him follow such an example as that of Judge Bud on the Al- bany barrens : let kim begin his work of renova- tion aright; and good calculations will enable him to pay all expense as he goes along, and in the course of eight, ten, or adozen revolving seasons, increase the value of his premises double, treble, and fourfold. We are quite confident this may be accomplished even where the outlay is all cash, and all the work upon tJie land is hired, when tlie pri- ces of agricultmal produce shall be as mucii de- pressed as they are at the present lime. But to ensure such a result t'lere must he good calcula- tions and good management throughout. We were pleased casually to learn a few days since that the Hon. Icijabod Bartiett, a great portion of whose time is now, and has lor years been taken up in a most laborious practice as an advocate at the bar, and who, as yet, has no ^* bet- ter half to share with him either the pains or plea- sures of a life of vicissitude and care, lias under- taken the experiment of improving the soil and re- alizing how ** good and how pleasant it is," under his own direction and with his own means, to see the barren waste becoming a iVuitful field. In no part of the interior country is tlie business of pro- fitable tarming better understood than it is in the towns in the near vicinity of Portsmouth ; and Mr. Bartiett has living examples about him in the pro- ductions of the Pierce and March farms in Green- land, and in some choice farms and fields nearer to him in Portsmouth, teaching him tliat he will not encounter as great risque of losing the capital in- vested in and upon the soil as he might encounter in a factory company at Great Falls with a capital of a million of dollars ! The operations of Mr. Bartiett, we understand, are at present upon a spot of cold swamp meadow land that has hitherto produced but little, and that little an inferior species of ha}'. There are hund- reds and thousands of acres of similar cold mead- ows in New England, from which *' meadow hay" as it is called, is annually taken. Withont im- provement for fifty and a hundred years, much of tiiis land has annually produced less and less of a continually growing inferior kind of hay fur cattle. A greatdeal of this hay is wortli little but for litter in stables and yards to catcli the droppings of cattle and make manure: some ol it has become of so little value as to be abandoned in the field by the farmer. Mr B. has commenced tl^e v.'orkon his se- lected spot b}- ditching and draining; and to thi.s lie is adding the use of a sub-soil plough of his own invention. A first team turns over the surface mould, and a second team fellows with the aub-soil plough, loosening and stirring the pan without bringing it to the surface. The next furrow of surface mould is turned upon the loosened pan of the preceding, and ihu?^ a space is left for an entire drainage of the water f;:Iling and standing upon the surface. This is an operation whicli has been found in Europe to increase the crops upon the land more than equal to the application of the great- est quantity of forcing stimulant manures of itself But another operation of Mr. B. which com- mends itself to the attention of all farmers who know how to appreciate the value of manures, liv- ing in the vicinity of cities and villages, is tlie me- thod he pursues for obtaining the requisite quanti- ty of stimulant to be applied to his cold meadow after it has undergone the improvement which has just been described. He has employed persons and teams during the last winter to clear the vaults of privies, and has obtained more than fifty cart- bucks of material, every load of wliich undoubt- edly will be worth five loads of such manure as is commonly purchased from the stables. The busi- ness of clearing these privies is not, after all, so "dirty work" as many genteel persons who would think the ordinary work of the farmer degradin*'-. are sometimes engaged in. In crowded cities the cleaning out and taking away the contents of pri- vies and the filth that otherwise collects about compact habitations, is a work of necessity. With- out it, a malaria would be produced, causing pre- m,aturc death to the inhabitants. Laborers who engage in the apparently unpleas- ant business of taking away the filth of cities, and persons annoyed with receptacles of filth constant- ly near their dwellings, will find that the frequent use of quick lime will so entirely neutralize its ef- fects as to do away all unpleasant odur, and the matter may becarriecito any distance in close wag- ons or carts, with very little inconvenience. In that state wiiich the matter is left by the operation of the quick lime it will become a most valuable manure. For the last two years there has been in opera- tion in the city of New York, an extensive estab- lishment similar to those which have existed longer in the cities of Loudon and Paris, by which im- mense masses of offensive matter are converted in- to stimulating manures. These manures are made portable, so as to be readily conveyed in boxes or barrels to any distance. They are condensed into such power that a single tea spoonful of the mat- ter will have a greater effect on almost any grow- ing crop than a full barn shovel full of the common manures. In their manufactured state these ma- nures are entirely innoxious, and may be transpor- ted with even less danger and risque than a casit of lime. The solid mauuracture furnished in New York is called Psudrctte^ and the liquid matter U- ratc^ deriving their names probably from the French who first invented the articles, and who are emi- nent for bringing into use wliat other nations throw away. The establisliments for manufacturing Poudrctie and Urate will be of great value as well in effectu- ally cleansing crowded cities as in furnishing the means for increasing the agricultural products of tlie farming districts near them. Thousands of tons of the filth which is discharged into the rivers and waters adjacent to the cities through common sewers, as well as the vast quantities exposed in the neighborhood of living human beings until it has passed through the several processes of decay, will hereafter with little inconvenience be convert- ed into means for fructifying our motiier earth. — Let it not be said that every new generation fails to grow wiser tlian that which has preceded it. Variety of Ploughs, Try them! St. Johnsbury, It. M irck 20, 15-iO. Hon. Isaac Hill, — Sir — We take the liberty to send you one of our breaking up ploughs with wheel and coulter ; and request that you will al- low it to be used upon your farm, or cause it t6 be used by some of your best farmers the present Spring The interest you have taken in the agri- cultural cause is our apology for troubling you with this instrument. We liave for many years been engaged in the manufacture of ploughs, somewhat extensivel}', and the modification sent you has giv- en very general satisfaction. Should you, sir, find it superior to those kinds heretofore used in your vicinity, as it probably will bo at least in strength and DUKABiJ.iTV, we shall be happy to supply any orders which it may be fV-r the interest of your far- mers to make. You will please, sir, accept this plough for your own use, when it shall have been tested by those whom you choose to let try it, and we will thank you at some future time to inform us of your own and tlieir opinions of its merits. It may be proper to remark that this is but a fair sample of the quality of our ploughs, which are on sale, and not made specially for exhibition. We are, sir, with much regard, Your obedient servants, E. & T. FAIRBANKS, & Co. O" With the above letter came a beautiful sward plough, which we intend to try in the same field with the old breakingr up plough that we have had in use for five years, manufactured by Mr. Badger of this town, which cost ^~ti, and with one or both of the sward ploughs presented to us by Messrs. Prouty- and Co. of Boston. And we hereby in- vite Q.ny of our farming friends who can find con- - venient access to us to try and compare these ploughs in a fair field or either of them, which they can do at any time we are not using them elsewhere. Tlie reputation of Messrs. Fairbanks' St. Johns- bury Plough stands very high, we find on inquiry, wherever they have been used. The appearance of the plough they have sent us indicates that this will do superior work. Another Present. — Messrs. Reuben Martin & Co. of the Iron Foundry have just presented us a fine Seed Ploigh, the pattern of which was THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 63 lirought here last fall from Deerfield, Mas- sachusetts. This particular pattern is adapted to intervale or alluvion grounds, and is said to go deep and turn the already broken ground over so completely as hardly to leave a trace by which the furrows can be counted. Froiu the specimen of ploughing when first ex- hibited here, we are inclined to the opinion that ns a seed plough this will equal in value almost any other. Our neighbors who wish it may also have an opportunity to make trial of this. Messrs, Jiahtix & Co. also have sward and breaking up Ploughs of the Prouty and Mears pat- tern for sale at the Foundry. Cai'den and Field Vegetables. Tlic PiiiUiih'.pliia Pole Bean, which is the most prolific bean we have ever seen, may be planted in warm land as early in May as shall be safe from the risque of frost. The pole may be eight and ten feet high on rich ground. These are of a species resembling the white Cranberry, only more flat. If the hills are four feet apartihe foliage running on the [foles will nearly cover the ground. The ground should be made mellow with ploughing and rich with manure. The Red Globe Manuel Wurizel and the t'rcnrh Sugar Beet will best grow on rich and warm mel- low ground, v/ell prepared with the plough ; if a small quantity of stimulating manure shall be spread along the furrow or drill in which they are planted covered Uji with Soil, it will be all the better. The roots of these beets grow about half out' of the ground and sometimes to a great size. The}' arc excellent food for cattle ; and Sir Hum])hrey Davy, according to analysis, proves that they contain more nntrinirnt th.an carrots. For the field they should be planted about the same time as Indian corn. The Early Blood Beet in common use is best for the garden nnd for family use. They may be sow- ed early in May in drills from twelve to twenty in- ches apart. The griuind should be well manured and trenched deep to gi.e field for the roots. The Carrot will grow well Ih ground prepared as for Mangel Wiirtzel. When raised in the field the soil should be well pulverized, and the rows will be most convenient at eighteen inches apart — or if you would pass them with the plough, two feet asunder. The ridges maybe prepared as for the sugar beet, after a spreading over the ground an application of good manure in the covered fur- row. Rvta Baga will grow well in any light soil pre- pared as for carrots : sow deep, so that when the plants appear they will have strength to resist the turnip fly and other minute insects. Let the seed not be stinted if sowed by hand — the extra plants may be afterwards thinned. In rich ground where the rows .are two feet distant and the plants twelve inches apart, the growth of the toj* will cover the s\irfaoe. 9«)w from the first to the tenth of June. The Cu-mnwn Einrlish Turnip may be sown from April to the middle of July, for early or late crops, on light moderately rich soil. There are several kinds of Turnips recently introduced from Europe that are said to be a Hue acquisition to New Eng- land : of these there are several kind.i of Hybrid Turnips— of richer qirvlity in appearance, and of greater excellence for keeping in the Spring. We know not the particular management of these tur- nips ; but presume they will grow on ground well prepared aa fur Ruta 15aga turnips ; and as they come from a mililer and more humid climate, to their growth should be given the best parbof the ser.son. The Union, of late seasons, has been more diffi- cult to bring to perfection the farther north we go, or the more distant from the seaboard. The blight and mildew for the lew last seasons have done the crops essential injury. Here salt in small quanti- ties strewed over the ground will help the onion 'growth Onions, it is believed, will grow best on ground where they have been produced for a suc- cession of seasons. The ground need not be ploughed dee[i every year : fine manure should be acratehed in witli the harrow or iron rake. The onions had best be sowed as early as the ground can be properly prepared for them. They may be sowed in drills or rows from twelve to eighteen in- ches apart : If sown broadcast, they will be more difficult of cultivation. The silver skin onion is said to be the surest crop, and keeps the best. Parsnips may be sowed on ground prepared as for carrots, and about the same seasons of year. They will thrive well only in good ground well prepared. Radishe.t may be ^own every fortnight from the first budding in hot b^s through the summer. 3^hey re(|uire a mixed soil of sand, garden loam, and a small quantity of stable manure, well pul- verised. In such land they will grow brittle and tender. Peppers siiould be brought forward in the season as early as possible. The plants may be taken up and fi.xeri in a rich soil early in Juna in hills two feet apart. Melo7is should be sown in April of May. The various kinds should be sown at so great a distance as not to intermix. It is said, if the seeds are soa- ked in a decoction of tobacco and water twenty- four hours, they will be protected froni bugs. Cucxmhers may be planted early in May to the first of June, in hills four feet apart, both for the general croji and for j)i«kling. The ground should be made rich with vegetable mould and good yard manure. Thi"ri> should not be more than two thrif- ly plants in a hill ; and these should be watered with pool water in dry weather. Tobacco dust and soot are said to drive away the yellow fly. Lettuce makes an excellent sallad : it will spring up spontaneously and grow in almost any rich gar- tien. A little seed sown early, and continued from April to September, will furnish this article the greater part of Summer. It is produced still earli- er in hot beds. (Jrafting Fruit Trees. The season returns when our tittention is turned to the value of a good orchard. We have hereto- fore adverted to the great gains made from apple orchards on and near the seaboard ; and it is wor- thy of continued notice that a good fruit tree will yield nearly as much money from sixty to a hun- dred miles in the interior, as they do on the very borders of the largest towns. The orchard-farms in Lexington, West Cam- bridge, Watertown, &c. near Bo.ston, that give a profit annually which will pay the investment of five hundred dolkirs an acre for the apple crop, do not yield ajiples alone. Tha orchard itself is cul- tivated (and highly cultivated for the advantage of the trees) with a view to as great crop of vegeta- bles, grain or grass, as though the apple trees were not upun the ground. Now it is evident that fruit, especially apples, maybe raisrd as much to profit far in the interior as at the places which produce their five hundred and a tTiousand barrels in a year. The greater por- tion of bearing trees is less than twe«ty years of age from the seed, and hardly ten years from the engrafting of the scions. \.i we are getting into the " sere and yellow leaf" of life, the time po.-ses so much more rapid to the aged than to the young, that it seems bat a moment from the period when the scion is inserted to the day of generous bear- ing. No man is too old to plant an apple tiee. The 3'oung most assuredly have every inducement to cultivate an orchard with all the various fruits; for they may live long enough to enjoy the whole bearing time of the trees they shall plant. If, as the sage declares, " he who makes two spires of grass grow where but one grew before is a benefactor to his country," how much less so is he who makes twenty dolliars worth of fruit grow in a year, on a tree where nothing grew before, or changes the sour Crab to the BttJdwin or Sapsavine, the wildliiig Pear to the Cartlett or Udall's Early, or 1 he Canada Plum to the Green Gage? For two months from this time sciiins may be set. By se- lecting a portion of the liiiibs of large trees many scions may be set and scarcely interrupt the ordi- nary cr'ip of apples; when these have attained to the growth of one or two years, the original limbs may bo gradually displaced ; and the whole tree in a few year.-:, with proper attention to pruning, will become a bearer. Trees but recently taken from the nursery may be graftt-d on the smaller limbs; and if done in a proper manner, the graft will so adapt itself to the stock that tlie point where the}' are joined c.Tn be hardly discovered. In the last volume of the Monthly Visitor we noticed the efforts and the success of Mr. Joseph PiNNro, jr. of Hanover, N. H. in introducing in that vicinity many kinds of the very best fruits a- dapted to this climate. We then had the pleasure of tasting and eating some twenty difterent kinds of apples raided on his own premises, descriptions of which we presented. For the uppgr region of Connecticut river to the distance of more than two hundred miles, there is no individual who so well understands the business of grafting and wijo .at the same time is aljle to furnish as great a varie- ty of excellent fruit. Of Apples, Pears, Plums, and Cherries, he has nearly two hundred varieties, comprising almost every delectable fruit which has Rs yet been introduce*! into New England. He has several excellent kinds of Apples and Pears, which arc natives, and to which he has given the names. Mr. Pinneo during lire Spring ono year ago set ^0,000 grafts in the vicinity of Hanover ; and of those warranted he lost only about ten per cent. During the last six or seven years he has set not less than 123,000 grafts. Having devoted much time to the different modes of grafting and bud- ding, and in ascertaining the best materials and proportions for a grafting composition, he will be a safe person to be employed extensively in this business. The terms of Mr. Pinneo are two dollars and fifty cents for every hundred scions warranted to take and grow : for a less number tlian one hund- red, three cents per scion. Grafting is said to be a business that almost any ingenious person can per- form ; but to do it to the best advantage, and have them live, requires experience and close observa- tion. Very many scions fail or never do well on account of some deject in the operation. Good judgment in selecting scions and such a composi- tion as will adhere, is of much more importance than is generally supposed. Two years ago, Jacob A. Potter, Esq. of this town put into fifteen or twenty trees upon ouv premises softie two hundred grafts of ditJtrci.' kinds. In almost every case enough lived upc i the tree to answer our purpose. We now want him or some other man equally ingenious, to prune these trees, and insert a kvi other grafts of the same kind in each tree where there is a deficiency. We dislike very much to see different kinds of ap- ples or pears upon the same tree. Several entire orchards of thrifty trees we have seen wh'ite eve- ry tree bore Baldwiij;3, a most excellent apple for late winter and snring use. We can recommend as well our friend Potter as Mr. Pinneo to be a good and safe hand at grafting. He can likewise furnish several excellent varieties of apples from his owngrafting. We have no room the present month to give the names of the two hundred varieties of Apples, Pears, Plums and Cherries which Mr. Pinneo can furnish. The list may be given hereafter. Mr. Pinneo informs us he has a large variety of sciQ,ns cut for grafllng the present season : they are gAr- erally taken from bearing trees in an orchard of his own grafting. Orders directed to him at Plan- over, N. H. can lie answered to almost any part of the country. For the Farmer';* .Moiiltily Vieitor. Observations on Optical Phenomena, with ej[plunatorj' remains. Hon. Isaac Hill, — Diar Sir — Somewhat re- cently an article met my eye in your valuable and very useful paper of Feb. 28, concerning an " Op- tical Phenomenon" respecting Gunstock Moun- tains, in the town of Gilford in this State, (N. H.) which was of ahighly amusing and interesting na- ture, as niigfit be expected from the pen of an in- genious and vigilant observer. The fact that the summits of those mountains were observed by you, sir, from a station in Main Street in Concord, on the morning of Jan. 14, the present year, from which point they had never before iieen seen, in- dicates that tiie state of the atmosphere was unu- sually peculiar at that time. But, sir, before I offer any opinion as to the cinisc, I shall place your ob- servation side Inj side with some of the same na- ture made by the sage of Monticello. Mr. Jeifersoii tells us in his^'Noteson Virginia," that there is a solitary mountani distant from Mon- ticello about forty miles off" in the south, whose na- tural shape is that of a regular cone ; but, by the effect of looming, it sometimes subsides almost to- tally in the horizon ; sometimes it rises more acute and elevated ; sometimes it is heinispiierlcal ; and sometimes its sides are perpendicular, its top flat, and as broad as its base. In short it assumes at times, the most whimsical shapes, and all these, perhaps, successively in the same morning. The blue ridge of mountains comes into view, in the northeast, at about 100 miles distance, and approa- ches in a direct line, passing by witiiin 20 miles, and goes off fto the southwest. This phenomenon, begins to show itself on these mountains at about 50 miles distance, and continues beyond that as far as they are seen. I remark no particular state, ei- ther in the weight, moisture, or heat of the atmos- phere, necessary to produce this. The only con- stant circumstances are its appearance in the mor- jalng only, and on objects at least 40 or -50 nxiles cnstant. Refraction will not account for it. That only changes the proportions of length and breadth, base and altitude, preserving the g«neral outlines. Thus it may make a circle appear ellipticaJ, raise or depress a cone, hut by none of its laws as yet 64 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. developed, will it make a circle appear a square, or « cone a tpliere— 1 lius far Mr. jF.fFERSON. Respecting- the observations of 111. s truly great man and frielid of liuman rights, 1 would remark, that such observations ought to be made With cau- tion. If we irive our imagination an irif/i it is apt to take an ell, and in phenomena so romantic as those mentioned by Mr. Jefferson, it would seem, in most cases, to require at least two or more sim- ultaneous observers from the same station, to make it certain that there is no j/lusion or rff lusiuu atten- ding the observation, and that the nature of such mountains, either temporary or permanent, or the state of the atmosphere in which they are envelop- ed, is really different from the same in other places where no such appearances have been observed. The White Jlountains, when, viewed from sea, have frequently been mistaken for rloxds, and it is possible that clouds near the horizon have some- times been mistaken for distant mountains. Aamitting Mr. Jefferson's observations to be rig- orously exact, I shall offer an explanation of the cause of the appearances unde-r consideration, but in doing which 1 shall not give so many reasons as were proposed to be given in a law case I have heard of. A lawyer told a judge on the bench, that he had a dozen reasons to offer why a certain person did not attend court: in the first place, said he, the man is (lead. — Sujicif, said the judge; that one reason is sufiicient, you need not give the oth- ers. So in P/iiliisujjIiij, it is a principle not to give any more reasons than what are necessary to ex- plain th>: phenomena. Respecting the observations at Monticello, any one who has looked througli akaleidoscope (an op- tical iiistrumunt made with three glass sides, and partly filled with small pieces of glass) turning it over repeatedly, will have an idea of the cause of the various changes in the appearance of the mountain observed by Mr. Jetterson, for as the fragments of glass sliding over one another in the kaleidosciipe cause the different forms and col- ors, so a similar displacement of the different strata of the air and vopors surrounding and rcslin" on the mountain, cause the " wliimsi- cal shapes" spoken of If it be asked what causes particles of air to change places, the answer is, heat and cold, in the same manner as the particles of water change places in a kettle huug over the fire, where the hottest continually rises, and the coldest sinks, especially before the water boils. Reflected rays of light cause objects to appear out of their real places, in any direction : refraction el- ecatcs Ihero, and more at some times and places than others, but it is hardly proper to say refrac- tion depresses an object, though Mr. Jefferson says it does. The observation at Concord, respecting Gilford mountains, was not encumbered with ichimsical circumstances, but was a happy detection of Na- ture displaying her powers in a plain and natural waif. It presents a problem in optics which re- quires no rule nor reason for its solution than what depends on refraction, which is sometimes greater and sometimes less than its medium state. It is caused l)y the rays of light passing through a dense stratum of thi- atmosphere, which may be demon- strated by the familiar experiment of placing a cent or other mark in an empty bowl or basin, and mov- ing backwards until the mark disappears behind the rim. Tiien let a person pour in water, and the mark will rist- into view,like the mountain in the humid atmosphere. DUDLEY LEAVITT. Meredith, April 17, 1840. Foreign Wars. From the London Marklane Express of March 16, we extract the following interesting intelli- fence received over-land from Bombay, down to an. 3), I84U. CHia A. —Declaration of liar.— On Wednes- day intelligence reached London (which was pub- lished exclusively in a second edition of Tlic Times) that the Governor-General of India has, inthe name of the British Government, declared war a- gainst China. This news is contained in dispatch- es from Bombav, dated January 31, and was brought to Marseilles on the 7th instant, by the Volcano, Captain Volgcr. It is furtlier stated that the most extensive preparations were making in the Indian harbours. His Lordship had advertised for 40,000 tons of shipping for the transport of troops to China, 14,000 of which were to be suppli- ed by Calcutta, and llie rest by Madras and Brjm- bay. The expedition was to rendezvous at, and sail from, Calcutta. Seven regiments quartered in this last Presidency had been ordered to prepare for embarkation, and the whole expedition was to con- sist of 16,000 men. Its destination was not known, but it was deemed probable that it would be direct- ed against Canton, or some other point on the coast, of which forcible jiossession would be kept until the Chinese Government should be brought tu reason. The last accounts from Canton are dated December 8. The Emperor had addressed to Gov- ernor Lin a decree prohibiting the importation of all British goods, and the trade witii Cliina was conse- quently at an end. Tlie Americans continued to pursue theirtradc unmolested, and their ships were arriving and departing as usual, 'j'lie intelligence received in Bombay Irom our Indian po.-scssions was of a satisfactory nature. Our army had stop- ped in its triumphant march through Cabul, on hearing of the advance of the Russians against Chiva, and remained in quiet possession of Ghuz- ni, Kclet, and our other conquests in Affghanistan. Tiio new king of Lahore evinced the most friendly disposition towards the British. Lord Keane, hav- ing been obliged by illness to resign the command of our forces in Cabul, had returned to Bombay. On his passage through Lahore he was too ill to pay his obeisance to the King; and liis .Majesty, on hearing of his situation, waited upon liini, sat a long time by his bed-side, conversing witli him in theniost friendly manner, and treating him during his stay in his capital with the utmost distinction. Th? Bombay papers say, " The Chop declaring trade with Britain stopped forever, and which ap- peared in the Register of last week, is meant to be acted on, and stringent measures are already in force. 1st. Cotton in bales (raw; and a variety of Straits, Indian, and British staples ore now as illegal to importas opium. 2ad. All the remaining Parsees, Moormee, and any one who claim British protection, are to be thrust out of Canton this day. 3d. The licensed passage-boats are entirely inter- dicted from entering Canton river. 4th. 'I'he pro- hibition of imports extends to Macao, and three mandarins of rank are on their way tu enforce it. 5th. A coadjutor to the Yumchai (n Tartar) has ar- rived." The Chinese are making vigorous prepa- rations for contest. The last accounts from Macao state the Governor of Macao, at the head of a body of troops, inspected the forts, and ordered a doub- le supply of ammunition to be senttoeach- Num- bers of Chinese troops have landed in Macao. Remarks. ]t would not indeed be surprising to witness the simultaneous breaking out of war (like that of tiie cholera in 1832) among the great nations of the world. A declaration of war by England against the Celestial Empire is a new event under the sun; and from the mutual jealousy of Russia and Great Britain each towards the other on account of the enormous strides of conquest in |he *' far East" taken by both, it would not be surprising if war in earnest shall commence. The Chinese empire, wh:ch tor many jears has avoided foreign inter- course, has been brought from motives of interest to untierstand what foreign trade is ; she under- stands something about American intercourse — . she knows what Great Britain and Russia are a- bout to the West and North ;' and she has states- men who know how to take advantage of the re- lations and causes of contention betwcca distant powerful nations. How astonishing would it be, if reprisals upon the American llag in the Chinese seas should be simultaneous with invasion and war by the British along our Northern frontier ! Deep as is the inter- est of b .th nations to preserve peace, there have been cases in former times where dissimulation had planned hostile measures for execution at dis- tant p'Mutslong before any cloud of war appeared above the horizon. We, however, c.iniiul believe that tlie present admiaistra.ion of r.ngland,at whose head stands a more liberal Queen than any civili- zed monarchy ever knew, should entertain towards this country any otiier desire than thir preservation of tliose amiable relations so important to the wel- fare of both nations. Fdf llie I'juiiier's AlMnllily VK^imr. Rocktveed as food for Hogs. 1 lately observed a pile of rockweed lying in a shed near where were kept three thrifty looking pigs. On inquiring its use, I was told by the own- 9r that he used it to feed his hogs. His mode of preparing their food is this : he takes about equal quantities of rockweed and potatoes and boils them; putting into the pot or boiler fiist a layer of pota- toes and then a layer of rockweed until the vessel is filled. By boiling the rockweed it is made len- der, while at the same time it seasons the potatoes. The hogs eat the mixture freely, and what perhaps is the best test of its usefulness, thrive upon it. The same person informed me that the mother of these pigs was kept upon rockweed alone the whole of last winter. .She seemed fond of it, and was kept in good order. Perhaps the idea of its b<;ing tiBcd in this way, is not as new to you as it is to me ; and that you can furnish some sugges- tions respecting the best mode of using it, and of its effects. If the article is really as good for food as my informant seemed to think, many farmers upon the seaboard might turn swine breeders with advantage. Calais, Maine, Jan. 20, 1840. Speed the Improvements of Agriculture I A farmer who had. perused our Monthly Visitor from its commencement meeting the Editor in the street the other day, said if he had the power to compel every working man in the State to sub- scribe and pay for our paper for his own benefit a- lone, he could not do each and all of them a better service than do it for so trifling a tax as it would impose upon them. Now although we are so much ! opposed to all the invasion of the rights of others as not to ask them to resort to compulsion for our es- pecial advantage, we do ask the friends of .4gricul- 1 ture, all of whom who have read the Visitor must I be our friends, to If nds us their aid to enlarge our I acquaintance with the Farmers of New England. I Without expense of postage the Post Masters in ■every town will be willing at all times to send us I the names of subscribers and remit the payment, j Other gentlemen than Post Masters in the several towns of tliis State would give us great aid by so- : liciting and forwarding subscribers to commenco with the January number of tlie present year : pay- j ment might be made through the Representatives ' of the several towns when the Legislature meets in IJune. The back numbers will be found nearly or quite as interesting for iheir new informatioa as 1 the current and succeeding numbers. ! [n'Sets of the Visitor for the year 1840 may be had at all times on application at the office of the 1 Visitor in Hill's Brick Block, Concord, N. H. Consumption. — Half a pint of new milk, nii.xed with a wine-glass full of the expressed of green horehound, taken every morning, is said to be an effectual remedy for consumption if resorted to in time. One who tried it says, "Four weeks use of the horehound and milk relieved the pains of my breast, enabled me to breathe deep, long, and free, strengthened and harmonised my voice, and restor- ed me to a better state of health than I had been in for years." Our own experience enables us to state that horehound is an excellent specific for a cough or cold. — ^m. Farmer. THE MARIiETS. Tile Culilc iiiaiKel t.l At«! i urn u|» Ut itie in I a die i>t Apill stiioft very niucli upon an average ol llie [ireviotis niontli. At Br(i,.-A(wii, llie sales ot bccl caltle were quick ullhoMt liiurh ailvancf : first qualil>' §7 per hnndied, anil inferii>r } (irailes down Id S'^ 50. VVortiiiit; oxen sold Iroiii $c^0 lo$l 10. ! Cuwfl and calves ^iild quick finni ;>J5 lo 40. ijwiiie — sows at lelall 4^ to ^l. IJarruws5\ to O4. JVew r"rk,..iiinl 14. Genesee Flour is 'ip to S'i per bbl. and tlie supply of ilnur ct all sorts is very tight. A cargo of I wheat for e\i'i..rlaiion pnld at '. t;i cents per bnslo^l. Itvo I ifiMir and Cor eal dull : r>e 57, cern :ii>. oala 33 cla. bush. I "'I'hejeis," s.tys the Jciiinal of t;(iriiiiieice, ••no new lea- I lure ill the nioney market. 'J'he hanks are glad of atl tl;e I short business paper at II per cent, itllls on ICiigland 7^ tii 8 per cent, preiniiini (beloiv p.-\r ) *-'l'lie sales of Cuilon have Ktarled ahead" — prices from G to 9 < eiits per ll>. Tile best indications of ibr currency are tlie DOMESTIC .■,XCHA^OE:S. Philade'pliia ol a Haltiinorb 3 a Rlihniond OJ a dj, Charleston 34 a 4 . Favaiinah 1i a Pi ,'\u5U9ta Jo a 11 .Macon 11 a 12 Mobile _'^ a i\ Sew Orlsans ~i a ^i jNashnlle ' H a IS Miss. tl. n. ."iO a .Arkniisas 40 a Bu'^ti^jty .Ipjil \S. Genesee Hour advanced lo $(i 25. Yel- low corn (ju cts. per bushsl : .Northern "'ats 44 cts. Cotton, sales of low qualities at 8 and 9 cents. Lime 80 cenls perinsk. I'lasler $3 5U per ton. Salt, $3 per tibd. 1 77 per lia!!. Clovci seed. Northern por lli. 1 1 lo 18 : Foreifn 17 to 18. Herds grass $U pet bushel, lied lop to. Hay 73 lo SO pec Jiiiiiilie.l. TIIE EAUIilER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, t MONTHLY NF.WSPAPER, IS PUBLISHKD BY JOHN M. HILL, Hilfs lirick Block, Concord, .'V. //. JAMES BURNS, 3, Water st., Boston, Ms. The Visitor will be issued on the last day of each month. ' Ttie terms will be scventy-.Uve cents a year paynbtc always in ad- oancr. Forall subscrllieriiiess tlianai, Agi nlsivill be allowed a deduction of bj cents each— for all over 24 subscribers on any one hgency I'Ji cenls each will be allowed. I'hila, lor six subscribers four dollars— twelve, eight dollars— eighteen, twelve dollars- twenty-lour, rilteendoilais,willbe remitted. Sinale numbers, twelve and a half cents each. All subscri- bers will coninience with the first number of the year. {K!r Commiuiicationfl by mail, will bB directed t« the Publieliw, er(l, l'^ H. miJj^^iamxsamsiatsuBxaaxnKFnTTmiKiWiit^iUJm'HL .^mj. CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. " Tlwsa who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breasts he has made his peculiar ilepositefnr substantial and genuine jiirft/s. "-Jefferson. VOLUME 2. CONCORD, N. H., MAY 30, 1840. NUMBER THE VISITOM Improved Berkshire Swiiie. Enfield, N. II. May lIUi, 1S40. Hon. Isaac Hii.i., — Esteemed Friind: — I here- with send you a statement conoerninfl; Berkshire Hog-s, upon which I think you may rely for accu- racy. I consider it of great value, and liope you will publish it in your next Visitor. It was writ- ten expressly for that object. Tliose wlio arc desirous of purchasing full blood Berksliire pitjs are advised to look well to thcirlin- eagc. Impositions are frequently practised upon purchasers. H.Tif bloods purchased of our Socie- ty have been denominated full bloods in a few months after the sale. Tl;ree quarter bloods may easily be pahncd upon those who are unacquainted with tliis breed of hogs for full bloods. Wc have taken great pains and have been to .some expense to procure full blood Berkshires and the best in the United Stales. All our Berkshires are from Lossing's stock, or from the Society of Slu.kers Watcrvliet, or of late importations. \Vm. S. Marland, Esq. of Andover, Mass. pur- chased of the Society at Canterbury a pair of full blood Berkshire pigs last spring, which drew the first premium last autumn at the Agricultural So- ciety in Essex or Middlese.x county, Slassachusetts, notwithstanding there were several other Berk- shires presented for exhibition and premium. In all cases as far as our knowledge extends these pigs are spoken of in the highest terms, and those who purchased of us last season arc highly pleased with them. The Societies at Canterbury and Enfield will be able to supply early orders for full bloods, three fourth and half blood pigs. Your friend, CALEB M. DYER. Uj' The Society at Canterbury, N. H. sell tlieir mixed three-fourths blood at $4 each : full bloods $10. Their mixed bloods are excellent, partaking of tlicir; celebrated native breed and of the full blood Berkshire. Fur the Fanitpr's .Mtmliily Visitor. Eerlishire Figs. I have been repeatedly requested to write the liistory of tlie Bi'rksliirc breed of swine— to pre- sent to the public the identity, statistics, habits, qualities and properties of, the animal ; and 1 now attempt a perforn>ance of that duty from a knowl- edge that the pulilio are liable to imposition from the efforts of the unprincipled, who are willing to j-acrifice the agricultural interest of the country at the shrine of avarice. For instance, the drover collects liis heterogen- eous sv.;arms of animals niidv/oy of the State, com- prising every form from the .llli^utor to the -iiiap- ping Tiiit'e, as they were represented in the col- umrrs of the Cultivator. Passing through Albany, by the*tiine he reaches Hancock mountains, his drove becomes full blooded Berkshires. Though thev may comprise in color nil the tints of the rain- how, yet each is the infallible mark of tlie thor- ough breed, so that by the time he reaches Boston, he has pnrcliased Ihem from my yard ; and of this fact the reckle.ss speculator hesitates not to show my certificate ! All this passes well v.'ith the sim- ple and the unsophisticated, on whom its effects are seen in the quaint assertion that "our folks have tried the Berkshires, and they arc no better than other liog."i."- Hundreds of tijnes has this story been repeated to me by persons who have never seen a Berkshire nor even a fraction of one. But what shall we say of the wealthy, influen- tial citizen armed with science, and who can dis- course eloquently upon the merits of animals, who with the fascinations of apparent indifference and disinterestedness, palms off' his white, half black and white counterfeits at enormous prices ! Some have traced the genealogy of their pigs to Noah'sark, and found them to be "the exact coun saved in tliat vast menagerie. as the other) and may thus explain the purify of tlieir white iSerkshires — white being an emblem of innocence, although I have never conceived white to be an emblem of Berkshire pigs, save in their extremities. A ppeculutor in the western part of this State is figuring largely before the public W'ifh what he is pleased to christen "Improved Berksh re pigs.'" — Of this mushroom breed I know nothing inore than can be learned from the jiuffs of their master. The Berkshire pigs brought to this country in the spring of 1S:!"2 by Sida Hawes, Esq., a retired Eng- lish gentleman who purchased Judge Spencer's seat three miles from Albany, N. Y. are animals that have never had or needed any such adverb. Mr. Hawes, associated with several other gentle- men in and about Reading, Berkshire county, Eng- land, had, by a series of unweaiied experiments and investigations for upwards of twenty years pre- vious to his coming to this country, brought the full blooded Berkshire to beconic the proud, noble animal he now appearf?, as he waddles forth supe- rior in svmmetrv, and himself conscious of the ad- miration he every wliere excites : he exists as the I'loble monument of what the plastic hand of culfi- vation can efiect upon th,at otherwise uncouth, fil- thy and devouring cannibal — an improvement made not by mercenary speculators, but hymen of ample fortunes, whose only object has been to promote the great and vital interests of agriculture as the firmbase for the general prosperify and happiness of man. I was the Cn^lto procure the breed of Berkshires from Mr. Hawes in l^'i'i. These pigs soon attract- ed general admiration. In lf~lvl and '3.5 they were first introduced to Ohio and Kentucky ; and since that period 1 have sent moie or less of them to ev- ery State in the Union. I understand they took premiums in many counties of the two first named States last autumn. T'lere the full bloods have heen obtained and continued without alloy. They have not been suftcred to run wut by breeding with those near akin ; nor iiavo they been let to run with other hogs, of v. born they v/ill soon imbibe their habits, and ulti'uately degenerate to a point of equilibrium between the tv/o. In those States I have never heard of but one expression, and that of unqualified approbation. Mr. Hawes' family becoming discontented in this country, he returned with them to England in 1838, anil he has been over once since. Through his agency I have procured five fresh imi>ortations of the animal since 1832— the last in the fall of Color. The Berkshire pigs imported as above are princijially black, with the ends of the hairs tino-ed with red or brown, giving them a beautiful briilianl changeable appearance in the sun, some- tiling like velvet of that color. Mr. Hawes informed uie that he had never known a full blood to have less than three white feet, some white in the face or end of the nose, and occasion- ally white hair interspersed over the whole sur- face ; the end of the tail invariably white. There is, however, occasionally a slight variation from the aforesaid color. Some are much less brilliant with sandy coats and hair sliglitly inclined to curl. Pius were imported from Beikshirc forty years a'.-o of nearly the same description of color, but far inferior in point of rolundily »nd other essential points of symmetry. , All the stock procured from Mr. Hawes which I have bred, and all the full bloods procured through anotlicr channel, have been essentially the same in point of color. Four yeans ago I saw a boar that the owner in- formed me he had purchased from on board a ship for a full blood. His form and color were right. — Being anxious to ^et a fresh cross, I took Mr. Hawe.- to look at him : he also thought his appear- ance was right. As a test he said I might put him to one of mv full blood sows, which I did. At the litter, two of her pigs were entirely black — three all white — the balance Berkshires. Mr. Hawes pronounced him a counterfeit. I have been much surprised at the attempts which have been made through the columns of the Albany Cultivator to break down color as a test. — terparts of the two \nd olhei-s, I presume, have traced their stocks to ^ the garden of Eden Cas one can be as oasily traced \ One asserts he has been credibly informed thatthis breed in England has as much white as black, and that the color imported by Mr. Hawes v/as merely accidental. Another extensive speculator inform- ed me, as an apology for full bloods of any color, that it was from a particular method of breeding them in England. I should very ir.uch question the ability of pealed sticks to produce the effect thev might have had on Jacob's catile. There is an imporled sow in the vicinity of Al- bany all white, and there are three clher.s of differ- ent strains of about as much white as black. Two of these I have seen; and from their general ap- pearance I should call them counterfeits. I am informed that a planter from Kentucky purchased a male from a gentleman on Long Isl- land entirely white from a stock he had imported for Berkshires. This male stands in that State at h'gh prices. I iiavc seen one bred in .\lbany seven eighths Berkshire, purely white, retaining, all the Berk- shire points. Such will run immediately into the old stock. I have never met with a pure black Berkshire pig, though there are many advocates for them be- t'nre the public. I saw an Englishman last year a- bout fifty years of age, who was emigrating to Up- per Canada, who bad Durham cattle, some sheep and two pias. The color of his pigs agreed with that of Mr. Hawes' importation. He iniormed me that it was the only standard color for the full bloods, and that it was extremely difticult if not im- possible for a stranger to get full bloods. He pro. nounced mine pure and very superior. I fear that our advocates for new strains will soon strain the full bloods from the country', or at least overrun it with a spurious mixed breed at the ex- ptinse of the pure. We luave several other gentlemen residing ihHiis vicinity, formerly of Berkshire, England, who al- so testify that the different importations of Mr. Hawes agree with the full bloods of England in point of color. All these circumstances combine to make it as- tonishing to me that the color of all the pigs brouuht and sentto thiscountry at five difl'erent pe- riods during the last eight years shoulij "happen" to be within a few shades of the same color. I have observed that in a few generations as the pio-s recede from the originals, they lose something of the bright glossy appearance or lustre that dii- tinguish the imported ones, and a slight change to something lighter. This I attribute to tlieir leav- ing the humid almoiiphere of England for the dry clear air of the interior of onr ccuntry. It is evidently the interest of those who have high-fed pigs of difi'erent strains from entire white to entire black to destroy the well known and long established color of thv pure kind in order to sell their spurious articles at high price-; but in my opinion it would be as easy t? introduce all white or all black leopards. Any gentleman purchasing pigs as Berkshires of any other color than above stated, I think may have just reason to suspect thSir blood. I would advise purchasers in general who are paying high prii'Cs to be a little particular in ascertaining their pedigree, and also to be on their guard ag.ainst imposition in relation to their being imported. I could mention a number of instances where fine looking pigs raised in this city going west have had the degree of "imported' summari- ly conferred on them at Buffalo. Let the vender produce at least his bill of lading, or some other document more than mere asserticn ; and if he proves that they have actually crossed the water, let him give you some ju'oof that they were selec- ted by competent persons. I think a little atten- tion to these points would have a salutary effect in frustrating the ends of imposition. Objections have been made to the Berkshires on account of the supposed black rind : this objection is without foundation, .i^fter a good scald a black scurf or outer coating of the skin comes off, leav- ing a rind not much thicker than paper, much more white and delicate than that of any other swine. Tho pork is sweeter, and the hams much better than those of the old kind of hogs. Size.— Full grown Berkshires are of all sizes from one thousand pounds downwards. The rea- san why thers are »o many varying aiies is thia •5k^#^ ■>Ga."> ^\ \V T7 -^ -= "St — \ V THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Gentleman in England wishing Ic liave small ones for family use have Gelected tlie Gmallestof litters for breeders, and procured purposely a smaller stock, whilst others prefering the large size have used the means vie: versa, and run tliei? slocks up to an almost incredible sizfi. Thig may be done at pleasure. In the autumn of 1833 Mr. Hawes brought me one female and two males unrelated to each other, and also to those of the former importations — one from the town of Newbury, one from Teal and the other from Reading in Berkshire eobnty, Engiaml. These I procured e.xpressly for a new croas. Their color was the same as tlie others, with points ma- terially agreeing. In consequence of some com- plaint about size, M^j.^iJ^wes selected the males from very large ailimals : one of them at fifteen months old measured from end of snout to root of tail six feet five inches, and girted five feet si.x in- ches in common condition ; the other, two months younger, is nearly the same siie. I challenge the United States to produce two animals of their spe- cies of color different from that I have named as a Etandard color for Berkshires, which willcompare at their age with these two in point of size or beau- ty. I have been oftered two hundred dollars for the oldest by Mr. Munson Beacli of Ohio. 1 have a sow parcliaaed from the Shakers of, Watervliet, Albany county, at §150, raised by Mr. Hawes, measuring from end ot nose to root ol tail, six feet and ten inches, and girtii.g five feet ten inches, in breeding order. The Shakers of Watervliet slaughtered fifteen full bloods lastiVU consisting entirely of runts and callings of litter.s, from fiTtecn to seventeen months old. Their average wright was three hundred and fifly-six pounds. One slaughtered at the Shaker village at New Lebanon, two yeiu-s and a half old, weighed, as was judged, between sex'cn.:and eight hundred pounds. Mi. Shaw of P>.ens::elaer county, N. Y. slaughtered one two years old that weighed five hundred and firty-.5ix pounds. I slaughtered one at sixteen months old that weighed four hun- dred pounds. I sold one to Mr. Curd of Le.x-ing- ton, Kentuckj', which he advertises as the " Mas- ter;" he is supposed by good judges to weigh one thousand pounds. Muiison Beach, Esq. of Oliio, has written ir.e that thera had been great numbers slaughtered in that State, half and three quailers bloods, from seventeen to eighteen months old, weighing from four huiulred and fifty, to five Lun- dred pounds. Mr. HstS'es informed me that it was very common for Berkshires to weigli in England eight hundred pounds and lyiwards. Habits. — The habits of tliose animals s.re much more mild and docile than those of other kinds of the great Sv.'inisli family — their ferocity is surpris- ingly softened down. I have never known a sow to eat her pigs — an event that often occurs with other swine. They come to maturity much sooner than the old stock. They are extremely prolific, bearinn- from ten to fil'teen to a litter, and are al- most sure to raise the whole. Some of my own sows and those of my neighbors have raised twen- five pigs per annum fcir succeeding years. When two of these animals of nearly equal size are put together, a desperate conflict will immedi- ately ensue : this will be decided once for all, and the two will not fight a second time. These pigs, if fed at staled periods precisely (as tliey are much more accurate observers of time than mo:it of our wooden clocks) will finish the meal and return to their nests, where they will meditate as gravely and profoundly as judges. The Berkshires improve ei ery breed by crossing. They give lenglli and solidity to the little Chinas, converting that part of the belly v/hich formerly went to lard into strata of lean and solid pork. Thej' give rotundity and beauty to tlie old r^izor backs, inspiring life and vigor througli their_ (Com- paratively dry bones. The sows will of^ii take the boar within three days after tlie pigs have all been removed, which should not bo neglected, as, a few frustrations will smnetimes prevent the sow from taking the boar at all. The young Eeiksliiro pig I CEleem as one of the most beautiful objects in the animal creatida. As he gambols in the sun, his sleek ski-i distended al- most to bursting, as if unable longer to form a bar- rier against ihe genial slreattlB of life, scv they course through tlie miniature veins impatient to tjwellinto the future monster ; he is endowed with an instinct falling but little short of reason, and in some respects far exceeding it. Feeding. — This-should be done with judgment and system. I feed my swine three times a day at stated periods, which they well know to a mo- ment ; and as t'ley expect no feed between meals, they will remain perfectly quiet. They will thrive better in thi.5 way than on twice the quantity of foott given promiscuously, giving them a continual worry. My practice is to put water witli their food in sueli quantity as to compel them to drink for tlie feed. The tendency of such feeding is to make the swine lay quiet until the next feeding. Bkeeijinb time for sows. — I never interfere with the course of nature in admitting the sows to the male farther than to have the litter come in at the proper season, viz: Springer Fall. I have abandoned the long standing opinion that sows never reach their full size for being impregnated young. When the young sow shall not have rea- ched her full strength and maturity, nature which is a great economist in this as in all other things, will diminish the number of pigs accordingly. 1 raised a sow which measured seven feet from end of nose to root of tail, and girt six feet; and slie liad her first Iitler at the age of eleven months, and bore eight pigs. For experiment, a gentleman took two sow pigs of the same litter of equal size and vigor. One was impregnated at tlie age of six months — the other at eighteen months— each hav- ing their regular semi-annual litters At the end of three years the six months sow was the largest and by far the best milker and breeder. 1 have known a number of .similar results. Sows should be kept quiet after pregnancy, with room for exercise and free air and water : they should be separated to prevent crowding or fight- ing. A clover pasture, without disturbance from dogs or other animals, would be preferable. They should be neitlier over-fed nor starved ; lor by the one you may lose the pigs, and by the latter you will have a swarm of ravenous cannibals, which is about as bad as a total loss. Never admit the boar to a sow when she is in a heated state from driving or worrying. Thf. Boar. — The service of the male will he equally good and efficient, and the pigs will attain to their full size, although he may not have gained half his full grown size. lie should not be admit- ted to many sows at fir-st, or at any time, as in this case nature wili become her own executioner. The boar should never go to tlie sow in a warm day, till he shall cool himself in a puddle of water, which ho is sure to do if there shall be one in his yard. I have known instances where neglect of "this precaution has proved fatal to the boar. Not liaving such a reservoir in my yard, I am in the practice of throwing a pail or two of water over them in hot weather. Having done this a few times, when I let the boars out, they would come and lie down to receive the water before they would notice the sow. I would observe tliat I received in October last, per the brig Henry Bell, from Reading, Berkshire, England, for a fresh cross, two males and two fe- males, with colors agreeing with my former stock, entirely unconnected with each other, and also with my former breed. One boar I sent to Mun- son Beach, Esq. of Lebanon, Ohio — one of the sows is in the possession of my neighbor, Z. Standish, Esq. wlio has a number of very fine breeding sows of my former stock, and v.'ill be able to supply his friends abroad with some fine specimens of tlie breed. There was such an increased demand for these animals last season, that I have been at much pains and expense in preparing to meet it again. Gentlemen abroad desiring to obtain them would do well to make an early application to me at No. 253 Washington street, Albany, N. Y. JOHN LOSSING. P. S. The Shakers of Watervliet have a num- ber of fine breeding sows which have been put to my imported boars. Their piggery, for character- istic neatness, decorum, regularity and economy, is surpassed by none in the world. J. L. Draining and Subsoil Ploughing. The value of deep trenching of the soil seems not to be generally understood in this country. In the renovation of lands that have been long culti- vated, there cannot be a doubt that the stirring up the unilcr soil icliPre it Is Itnrd, and the bringing it grntlually upon the surface so fast as a qualifijing stimulant to the grovntl can be furnish c-d in each sea- son of cultivation to be mi:<,ed zcith the inider soil, will be the most elfeclaal method. This principle of cultivation in Europe is Cfperating a vast in- crease in the products of Agriculture. We are not in tliis country far enougli advanced to be able to profit mucli by the system. Yet 'vc do not doubt, if labor should be applied to much ground of little value in under d'raining and subsoil ploughing, it would turn in the end to a great profit. We lately passed by a spot of ground near the rich and beautiful village ef Worcester, Mass. pur- chased about two j'ears since for the use of the In- sane Hospital at that place. The price of the land, from it3 contiguity to the vilbge, was eighty dol- lars the acre: it was a rocky sid'e hill — the upper part of which furnished pasture, and the lower part was a heavy soil through which the cold springs oozed from the surface, producing little or nothing in its natural state. Ditches have been dug on this land at suitable distances for carrying off the water: into these ditches, below where the plougli ever strikes, were placed the many rocks which may well be spared from the ground. The land has been ploughed deep, and after the appli- cation of no very extraordinary quantity of man- ure was laid down to grass. The result is, a pro- duct of two to three tons of excellent hay to the acre. Passing this ground in the rail road cars on the 24lh of April, it might be distinguished from the surrounding grounds b}^ the more forward spring of vegetation. We cannot do our readers a better service than by copying; the following, which v.'e find in the Yankee Farmer, supposed to be From an English Publication. "I am of opinion thatsmall stones form the best filling for drains, both as to efTiciency and perina- manencj', and are the cheapest wherever stones are plentiful. The tile, however, is a very ready mode, especially in clay districts. It is painful to see the practice, still very preva- lent, of filling drains too near the surface, either with stones or tiles ; for it is obvious that the deep- er drains (not to exceed three ftel)draw better than the shallow ones; and as all land ought to be sub- soiled once, and occasionally trenclied to the depth of sixteen inches, drains filled nearer the surface than eighteen inches are sure to obstruct the plough, and are likely to be injured in many places bv the foot of the horse or the share of the plough. In cases where time or capital are wanting to complete the drainage at once, each alternate drain may be executed in the j first 'instance, and the remainder can be done the next time the field is broken up. After the draining has been completed, a crop of oats may be t.aken from the field ; and immediately after that crop shall have been separated from the ground, the field sliould be gone thoroughly over with the subsoil plough, crossing the lines of drains at right angles. The Subsoil Plough has been constructed on principles appearing the best filled to break up tlie subsoil completely, to a depth sufficient for most thorough cultivation, say 14 or 10 inches, whilst the active soil is still retained on the surface — to be of the easiest possible draught in reference to the depth of furrow and firmness of the subsoil — to have strength and massive weight snfiieient to penetrate the hardest stratum — to resist the shocks from fast stones — and to throw out all stones under 200 lbs. in weight. All this has been accomplish- ed and practically proved at Deanston, over an ex- tent of at least 200 acres of various soils ; and re- ports of the successful application of those ploughs in various parts of England, Scotland, an'd Ireland during several seasons, have been received. The plough requires four good horses, an active plough- man, and a lad to drive the horses and manage them at the turnings. Six horses, yoked three and three abreast, may be necessary in some very stiff or stony soils. A common plough, drawn by two horses, goes before the subsoil plough, throwing out a large open furrow of the active soil ; the subsoil plough following, slits up thoroughly and breaks the subsoil, and the next furrow of active- soil is thrown-over ihe last opened furrow of the subsoil; the stones'brought to the surface by the subsoil plough being thrown aside on the ploughed part of the land by a lad : thus the work proceeds until the wliol-3 field is gone over. The lad should carry a bag of wooden pins that he may mark the site of the large fast stones which the plough can- not throw out, and which must afterwards be dug out with the pick, and perhaps blasted. This large plough is a sort of horse pich, break- ing up without raising to the surface any of the subsoil. Channels are thus regularly formed for the water to flow from all parts towards the drains. The atmospheric air being also by this means free- ly admitted lo the body of the subsoil, the most sterile and obdurate till becomes gradually melio- rated, and the common plough may ever after be wrought to a depth of from 10 to 12 inches with- out obstruction, and with the power of three hor- ses, yoked abreast, and managed with ease by the ploughman without any person to drive; being thus yoked together and near tlie point of resist- ance, the horses have great power. The furrow turned over being broad in proportion, nearly one half more ground will begone over in a day than with a plough drawn by two horses. The charge of subsoil ploughing a Scotch acre may be estimated at 243. or 30s. per statute acte, THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 67 being one fifth of what a similar depth with the spade would cost, and upon the whole, as cfll'ctu- ally done. When land wliich has been opened up by the subsoil plougli shall have undergone the first Trotat ion of croping, several inches of subsoil may be taken up by the plougli to mix witli the active soil, and in proportion as tlie sBbsoil is ame- liorated, so may the greater depth be taken up with advantage. In tiie riclier subsoils it is sometimes e.'spedient to plough to tlie whole depth of the mo- ved subsoil on the first application of the trench plough. The trench plough recommended for this process, should be mnde in the form of Wilkie's plough, having all its dimensions made of double size, or what is found to answer fully as well, by a plough in the fashion of the old Scotch plough, but also of double the dimensions. Such ploughs require six horses, yoked three and three abreast, with one man to hold the plough and another to manage the hoi-st s, to do the work efi'ectually. This operation should be performed in turning over the winter furrow preparatory to green crop, and the sooner the work is performed after harvest the better. In estimating tlie expense of tliis opera- tion, the horses may be charged at 4s. each, to cov- er all expenses, tear ami wear, &c. which will a- mount to 2 Is.; two men Is. — 4 5.; and an attendant lad to pick out stones. Is.; in all 2.9s. As the work is heavy, the motion of tlie horses is necessarily slow, and it will in general take eight hours wor- king to accomplish one statute acre. The expense of this operation may appear alarming, but when it is considered that one such ploughing will be more effectual in killing weeds, and in exposing the soil to the air, than two ordinary ploughings, we may deduct the cost of two such, 21) s. leaving 9s. to be charged against the deep working. All who have ever studied or experi- enced the most common gardening, must be aware of the important advantages of deep working, and when it can be attained in the broad field of farm- ing at so small a cost as 9s. per acre, they may ei- sily believe that the whole will be more than dou- bly repaid in every succeeding grain croji, and a- bundantly even in pasture. When land has been thoroughly drained, deeply wrougiit, and well ma- nured, the most unpromising sterile soil becomes a deep rich loam ; rivalling in fertility, the best nat- ural land of the country, and from being fitted for raising only scanty crops of common oats, will bear good crops of from 32 to 43 bushels of wheat, 30 to 40 bushels of beans, 40 to (jl) bushels of barley, and from 48 to 70 bushels of early oats, per statute acre, besides potatoes, turnips, mangel wurtzel, and carrot, as green crops, and vifhich all good ag- riculturists know are the abundant producers of the best manure. It is hardly possible to estimate all the advantages of dry and deep land. Every operation in husbandry is thereby facilitated and cheapened — less seed and less manure produce a full effect, the chances of a good and early tid [a Scotch term, for that state of the ploughed soil, which is most suitable for receiving the seed — nei- ther too moist nor too dry] for sowing are greatly increased — a matter of great importance in our precarious climate — and there can be no doubt that even the climate itself will be much improved by the general prevalence of dry land. When this subject was treated of in the Second Report of Drummond's Agricultural Museum, published in March, 1833, the system was beginning to be adop- ted in a few places in a very tt'W districts of Scot- land, England, and Ireland, and in most instances on a very limited scale. Since then the intrinsic merits and evident results of the system have rai- sed its character, even with many of its forme;- opponents ; and one cannot now travel almost any where in the country without seeing, either on a large or email scale, the operation of thorough draining going on. The deep ploughing is not yet so general, but it will undoubtedly follow; and it is to be regretted that, in the meantime, some zealous and good farmers, not aware of its advantages, are filling their drains so near the surface as to mar the future thorough application of the system of deep working.* Thorough draining is the foundation of all good husbandry, and, when combined with deep plough- ing, issues a general and uniform fertility, assisted no doubt by essentials, thorough working anil cleaning, ample manuring, and a of cropping. In making a survey of the agricultural aspect of Scotland, and great partof England, it must be evident to every one skilled in agriculture, that by ranch the greatest proportion of the arable land, indeed we may assume three fourths of the whole, is under very indiiVerent culture, arising mainly from the wantof complete draining and deep work- ing; and looking even to the best farmed districts with the eye of an experienced farmer in the thor ough sj'stem, much of the land will be seen suffer ing under wet or damp. All the heavy land of the Lolhians, Berwickshire, Fife, Strathmore, Clydesdale, &c. would be greatly benefitted by the introduction of the system; and if generally a- doptcd we would hear no more of " stiff' clays," "cold retentive soils" and the like, in the Agri- cultural Reports. There is no want of employment for all spare labor and spare capital of the country, in the gen- eral thorough euKivation of the soil, and if prop- erly gone about, it will afford ample remuneration to the individual jiossessors -and farmersof the land while the wealth of the country will be greatly in- creased. The cultivation of the inferior soils will lend to lower the value of the high rented lands, but the general rental in the country will be much increa- sed, whilst the prices of all agricultural produce will be lowered, thereby affording- cheaper susten- ance to the manufacturers, which will enable them to meet more effectually the cheap labor of other countries ; and it is not at all improbable that Brit- ain may become an exporting country in grain in the course of the next twenty years, thereby over- throwing the bugbear corn laws without a political struggle. 'J his may appear a very bold anticipa- tion, but to those who know intimately the history of the wonderful improvements which have taken place in the various leading manufactures of the country, in the course of the last twenty years, (and who can appreciate the vast improvement of which agriculture is yet susceptible,) it will seem as no very hopeless prospect. Often has it been thought during the progress of the manufactures that the perfection of these arts had been attained, when, by the application of science, capital, divi- sion of labor, or industry, or all these together, some new and extensive step was gained, whereby the cost of production was cheapened; then follow- ed a lowerselling price to the consnmer, and im- mediately the field of consumption was extended. In most cases these steps of improvement were urged more bij the nccessiiij arising from low ]/roftts niul extensive riralnj, than from the encouragement of high profits and extensive demand. So it is now operating with the agriculturist. During the reign of high prices any sort of farming was sure to pay ; but now, when prices are low, nothing but skill and capital, and well regulated industry will do ; and since higher prices are scarcely to be look- ed for, the only hope of the land owner and the farmer is to use every means to produce their arti- cles cheaper and in greater quantity from the same extent of land. From the progress which the sys- tem of thorough drainage has made, the lists are fairly entered by the hitherto considered poorer soils against the rich; the rivalry cannot be stop- ped, and the result will shortly be, a greater agri- cultural advancement in Great Britain than has ever before taken place. The grand natural promp- ter, self interest, will in due time work out the re- sult. Yet much may be done in assistance by the exertions of proprietors and agricultural associa- tions, and by the national legislature, in the case of entailed lands." * I have been often asked if I would recommend subsoil ]ilougliing of land which had not been drained. To this, I answer, certainly not ; for, un- til there is an escape for water through the subsoil, any opening of it but provides a greater space for holding water, and will rather tend to injure than improve the soil. Where the subsoil consists of gravel, or sand, or moor &ra«rZ, forming a crust over a lower stratum. of open subsoil, then the subsoil plough being applied, will at once provide a pas- sage for the water, and leave the incumbent sub- soil open for amelioration. It has been remarked by an intelligent forester that in planting in wet bottomed land, pitting to receive the plants is most objectionable, because in wet weather the loose earth of the pits gets filled with water, which is ei-' ther acted upon by frost to the injury of the plants, or the conslant immersion of the roots in water, causes their decay ; on the contrary, s/i^ieHr gives the plant a hold of the ground, the roots are pnsh- _ ed into the solid in search of nourishment, whilst proper rotation the vacuities capable of receiving water are very small. In like manner the opening of tiie subsoil in a tenaceous bottom forms one great pit over the whole field, holding water most destructive to the growth of cultivated plants. On this principle the experience of ages has taught the English agricul- turist on tenacious clays to follow a system of shal- low ploughing. So soon as wet lands are thor- oughly drained ; deep ploughing may follow with the greatest advantage, but not sooner. Use of Oil as a 3Ianure. A i'cw days ago we met Friend Sanborn of the Canterbury Shakers in the ctreet with a load of goods from the Merrimack river lioats ; and always anticipating new information in relation to im- provements in Agriculture when we meet any of ■ the United Brethren, we stopped him with the in- quiry,how they had succeeded in theirexperiments of lime used as an ingredient in making compost manure. lie answered that they had not been dis- ap|iointed as to the value of lime upon their grounds ; but that they had made a discovery wliich, he thought more important than any they had yet made, in the use of Oil as a manure. His team was loaded, he said, with O;, number of barrels of common blubber oil, which they had purchased in Boston at two dollars the barrel, and which they were about to use upon their ground the present year. He did not wish to talk loud about this mat- ter until its value had received full demonstration. The day after, we saw another of the Brethren, who at our particular request has procured the fol- lowing statement of an experiment made with oil the last year, by the experienced Botanist of that Society, who for the last twenty years has success- fully cultivated and brought into use many new medicinal and savory herbs, and introduced the art of making them portable, so they are readily kept for sale at the shops in a compact form ; — [To the editor of the Montlihj Visitor. 1 Having seen some remarks in an ano-ient agri- cultural journal, respecting tlie use of oil as a ma- nure, I was induced to make some trifling exper- iments, to prove the correctness of the writer's the- ories ; and from the facts adduced, am inclined to believe it is not only one of the best but one of the cheapest manures, preferable even to the fanj- ed bone manure, which has of late received sucii high encomiums; and indeed were it deairable to apply the bone manure, a composition of lime, oil, and salt, would be similar and by far cheaper than pulverized bones. But as bones are eomj)osed of 35 per cent, of animal substance, and about 6.5 of lime and magnesia, it is evident the animal portion exerts a greater influence on the growth of veget- ables than the lime and magnesia, for four bushels of lime (and that is the quantity of bone recom- mended) to an acre would effect but very little of itself; and furthermore the experiments I have made confirm this theory, that the strength of the bone manure is principally owing to the animal silbstance contained in the bones. With these impressions, in the spring of 1839 I divided a plat of ground which was ten feet hv twenty, into two beds of ten feet square each ; to one bed, good stable manure was applied in propor- ti-on of about forty loads to the acre; to the otht;r, common lamp oil was applied in proportion of one pint to the square rod: the oil was thoroughly mix- ed with dry sand in sufficient quantity to absorb it, and the sand was then sown on the square. In all other respects the two beds were treated exactly a- like, and were sown at the same time with sweet marjoram, which came well, and both appeared very much alike for the first three weeks ; when that to which the oil was applied gradually gained the ascendancy and showed so visible a difference in favor of the oil that it was often noticed by vis- itors. In the fall the products of the two beds were correctly weighed with the following results ; that to which the manure was applied produced 37 1-2 lbs, while that which received the oil produced full 6S3-4 lbs, making a difl^erence of 31 l-41bs. in favor of the oil. But whether the; oil will be equally be- nificial for all kinds of crops, or not, wa are not prepared to say, or whether this is the best mode of application, or not, we cannot say ; but we have undertaken a series of experiments on a somewhat larger scale and by various applications, with the common blubber, the result of which we shall be happy to communicate as soon as practicable. May 18, 1840. For the Farmer's Monthly ViLitur. Substance of a Lcfture delivered before the Lyceum of liath, a: H. March 16, 1840, on the Mountain Scenery of New England. Br Dr. Moses F. Morriso.v. The tuv! observations I shall make this evening will be upon the relative advantages of our own native hills — the moral, political, and physical in- fluence they exercise upon the inhabitants, and the sublimity, grandeur, and beauty of the scenery that surrounds us. I am well aware the remark is frequently made and repeated, that we live in a cold and barren clime ; that unremitted labor and strict economy 68 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. can but barely produce the necessaries of liCe, and that many turn aside with disgust frum tb.e bles- sings tliai surround them, to gild with brilliant colorinn-3 the i'airy fields in the fancied paradise of the West. To such the argument would be mat- ter of surprise that we possess the most highly 1-a- vored region upon the earth ; and that it requires but the c'ultivation of oui intellectual and physical resources to demonstrate the proposition. To an inhabitant of the Western prairies visiting us for the first time, it would be a subject of speculation that we could live, lie would discover little but what he would term a barren waste ; and wonder that man should cultivate rocks when he could have fields of rich alluvion : or subsist upon the scanty pittance of a flinty soil, when he as well might congregate with liis fellow man upon the hariiors of the ocean and luxuriate upon the treas- ures of commerce. He might spread the gilded shadow of ease and lu.xury before us, and in the delusion of the moment we might be surprised to tliink that our fathers should have chosen this as a heritage for themselves, or left it as a patrimony for their children. Vain illusion ! Although the Western alluvions are fertile beyond the dreams of the visionary, yet disease and death lurk unseen in their turbid waters, and are spread abroad in the tainted breezes of their atmosphere. With less la- bor required, man possesses far less capacity to La- bor, for the nerves are unstrung to harmonize not alone with a milder rlimate 'but with tlie miasm that surrounds and fills it. There the moral and phys- ical energies of man are changed, and the sudden influ.t or rapid increase of wealth on the one hand, and of misery and degradation on the other, lead to their concomitant vices, idleness, cft(.nninacy, and dissipation. And though virtue may e.xist, its growth is checked by the rank weeds of vicious propensities; its resolves are violated ; its energies cramped ; and it more generally falls a victim to the contending passions it can neither govern or destroy. In a" moral point oi view labor is our greatest blessing ; and for this very reason a mountain life becomes the greatest conservator of morals. La- bor is as essential to the purification of the heart as to the cultivation of the soil ; and industry uni- ted to economv, both essential to the existence of a mountain life, is the palladium of virtue, the guardian of health, and the foundation of happi- ness. For many of the virtues we pofsscss we are cer- tainly indebted to the scenery that surrounds us. Associated ideas not only operate powerfully upon our innigination, but stamp their impress upon our being. An elegant writer says that in studying the pages of history, he would point to the contem- platioifof the virtues of mankind and not to their vicesand crimes. Tiie last too, frequently serving as the model and apology for the most flagrant de- viations from justice and rectitude. In vaiu has it been ursed the resuUiug evils are suflicient to teach mankind to avoid them. "There is," says he, "a profound truth in the moral as well as the natural world, to which suHicicnt attention has not been paid ; that the pictures of vice and disorder leave dangerous impressions, and serve less to dis- suade from the practice of evil, than to fauiiliarize us to the view and to hard'Mi us in the c.veicisc by the excuse which the e.\-ample furnishes." And we may rest assured the best means of incul- cating and preserving virtue, is to withhold from it the images of vice. If we apply this maxim to the natural world, we perceive at once the relative advantages of our sit- uation— that our mountain barriers lead not alone to the contemplation, but become the guardians of virtue; and while they debar ns from the higher luxuries, Ihe^- at'the same time shut out the darker vices of mankind. So true has itever been lield that a mountaindife was favorable to virtue, morality, and religion, that the ancients located their Gods and Goddesses up- on the summit of 01ympus,and asserted tkat when- ever they chose to practise the vices of mankind, (to wnich indulgence by the way they were rather too much inclined) they at least descended into the plains below. .\nd if mountaiu scenery is favora- ble to purity of morals, it is no less so to the pre- eervation of liberty. The mediocrity of fortune 'Consequent upon the limited sources of wealth ev- ery where prevents that accumulation of treasure in one or a few associated individuals which leads to exclusive and illegitimate power. Thus it was in Greece, in Wales, in the Scottish Highlands, and thus it is in Switzerland and North America. Where now are the spendid empires of the plains of which Babylon, Ninevah, Persepolis, Palmyra and Bagdad were the capitals ? Perished and gone for- ever. And while revolutions have swept over the political, like deluge torrents over the natural I tario, when the departing sunbeams cast their gov world, the mountain's have generally been left uu- geous shad<'s of green and gold over its surface — scathed, and their inhabitants have become the po litieal as well as mor.il renovators of the earth. And if in the march of lime, war, civil or foreign, should sweep with the besom of destruction over this land ; level our seaports and cities to their foundation, and lay wastethe rich plantations of the West and South, Liberty will still erect her al- tar in the mountains and' continue the existence of that celestial fire which to the mountain shall burn forever. And if the rnind of man is controlled by its exterior relations in the contemplation of the sublimity and grandeur of nature, no wonder the associations of prudence become identified with our existence where all around is beautiful and free. Cut if the moral and political influence of moun- tain scenery is strongly marked and impressive, its physcal effects are still more so. iVlont Vernon and Monticello are proof that the physical and moral energies of man are or may he in some mea- sure dependent upon local situation.' It is gener- ally known that the pure air and the limpid water iif the mountain operate to give beauty to the form and energy to the constitution. We constantly witness examples in ourown country. In Scotland and Switzerland it has given a marked deveiope- ment to the human form. But in all these coun- tries modifications have arisen, owing to the con- tingencies which governed them. It is in Asiatic Georgia and Cii'cassia alone, and amidst the endur- ing snows rf tlic Caucasus, that the utmost per- fection of the iiiinian form exists. They are uni- versally as a nation remarkable for the beauty of their features and the elegance of their persons; and that their physical energies correspond with their external beauty, Russia can witness in her late con- tests with them. And whether it is owing to the happy temperature of their lives, to the beautiful scenery around them, or an attention to the origin- al laws which improve and elevate the species, or to the whole of these combined, the result has beeii that whereas in other nations beauty and elegance are of rare occurrence, in Circassia and Georgia homeliness and deformity are unknown. In many respects the White and Green moun- tain ranges differ perhaps from all others in the known world. They arc purely of primitive ori- gin, while most others are thrown up through the transition secondary or tertiary strata. Wc iiave not ev^n the organic remains of the transition pe- riod, and hence the search lor coal which is now knov>'n to be in every instance vegetable matter acted upon by the united agency of heat and pres- sure, is equally' futile and hopeless. But primitive rocks contain the most valuable ores, and in our in- stance their surface is covered almost to the sum- mits of our liighest mountains with a productive soil and with a beautifully varied vegetation. The world prodnc.es not a spot where the air is more pure, the water more clear and limpid, and the scenery tnore wild and beautiful, where the hu.-nan foot can move with more boldness and less danger. The wolf and lanimermuir of the Alps— the tiger and condor of the Andet — the cougar and rattle- snake of the Alleganies are not here. The asso- ciations of childhood and youth become a part of our being, and it is only where they are disruptur- ed by irautition, that we realize their existence. Place a mountaineer upon the prairies, and he longs for the scenery of his youth ; he returns to behold with rapture beauties of landscape which he had before passed with careless indirterence. I have passed the magnificent gorge of the Wliite Hills, and viewed with enthusiasm the wild sublim- ity around nie. I have entered the defile of Fran- conia, and viewed witli astonishment and admira-, tion the Old Man of, the Mountain and his wild do- main. I have scaled the summit of Mount Wash- inn-ton, and at one time beheld the thunder cloud at'the base far below me, the lightning playing over its surface, and a briliiant sun irradiating the sky. Again 1 viewed from its summit the valley of the Connecticut spread out like a map before me ; the rays of light reflected by a dark cloud that hung upon the Green mountains brought into dis- tinct view the streams, the cottages, tiie fields, the villao-es, the hill.-f and rallies, the waving forests and the vast amphithfatre of mountains .supporting the blue vault above and around me ; I felt that the sublime and beautiful were here blended upon a scale never to be surpassed, and hallowed by a thousand associated ideas of fond remem- brances never to be forgotten. 1 have stood on the shores of the ocean and con- teinplateij, the vast and almost illimitable world of waters before me, and viewed in imagination the innumerable ships and vast navies that float upon lior 'oosom. 1 have sailed upon the waters of On- trau-icendantly beautiful — far beyond the most splendid drapery of tlie imagination. Finally, de- scending into the awful chasm of Niagara, I have approached in a frail bout the tremendous cataract of the Western seas, until repelled by the rolling surges of its abvss, T was admonished that nearer a]iproximalion might be death. No person can de- scribe the sublimity of this scene — its grandeur is overwhelming — and the vast display of magnifi- cence and power presented at a single glance to our view show.s how.puny are the efforts of man compared with the omnipotence of God. But with the ocean, with the lake and with the cataract were associated in my mind the ideas of loneliness, of solitude — almost of desolation. I longed for the early visions of lifi', fbr that play of light and shade upon the mountain scenery of my native land. I felt what I had not learned before, that the impress of external objects had stamped their seal, of loveliness upon the heart and shaped the visi(uis of ideality in the brain ; and that the culti- vation of the intcllectii il faculties of the mind and the physical energies of the body alone were wan- ting to make me the happiest of the free. And now permit me to ask, where shall we find a soil more productive with a climate equally salu- brious .' where shall we breathe an atmosphere more invigorating, or drink of fountains more pure' wliere shall we behold scenery, more sublime, beau- tiful and good, surrounded with less evils or expo- sed to fewer dangers.' Of the nioral and physical evils we do sufl'er, lew are consequent upon locali- ty— some are contingent — but many are created by our vices and perpetuated by our ignorance. We constantly violate the laws of organic life; and shall we complain that the degeneracy of the spe- cies and the ill health and early dissolution of the individual should be the consequence .' or shall w'e value less the nuinberhss blessings which surround us because the harmony of the intellectual with the physical world is comparatively unknown? Certainly not. And now imagination finishes her erratic flight, droops her ■wings and closes her pinions. If in a solitary instance I have awakened the slumbering energies of the inind from indifference to eontem- plation,*tho object of my withes is obtained. Cut if I have failed in exciting the love and admiration of our commnnity ; if I have failed to recal the wandering visions of the wayward spirit to the loveliness of our own home, and the value of our own clime, it is owing to t!ie imperfection of my language of description, not to the want of excel* lence in the theme, or the stimulus to enthusiasm in p'jrtraying the beautiful scenery around us. 1 Troai t)io 'j\'niiegri:ie Farnifir. Why and Bccanse. in. MATTER. Definition. Matter is a term used to denote that, which, by reason of certain properties, is man- ifest to our senses. There arc usually reckoned five senses, viz : feel- ing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and hearing. Mat- ter has certain properties, by which, when in mo- tion, it is manifest to some one of these senses. — Thus, the motion of matter in coniact with the ex- ternal surface of our bodies, produces the sensation of touch or feeling. The motion of particles of liii-ht, produces sijrht. The motion of odorant par- tides, produces smell. The motion of sappient particles, produces taste. The motion of the at- mosphere, or some other conducting medimn, pro- duces hearing. M. Properties of Matter. Matter has two classes of properties, viz : Substantive, or Universal, and .liljcctire or Incidental. The .'iubstanlire properties are, extension, figvri:, inijienelrabililij, divisibilit)/, inertia and attraction. So far as we know, every particle of matter in the universe, pos.sesses all these properties; hence they are called suhstanlicc or universal properties. The .'Idjeetive or Incidental properties are, liard- ne.i.', Utiui'ditii, trnacitij, ductilitij, malleability, ser- tiliti/,siiiabilitii, fasibil/ly, lu.itre, njtacitit,transpu- rencii, iyc. No portion of matter ever has all these properties at once. They are subject to constant variation ; hence are called .'Id^cciirc or Incidcnlal propeities. 3. Modes of existence. Matter exists in three forms, viz : Solid, Lir/uiil and Fluid. a A S.lid is a body, whose particles cohere to each other firmly. Ex. A bit of chalk, wood, iron, &c. /; A Liquid is a body, whoso particles slightly cohere, but yield readily to impression. Ex. Wa- ter, milk, oil, Ac. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 69 c A Fluid* is a body, whose particles are be- yond the sphere of each otiier's attraction. Ei. Air. IV. DEFINITIONS. Before proceeding farther, it will be necessary to define certain term3 con.^tanl!3' nscd in tlie ian- guajro of Chcmislrj', and to which are attached certain specific meanings. 1. Bodtf is a term denoting any mass of matter, however large or small ; whether solid, liquid, or fluid. 2. Suhstiim-c has nearly or quite the same sig- nification as bod}-. 3. ^Itinn or purti.de, denotes the smallest por- tion into which a body can be divided. A particle of matter cannot be destroyed, brok- en or divided, or in any way changed in its essen- tial characteristics. The only change, that can talse place with particles of matter, is in their arrange- ment with each other, or their combination with other particles. Bodies arc of two kinds, simple and compound. 4. A simple body is one, \','hose particles are all of the same nature. 5. A compound body 'in one, which consists of particles of different kinds chemically united, i. e. so united that the whole appears to be one sub- stance. Illustration. Take a piece of iron and no mode of treatment can bring from it any tiling but iron. Every particle is of the same nature. Hence it is called a simple body. The same is true of lead, copper, tin, zinc, &c. But if we take a piece of chalk or limestone, and sul^ject it to certain opera- tions, we get three different bodies ; one hard, black body called carbon, [charcoal,] another silvery sub- stance called calcium, and a third gaseous body called oxygen. Hence limestone is a compound body ; and carbon, calcium and oxygen, are called its constituent parts. G. Composition is the union of particljs of mat- ter, dissimilcr in their nature, forming a new body unlike either of the original bodies. ///. Melt copper and'zinc together, and brass is tlie result; a compound unlike either of the sim- ple substances, copper or zinc. 7. Decomposition is the separation of a com- pound body into its constituent parts. When a body is dncomposed, its nature is always changed. 8. Division is the separation of a body into parts, without changing its nature. ///. Breaking a rock, or grinding corn or plas- ter. 0 A Mixture is a body consisting of two or more substances intermingled without having their na- ture cltariged. ///. Put oil and water into a glass and shake them together. 10. fiolutio.i is tiie separation of the particles of asol'd, by a liquid tr fluid. III. Salt and water — sugar and water. 11. Solrcnt IS Uk liquid or fluid, by which the particles of a solid are separated. This is some- times called a menslruuvi. 1'i. S.';/;/r»(ion is the point, at which one body will take up no more of another. ///. Water at a given temperature will take up a certain quantity of salt and no more. The water is then said to be saturated. 13. Precipitation is the separation of a body from its solvent. III. If water be poured into a saturated solu- tion" of camphor in spirit, the gum will be precipi- tated. 14. Evaporation is the conversion of a liquid or solid into a fluid vapor lighter than the atmos- phere. ///. If a piece of camphor gum is left in the o- pen air it will gradually disappear by evaporation. Wet clothes hung out in the open air, are dried by evaporation. Heat assists evaporation. Hence a reason why bodies become dry sooner in a warm room or hot sun, than in the cool shade. * I am aware that I use the term fluid in a more limited sense than that given in most of ourhook.-3. But, it always appeared to me unphilosophical to use the same word as synonymous with liquid and gas. Cure for the Dropsy. Tlie following article comes to our hand from a most respectable source, and we strongly recom- mend it to the attention of our readers : "lam knowing to two e.Ktremely distressing cases of Dropsy being suddenly relieved by the means of the hark of common elder. One a. wo- man advanced in ye.ir3, in the last stage of disease. TJie other a young woman who had been confined to her bed for nearly twelve months, and whose strength was nearly e.vhausted, is now wliolly free Iroiu dropsv, and recovering strength in a manner surprising and unexpected. Other cases less ag- gravating have been cured by the same. The re- cipe is : — Take two handfuls of the green or inner bark of the white common older, steep it in two quarts- of white Lisbon wine twer.ty-iour hours, take a gill of the wine in the morning, fasting, or more if it can be borne; brut if more convenient, in the morning or part about noon, on an empty stomach. The effect of the bark prepared as above or the pressed juice from the leaves (full grown) which iiad been used with success wiien wine could not be procured, is, that it jiromotes all tile animal secretions necessary to health, which is tiie cause of its salutary eflects in dropsy. Great debility will always follow the use of powerful evacuants, and the best medical writers wow recommena nu- triciovs al imcnt ,p.s the best medicine in every, even in e.itreme cases of debility. The bark and leaves of the elder have been long knov/n as pow- erful evacuants, and not esteemed unsafe. Yet caution is recommended in using tlie Imds, as their effect is esteemed, and has been found dangerous in some cases. — Philadelphia Coiiricr. r'orihe Fannei's tMiUitlily \'i*,il(ir. The Stranger, or Suicide. From Italy the stranger came, Unknown his birtli, unknown his name His noble brow was mark'd with grief— His look solicited relief. But half conceal'd beneatli his cloak I 'spied a harp ; its strings were broke : I ask'd the Minstrel could iie Jjlay ? All bathed in tears he turn'd away : But soon lie chock'd the rising flood, Dash'd off the tears, nnd firmly stood. Willing his story to relate, Tiiouglisad and most unfortunate. "Sir, I am of noble birtii — • I need not stooj) to sons of earth : Titles and honors were design'd To be my own ; but most unkind Has fortune prov'd ; and I have lost All tliat I lov'd and volu'd most. First by disease I was disfress'd — • Next by detraction robb'ti of rest ; Pretendeil friends prov'd enemies — ]\Iy fVmdest hope in ruin lies. The friend 1 lov'd and valued most For me has all affection lost : She thinks me base, degraded, vile, At iny calamities doth smile. Of sorrow's cup the dregs I taste — in misery all my moments waste." That instant he his dagger took. Casting around a farewell look, Plung'd It within his breast, and then To dust gave back its dust again. E. Lebanon, N. II., Jan. 20, lt'40. M. Remarks of Prof. Siliiman at the Agri- cultural Meeting in Boston, Jan. 13, 1810. After Mr. Webster closed, Mr. Sili.imjn- began by remarking that he wastaken wholly by surprise, nothing havmgbeen f^irtlier from his tlioughts than to say any thing on this occasion. Indeed, after the remarks from the honorable gentleman who had just spoken, to which he had, in common with others, the pleasure of listening, there was little that need be said by any one. On an occasion so gratifying as the present, and offering oijjects of in- quiry and discussion so higlil^f important and in- teresting, he could not, however, withhold the ex- pression of his own personal interest in the case, and wliat little aid to the cause mighr be derived from his concurrence. In the statement relating to Britisli husbandry, made by the honorable gentleman wiio preceded him, and in the impression which that gentleman had gathered from his observation of rural and ag- ricultural life in England, he expressed his entire assent and sympathy. In a visit many years since, made by himself to England, he derived from simi- lar though far less perfect opportunities of observa- tion, great pleasure ; and he left the country more than thirty years ago, with a strong admiration for the extraordinary improvements and advances made iritiiis great art, in that active, populous, and intelligent community. Tlie British nation had long since arrived at the conviction, which experience and further inquiry had served only to confirm and strengthen, that science in all its influences might lend a most sub- stantial aid to agriculture. They therefore have largely availed themselves of its aid in the chemi- cal exaiulnatlon of soils and manures, with a view to ascertain tiieir uses and correctives. The popular impressions formerly entertained, that little was to be gained in agriculture by tho application of science, are, in a great measure, re- moved. Notliing could have less foundation in reason or fact. The advantages of the judicious application of knowledge to art, are every where obvious. All the arts of life lyave their foundation m knowledge; and all the improvements of me- chanism, from a wheelbarrow to a chronometer, are due to science and mechanical philosophy. It will be found true in relation to every thing connected with human improvement and comfort^even in the commonest departments of life, the more knowl- edge the better. Inquiries into the nature of soils are of greatim- portance : and in respect to many soils now either wholly unproductive or uncongenial to certain crops, science may enable us to applv the necessa- ry alternative or correctives. .Mthough we can- not fabricate in a laboratory the soils of a country, we can discover their composition and ascertain their deficienees; the deficient ingredient may be supplied, and although it should be in small quan- tities, it may be done in a form that may be gener- ally practicable, and thus may essentially changn the character of a soil. The honorable gentleman has, without doubt, truly assigned the causes of the mildness of the cl-- mate of western Europe, and especially of Great Britain ; and he has indicated with equal clearness and truth the causes of the comparative coldness of the Eastern countries of North America. In this connexion it may be remarked that the west- ern countries of this continent enjoy a climate fat milder than tlie eastern. The climate of the western countries is aff'ected by their position in relation to the vast Pacific o- cean, which produces an effect similar to that of the Atlantic ocean upon Europe, but in a far n-reat- er degree. Thus the climate corresponds toacon- siderable degree with that of the western shores of Europe. Its mildness is such that the plough may be driven nearly or quite througli the whole year. Its temperature is, perhaps, considerably afl^ected by its geological formation and by the extensive range of volcanoes, which stretch along its shores, and some of which are still breathing forth their internal heat. Here every thing is on a vast scale ; and the agricultural products wlll,at no distantday, become abundant and highly important. Wecan'- not indeed alter the climate of our country'; but we may in som^ measme accommodate our hus- bandry to its peculiarities and variations. The larger portion of the soils of New England, as stated by the honorable gentleman, is undoubt- edly derived from granite and other primary rocks; and many of the red sandstone soils, such as those in the neighborhood of New Haven, are, in fact, composed of tlie principles fouii'd in granite rocks. Argillaceous soils, or these which are derived chiefly from the decomposition of argillaceous or clay slate, abound likewise in many p:irts of New England and of Massachusetts, and being reten- tive of water, are found highly productive in grass and grains. A considerable part of the nutriment of plants is undoubtedly derived from the air, and water, or its elements, constitutes a large portion of their food. The composition of water is now well understood, and we may with safety, in the presence oflhisin- telligent assembly, speak in technical terms of the constituent parts of water, hydrogen and oxygen, which enter largely into all vegetables. Carbon, which forms also a large part of plants, though it exists in comparatively small proportions in the form of carbonic acid gas in the air, as yet deriv- ed from innumer.-ible sources and supplied to tjje growing vegetables in abundance. The effect of light upon the green loaves of plants is to decom- pose the carbonic acid, and the carbon is absoi-bed to nourish tlie plant, and the o.xygen is evolved in- to the air ; thus it separates from the atmosphere an important element of nutrition, supplying it in the form of food for the plants. Mr. Silllman fiirther alluded to the curious fact in the constitution of nature, that notwithstanding the superior density or specific gravity of carbonic aciu gus, it being much greater than that of the oth- er elements of which the atmosphere is composed, it is nevertheless found in abundance in the elevat- ed regions of the earth, and even on high and bar- ren mountains contributes in an important degree to the support of plants and of trrees. If the air and water afford the most important elements of plants, it m.ay be asked, what then is the use ofthe soiP Its first use is to furnish a point of support in 70 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. whiol) till,- plant can fix itself; but it doubtless con- taiii3 many things wliicli water serves to dissolve, and bold in solution, that they may be taken up by the plants. He expressed his belief that in most of the soils in New England and in Massachu: etts, the principal element wanting is lime. This ^.bounds in the western districts of New York, and renders those lands, as in Geneseo for example, on the magnificent farm of Mr. Wndsworth, e?;traordina- rily productive in wheat. The addition of lime to our own soils, he consid- ered of great importance. Our sea-shores abound in sliells, whose base is lime, and whicii arc capa- ble, by being burnt, of being convertedinto the best of lime.° New Haven, the town of his own residence, abounds in oysters, both natives and those that in great numbers are colonized tliere from Virginia. The shells are burnt for manure and applied to the land. The soil of New Haven and its vicinity is derived from a species of red sandstone; but this was composed of the elements of granite, quartz, mica and feldspar, the ruins of granitic and and otlier primary rocks. An interest in agriculture is now awakened in Connecticut, whicli promises the most valuable re- sults ; and improvements in cultivation are rapid- ly advancing. He agreed in the estimation of the Commlssion°er, of the great value of Indian corn. One hundred bushels had been repeatedly produc- ed in New Hnvon upon an acre. A cattle show and agricultural and horticultural fair have, been holden in New Haven annually for several years — the last autumn in particular, with a spirit which evinced the lively interest taken in tlie subject ; and he had the pleasure on that occasion of seeing one hundred yoke of very fine oxen from East Ha- ven, attached to a plough, and the plough holden by a venerable man of ninety-six years of age, who laid a furrow along tlie public square. In his own opinion, tliere was no occasion, in an agricultural point of view, to despair of Massa- chusetts or any part of New England. Tliere were no evils or disadvantages connected with the cli- mate or soil, which could not be met and overcome. It was a great and lamentable error that so many of our young men deserted the pursuits of agricul- ture to'crowd into the trades of cities. He reverted again to the value and importance of chemical knowledge to agriculture. The anal- ysis of manures was a subject of great and indis- pensable importance. The knowledge obtained from geological and agricultural surveys and chem- ical investigations, could not be too highly estiina- ted ; and the State could expend rib money to more advantage than in procuring and encouraging them. This patronage should not be withdrawn or with- held ; and the withholding of it could arise only from a want of a just appreciation of the value of these branches of science. He alluded with much respect to the late lamented Judge Bucl, whose skill in the science and application of manures was a just subject of eulogy, and whose success, in con- verting a portion of the barren and unpromising soil in°flie vicinity of Albany into fertile and pro- divctive fields, was well known and honored. He pressed the importance of a Board of Agricul- ture, and congratulated ]\I:issachusetts upon the spirit and liberality with which she had regarded the improvement of her husbandry. The subject could not receive too much of her concern. It stood second to no interest but those of a moral and reliirious character, and indeed it might be said to be nearly allied to them also, since habits of rural industry are the most favor.tble to good morals. — The value of science, in this case, could not be too highly estimated. Here science might be regard- ed as the eye, and practical skill the hand, by which this great art was to be carried forward to perfec- tion. The Tare. TheTahe or Vetch (ricia satica) spoken of by Mr. Webster, is a plant which we have sometlnies seen growing, but rarely cultivated among ns.— There is no hindrance in our climate to its cultiva- tion ; and perhaps the great reason why the culti- vation of the tare or field bean has been neglected or not introduced, has arisen from our capacity to produce Indian corn ; and our high estimation, which can hardly be extravagant, of its value as food for the brute and the Iiuman animal. As green feed especially, and for the purposes of soiling, undoubtedly the tares might be introduced to great aidvantage. "The Tare," says Low, "is one of the most es- teemed of the leguminous plants of this country, (England.) When used as green forage, they are cilt after the pods are formed, but long before the seeds are ripe. Being in the class of crops not al- lowed to mature Iheir seeds, they are not exhaust- ing to the soil. They arc considered as restorative crops, from tlie quantity of manure which the con- fiuinption of them affords. They are exceedingly nutritious, and supply a larger quantity of food for a limited period, than almost any other forage crop. All the animals of the farm arc ibnd of this legume, and all thrive upon it in an eminent degree. Hogs may be fattened entirely upon it. It causes milch cows to give more butter than any other species of food, and it is employed extensively in the feeding of horses. All the English agriculturists are im- pressed with a high opinion of the value of tares." Young observes, "tare crops are of such use and importance that not one tenth of the stock could be sustained without them; horses, cows, sheep and hogs a-e all fattened upon them ; hogs are soil- ed upon them without any other food. This plant maintains more stock than any other plant what- ever. Upon one acre Davis maintained four hors- es in a much better condition than upon five acres of grass, Upon eight acres he has kept twelve horses and five cows for three months without any other food. No artificial food whatever is e- qual to this excellent plant." " Tares cut green," Professor Thaer observes, "draw no nourishment from the soil, whatever ; while made into hay they afford a fodder preferred by cattle to pea straw, and more nutritious than liav or any other herbage." These high encomiums on this plant will, we hope, invite the attention of our farmers strongly to the subject, that experiments may be made among ourselves of their adaptation to our climate and soil; and of the expediency of introducing them among-^ a rotation of crops in our system of husbandry, if wo are so fortunate presently to as to have a sys- tem.— Tares are of two kinds, Winter, and Spring, but not distinguishable from the appearance of the seed. The winter tares are sowed in England in September and October, and where they are de- signed for soiling the sowing is continued at suc- cessive times till May. The spring tares are ad- vised to be sowed as early in the spring as they can be (rot in. A clay soil is most congenial to their growth ; and any rich soil will do, provided it is not too dry. The quantity of seed to an acre is from two and a half to three and a half bushels ; the latter quantity where they are to be cut for green fodder; the former where they are cultivat- ed for their seed. It is advised to sow some grain with them, such as rye with winter tares and oats with spring tares, which serve to support them. It is doubtful whether tares sowed in the fail would survive our severe winters. This, howev- er, can only be determined by some actual experi- ment. We hope they will have a fair trial. For soiling they must be an excellent article ; and I cannot but hope that the practice of soiling will prevail much more among us; especially for the quantity of most valuable manure, which under proper "management may be made in this way. RkV. H. CoI.jlAM. The minute attention paid to agricultural opera- tions of the most ordinary kind. In G. Britain as ex- hibited in the Marklane Express, is worthy of our attention. In this country we would bo surprised to sec even our agricultural papers filled with state- ments reporting the agricultural progress in our different counties and towns. There is little that our farmers can be supposed to do in the inclement sea- son of winter that we would think to bs interesting as a'matter for publication. So important is all ag- ricultural informatinn considered, that reports are published raontjily from the several counties. As a specimen of what the farmers in several counties in England were doing in February last, we make a few 'random extracts from the Marklane Express; YoKKSiiiKE. — "The dry weather which has oc- curred, and indeed pervaded the month, soon set the plough in operation ; the frost corrected the wet ploughed land, and completely pulverized the sur- face "so as to gire a friable soil to cover the grain sown, and all hands were immediately set to work to sow as much wheat as could be got in. The br*adth sown is beyond all calculation. It is very doubtful to us if the whole breadth sown in this county now does not exceed an average. The wheats sown in the autumn, we are sorry to say, look rather indlflerent. Upon the cold, wet land they have nearly perished, while upon the licjhter and drier soils the dry frosts do considera- ble injury, the verdant green is disappearing and givinglway to a dingy grey, wl-.ile the soil Is growing looser and looser, by the action of the frosts. Spring corn is not yet sown at all that we have heard of, but the tempting season will set the farmers to work probably by next week." Berks. "The ewes have a great part of them now brought forth, and we think that altogether the increase has been as great as usual. It is cer- tain that a vast number of ewes have brought forth dead lambs, and the cold weather has in some pla- ces killed many weak lambs; but there has been more than usual that have brought two lambs, and there are hut few barren ewes. « * * There is no want of work in this part of the country, and every good laborer finds plenty of employment at fair wages, for the improvements going on in plant- ing, chalking, draining, ditching, paring and burn- insT, building, &c., are immense, and much money is ~ expended and circulated to the good of all around." West Cuiibep.i.and. — "The present fine moder- ate frosty weather will decidedly improve both the ploughed and unploughcd lands for oats. The sown seeds presented, before the commencement of the present frost, a very promising appearance — an a- bundance of clover seemed very general. Our trrain markets are by no means lively. The past winter has been very favorable for draining, and we observe that ithas been pursued to a considera- ble extent when we consider the limited means which many farmers have at their disposal. A- bout twenty years ago, an opinion prevailed that if land were only drained it could not be further improved. But draining was then in its infancy ; it has since, however, been carried to a great ex- tent, and the farmer may now push his inquiries as to what further improvement his soil is capable of by subsoil ploughing and other peculiar modes of management. We rejoice to state that many able and spirited farmers are still progressing in improv- ing their lands, whilst others are encouraged to do so through the bounty of their Landlords ; and we believe that time and perseverance are only wanting to carry many of the improvements now in pro- gress to the highest possible state of perfection." Nop.roLK. — "The planting of leguminous crops, such as peas, beans, and vetches, has not only com- menced, but as regards the former, is nearly brought to a conclusion. The land cannot be in a better condition for the reception of seeds and pulse than it now is; and as the setting in of easterly winds seems to forbode a succession of dry weather and plenty of March dust, we are led to believe that the sowing of spring corn will have an early com- mencement and a profitable issue. ■* * * We mentioned in our last that an epidemic was then prevalent among the horned cattle: it seems to have gone its round through the kingdom; but neither here nor elsewhere does it appear to have been attended with any more fatal consequences than that one in 500 may have died from it, and that in some cases cows in calf have lost their pro- geny. Keeping is plentiful, although the late frosts and cold winds have impartefi a seasonable check to the progress of vegetation. The supply of beef in Smithfield market now begins to partake of a large proportion of that which is fiiftened in Nor- folk, nor has the grazier any reason to complain of the returns which have been made from that quar- ter, although the lean cattle were bought in at a figure too high to admit of much profit." Kest. — "The number of acres sown is nearly on an average with former years. Numbers of us at the prese°it moment are very busy in getting in beans, peas, tares, and oats, and some have com- menced getting in their barley. The land, ov.-ing to the late frosts, does not require much dressing, which is of much consequence at this late season." RoxBCKY.siiiRE ANU Behkshiue. — "Tlic month just ended may be said to have been a dry one, forming an Instance of the very striking contrasts of climate to which we are subject. In the lower parts of tlie country, the plough has never been re- tarded, while, in the higher parts, it has been inter- rupted bjf tlie constant frost in the latter part of the month, which, however, must be highly beneficial to the pulverizing of the soil. Although we do not pretend to great knowledge of the natural history of inset ts, we would doubt the common opinion of sprins frost killing the animalculo! of insects; one tiling^ however, is certain, should we get- fresh weafher the land is now in a dry state, and in the vei-y best order for receiving the spring crops. Ve- getation has got a severe check by the frosts, but fhis is of little importance, for our country is nev- er benefitted by grass before jXprll. * * Wo observed, last week, an experiment on kiln-drying seed wheat, which is no new thing, being practised in the Lothians and elsewhere to a great extent- being there dried by staain ; but, we would say to those wishing to try it, to go about it with the great- est caution. Our common corn-kiln being a very uncertain mode of doing so, from the unequal tem- perature, and also the want of data of knowing where to stop, it being a well known fact, that a high temperature not only destroys the vegetative, bu°t as every baker almost knows, the fermenting THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 71 powers of wheat also. We wish, however, the ex- periment every success, and are fully satisfied (hat society greatly underrates improvements in agri- culture, without which our present population could not have been fed ; and generally speaking, every person who makes experiments docs so at a loss to themselves." Fruni the Kanner'a Mnnthly VisUor. '.. Mr. Hill, — Sir: — I have received fourften vis- its from your very useful publication ; and it is one of those kind of visitors that are sincere, fair ai>d candid, therefore, must be welcome to every un- prejudiced rnind. The Visitor has told very ma- ny truths interesting and practicable to farmers, and as you appear, Mr. Editor, disposed to answer in- quiries ; for information, I have taken the liberty to ask you respecting a marsh, which lias been dyked about four years. Before it was dyked, the tide water, which is brackish, sometimes' flowed o- ver it — a creek run through it with several bran- ches. The soil is a deep, black vegetable mould, very antiseptic, apt to moss over, especially when wood has been burned on it, and has evidently much sa- line matter in its composition ; when it is turned up by tlic plough or otherwise, the heat of the sun brings out on the surface e.^posed a whitish sub- stance which is to the taste much like alum. The marsh before dyking, produced a kind of three square grass, with some buckhorn (so called) in all, say, about one-half a ton to the acre: — Since the water has been stopped it has improved some in its grass bearing, both in quantity and qualify: but I think it may be greatly improved in both. Now 1 wish to know the best and cheapest way to proceed with the land, to obtain the greatest profit ; and thinking that you, or some of your nu- merous correspondents may have similar marshes, or know of such, will I hope be a sufficient excuse for this communication FROM A FARMER. Woolwich, Blaine, March 1840. 113= Will some of our scientific practical readers, acquainted with soil exactly or nearly that describ- ed, in a future number of the Visitor throw that light upon the subject wliicli the editor is unable to fix or define .' of brutal habits, and in that vacancy of mind which such Jiabils create, it is in vain to attempt to re- claim it by teacliing it reading and writing. You may teach what you choose afterwards, but if you have not prevented the formation of bad habits you will teacli in vain. ' An infant is in a state of perpetual enjoyment from the intensity of curiosity. There is no one thinn- wliioh it does not learn sooner or better than at any other period of life, and witliout any bur- den to itself or the teacher. But learning is not all, nor the principal consideration — moral habits are ncquircd in these schools; and by their means children are kept out of the nurseries of obscenity, vulgarity, vice and blaspliemy. In the establish- ment at Westminster, none but children between three and five years of age are admitted, and there they are kept out of the streets, and talven care of by a parental, indulgent dame, while their motli- ers are set at liberty 'to go out and work. Wheth- er children learn loss or more is of little conse- quence. The moral discipline is the great consid- eration."— Lord Brougham. C'opif of the reptirt of the hoard of fourteen Generals v:ho examined the ease of Major Jlndrc,and their Jadtrmpnt upon the savic. The Board having considered the letter from his Excellency General Washington, respecting Ma- jor Andre, Adjutant General of the British army, the confession of Major Andre, and tlie papers pro- duced to them, report to his Excellency the Com- mander in Chief the following facts, which appear to them relative to Major Andre : First. That he came on sliore from the Vulture sloop of war, in the night of the twenty-first of September instant, on an interview with General Arnold, in a private and secret manner. Secondly. That he changed his dress within our lines, and under a feigned name, and in a disguis- rd hahit, passed oiir worhs at Sloneij and Verplank Points, the evening of the twenty second of Sep- tember instant; and was taken the morning of the twenty-third of September instant, at Tarrij Town, in a disguised luiiit, being taken on his way to New York, and when taken, he had in his posses- sion, several papers which contained intelligence for the enemy. The Board having maturely considered these facts, do also report to liis Excellency General Washington, that Major Andre, Adjutant General of the British army, ought to be considered as a spy from the ene.»ny, and that agreeable to the law and usage of nations, it is their opinion that he oud-ht to sufi'or death. NATH'L GREENE, M. Gen., President. STIRLING, M. G. . AR. ST. CLAIR, M. G. R. HOWE, M. G. STEUBEN, M. G. SAM'I, H. PARSON, B. Gen. JAMES CLINTON, B. Gen. H. KNOX, Brig. Gen. Artillery. JNO. GLOVER, B. Gen. JOHN PATTERSON, B. Gen. EDV.'ARD HAND, B. Gen. J. HUNTINGTON, B. Gen. JOHN STAPvK, B. Gen. JOHN LAWRENCE, J. A. Gen. (Judge Advocate Gen.) Early formation of coon habits. — "If a child is neglected until six years of age, no subsequent education can Tecover it. Ifto this age it is brought up in dissipation and ignorance, in al! tile baseness The safe course. One'of tlic greatest pecuniary evils of the limes is the fluctuation of prices — up one day to twice the actual value of the commodities, and down tlie next day as far the other way. This evil results mainly from two causes — the very fluctuating state of the medium which we allow to represent value, and the operations of speculators upon the articles of necessary consumption which have to be bought and sold in the process of exchange between the diflerent sections. This state of things always has been and proba- bly always will be in some degree, and although it calls for the wisest measures to check its prq.gress, yet mt n in all branches of business must calculate upon an ebb and flow in the prices of whatever they may produce or purchase. Agriculturists suffer as much from these fluctua- tions as any other ekass — not so much from actual losses, for if half the time they sell their products for twice their actual value and the other half for as much less than their actual value, they sustain no loss in the end ; but the great inconvenience is in the uncertainty of prices which sets at defiance all calculations as to profit and loss in tlie produc- tion of the difli'erent crops. So long as things are thus, there is but one pru- dent course of management, and that is to keep straight along, and not run hither and thither to make a fortune in a day, by forsaking all the old and tried plans and adopting entirely some untried and perhaps visionary scheme, that for the time being promises greater profits. For instance, where now is tlie farmer who has forsaken all former pro- ductions and gone head and heels into the mulber- ry busines.s ? It would have been well for that man to have considered before so doing that next year may not be as this year. Experiments may and should be tried, and im- provements adopted, and new productions added, and knowledge communicated freely and put to practical account — but we may not part safely with the boat already launched, which we know to be safe, for one upon the shore, though it may seem to be better. — Cheshire Farmer. From tlie Taiintoii .Mass. Democrat. Silk Cultukk in Massachusetts. — The Agri- ricultural Commissioner speaks with great confi- dence of the success and value of the Silk Culture as a branch of domestic industry. During the past year he has devoted one month exclusively to this subject, on which he proposes to report at large, and exhibit the results of exact experiments and personal observation which may be confidently re- lied on. He has visited various establishments both in this and other States where the business has been successfully carried on to a greater or less extent for several years, and the result has been, he says in a letter to Gov. Everett, 'a perfect conviction, that the 'production of silk is defined to become, and may be immediately, a most valuable branch of domestic industry, and a source of great profit ; that especiallv it will furnish a source of profitdble labor, of a strictly houseliold character, and adapt- ed to give support and comfort to a class of per- sons, particularly needing such a resource, the ag- ed wholare incapable of severe toil; children, whose labor ic is desirable to make available, and whom it is important to keep at home ; the female^ portion of our families, whom the establishment of large woollen and cotton manufactories has put out of employment at home; and many indigent and infirm persons. To this description of persons, it is sure, under good management, to give a coinfor- tible and ample support. It has been a-;«ertaiued, likewise, that the best desofijition of trees can be propagated here to advantage, and tliat our climate is favorable to the health of the worm, and the pro- duction of silk of the very best quality." Notes on Euroijean Agriculture; [Taken b^' a Southern traveller and published in the Southern Cabinet, Charleston, S. C] AanicuLTURAL Societies. — The benefits of So- cieties for the promotion of Agriculture, in stimu- lating industry and ambitioif, 1 saw c-emplified in Scotland, England, and at the Fairs of Germany. The Highland Society of Scotland has existed si.x- ty-one j'cars, and from one of the hleakest.-and most sterile countries of Europe, Scotland has, with all its disadvantages, risen to a state of agricultural prosperity, far beyond any thing whicli could have been expected from such a soil and climate ; and some of the counties, especially the Lothians, are not inferior, in point of cultivation and product, to the richest in England. At a meeting of that So- ciety, held a few weeks previous to my arrival, 177 members were added at one time, paying three guineas entrance, and one guinea anniially, and these included the names of the most respectable men in the country. At this meetiijg, .there vras an additional sum of £I,SOO (,$7,000) subscribed, to promote the interests of ffie...i-:Society. Every ag- ricultural county makes an annual report, and thus thirty-three reports, embracing every object of ag- ricultural interest, are annually submitted to the Societ}'. English Agricultural Societies, although with less uniformity, are iSsdulously engaged in the same cause, and the result has been the general dif- fusion of agricultaral knowledge. The different soils have been analyzed — the kinds of manures and modes of cultivation adapted to each, have been pointed out. The steam engine has beeri introduc- ed in thrashing and fur other agricultural purposes, and Great Britain, (including Ireland and Scot- land) which formerly averaged only nine bushels of wheat to the' acre, lasit year produced in the ag- ffreg-ate, 19 l-'l bushels ; and three of the counties of Scotland, and several of England, averaged 51 bushels to the acre. Tt-.uE HF.THOD OF FARMING. — A farmer by the name of Thomas Oliver,' residing five oV si.r miles from Edinburgh, leased a farm for the last twenty years, of 1.50 acres, paying annually a rent of 10 guineas per acre, ($7,800) on which he raised grain, hay and vegetables for the market of Edinburgh. This lease he has recently reneweed for nineteen vears, (the usual time to whicli leases run) on the same terms, and from a poor man he has become independent in his circumstances, and now rides in his carriage. What American Farmer could make a profit that would enable him to pay such au enormous rent.-' All may be accounted for on the principlcs-ofjudicious manuring and careful indus- trious cultiviition. AoKicui.TiR.iL Fairs ix Germanv. — On the continent, especially in Germany, their annua! fairs bring together tlie farmers and .peasants of all the surrounding countr}^, where their ambition and industry are stimulated by a variety of fetes, and the distribution of prizes to successful competitors, and whilst Princes, Dukes and Barons are engag- ed in awarding prizes to those who have been-mqst successful in tlie cultivation of grains and cattle, their lovely wives are occupied in a humbler, but much more lively scene, in complimenting and dis- tributing premiums to the industrious housewife, for her fine spoci.mens of fruit — her butter and cheese — her linen cloths, weaving, knitting, and other manufactures. 1 have no doubt I shall be ridiculed for my want of taste, when 1 state that to me,. the Grand Duchess of Baden, presenting a sil- ver cup to a peasant girl, before an assembled crowd of fanners and nobility, for tlie finest specimen of manufactured gloves, was a more interesting sight than that of the gay Queen Victoria, racing through St. James Park, with fifty fools at her heels, striv- infT not to be distanced by their lovely mistress. UxADfLTERATED Seeds. — lu the preservation of seeds, of grain and vegetables, infinitely more pains are taken to preserve the varieties distinct and unadulterated than with us. In the mountains of Scotland, there are certain districts appropriat- ed solely to the cultivation of Garden seeds — and, no two varieties, that are in danger of becoming aj dulterated by being placed near each other, are al- lowed to he cultivated in the same district. I no- ticed, at Edinburgh, in the collection of Lawson niiilon) .MnrltlanP Espre-s. The commercial infn-mation received by the o- verland mail from India is of the most satisfactory character, as respects the rapid increase in the a- mountof the productions of that immense and val- uable appendage to the British Crown. A great mass of inforiuation i;; supplied by the private and public advices on mereantilo affairs. Tlie returns made up to tlie close of the year IS30 of the exports to Great Britain of produce show, with one or f.\ o exceptions, a great increase over ihe shipments of previous years. It will not be possilile for us to give detailed statements of all the exports from Calcutta in the past year. The fVdlowing facts will,_ however, be suincient to show that the people of India arc most actively engaged in increasing the productions of the soi'l, and tliat, were the restric- tions now placed upon most of the produce of In- dia removed or equalized, the time is not tar distant when she would furnish most ample supplies of cotton, so as to render the British manufacturer to- tally iudependenl of the United States— that her agriculturists would successfully compete with the West India planters and those of the Mauritius ; and that tea also may be raised in such abundance in Upper Assam as to render Great Britain totally independent of China for her supplies of tliis latter now necessary article of consumption. The fol- lowing statistical details were made out in the "Factory Maunds" of India, i. e., each maund be- ing equal to 84 lbs. English :— The exportation of rice to Great Britain had increased from 302,030 maunds in 1838 to G-J0,G1G maunds in 183'J ; of lin- seed, from 80,069 to 1(57,601 maunds ; ofcastoroil, from 10,08.5 to 16,819 maunds ; ofkutch, I'roml!,- 533 to 52,242 maunds; of rum, from 121,637 to 260,132 gallons; of ginger, from 16,87.5 to 24,131 maunds : of silk piece good.s, 2.59,248 (carats) to 35.S,3.jG pieces ; and of bandannoes, from 149,012 to 169,.520 pieces ; of cotton, from 5,!05 to 24,h58 maunds ; of hides, from .570,222 to 967,866 pieces; of saltpetre, from 297,835 to 357,379 maunds ; of sugar, 673,603 to 700,228 maunds, &c. In the ar- ticle of hemp alone, out of the many principal ar- ticles produced in India, there was a reduction of exports last year, when 18,841 maunds were ship- ped off, against 33,183 maunds in 1838. The re- turn of the exports on the two last years from Ma- dras and IJoniba.y have not yet reached us, but we are assured that they exhibit equally gratifying re- sults to those already noticed. The increase in the cultivation of cotton and sugar conlinued to re- ceive the greatest attention from Lord Auckland ; and the establishment cf agricultural societies in the several presidencies of India, would it is thought do more for extending the produce of the country than any other step i:itherto taken to accomplish that purpose. The accounts received from Assam relative to tlie cultivation of the tea-plant there are of a most encouraging description. The markets for British manufactured goods were not very firm at the date of the present advices. It is, however, stated that this state of things could not long con- tinue. White cotton goods, woollens, twist, cop- per, iron and lead, were in good request. To Die E lilor uf llie Parmer's .vlwiUjIy Visitor. DE.iR SiK, — Being one of tlie subscribers to your paper, and being acquainted with you by reputa- tion, I feel justified in communicating the follow- ing : You will soon perceive I am no scholar or man of science. Born in the year 1770, the commence- ment of the revolution, I have perfectly in my memory those events that followed. .Aly father and three brothers all being engaged in the war, myself (he youngest, the only male at home, the privations endured, the hardsliips encountered, gave me some idea what independence cost, so that 1 feel the more anxious to perpetuate it. And thinking as I do that the farmers of our country are the only class that will support our indepen- dence if supported at all, and being a small one of that class myself, I would if possible contribute to the advancement of that interest. My knowledge of farming is almost exclusively experimental. — For fifty years I have been tryin? those experi- ments with small means to do with : and I liaye e'stablished some facts in my own mind that it would be difficult to remove. Making allowance for cli- mate and .soil, I have been for yeais trying to as- certain the best method of preparing my lan^ for a crop of corn with moderate manuring. I W^i^jvC' late my experiment the year past, ,Tk(>.^9il was of a solid sandy loam, adapted to the growth of a crop of any kirid rai.,ed in New England when properly manured and tilled — grass not excepted. The quantity was three and a half acres, all hav- ing been mowed three seasons. Oni; half 1 plough- ed the September previous ; the other hUf early in the spring. About one week before planting I car- ried the manure in sucli manner as to include part of that ploughed in the fall; I then spread it on the ground, and harrowed crosswise, the furrow crossintr the whole three and a half acres. Upon that part on which the dung was spread, I turned two light furrows together just so as to have them meet. The rest of the piece I furrowed out a prop, er distance for the rows. 1 dropped the manure in these furrows for the hills about the same quantity to the acre, the rows running both ways, then plant- ing the corn and tilling it all alike. Tiie result was, that part on which I spread the dung and struck it up was evidently (he best corn; and I think this is the best method of applying manure for the raising of corn as it mi.xea tiie dung and soil together in such a manner as best to promote the growth of the crop. The first hoeing 1 use the harrow ; after that the plough, turning the furrows towards the rows letting the plough run light, this will not disturb the roots of the corn as much as the cultivator. The last ploughing should all be finished by the time the ears begin to set. Should weeds grow after that to injure the corn, let the boys go with their hoes and chop them down. It was also evident that that part of the piece ploughed in the spring was much the best, the ground being the most mellov/ and the more easily tilled. This I have observed for years. For raising potatoes, I prefer ploughing my land —spreading the manure on it — then harrowing it, then planting the potatoes, not sinking them much in the ground, covering them with this mixture of earth and manure. This I call the first hoeing; makiniT the covering something in the form of a hill. A-J to making manure I have my own notion. — I know some have preferred making it in a pond or settle. TJiis method I think any man of com- mon observation must condemn, as in that situa- tion no fermentation is produced, and no salts col- lec'cd. One of my neighbors the last season, mow- ed a quantity of his swamp grass ; collected that and other vegetable matter, and deposited them in a sink in his yard to make manure. This spring I was present when he was loading it. I found much of the grass wliole, and not much stained. In my opinion the best way of making manure when it can be done, is to cover it, and exclude it from the rains; in this situation it collects salts. If this can- not be done, cart it into the field early in the spring, pile it in heaps, mix a little lime or plaster with it, and cover it with earth say three inches deep to prevent the salts from escaping; and in one month you will find it completely rotted and-fit for use. But, sir, I feel as thougli I was intruding on your patience, considering how much better infiirmation you may have than I am able to communicate. I should like to give you some of my notions as to improving our pasture lands, &c. but my limits fail. I would only mention I have a small, good stock : one of the best cows, some of the best heifers, and as good a two years old bull as there is in this vi- cinity. Respectfully yours, LUTHER FRINK, Jb. West Springfield, May 1, 1840. South Hadhtj, Ms., .-Jpril 20, 1S40. Hon. Isaac HiLt, — Dear Sii- : — I was, like your- self,bred to the printing business, and have followed it, most of the time, for forty 3-ears. But, having ever been passionately fond of rural scenes and employment, and feeling the stiffening effects of age upon my fingers, I have, for the last five or six years, devoted myself to agricultural piiriuiits. 1 have recently, procured all the numbers of your "Visitor," and have read them through carefully, and am well pleased with them, generally. I cart- not agree with you, in your e.\travagnnt eulogiums upon the imported breeds of cattle. So far as I am acquainted, their excellency consists solely in their extra keeping. I have never known a cow of any imported breed to excel, or even equal, a cow of the native breed, formerly owned liy my neighbor, Mr. Jonathan Burnett, of thistown, which would with- out any extra keeping, mak? 14 lbs. butter a week. Now, Sir, I cfmsider that- the grand error of our farmers is, seliing' oft' their best younglings to the butchers, lean go into_ the yards of farmers in otir neighboring towns, and select as good stock, all things considered, as, any I have ever seen import- ed. Let breeders seleot their best calves for stock and sell the inferior ones to the butcher, and we ghall have no nceri of e.vpending thousands of dol- lars for imported bulls and heifers. But! ain wandering tVom what I intended to say, when I sa't dowr. ; which was merely that I have tal;en great pains to procure the best kind of pota- toes, a vegetable of w'hich I am very fond, altho' I THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 73 do not know that I can boast of any of the noble blood of the Eniprnld Isle. In 1S37, Icnltivatcd more than twenty different kinds of potatoes, for the purpose of satisfying niy- self which were the best for culinary purposes.— What we call here the Biscuit variety, a kind re- cently introduced, I found to be tlie best, ar\d to e.xceed any thing of the potatoe kind, I had ever seen. Altliough j'ou may have better kinds among you, I liave taken the liberty to send you half a Iiushel, to the care of Gen, John IM'iN'eil of Boston, which I presume you will receive. Sincerely yours, &c. ANDREW WRIGHT. Fast AVorJiin^ Oxen. ■ One great — probably the greatest — objection to the employment of o.\en upon the farm and road, is their slow and snail-like movement. This ob- jection, we believe, is oftener the fault of the man than of the beast. Every thing depends upon the early training of steers. No animal siiows the treatment he has received in training more surely than the o.\. Take steers when they are free in the field, and they will walk as fast as colts or hor- ses. The same speed of walking may be secured in the team, by proper training. It is common in "breaking" them to yoke them up with oxen that have acquired a slow pace, cr to load them so lieav- ily that they can liardly move. By such means they soon acquire t!ie habit of working tardily when at work. It is a better plan to commence training them yoked behind a fast walking horse, or to at- tach tliem to a light cart or wagon with an easy load, that they can readily move. By this course a liabit of floetnchis may be secured, which will go far towards obviating the objection we have named. Oxen, on the whole, are more profitable than horses. They do not require so expensive keep- ing, are less liable to disease and injury, and when they become old are valuable for beef. But horses are delicate animals ; are liable to many diseases by exposure and ii.ird work, and if one dies, he is good for nothing but his hide. Two horses, we suppose, will do as much work as three o.\en ; but it will cost less to keep tlie oxen than the horses, and their ultimate value, when they can no longer render service, is vastly greater. As a general suggestion, we think our farmers, who occu])y farms of fifty or an hundred acres, and find it necessiry to keep two teams, would adopt the best course to own one ox and one horse team — the litter answering also for travelling. Maine Cultirator. Statistics of England. Income of England in 1832 was $1,330,000,000 The Governoient received for its^ share > $273,000,000 Tithes, ^ Poor-rates, ^■ County and other assessments, _3 Jj20,000,000 ;i7,rj()o,ouo 7,.300,000 Income of laborers, $45(1,0110,000 " Landed Proprietors, 275,000,000 " Capitalists, 625,000,000 1,350,009,000 Population. . Families. Laborers, 07d,G36 Trade and Manufactures, 1,350,230 All other families, 612,488 2,941,383 The Liverpool and Manchester Rail Road saves nearly £250,000 annually, or about $1,000,000 in cheapness alone, over cost of old modes of car- riage. The British Government spent from 1805 to 1814, ten years, more than eight hundred millions ster- ling": or $4,000,000,000 ! ! ! ] The National defence of Great Britain, from 1 J814 to 1833, cost more than $5,000,000,000 ! ! 63 j per cent, in 14 years, 1800 — 1814 ; 37 per cent, in 22 years of peace, is peace worth having at that rate; — is national life worth it even .'' Civir.iziTioN OR What.' Tiie British Govern- ment spends for Army, Navy and Ordnance, $60,- 000,000 a year. The ten Universities of 3 king- doms spend $4,000,000 a year : — balance in favor of battles, versus l)ooks, 56 millions dollars. The funds devoted to education amount to 7 millions annually, but much is perverted from i(,s intended use. 17,000 jjersons are on books of universities ; on books of army, about 100,000; of navy, abouj, 36,000. — London •SUUislieal Jonrnat. Fur tlin Farmer's iMniiUily Visitor. Mr. Hill : — In your two last numbers you have favourc d us with the experiments of two of your subscribers in the raising of potatoes. I took si.t- ty potatoes of about equal size, and weighing in all thirty pounds, and planted them in the following manner : In 30 hills, one whole potatoe in each hill. Seed, 15 lbs. Crop, 176 lbs. In 30 hills, two thirds of a potatoe in each hill, the butt ends. Seed, 10 lbs. Crop. 152 lbs. In tliirty hills, one third of a potatoe in each hill, the seed ends. Seed, 5 Uis. Crop, 144 lbs. Tiic first thirty liills produced the largest pota- toes, and a mucli greater proportion of small ones ; this I think is inconsequence of the slioots from the seed end of tlie potatoe starting first, and re- taining the advantage thus gained. The potatoes of tlie remaining sixty hills were a- bout middling sized, and very ii3W small ones. Yours respectfully, WM. IIASWELL. Bennington, Vt., April 30, 1840. "Cunning is the legitimate offspring of false- hood, and ever merits reprobation and contempt. I know of no person more generally feared, shunned and despised, than one who has acquired the repu- tation of being cunning. He is generally compar- ed to a snake in the j:rass, which slide unseen a- round your oath, and, without giving you the op- portunity of escape or defence, is re'ady to make yoa the victim of his selfishnes or spleen. If you would not leave tiie image of the serpent stamped upon the character of your child, be careful to eheck in him every tendency to cunning." Peter Parlcij. TiMDER i."J THE HiGiiLANns. — It appears from late Scottish journals that one of the proprietors of forest land in the Highlands, which a few years since was almost unavailable, has lately sold off his wood for £10,000, and another for £5,300. The Duke of Gordon, some 50 years ago, sold the Glenmore Forest for £10,000, and this is said to be now worth treble the sum. Previous to that date the Laird of Grant sold his at 30 pence (say 27 1-2 cents) lijr wliat one man coiiKl cut and carry in a vear. This revolution is the fruit of steam ! Potatoes. — Newell Moore of Holden, in a com- munication to the Yankee Farmer, makes the fol- lowing statement: In the fall of 1838 I broke up three acres and a half of pasture land, which had been pastured for a considerable number of years, and was good pas- turing. Last spring 1 plou^jiied it once, and har- rowed it once, then planted about seventy bushels of potatoes in drills about three feet and a half a- part, placing the hills near two feet apart. I put into each hill a spoonful of plaster, which was all the manure I used. I planted good sized potatoes without cutting, hoed them once, and harvested from three and a halfacres 1,150 bushels of as good potatoes as I ever raised, averaging 3284-7 bushels per acre. I planted three kinds of potatoes, viz : Peach-blows, Early VV hite, and Purple. The Peach- blows produced the greatest yield. I planted ten bushels of those and harvested from tirem 20S bush- els. The soil was clayey loam, and the season un- favorable for potatoes. La.vd Sales. — It -appears, tVoin the annual re- port of the General Land Commission"r, an ab- stract of which is given in the Baltimore Ameri- can, that during the year ending December 31, 1838, the quantity of Public Lands sold aniounted.l to 3,414,907 acres, the purchase . money of which was $4, 305, .564. During the first and second quar- | ters of the year 1830, the number of acrei sold was , 3,771,9r»4, and the purchase money for the same a- I mounted to $4,768,952. " " i The sales for one half of the year 1839'exCi'eded | those of the whole preceding year. The year 1336, was distinguished for the large ainount of sales of public lands. The entire proceeds for that year from this source amounted to more than twenty-five rail- lions of dollars, being about six times as great as the amount received in 1833, and probably five times as great as that received in 1339. The quantity of land to be surveyed and brought into the market in 1S40, '41, is nearly fifteen mil- lion nine hundred thousand acres. — .V. Y. Post Nineteen days absence on a journey from North to South. Having spent nearly half of the time from Jan- uary 1829 to June 1836 at tlie seat of the National Government, and h-iving been elected a dele2:ate to one of the National political Conventions holden at Baltimore on the first week of May, the editor of the Visitor readily embraced an opportunity to see the country and witness the progress of in*- provenient or dilapidation. It is worthy of remark, thatsince he has become a writer on the subject of Agriculture in the col- ums of a monthly sheet, he feels a greatly increas- - ed desire to search out objects of curiosity in the productions of the earth, and to find out and trace to its source the sure path by which man may start on the journey of life, increasing his estate and his means of living at every step as he ad- vances. Although a political object was at the bottom of • our movement, that was by no means during the time of travel the engrossing topic of our thoughts. Vegetation was just springing from the ground; and it was a matter of great and absorbing interest to be able to trace the why and the wherefore of the difllTenoe in the fertility of different grounds, to speculate on what was wanted to convert the bar- ren into the fruitful field, and to assign causes for the earlier spring of vegetation at some points than others. Diflference of climate. The belt of ground between Concord, the seat of government of New Hainp.shire, and Washing- ton the seat of government of the Nation, covers between six anil seven degrees, or from latitude 37 to 43 degrees North. The diflference in the cli- mate, making allowance for the three days time in passing, would seem, to be just about one full month between the two places. This, however, may not give the a.ccuratc idea of the true differ- ence, because it frequently occurs, that while the whole face of the earth at the north point is bound up under cover of frost and snow, vegetation springs at the south point in nearly every month of winter. While at Concord, sometimes from the month of November until the month of April, the ice is congealed in the Merrimack from one foot to twenty inches in depth and the wliole surface of the earth is like an impenetrable rock to the depth sometimes of two feet, it frequently happens that the Potomac at Washington is not frozen at all during the winter; and seldom is there sufiieient frost in the ground for a single week to make a bot- tom for good sleighing. Again, to show Iiow much depends upon eleva- tion, or contiguity or distance from the salt water as to the mildness or severity of our winters, we need only revert to the fact that at Worcester, one degree due south of Concord, there fell and re- mained on the ground double the quantity of snow during the last winter in the first place as in the last; the one being situated near the heighiof land between the rivers, and the other in the valley of the river itself. On the same height of land one hundred and more miles south of Concord in the State of Connecticut, on the 24tli April, the grass had not sprung so much out of the ground as at the north point in the vallies upon the river. Thursday, .i/iril 23. — Left Concord in the morn- ing : for not more than a week previous had any thintr green apjieared upon the surface except tiie evergreen trees and shrubs of winter. The grass on the south or sunny side of a declivity had begun its vernal exhibition. Approaching near Boston the same day, the difference seemed to be at least a fortnight in favor of the latter. Unexpected preparation for National de- fence. Friday, Jlpril 24. — Having tarried with a friend who is keeper of the United States Arsenal at Wa- tertown, was agreeably disappointed at witnessing the magnitude of the preparations there made for the defence of the country in case of war. The Arsenal is situated on the margin of Charles river nearly opposite Winship's celebrated Gardens in Brighton, through which the Boston and Worces- torrailroad passes too far depressed in the earth to witness t!ie surrounding scenery. From the ele- gant plat of ground ov/ned by the government upon which stand the exten.?ive buildings attached to the Arsenal covering a hollow square, may be seen several beautifully smooth swells of land, covered with fruit and ornamental trees and with well cultivated fields and gardens, in Brookline, Brighton and Newton on the south side of Charles river. The quantity of munitions of v.'ar at this Arsenal consisting of mortars, field artillery, cannon balls. 74 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. muskets and l)ayonet3,gunpowder and almost every other material of war, is said to be greater tlian the whole possessed by the United States at tiie commencement of the" war with Great Britain m 1812. If the n-uns and gun carriages at the forts have undergom- dilapidation, it will lie satisfactory to know that the wherewith may in a few linurs bo furnished from this Arsenal sufficient for the pro- tection of the port of Boston against any anticipa- ted assault from the sea. In the yard of this Arsenal are several thousand tons of cannon balls and many pieces of artillery. Of these, several are ancient brass pieces manu- factured lor the use of other governments, some of which were captured from an enemy, and oth- ers presented by some friendly potentate. Of the latter, as matter of the greatest curiosity, was a mortar of thirteen inch bore; sent to this country as a present from Louis XVI, during the revolution- ary war. This mortar was made in 1681, and bears the motto — ^'^ .Vim satis rcidias scd Jovis, fuhnino mitto:" "/ send not the rai/s of the sim, but the thun- ders of Jupiter." The ground attached to the Arsenal belonging to the United States, consist? of some thirty acres. It is a light porous soil, and had been thought of not much value for cultivation. Several enlisted men and others are constantly employed here by the government. The smithery, in which various maieriab are made for gun carriages, t&c. is mana- ged to grea: perfection. Other mechanics employ- ed on wood have also their appropriate shops. A steam eno-ine for propelling variou.'! mechanical machinery, is also in preparation. This institution presents the means of doing within itself much that would be more expensive to the government to be done elsewhere. The superintendent has availed himself of all advantages for renovating and improving the jrrounds attached to the Arsenal. Gardens have been laid out, which produce abundance of veget- ables for the consumption of the families whose heads are in the public service. Fruit trees have been planted, producing a variety of apples, pears, peaches, plums, &c. Tlie military officer com- manding and the keeper of the Arsenal has each a dwelling house furnished by the United States ; these are built of brick, as are the other commodi- ous buildings which cover and secure a large a- mount of public property. If the arsenals through- out the country are furnished at all in proportion to this, it will not be said that tlie government has been inattentive to the maxim " in peace prepare for war." Twelve miles ride round IJostoii. The friend at the Arsenal who kindly met us in Boston and conveyed us to his domicil on Friday evening, next morning gave us the ride on our re- turn through Watertown, West Cambridge, Med- ford, and Charlestown, of twelve miles, in the most beautifully cultivated region to be found in any part of the United States. The wealthy genteel farmer. Cushing's farm and gardens in Watertown, by which we passed, are* more interesting creation by artificial means than can be found in any other part of the country. This gentleman is understood to have realized an ample fortune, " more money than he knows what to do with," by commercial pursuits in the East Indies. lie tears down and builds up to suit his pride or his fancy. The house attached to the garden, said to be good enough for tlie residence of the most affluent, had been re- cently taken down ; and some thirty men were bu- sily engaged in digging the cellars and laying the foundations for a new house. It was said the pro- prietor intended to make this house as expensive as would be the cost of constructing its entire exte- rior with silver. The fine, permanent, double wall which divided Mr. Cushing's premises from the road over which we passed, was taken up and re- laying with tlic additional preparation of a large flat cap stone nece.s3ary*only to improve its appear- ance. The wealthy nabob who has acquired a fortune in the East may and undoubtedly does enjoy the improvements which he is making from the labor of hundreds of men. His expenditure does a pub- lic benefit, inasmuch as he gives employment and pay to many who might not be able to procure ei- ther. But after all, the worthy farmers of his neighborhood, who cultivate their lands for the profit, and who show equally with him what artifi- cial means can perform in forcing crops from the field, must enjoy the fruits of their labors with a higher zest and keener appetite than can Mr. Gush- ing. The soil of Watertown, in that part near Charles river, being the grounds of the Arsenal, is light and porous, resembling the marine gravel some- times found near the sea: the water drains through it quite as easy as through the most porous light sand of the pitch pine plains. The drought of the hast year converted the gravel as far as the filnugh had reached into dryneaslike an ash-bed, and de- stroyed the growth. There was scarcely a spot in the vicinity where that dry weather did not operate in a similar in'anner in that season. We are strong- ly inclined to the opinion that this soil contains all the elements of fertility that we are accustomed to expect in grounds more retentive of moisture from a clayey or gravel hard subsoil ; and that the por- tion which has long laid underneath, turned to the surface, will in the exposure of one or more sea- sons give a good foundation for agricultural'opera- tions. Grand improvements in Watertown and West Cambridge. Receding f;irthcr from the river is the ridge which divides the Charles river from the basin con- taining the Fresh pond and the two Spy ponds in Cambridge and West Cambridge. On this ridge are several beautiful market farms, many single acres of which yield their annual profit of at least a hundred dollars each. From this ridge looking towards the north is a splendid array of that rich scenery appertaining to the most luxuriant vegeta- tion. Here the low swamp meadows surrounding the three ponds which thirty and fuly'years ago were so immersed in w-ater as to be impassable by cattle or other boasts of burden, have been made highly ])roductive by draining and cultivation. At the north-west side of this ainphiiheatre, in West Cambridge, the ground rises in a ridge of perhaps two hundred feet. Since our remembrance the al- most entire surface of this ridge was an unimpro- ved rocky barren, producing little food for man or beast: the granite mountains of New Hampshire were not more rough, and generally where ledges of rock or the barberry bushes and savins did not cover the ground, the feeble soil upon the surface yielded little beside moss as pasturage for the cat- tle. A large portion of this ground has been improved beyond what could ever be expected of any spot of mother earth ; it is even more valuable as a place for the early production of market veg- etables than the richer low lands at the foot of the ridge which have never been disturbed by rocks or hard pan gravel. Cleared of rocks, th? side-hill ground produces probablv quite as much as the natural fertile land below. A portion of the farm of Mr. .Iajik? Kii.i, which we now visited, lies upon this rocky side- hill in a concave basin facing the early sun on all sides. He had sown his early peas on this spot in the month of February ; and on this 24th of April they stocd four inches from the ground in the open air, and were very near coming to the blow. &Ir. Hill leaves no effort untried to make his ground productive. A small brook running down the hill is turned to overflow the grass ground up- on its side long enough in the spring to produce an increased growth. His example has been fol- lowed by his several neighbors ; and the fruits of their industry are seen in the genteel and valuable dwenings(wii!te on the outside and"fair and come- ly" witliin, with carpeted parlors and sitting rooms) which have multiplied in the neighborhood — in the spacious barns — and in the abundant fruits of the earth. Every thing turned to good account. In such a farmer and horticulturist as Mr. Hill there can be no mistake. His labor is never mis- applied ; and seldom has he, during tiie half cen- tury that he has labored upon the ground, done any thing in his profession that has not turned to good account. He has done little merely for beauty or ornament; and yet the trees, shrubs and fruits of the earth are no where more beautiful than upon his premises. We know not the opinions of oth- ers ; but for our part we esteem that cultivation which produces profit, which pays its own expense and at the same time increases the means of the owner of the soil, as affording a far higher gratifi- cation than a splendid exhibition of mere beautiful flowers or grass plants which have been raised at great expense. Mr. Hill has succeeded well — much better than others in more exposed positions — in raising pea- ches. He has found the trees generally not long- lived, and frequently suflering from the cireulio. He has also fine apple orchards, which have grown to maturity under his own hand. Few of the old apple trees that were upon this ground forty years ago remain. Mr. H. is of the opinion that it is better to raise young apple tribes than to attempt mending the constitution of old ones. He thinks the better mode for the health and growth and pro- duction of the tree is, not to plough and cultivate the ground around it, but, especially in a thin soil, to keep the ground under the shade of the tree in grass, and mow it once or twice of a summer, leav- ing the grass to rot or be consumed upon the ground. The button-wood or sycamore tree front- ing JMr. Hill's house, and which fronted another house forty-five years ago, has increased prodi- giously in size during that time, This- venerable tree now measures seven feet in diameter, and girts twenty-two feet, at a considerable distance a- bove the surface of the ground. Population .Tud Improvements about Boston. A ride of twelve miles, in a radius of^ from four to seven miles around ISoston, embracing the towns of Brookline, Brighton, Watertown, West Cam- bridge, Medford, Can.bridge, and Charlestown, presents a more interesting district than can be found within the limits of the United States. The grounds around Philadelphia, if the natural soil is better, will not compare for variety and richness ofproductions, nor, beyond the limits of the compact part of the latter city,will the population and wealth come up to that about the capital of New England. The roads around Boston have been multiplied as the avenues over Charles river connecting the pe- ninsula with the main land have increased : these roads leading in all directions are better than most other roads of the country, the nature of tlie soil being such as to make them hard as the best M'- Adamizcd roads. Ro.xbury on the south, and Charlestown on the north, arc both large enough to be accounted cities : the three villages of Cam- bridge are large enough to be called respectable borough-towns in many parts of the United States. More distant, but within a single hour's ride from Boston, are the towns of Salem, Lynn, and Mar- blehead, with a population little short of forty thousand souls. In fact, the mass, of enterprise and its resulting wealth, the dense population that has grown up around and within the limits of Boston since the revolution, would seem to be unaccount- able. Population and property have increased four fold within fifty years. Cliange of Boston itself. Our fathers yet live — our grandsires left us but yesterday ; yet we are old enough to remember when State street, Kilby street, Slerchants' Row aud Long Wharf, embraced nearly all the heavy business of Boston, and when few dry goods shops were found beyond the limits of Comhill. Since that time numerous new streets have been cut out where buildings only filled the space — Beacon hill has disappeared to fill many acres covered with wa- ter in the old tide mill pond. The great hill to the east of the old Charlestown bridge lias furnished the material for extending the city over the waters in that direction. A portion of the old " North End" remains somewhat as it was in 1797, when the noble frigate Constitution, since consecrated to liberty by more than one victory that " man toman and gun to gun" proved the American to be a prouder name than any other under heaven, was constructed upon that ground. Further south, new wharves with rows of splendid Quincy Gran- ite stores have been built up on piles driven into the mud bearing the weight of many thousand tons of rocks and gravel brought from the islands be- low. Northward and southward from Long wharf has the land been extended down to the very chan- nel of the sea, and upon it have arisen streets and wharves and stores doing busine.ss now more ex- tensively than within half a century was the whole mercantile business of the thirteen United States. As if there could he no end to the extension of Boston, a city pent U]i in a peninsula of three steep hills, not only have the hills been levelled to make additional ground, but, since the ready means of heavy transportation have been furnished by the rail roads, the hills and rocks of the country are brought in to extend its limits. On the Charles river side some forty or fifty acres of land near the termination of Cragie's bridge have been made at the Lowell rail road depot : the soil composing th« niiw ground has been taken from the bosom of old Prospect Hill in Charlestown, through which the Lowell rail?road passes — that liill over which the brave old General Putnam marched the American boys in Indian file in sight of the enemy the day previous to thelbatlle of Bunker Hill. On the other side, Boston has been connected with Dorchester Heights, (now South Boston) on which the Yan- kees suddenly appeared one night with the breast- work and hogsheads of gravel intended to over- whelm, by rolling them upon the attacking enemy — a diversion w'hich drove the British troops from Boston, in 1775. Fifty acres and more of land have here been built upon the waters in an incred- THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 75 ibic sliorl spicc of lime ; and over the new made land the brick edifices oontinuc to grow. All these improvements and this growth of Bos- ton are but the nnerring index of tlie prosperity of the interior country. It is the AGnrcuLTiiKE of New England tliat is the parent of all. Witli wliat intense anxiety should we cherish. the soil and its productions. Every man, be he merchant or me- chanic, lawyer, doctor or priest, owes it to hnnself and his country to encourage the farmer as the great instrument, under heaven, of comfort and happiness to tlie people. All age of Miracles. Thus much for the reflections upon a forenoon's ride in the environs of Boston. Ten years ago it would hardly have been deemed credible that a full day's bu.siness could be accomplished in Bos- tifli, and next morning's sunrise find us rested at the wliarf in New York. If the Boston improvements have been magnificent, what shall we say of aland journey of five hours one hundred miles to Nor- wich, Connecticut, with such an agent of trans-port as our ancestors would have hardly dreamed ? If they had been told that tlieir children would at this time fly tlie distance on artificial wings, they migiit have considered it as not entirely beyond tlie bounds of probability. Had they been informed that relays of the fleetest animals would carry a hundred men with a weight of baggage as great as the live stock transported, twenty miles an hour, for five successive hours, they might have contra- dicted tJie false prophet to his face. But if it had been said to them that fire should produce that ex- pansive efiect upon water as with little ado to car- ry men and weight over land at a rate almost e- qual to the flight of birds, they would have given no more credit to the story than they would to that •of constructing a bridge which should enable man to travel directly to the moon. The 'Worce.ster and Norwich Railroads and numerous Factories. The rail road to Worcester, constructed through a country much more difficult (han the routes gen- erally upon our rivers, carries the passenger into that beautiful town after a flight, with a few short stops, of about two hours. This rail road leaves the de- pot at the cove (now filled up) and passes through the peninsula under the main or Washington street and thence over the bay of Charles river on the westerly side of Boston, in full view of Roxbu- ry, Brighton, the villages of Cambridge and Charlestown. The more distant object is Bunker and Breed's hill, at the north-east, and turning hack tQ\vards the south we have a fine view of the northerly half of the city of Boston, surmounted with the dome of the spacious, State House. On the other hand looking towards the west, the ruins of the Nunnery upon an eminence between Bun- ker hill and Winter hill in Cliarlestown stand in the same position that the fire left them — a monu- ment speaking trumpet-tongued to the beholder of the iidolcrnnce of professed viodcrii liberalUij- Tiie barbarous spirit that applied the torch to this insti- tution for the cheap and thorougli education of fe- males, erected from funds created by a truly Chris- tian charity, was worthy only of a more dark and i-rnorant age — it is a stain upon the Protestant, no less than the intolerance of the former professors upon the Roman Catholic faith. The Worcester rail road pursues its course along the south bank of Cliarles river passing the villa- ifes of Watcrlov.'n, Waltliam and Newton; it af- terwards enters the valley of anoihcr stream said to be one of the sources of Concord river falling into the Merrimack at Lowell, until it arrives on the height of land a few miles eastward of Wor- cester, when, breaking through an immense ledge, that beautiful town appodra in full view, adorned on all sides with trees and vegetation. The Nor- wich rail read commences at tliis village and cros- ses tVom the west to the east of the track of the Springfield rail road about half a mile out of town. In the course of a few miles the Norwich road en- ters upon tlie valley of French river, a branch of the Thames, which discharges its waters into Long Island Sound, at New London.' French river has its source in Leicester, and unites with another branch running from the west in Killingly, Cl. Tlie stream again unites with another branch from the west at Norwich, to which place the tide flows fifteen miles above New London. The distance over the railrond from Boston to Worcester is for- ty-four miles — from Worcester to Norwich, sixty miles. Worcester lies at the highest elevation on the route : for the first ten miles from the latter towards Norwich, the route is through a valley of easy light soil to Oxford, at the centre of which i.; the celebrated pi?_in on whiclithe army of 1798 en- camped. Leaving Oxford v/e pass down the stream to the new town of Webster, taken from Oxford and Dudley. All the way down the French river factory follows factory. For these the ancient county of NVorcester is remarkable : here are the sources of the streams; and here, near tlie highest point from whence the waters How, the various machinery of manufactures is propelled by the power of the fiilling waters. There are several factories in Leicester near the very sources of French river — there are others in Oxford, the next town below: in Webster, the factories are still more numerous. In this last location S.\:\iuel Slater, who first introduced into this country ma- chinery for spinning cotton by water power, spent the latter years of his life, leaving some seven or more factories to his two'sons. Tliis gentleman at first resided in Rhode Island. He was the great and successful patron of manufacturing industry in this country — zealous for im])rovements, and ready at the invention and perfecting of machine- ry— he necessarily became connected with many others of like enterprise with himself. At one time he owned a part of the great water power at Anioskeag on our own Merrimack, wiien there was a talk that he might there take up his residence. Involved i'n responsibilities for others in the year 1829— after the protective tarift'of lS-28— his af- fairs became so embarrassed that he contemplated an asjignmcnt ot his property, when relief was afi'orded hiin by a wealthy house at Providence, R. 1. Those for whom he was surety were afterwards able to pay him for responsibilities only in facto- ries; of these he became the owner in several pla- ces— among others, of a small establishment on Fish river. To this place he removed, purchasing the land in the vicinity and the water power for a trifling sum. This water power he continued to improve until he had erected a factory for almost every kind of manufacture of which cotton and wool is the material. The swift river passes over a rocky channel ; and the establishments, some of wood, Obliers of^ brick and some of stone, lie along the stream at convenient distances, each surround- ed by its cluster of dwellings, occupied by the op- eratives employed in manufactures. Elegant broadcloths and kerseymeres as well as cotton cloths of various kinds, threads, &c. arc here made. The rise in the value of land alone in the vicinity of these establishments would have been sulHcientto make any one family wealthy. Rocky and sterile as had been the face of the soil, im- provement in its cultivation was apparent. Rugged route through Connecticut. Just over the line of Massachusetts in Webster, the track of tjie Norwich road is into Thompson in the State of Connecticut. The valley of the river as it passes down becomes more rough, and the impending banks more precipitous; but crook- ed and rocky and precipitous as these banks are, a way for the location of the rail road fails not to he found. At this point, just over the line, anoth- er manufacturing village owned entirely by one a'entUmen and his soub, presents itself: the factory building, large and beautiful, is constructed of gra- nite— tiie dwelling houses attached, uniform in size, are built of brick : the residence of the own- erhimself is a neatly painted wooden house, front- ing the river, rising through the yard in a succes- sion of steps. For more than a mile before reach- ing the factory from above, the land on both sides of the stream belongs to the same owner, who u- nite; to successful manufacturing enterprise 'the business of profitable (cultivation, on ground ex- ceedingly rougli. The name of this gentleman' is FisuER, a native of Dedham, Massachusetts, and relative to the celebrated Fisher Ames. This vil- lage bears the name of FisherviUe, from that of its ov^ner : it has been constructed within the last ten years. Below FisherviUe and approaching Norwich, the valley becomes more and more rugged on either hand. A passage through the Notch of the White Mountains could be hardly more rough ; a route down the Souhegan river from its source to its mouth could not be more diificnlt, than that of the rail road down the Quinnebaug, whose shores were so winding as to require what would etpial the en- tire curve of a circle in the distance of a mile. The bed of this river, as it breaks through the rocks above Norwich, presents as wild scenery as any we recollect ever to have witnessed : for a con- siderable distance the course of the road has been forced through a solid rock, emerging from which we soon enter an extensive nuinufacturing village in Norwich: still further on at no very great dis- tance, stands the city of Norwich, on a point of land where two rivers unite and form the river Thames. Elevation changes climate. The difi'erence of vegetation between the eleva- ted ground which is the source of the stream, and that in the valley as the road approaches the sea, is very striking. The rye fields were barely green and the common pasture grounds had scarcely star- ted at the highest jioint; but approaching Nor- wich, where the ground was sandy and light, the winter grain had started aiiead ; and the farmers were diligently engaged in making preparations for planting. There is a wonderful dificrence at this early sea- son of the year between land well cultivated and laud indilTerently cultivated. The stimulant of good manure makes ground a whole fortnight ear- lier than where there is none or very little manure. We are decidedly of the opinion that true economy teaches the iiighest niauuring and best preparation of land for a crop of Indian corn. Light land, well manured, is best for this crop. This kind of land assists the manure in throwing forward the crop ; and a week or fortnight gained in the first part of the season, frequently saves the whole crop of the year. There is, besides, payment in full for high manuring and good cultivation in the increa- sed quantity of the product. A sea Fog. Saturday^ .'Ipril^ 25.^After a quiet but dark niglit passage up the Sound the whole distance of Long Island, one hundred and fifty miles, the early mor- ning found our moderate and safe steamboat, Nor- wich, at the wharf in'the city of New York ; and a change from that to the Philadelphia boat at half past seven o'clock, took us on our way further south. Between the city and Staten Island, pass- ing over a distance of seven miles, the boat was suddenly enveloped in a fog. This fog is extremely vexatious to all sea-faring persons : it is often liigli- 1}^ dangerous, and many a gallant ship enveloped in fog, has been stranded upon the rocks while pursuing a calm and quiet course in a smooth sea. In a narrow channel, under the power of steam, there is increased vexation and danger in the wa- ter craft. Such a small boat as navigates Staten Island Sound cannot comfortably contain the num- ber of passengers that travel between the two great cities of the Union. Our boat this morning num- boied full three hundred souls ; and thus freighted in the fog, it came within an ace of ru«ning on a dangerous shoal near New Brighton. The captain and hands, at the sudden discovery of land, seemed to be fully as much frightened as we had felt our- selves when discovering once on Lake Ontario that the steamboat was on fire! Fruitless Speculations. The shores of New Jersey and Staten Island be- tween the city of New York and Perth Amboy are ciiequered with frequent buildings, elegant to appearance on the outside. Perhaps one half of the whole number are uninhabited : many of them had been erected to assist the sale of city lots on paper in the famous speculations of 1836. Hun- dreds of thousands and perhaps millions of dollars had been sacrificed in the inflated prices of lots here laid out. The lesson of those times ought not to be logt on the present generation at least. The money thrown away in ornamenting grounds and buildings that stand "solitary and alone," would account for no inconsiderable amount of the pecuniary distress that has followed; the money sunk in payment for lands and lots actually of no value, would of itself furnish ready capital for the pursuit of a good and sound business in nearly ev- ery village of the country. In New Jersey and upon Staten Island, thefruit trees were (April 25) in full blossom, as forward aa they HOW are at Concord, N. H, nearly four weeks later in the season. Riches in Jersey under ground. Passing from East to West Jersey over the rail road, the country is level. AVith a light soil, fre- quently tlie thin soil of a pitch pine jilain, either sand or gravel, resting upon the same porous ma- terial, the country has seemed to he exceedingly barren and sterile. But we are gratified to say that the journey of every succeeding year improves the appearacne of much of that sterile country. Throughout its whole extent that half of the State of New Jersey nearest the sea, is said to be un- derlaid with a body of shell marl. The farmers are preparing their fields for planting. Marl and lime are very common ingredients for manure: one or^otii were laiti out in piles upon the plough- ed fields. Upon the lighest, silicious soil clover had already sprung up. in its richest green. The extensive peach orchards, for which the light soil of Jersey is well adapted, are said to be very profitable to their owners. The trees are set out THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. at suitable distances at right angles— none of them are hirn-e, and tliey arc cxp^^-'ieJ to continue as bearcrllHit n few ve.irs. This crop always Hnds a ready demand nn'd saleathiifh prices in thec.t.cs of JS'ew York and PhHadelphia. M'lch of the poor soil on this Jersey flat extend- incrdowna luindred miles from New Brunswick tolCape Mav, is occnp'.ed in the growth of wood. The numerous salt creeks from the sea up and down wliich the tide regularly ebbs and flows, en- able lio-hters and sloops to run into the very heart of the°land to cnrry off the wood, purcliased for the market. On the poorest soil the ffrowlh of wood fit for the axe is renewed in from eighteen to twen- ty-four years. The practice of the owners of ex- tensive tracts is to cut down all clean as they go, leaving the stumps,from which immediately sprouts a new'growth. The wood, whether it be soft or liard, is worUi from twolo three dollars the cord stan- ding ; and the yield is from fifteen to twenty cords to the acre. Here is a gain, which demonstrates the value of (mr very poorest hind in every direc- tion whenever the country becomes thickly settled. On the whole, when ue consider the underlay which pervades tlie entire seacoast level of New- Jersey of calcareous material for renovating the soil— that even the p.irt which is suffered to remain in a state of nature grows a constant profit into the owner's pocket of at Icasttwenty per cent, an- nually upon the estimated price of the land— we arrive at the conclusion that the barrens of New- Jersey, covered with scrub oaks and chinquipins, are de.-itined in future times, located betweeiv the two great eominercial marts of the Union, to be- come one of the most valuable agricultural districts of the United States. Change in the course of rivers. Traversing the country up or down some ol^ our rivers, the difference of the constituents of soil on the two sides is often remarkable : the difference on the same side of the alluvial deposites is too pe- culiar to escape observation. These phenomena occur frequently on the Merrimack where we re- side and in sight of which we are now writing. The liigh water freshets of the present spring liave made sad inroads upon our own fine alluvion situ- ated on both sides of tlie river the present spring. It pains us to see several feet of beautiful grass fiound caving off every season, although our neigtilior on the other side is a gainer of an equal amount of land to that of our own loss. For sev- eral recent centuries the bed of the river in the ex- tended intervale grounds of Concord has traversed from one to the other side of the basin which, un- til the deposite had been brought from the moun- tains above, was evidently a lake. In some places the excavation is a deep rich black vegetable mould overlaying logs of wood perfectly sound. In oth- er places It is yellow mould of lighter consistence. In others, it is mere gravel or sand. Under this, at the depth of some ten or twelve feet the bottom is a perfect quick sand; "and here at the bottom of the river the water commences the work of under- mining, which terminates in the destruction of the surface above, gradually changing the course of the river. The width of the river through our in- tervale at low water is Some twenty-five or thirty rods ; and within our recollection of thirty years the bed of the river has changed at least its entire width. Above the level of the lower alluvion is the lev- el and ancient subsidence of some thousand years a^o — the level of pine pl.nins, which have been so long exposed as to have lost their original virgin fertility. This level is very near a hundred feet in its elevation above the bed of the river. Where- ever the river touches this high bank it cuts down ■with rigid impartiality the same quantity of surface as in tlie lower grounds. Opposite to us about a mile distant the river is performing the grand ope- ration for the space of about one hundred rods ; and in this distance is a remarkable metallic mate- rial (probably iron) of the color nearly nf red ochre — extending in width some twenty rods, from the surface of the plain above to the depth of the whole high bank. This red soil may be traced nearly a mile in a belt of equal width passing througfi and across a precipitous valley or gorge which has existed, as cutout by the flowing^of tlie waters, for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years : on both sides of the belt the soil is the same, sili- cious and ligbt. The red soil, participating some- what oiclay in the composition, becomes more fer- tile the more it is cultivated :^-when first turned up it seems to be greasy, and it cakes on p?posure to the sun. The t«-o sides of tlie Delaware. But vie have strayed from our journey through the Jerseys in the purpose of introducing the fact of the remarkable difference of soil between the Jersey and the Pennsylvania sides of the Delaware river from Trenton' down to the Brandy wine hciirlUs at the north-easterly point of the little State of Delaware. All the way down there is an ori- ginally rich and heavy black soil on the westerly side, and a light, silicious nn 1 apparently sterile original surface on the north-easterly side of this river. Below Philadelphia some dozen miles is the ground celebrated for a gallant feat of the prowess of the JVinerican soldiery in the time of the war of the American revolution, the unexpected defeat and capture of a body of British Hessian merce- naries.— Mud Fort on the Pennsylvania side, and Red Bank on the Jersey side of the Delaware: the first is located on the low black ground on the one hand, and the latter takes its name from the inroad made in a higher hank on the other side of the river exposing the strata of sand and clay tinged with red. Formerly the Pennsylvania land was esteemed much the most valuable on account of its superior strength and supposed capacity for greater produc- tions. But the Jersey land has been for years ^gaining ground of its competitor. Both are so near to th; great city of Philadelphia as to be cul- tivated for ma'-ket vegetables. The Jersey lands always have the advantage of coming with the most early productions into the market. And the important fact begins to be developed that, in the new and renovating system of husbandry, without expensive drainage and sub-soil ploughing, the lighter soil is more ruhuihle tUantltis hcartj soil. On this principle the Jerseymen are fast advancing on their neighbers, till the Pennsylvanians reluctant- ly acknowedge that the arable grounds of the for- mer for long use are preferable to their own grounds. A King in America. At Bordentown, on the Jersey side of the Dela- ware, is the seat of Joseph Bonaparte, on which he has resided a greater part of the time for the last twenty-five years, an unostentatious, amiable and peaceable citizen, adapting himself strictly to the manners and usages of our Republic, and endear- ing himself to the whole community in which he lives, by dueds of philanthrophy and generosity. When he was compelled, by the universal rising of Spain, aided by the power of Britain, to resign the crown of Spain, which had been forced upiin him by his more ambitious and more talented bro- ther, the late Emperor Napoleon, he contrived to send to this country wealth sufficient for all his purposes ; the property is generally supposed to have been brought to this country through the a- gency of the celebrated Stephen Girard, and con- stituted a portion of the immense means which that inilividual wielded for many years to the mul- tiplication and increase of a greater fortune than any other person in this country ever gained. The premises of the late king Joseph, although he has been absent in Europe for the lastfew years, continue to increase in exterior beauty, as the cr.-ouuds in useful cultivation must gain in annual production. The same buildings, whether of brick or wood, that were so trim and bright twenty years a:ents of the "city of great distances," so^de- nominatcd because a portion of the public oflices are iiearlv two miles distant from the Capitol — and throui'h the public grounds about the Capitol, the President's liouse and the office grounds, in ear- ly spring, soon after the budding and blossoming of the threes and the springing of the luxuriant clover, the fragrance of the flowers, the music of the many birds beginning their nests already in tlie boucrhs of each considerable tree, the mild and soft atmosphere under the early sun, the passing to and fro of those who were on foot betimes to procure the provisions of the day at the markets ; every thin"- animate and inanimate contributed to feed liigirthat mental appetite which can scarcely be cloyed in the enjoyment of the many good things on which the mind may fee brought to feast. Eariy Ilaymaliing. Our first wa-lk before breakfast at the seat of the "National Government revived the recollections of four to six and eight years ago, with the beauty ■which additional improvement had thrown about these o-rouuds. .\ii index of the climate may be "taken from the fact that on Monday, April -27, the clover in the yard at the west end of tha Capitol, Yacing the north-west wind, and of course in the coldest point, had gained a sufficient height to be fit for the mower. "The workmen employed in the public grounds were cutting itdown. It was prob- aijly four or five inches out of the ground, but had notnearlv attained to its natural growth. The Capitol and its grounds. The grounds fronting both long sides of the Capitol were more beautiful at tli» time of our visit at Washington than any grounds we had ever be- fore seen. The Capitol itself covers something over an acre of ground. The circle enclosed with iron paled iVnce around its cast and west fronts, embraces nearly a distance of one mile. The yard for the entrance of carriages is on the easterly front, and consists of several acres of gravelly walk surrounded by a brick pavement on all sides. Fronting this farther cast is a square of some fifty rods either way ; and next to the paled fence is a belt of trees, shrubbery and flowers of numerous kinds, all kept in cultivation during the summer. Within this belt is a gravelled walk extending on all sides of the square ; and over the whole plat at convenient equal distances arc three other walks extending from end to end and corresponding with gates through which the visitor enters and passes out at either end. This plat is upon a level; and the walks are ail nnderdrained and the wafer passes off underground every few rods. An oval reservoir of water, in which gold and sun fishes are sport- inn- in numbers, has been built and enclosed with hewn free stone near the west end of tiie plat and fronting the centre of the Capitol. J^oni this res- ervoir to which the water i.3 brought from higher ground eastward, the water passes ofl' in an aque- duct running directly under the Capitol to its west front, and here the mater pours from a stop-cock directly into another oval reservoir in which sport the fishes. At the centre of this last reservoir stands the monument "mutilated by Britons" du- ring the invasion uf the Federal City in the war of lctl'2, erected to commemorate the. unparalleled prowess of Wadsworth, Israel, Decatur, and other gallant young spirits who v/eie martyrs to their own heroism nearly forty years ago in the war with the barbarian.: of Tripoli, which had been removed from the Navy Yard. From this reser-ioir the water is carried to the ground below and is lost in the small stream called the Tiber which Tuns to- wards the Potomac at the fOot of Capitol hill. The enclosed ground west of the Capitol is in the shape of a halfoval ; and the rise from the ex- treme point of this oval to the basement of the Capitol itself (a story lower tlia;i the ground on the east front) is from fifty to seventy-five feet rising on an inclined pavement of hewn stone and two several flights of stone steps. The margin of this oval and the circular walks are similar to those on the square upon the east front. An esplanade or circular walk on an elevation still above the base- ment extends from end to end of the west front of the Capitol. From this esplanade and from a bal- ustrade entered from the great room of the Capi- tol a story higher appropriated to the library of Congress situated in the centre and on a level -ivith and fronting the rotunda, is a splendid view of the Pennsylvania Avenue and the President's house directly in front — the village near and the bridge across "the Potomac on the left; and the City Hall, the Patent Oliice and new General Post Olhce now erecting and the more elevated and compact part of the city itself, on the right. At the four corners and equi-distaut from the President's house, stand the oifices for the accommodation of tile four groat Departments of the Government, the Treasury, State, War and Navy offices, with their several appendages. The new Treasury building, which approaches its completion and is already occupied with many of the offices, is constructed so that it can never be burned ; it is entirely fire iiroof. The stories rest on arches ol stone. It is a building of free stone something like two hundred feet in front and fifty or sixty feet in depth, with a wing per- hapii a iiundred'feet back. Such is the extent of the business of the General Ixind Office, that the whole upper story is occupied by the olKces of that Department. The grounds about the public ofSces lire laid out and cultivated with beautiful trees, though not ex- actly in the style of the grounds about the Capitol. Until within the last few'years the grounds in t'ront and rear of the President's house were entirely neglected. Since that time preparations and im- provements similar to those of the Capitol with paled fences have been made here. The ground has been excavated and carried away, leaving two mounds of considerable elevation on the south front where some fifteen or twenty acres have been surrounded by fence. The growth of vegetation has not yet arrived at perfection here ; but the ex- cavated ground,after it shall be exposed a sufficient length of time, v.'iU present with the aid of vege- tabfe manures all the' constituents of fertility. The seat of jrovernnient of the United States, when the plan "of cultivation shall be jierfected, when the trees shall have attained to their medium .Trowlh, in the fea^on when "'be primrose and the daisy bespangle every lawn," will be one of the most enchanting spots of grdund on earth. May this enchantment contribute to dispel that ferocious spirit of anger and ]jrejudice which of late years has entered too much into tlie character and delib- erations of some of our public men! Thiirsdaij, Jlprll 28. The industry of the market- men of Washington equals that of New England. Market day at the great central market on Penn- sylvania Avenue comes three times a week. The carts were on their way into the city from east and west as early as two and three o'clock in the morn- ing. There was, for the season, a fine disphiy of every thing connected with good eating. The beei", mutton and veal were excellent — the vegetables were all large for the season. Prices of best fresh beef 10 cents per pound; corned beef 6; mutton 10; veal 8; dried beef 12 cents; eggs 14 cents the dozen; butter 2.5 cents; small chickens 25 to 37 1-2 cents each; Potatoes 80 cents the bushel. Large and full headed lettuce, beautiful asparagus, and large green gooseberries were plenty in the market. The prices paid well ; and it was pleas- ant to see in this District nothing but the solid specie paid oat to the farmer for a less amount than five dollars. The remainder of the week spent in Washington presented new views of interest daily that might be worth the relation had we not already spun into an enormous yarn the little materia! derived from our rapid hurried view. Mondatj morning, May 4. Left the seat of gov- ernment after the most gratifying visit ever made to the Federal City; and made the r4onumental Cit}' in from six to Iialf past eight o'clock, arriving in season to take breakfast. The political events of the Convention occupied our time here to the exclusion of almost every thing else ; and if that matter is to be detailed at all, it is more proper for the political newspapers than for our ajrricultural sheet. We were only one of a comparatively small Convention; and if we had not been very busy we might not have seen and marked one of a thousand of the numerous events that occurred in the larger Convention to which we did not belong. Tuesday morning. May 5. Visited th" Balti- more market. Strawberries and cherries, brought up the Chesapeake from Norfolk, and raised about two hundred miles south, were plenty in the mar- ket. Green peas raised in the vicinity of Balti- more had just come into the market. Prices, best beef, very line, 10 cents ; pork 12 ; mutton 8 ; veal 8 ; chickens 25 to 37 1 2 cts each. Potatoes, very good, raised in Harford county, one dollar the - bushel. The gardening about Baltimore is equal to that of any other part of the country. Farmers in this vicinity find the best encouragement for thorough cultivation. Never did we realize how much and how great is the advantage of high cultivation as we did in the course ot' this journey ; the most luxuriant fields are to be fo-and along side oi other fields almost entirely destitute of vegetation from want of cultivation. The truth is, that labor and pains will not be lost if applied with judgment on scarcely any soil. Farms below Piiiiadcii>hia. Thursday, May 7. On our return we this day gained what we lost in going to Washington pas- sing over the ground in the night— a good view of the land on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware from Wilmington to Philadelphia, passing about six miles in the State of Delaware and through Delaware and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylva- nia. This country is better adapted to the grazing of cattle than almost anything else. _The farmers make great gains from purchasing cattle driven from western New York, Ohio, Kentucky, &c. keeping tlicin for one or more seasons, and fatten- ing them for the market of the city of Philadelphia. The best beef in the world is found in tliis market. In the cultivation of Pennsylvania much use is made of lime in conjunction with vegetable ma- nures. Ibis costs very little, as almost every far- mer has limestone at hand which is converted into quicklime only with the expense of digging and bur- ninn-. Grounds preparing for crops of corn and po- tatoes were covered with piles of stable raiuure; and lime in quantities was spread over the same ground. A veteran farmer and grazier who lived afew miles from the river in the interior of Delaware county, informed us that he had gone over with lime the whole extent of his premises. He cultivated his pasture grounds as he did his mowing, and changed by alternate crops from arable to mowing and from mowing to pasture. His land thus prepared would pasture a bullock or voung ox on one acre, and af- ford full feed for a liiilch cow on every two acres. There are hundreds of acres on the Pennsylvania siile ".f the Delaware l.'clow the junction of the 78 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Schuylkill with that river of excellent Itind brought into use bj' ditching and dyking out tlie waters of the river. These arc a perfect level ; and on them the cattle luxuriate until they become abundantly fat. Philadelpliia Market, May 8. Prices of fat beef 14 to 15 cents per pound; veal, larger quarters than connnon, 6 to 8 cents; mutton 8 cents; po- tatoes 80 cents per bushel. Plenty of radishes and turnips, raised in Jersey, in market. Between Philadelphia and Trenton, distance twenty-eight miles by land, the soil and cultivation are beautiful. Among tlie bostevidences of wealth here are the commodious and permanent stone houses and barns. Tlie latter are usually upon the declivity of some rising ground; the cattle stalls are in a basement story ; and the upper part is oc- cupied exclusively for hay and srraiu. Around tliese on the larger farms, in the season of liarvest, are numerous stacks of wheat and other grain in the straw. The rail road from Philadelphia to Now York en the upper or Trenton route passes the Delaware river over the old bridge wliicli has stood for man}- years ; the cars are transported over this bridge with horses, from the fear that it is too weak for the force of the steam engine. Of consequence the engine and cars are changed on the Jersey side. The route to New York through Jersey by Prince- ton, New Brunswick, Elizabethtown and Newark, was all the way by night; and the prospect of tlie very best agrioiltural part of that State was en- tirely lost. A severe north-easterly rain storm commenced in the afternoon of Friday, May 7, in which at one o'clock on Saturday morning we ar- rived at Jersey City, opposite the island of New York : tills storm continued witii unabated force that day nearly till the time of leaving the city for Boston, at five o'clock, P. M. and returning to Boston on the Norwich route on Sunday morning — resting there on that day, we arrived at our home on Monday evening, May 11. Diseases of Horses. mtc-Phlladelplda, Ohio, May 11, 1840. Hon. Isaac Hili, : /)car Sir— Will the follow- inff be of any use to your readers .> In tlie hclicf that you and they agree with me in the opinion that the preservation of the health of that noble an- imal THE Horse should be more carefully attended to than it is, I copy the annexed extract from a let- ter of a Scientific Veterinary Surgeon, educated in Eni)-Iand,and who for many years resided in the city of Baltimore. On leaving that city he wrote to a friend some letters in regard to the treatment of horses, and while on a visit to this place permit- ed me to take a copy of one which I now trans- cribe for your "Visitor," if you shall tliink it wor- thy of a place. B. M. A. "You will be able to distinguish the mouth symp- toms (of disease) by carefully observing the con- trast between those ii/7n/)/o)ns and the healthy color. When you may liave a horse afllicted with excite mcnt of the alimentary canal, you will most easily discover the difference, and that without sqiicetijig the tongue; but by that pressure you will be fully convinced. The true knowledge of the pulse is difficult to arrive at. Was I compelled to lay aside the mouth symptoms or the pulse,l would prefer re- taining those of the mouth as being the most un- erring. But 1 would advise you frequently to ex- amine the pulses of your healthy horses, for there you will be better able to distinguish its action when influenced by inflammation. Pay particular respect to the want of moisture in the moutli, for if that is wanting it is a true indication fertile loss of blood. And should there be with this no other Byniptom than « loss of appctite,h\eeii'\ng will of it- self in all probability remove the disease. Having with strict observation made yourself acquainted with the healthy state of the mouth, that is, color and moisture — you will then be prepared (if your horse loses his appetite) to examine the state of his mouth with satisfactioj;. To know the true value of those symptonis,you must examine the diseased horse. I consider the following treatment most advis^i- ble in the disease vulgarly called "the distemper." I premi.L'e that this term is not definite, but if we call it a catarrh when not attended with fever, and if with fever, call it a catarrh fever, we have a def- inite term well to be understood, which will natur- ally lead to a rational treatment. Whatever be the age of the horse, if the following symptoms' appear, you there arrive at the disease. First symptom is a dilBculty in swallowing water — his food he can better swallow, but that' is attended with some pain. There is sometimes a great dilH- • oulty of breathing, attended with much noise. In all cases there is a discharge from his nostril, v.hich varies in quality, which consists as froth or food, or which has much the appearance of the white of an egfr — or it may be of abetter quality of matter, whicii is fiir the most favorable symptom. In «ome the swelling ujulor the throat, or up toward the car may be great, but if the breathing is easy and the horse eats,it will be evidence that there is no fever and that nothing will be required but waiting pa- tiently until the part is ready for opening, which yon will know by pulling the hair. If it come out freely, you may safely open it with your penknife, making the incision large enough to admit your finger,"after which the part is to be washed once a day witli hot water for a ievi days. In some of these ca«es abscesses form one after another in rajiid succession to the number of eight or ten or even more, from all whicli the ;jks must be discharged by opening. In all those cases in whicli food comes down the nostril, blistering must be attended to, but not until after ajoss of blood, and the physic has done acting. As this disease is a local inflaniniation of the throat, or a more exten- ded fever through the system, blood must be taken if file pitient is a common sized saddle horse and fleshy, to the extent of two gallons, admitting that the fever is great, but if it is not, a less quantity will suffice — a purge must also be given. The next day if the disease is severe, there may be considerable excitement which makes it essen- tial that the 'moiii/i ^-i/jn;)/um5 are strictly attended to, so that if a second bleeding is indicated, it is not to be neglected, and tliat to the extent which may reduce lliese symptoms, to accomplish which it may or may not require as much to be drawn as on the preceding day. In a severe case of tliis disease the physic ought to operate briskly for two days at least giving at eaeli operation copious and w'ell mixed passages; for if from the bowels there are onl}- watery pas- sages, there is much danger. On the supposition that the physio operates well, I will say there is almost a certainty of a cure without any other trouble. On the physic stopping, or in a kw days after, the symptoms may return, and that with much dif- ficulty in breathing, in which case it may be prop- er to take from two to four quarts of blood, giving from half an ounce to three quarters of an ounce of aloes, the only cathartic to be relied oil in any case of disease of horses, to produce another gen- tle purgation, adding a blister to that part of the throat immediately behind the j-aw bone, as where you will by pressing on that part of the throat on "both sides discover the horse will express pain, to which part you will apply your blister (being care- ful in all cases before applying a blister to clip the hair close) and on the following day renew the blis- ter, and even on the third if there is not from the past a considerable discharge. I will now presume that the horse has recovered his appetite, drinks witliout any difficulty, and ap- pears to be doing W'ell — but continues to run mat- ter from the nostrils; in which case you will give 2 oz. of cream of tartar twice a day in his feed, which must be wet that the powder may adhere ; and this is to continue f"or one week. But should the discharge continue after this and the appetite be good, you will give in the feed ^0 grains of cantharides for 6, 12 and even £4 days. Adhering to the above directions you will avoid the necessity of that troublesome practice of poulticing and the tedious and uncertain course of nostrums. One of the terminations of this disease — and that after the horse appears to bo recovered, is the drop- sy, which is first discovered by sweating in one or more of bis legs — and may be so spread as to ap- pear in numerous large swellings all over the body, and his legs and thigse twice or three times, or even four times their usual size. The treatment is re- peated purging, and if the following directions are strictl}^ adhered to the effect will produce much surprize. Give a physic which must be aloes — and in four days after it stojis repeat, but only in half the portion of the preceding one, and in four days after that stops, repeat ; but igain in less quantity than the preceding one. And thus you will continue repeating until you think the point gained, which may be longer or shorter ac- cording to the severity of the disease. Yon must expect the horse to be much reduced, but as from that he will recover, it is better than losing him. As the above succession of purging tends to wea- ken the bowels for a time, as much less portion is required, which is essential to be remembered, as the patient would be killed by super purgation. Therefore in this case purge ought to be in action •as long as in ordinary cases, one day is long enough for its action with each physic." Memo, adose.of aloes 1 1-2 to 1 3-4 oz. to a common saddle horse. Administer it — pulverized — enveloped in a paper — raise the horse's head and confine it; then insert the medicine into his mouth — lie will in a few minutes chew and swallow the paper and its con- tents. Mouth Si/mptoms. Squeeze the tongue of a healthy horse in your liand hard, the prints of your fingers will be perceived when your hand is re- moved in white indentations or streaks on the tongue — if the hor.se has a fever or if the intestines arc inflamed — squeezing the tongue will leave no marks or white streaks — this almost always indi- cates bleedini^ For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. Nourishment of Plants. Mb. EnrroK — In the laws of order by which all nature is governed, it appears to be a fixed prin- ple that light and heat are prime agents in the for- mation and completion of all the productions of the vegetable as well as tlie animal kingdom. It is true that seeds of most >vind will germinate in the dark ; but the plants will not grow so well, and will exhibit a pale and sickly appearance ; and if they produce iiny fruit, it will be of a watery con- sistence and very imperfect. Chaptal tells us the principal agents in the germination of seeds ore oxygen, heat and water. The latter by penetrating the covers, or skin of the seed which is generally tough and flexible, enters to its interior which in- creases its size and consequently opens the pores of the skin or cover, and lets in the air, which sup- plies the necessary oxygen. Then a proper degree of warmth completes the operation, and the germ or sprout is pushed into existence. All seeds are more or less composed of starch, mucilage and carbon with other ingredients, and in the process of ger- mination a portion of the carbon being thrown off, the starch is converted into sugar, and by the union with oxygen the mucilage forms a milky substance which united with the sugar has a swee- tish taste. This is according to the laws of order, provided as the first food fur the new born plant, and serves for its nourishment until its size and strength will enable it to take up that which is of a more solid and substantial nature. This will ac- count for the fact that the young leaves like a young infant are very tender and at malurer age become tough and hardy. Seeds destitute of vi- tUity, receive water and air in the same manner as those do that grow, but not possessing the power to throw off a portion of their carbon, instead of sen- ding forth a shoot, they tend to p»trifactlon; and if placed in a proper temperature the process goes very rapidly. It is a known fact that many of the seeds sown in tough clayey soil do not vegetate ; and if seed sown in the fall are considerably covered with wa- ter during the spring, after the proper time for them to sprout, they rot, and are said to be "winter killed." This is in consequence of being excluded from the atmosphere, and a proper supply of oxygen cannot be obtained, which is absdutety necessary to the operation of the vital principle. The power of plants to receive that kind of food which is suited to their age and will promote a vigorous growth, and of rejecting such as is injurious to their ex- istence, is among the " beautiful wonders" of the order of nature, and will aflord an amusing topic for the exercise of the mind ol those who delight "to look through nature up to nature's God." It is a well known fact that plants derive a great portion of their nourishment from the atmosphere through their leaves. Fruit is never formed until the leaves and stock luis attained its full growth. — The only nourishment taken f.om tlie soil by the roots is water, and such particles of matter as are soluble in water; and if any matter which is not congenial to the plant, is thus taken up, after being elaborated through the stocks and leaves of the plant, it is discharged into the soil. From the e::- pcriments of Dr. Priestley and others it has been clearly proved " that plants absorb the azotic part of the atmosphere, as well as carbonic acid gas; and this principle appears to be tlie cause of fertili- ty which arises from tlje use of putrefying matter in the form of manures." On these gases whicli are destructive to animal life, does the growth and perfection of vegetables depend. It is a fact whieli should inspire our minds with an exalted view of the infinite wisdom of the Creator, that the whole animal kingdom are csntinualiy inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbonic acid gas, arid that this very gas whicli is exhaled is inhaled by the whole vegetable kingdom wliich is continually t'lrowing off o.xygen. Thus one part of creation is made dependent on the other; and neither oould exist in a state of separation, wliich clearly shows us that a complete chain binds together the whole universe, anil no part can be taken away without disoro-ajiizing its harmonious order. S. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 79 Italian Seed Wheat. Fruncestown, April, II, IKIO. Hon. Isaac Hii.l, — D'Mr Sir—^ observed in your useful Montlily Visitor an invit-alion to tiie "ShaUers to send you for seed some of their "Black Sea Wheat." Now, sir, if you will accept of a sample of our lt;ilian seed, and make a fair, impar- tial experiment, by cultivating the two kinds in the same field, and testing the quality of the proceeds of caeli Oil your tiililc, I think that you will he con- vinced that'the Italian is not an inferior kind of grain. I should recommend to sow not more than at the rate of five pecks to tlie acre of the above, as the straw grows larger than the common wheat. The reason why I send you so small a quantity as half a bushel is, because I apprehend you will not have confidence in its superior utility until you are convinced by ocular demonstration. Yon will probably find the above sample at the Post Ofilce, freight paid. Respectfully vours, &c. THOMAS EATON. p.g. — Since writing the above, we have been a- ble to close the sale of all we had to part with, amountintj- to one hundred and sixty bushels. T. EATON. The sample of wheat has been received ; and we are under great obligations for the valuable pres- ent. It will be sown along side of about three bushels of the Loudon Black sea Wheat, on the ground where our largest Brown corn grew last year : time of sowing. May 22d. Messrs. Ellis & Bosson, seed merchants of Bos- ton, wiUacceptour thanks for the valuable variety ofGarden and other Seeds sent us the presentyear. The most of these seeds, on our premises, have al- ready been put into the ground. One bushel of the Wright Potatoes from Hadiey, Massachusetts, have been received through Gen. M' NiEL of Boston, from A ndrew Wright, Esq. A friend at Orford, N. H. has likewise sent us a bushel of potatoes, two of which have been cook- ed and are first rate. If we mistake not we are in- debted for this acceptable present to Joits B. Wheeler, Esq. Col. White, Counsellor for Grafton and Coos, was so good as to bring us a few Potatoes of excel- lent quality, raised on liis Ox Bow farm in Coos. All the kinds received will be fairly tried, on ground well prepared. Ploi-chi-ng. — Of the Ploughs which have been presentvd to us, the Prouty and Mears Plough ex- ceeds all others that ever we have seen. We have broken up six acres of sward land with one of them; and the ploughing transcends all our former ideas of ploughing. The strength of team is not over two thirds — the sod is completely turned to its place, and the ground is broken precisely as it should be. The Farmer of "eighty ye.irs since" in greater honor than the Warrior or Civil- ian of later days. A subscriber to the Visitor at Exeter, N. JI. has sent us a single copy of the "Federal Orrery" of Feb. 8, 1796, printed at Boston, forty-four years ago. This paper isof the size of a common demy sheet, and contains upon each page four columns of small pica type — the advertisements being of the same sized typo as the other matter. It was published twice a week, and the paper before us is numbered 32 of volume 3. The editor was Thomas Paine, who about that time distinguished himself by writing the popular song of " .'Idams and Liberty," which from its excellent high toiu'd national sentimjnt has outlived the party use for which it was at first intended. This gentleman was the son of the late Hon. Robert Treat Paine, Attorney General and Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and from the wish not to be identified with a man bearing his cognomen much more notorious than himself, he applied to the Le- gislature of his State, and procured the change from Thomas to Roliert Trent Paine, being that of his father. The number of the Orrery sent us contains the account of the grand agricultural improvements made by the celebrated English farmer, Rohef.t Bakewell, eighty years ago. This gentleman, as. the improver of live stock, on principles pecu- liarly his own, v.'iU descend to posterity as a dis- tinguished patron of Agriculture. " The principles he began upon'(say8 the celebrated Arthur Young) wcre^ine forms, sinaU hones, and a true disijositiou to viukc readily fat, which is indeed inseparable from small bones, and fine forms, and true symmetry of the parts." Before Bakewell's day, the rules which governed breeders of live stock Mr. Young pronounces a " tissue of absurdities." ■ftlr. Bakewell begun his imiirovement of sheep (says the late Timothy Pickering in a discourse before the Essex Agricultural Society in February, isyj) liy selecting Irom the best in the neighbor- hood. And so little had an}' correct principle of improvement been known or regarded, that a guin- ea or half a guinea extraordinary would give Mr. Bakev/ell the choice of any slieep of any Hock, .'•nd his uncommon sagacity enabled him, by the best selections and judicious crossings, to form a breed distinguished above all others for the dispo- sition t'j fatten, ciirhj maturitii, nform indicatinir strength tf eonstitution, toeight in the most valuable pai-ts, with lightness of ojf'al. Mr. Young expres- ses his opinion that tliere is not a breed of any sort of live stock in Great Britain, that does not derive its improvement from the skill, knowledge and principles of Mr. Bakewell. Another eminent ag- riculturist declares (and Mr. Young thinks he does not exaggerate) "that Mr. Bakewell enabled those who followed his ideas, to produce two pounds of mutton where only one was produced before." Mr. Young adds, tliat Bakewell was the most careful feeder of stock that he ever met witli, and who made his food go farthest. To horses and cattle in stalls, he did not permit more than a hand- ful of hay to be given at a time *, and tlie same economy was used in all other feeding. But his stocks were so large as to require one or more per- sons to be appropriated to that service. This prac- tice on our small farms, and witli our small stocks, cannot be fully adopted ; but it in.ay be imitated, in some degree, during the season (winter) most requiring such attention. By feeding them in this manner, the cattle will doubtless f«i?noj'c, but they will 2raste less: so that while, in the v.'hole, no more fodder will be consumed, the stock will be put into much better plight. There are many matters in the experience of old times that arc better than the new inventions and modern practices : the farmers of the present day, looking back to tlie practice of their fathers, will discover some useful methods to have been a- bandoncd which it may be well to look up and re- adopt. We thank our Exeter friend for sending us the paper published forty-four }'ears ago : the arti- cle to which he calls our atti^ntion is worthy a place in the Farmer's Monthly Visitor ; and wor- thy indeed is the name of Robert Bakewell, to be handed down to posterity as the man of all men in tliat praise-worthy occupation whicli stands at the base, and should stand at tiie head, of all other useful occupations. We trust the example of this eminent man, the s iccess of his efforts to i.'iiprove in live stock, that most productive and most sure product of New England, will not be lost on the present generation of farmers. [Communieuted for the J^isitor.] From the Federal Orrery, Feb. 8, 17PG. Mr. Bakewell of Dishley. Robert Bakewell, the most successful and cele- brated experimental farmer ever known in Eng- land, was born at Dishley, in Leicestershire, about the year 1725 or 6. His grand-father and father had resided on the same estate since the beginning of the present century ; and his father who died a- bout the year 17(i2, had always the reputation of being one of the most ingenious and able farmers of his neighborhood. IMr. Bakewell, having conducted the Dishley farm several years before the decease of his father, began, about forty years since, that course of ex- periments which had procured him such extensive fame. He then made excursions into difi'erent parts of England, to inspect the various breeds, and to ascertain those which were best adapted to his purposes, and the most valuable of their kinds. His next step was to select and purchas»the best of all the sorts wherever they could be found ; and this selection, the result of several years experi- ence, was the original stock from which ho after- wards propagated his own. About the year 1770, Mr. Bakewell sold his sheep by private contract, at not more than two or three guineas each. Sometime afterwards he be- gan to let some of his rams, and for a few seasons received only 15s.> and a guinea a piece for them : but as the fame of his breed extended itself, he ad- vanced his prices, and by the year 1770, was ena^ bled to let some of his rams for tlie season, for 25 guineas. Since that time the price and credit of his stock have been progressively increasing ; and of late years single rams have been let for the sea- son, for the enormous prices of 100 guineas and upwards. It is a fact which has no other example, that one ram, called the Two Pounder, produced, in one seo.son, the sum of 800 gukieas, independent of ewes of Mr. Bakewell's own stock, whicli at the same rate, would have made a total, the prod- uce of one single ram — of 1200 guineas ! The race of Dishley sheep are known by the fineness of their bones and iiesh, the lightness of their oftal, the disposition to quietness, and conse- quently to mature and fatten with less food than other sheep of equal weight and value. Mr. Bake- well improved his black horses by an attention to the form, which is best adapted to their use. His stallions have been let out for the season for 100 guineas and upwards. About ten years since he exhibited his famous black horse to the king, and many of the nobility, in the court yard of St. James's. In this place it may be wortii while to insert the following statement of the prices given at an auc- tion for stock, bred from Mr. Bakewell's. The sale which we advert to, was that of Mr. Fowler, of Rollright, in Oxfordshire. After his death, one article of live stock, the horned-cattle, sold for a value equal to that of the fee simple of his farm ! Fifteen head alone of bulls and cows sold for 24G01. or at the rate of 1641. each I Mr B. at the time of his death, was verging on his 70th year. In person he was tall, broad set, and in his latter years, rather inclined to corpulen- cy; Iiis countenance bespoke intelligence, activity, and a high degree of benevolence. His manners were frJnk and pleasing, and well calculated to maintain the extensive popularity he had acquired. His domestic arrangements at Dishley were formed on .a scale of hospitality to strangers, that gained him universal esteem. Of the numerous visitants induced by curiosity to call at his house, none ever left it without having reason to extol the liberality of its owner. Many interesting anecdotes arc re- lated of his humanity towards the various orders of animals. He continually deprecated the atrocious barbarities practised by butchers and drovers; shew- ing by examples on his own farm, the most pleas- ing instances of docility in the animals under his care. He departed this life on Thursdaj', October 1, 1705, after a tedious illness, which he bore with the philosophical fortitude that ever distinguished his character. Generous Agricultural Premiums. Tlie Massachusetts Society for promoting Jlgricul- turc, offers, from the income of its ample funds, the following among other Premiums for the year 1840, viz: — On the four best cultivated farms, " regard being had to the quantity of produce, the manner and expense of cultivation, and the ireneral appearance of the farm," $200 for the first,"$175 for the se- cond, $150 for the third, and $75 for the fourth in order. The notice does not state whether farms beyond the limits of the State may be entered. Claims to be addressed to Benjamin Guild, Esq. of Boston, previous to the first of October next. The same Society ofi'ers for the best rotation of crops for tiiree or four years in suscession, $75. Premium to be claimed in December 1840 or 1841. ■ It also offers for the greatest quantity of Pota- toes, not less than 500 bushels to the acre, ,$30. — Carrots, 30; do. half acre 15.— Mangel Wurtzel, $30: do. half, 15.— Sugar Beet, $30; do half, 15. — Ruta Bacra, $30; do. half, 15. — English Turnip, $20 ; do. half, 10.— Onions, $20 ; do. half, 10.— Cabbages, $20; do. half, 10. For the greatest quantity of vegetables, (grain, peas and beans excepted) raised for the keeping of stock, regard being had to the size of the farm in proportion to the crop, and to the number of the stock kept, and also to the respective value of the vegetables as food, and the expense of raising the same, $S0. For the greatest quantity of Indian corn to the acre, (not less than 80 bushels, 75 lbs. in I ho ear to be considered a bushel.) $30 — do. Wheat, not less than 25 bushels, .$20 — do. Barley, not less than 45 bushftls, $20— do.'llye, not less than 30 busheki, $20 — do. dry Peas either broadcast or in drills, $25 — do. dry Beans, not less than 10 bushels, $20. For an efi'ectual mode of extirpating the worm that attacks the locust tree, ,$100 — Do. the borer, which attacks the apple tree, $50.— For the best experiment in turning in green corps as a manure, $50. — Forany newly invented agricultural imple- ment or machine, superior to any designed for the same use, a reward from 10 to 50 dollars. — For the best mode of rearing, feeding, and fattening neat cattle, $20. — For the greatest qu:intity of raw, un- manufactured silk, not less than ten pounds, raised and presented before Dec. 1840, ,f20.— For the best Plough that will turn the sod over and lay it flat, regard to be had to the strength of the plough, er. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. easiness of draft, excellence of tlie work it per- forms, and its cheapness, $100. For the best plough that sliall lay tiie sod on edge or obliquely, and not Hat, regard tn be had to the (]ualities above, $75. Two ploughs of eacli model to be produced. The Siii:iety offers fur the best plantation of white oak trees, not less tlian one acre nor fov.-er than lOUO trees per acre, raisi'd from tlie acorn, not less than three years old, which shall be in the most thriving state, Sept. 1, lS-10, iJ.'iO.— For the best plantation of while as!i, larch and locust trees, in like manner and furai, §'J5. — For tlie best live Hedge, not less than 50 rods, $30.— For the best conimuuicati-JU on the mulberry tree in relation to silk culture, showing by experiments or otherwise how it is best managed, what species is best suited to uur climate, the effect of tlie v.'jnter thereon, and, if injurious, the best remedy therefor, $30. The particulars of the Premium listfor le40,are published at length in the New England Farmer of May 20, under the signatures of the following dis- tinguished gentlemen, who take a higli inte-rest in the prosperity of Agriculture, viz: — ftlessrs. John Welles, Peter C. Brooks, Willum Prescott, and Elus Phi.nney. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is peculiarly fa\tored in the efforts and zeal of such men as these.' Her Agriculture cannot fail, under such auspices, to "go ahead." when cutting the clips and after let the point be equally ntar it; let the body turn with the scythe as on u pivot, the heel of the scythe passing witiiin two or three inches of the advanced foot. This will relieve the arms, and so divide the effort, that he will mow with as little fatigue as he can perform liglit work, and soon laugh at the * six footer' who stoops to reach his grass. Let the hoy also at lirst ^be instructed to clip only ten or twelve inches of grass, until his erect posture and the horizontal ])Ositiou of iiis scythe become habitual, when his love of ease, his inter- est, and desire to triumph, will require a long scythe, perfect iu temper, yet light, and forming from Ik'cI to point the segment of a circle of about seven feet radii. ' J. W. W. The following communication was received more than a year ago ; if now too late for the current year, it will answer for the ne.xt. S^^oriha lapioHy^ l>y iJ ]5, 163C*. De.akSir,.\s the season for corn planting is near- ly at hand, I herewith send you a receipt as a pre- ventative against the destruction of corn by crows and black birds. I wish that some of your most experienced and observing farmers will try the ex- periment, and see whether my own will be confir- med. In the Spring of iBoT 1 ploughed apiece of mowing, which 1 wished to bring into abetter con- dition, consisting of about one fourth of an acre, upon which I planted corn, and when up about three to four inches, these marauders came and de- stroj-ed full tv.'cnty five per cent, of it. In the spring of 1638 I planted about three acres — the seed prepared agreeable to the receipt, and it all came up in seven days ; and when at the height of the former, the enemies came, pulled up a spear or two of three or four hills — tasted the flavor of tlie seed, and left them attached to the root of the stalk — which was the first and the last of this visit. 1 imputed the effect to the seed being so strongly impregnated with the solution, that it was olfeu- sive to their taste. Receipt. — Dissolve two pounds of salt petre iu a pail full of aofl water. In this situation I put three pecks of seed — soaked twenty four hours — rolled it in plaster, planted and covered the same while it was moist. It must not be exposed to the sun, or current of air, as evaporation passes off rapidly. As I remarked, every kernel came up in seven days. I think the alkali must have forced ils germination, and the plaster had an effect to keep it in a state of moisture. Very respectfully yours, &c. C. C. NICHOLS. RE.'iTii.sT. Calves on Milk .i.vD Me.vl. — Messrs. Editors, — In the last number of the Cultivator, you published some remaj-ks of mine on the mode of feeding calves by Mr. Hearsey, by giving skimmed milk with some meal, .fee. Mr. Hearsey says that it is necessary to explain the manner of mixing the meal — that if the raw meal is put into the milk it will scour the ,.alf. He makes the meal inte suppauli, heats the milk over steam to the state of its coming from the cow, and then mixes about one poundof the cold suppaun in the milk, and feeds tlie animal in this v/ay three meals a day. -His calves thus fed at the eHd of the year are more than double the size of those calves that suck tlie cow. He now makes 12 lljs. of but- ter a \\eck tVom two cows, and uses six quarts of milk daily from tlie same cows. He adds a pint of boiling water to a pan of milk whun set, holding six quarts, and the next day the cream will all be floating on the lop, and skimmed off and churned. DAVID TOMLINSON. Schenectady, March 10,'1840. Alhany Cultivator. Effects ok habit on the i.sf.vnt mind. — "1 trust every thing to habit; habit, upon which, in all ages, the lawgiver, as well as the schoolmaster, has mainly placed his reliance; habit, which makes ev- ry thing easy, and easts all difliculties upon the de- viation from the wonted course. Make sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful and hard ; make prudence a. habit, and reckless profligacy' will be as contrary to the nature of the child grown an adult, as the most atrocious crimes are to any of vour lordships. Give a child the habit of sacredly regarding the truth — of carefully respecting the property of others — of scrupulously abstaining from all acts of improvidence which can involve him in distress, and he will just as likely think of rushing into an element in which he cannot breathe, as of l}iiig, or cheating, or stealing." Lord Brougltam. " Mr. Thomas J. Doe, of South Newbury, Ver- mont, informs us that he has manufactured success- fully for four years past the agricultural implement called the Ci'ltiv.\tor, and that his article has given satisfaction to tliose persons who have used it. The farmers in Ortbrd, N. H. use them for ploughing between corn and potatoes, for harrow- ing in peas and winter rye, and preparing broken up ground I'or oats, corn, &c. Mr. Doe is building two bundled Cultivators the present season under the latest and best improve- ment, and says he will furnish one of these for the Editor of the Visitor who will be glad to use it himself and lend it to his neighbors who may be pleased to try it. TIIE MAKKETS. For ihe Faitnfi's . Monthly Visitor. Instructions to young Mowers. Every f^irmer, who has employed many mowers, has '>ad occasion to pity the manner in which some of them "dragged thei;' slow swarlhs along," while he was delighted with the ease, the vapidity, and smoothness with which others, of far less strength, would pass over the field. The instruction..? of a kind and indulgent father on this subject are not only fresh in my memory, but iiave made first Vate mowers of many-' young men, and perhaps may be useful to some of these who may mow for the first time hereafter. 1 say for the first time, because very fev/ change a bad habit (of mowing particularly) after it is once ac- quired. "As the twig is bent", the tree is inclined;" so with those who use the scythe. Therefore let the boy of fourteen mow one or two hours in each day, during the haying season for two or three yeara, when, by the following directions he may be able to successfully compete with the strong but illy instructed. ' Let his snathe and scythe be very light, and the scythe of razor-like edge, and so hung, that when suspended on the finger by the lower neb, the pointand heel of the scythe maybe at equal distances from the ground. When at" the edge of the grass, let an old and good mower, (who is to walk near him half an hour) instruct him to stand nearly erect,the hips being further advanced than the shoulders, and under ho circumstances to stoop, and when inserting hie scythe into the grass be sure to keep the heel nigh, t'le ground ; and Self Cheese Presses. All who are in want of a Cheese Press are invi- ted to try the Self Press of which we have given some account in one of our former numbers. Hon. James Wilson, of Keene, in a letter dated May 15, 1840, commending these presses, says: — " I have one or two of the Self Presses on Iiand which you sent me. I use one myself at home, and I have two in use on my farms, besides one or two in use by my friends, to whom [ recoiinnended them. They are universally approved by every person who has tried thein ; .and I do not doubt they might be very generally introduced in this section of country, with a very little exertion. The press is cheap, durable, very handy and easy to be appli- ed, and withal does the work in a most thorough manner. It is clearly the very perfection of a Cheese Press. No one who has used it would do without for any consideration. I cannot speak too highly of it."" These Presses are made and for sale by the Sha- kers at Canterbury and Enfield, N. H. who will en- deavor to supply the demand for them. dur- suin. The product of a single Cow. "The annual product of a good daify cow. ing several months after calving, and either in iner or winter, if duly fed and kept iu the latter season, will be an average of seven pounds oC but- ter i>er week, from three to five gallons of milk per day. Afterv/ards, a weekly average of three or four pounds of butter from barely half the quanti- of milk. It depends on the constitution of the cow, how nearly she may be milked In the time of her calvinnN some giving good milk until within a week or two of that period, others requiring to be dried eight or nine weeks, previously. 1 have heard (says Mr. Lawrence) of twenty lbs. of butter, and even twenty-two lbs. made fro.m the milk of one long- horned cow in seven days : but 1 have never been fortunate enough to obtain one tliat would produce more than twelve lbs. per >week, although I have had a Yorkshire cow which milked seven gallons per day, yet never made 5 lbs. of butter in oni5 week. On the average, three gallons of good milk will make one pound of buiter." NEW yOUIC CATTLE MAIiKET, Monday, Miiy 18. Tlie Ueef market wa.q (full, ami llie supply bRing larger than the demand, a [eduction of 75 cents per littiidicd- front forinei prn-es took pl.tce. 5;'>1) Iteud of fat Iteef rattle— aver- ase price f J cenls. Of niili lis cows :>7 ."old at Bo, :J5 to $40 each. Sheep sold at 2, 3 and § 1— lambs at 2 to $'i. BRIGHTON CATTLE iMAltKET, Monday, Way I.t. Deef C.nttle, ll.O at taaikel. Sales of first quality, $7 SO ; seeitnd, t;7o; third, t; 0:t. Cows nnd curves dull— pt ires (foiii :?i-3-3 lo 4'3. Slu-ep sold at -i to St 2.") earli. Shoals— lots to peddle, sows at 6, and barrows at 7 cents. PEIi;KS at NRW Y"">KK, (journal of Coininerco) Jlay Ifi— ColTee, West Inilni,9a ll;Java. I3J. Colton. S ID 10. Raisins, bo.\, 1,'J5. Lemons, 1,25. Sicily Ur:in|;etf, 1 ,7."^. Itlo lasses, Porto Rico, palloii,2? a3I; WatntiZas, 2y. Linseed Oil, CO, Whaie, do. 32; Crude Sperm, ijci. Buiter leduied to 15 and Cheese to fi ceiits perlh. Rice $'i per Inindred. Salt, Turks Island, 32 cts bushel, Liverpool hi..'s 1,25 eitch. Sil- par, P*ito Itlcn, 6 a 7 cents; St. Crot.t,!); New Orltians, Ij. 'I'eas of the various kinds from 40 to 1,2 cents Floor, Gene sn,- Sl75bbl. Indiiiii Corn, 50 cts bushel. Itve, 57 cenls. Oats, "lO. Exchanges remain much as they were one month since. The Journal of Coniniercosaye, " Jloney becomes more and more abundant." rRtCF,.? AT BOi-TI),N,(lioJti.n M. Po^t,) Mav 10.- Cof- fee, W. 1. 10 a II; J.lva. M. Cotton, 7 a 10. Cod I'lsh, 2.25 pc quintal; Markerel, No. 1, 1 1.50 per blil. Flour, 5 a ^5 25. Barley, 75. Corn, flit, 55. (.lats, 40. Hops, 46 ris. Iron, liussin,. Ion, ijloi; Swedis. 80; iinclish liar and bolt, ,e75. Leather, I'hi-.-idelphia, 24 cts. Lime, 85 cents per Tas.",-. .Mi.las.-es, 2J to 27 els gall. Nai's, 5a5J Ih. Liiiseeil Oil, S-aclegall. lied Lead, 7 a 8 CIS lb. Plaster of Paris, 2,75 per ton. Boston hums, 10 cts. Itlre, S3 liiind. Sugar, tirown, 5.0 8 cis; Loaf, hesr, 14 ' ts. Strel, I3a 15 els. ball, Liver- ptHiIjbap, 1.75. Teas, 33 a 75 eta lb. Durham Shorthorned Cattle. We are requested to say, that Stupiien M. Wekks of Greenland, N. H. has for sale two Cows with calves — also for sale or to let, a Bull two years old. These cattle .are of the breed which was carefully selected and 'imported for Messrs. M. &. J. PiF.Kcii,and are considered by Agriculturists to be superior to any bred in the United Slates. FHKXOMEXON FOR SALE. PHElXOMF.NOiN' is a yomiir Short Horned Durham Bull, sired by Geoi-.'^e the Third, an imported bull, who took tiio .State and County preiliiuins at llie Worcester Cattle Sfiow. in Oct. last. His Dam is Lady Lilly, also imported. Both arc of the best possible blood, t-jemay now be put to cows ; would answer for a herd of thirty. tie is very large and of uucuininoidy fine symmetry. For further information, apply at the Visitor office, Concord, N. H. or to CHARLKS WlLl.ARri, 'Jd, Har- vard, Still River Village, Mass. . Harvard, Mass. April -2'2, 1810. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A mo.NTHLV NfnvSPAPER, IS FbBLISHED BV JOHN M. HILL, Hiirs Brick Block, Concord, J\'. II. JAMES BURNS, 3, Water s(., Boston, Ms. The Visitor will lie issued on the last day of each monlli. 'J'helerins will be seceiUij-fvc cents a vca,- pcijnblc nJwaijs in ad- vance. Fnrall subscribers less thnn2l, Agen(^wil^ he allowed a (led lit lion of i*'^ cents each^for alt over 24 BiiUscriberson any one agency lU^ cenis each will be alloueU. Tlitis, lor six subscribers four tloHars— twelve, ei-.-!:! dollaij — eiiilitcen, tyvelve dollars — twenty-rnur. fideen doilat ^,will be remitted. Single numbers, twelve and a li all cent? eacJi. Ail subscri- bers will coiunieuce witli tlie firdt nuinbei ot the year. J):^'- Coinnmniyations by mail, will be directed to Iho rubli«!ier, C-eiitrrd, T?. H- CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HII,!,. " Those loho labor i n the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breasts he has made his peculiar depositefnr stibstantial and genuine virtue."-jEFr-EKSov. VOLUME 2. CONCORD, N. H., JUNE 30, 1840. NUMBER 6 THE VISITOR. A rough soil and a colil climate not incon- sistent with profitable farming, as e\em- plificd in Scotland. The most thorough farminir, where the best cul- tivation is continued through successive genera- tions, wliere tlie best practical men and women are raised, will be found where the face of the soil is forbidding, where labor, patience and perseverance are indispensable to success, and where a geni^ral and constant vigilance becomes a liabit of life. Cases of great individual wealth are found where the soil is more fertile and easy. Under the tine climate and the excellent land which every where abounded originally in the southern and western States, men speedily made their fortunes out of the ground who never themselves put a hand to the Tabors of the field. The extreme productive- ness of the viro-in soil soon accumulates the means of wealth to the owners of slaves in the regions of country in the United States where tobacco, rice, sugar, and especially the great staple of foreign commerce, cotton, are produced ■ the region of producing these is also adapted to w-heatand corn ; and an almost incrr'tlible amount of produce, after raising supplies for domestic consumption, is at first raised" fur ctportaticn. Soon, however, under the slave culture, tlie land becomes exhausted, and a second and a tliird generation from the first settler becomes poor on an impoverished and worn out plantation, and abandons tiie premises either to settle on new lands or to clioose a new occupation elsewhere. In that part of the southern country which is worn out by cultivation, the condition of the plan- ter seems not to be as eligibl.-^ as that of a New England farmer on our rougli hills, who knows how to put his own hand effectually to the plough; but even in Virginia, in the Carolinas »nd in Geor- gia, science in the cultivation of the ground comes t!) the aid of the practical agriculturist ; and many of the gentlemen planter.-, whose production has been lessened by the exhausting process, are turn- ino- their attention suscesslully to the means of re- novating their lauds. There is a large range of country north ef the river Ohio and westerly from the Hudson river where tlie business of farming is more immediate- ly productive than in New England. Vast tracts of tliat country yield excellent crops almost with- out the application of manual labor or of stimulat- ing manures. Wheat is raised many years in snc-_ cession ; and it is said tliat on the bottom lands of some of the rive's of Ohio, Indian corn has been produced for forty successive years without any ar- tificial stimulant whatever. The facilities of communication, by means of canals and rail r.)ads,liave greatly added to the val- ue of the produce of tliis great western range^. Not many years ago wheat there sold for 2.5 to 37 1-2 ccntsabuahel,and Indian corn was 10 and 12 1-2 cents a bushel. If articles were raised iri a- bundance, there was no means of transporting them to market, and their value was merely nomi- nal. Tlie State of Ohio, within a few years, has become a large exporter of produce : she not only send.5 vast quintities of flour and pork to the At- lantic coast, but she has siiiiplied the thousands of emigrants to Indiana, Michigan, and regions fur- ther west with the means of their first sustenince. So o-rcat has been this emigration, that the price of provisions has frequeirtly been higher there than oil the seaboard. It was not until two years ago tliat the State of Michigan, tl.e finest wheat grow- ing country of the west, produced half enough for its ov.-u consumption. After the crop came off two years ago, the price of wheat for export was there one dollar the bushel : at Rochester, N. Y. it was worth our dollar and thirty to fifty cents ; and at tlie city of New York it was twenty-five to thir- ty-seven and a Iialf cents hi^J■hcr This was at a time when the millers were enabled, through bank accommodations, to monopolize the bread of the counlrv. The speculators had been able for sever- al 3ca'=ons'to bu^ the farmer? so short as to oblige thei.i to repurchase bread at the advanced prices be- fore the next year came round. The fertility of the great North West, including a large portion of Upper Canada, in the wheat pro- duction, is of that kind, with the prices reduced to one half of what they have been, as will enable the emigrants from this section of the country to fur- nish the means of competence and even wealth. Men there will become farmers on a more exten- ded scale than in New England ; it will be quite common that the farmer shall have his one and two hundred acres of wheat — some will have tlieir thousand acres. But in a few years the mass of the population, from the habit of producing much with little labor, will not be as well off as a similar numljer of men in one of our rough New Eno-l-ind farming towns. Easy production, a soil yielding the fruits of the earth almost spontaneously, will be pretty certain to beget those habits of indolence which every where tend to poverty . We think there is an evident improvement in the habits of the farmers of New England within the last few years. Wherever there is improved culti- vation of the ground, there we shall find improved morals. The hardness of our soil, tlie far remove of our position from the w-aruiing influences of the sun, are not the evils which we ought most to dread. If we have late and early frost (tliere was white frost, which however did no barm, on the hills a little north of this town on the first of June) we do not suffer more frequent injuries from that cause than the people of Carolina and Georgia. We had notice in the month of April, that the i'ruit was cut off in some of the southern States by an un- timely frost before even the buds had begun to put forth in our latitude of forty-three degrees north Change of seasons and climate from cold to hot, from dry to wet, is quite as likely to injure the crops in Louisiana as in New Hampshire. Next to actual personal observation in any new section of country, do we enjoy the reading of some topographical description of a location about which our previous information is merely general. We are charmed with the idea that some obscure corner of a country surrounded by rough moun- tains and forests, under the hand of industry, has been made to produce the means of living to man and beast : in proportion as the aspect is more fur- bidding so is the surprise and pleasure increased at the exhibition of the means of comfort and compe- tence. The countr of Sutherland, the extreme north county of Scotland, is situated in the .octb ilegree of north' latitude, parallel to Gottenburgh in Swe- den, and Labrador in .\merica, and not two de- grees further south than Cape Farew-ell in Green- Fand— full fifteen degrees farther north than this central point of one of the most northern States of the Union. The county consists of a peninsula, nearlv of a square form, washed on the west by the Atlantic ocean, on the north by the great North sea, and on the east and south by the county of Caitliness, and by that portion of the German o- cean called the Moray Frith. One would suppose that a country so far to the north would put at defiance all attempts at cultiva- tion of the soil ; but the exhalations from the great bodies of water surrounding it moderate the rigors of winter and the heats of summer, causing at the same time a dampness during every season, more especially during the vernal and autumnal equi- noxes, f ivorable to urass, but not propitious every year to the sowing and ripening of wheat and oth- er kinds of grain. The centre and east portion of this county, ex- cepting a strip along the south east coast about two miles in breadth, rests on mountains compos- ed of r.-neiss and micaceous schistors, with here and there a mass of primary limestone or some bluff hill of red sand stone. These mountains are brok- en into almudance of wild scenery, and are subdi- vided by many lakes and streamsof water, and are covered chiefly wiiU peat bogs, on which grow va- rious alpine plants, given in kindness by Provi- dence to those countries where the extreme length of winter and the absence of spring forbid, during a great pirtion of the year, the vegetatiop. of plants of a mori' feeding, but less hardy nature. The tillage farming of this county, with one ex- cejition on the north coast of the liu-iestone district, is limited to the narrast seven, or eight, according to cir- cumstances. These seeds are all got in beTore the Isl of July. The horses are then put to grass: young horses allowed to amuse themselves for the season, and the remaining five pairs restricted to two feeds of corn and ten hours' work, until the cold nights of autumn bring them back to the com- forts of their sta'ule ; and the short d.ay of Novem- ber to the arrangement which was followed in that month of the previous year. "The yearly expense of one man and pair, fed and wrought according to the above method, isSlW For the ^vhole six hundred and fifty acres, and oth- er cartage, fix pairs, being at the 'rate of one hun- dred and eight and a half imperial, or about eighty si.x old Scotch acres per pair. The "rieve never leaves these teams; he sees them dressed and fed, and he sees them wrougiit : and the master's eye fiillows him in every step. The fields arc plough- ed in regular divisions, the strength concentrated almost perpetually to one object in one field, and cartage performed to time, by regular yokings; and the writer does not think, that a much belter ex tent of work could be perfiirmed, at t!ie same ex- pense, with justice to the men and cattle. At the same time he is aware of imperfections ; and if bet- ter farniers will give a minute detail of their mode of vyorking, he will gladly borrow from their bet- ter judgment. " Piece or task work, except in small detached jobs, has not yet found its way much into tillage \york in Sutherland To greater exertions than time-work it certainly leads, and to greater irregu- larities than is admissible in a well regulated sys- tem ; but it saves the trouble of superintendence. " The duty of the second grieve is to attend the thrashings that are perfirmed by the millwright and eight women at each onstead ; to watch over the care of one humlred and sixty wintering cat- tle under the superintendence of three lads ; to hand weed the fallow breaks, and to hoe better than one hundred and twenty acres of rape and turnips; and with ten or eleven bandwin or bands of reapers to cut, bind, and stock the cro|ib. " In thrashing, tlie first rope of thatch is loosen- ed, and the sluice drawn at eight o'clock: one of the women, with a boy and horse, carts in the corn; the miller feeds ; the seven girls attend, each her particular part of the machinery ; and by four o'- clock, the fodder of two ten quarter stacks is thor- oughly separated from the corn, and strewed for the cattle, the corn separated from the chalf, and measured over by the second grieve and miller to the granary-keeper; and this person's receipt for the quantity in the master's pocket. The expense may lie as follows : — Millwright, two-thirds of a day Second grieve Eight women, say S hours,61 — say 6 1-4 days One lad and cart £. s. d 0 1 8 (1 1 0 0 3 3 '.J 0 0 8 II * One peck and one Scotch lippies or feeds. Ion imperial, make four Say .') l-4d per quarter " This, for oats, barley, and wheat, may cost sevenpence or eightpence per quarter. " No other general remark occurs, except on the subject of manure. On Culinaily-farm there is a very considerable supply of sea-weed, of very ex- cellent quality ; on Morvich, which is more inland, there is a great abundance of fern or breekan (fili- ces,) which grow luxuriantly on the soil composed of the debris of the felspar rock, and yields potash. It is the practice to mix the sea-weed with the court-dung, in alternate strata. The dunghills so formed being hard trampled down by th" carts and the feet of cattle, the mass is found in the begin- ning of May to be strongly saturated with an in- fusion of the muriate of soda. It is turned over and slightly covered with mould, for fermentation, prepar^tory to its being applied to the soil, and it forms a manure of the very first quality. The ferns are cut green, brcught together into a great stack, where they ferment to a considerable de- gree ; they are subsequently trampled down under the sheep's feet at sortings, smearing, and at shear- ing time; and being mixed and further fermented in the mass with court or fold dung, they are there- with applied to the naked fallows about to be sown with wheat "The first and most important part of the rota- tion employed, is the growth of the green crop, that is cole and turnips ; for they are managed in precisely in the same manner. This species of crop is most important in two respects; first, as the pharinacopceia for the whole stock on the farm, and secondly as the key-stone of the system of tillage farming cmploj'ed — and that on which the quanti- ty and quality of each succeeding crop of the ro- tation depends." To show the great facility with which v/ork is performed on tiiese premises, we quote the follow- ing : — " Where dung is to be cmploj'ed, two jiloughs, which are yoked twenty minutes before the cart- ers, open drills, furrowing an acute angle with the side ridges; to favor the admixture of the dung next season in the mass of tlie field, these furrows are from twenty-seven to thirty inches wide, ac- cording to the quality of the soil. Four single carts follow, two at each end of the drills, at the rate of luleen to twenty tons per acre. Six girls spread the dung as fast as the carters deposit it. Two ploughs, which yoke forty minutes later than the carters, cover in "the dung. A few boys ami girls handpick file whole. The sowing machine follows and rolls in the seed ; and at the termina- tion of each yokingj three acres, which at the he- ginning lay Hat and dimp from the former tillage, is drilled, dunged, covered, hand-picked, sown and completed. The machine sows two drills at once. Its rollers are formed to encompass and embrace each drill. The two sets of rollers (one for each drill) are separate, and diverge on on iron axle in such a manner, that they can be made to deposit the seed only on tlie top of the drill, immediately incumbent on the manure — a condition whicli in- sures a more equal and a better crop than where less perfect tillage is emploj-ed." In conclusion the writer presents the following as the condition of the Scottish poor in this far northern region — a condition undoubtedly much improved both as to health and morals by that stern necessity whicli makes hard labor indispensable : — " .Another instance of Scotch feeling the repor- ter will notice, as it exists among a different class — the colter or agricultural laborer — that is, with respect to poor rates. The Fnglish, the briiycst and most generous people in the world, have es- tablished them ; and yet it is not said that these are any where so established, unattended by a consid- erable degree of improvidence and dissipation a- mong the parlies in behalf of whom the provision is made. " On the demesnes of which these farms are a portion, with a moie dense population than ever existed there in any former period of time,* there are no tithes, no poor-rates, and — no drunkards, or beggars ; positively few or none, besides the Irish, and the few squalid, ruined men from the south, who wander occasionally into the country. Nay, one meats with few peasants" sons of this district, who have not, from such slemier wag.'s as lliis re- * Vide census, IHII, 1831, 1831. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 83 port spraks to, been taught to read, write, and, per- haps, to cast up an account. If a tolerable profi- cient, a\v^3' lie goes to " seek his fort ine ;" and the proverb says, "it is a bare moor but lie will find acowe'' upon it." Go where he may, his heart is with liis father's liouse ; and if he succeeds in life, which he irenerally does t'l a certain extent, the " inmates" there are the better for it. The first feeling of a Scotch peasant is affi-ctinn for his kin- dred ; the second is his sense of tlieir mutual but sole dependence, under Providence, on industry and thrift, to save them from the shame of beffga- ry. 'I'lie parent wrestles hard to push forward some part of his family by dint of education : the child, unknown to any, 'deposits his sair won penny fee, To help his parents dear, should they in Fiard- ship be.' "By reciprocal good offices, by joint industry, sobriely, and prudence, they get on wonderfully. In sickness they apply at the nearest liouse where any medicine or comfort is likely to be obtained for their friend in distress: they seem to e.tpect it as a debt, or rather aloan, due from one Christian to another : but for the least drop of hone^', jelly, wine, or even vinegar obtained there is a visit from the patient, ns soon as he can crawl abroad, with a thousand thanks, and a fowl, some eggs, or the like ; which how to refuse or to pay for without offence it r^-quires some tact to discover. "On entering the habitation of the cotter, his fare is found to be very simple. In summer, oat- meal porridge with milk for breakfast, potatoes for dinner, and bread and milk or something similar for sujiper. In winter, porridge, with perhaps a little bit of butter or some treacle, to breakfast ; potatoes mashed, cut into slices, and done on the gridiron, and eaten with a very little fish, pork, or a bit of cheese to dinner, and gruel with a few potatoes or a bit of oaten or barlej' bread to supper. . Mis ab- stinence is nearly complete from tea, coffee, sugar, candles, soap, ale, prirlianient whiskey, and every ta.\ed commodity, except tobacco ; and the nature of the climate has rendered it one of the necessa- ries of his life. " To a greater share of the comforts of life, the agricukural working man and his family may, doubtless, be admitted, and are so daily ; but pru- dence and care and moral conduct continue, and it is hoped will long continue, to characterize this simple, industrious, and virtuous class of men." Farming in Mcirimirck County. Every time we travel over a new road or in a new region of country, we discover something new and interesting in relation to the good ftlother which yields us sustenance : but we fear that cur discoveries, as the}' are not new to them, may not be equally interesting to many of our readers. The main travelled roads in New England — especially the roads which have been recently made to avoid hills and shorten distances — present to the stramrer but a faint view of our best agricultural improve- ments. Those improvements are frequently found in those parts of towns through which the main roads do not pass : indeed some of tlie very best farming towns are in positions where no consider- able travelled road has ever passed. We have not yet seen the best farms in the towns immediately contiguous to us — nay, there are fine farms within the limits of the town where we have lived thirty-one years, that we know only from description. It is little more than two 3'eurs (iince we passed any great e.\tent of the town of Boscawen. The farms of the Gerrishes lying up- on the river road and of the Gerrishes upon High Street we had seen. We hardly knew what should make of our neighbor a more wealthy township in proportion to its pojiulation than this town wiiicli seemed to embrace much greater advantages. We are willing to concede that the Boscawen fanners deserve tlie greater wealth, iiecause they have been niuch more provident and more industrious than some of their friends within our own village We regret that some of tliem should have entertained so high an opinion of some of us as to encounter greater losses from that confidence than they ever met from any other source. But luaiiy of them, we know, are so well oft" as hardly to feel any loss they may have had to encounter. We passed the two Gerrish farms on High street onelect'.>n day, reiueiubering that one of them had erected a fine dwelling on the ruins of a liouse ac- icidentally burned a few years since. His exten- sive barns had now been all raxed to the ground, and their foundations down to the yellow dirt lay in piles ready to be spread over his mowing ground. *rhe day before a more extended body of a barn " Cowe, a bit of heather. had been erected in their place ; the roof was not yet on ; but the size of the barn judging by the eye could be not much short of one hundred and twenty to fifty f'et in length by forty-five to fifty feet in width and twenty feet posts. 'Tlie skeleton of this barn was more heavy timber than we had everbefiirc seen in any building of the kind. Witli the exception of the Shahers' barn at Canterbury, we believe that this barn upon the premises of Isaac Gerrish, Esq. will be the largest and perhaps the most expensive barn in the' county. He has money enough — made from the premises where he lives — to build more barns like these. Further on two or three miles was another beau- tiful barn erecting in Salisbury, by Nathaniel Bean Esq. For the two last years this gentlcniau was engaged at the capitol on each election day as a member from his town in the Legislature. This year his place is filled by another farmer of the same town ; and instead of acting as a law maker he was at work assisting to make his new barn. — Feeling as every independent farmer should feel, he will hardly enjoy the latter employment less than the former. In the nearest road towards Hanover from this town which follows up the Contoocook and Black- water rivers. Little's Hill, situated some eight miles from Merriinick river in the westerly part of Boscawen, is considered to be an obstacle so great as to induce travellers to avoid it. Returning from Kearsarge we came over this road ; and we must say that nowhere in the county of Merrimack do we know of seveu or eight farms in any one neigh- borhood so beautiful at least to the eye as upon this hill. Little's Hill is one of those elegant swells of land some two miles over which front Kearsarge, and at the distance of about five miles from the mountain. For proof of tlie excellence of t'-e land, we needed only to cast our eye upon the cattle gra/.ing in the fields covered with rich ver- dure, and the farm buildings: these last were gen- erally an upright two story double house v-itli sheds, and one or more barns, the largest of which would measure one hundred feel in length. The cattle proved from their appearance that a better breed will always follow better keeping. W(- have nowhere seen twelve such cows as we counted in a single enrdosure near the road on premises lately owned by Col. Moses Gerrish. We do not know whether these cows were of a native or of an im- ported breeti : they were from one fourth to one third larger in size than the common cows, and were as superior in flesh as they were in size. With dairies such as these cows will furnish, the tons of excellent cheese which Col. Gerrish has annu- ally sent to market through this village are easily accounted for. Col. Gerrish has lately jdaced his farm in the custody of his sons, and for greater ease removed into the populous and pleasant vil- lage of Lebanon, N. H. We cannot however con- ceive how he should elsewhere find any position giving him greater contentment than the fine farm which has been improved under the culture of his own hands on Little's Hill for thirty or forty years- Mountain Pastures ; and the influence of the higher regions upon our weather. The readers of. the Monthly \'isitor wil! consid- er us enthusiastic in attachment to the mountains of the Granite State : it is possible v.;e may have wrought ourselves into a zeal in their favor that is "not according to kiiowledn-e." Having lived several years among the rough and steep hills where the roads were so rockv and pre- cipitous as to require great force in carrying loads over them, and where the travel in light carriages could hardly exceed the snail's pace, we were de- cidedly in favor of the plain country as the laud of most easy residence. Our acquaintance with steep hills and craggy mountains commenced with no very friendly feelings. Whenever we saw in the distance a smoothly cultivated swell of ground with fa'ni houses and buildings upon it, we might think it tolerable — not indeed so good as the easy tilled farm in the light soil of the plains. But the craggy ro<-ks of the steep hills and mountains in most of the hard faced land of the interior seemed to ns, time after tune as we passed it, like those wild and dreary v.'astes which we read of in des- criptions of countries near the polar hemispheres. It is hardly three years since we began to place what we now believe to be a correct estimate upon the fertility and value of the moBiitain land of New Hampshire. The mountainous region which per- vades the back bone of Vermont, were at first of more value than our mountains to the east of Con. necticut river, because while ours were generally white with rocky ledges, theirs presented in the season of vegetalde growth that beautiful smooth green peculiar toarich and deep soil. It \i con- ceded fully to our western neighbor that her soil 's better than ours in its original slate—that she can produce more beef and pork, and mutton and wool, and butter nnd cheese, than we can. The Vermont fanner will not have his patience tried as will the New Hampshire farmer by running his plough, his cultivator and harrow and his spade and hoe so often ag.ainst the rocks. Yet we cannot prevent our growing enthusiasm for the New Hampshire mountains. liOst year we sent off early in May two yokes of oxen and seven yearlings to a pasture on the side of Kearsarge. Wo had visited the mountain for the first time after the frosts of the preceding Oc- tober had stricken the pastures below, and we found that the green feed remained in the more el- evalcd regions when it was either dried up or dead from frost in the lower land. Our oxen were pas- tured for the season at tlie price of five dollars the yoke, and the yearlings at one dollar per head. A numerous flock of sheep, which would have unfit- ted a common pasture for fattening bullocks, run in this pasture through the season. The cattle came home about the first of November in the very brst condition; tl;e oxen were all fit for the but- cher, and the yearlings had from May to Novon,- ber nearly doubled their growth. The cost of the flesh imt upon them in the time did not probably much exceed if it was equal to a cent a pound. It is not to be wondered, at the prices of cattle for the last three years, from seven to ten dollars the hun- dred, that grazing f'armers who own cattle and ex- tensive pastures on this mountain land should make money easy and become even wealthy by raising cattle ■ ■ Before the first of May the present year our young cattle, two years old and yearlings, were again on their way to the mountain .pasture; and having during the winter and spring worked our faithful oxen beyond their strength and keeping in carting and sledding limber and wood in the win- ter and manure in the spring — for the first time in the thirty-one years of our residence in the town, wt left tile public aftairs of election d.ay and the meeting of the Legislature to take care of them- selves, and before four o'clock in the morning of the 4th of June with a man and horse and six oxen was wending our way to the mountain pasture on Kearsarge. I^he bed of the road most of the way to Salisbu- ry had become like an osh-heap f'rom the drought of nearly three weeks prcvitms — in some spots the ground was so parched as that the sun had de- stroyed vegetation : but early in the morning the dark clouds hung around the horizon, and every ap- pearance indicatetl rain. It sprinkled a little ; but the water in the air dropped fine and sparingly as if reluctant to fall in generous quantities sufficient to saturate the earth. We pursued our course to the mountain ; and as we neared it, the welcome cap that is always a sure indication of falling wea- ther settled down upon it. By ten o'clock our drive had been more than twenty miles to the foot of the mountain ; and before twelve our whol^ charge was deposited in the spot where they may enjoy repose for a season after laboring hard for nearly every working daj- since the commence- ment of the last vrinter. : We climbed halfway up the magnificent hill on foot purely f'rom a desire to see the condition of the pasture in the growing season. The cloud had couie so far down the mnuntain that after wander- ing over the extenifcd pasture for an hour in quest of the young cattle, the search was given over. The feed of the pasture into which the oxen were turned, being adjacent to that in which the young cattle and sheep rambled, was up to the eyes of the creatures eager to fill themselves from clipping it. The drought as yet h.ad no other effect than to sweeten the rank \\'.:d of the pasture, and to raise up in the wettest part an abundance of excellent grass. The pastures upon the mountain exceeded ail our previous anticipation.- : the vegetation was up- on a scale larger than that of common pastures. The leaf of the native clover wtas broader, and the stock of the dew grass was stouter'. Persons may judge of the fertility of the soil high up the moun- tain when tliey are told that the natural growth is rock maple and white ash. Forty and fif"ty years ago, before this land was taken up and cleared by the owners, it was common in the sugar season for the farmers in the towns of Salisbury and Boseavv- eu to go upon the mountains and select their loca- tions for tanjiing trees, gathering and boiling sap, and making sugar from the numerous original ma- ple trees of the forest. On land not yet cleared around this mountain there yet remains rock ma- ple trees measuring more than three feet in diame- *i. The rock maple is a most substantial wood for 84 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. fuel— as a timber, it is hardly inferior to the wal- nut ; and the white osh for many uses is without a f'val- . ., • .1 A remarkable feature in Kearsarge as in other hi<^h luounUins Is its humidity, in consequence ol winch it is mucli less affected by drought than the low o-rounds. There is more water in tlie higher hills and niountains than in the plains below. The rea- son is they are a constant source of attraction to the clouds ; and from them the rain storms gener- ally commence. Ascending perhaps a thousand feet up Kearai^rge, while the falling dew and mist was insufficient to dampen the surface dust below, upon the mountain every thing, the grass, and the limbs of the trees, were dripping with wet, and the ground was not only damp but changing into thin mud as it was trodden upon. The cap on Kearsarge failed not in its sure in- dication ; for the storm of refreshing rain follow- ed on the next two nights and days. The south wind blew with force, and the scudding clouds fol- lowed each other to the northward towanls the sources of the Merrimack river in the mountains near the White Hills. The rain at Concord came not in any unusual quantity— during tlie part of two days and nights the supply was considered to be hardly enouglito answer the wants of suffering vegetation. Before Friday evening it was observed that the river began to rise ; no one suspected that it could rise much. On Saturday morning our at- tention was first called to an unexpected rise on our own premises) and from six o'clock. till noon of that day it made a more rapid rise than we had ever before witnessed in the same time, haying risen in the course of twenty-four hours all of ten feet and within a few inches of its maximum height of the iiresent wet season, and covered many acres of intervale near this village. There had been a great rain at the north among the mountains, the quantity increasing to the very sources of the river. The mountains are the parents of the waters which irrigate and fertilize the countries below. The clouds are first gathered upon them. When we see the fog resting upon the mountains, or when we see the mists arising into the air from their sides, we may ahvayo anticipate an expansion of the clouds and a discharge of rain within the en- suing twenty-four hours. The storms of either snow or rain first begin upon the mountain tops.^ Frequently does the cloud rest upon the top of Mount Washington, (nearest of any elevation in New England to the region of perpetual congela- tion,) thi-oilgh the day, and the rain or snow there continue to fall for many hours, while it is fair weather and a clear sk}' all around. Tlie rain storm which succeeded the day of our annual State election exemplifies the fact that tlie clouds fly towards any object in a colder or more elevated region on which to accumulate and dis- charge themselves. One might suppose wlien the wind blew from the south that the storm would there commence and longer continue. Not so with the rain to which we allude. The quantity was less and less as we go tov.'ar3s the place from which the wind came — tlie clouds gathered blackness as they were driven further into the north, where the rain first commenced and longest continued. A southerly wind, continued sharply for a longer or shorter time, is a rain-maker. We have known such a V/ind raise a storm at the contrary point at a considerable distance sufficient to raise the Mer- rimack river two or three feet, when tliesame wind did not even overcloud the sky in the firmament over our heads- Mr. Edw.ird Emerson, of HoUis, informs us that Burdock Leaves are a cure for the Slabbers, a common disease of horses. He has used them for the last three years, and always with success. A suffering horse, fed with a very few leaves, will find relief in a very short time. Mr. E. says his horses will eat these leaves always when diseased, and at no other time. The Toad. — There is no animal more inoffen- sive and useful than the toad. As a protector of young garden vegetables from worms, his services are invaluable. A neighbor of ours gathers all of these animals about his garden, and builds tempo- rary burrows to which they may retire for protec- tion under a hot sun. The toad goes forth in the shade of evening or when clouds cover the sun, and so exceedingl}' quick is he in his operations that the eye cart scarcely detect him when he poun- ces upon his prey. It is said that the toad, if pro- tected near a cabbage garden, will entirely clear that vegetable of the lice v/hich are sometimes so troublesome. For the Farmer's IMniillily Visitor. Musings. " mile I mused, the fire bvrneil." 1 love to muse v/hen the moon is up In the deep and clear blue sky ; When yon star han.is out like a pearly drop Of dew on the beech-tree high : When the din of noise is hush'd to rest, And the sleeper's pulse is still ; — When the redbreast dreams on her downy nest By the side of the bab'ling rill. I love to feel at this quiet hour The fresliness of youth again ;— To set me down in the moonlit bower, To list to the night bird's strain ; And to dream once more the boyhood dreams That my young glad spirit knew. When my footsteps rov'd by laughing streams. And my hours in gladness flew. I love to look on the lightning's path, As it blazes through th"! sky ; — To liear tlie the thunderpeal's voice of wrath When the storm-cloud rolls on high. And well do I love, in the time of Spring, When the buds begin to swell ; — • When the bluebird sits in the bush to sing, On His boundless love to dwell. Who gave to the moon its mellow light. And who hung the stars on high, And gave to the pensive hour of night A light that is dear to the eye; And who flung around my youthful path The halo of hope and joy ; Who grasps the thunderbolts of wrath. And bids them not destroy : Who bade the seasons in order roll. And with verdure clothed the plain ; Whose laws the hosts of heaven control, And calm the boisterous main. Such thoughts as these can inspire the soul In its darkest hour of gloom ; — • Can gladden it onward to its goal. Through the darkness of the tomb. Dorchesfer, May, 1840. S. C. And vet this good woman had not indicated in her manners to the young man that she even saw him. Here there was no expression of the real feeling, no covrtcsij. I have often seen men in steamboats, in stage- coaches, in churches, and other pulilic meetings, rise ami give their seats to women, and the women seat themselves quietly, without a look or word of acknowledgment. And so with a thousand other attentions which are rendered, and are received, without any return. A void such discourtesy, my young friends — it is not only displeasing, but un- just. We actually owe some return for such ci- vilities, and a courteous acceptance is, in most ca- ses, the only one that can be made. These little chance courtesies are smiles on the face of manners, and smiles are like sunshine — we can scarcely have too much of either. Want of Courtesy. BY MISS SEDGWICK. The most striking and prevailing defect in the ma'iners of .-\inericans is, ! believe, a want of courtesv. This has probaljly arisen from the gen- eral equality of rights, eonditi-n, and education. And it arises in part from tliat inauralse huntc, or shyness, characteristic of our English ancestors, from whom we inherit it. A little reflection and.moral cultivation would soon remedy this defect. What do I mean by courtesy, and how is the want of it shown, do you ask ? A few winters since, a well bred young foreigner came to the interior, and took lodgings at a village inn, for the purpose of learn- ing the English language. To facilitate its acqui- sition, he generally preferred remaining in tlie re- ceiving room of the tavern, where travellers were passing in and out. His writing table was placed before the fire. Wlien the women came shivering in from a long drive in the stage coach, he moved his table to the coldest corner of the room, mend- ed the fire, drew chairs near it, and, if they brought in foot stoves or blocks, he found the best place to heat them. He then returned to his own uncom- fortable seat and pursued his writing or reading. The women profited by his civilities, without ap- pearing to notice thein. During the whole winter lie never received one word of acknowledgni'vnt — not one "thank you, sir," or, "you are very kind, sir," or what would have seemed inevitable, " pray, dont take that cold seat, sir." What was the polished stranger's inference .' Certainly that the Americans were a most discourteous, if not a cold hearted peojile. Cold iiearted we are not. These women were probably generally impressed with tlie young man's attentions — one of them, 1 knew, in relating her travelling experience at her own fireside at night, said, she " never should forget a young man at the tavern in S . She thought she should have di- ed with the cold before she got there ; and when she went in, he moved away from the fire, and gave the rocking chair — hung her cloak over the back of another, and warmed her block for her, and did every thing just as if he had been her owrt son !" Give your boys a trade. With the exception of a very few specially de- signed to fill the learned professions — and these may for the most part be confined to those who are physically unable to get their living by hard work; all boys at tlie age of sixteen, having previously been well educated at school, should be put to some useful trade. No parent is faithful to his sons, or looks out well for their future prosperity, who suf- fers them to grow up without an early designation of the business they are to pursue, and an educa- tion specially adapted to qualify them for such bu- ncss. He who enters upon manhood without a trade, as a farmer or mechanic, or without a pro- fession, is put afloat on the uncertain sea of life without any destination in view, and without rud- der, compass or any of the other means of a suc- cessful cruise. He is sent forth amidst society as a mere loafer, an injury and a pest. It would even be well for boys intended as law- yers, doctors, ministers and merchants, to acquire a trade. Should they succeed in either of those pro- fessions, they would yet find meanwhile much con- venience from knowing how to cultivate the earth, or to use tools; but should they not succeed, a trade would be of vast importance to them as an ultimate and safe resort under the vicissitudes of fiartune. A good trade is a thousand dollars to a young man. It is worth more than money as an inherit- ance ; for this "nay fail ; that never will if he be industrious. We think well of those institutions of learning, where tlie tedium of study is occa- sionally relieved by employments in some mechan- ical occupation, promoting health of mind and 'oody. — Alton. The mechanic's Avife. A working man needs a working wife; but to the qualities of mind, manners, and morals, she cannot run too high in the scale. — There is an er- ror prevalent concerning this. Giles saj's, " I do not want a wife with too much sense." Why not? Perhaps (iiles will not answer; but the shrug of his stioulders answers, " because I am afraid she will be an overmatch for me." Giles talks like a simpleton. The unfortunate men who have their tyrants at home, are never married to women of sense. Genuine elevation of mind cannot prompt any one, male or female, to go out of their proper sphere. No man ever sulfered from an overplus of intelligence, whether in his own head, or in his wife's. A proper self-respect should teach every noble hearted American, of whatever class, that he can- not set too high a value on the conjugal relation. We may judge of the welfare and honor ot the community by its wives and mothers. Opportuni- ties for acquiring knowledge, and even accomplish- ments, are happily open to every class above the very lowest; and the wise mechanic will not fail to choose such a companion as may not shame his sons and daughters in that coining age, when an itrnorant American shall be as obselete as a fossil Away with flouncing, giggling, dancing, squan- dering, peevish, fashion-hunting wives! The wo- man of this stamp is a poor comforter, when the huisband is sick or bankrupt. Give me the houscirtfe, who can be a helpmate to her Adam : For notiiing lovelier can be found In woman, than to study household good. And good works in her husband to promote. I have such a mechanic's wife in mj' mind's eye; gentle as the antelope, untiring as the bee, joyous as the linnet; neat, punctual, modest, confiding. She is patient, but resolute ; aiding in counsel ; reviving in troubles; ever pointing out the bright- est side, and concealing nothing hut her own sor- rows.— Anon. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 85 laghtning Rods. Inquiry. "Editors of the Coi.tivator— Can you give your readers any information as to the best nietli- ods of preparing and putting up rods, as conduc- tors on our buildings ? There is scarcely a year in which great damage of property, and not unfre- quently loss of life, is occasioned by lightning. I think farmers should have their barns protected as well as their houses, asc.rpcrience shows that they are the most liable to destruction, at the time their contents are the most valuable, that is immediately after harvest. L. 1 . r. Yorh Co. Pa:' In erecting rods for the protection of buildings from the effects of lightning, a few things most al- ways be kept in mind, in order to ensure efficiency and consequent safety. As the point of erection, the most e.xposed and'elevated part of the building should be chosen. If a dwelling house, the chim- ney is the point that will require protection ; if there are several of them, the most elevated one, the one most exposed to the affords protection to five or six times the diameter I to the 4th of June, prevented a portion of the seed of its height ; that is, a rod standing six feet above | from vegetating ; and the brown cut worni, which a building, will protect the building for thirty feet around it. Instances have been known, however, in which a chimney having a column of heated va- por rising from it, has been struck, when within the limits usually considered safe, in a protected building. In such cases, the result must be ascri- bed to the height, and conducting power of the vapor. The foot of the conductor should gradual- ly recede from the vi-alls of the building, and enter the earth to such a depth as to reach moist earth, and if the bottom of the rod is pointed, or split and parted different ways in the earth, the passing off of the fluid will be facilitated. No paint should ever be allowed on a conductor. — The CulHvater. storm.^ ; as the westerly one ; or if but one has a fire in it, that one will be found most liable to be •struck by lightning, and will of course more re- quire protection. Numberless recorded eases prove that all heated currents of vapor, whether rising from a chimney, or the masses of hay or grain in a barn, are excellent conductors of the electric fluid, and are to be considered as such in all arrange- ments for protection. The materials to be used as the conducting me- dium or rod, is another point that should be atten- ded to. Iron is the most generally used for this purpose, but copper is preferable, as it possesses greater conducting power?, is not liable to rust or fusion, and, being tougher, is not broken to frag- ments by an electric discharge, as iron sometimes is. The greater cheapness of iron, however, will probably continue its use, and when well put up, it gives all reasonable security. No iron rod should be used of a less diameter than three-fourths of an inch, and an inch rod is still better ; as it must be remembered that the surface only has any effect in conducting electricity, and, therefore, the larger the surface over which it passes, the less intense its action, and the le.is danger of breaking or fu- sion. A small quantity of metal, if of the right kind, and a large surface given to it, will make a better conducto'r, than a larger quantity in an im- proper form. Thus, a copper ribbon, two inches wide, and of the proper length, will be superior to a copper wire of the same weight, as the process of rolling and flattening it, gives a much larger surface ; and the same remark will be true in re- gard to iron. A number of small iron or copper wires, twisted into a rod, is better than a solid rod of the same weight, for the same reason ; that is, a greater surface is exposed by the small wire than by the solid one, and this would be the best man- ner of constructing rods, were it not to be appre- hended, that heavy discharges passing over wires would fuse and destroy thein. Such have been re- oommcnded for ship conductors, as they would be entire, and flexible, and perhaps it would be found tliat the distribution of the fluid over such an ex- tent of surface as such a rod would afford, would prevent the danger of fusion in any case. In preparing tlie rod, the most essential thing is the making of°tlie elevated points. These should be several in number, slightly diverging from the main rod, and the sharp points gilded or tipped with silver, so as to prevent their rusting, and los- ing, in a great degree, their conducting power. Perhaps the easiest mode of pointing them, is to make points of large silver wire an inch in length, turning a screw on one end, and insert this into an opening drilled in the tapered end ofeach branch of the "conductor, to receive it. If wire of the proper size is not convenient, they may be made by cutting them from a half dollar, and hammering them into the right form. If the rod is made in pieces they should never be put up by turning hooks on the ends, and connecting them in that way ; as interruption to the fluid in its descent is frequently attended with bad consequences. The several pie- cesshouldbe put together with screws, the con- necting piece receiving the ends of two rods, and bein" as near the size of the conductor as strength and security will admit. The rod should never be secured tu the building by metal staples or fasten- ings; or if such are necessary, the connection be- tween the rod and these should be broken by "i-ces of glass, which is a non-conductor. Wood Danger of new Theories. It is a good maxim, "let well enough alone" — a better,' to " never change a certainty for an uncer- tainty." Men curious in making experiments are general course of I frequently losers. Every new theory found on pa tlie best for fastenings cept from necessity and should only be used, ex- It is not enough that the rod aUract and receive the discharge; it must also conduct it to the earth, or no adequi^te security is afforded. It has been estimated that a rod properly made, per should not be hastily adopted without caution. In the business of fanning we consider that infor- mation much more valuable that comes from men who have had a long experience, than from the mere book farmer who can draw out a plausible theory from his own imagination. Here is the danger to a young farmer, or to the old man of any other occupation who has recently taken up that business, that he looks too much to agricultural theories and speculations found in the publications of the day. We are satisfied that there are many usages in other climates and different soils from ours, that will not answer for us. There are many new kinds of production that have succeeded well in other countries that should be carefully tried on a small scale before they shall be extensively adop- ted. We have abstained, ever since the commence- ment of the Monthly Visitor, from ministering to the passion for the Mulberry cultivation and the Silk culture : we even took an early stand against the Morns Multicaulis, much to the dissatisfaction of some of our agricultural cotemporaries ; and in doing this, we think we have, negatively,done this north section of the Union some service. We have not hitherto urged tlie apparently more feasible method of procuring our own sugar from the cul- tivation of the beet, because we are not yet satisfi- ed of the certainty that it will succeed— although we think there is no danger that the farmer will raise too much of the French sugar beet to feed out to his stock of cattle. Both the silk and the beet sugar business may be introduced hereafter ; but until our farmers can raise bread enough for our own consumption, they may as well continue their cultivation as it is, as to leave off raising Indian corn, rve, wheat and potatoes to turn their fields into mulberry orchards, or plant them exclusively with the sugar beet. When we procured the small Canada corn three or four years ago, we were told that the crop might be much increased by planting in drills with the rows near together — say not over three feet. It will be remembered that the stalk of this Canada corn, which grows and ripens nearly a month short of the larger sized corn, is extremely diminutive, and of course does not sluit out the sun. Yet be- fore the fall we were convinced that we should have had more corn if we had planted one third less. The Brown corn is of larger stalk than the Can- ada corn, ripening as soon as the earliest within a week. Last year we had a fine crop of this corn in our best manured land where the soil was near- ly seventy-live parts in a Iiundred of clear river sand; and the hills were only three feet one way by twenty inches to two feet the other. It will be recollected that there was an uncommon degree of wetness after the 10th of June last summer; and from this circumstance we were fortunate in plac- ing the hills nearer on this ground. Partly consulting our own experience and partly the statement of Mr. Brown upon the Winnipisse- ogee island in the preparation of his ground where he raised more than one Iiundred bushels of corn to the acre, we have this year planted our corn four stalks to the hill, and measured the rows one way a distance of about three feet, with guessing an ir- reo-ular position of the hill at about two feet dis- tance the other way. Our land has been better prepaved than it ever was before : we have put from thirty to forty Ptout oxcart loads of manure to the acre ; four acres of land have been prepared with manure spread and ploughed under and manure in the hill. Here we have been unexpectedly unfor- tunate : it is the first time of trying manure in the hill, which is done with considerable additional la- bor. The dry weather from the 14th of May to we had been accustomed to meet only in the sward land, has changed his position to the old ground which had been broken up three years, where ruta bagagrcw last year and corn the year before. We have endeavored to make up the deficiency by re- planting ; and we intend to supply still further de- ficiencies where vacant hills have been made by the worm, from plantinjrat the second time hoeing a quick growing bean furnished us by our friend Col. Wood of Henniker, which he says will have ample lime to ripen. In the sward land, ploughed full ten inches deep •and the sod all turned out of siglitby one of Prou- ty's ploughs, on which the manure has been exclu- sively spread, and apart harrowed in and the more strawy manure ploughed under to the depth of four or five inches without disturbing the sward — we think we shall best succeed with our crop of corn. The land was broken up about the first of May, after the grass had sprung, instead of breaking it up in the previous fall as we had before done ; and, as we think a consequence of this, the cut worm, contrary to our expectation, had not at the time of first hoeing scarcely disturbed a single hill. Our apprehension now is, that wc have planted the hills of corn on the abundantly manured ground too near eacli other. At the second hoeing we in- tend in all cases to reduce the stalks to three in each hill, and even if we reduce them to two, we are not sure that it will be for the disadvantage of our crop. Going into the field of our neighbor who has his cornfield upon the pine plain of the intervale upon the east side, and who h'as only manured his land sparingly in the hill, we found he had not much beyond half our number of iiills on the same ground. His ground was very early and was plan- ted at least a week sooner than ours: his corn was of good color and was seemingly more than a week in advance of the growth of ours. The old gen- tleman numbers more years than we do, and ha.3 had ten times our experience in the farming busi- ness. As wc grow older we think more and more favorably of the saying—" Old men for council." He says — and there must be some allowance for his land being lighter and having less manure — that he has invariably raised more corn with the hills farthest distant ; that one year while he lived in Deerfield — where the land is of more stamina than the pine plains— by mistake in his absence his sons planted the hills of his corn field full four feet apart, which he at first regretted ; but that at har- vestiniT he hail more bushels of corn on this ground than he ever had on any other land. We are inore and more inclined to the opinion that the long experience of our old farmers in most things is better to be followed as an example than the adoption of new theories, which appear very well until tliey are tried. As an illustration of the ideas we would enforce, we copy the fol- lowing communication from Mr. Skinner's excel- lent ao-ricultural journal published at Baltimore ■. From the Aiuerican Farmer. Scalding Seals. — Mr. Editor: — I was "not long since conversing with a very agreeable neighbor of yours; a gentleman of very general inlormation and a very pleasant way of communicating wl^at he knows. — The conversation turned as many have done of late on root crops.— I was lamenting that it was rather lato, as I apprehended, for sowing or planting the sugar beet. " Not at all," said he, "only be sure to accelerate the germination of the seed, that you pour on boiling water." — Boiling wa- ter ! exclaimed I. — " Yes," said he, "boiling wa- ter." Well, Sir, I considered my authority so good, he being a practical farmer, and as I well linevv eminently successful with root crops — bear- iniJ- off, if I mistake not, some of your premiums of the old Maryland Agricultural Society, that I made no further scruple, but went home and had nry genuine imported white beet seed put into a tub and boiling water poured on them ; they were then rolled in lime and dirt, so as to prepare them very nicely for planting. The ground was in beautiful order — even the line was stretched to have the work neatly done, and I was enjoying in advance tlie well earned approbation of your friend Mr. RonaUlson, the great promoter of root culture. True, from none of my coUaborateurs could I ex- tort even a nod of approbation of the scalding pro- cess. The negro woman, a faithful and obliging creature, asked if I did not mean tcarm water. — And there was old Isaac Stevens, of Annapolis, — Major Gwinn's old body servant, with all his expe- rience of half a century as a gardener— even he had never heard of boiling water on beet seed ! By the by, as we worked on together, I asked Isaac if Col. Maynadier, for whom I have ever en- S6 THE FARMER'S MONTH LV VISITOR. tertained exlraordiiiary respect — such as you feel for an old fiuiiily Jiicture of a ifpntlciiian of the old Bchool, of which there are sn few specimens left us, — 1 asked him if Col. Maynndier were not tlie oldest jjentleiuan in .'Vnnapolis.— " Yea sir," said he, — " he's the oldest white gentleman — I am the oldest of the colored people ! " Well eve.i he had never heard of putting ijeet seed in hoiling water, and was afraid it would not answer. — It seemed against all nature — no one gave me the least cn- couran-emcnt, and as tor an up and down Irisli la- borer— by name Timotliv O'lJrion — he swore at once that my neighbor meant to make a fool of nie, and that " sure any man on^ht to know it was a- i;ainst rason.'' — Still said I my friend is a practical farmer — a prcmiuin taker for root crops, and would not attempt to quiz me, in so serious a matter as that of destroying an acre of su.'rar beet. To make •a long story short, sir, — 7iot a seed rcgctatcfl, while in about half an acre planted fVom the same par- cel, not put in boiling water, not a seed missed ! Therefore^ nrrcf povr boiling ipntcr on beet seeil. On reflection, I should add, that my friendly ad- viser is a polished gentleman, a ripe scholar, reads the reviews, is something of apolitician, and with- al, has a first rate vifiiiagcr .' I might not so readjly have committed the f mix pns^even with him as my fugleman, if I had not known tliat (lie covering of tlie seed is very rougli and hard, and was under the impression that boil- ing water is poured on the seed of thorn and locust to make them vegetate. Now you might not have been troubled with tiiis cautifui, were it not that you have often e.\Iiorted vour correspondents to proclaim their failures and mistakes, as well as their discoveries and successes. AN OVERSEKa. ry presents such a picture 'o the passer-by, shall not he be called a benefactor to the community .' Has he not done much to improve and bless socie- ty by his example i" Has he not buiha monument to his own honor, more eloquent than the marble? THE FARiVIKRS MFE. BV II. roi.M.VN. What a means of imparting pleasuie is an im- proved agriculture. How many charming exam- ples present themselves among us of improvements which every eye gazes upon with unraingled de- light. Let a man, according to his power, take his ten, his twenty, his fifty, his hundred acres Let him comb the hair, and wasli the face of nature. Let him subdue, clear, cultivate, enrich, embellish it. Let him smooth the rough i)]ace3 ; and drain the wet, and fill up the sunken, and enrich the bar- ren. Let him enclose it with a neat and substan- tial fence. Let him line its borders and road sides with ornamental ti-ees, and let him stock every proper part with vines and fruits. Let his fields and meadows wave with their golden harvest, and let his hills be covered with the herds rejoic- ing in the fullness with which his labors, under the blessing of God, have spread their table, and who, when he goes among them, hasten from all sides to meet him and gratefully recognize in hirn a friend and benefactor, and lieU the hand which is accus- tomed to feed and fondle them. Here now let us see th'e neatly painted cottage with its green sluides, its piazzas trellisud \\ ith vines, its sides covered with the spreading rdnr or flowing acaeiji, with hove and there the beautiful fur to sludi? the picture, and the mountain ash showing its rich clusters of crimson fruit among the dee]) green fo- liage, and the smooth and verdant lawn stretching its soft and beautiful carpet in the front view; then look again and see tlie parents at the close of day, resting froin their labors and enjoying the calm ev- ening, witli the pledges of mutual and devoted af- fection rioting before them in ;J1 tlie Ijuoyancy of youthful innocence and delight; and if, at such an hour as this, you can hear the hymn of grateful praise rising from tiiis humble ahode of peace and love, and its charming notes mingling with the mu- sic of the gurgling brook that flows near by, oi broken by the occasiortal slirill and hollow notes of the gentle and fearless birds, which deem them- selves loving members of this loving household ; if then, whether traveller or sojourner, your heart is not touched ^vith this charnung and not unusual picture of rural felicity, cease to call yourself a man. If still you sigh lor the bustle and the noise and the confinement of the city, with its impure water, and its offensive odors, with its despicable 1 affectations, with its heartless formalities, with its I ral town marks the stability and the value of the violent excitements, with its midnight festivities, i farmer's occupation. The "census shows, amonn- Censa.s of 1840. We anticipate the most pleasing developements in relation to the condition of this State when the results shall be made known of the census taking by the order of Congress in pursuance of the pro- visions of the Constitution, during th.e present year. The direction to the Assistant .Marshals is for an accurate account of the numbers, families, sexes, ages and conditions of the inhabitants, and of the means and productions of the country. Thousands of our native sons and daughters have not only emigrated, but have taken with them much of the means which had been here earned, to the new countries of the west and south : yet are we not u'ithout the anticipation tiiat both our num- bers and our resources have been constantly accu- mulating, and that the last ten years will fall short of no previous ten years, in every desirable im- provement. Experience will have demonstrated that our Ao- Ricui.TeRE is our great relinnce. 'In the produc- tions of the soil it is impossible we should do too much ; for even if we had here less manufactures, a greater production from the ground by a greater fertility from the same labor would furnish tiie sure means of extended wealth in the increased tratfic and commerce. Let us suppose that the farmers of New Hampshire could at once double their crops and their flocks and herds: the operation would no sooner take place, than one of two things would occur — the surplus produce would move oiT in quest of consumers, or consumers would move to the surplus. If the producers, those who labor in the earth to bring forth its fruits, lived no better and consumed no more, their w-calth and capital must increase in the ratio of their increased pro- ductions. So long as the facilities of transport ex- ist, there never can be danger that the farmer will raise too much. The first verbal reports we have had of the cen- sus is from the towns of Sanbornton in Strafi'ord and H.MipTo.v in Rockingham counties. These towns, we are informed, give a gain in population of about twenty per cent. They are both almost purely and exclusively agricultural towns. Sanbornton is situated fifty to sixty miles from the se.iboard ; and although divested of a jiortion of its limits by tiie setting off its southwest part to include the new town of Franklin, it probalily comprises a snrfiee four times as large as Hamp- ton, with a population in ]S30 of a?6G. The soil of this town is almost universally good ; itti high hills are especially fine for gracing, and it is fa- mous for its cattle and its butter and cheese. It is nearly surrounded by the waters of the Winni- pisseogee lake, bays and river on the east and south, and the Pernigewasset branch of the Merrimack on tlie west. Hampton ie situated near the sea in 0 acres sand banks between the marsh and the high waters of the sea. Of the potatoes raised probably 'lO^OOO bushels are shipped ta southern ports : these at the average price of 4IJ cents tlie bushel pay the farmersa sum of .«;16,0I)0 — probably twice as Uiuch as the town pays for the purchase of all articles not produced v.'ithiu its own limits. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 87 which repays for the pain in the healthy circulation which it promotes. Agricultural Hints. For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. As labor is the hi^^iiest article in the market, it is of vast importance to all to make the most of it ; and to none more so tiian the farmer. In illustrating this subject, I do not expect to advance any new idea, or bring forward any new truth, but merely call the attention of your readers to facts which are better known than practised. The general mania and rush of the people of A- inerica to engage in internal improvements, man- ufacturing, and to cover the waters of our lakes and rivers with steam craft, have increa^Jed the de- mand for labor, and raised its price ; and as the con- sequence it has drawn oif the young men to some one of these employments, until you rarely find at the present time more than one man and a small boy on each of our farms. TJierefore it is of vast consequence tliat we make the most of labor. Hence tiie inquiry is, or should be, ho v shall this be done ? We answer, by a tliorough cultivation of the soil : that is, to raise the culture and im- prove every part of our cultivated lands to the ut- most of our means. To do this eflectually we should select our best lands, and improve no more than we have manure to place in a high state of cultivation; a^ mucli is h3st by spreading our ma- nure over too much ground. When Indian corn is the crop, there is very little danger of applying too much manure, or of making the land too rich in order to make the most of it. This subject was better illustrated by the farmers in the vicinity of the Winnipisseogee lake, last year, than by any tiling I can say. There the far- mers raised from IIG to 137 bushels of corn to an acre, which is probably more thin our tarmers will average, take the State through, on three acres. This was done by highly manuring the land and giving the soil superior cultivation. Wljen land is raised i.o tiiat state of culture which affords the best crop of corn, it is of course in preparation for tlie best crop of wheat. And if we do not raise quite so mucli as a townsman of ours, Mr. Isaac Adams, raised last year, who grew fifty-four bu.-^hcls on an acre and a quarter, yet we may grow a crop that will be profitable ; and what is of not less importance the land Is then in a sit- uation to prod nee large crops of grass for several ensuing years ; and this 1 deem the most important crop to a New England farmer. The writer of this has taken as much if not more money for hay on an average, during the last twen- ty-five years, tiian for any other item sold from his farm in the same time. It may perhaps be said tiiatif we attempt to cul- tivate so thoroughly, and manure so highly, we shall be able to cultivate but small quantities of land; but we will not despair, since the editor of the Visitor has told ns of a fanner in West Cam- bridge, who has sold produce the past season from seven acres of land, amounting to nearly four thou- sand dollars ! Again, if we would make the most of labor, let us determine what kind of stock is best adapted to our farms and circumstances. If neat stockbe the best, we should obtain the best animals, and then cross them with the most improved breed from a- broad ; and be sure and not keep any more than we can keep well. It costs but a trifle more to raise a pair of oxen thnt, in ordinar}'^ times, will fciell from eigiity to a hundred dollars, at four years old, than at fifty dollars. And further, it is almost incredible whataquan- tity of butter may in one season he made from a good cow, well kept. The writer well recollects that a citizen of Jatfrey some lour or five years since, who kept but one cow, told me that the in- come from this cow was in the sale of the calf and butter, oddintr what was consumed at home, from forty-five to fifty dollars, to say nothing of the milk which helped to make a good pig. Should our stock be sheep, it is especially im- portant that we obtain a healthy fine wooled breed, and that we constantly improve itb)- crossing. We cannot in any other way so clearly show the great advantao-e and large profits of fine wooled sheep as to refer the reader to an account, given in the tenth number and first volume nf the " Farmer's Visitor," of tbo high price obtained by Messrs. Sibley and Barnard of Hopkinton, N. H. fijr last yt-ar's clip, of Samuel Lawrence, Ksq. of Lowell, which ranged fVom fifty cents to one dollar per pound. The* profits of Messrs, Sibley and Barnard were not, as we understand, owing to any particu- lar advantages as to farm, but to selecting and im- proving their flock, accompanied with the best of care. May not othcT3 do likewise ? Anotlier item of importance for the saving of labor is to adopt, as enrly as possible, the best and most highly -ip^roved farming tools and labor sav- ing machines, as much is lost by using poor tools. And we sliould have a place-for every implement, and keep it in its place when not in use, and not, when an article is wanted, have to inquire of all the boys, and run round tiie lot, and after a long hunt, find the hoe, rake, or axe, as the case may be, on tiie ground where we left it a month before. It is furtlier important ns a saving of time and labor, to adopt the (dd maxim of never leaving for to-morrow wliat can be done to-day. If many of our farmers were to write down ev- ery day or parts of days unnecessarily spent in the course of a year and charge the price they would have to pay for labor, they would find at the end of the year no inconsiderable hill. If we would make the most of labor, let us not only thorou2"hIy cultivate, manure and improve what we till, make n.se of those kinds of grain and grass best adapted to our soil, and select the most approved stock and best farming tools, but let us take and read a well conducted agricultural Journal, by which we may avail ourselves of the information, experience, and experiments of oth- ers, and apply them to our own advantages, for it will scarcely be possible for us to read an able and well edited agricultural paper, without realizing in value many times what we pay for it. We should also give a close personal attention to all our concerns, and endeavor to excel in what- ever vie undertake ; that is, we should endeavor to produce the best and most valuable articles, as on the best articles we generally realize the most pro- fit. In fine, let us dispense with the old method, if we have not already, of skinning our farms and deteriorating the soil ; and adopt the new system of husbandry, by raising them to the highest state of cultivation our means will admit. This will not only make a saving of labor, but enhance the value of our lands, render an essential service to mankind, and be a source of new and rational pleasures. JOHiN CONANT. JafFrey, June, 1S40. Pitts' Horse Power and Machine for Thrashing and Cle.ining Grain. Col. Oliver Herrick of LQ,wiston, Maine, is the proprietor of this Horse Power and Thrashino- Machine fir the State of New Hampshire. Pitts' HORSE rOWER is peculiarly well fitted for general purposes, as well for propelling Thrasliincr IVTacliines, Cider Mills, &c. as for Rail- road Corporations where horse power is used in propelling cars, for ca»ial boats, and for meclianics who want a cheap and eincient power for latlies, grindstones, circular saws and other important ap- paratus. Tiie macliine is simple in its construction, liirbt, durable, and not liable to get out of repair, singularlv elhclent and easy in its operation; can be easily removed from place to place ; and can be made for a comparatively small sum, for one, two, four, six or more horses. The two horse power is in much request for thrashing mowed and other grains. But as connected with this Horse Power a sub- ject of peculiar interest to the whole agricultural community is the THRASHING and SEPARA- TING MACHINE, being not only a hihor saving huizi grain saving machine. The Horse power was patented in the year 1834, and the Thrashing Machine with the Separntor was patented in the 3'ear 1837, and from that time to the present there have been improvements made at every new con- struction. Before the Separator, which entirely divests the grain from the cliaff, was added to this machine, it received tiie high commendation of many distin- guished judges where it had been used. A com- mittee of the Maine Kennebeck County Agricultu- ral Society, in Sept. 1S31, thus rejiorts of this ma- chine : — " We were next sumnmned to examine Pitts' improved Horse Power and Thrasher. This is an improvement invented and patented by Messrs. J. A. *lt H. A. Pitts of Winthrop, and your committee think that very considerable improvement has been effected by them. The principle is on the endless chain — but the horse travels upon wood, and the bgs are kept from sagging by a new and ingenious application of a system of rolls called by the in- ventors 'surface rolls.' The improvements appear to be — \. A greater ease to the horse; 2. Less weight in the machine; 3. Less expense to the purchaser. It can be made with slight additional expense, for two horses. It thrashes clean, and on the whol^ is a yaltiable implement for the fartne-r. We think the Messrs. Pitts richly entitled to a gra- tuity for introducing their improvement afnong us." Robert Eastman, Esq. of this town, the inven- tor and patentee of a saw and clapboard machine, and an excellent judge of machinery, certified in 1835 of Pitts' thrashing machine that he gave it the " preference of any that lie had ever seen." Hon. John W. Wkeks, Gen. John Wii son and other gentlemen of Lancaster, N. H. March 3, 1835, say that " having witnessed the ojieration of Pitts" Patent Horse Power and Thrashing Ma- chine, and as they have worked to our entire sat- isfaction, we freely give it as our opinion that thpy are superior to any now in use." The late Judge'BuKi., in Oct. 1835, says, " Mr. Pitts' Horse Power and Thrashing Machine having been put in operation in my barn, and having ex- amined it closely with the committee at tiie Alba- ny Fair, 1 do not iiesltate to recommend it to the public patronage." A medal was awarded to the machine at this Fair. Thus muclj for the Machine before the Grain Cleanser was incorporated with it. When we first saw the artich' extracted below in the American Farmer, published at Baltimore, Maryland, we were not aware that it was an invention of i^ew England, and that our citizens might soon have an opportunity to witness its operation and use : — AnnayoUs^ August 8, ISSD. Dear. Sir — I now give you the day's work as per- formed by Pitts' Machine for thrashing and clean- sing grain on the 27th ult. as certified by Messrs. Wilson, (the three sons of Dr. Thomas Wilson, of EastonNeck, Kent Co. Md.) Edward Paca, Esq. my son, Richard J. C. Jones, and myself The machine got out in fifteen minutes ten bushels white wheat as clean as it could be done by passing it through the fan three times if got out in the connnon way. Since that period I got out in 4 3-4 days, 1082 bushels whent, and 336 bushels oats — 1st day, 204 bushels; 2d day, 240; 3d 20G ; 4th 252; 5th 173 bushels red wheat, weighing G6 lbs per bushel by the steelyards ; whii-.h will be an average of about 240 bushels per day, which divi- ded into ten hours work per day will gTve twenty- four bushels per hour. The large band from the horse was old and rotten, and frequently broke, by which much time was lost. — 25 bushels per liour is a moderate calculation. The wheat got out by this machine commanded three cents per bushel more than any other in the market: 115 cents was the highest price given for wheat on that day, which was heavier, but not clear of dust. Will not this circumstance add greatly to fhe value of this machine ? There is an ingenious contrivance to throw the band pully out of geer, so that when you want to stop the horse power suddenly, (if a horse should fall) the cylin- der ceases to revolve and leaves the horse power to be slacked at once. A valuable horse's life was saved by this improvement — he was thrown down by the shat\s, and his neck doubled under him, oc- casioned by a person passing before him while go- ing around, which threw him back upon tlie shaft and tripped him up. The difterence in the price at market, and the g-reat saving of grain and labor in 20U0 bushels will pay for the machine — it does not leave a grain in the straw, and the wheat never touches the ground but is bagged and put on board of a vessel or in your granary at one operation ; it is pronoun- ced in Baltimore to be more free from dust and dirt than any other wheat in the market. Never were measurers better pleased with handling a crop, tliere being no sneezing or cougliing from dust — in fact, they could not but believe that it had been repeatedly and particularly well fanned. 1 have already had application to thrash for far- mers who had engaged other machines, but are now determined not to make use of them if they can be accommodated with Pitts' macliine. The part that separates the grain cannot he attached to any other machine — the fan can be taken off if thought desirable, but the machine makers here consider this as superior to any other ever produc- ed, and think there is no room left for improvement except one which 1 have suggested, and which will be attached to any that are built hereafter, and will: save the labor of one hand — that is, instead of the" wheat falling into the boxes under the fan, I intend to fix a shoot that at an angle of 40 degrees, will run the wheat from the fan into a large trough, a- longside the machine, and thence be measured up and put into bags at once — this can be done by raising the fan one foot hia^her ; and the other im- provement is, to have a fall leaf at the back of the fan to keep the wind from blowing the chaff and straw back and thereb}' choke the riddle. I sub- 83 THE FARMIR'S MONTHLY VISITOR. stituted an old door when occasion required it — this leaf hooks on and oft' at pleasure. The ma- chine is simple enougli in its construction, as you will perceive when you see it in opperation. Yours, respectfully, RICHARD I. JONES." Col. Hekrick is making arrangements for the supply of the Horse Power aini Thrashing and Cleaning Machines in this State. The expense of the machines of tlie size for two horses will be two hundred dollars, that is, one hundred dollars for the horse power, which may be apjiliod to other ob- jects, and the Separator one hundred dollars. Rights for the use of towns and districts may be obtained by purchase. The machine will thrash and cleanse one hundred bushels and over in a day of rye or wheat, and two and three hundred bush- els of oats. One machine will readily do the work of a whole neighborhood. Persons who may wish to purchase or procure the use of these machines, may address Col. Herrick at Lewiston, Lincoln County, Maine, any time previous to the middle of August; after that time he will have these ma- chines in operation at Concord and in several oth- er towns in Now Hampshire. On ploughing in crops for Manure. Boston, March 25, 1840. Dr. S. L. Dana — Dear sir— Two successful and e.xperienced farmers, one in Franklin and one in Berkshire county, have come to the conclusion, that, in turning in crops by way of enriching the land, more benefit is derived, that is, the fenility of the land is more advanced by ploun-hino- in a crop after it has become dried or dead, than by tur- ning it in in its greatest lu.xurianco and greenness. One of them showed me the results of an experi- ment tending to this point, which appeared strong- ly to favor his conclusions. A well established fact is better than the most ehaborate hypothesis ; and prejudices, liowcver strong, must yield to facts. Allow me under these circumstances, to inquire whether, upon your principles or philosophy of ve- getation, there occur to you any good reasons for a result so much at variance with popnI.Tr opinion. Your views in full on this subject, will add to the obligations under which you have already laid the public and your respectful friend and servant, HENRY COLMAN. Lowell, Miiich 23, )S40. Dear sir: — The results referred to in your letter, are opposed to the common opinion. Common o- pinion, especially in agriculture, is not always founded on observation. It is oftener prejudice, than opinion : and, when inconsistent'with well known facts, has not its source in observation or experiment. The whole resolves itself into this, DRV PLANTS CIVE MORE GEINE THAN OREF.N. This follows from the little we know of the process termed "fermentation;" I use Ihe term as com- monly expressive of the spontaneous decay of ve- getables. It includes the Ihree stnges of vinous acid and putrefactive fermentation. These are not neces- sarily dependant, following in regular nrogression ■i ney are not cause and effect. "Putrefaction may commence fir3t,and it is so different from the others, in all Its stages and products, that the term "fermen- tation" ought never to have been applied to it. Ihe greater part of vegetables is susceptible of putrefaction only, a small number become acid at once, and a stiU .smaller number ever undergo vi- nous, acetous, and putrefactive fermentation. Fer- mentation then, in its widest sense, will help us to understand how dry crops may be better ma- nures than green. Let and products 1st. What vegetable substances are susceptible of the vinous fermentation, and what are its pro- ducts? ' The juices only which contain suirar, or starch convertible first into gum and then into sutrar bv the action of azotizcd vegetable principles, "espe- cially gluten. Pure sugar never ferments. The vinous ferment.at.on must be excited by some sub- stance containing nitrogen. There are three things essential to vinous fermentation, air ov oxy deg. and moisture. No perfectly dry plant ever putrefies, nor will a moist one, if air is excluded. I have had a capital ex- ample of the last, In a piece of a white birch tree, dug up from a depth of twenty-five feet below the surface in Lowell, this winter. It must have been inhumed there probably before the creation of man, at least at a time " whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," yet this most per- ishable of all wood is nearly as sound as if cut from the forest last fall. A dried plant has parted with most of its sap, that moisture, essential to the commencement of vinous and acetous fermenta- tion. During tlie very act of decay, from the mo- ment when its living functions have ceased, now combinations of its elements begin. It has alrea- dy begun to be destroyed by the very agents which gave it life. This is the beginning of putrefaction. Let us not be deceived by a name. Putrefaction we always associate with disgusting eflluvia. Eut in the wide sense we have defined it, it includes also the fragrance of new hay. Whenever bodies consist only of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and a trace of azote, their putrefaction is fragrant, or in- odorous; when, in addition to these, bodies contain large portions of azotized matter, gluten, albumen or sulphur, and phosphorus, putrefaction evolves abominable odors. To the agriculturist, putrefac- tion is always a wholesome p[ocess, beneficial to his best interests, when promoted and controlled. There is only one case where this process produces loss. This may ho termed destructireputrefuctioii; it is produced by heaping together green plants, or sometimes by moistening dry vegetable sub- stances. Here oxygen is rapidly absoibed, and fi- nally the mass takes fire, and burns. Up to the reen. Let us glance at the principles- '^"'7^ of inflammation this is putrefaction. New of fermentation P'^'cipits hay, stacked too green, is a familiar example. Vol- umes of steam are evolved, which proceed partly from the decomposition of the plant ; decomposi- tions, and rcco positions rapidly ensue ; these are the ferment, which keeps up the action till the plants burn. Doubtless, all green plants, plough- ed in, undergo to a greater or less extent, destruc- tive putrefaction, which succeeds the vinous ami acid fermentations, perhaps caused by the very ra- pidity of these processes. Hence in addition to the sugar, starch, and gum of the plant, we lose a large portion of its other substances, by turning it in green. The productsof this rapid fermentation have been but little studied. Happv the farmer who never witnesses the process. He should nev- er induce it, and may generally prevent its exten- sion, when once begun. It is a dead loss to him ; but in nil other cases of putrefaction, the products are 7'iluable. These vary according as the process takes ])Iace : lf,t, in air; 2d, at the surface of the ground; or, lid, deep in the interior of the earth. The last need not detain js — it produces all the va rieties of coal. lot. In the free ai', having Bcct-s.i to all parts of a plant, putrefaction produces carbonic acid, nitric acid, and water. But ordinarily, in the air, as ox- ygen does not find ready access to all parts, a por- tion of the hydrogen of the plant combines tlien with the carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, and azote of the plant, and we have carburetted, sulphuretted, and phosphuretted hydrogen, and ammonia, produ- ced. Now, as these exist but in small quantity in vegetables, the loss of hydrogen will not be very great by drying the plants, and it is possible, that the removal of these, may cause the other elements to enter into more stable combinations, better fit- ted to produce geine. In ail cases of putrefaction in the open air, oxygen is absorbed, and an equal bulk of carbonic acid given out, while, at the same time, the oxygen and hydrogen of the plant escape as water. The result is, that in the substance left, carbon exists in a greater portion, than in an equal weight of fresh vegetables. In all cases of putre- faction, new products are formed ; these again re- solve into others ; and this action goes on till we have no longer any organic products; we have on- ly binary or inorganic substances left. All our researches into the philosophy of the changes in fermentation, terminate in these binary products, that is, in compounds, consisting of only two ele- ments. During all these various changes, a varie- ty of substances must, of course, be formed. As the elements of living, so the elements of dead plants, are continually changing into new foims. Nature is admirably simple, and never so learned as our books. We ought not to dignify with a new name, every new product of putrefaction, which we may fortunately arrest. However various these products may be, whether products or educts of pu- trefaction, or of our analytical methods of separa- ting them, all putrefaction at the surface of the earth, ends by forming a brownish, black, j)o\vdery mass, which combines with the alkaline, earthy and metalic bases in the plant. This substance has been called " Geine." As I have elsewhere defi- ned it, it is the decomposed organic matter of the soil. It is the product of putrefaction ; continu- ally subjected to air and moisture, it is finally wholly dissipateil in air, leaving only the inorganic bases of the plant, with which it was once combi- ned. Now, whether we consider this as a simple substance, or composed of several others, called cre- nic, apocrenic, puteanic, ulmic acids, glairin, apo- theme, extract, humus, or mould, agriculture ever has, and probably ever will consider it one and the same thing, requiring always similar treatment to produce it ; similar treatment to render it soluble when produced ; similar treatment to render it an effectual manure. It is the end of all compost heaps to produce soluble geine, no matter how compound our chemistry ma}- teach this substance to be. Among the many economical modes of produc- ing geine, the ploughing in of vegetable matter, has held a high rank. Nature teaches us to turn in the dried plant. Dried leaves are her favorite morsels, and the very fact, that Nature always takes the dried plant, from which to prepare the food of growing vegetables, should have taught us long ago, the wisdom of ploughing in dry crops. The careful collecting and husbanding of dried leaves, their superior ellicacy in forming compost, bears witness to the facts stated in your letter. — That the use of dried leaves for compost has not led to the turning in of dry crops, has probably a- risen from the consideration, that a greater quan- tity «f geine may be produced, by turning in two or three green crops in a season, than by one crop of dry. This needs experimental confirmation. The very act of tilhge, on Mr. Keelp's plan, by ex- posing the insoluble geine of one crop, to air, ren- ders it soluble, while at the same time, two or three green crops must form a greater quantity of salts. If only one crop can be turned in, let it be dry. All our philosophy, and the late experiments of your agricultural friends, confirm this view. With great respect, I am very truly, yours, SAM'L L. DANA. Rev. H. Coi.-\ian, Jigriculiitral Commissioner. Hints for July. From a belief of its utility, confirmed by several years' practice, we earnestly recommend a trial, to those who have not adopted the practice, uf curiri's their clover hatj ami such as abounds in clover, in GHASS COCKS, Instead of spreading and curing it in the old wa}'. It will save labor, save hay, and add much to the value of that wliich is hou.scd. As soon as the grass has become willed in the swath, and the external moisture evaporated, and by nil means before any. of the leaves become dry and crumble, put the grass in grass cocks, as small at the baye as possible, not to exceed a yard in diaiu- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 89 cter, and taper thorn off, by adding forkfulls to the apex, which may be four or five feet from the ground. Leave tlieni undisturbed at least 43 lioura and until you arc pretty certain of sun or a drying wind ; then open tlie cocks, and if once turned, the curing will be completed in three or four hours, scarcely a leaf will be wasted, and the hay will be bright, fragrant, and will keep well. Cut small gntm hefure it bccovies dead rijic, for the following reasons : — 1. If omitted, bad weath- er may intervene and delay the harvest too long. 2. Dead ripe grain wastes much in harvesting. .{. Early cut grain makes the best flour. 4. When any portion of the culm or straw is ripened, or be- comes diy, there is no further supply of nourish- ment from the soil ; and the grain then gets as much food from the cut as it could get from the standing straw. Hence, when the straw turns yel- low under the ear, however green the rest part of it may be, the grain should be cut. And when the straw becomes badly affected with rust or mildew, the sooner it is cut the better. Do not put the plough into the corn, if you have as you may have for a trifle, a cultivator or horse hoe. it severs the' roots, which are the mouths of the plants, turns up and wastes the manure, which should always be applied to this crop, and deprives the plants of more than half their pasture. Hill your corn but sliffhtly. Hilling renders it jnore lia- ble to suffer from drought, and induces it to throw out a new set of roots, the old ones being in a man- ner useless, by being buried too deep, and beyond the reach of the influence of heat and air, the in- dispensable agents of nutrition and vegetable growth. — The Cultivator. Batchelder's Corn Planter. Matthew Carey and his wife. It would be well, if young men starting in busi- ness, would take heed to the good advice conveyed by the example of Mr. Carey and his wife, as dis- played in the biographical notice contained in a late number of the Merchant's Magazine. It ap- pears from this, that Mr. Carey married Miss Fla- haven, the daughter of a highly respectable citizen of Pliiladelphia, who, like thousands of others, was mined by his devotion to tlie cause of the principles of the Revolution. She had no dowry but that of intelligence and industry, and these are far rich- er than any other that can be bestowed. She had united herself to a man, whose whole fortune con- sisted of a few liundred dollars worth of furniture, and some back numbers of his magazine, compara- tively valueless, as soon as the ivork was abandon- ed. But what of that ? Both husband and wife had minds filled with good common sense. They had no false pride to retard their efforts. They were persevering and economical, and together they resolved to make their way in the world. " We early," says the husband, "formed a deter- mination to indulge in no unnecessary expense, and to mount the ladder so slowly, as to run no risk of having to descend " What a salutary ex- ample is here written in one sentence, for the young of our day. How altered is the mode of beginning the marriage life now-a-days ! Large rents, ex- pensive establishments, unlimited debts, " routs and rounds of fashion," are at once launched into; and the young couple live on, so long as petty shifts, contrivances and deceptions will sustain them, and then sink into hopeless misery, from which, perchance, they never recover. " Daugh- ters tenderly reared, and who have brought hand- some fortunes to their husbands, are often obliged to return home to their aged parents, who have to maintain them, their husbands and their children — a deplorable fate for old age. Fathers have the un- speakable misery of beholding their sons, in whom tlie hopes of after years were centered, broken down, indolent, reckless, dissipated — hanging on society as pests and nuisances, instead of becom- ing ornaments and examples of it." — Praridcnce Journal. (Fig. 17.) The above is a correct delineation of a macliine for planting corn and other seeds, patented by Lo- renzo Batchelder, Esq. and brother, of Hampstcad, N. H. We have lately seen one of these ma- chines in operation. It drops the seeds from a hopper in just such quantity as the operator pleases, through a tube, leaving them at precisely the depth under the surface that may be desired. The same operation strikes the furrow, covers the seed, and completes the planting. The machinej)perates well in rough as in smooth land, in wet and heavy ground as well as in that dry and light, is more perfect than any other seed sower we have ever seen. Chandler's Improved Double Harrow. This machine Important rules in keeping Swine. I am decidedly opposed l^. high feeding for any breeding slock. I have found it highly pernicious and in many cases fatal : the constitution will soon yield under it. It is quite too much practised on 3'oung pigs for the laudable purpose of bringing them forward rapidly : when discontinued, the pig is spoiled. It is not the way to produce or improve the breed. My advice is to feed light and change the dish often. A little pounded cliarcoal is an ex- cellent tonic. The sun and water are considera- tions indispensable to a piggery. Swine should be fed as separately as convenience will admit; for they will be all that their name implies. JOHN LOSSING. Albany, N. Y, April, laiO. CHANDLER'S IMPROVED DOUBLE HARROW. fFig. 18.) This Harrow is so constructed as to be in two parts, and joined together by hinges on the two straight center pins, so that one part can be raised and swung over on the other half as occasion requires. Its advantage over the common harrows is, that it is less liable to be stopped, as one side may be ele- vated or turned to a perpendicular position, while the other proceeds horizontally; it may thus be drawn nearer to rocks, trees, &c It will likewise better adapt itself to ridges, hollows and uneven land. It may be had of Joseph Brock, & Co., North Market street, Boston Philadelphia, June, 13, 1840. Dear sir— I send you by this day's mail, the three last numbers of the Cabinet, with my respectful consideration and esteem. 1 should be obliged if you would send me, as soon as you can make it con- venient, the numbers of the Visitor for the two months before the last, as they have been mislaid, or more probably abstracted; and at this I am not surprised, for while many of our exch.ange papers are very safe in this particular, the Visitor is often paying visits amongst our friends, to whom it is always a welcome visitor indeed. , ,. . . <• I contrratulate the agricultural community of your part of the country on the establishment ot a publication of such practical utility among them ; I am free to confess that 1 know of none that 1 think so highly of, and I should be pleased with an opportunity of becoming more intimately acqu.'in- ted with vo"u Do you never come to Philadelphia r My house is in 12th st. 3 doors above Arch st. where it Would "ive ine much happiness to meet you. It is my desire to render the Cabinet worthy aeneral regard, and hope by future arrangements to procure for it a wide circulation and character for usefulness- the present volume is complete in one more number, when it is the intention of the 1 ro- prietors to use their exertions to put a good face on it. To your paper I look for much interesting mat- ter and shall be much pleased to find that our views and interests are reciprocal. ' I am, sir, with esteem and respect. Editor Farmer's Monthly Visitor. ''"•^AMeVpEd'dER, Ed. Cal. The Farmers' Cabinet, an airricnltural paper of much interest, has been published at Philadelphia about four years : it is a large monthly sheet of 33 pages, and contains much valuable information a- dapted to tiie ao-riculture of the Middle States, and especially to that of the best of all agricultural States of this ifnion, the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We read every number of this jour- nal as it is received, with no less interest than we should read one adapted to our own New LnglunU 90 THE FARMER'S xMONTHLY VISITOR. soil and cultivation. Since the decense of the late able editor of the G.abinet(Franoia S. Wiggins,Esq.) Mr. Tedder, who wrote much excellent matter lor the Cabinet, has liecoine its editor and conductor. The paper is publislied by Messrs. Kimbcr and Sliarpless, booksellers, as wo«4ii appear from their names descendants of the Quakers who first set- tled the land of William Ponn. Young pretenders in any occupation, naturally more susceptible to impressions of vanity, are more e.tcusable for proclaiminsr their own merits. Young as we are both in the business of the farm and in conducting an agricultural paper, our readers will e.vcuse the copying of an opinion of the value of our eflbrts froni a man having so much experience as Mr. Pedder. We have gathered from our read- ing that Mr. Pedder is aforeigner by birth, and that he is well acquainted witli that agricultural prac- tice in the Britisli islands of Jersey and Guernsey, situated near tlic French shore of the British chan- nel, which on a small extent of territory has yiel- ded probably a higher amount of production than any other part of llie agricultural world. The ex- perience of a man thoroughly acquainted with such a country must be vaUnible beyond that of most others : that experience, judiciously applied to this country, will make of him a most valuable conduc- tor of an agricultural newspaper like the Farmers' Cabinet. VVe wish him success in his new occu- pation, and hope to be assisted in our efforts to make the Visitor useful by the knowledge we shall derive from the productions of his pen. ''The Sl.riped Fro'.h !" — There is no article^ of dress more comfortable and convenient to the far nier than a frock. How long the ladies have pos- sessed this name as an article of their dress we know not : a lady's frock is now quite a common appellation of fashion. It means, we believe, that outside garment formerly called a gown or some- times a slip ; and can be considered as nothing more nor less than an invasion of the rights of a sturdy farmer in taking the name of a garment to him most necessary and useful. Again, gentlemen who had rather look on than do work in the field, as well as clergymen who work for the good of souls, have taken to themselves the article which is the most important item in the lady's dress, and put on the gown. The most unfeminine article of all is the Striped Froch. When the editor v.as ten to fourteen years of age he used to wear sometimes in winter a striped woollen frock open before with a knot tied in front, and over that perhaps a good tan- ned sheep-skin leather apron. This is not exactly the kind of comfortable frock intended : it is a stri- ped woollen frock, neither open before nor behind, which covers the body from the neck to below the knees, and may be worn, either in cold weather or in warm, over coat and waistcoat, or without either. In cold weather a thick woollen frock is of more value in keeping the body warm than a cloak or a great coat — it prevents or hinders no exercise or labor: in the hottest weather, throwing off every thing else to the shirt and pantaloons, it shuts out the heat and absorbs that perspiration wliich is ex- tremely inconvenient after it has saturated gar- ments near the skin of exclusively cotton or Inien fabric. Such a striped frock as this the editor has procured and wears when he goes to the field. Opening an enclosure covering eight pages of beautit'ul manuscript in a female hand from a neigh- boring Stale, we were struck with the heading of " TIlc Striped Frock." We thouglit, at first sight, if some fair one had scented out the garment and was thrusting it in our face from motives of derision, we should not much value her good or bad opinion. We knew we had many times met — nay, that we had recently called on gentlemen farmers much more worthy that name than ourselves, who were dressed in striped frocks ; and \vc cared not a fig whether our lady correspondent intended to treat us with s'jorn, or thought us to be unworthy of '* good society." Our first impressions did the lady injustice. From the post-mark we were not prepared to re- ceive such an essay as would do credit to the pol- ished writer of the city ; but we are free to declare that for beauty of chirography, terseness and pro- priety of style, and elegance and delicacy of sen- timent, we have never taken in hand a manuscript drawn by male or female, that could claim superi- ority to the communication for the Visitor which we give belov/. We have not time to read many of the tales of im.ngination which abound at tlie present day, and winch are essayed eitiier in aejiarate volumes or in the literary periodicals, and of course are not an accurate judge of the merits of these works. We think The Striped Frock exactly adapted to the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. If ths story be a fic- tion, it "holds the mirror up to nature" in several cases within our personnl knowledge. Tlie lady, whose head invented and whose hand has drawn the picture, deserves our thanks : her essay may be tiie nu'aus of inducing hundreds to choose that honorable employment whicli will secure to every man, under the blessing of Heaven, an honest liv- ing, and will teach all such a.^ have once " put their hand to the plough, to look not back." Fur the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. The Striped Frock. " Tliere, Lucinda, you cannot help admitting that we have had a fine walk this afternoon," ex- claimed Caroline Hale to lu-r sister as they entered their chamber after a rural excursion. It was a sultry August day, and Lucinda, instead of an- swering her sister, threw off her bonnet and fast- ened back the blind from the open window. " Now yon are not willing to own that we have had a plea- sant walk,' continued Caroline, "because you went so reluctantly." — "You know, sister, that mj' reluctance was on account of the extreme heat and a trifling indisposition. But I feel better for the ramble, and must say it was more agreeable than I anticipated. I will admit what will please you yet more, that I liked our company, and was interested in the conversation." — " That's a good girl," said the laughing Caroline ; " I supposed you would have said that the Russells were osten- tations, trifling, superficial, or sometliing of that sort." "You know I do not intend to be censori- ous, Caroline, and as to j'our gallant of to-day, I could not express any opinion. He devoted his attention so entirely to you, that I have had no op- portunity of becoming a critic with regard to him. His sister is a pretty girl, and seems to enjoy her visit to our little town extremely. I love our own scenery so well that I cannot help feeling interes- ted in every one who admires it." — " Lucinda, I believe I like home well enough, but I never can think as you do about our rough hills. They do well enough for farmers who want sheep-pastures, but what there is about them so very beautiful I never could imagine. I always wondered what in- duced fither to settle here. He might have estab- lished himself in some more pooulous place, have had more genteel society, and lived in very differ- ent style from what he does now, even if he owned no more jiroperty." — "Very likely he might, Caro- line, but you know father is not very ambitious a- bout innking a show. We have often heard him speak of the change in his opinion.s and feelings since his youth. He says he thought then tliat wealth could make him happy, "buf he feels now that a contented spirit nud domestic affection are better than gold. I think we both ought to profit by his experience." " Probably you will, Ijocin- da, for, as mother says, you are all father to the very core. For my part, I dislike quite so much cant about republican habits. If ever I marry, I mean to have a man who is not afraid of being too fashionable and stylish. I am sure we have seen mother afflicted so much by fither's odd notions, that I think we ought to profit by //fi- experience." Lucinda for a few minutes did not answer. She knew there were weak points in her mother's char- acter, but she hesitated about making them a sub- ject of conversation, even with her sister. But she reflected that Caroline was younger than her- self, and had ever been her mother's pet. She felt pained to perceive daily the influence exerted over her younu mind by her mother's vanity and indis- cretion. After some consideration, she rej>lied,"our mother is a good, amiable woman, Caroline, and we are both deeply indebted to her care and kind- ness. I sliould be sorrv to say a word that would diminish vour respect for her, but you knov.', sis- ter, she is very much influenced by aunt Kimball. Now aunt Kimball does not consider tiiat what is perfectly proper for herself and daughters in such a place as Boston, would he almost ridiculous for us. Their dress and customs are in accordance with their station, and with the dress and customs of their associates. So are ours. We even dress better than most young ladies in our circle. True, we w'ear calico and gingham dresses at home, in- stead of expensive silks and muslins, and father requires us to assist in liousehold duties. I believe we are happier for it. Your own understanding, Caroline, if you consulted if, would teach you the foolishness of our wearing fifty dollar shawls and thirty dollar bonnets in such a place as S — . Our extravagnuce would be censured by our best friends. How should we look walking out as we have this afternoon, through bush and brier, dress- ed like ladies promenading in Cornhill.-' Even our sensible city acquaintances would laugh at us. — Probably Franklin Russell, with whom you hive chatted so much to-day, will not respect 3'ou the less for having your dress adriptcd to the ix-casion, and something like that worn by our country com- panions. I am sure "mother wishes to do every thing for our good, but I think she does not consid- er what is best and most becoming in our present circumstances." I do believe, Lucinda, that if you were settled among the Choctawa, you would think it was best to paint and dress like a squaw. I know, after all, what makes you talk so much about fitness and propriety. It \s because Nelson Newliall wears a striped frock, and you think it is well adapted to a man who holds plough, and 'drives his team afield.' As for myself, I never was in love with a striped frock, and never intend to be.'' This, as Caroline anticipated, was touching Lucinda in an extremely sensitive point, and slie did not attempt to reply. She immediately found lier services were required below, and hastily ran down to make arrangements for the evening meal. We have now introduced to the reader the two daughters of 'Squire Hale, a gentleman of consid- erable property and influence in a pleas.int country town in the interior of Massachusetts. He was a self educated man, of unbending good principles, and, without being a genius, was posses»ed 'if .in uncommonshare of what is denominated "common sense." Beneath an exterior not remarkably pol- ished, he concealed a heart and temper which would bear the strictest scrutiny. He settled in Massachusetts in his youth, and had "never chan- ged nor wished to change his place." Why should he .^ lie possessed the confidence of the commu- nity, was happy among his friends, and his family ranked among the first in the county. Some twenty-five vears before the commencement of our tale, he became accidentally acquainted with Miss Caroline Osgood, a young lady from Boston. She was extremely pretty, and her bright smile and fascinating manners made a hasty conquest of his henrt. He was not the man to marry, however, without trying to consult his judgment. He knew she was not striving to cultivate her intellect, but she said she loved reading, and he was sure he wanted nothing blue about a wife. If she loved reading, that was enough. Then she had not been accustomed to any domestic employments, hut if she wished to learn the proper management of a household, what could he easier .' Besides his in- come was already sufficient for a comfortable main- tenance without the assistance of a wife, and Miss Osgood's property would increase it. She was certainly amiable and cheerful, and he doubted noi would render his fireside happy. Nothing less could be expected, then, considering he was already in love, than that judgment should decide in favor of offering her his hand without delay. It was done accordingly, and after she had consulted all her friends, who pronounced it a "good match," the offer was accepted, and in due time she became Mrs Hale. VVe would gladly tell our reader that after tha acquisition of a companion so lovely, 'Squire Hale found himself perfectly happy. Truth, however, would not warrant such a statement. For a time he considered himself so, but wa^ ere long forced to feel his disappointment. ///.•> interest was not Af»' interest ; his most valuable friends she lio-htly esteemed. She professed to respect them, but they were so cnuntrified, had so little polish or refinement, that they were scarcely fit for a lady's parlor. She did not think it necessary even to su- perintend her domestic affairs, but employed her hours in reading novels, and in such trifling work as was little better than absolute idleness. She expected unlimited indulgence, made extravagant demands upon his purse, and determined to guard his doors from the familiar intrusion of the unfash- ionable people who had been her husband's former acquaintances and friends. 'Squire Hale saw all this with uneasiness and anxiety. He found his authority must be interpo- sed, or his home would never be the home of his heart. He labored to convince his wife of her folly, and even went so far as to put a veto upon ma- ny of her plans He loved her and attributed her faults almost wholly to education and inexperience, and by firmness and j'idlcious management, after a long time, succeeded in eradicating many of her notions. Two lovely daugliters at length claimed her care, and implanted in lier heart such devoted aff'ection as made her in many respects a different woman. After some few years her husband had almost forgotten that she was ever ihe frivolous, useless being he had first known her. Notw-ithstanding her character was so much altered, she retained quite enough of her originality to render her, in many respects, a foolish mother. She taught her children to look with contempt upon village cus- toms ; upon all those who earned their bread by THE FARMER'S MONTIILV VISITOR. 91 honorable labor, and to consider thcmselvps de- signed for something- above country life." It was galling toiler pride that their father permitted tliom to attend a public school, where they must associ- ate with the children of farmers and mechanics. But 'Squire Hale would have it so, and she was forced to submit to it. At home she e.terted all her influence to counteract the ideas she feared they would acquire at school, and every one knows a mother's intluence is great over affectionate, in- experienced daughters. They both imbibed many of her feelings and opinions, and suffered the love- liness of their sunny age to be clouded by useless ideas of consequence and superiority . Years rolled by, and they became young ladies. They were both called handsome, though their style of beauty was very different. Lucinda, the eldest, was a little of a brunette, with large hazel eye, dark hair, and a shade of thought upon her brov,'. She resembled her father in person ; was taller and less volatile in her movements than her sister. Caroline was a fairy in figure, and a na- tive grace was seen in every motion. Her blue eye and fla-ven hair proclaimed her relationship to the Osgood family ; and sweet was the smile which played over her features in hours of joy and sun- shine. The minds of the two sisters were still more unlike than their figures and complexions. They had attended the same school ; received the same degree of instruction ; mingled with the same society, yet they were essentially different in their tastes and inclinations. Two seeds germinate in the bosom of the earth ; their growth is accelerated by the same sunshine, air and moisture; yet although growing side by side, they become plants totally different in their natures. To these products oi' the soil we mitrht compare Lucinda and Caroline Hale. Both were naturally amiable in temper; but the one found her highest enjoyment in cultivating her under- standing and attending to her duties ; the other in ornamenting her person, and enlarging the circle of her acquaintances. Lucinda had always been strongly attached to her fath-r, and perhaps it was from him her mind received its early bias. It might be possible, however, that a careful observer would have traced it to another source. AS we mentioneu before, the two sisters in their childhood and early youth, attended the public schools of their native village ; such schools as are ever open to rich and poor in happy New England. In the one they attended was a talented, high spir- ited youth, older by a year or two than Lucinda Hale. He was the only son of a virtuous and sen- sible fanner in the neighborhood, and was destined by his parents to follow the plough, and procure his livelihood from the same grounds which had been owned in the family through three or four generations. His intelligent eye, cheerful counte- nance, and native intellect, made him the favorite of every new teacher, and many a gentleman's son t'ound himself outstripped in his studies by the in- dustry of Nelson Ncwhall. Adeline, his sister, in many respects resembled him, and both were belov- ed bv their companions and commended by their instructors. "With the children of the laboring class in gen- eral, Mrs. Hale contrived to prevent her daughters from associating too freely, but in the case of the two Newhalls it was a little beyond her control. 'Squire Hale, who felt an interest in every thing connected with the rising generation, frequently spoke of the promising children of his townsman, and expressed a wish that /1/5 children might be e- qually a credit to the school, and equally honored among their companions. Ilis wife rather sneered at the idea, but did not think it prudent to inter- pose, so Lucinda and Caroline were allowed to treat the Newhalls with a little more respect than they were wont to do the children of farmers in general. Adeline and Lucinda sat in the same form at school ; attended to the same studies ; were as- sisted by Nelson to find the answers to difficult questions, and at playtime were indebted to his in- genuity for one half the. r amusements. He seemed almost equally a brother to both, and in the thousand sports and occupations of their innocent years, was their adviser and constant companion. As they grew towards womanhood, the two girls became still more intimate, the one probably influ- enced by liity, the other by gratitude. Thelovelv, interesting Adeline had become an invalid. She was still able to occupy her usual seat in the school room, bat the peculiar delicacy of her look and languor of her appearance, led her friends to fear that the blossom was wilting on its native stem. At the cUse of that school, Lucinda and her sis- ter were sent to the academy in B. When the first quarter [ended [they visited home, and Lucin- da, true to her school-day friend, mode her first call at the farmhouse of the Newhalls. Mrs. Hale rather encouraged her than otherwise, for even sin- had learni-d to look with interest upon the str;cken girl. She saw that. She was waning to the tomb. The worm of death was in her bloom : .'\iid her naturally kind heart led her to pity both the parents and the child. It never once occurred to her mind that a daughter of hers could look with lar- tiality on the handsome Nelson ; therefore Lucinda was suffered to spend as many hours with .'\deline as she cho.^e. Nelson was the idolized son and broth- er, and when his occupation.'! permitted was ever in the iiouse to cheer his mother and amuse his sutfi ring sister. Perhaps Lucinda's frrquent calls made him more attentive than he would have been otherwise, for notwillistaiiding he was little more than seventeen, he regarded her with a feeling very different from the usually partialities-of boyhood. That feeling was reciprocated, and though never analyzed and never spoken, was daily gaining strength on both sides. It was in Adeline's sick room that Lucinda's mind first received the impress of early piety. The Newhalls were not only descended from our Puri- tan fathers, but they felt in themselves that trust in God which had comforted their ancestors while inhabitants of a wilderness. .Adeline had been taught to worship the God of her parents, and even at her early age, had sought and found the Saviour " whom to know aright is life eternal." She fre- quently conversed with her friend upon the reali- ties of the unseen world, and upon the stronp- con- solations granted her when heart and flesh were failing. Lucinda saw her patience under suffering and her willingness to leave the world when all was bright around her, and she was led to reflect upon the value of that faith which could so buoy up the spirit in a day of trial. The vacation was over, and she returned to school. It was with deeper feeling than is com- mon to her age that she looked back upon her na- tive village, and thought how long it would be ere her return. She felt for the first time that the world before her offered nothing to compensate for the deprivation she was about to experience. Eve- ry object around home was clothed with new in- terest; her parents seemed more than ever dear to her; and the vine-covered farmhouse where Ade- line was fading and Nelson springing into manhood was regretted perhaps more than all. Let it pro- ceed from what cause it might, from that time her character seemed materially altered. She evinced a firmness in her opinions, a benevolence in her disposition and a gentleness in her manner which she had never done before. Ere the Spring of the succeeding year had put forth its leaves and expanded its thousand blos- soms, Adeline Newhall rested beneath the shadow of the village church. ,\s is customary in the country, she was followed to her long home by nearly all the inhabitants of the place Many a feeling of sympathy was elicited by the appearan- ces of subdued sorrow on the part of the father and mother, but Nelson's irrepressible grief, as he looki'd into the open grave into which Adeline's coffin had been lowered, caused the tear to spring in almost every eye. As t'or Lucinda' her heart was almost broken She had never before known grief herself, or felt more than momentary sympathy with that of oth- ers. She felt then that she could willingly resign all the luxuries of her affluent home to supply the place of their lost daughter to the stricken parents, and be a sister and friend to Nelson, whose usually elastic spirit was now bowed to the earth. It was soon after the funeral of Adeline that the fir.st suspicions of an attachment between her daughter and the young farmer entered the mind of Mrs. Hale. All her native pride and ideas of family consequence rebelled at the thooght. At first she could scarcely think it possible, but tlie more slie reflected upon Nelson's handsome figure and interesting character, the more she feared its probability. "Vet could it be that Lucinda, so well instructed, with a taste so carefully cultivated, could think for a moment upon a youth who wore a frock ! " Oh," said she to Caroline, as they were alone in the parlor, " if you ever live to many, be sure and never marry a man like your father. You don't realize how much trouble he has occa- sioned me. 1 have always endeavored to bring up my children as they should be, but he has thwarted me and vexed mo to death. I was always opposed to your being sent to a common school, where you would associate with every thing, but I could not have my own way. No. He lliought the children in S — were generally orderly and well instructed, »nd his children must not be taught to fee! above their neighbors. Such aristocratic notions would never do in a republic. Now he may see what his republicaniHoi has brought upon us. I wish he was here, for 1 w.intto know what he will say when he hears aliout this." "Motiier," said Caroline, "I would not tell fa- ther anything about it. Just as likely as not he would think it w.as a fine thing. You kiiow he says a great deal about industry, and it may be he would think it was a pretty notion for Lucinda, with all her accomplisliinents, to be tending a dairy and turning a spinning wheel. He is always al>aid we shall not be kept in the kitchen enough, and I ex- pect he would like to have us marry farmers or mechanics for the good of the countrv, as he telli; about." Caroline's reasoning had its effect. Mrs, Hale reflected upon it, and finally crime to the conclu- sion that it would be better to say nothing about it, but send her daughter to a boarding school in Boston as soon as they could make the necessary arrangements. There Lucinda and Nelson would not see each other, and probably their foolish par- tiality would in ashort time be forgotten. A ffw evenings before the two sisters were to leave for Boston, 'Squire Hale and his wife were absent, and Caroline deeply engaged in reading a new novel in her chamber. Lucinda was alone, and as she saw the hues of sunset fading in the west, her mind recurred to the circumstances o Adeline's death and burial. She involuntarily re peated the words of a favorite poet ; " Oh my friend, ■When I recall thy worth. Thy lovely life, thine early end, I feel estranged from earth." A feeling of melancholy crept over her, and she determined to visit the churchyard. Both Caro- line and herself had been there frequently in the daytime, and passed away an hour in reading the epitaphs. She had been in the habit of walkfnga- lone at twilight, and was not aCcustomed to feai\ Beside what could there be to fear in visiting the grave of the sweet and pious .\deline ? She hasti- ly arranged herself for the walk, and thoughtfully followed a footpath across the fields. Daylight was fast deepening into a shadow, and the song of the evening bird had a pensive, melancholy sound. As she drew near the wall that enclosed the buri- al place, a feeling of timidity stole over her, and she wished she had asked Caroline to be her com- panion. Ere she reached the wall, she paused, and was half inclined to return. But the recollec- tion of her school-day friend, of her sweetness, her gentleness, and above all her affection for her- self, made her ashamed of her fears. Adeline's grave was in the corner of the churchyard nearest to her, and after some mental effort, she succeeded in passing over the wall, and in a moment stood trembling beside the grave. She scarcely realized where she was. All recollection of her friend had vanished, and fear and awe usurped the place of every other feeling. She turned to make a preci- pitate retreat, and a voice broke upon the silence. In a moment she was calm. " It was his voice, she could noterr. Throughout the breathing world's extent, There was but one such voice for her." — It was indeed the voice of Nelson Newhall. Af- ter the labors of the day were over, he had uproot- ed a little tree, and had come. to plant it by the grave of his sister. He said that when living, she loved to see the green trees waving in the breeze, and he would place one to wave over her while she was mingling with the dust. He spoke of the bright world where they hoped her spirit had gone, and of the vacuum her death had made to him in the world she left behind. It is not our design, however, to let our readers listen to the conversation of the young lovers, as we must call them after this. To them it was full of interest, but to the public their expressions of mutual aff'ection would be uninteresting and un- meaning. Let it Buflice to say, that when they parted, each felt a confidence in the endearing af- fection of the other, that time and absence never had the power to destroy. For the two or three succeeding years Nelson and Lucinda seldom met. She was sometimes at home, sometimes at school, and frequently visiting among her distant relatives. ■\Vhen at home, they attended the same place of worship on the Sabbath, and we would not say that their eyes and their thoughts did not sometimes stray i'roiu him who occupied the pulpit. Every time she saw him, Lu- cinda looked on him with pleasure and pride, for now that he had become a man, his commanding figure and e.xpressive countenance distinguished him from all other young men in her native town. ^ 98 THE PARMER'S iMONTHLY VISITOR. She frequently heard his beauty spoken of among her companions, and his sffectionate conduct to his parents commended by her father. Into the select circles in which she visited lie was seldom invited, because he was a farmer and wore a frock ; but she consoled herself by thinking that his talents and his virtues would, one day, place him above these little distinctions. He had labored to cultivate his mind, and prepare himself for the duties of active life. The occupation his father designed for him he never intended to change, but he wished to be a theoretical as well as practical farmer, and to im- prove his faculties equally with his fields and gar- dens. This, her mother and sister did not, or af- fected not, to perceive. They annoyed her almost daily by significant allusions to haystacks, ploughs, and above all, to the striped frock which was con- stantly worn in the field to protect his other cloth- ing. In general she aft'ected to take no notice of these innuendoes, but, at times, her feelings over- came her, and she retired to give vent to her tears. SoniHimcs she half resolved to make a confidant of her father, but she was deterred by the fear that he likewise might disapprove. At times, she felt mor- tified and humbled when she thought of his occu- pation, for the pride so carefully nurtured in her childhood was not yet totally subdued. She would wish he had been a merchant, or studied some pro- fession ; or if he vinst be a farmer, that he would never wear the frock which occasioned so much ridicule at home, and resolved that her influence should be exerted to persuade him to discard it al- together. In the mean time both Lucinda and her sister had become objects of general attraction, especial- ly Caroline, whom nature seemed to have designed for a belle and a coquette. I^ucinda was equally beloved and more respected, but the dignity her mind had imparted to her manners repelled the "dvancesof mere foppery and gallantry. She had several advantageous oilers, but, to her father's sur- prise, rejected them all. One suitor lacked Nel- son's native ability ; another his kind, affectionate temper ; and all she thought were deficient in some of his peculiar characteristics. Caroline, who had no previous attachment to in- terfere with her present selection, was soon engag- ed. It was to the same Mr. Russell mentioned in the early part of this story. His home was in the city, but he had become* acquainted with Caroline wliile visiting a relative in S — . Her beauty and playfulness soon determined hlin to make her the companion of his fortunes. He was what the world considers a gentleman ; free from any noto- rious vices, and equally free from any fi.\'-d princi- ples of right and wrong. But lie suited Mrs. Hale and Caroline exactly. He seemed to have an in- stinctive dislike to every thing countrified or eco- nomical, and his love for fashionable life could not be disputed. The wealth and standing of his fa- ther seemed to make it certain that the family of the son might always live a life of pleasure. It was suspected by some, that 'Squire Hale nev- er heartily approved the match between Russell and his daughter. Be this as it may, it was conclu- ded after the lapse of a ievj months. The mansion of 'Squire Hale was brilliantly illuminated on the nightofthe 25tji Apiil, 18 — . Caroline was that evening to give her hand to Franklin Russell. Ma- ny of the inhabitants of S — had assembled to con- gratulate the young couple, and Nelson Newhall among the rest. Mrs. Hale protested against his having an invitation, but her husband declared him as respectable and promising as any young man in the village, and invited him accordingly. The ev- enino" was spent in mirth and festivity, and all ap- peared to enjoy it but Lucinda. She was unusu- ally pensive, but it was ascribed to the parting which would take place on the morrow. That, however, was not the sole reason. Nelson, in the crowd, had contrived to press a letter into lier hand. She hastily concealed it without having been observed, but the flush upon her clieek, and the unwonted abstraction of her manners, were generally noticed. The company separated, and the family retired to their respective apartments. Lucinda passed a sleepless night, sometimes reading tiie letter she had received, and sometimes deliberatinir upon the course she should pursue. She finally came to the conclusion that she would give the letter to her fa- ther as soon as might be convenient after Caroline's departure. In tlie course of the next day, she found her fa- ther alone, presented t!ie letter to him with a trem- bling hand, and fled to her chamber. She was soon summoned to attend him. " iMy daughter," said he, holding up the letter, " this tells me that you and Nelson Newhall have loved each other from your childhood. Why has it been kept a secret from me ?" " Because I dared not let you know 1 the busy season of haying, to supersede the neces- it." "What was you afraid of, cliild .'" slid he | sity of writing new sermons, tlie old ones were kindly, as he looked upon her blanched cheek and trembling form. " 1 always liked Nelson, and was willing you should be trusted to choofe for your- self" " But father, do you approve the choice ?" " Certainly, certainly, I do approve it. You may write to Nelson and tell him he has my hearty con- sent. May you make as good a wife as you have been a daughter." Ten or twelve years have elapsed since the events above related, and a material change has passed over the two sisters. Mrs. Russell has be- come a widow. She live.l in afilurnce for a year or two after her marriage ; but the fluctuations of trade swept away the prosperity of the elder Rus- sell, and the younger had little to lose. He was dependant, in a great measure, upon his father, and when that support failed him he fell, for he he had never learned to rely on his own en- ergies. His health had been somevvliat injured by dissipation, and the alteration in his circumstances had such an eft'ect upon his mind, that he soon be- came an invalid. He removed with his family into the house of 'Squire Hale for the benefit of country air, but it was to no purpose. He lingered for a year and then died, leaving a wife and son to the care of his father-in-law. Almost every pleasant day little Edward Rus- sell may be seen with two or three other bright- eyed children, playing on the soft green grass in front of a handsome house, a little apart from the village. That house belongs to his uncle Nelson, and these children are his cousins. His grand-fa- ther often tries to arouse the ambition of the little l)oy, by telling him stories of his uncle's boyhood, and how he has risen from a common farmer's son, to be one of the most respected and influen- tial men in the community. His motlier, though her opinions have undergone considerable change, still insists that her son shall never wear a frock, in imitation of his uncle, so long as she lives to in- fluence him. Little Kdward, however, has learn- ed to respect his aunt Lucinda's opinions, and she tells him that a frock is the badge of an honorable occupation ; that her husband is not ashamed of his even now ; and that her highest ambition for her own sons is, tliat in every essential point, they may resemble their father. Clergymen Farmers. We perceive that Rev Allen Putnam, formerly Unitarian minister in Augusta, now Allen Putnam, Esq. of Danvers, Massachusetts, has engaged heart and soul in the cause of agriculture. He writes much for agricultural papers, delivers excellent addresses, &c. We know Mr. P. to be a very sen- sible and practical man, and doubt not he will do great service to the cause of good husbandry. — Some how or other, these ministers, both in Eng- land and America, stand forth as amongst the best promoters and patrons of agriculture. The best farmer we ever saw was an old clergyman in Ply- mouth county, Mass. with whom we studied in the days of our youth. We are indebted to him for wliat little taste and skill we have in agriculture and horticulture. — Maine Cultivator. We have known several clergymen under the old regime who were excellent farmers. The rea- son probably was, in the first settlement of many of the New England towns, the clergymen of the Congregational order wlio were good husbands, had a little advantage of most of the common far- mers. It was a practice in most of the towns that a lot of hand v.'as especially reserved as a donation or gift to the first settled minister. This land he had increased facilities for clearing and cultivating, as his parishioners made it a point fre- quently to have a** bee" as it was then called, and help the minister : his wood for fuel was always cut and drawn to him. Although his salary was then much smaller than the clerijymen'e salaries now-a days, he had little occasion for spending much money, as his fiirin furnished most of the ar tides necessary for family sustenance ; and the minister's wife in all liousehold affairs was as smart as a steel trap, and was generally the head and leader of the ladies of the parish as well in tilings temporal as in things spiritual. Tile late Rev. Jeremiali Barnard of Amherst, of our acquaintance, who succeeded tlie Rev. Mr. Wilkins the first minister, and lie also a good I'ar- mer, had the best farm, and was considered beiiind no otiier man in the town in that occupation. His good lady was also among the smartest i.n lier way, and was the mother and instructress of daui' liters who have figured as wives of the wealthy in the cities. Rev. Dr. Burnap of Merrimack, and indeed more than half of the settled clergymen in the old county of Millsborougli, were good farmers. In used, and the minister exchanged with his brother of a neighborincT town. On one of these occasions Rev. Mr. Wadswortli of Brookline, wlio had an im- pediment in his speech, exchanged with Mr. Bar- nard of Amherst. The dinner at the house of the latter was calf's head, &c. with the brains cooked in the usual method. The good lady, by way of a joke, remarking that it was a general rule that eve- ry part strengthened a part, asked the Rrookline minister if he would not be helped to some of the tongue. "Yes, madam," retorted Mr. W. " and may I be sufTered to furnish your plate with a por- tion of b — b — brains ?'' Two of the elder clerg3'men of Hillsborough county, known to the editor thirty-eight years ago, are members of the present legislature of New Hampshire, to wit. Rev. Ebcnezer Hill of Mason, and Rev. Humphrey Moore of Milford. We be- lieve they do not now officiate as clergymen in their towns — at least Mr. Moore does not. Mr. Hill graduated at Cambridge nearly half a centu- ry ago, we believe as a charity scholar : a pair of twins, his sons, graduated at the same institution some twelve or fifteen years ago, and we think the gentleman told us he had three more sons either on the way or thrnugli college. The old gentle- man was one of the most beautiful penmen of his day : it was said that he would write out his ser- mon on a piece of paper of the size of a man's hand. He was a better minister than farmer; not taller himself than some boys at the age of a doz- en years, he is the father, if we are not under a mistake, of as many a.sfifleri). sons besides a num- hes of daughters, and has well obe^'ed the scripture injunction to "be fruitful and multiply." The Representative of Milford, although not as fortunate in raising sons and daughters as his bro- ther of Mason, for thirty years has been known as one of the very best practical farmers in the State. His premises at all times have been a pattern to other farmers of his neighborhood, and he has a- bundantly increased his substance; and much of it has been the result of iris own personal labor. For several years he was the sole ofliciating cler- gyman of i:is town, and never missed a sermon or a Sabbath in the church, or a parocliial visit when sickness, death, or any other occasion required. In addition it is said he performed more personal labor upon his farm than most of the farmers of his neighborhood. Tills gentleman also wrote a beau- tiful hand ; and his sermons, short and compre- hensive, discovered a mind not less vigorous than the physical strength which enabled him to perform so much. We liave strayed from the purpose with which we set out on remarking upon the article quoted from the Maine Cultivator ; and this was to say that we have not only read with pleasure an excel- lent agricultural address delivered by Rev. Mr. Putnam, of Danvers, but that we have seen and conversed with that gentleman. He occupies a farm f'ormerly owned by his father; and he inl'orms us tiiat lie has succeeded, by improving the light lands upon that farm, in nearly if not ([uite, doub- ling the former crop of Indian corn upon the same ground. The people near the .seaboard — indeed tlie men of nearly every town of the county of Essex, are better farmers than any number of men fartiier in the interior. Yet at every annual return the influence of good examples spreads further and further, planners witiiiii the last few years have liad an encouragement which was denied tiiem be- fore the facilities of transport existed to tlieir pres- ent extent; and there is really now no danger that they will not, even at depressed prices, obtain tiie full relative value for every article wiiicli the land produces. The editor of the Maine Cultivator, himself a clergyman we believe of the denomination of Uni- ver&alists, is a farmer of no ordinary talent. Liv- ing in the compact but flourishing village of Hallo- well, surrounded by some of the best farmers of New England, his account of the product of the single acre which he cultivates with his own hands, is worthy of recital. One tiiird of tiiis ground is devoted to Indian corn, yieldi ;g nearly thirty bush- els, which furnishes mucii of liis family bread; and the corn stuff' witli the ruta baga raised on 'he same premises, gives him winter Ibod for a cow. Of the potatoes and otiier garden vegetables he sells enough for the purcliase of the flour used in his family : indeed the want:- of a numerous fami- ly are well supplied from tiie generous production of one well cultivated acre. Forty years ago and more there were only two or three clergymen in New England of tlie Univer- saliat persuasion; the venerable John Murray, an Englishman by birth, at first stood alone in Boston. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 93 Rev. Zephaiiiah Lallie took up the business of a preacher, being himseir a good farmer; and when Hosea iiallciu began preacliing he cauic to the work with the hard hands wliich in his youthful days had been cnsaifed in chopping down the trees and cultivating Ihe^land of his father in the town of Richmond, N. H. Most of the clergymen of those times other than the congrcgationalists, were itinerating preachers : they were considered by the settled town minis- ters to be intruders, and treated in some cases as enemies to the souls of men. What a change in respect to religious toleration has since gone over the country ! Of the itinerating denominations were the Meth- odists, the Freewill Baptists, Christians, and even the regular Baptists. Law suits were instituted to compel the.'ie to support and conform to tlie "regu- lar standing order." There was enmity between brethren who took upon themselves the name of one Saviour and one Lord ; the severity of the con- test has fortun.itely resulted in establishing more Burely the principle of law and right which se- cures to every man liis rights of conscience and liberty to pay and support just such religious opin- ions as he j)leases. The Freewill and Ciiristian denominations had many preachers who supplied the word generally " without money and without price" in tlie thinly settled districts: these preacliera were denomina- ted "Elders." They were men of strong minds, who had road tlieir bibles so often as to have the doc- trines of scripture at their tongue's end. Many of them we know to be excellent farmers ; of such was the late Elder Young of Cantiirbury, Elder Dy- er of Loudon, Elder Knowlton, formerly of Pitts- field, now of Maine, Elder Perkins of New Hamp- ton, Elder Biizzell of Weare, and others almost too numerous to mention. 'J'hese men were fre- quently elected members of the State legislature in both branches. Tlicy were sound men of excel- lent bearing and judgnjent in all things. As far- mers, no less than as moral and religious profes- sors, their example was worthy to be followed by all men. The most of them were entirely inde- pendent in point of property, and preached solely from the love which they bore their Master and the concern tliey felt for the souls of men. Improved Hoes, Milton, Strafford Co. JV. //. June 10, 1840. Hon. Is.KAc Hill— ilcrtfiir,-— Will you please to accept half a dozen hoes manufactured by me in a fashion which I think greatly superior to any other hue in use ? ' You will see, at a glance, that it is constructed for durability. The socket and back plate are in one piece, of malleable cast iron, tough enough to make horse nails. The hole through the blade is cut by a pioiiess oblique to the surface of the hoe and in the direction of the handle, and tlic socuet is made to precisely fit the hole cut for its recep- tion. The rivets merely keep the socket in its place and are not strained upon at all in the ordi- nary use of the hoe, but the blow comes not upon the rivets, hut upon the blade whore the socket passes through it. So that the rivets will not be cut of!" and working loose, or the hoe broken a- round the plate, or the handle working loose as in the goose neck. Nor is the handle cut to pieces and weakened to receive a shank, which is always becoming loose, and is fastened with much diffi- culty. Li mine you will see tlie handle has the whole strength of the wood, and if it ever works loose, a wedge confines it at once. And besides, the sock- et is made a little smaller on the lower side of the hoe than it is on the upper side, that the handle may be fastened by driving. Pvesuining tliat every improvement in agricul- tural implements is interesting to you, I take the liberty to send ynu a specimen of my hoes for your examination. Respectfully vours, &c. GEORGE VVORSTER. Jj^' The above hoes were received in the middle of the month of June, at a time wheii hoes are most in requisition. 'I'hey have a face so bright and liang so beautifully on the handle, as almost to tempt any man to wish to use them in a fair field. Our land is all free of stones, and this year has so few weeds, as not to try hard the strength of the hoe ; but one of our men who has used Mr. Worster's newly palrnted hoe, thinks it the best he ever used in this country : he is a native of a country, (Ireland) where the hoe is not known as an agricultural implement; From the appearance of these hoes we are of opinion that they are a ve- t' great improvement in the part connectirig the handle with the hoc plate, making the implement light and at the same time strong. Wilton, June 15, 1840. To the Hon. Isaac Hill — DcaT sir: — You will re- ceive by the bearer a specimen of cast steel hoes, which 1 am engaged in manufacturing. The cast steel hoe is an article which has been in pretty general use for some years ; and its superiority over othor hoes is generally acknowledged ; still its liability to break by reason of the method gen- erally adopted to attach the handle has caused a complaint which has become quite universal. I was led by this consideration to attempt an im- provement of this most useful of all agricultural implements. Whether my object has been attain- ed the yeomanry of the country must he the judg- es. The plate of the hoe is pressed into the par- ticnlaf shape in which you will perceive the speci- men to represent; thus giving to it much strength and stiffness. The plate is tempered by a peculiar process, whereby all fire cracks and unevenness of temper are obviated ; and it receives what is sometimes called a rowel temper. Not a single in- stance has come lo my knowledge where a hoe has been broken or battered up. The eye is made of malleable iron, for this purpose not inferior to Rus- sia iron. The eye forms a proper clamp in which the plate is inserted. In this it differs from other hoes ; and we give it the name of the Clnmj) Eijcd Hoe. The plate and eye are drilled for riveting, and are then counter sUnk and riveted upon both sides of the clamp. A further description I deem unnecessary, rely- ing on the hoe to give itself all the description and recommendation its merits deserve. Should you after examination conclude that the public can be benefitted by this improvement, a notice of it in your most valuable periodical will be gratefully ac- knowledged. Let the agricultural community encourage do- mestic mechanical skill, industry, and enterprise, and we have nothing to fear from foreign competi- tion. Your most obedient servant, JOHN AUBOTT. Oj" It is not a little remarkable that the editor of the Visitor should on the same day (the 17th of June — the day when thousands representing every town of the State were collected in tiiis village) receive more than one present of that indispensa- ble instrument to tlie farmer, the hoe; and that these presents should come from two towns differ- \na in name only hy the alteration of a single let- ter. With the town of Wilton, situated about for- ty-five miles southwesterly from Concord, whose centennial celebration was noticed at length in the Visitor for the month of April, the most of our readers are already familiar. Milton, the other place for manufacturing hoes, is situated about for- ty-five miles from Concord in a northeasterly and opposite direction on the line of the Stale of Maine. Wc know Mr. Abbott's WiUon hoc to be an ex- cellent implement, because on the day of this wri- ting the editor himself has done his full lialf a day's work with it — from 7 o'clock, A. M. to 12 M.; and he never worked a hoe more to his satis- faction. This hoe seems to be better adapted to what is called hard hoeing, to rocky and grassy ground, or where there is abundance uf weeds, than any hoe we ever took in hand. Its width and depth of plate is leas, and its shape each way from the eye is different from Mr. Worster's Milton hoe. The cast steel plate is also thicker land of conse- quence stronger and more durable than almost any other hoe. We are inclined to think Mr. Abbotts hoe to be equal, if not superior to any hoe that has yet made its appearance. For the last season the editor of the Visitor has made use of several beautiful, well tempered and well constructed hoes manufactured in this town by Mr. Harry Houston, a blacksmith and partner at the carriage factory of Davis &Neal. For per- fect and thorough work there are few mechanics who will go before Messrs. Gale and Houston. The Post Ollice Department of the United States. Tiiercis no more sure and satisfactory evidence of the increase of the production and wealth of the United States than an exhibition of the increase of the revenue, the post offices, the miles of road covered and the miles of annual transportation of the mails of the United States. It is a settled point in the policy of this country that the Post Office Department shall be sustained by its own revenue. Our belief is, that if the postage on letters was reduced to one third or one half of their present rates, the amount of revenue would not be much decreased. An inconvenience, might be felt from tho reduction at first; but the public accom- modation and the utility of the Department would be greatly increased by such reduction : the num- ber of letters sent through the mail would soon be doubled, because thousands who now refrain from writing on business or to convey interesting infor- mation between individuals and families on account of the expense, would no longer be prevented for that reason. The increased correspondence would come in aid of that which already exists ; and those men of business who now pay fifty or an hundred dollars a year for postage, would have their present accommodation for half the expense, or else doub- le their accommodation at the same expense. The revenue and business of the Post Office Department five years ago, having advanced with a rapidity truly astonishing when we consider that in the year ISOO they were scarcely one fiftieth part as much — were great beyond all previous cal- culation ; but only consider that since the latter period the increase of receipts up to July l^IiO — one year ago — has been fronr a little less than tiiree millions of dollars to about five millions of dollars in a year, and that the annual transportation of the mails has increased from less than twenty-six mil- lions to about thirty-five and a half millions of miles; and where can be the limit of our calcula- tions of this widely extended nation ! If agriculture, if the productions of the earth did not make progress, the revenues of the Post Office Dc[iartment, rupporting increased thou- sands of miles of mail transportation, could never be increased. We may therefore take the increase of the Post OlSce Department to be evidence of the rapid increase of the acres devoted to agricul- ture and the blessings which the Almighty bestows on the labors of those who till the ground. The relative means and condition of the Post Office Department are to be found in the following tables extracted from a report made in the House of Representatives of the United States by Mr. M'Kay, Chairman of the Committee on Post Offi- ces and Post Roads, May '26, 1840: 1st July, 1835. July 1,1330. Revenue for 1 year $3,!)93,.556 f 4,476,6'38 Miles of road cov'd by service 113,744 133,999 ITilcs of annual mail trans'n 2.".,869,486 34,496,878 Cost of mail transportation f!l,8.")7,773 $3,194,201 Post offices supplied 10,776 12,780 The increase of the revenue of the department has been as follows: — For the year ending 1st July, 1836 $385,180 1837 721,868 1838 134,472 1839 242,536 Tornadoes. Observation during the action of the Natches tornado strengthens the correctness of the theory lately broached that a tornado is a violent wliirl- wind — caused by the rushing in of the air on all sides and then passing upwards when the currents meet. This central part or core of the whirl maj' be half or sometimes a mile in diameter, and as it passes along every thing which lies in that space will feel its effects. Hence the opinion formerly entertained that they were veins of wind. This whirling motion also accounts for the strange ef- fects of tornadoes, such as roofs being lifted up and scattered in every direction. Persons being lifted up and carried over walls and fences, or into trees; and rooms bursting outward — for as the air rushes with such tremendous violence there is a rarefac- faction produced on the outside, the natural pres- sure is taken off the sides and the air within ex- pands and bursts open the building or room. — Mv. Former. Storms. At Vandalia, Illinois, there has been a severe storm. Many houses blown down and unroofed, and much stock killed. There has also been a heavy stor n on the lakes, with damage to the shipping. At Fayetteville, N. C. and vicinity, there was lately a most violent hail storm. 20 or '30,000 panes of glass broken, crops and fruit destroyed, were some of the results. The Fayetteville Obser- ver says that "one of the h.nl stones measured 9 1-2 inches in circumference." In Washington county, Missouri, a hail storm accompanied with high wind, done considerable in- jury. A little boy was dashed by the wind against a tree and killed. The cultivation of the arts has introduced a ben- eficial change in our domestic arrangements.— 94 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Those who now enjoy the convcnionces so lurjrely to be fountl in populous cities, will find it difficult to form an idea of the habits of their ar.cestors. — Surrounded as they were with numerous occasions and causes of alarm, we may be surprised that they enjoyed even a moderate degree of trnn(|uillity. In the days of Queen Elizabeth, the greater part of the houses in the more considerable towns, were without chimneys, the fire being kindled against the wall, and the smoke finding a passage tlirough the doors, or wind^iws. The houses were built of watlings, plastered with clay, and the floors of earth, strewed with rushes, and beds composed of straw pallets, with a log of wood for a pillow. I'ersons of the highest rank had no better accom- modations. In a discourse prefatory to Hollingshead's chron- icles, 1.^77, the writer, speaking of the advantages of luxury, mentions three things, " ninrvellou.sly altered for the worse in England," which were, the multitude of chimneys erected, the increase of lodgings, and the cliange of tureene platters for pewter ; and wooden spoons for stiver and tin. — He complains severely that nothing but oak was used for buildiurf houses; ''for when our houses were built of willow, then we had oaken men : but now, that our iiouses are come to be madt^ of oak, our men are not only become willow, but a groat many altogetlier of straw, which is a sore al- teration."— Mcxandcr' s Messenger . From ths Albany Cnltivnlor. Horn Ail. 1 have perused with deep interest the remarks of different writers on the subject of horn nil. I can fully accord with Mr. Payne and Mr. Warner, as to the cause of murrain or horn ail. 1 have been troubled with that dreadful scourge among my cat- tle for more than si.x years, and wish I might be informed of a sure preventative, from some of your numerous subscribers, I have tried mauv experi- ments, and 1 think to some advantage, hut have found no certain remedy — that the complaint ari- ses from an obstruction of the gaul duct, I think there can be no doubt, and any thing that would assist that organ in the discharge of its regular functions would in a certain degree prove effectu- al. The cattle wliich are most liable to this com- plaint are those in high order ; yet I think tliose in poor flesh and very weak miglit be alike subject to the disease. Tiie complaint is sometimes discov- ered first by bloody urine, sometimes by swollen udder, and sometimes by the animal's shaking the head, the eyes and head swollen ; at other times, comes on gradually, the victim standing with the head against a fence or barn, eyes dull and sunk- en, horns generally cold, thoiugh n-it iu all cases, and when bored are found to be hollow. I have generally been very successful in saving my cattle when attacked vvitli it. My method is to bore the horns on the under side near the head, and with a syringe force in a composition of salt, pepper, and vinegar; put spirits turpentine on the head and horns, bleed iu some cases, and keep the holes open in the horns that they may discharge freely if re- quisite; soot and pepper given internally is good. I have lengthened out my letter too long already, yet there are some other things I should like to no- tice, but shall leave them for more able pens. A. H. COLE. IViUiamstoicn, (Ms.) March 24, 1840. The Profession of Agriculture. We find in Henry Colman's excellent address to the Middlesex Society of Husbandnren and Manu- facturers at their annual Cattle Show at Concord in October last, the following correct estimate of the business of a farmer. We commend it to the particular attention of the dandies, and others, if such there be, who are disposed to sneer at the oc- cupation of tilling the land: — "The profession of agriculture bears with it none of these evils. If there lives the man who may eat his bread with a conscience at peace with man and Gud, it is the man who has brought tliat bread out of the earth by his own honest industry. It is cankered by no fraud ; it is wet by no tears ; it is stained with no blood. The profession of ag- riculture brings with it none of those agitating passions which are fatal to peace, to satisTaction, or to the enjoyment even of tlie comuion blessings of life. The profession of agriculture presents few temptations to vicious indulgence, and removes a man from those seductions bj' wliicli too ofieu in other situations, health and character, and peace are sacrificed. The profession of agriculture is fa- vorable to health and to long life, to habits of in- dustry and frugality, to temperance and self-gov- ernment, to the cultivation of the domestic virtues and to the calm and delicious enjoyments of do- mestic pleasures in all their purity and fullacss." Depreciation of Properly in Mississippi. A gentleman just from Vicksburg, who had been i^Xor a great portion of the country in the vicinity oi that city, states that five out of every six of the cotton farms are now vacated, and lying a barren waste — farms too, which but a year or two ago, were worth from $10,000 to $.''>0,000.—J?o.t/»7i Cut- tivntfir. Depreciation of property, as a natural conse- quence, follows highlv stisnulated speculation. — Two, three, and four years ago, it required tiie ownership of no capital for any man to purchase a plantation and a stock of negroes for growing cot- ton in tile State of Mississijipi. We know many young men and old men who embarked iu this bu- siness of growing rich. The bank capital of Mis- sissijipi was increased enormously : for this pur- pose a State stock was created to be disposed of in Europe. The new banks would loan money to any body ; and not being able to do suflicient busi- ness by loan, the hanks entered on the business of purchasing cotton, anticipating the crop to he pro- duced on ground that had not yet been cleared I The consequence of these stimulated bank specu- lations has been tlic reduction of the pi ice of cot- ton one half, and a universal depreciation and pros- tration of property. How could it he otherwise.' We remember twenty years ago, in a time of great prostration, that the whole real estate of the now flourishing cit}' of Cincinnati, Ohio, was re- duced to a value nearly nominal. In the general bankruptcy there was no bod}' able or willing to buy. There was in that city a branch of the Uni- ted States Bank : it had loaned money freely and stimulated to high speculations. The bank in 1810 became distressed from over-issues and loaning too much on too frail capital ; it was obliged to call in its debts, and in its turn distressed its debtors. They gave up the houses and blocks of stores which had been built by money obtained on the bank's loans ; and as a consequence the bank be- came tiie owner of two thirds of the buildings of the city. At first this property was considered to be of little value to the bank; but gradually, as trade and [irosperity returned, it increased in vnlue till the bank in some ten or fifteen years partially made up its losses from sales of the property. The Mississippi property, which has been pur- chased and improved from bank loans, may, and undoubtedly will at some future day rise in value like the Cincinnati lots and buildings owned by the Bank of the United States The Season. Abundance of rain there— Avant of rain here. We have had frost twice in the month of June in the towns near the Capital of New Hampshire — in either case no material damage has been done. In llie South and West, earlier frosts in April and May had done extensive damage to fruits and other articles of vegetable growth. Frost in June in New Hampshire is not very common ; there are re- gions among the mountains and hnv grounds cov- ered with a black growth which denies the face of the sun in the morning and late afternoon, where frost is said to exist during every month in the year. The frost on tlie night of the third Monday in June, in soiiie jilaces killed beans and tender plants. In spo'ts covered with shjde we perceived the brakes were killed. I.i the town of C'oncord where we now write, on this 'i'M day of June, the face of the earth is suft'eriiig from severe drought. We had a beauti- ful ruin on the fir.st Thursday of the month, wliieh tlieu revived and revivified the jiarched earth. There liad oeen no rain for the three or four weeks previous ; and much of the com and other seeds put into the ground after the middle of May li.id filled to come up from the extreme dryness of the ground. The Indian corn had suifered mucli wherever highly stimulating manures had been put in the loll : the wheat and other small grains came out of the ground unevenly. A portion of it sprung immediately — some of it sprouted and per- ished from extreme dryness, and another portion which remained in the ground sprouted and came u]> ijfter the rain. The rye and gra.^-r; are especially now suffering on all light lands; and if we liave no rain within a week, the Indian corn and potatoes and other crops must suffer much from drought. It is re- markable tiiat in this time of drought here, ns we passed tlie Merrimick river this morning it had risen from the copious rains fifty to seventy five miles north, to the extent of two to tour inches. On tlie 20th of the month a smart south \v\n\\ settled the clouds charged witii rain upon th'.' mountains to the north, where it must have rained all day on Saturday. On Sunday (21) evening a heavy cloud^ passed over the region of the Win- nipisscogee lake to the north, which discharged a copious rain. To the South there has been abun- dance of rain in the regign about Boston, and last night there was a fine rain at Candia, which " will do all she can" for Agriculture as well as for the aid of both political parties at the next elections. The clouds discharging rain have appeared in rich blackness on every hand — as well upon the mountains to the north and the Lake Winni|)is3e- ogee as upon the more level grounds of Massachu- setts in the South — as well upon the Sunapee and Lyndcborough mountains in the West ap upon Wild Cat and Nottino-ham hills at the East : the rains have surrounded us on every side. On the very morning of this cleared up afternoon while at work in the field a cloud has rested nearly the whole forenoon on old Kearsarge, and passed off to the north in a southeast direction, giving abun- dance of refreshing rain where the ground was less suffering than it is here. What especial cause should exist to drive away the clouds charged with refreshing rain, or to ex- haust them before they arrive at this spot, when they come from either ])oint of the compass, is impossible for us to divine. If Mr. Espy has it in Iiis power to set in motion the causes producing rain, Iiis presence would never be more acceptable than at this time. Is it possible tliat the attempts made upon us during the last week to lash the State of New Hampshire into a political zeal which could not be said to be exactly "according to knowledge," has driven away those beautiful clouds which distil upon the earth in refreshing showers, and that our soil is to become as dry and parched as the deserts of Arabia, as a punishment for I'.aving entertained our fellow citizens from ev- ery section of the State — fur the sake of their mon- ey! It is an o'd saying that " all signs fail in a dry time." We have had here within a week all pos- sible signs of rain — the roaring of Garven's falls on the Merrimack three miles below us — the flying scuds up stream — the cap upon the tops of the hills — the fair and bright rainbow in the morning — the clear rising sun entering a cloud soon after sun- rise. We see not why all those signs should iiave failed when there seems to be ram every where else to the distance of twenty or thirty miles. And now while we write in a clear atmosphere and sky all around witli an iron cloud resting over the Win- nipisseogee alone, our hope of speedy relief to the parched ground seems to grow less. Man is not so apt to mark the teachings of na- ture in a lime of prosperity as in a time of adversi- ty. W(^ have a field of about six acres upon tlie Merrimack intervale, planted with corn and pota- toes, where the ground was ploughed ten inches deep and the sod turned entirely under. This ground is manured with thirty to forty oxcart loads to the acre ; but the corn has not yet taken root so as to throw olf the yellow cast. Some of" it is quite green ; and it is so uneven that some of the yellow leaved is only half the size of the green. It has rapidly changed for the better in the last three days, and is now being hoed the second time. This piece was planted last nf all with no manure in the hill. Th« corn is probably less iu its growth and progress from the fact that a yellow subsoil lias been turned up on the ridged parts and a clayey mixture (probably marl) on the lower portions, notwithstanding this deep soil has been mixed with the plough and harrow to the depth of five inches, without stirring the sod and soil below to tlie dep li of anotlier five inches which h^s been inverted and turned under. But the advantage of this di'ep pb)ugliing already appears in one respect: the drought has not yet injuriously affected the corn. All the manure that is covered retains moisture,' and the earth one qr two inches below the surface is as damp as if it had recently received a copious rain. The humidity of the upper ground, without doubt, comes from tlie decaying sward that hna been deeply turned underneath resting ujiou a sub- soil which the parching sun does not reach. The field left for the roots of the growing crop above; the undisturbed sward, is ample;' the corn will not suft'er from drought if there shoeld be rain witliin a fortnight; and v.e anticipate, if there is a season at all favorable to Indian corn, that we will yet have our best growth from this cold sward land. June y.j. — We are now twenty days witliout rain : the parched earth in some places where tiiere has been grass and where grain has been put in, looks as if scorched with fire- The potatoes and Indian corn are wilting and curling under the in- THE FAJtMKR'S iVlONTIILY VISITOR. 95 fluence (if Ihn mid-day sun. Tlie great luminary, which imparts life to every thing, without whose inHucnces we could not exist, and which if struck out of existence wonld leave our planet in indes- cribahle darkness, if lie did not bring witli him that action in the atmosphere producing the rushing of mighty winds and draw in from eartli and ocean the aqueous particles which afterwjrds fall impar- tially from above ; — this glorious luminary would be to mortals no less fatal in his presence than ab- sence if he continued to shine with no other eiiect than the imparting of heat and light. We per- ceive what has been the effect of twenty days un- interrupted fair weather, even when the sun has been obscured a portifin of the day time, and when the night has furnished a succession of copious dews: what must be the condition of aland undtr the equatoral sun where there are no mountains to assist in generating clouds and rain.' It continues to be worthy of notice thatalthough we in Concord have had no rain, there have been ample rains within sight at the north nearly every day for a week. The Merrimack river last night had risen within twenty-four hours more than one foot in consequence of the copious rain that fell upon the mountains above us on the 2"2d. On the 23d the black clouds at the north discharged more rain; and following on the same route over the lake Win- nipifiseogee was another smart rain on the evening of tlieS-Jth. In the track of these rains there is abundance of wet, and the season must be the finest for vegetation that can be imagined. The clouds collect at Mne point and follow over the same track for successive days, avoiding that dry and parched region where rain is most needed, if the same dryness continue for a week longer, it will be fatal to most of the growing crops within the compass of twenty miles around us. Beyond that distance in almost any direction, we are in- formed, the crops do not suffer, because there has been plenty of rain. The season at the South and West in the months of May and June, has been unconmionly wet. The Mississippi river, the father of waters, has risen to such an excessive height as to cause gen- eral apprehension at the settlements along its banks. The water at New Orleans, barred out by an extensive levee, has stood above the level of the streets in the city. In Soutli Carolina and Geor- gia, extensive daningo has been done by the rise and overflowing of the rivers. {JaHses of Disease. Of the causes of' disease, anxiety of mind is one of the most I'cequeut and important. When we walk the streets of large commercial towns we can scarcely fail to remark the hurried gait and the care worn features of the well dressed passen- gers. Some young men, indeed, we may see with countenances possessing natural cheerfulness ; but thesi? a]jpearances rarely survive the age of nian- hood. Cuvier elo-ies an elegant description of an- imal existence and change, with the conclusion that life is a state of force. What he would argue is amoral. Civilization has changed our character of U]:nd as well as body. We live in a state of unnatural e.xcttement — unnatural because it is par- tial, irregular, excessive. Our nmscles waste for want of action ; cur nervous system is >vorn out by excess of action. T'le false and fitful gleam of gaiety that plays over flu- features wlien the heart is breaking, in what does it differ to a casual observer, from the steady light of cheerfulness, emanating from a contented heart.' The eye of the sorrowt"ul is as bright, and the glow of their cheek, it may be brighter, than that which illuminates the counten- ance of the Iiappy. CiRKoTS. — An acre in carrots may be easily made to 3*ield si.v hundred bushels. In the esti- mate of an experienced and excellent farmer in Berkshire county, half carrots and half oats are as good feed for a horse, as all oats ; or rather, to use his own expression, he would prefer one hundred bushels jpf oats and ojie hundred bushels of carrots, to two hundred bushels of oats for his horse. The experience of a distinguished fanner in England, in the practice of keepii^g eighty hor.ses on his I'arm and in his colliery, entirely confirms this state- ment.— .V. K. Funiicr. Watep.s ok the Dkad Sy.\. — Frefessor Lee, the Geologist, has furnished the Biblical Reposito- ry with a very able article on this subject, in which he states that the strongest saline spring in New York State, is the Liverpool well, near Syracuse, the specific oravity of which water is only 1. Ill, t>iiilcthut cflhe DVm.I Sea i". l.-.'!! '. also that lOOi' grains of water from tliis well yielded 140.34 grains of dry solid matter, while the latter yield 41 per cent when the residuum is dried with a tempera- ture of 18t) Fahrenheit. The following table ex- hibits the comparative strength or the waters of the Dead sea and the other saline springs of the United States, rejecting the magnesia and other earthy ingredients: — Of the Dead Sea, 33 gallons of brine give 1 bush- el of salt. At Onondaga, 45 do do Muskingum, .50 do do Illinois, 80 do do Grand River,(Ark)80 do do Koiiawha, (Va.) 75 do do Zanesville, B5 do do Of Sea water, 350 do do Boon's Lick, 450 do do Shawneetown,I11.2a0 do do Jackson, (Ohio) 213 do do This celebrated sea, the Professor says, is not known to contain any fish, or animals of any de- scription, althoutfh the monks of St. Suba told Dr. Shaw, the traveler, that " they had seen fish caught in it;" and the credulous Chateaubriand states that when he heard a noise upon the lake at mid- night, the Bethlehemites told him " it proceeded from legions of small fish, which come and leap a- bout on the shore.'' Pococke, when at Jerusalem, heard of a missionary who had "seen fish in the lake," and Hazzlequist, Maundrell, Sutzen, and some others have discovered a few shells on the shore. These shells, hovvever, it is nearly cer- tain, are brought down by the river Jordan, and in all probability, the fishes also, which, dying, are cast upon the shores, and thus beget the belief that the lake is inhabited As to the tradition that no bird can fly over it and live, Mr. Stephens, our in- telligent fellow-countryman, says that he *' saw a flock of gulls quietly reposing on its bosom; and that when roused with a stone, they flew down the lake, skimming its surface, until they had carried themselves out of sight." — Boston Mcr Journal. A LiBEKiAN Garden. — Gov. Buchanan, of Li- beria, writes to the Board of the Colonization So- ciety, as follows ;. — " I am making a fine garden, into which I wish to collect specimens of all kinds of African fruit, flowers, ami plants, so that foreigners may see at the Government house a fair sample of the beau- ties and excellencies of our country. I have al- ready growing the tamarind, cinnamon, orange, le- mon, lime, sour-sop, guava, pine-apple, coffee, pawpaw, grape, (both African and European,) co- coa, coko, pepper, arocador pear, rose-opple, Amer- ican peach, niango and cashew. These are my fruits. 1 have aUo a great variety of vegetables and flowers. The cane field is in a fine state, and ex- hibits a most luxurious growth; many of the stocks are ten and twelve feet high ; this, for the second year, I am told is very remarkable. 1 am clearing the ground, and liave a number of iiands employed in planting, with a view to extend the plantation to a hundred acres as soon as possible. PROVERBS. Once in every ten ycsrs, every man needs his neighbor. Eitlier say nothing of the absent, or speak like a friend. Ho that would be well spoken of himself, must not speak ill of others. He that doth the kindness, hath the noblest plea- sure of the two. He that doth a kindness to a good man, doth a greater to himself". Keep your mouth shut, and your eyes open. He who will stop every one's mouth, must have a great deal of meal. Sliew not all the bottom either of your purse or of your mind. One lie draws ten more afl^r if. He who keeps good men company, may very well bear their charges. He begins to grow bad, who takes himself to be a good man. Let us do wliat we can and ought, and let God do his j)h'asure. A DoMKsric TraceIjv. — The following tale ex- emplifies the evils c»f speculation with the trugie end of its deluded followers: — A storekeeper in Belvidere, "Warren county. New Jersey, a few miles from Williamsburg, named Jamvs Quick, in com- pany with his son had purchased for credit, months since, immense quantities of grain, montipolizing in his neighborhood, the article. 7^he price of "T.-iin fell. Whf n it cair.e to market, a loss v.as ex- perienced in ics sale. The son, to evade the diffi- culty of paying their creditors, absconded, and the old man disappeared at the same tune. The next morning, the wife of the son found the door of the room of her father-in-laiv fastened ; the door was forcibly entered, and the horror stricken spec- tators saw lie fore them the disfigured remains of th.eir relative and neighbor. He hid made two at- tempts with a razor, the second was effectual. The old man was between 60 and 70 years old, but the spirit of speculation severed his hold on life. The amount of his indebtedness to the farmers in his neighborhood, is said to exceed one hundred thou- sand dollars! Exports from the United Stales eign ports, from 1st of Oct. 1791, as per return from Tre Bushels Wheat, Indian corn, Oats, Buck wheat. Peas and beans. Rice, tierces. Flour, bbls. Ship stuff, Rye meal, Indian meal, Bread, Crackers, 1,018,330 36,737 1,713,241 116,634 14,499 165,273 93,329 119,681 6,484 24,062 70,337 100,279 of America, to For- 1790, to Sept. 30, asury Department. Dolls cts. 1,018,339, 19,470,61 856,620,50 33,326,80 4,784,67 123,9.54,75 l,136,.59o,5n 3,408,245,50 12,968, 60,055, 140,670, 250,697,50 6,138,40 $7,059,877,23 imports of bread stuffs in 1837 ocer and ahoie our exports, !«!l ,206,813,00 The above exhibition is mortifying to the pride of every industrious American. Is the capacity of the country less to raise bread stuffs now than it was forty-seven years ago? Avast fertile region at the West has been since opened, producing far beyond tlie original production on the Atlantic board. Tlie means of transport have been greatly facilitated. The population has been multiplied three for one. Instead of exporting twenty mil- lions of dollars in bread stufli"s, we find a balance against the country, in 1837, of more than a mil- lion of dollars. This is an unnatural state of things. We liave good reason for thinking it has been for- ced on the country by a vicious expansion of pa- per credit, making the prospect easier to obtain a livelihood by speculation than by labor. Every man in the community who has the physical or pecuniary ability, ought to exert himself to change such a state of things. In regard to New England :— Is it not a source of regret to every patriot in this summer season of the year, to see heavy teams freighted to the dis- t^ance of fifty, one hundred, and one hundred and fifty miles from the seaboard, with barrels of flour and bags of Indian corn, raised in the southern and western country .' If our farmers cannot raise enough of these for their own consumption, where may we expect to obtain the means of pay- ing for them .' Astonishing as it may seem, there is at this season of the year even a scarcity of po- tatoes in this part of New Hampshire. While so many men are standing idle for want of employ, mcnt, why not plough up or dig up by hand a plat of ground upon which to plant potatoes .' Every able bodied man who can obtain a piece of land should make it a point to raise a sufficiency at least for hisown and his family's consumption. Tillage. We sliall be cautioned, no doubt, hy some wri- ters, not to plough deep between our rows of veo-. etables, lest we cut off the roots, and cause them to bleed — but we iiave known farmers who have even cut off the .tails of their pigs without appa- rent injury. We need not fear to plough close to our plant-s, wlien they are small, and thouo-h we cut oft' some of the roots, we obtain ten lor one in a very few days. As the vegetables increase in size, we may be more cautious of ploughing deep though we think ten fields have suftered for want of the plough, where one has suffered from an ex- cessive uf* of it. Green sward land that has been turned flat, can be better tilled by llie use of the cultivator than of the plough — for the chief objt ct here is not to make the. land more light, but Lo kill the weeds on the surf:ice and expose fresh mould to the action of the atninsphere. Ground that is often stirred with the plough or with tlie hoe, will remain far more moist in a dry time, than when it is suftered to lie at rest, and we never should abstain from tilling u.erely because the earth is 4ij. — Boston Cult. 96 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR Ashes.— From the loth May to the first of June in this region there was no rain; and the In- dian corn planted witliin that time, especially that planted with stininlating manure in the hill, failed to come up. A friend living in the interior mentions that he manured his ground with mixed manure taken from his yard, a part of the composi- tion of which was wood ashes. 'His corn planted in the hill with this manure came up readily, while other corn planted with manure but without ashes failed. There is little doubt that common ashes are well adapted to the crops on all light ground. Horse Rakes, These articles are becoming very common in some parts of the country, and it will not be long ere they %vill be in general use on all farms that have lands smooth enough to be mown. They save much labor not only in the busiest month, but particularly in the most critical mo- ment of hay making, when we would hire labor at a dollar an hour, rather than let the hay take a shower. People who have not been used to these rakes, would do well to try them early, before tlie busy season comes on. A very little practice will make perfect. D. Prouty &Co. 19 and 20 North Market street Boston, have two kinds. — Boston Cidtirolor. We have been saved much labor from the use of the revolving Horse Rake manufactured by Mr. Emery Burgess, Concord West Parish, for the two last years. Either the revolving or the single horse rake may be easily made by any carpenter or wheelwright, er even by the farmer himself who knows how to make a flail or a.x-helve. — Ed. M. Visitor. Wash for Trees. Our friends must not forget lliat June (or per- haps early July) i.s the best month for washing trees. The young apple tree may be entirely freed from moss and from lice at very little cost. One pound of potash will make half a pail full of lye, and this may be applied to the tree by a brusli or a swab, made by tieing a piece of cloth to a short handle. The parent of the borer deposites her eggs at the root of the tree about thi.3 season, and this lye will destroy the egg. Tills is much better than to cut him out of the tree after he has penetrated a foot into the body. Many have practised cutting in this way, but it is very injurious to the tree. By rendering the bark perfectly smooth a thousand harbors for insects that prey upon the tree are de- etroyed. — Boston CuUivatoy. Edgefield, C. H.Jij)ril2.—Frost.—A pretty se- Tere frost fell in this District on the 26tli ult. 'Great destruction was made in the fruit. Peaches, apples, and plums, are nearly all cut off. [A frost in South Carolina in the month of March would probably be equally destructive to vegetation there as it would be full two months la- ter in the season in New England] We learn that there was frost seen in dilVerent parts of this county, on Monday morning last, the 18th inst; but we are not informed that much in- jury to vegetation has been observed. — Zancsville Gazette. [Frost at Zanesville, Ohio, on the ISth May would do equal injury to a frost in New Himpshire on the 18th June.] Bnoyant confidence. It is related of John Jacob Astor, by Mr. Irving, in his Astoria, that when almost a stranger in the city of New York, and in very narrow circumstan- ces, he passed by where a row of houses had just been erected in Broadway, and which, for the su- perior style of their architecture, were the talk and the boast of the city. " I'll build, one day or oth- er, a greater house than any of these, in this very street," said he to himself, lie accomplished his prediction when he built the Astor House. In ear- ly life, without any resources other than body and mind, Mr. Astor determined to be a ricii man, and he put forth all his energies in that direction. — There is perhaps, not another instance in the union where a man has become immensely rich with so little injustice to others. Cabbage riants. A sure — but rather troublesome — protection of cabbage plants against the grub worm, is to go out into the woods and take off lots of strips of birch bark from small trees. These will naturally main- tain the shape they sustained on the tree-ground like a wafer box, without top or bottom. They should be about two inches |high or deep. Let each strip enclose a plant, and press it gently into the earth. The grub can then neither crawl under nor climb over it. Look he ever so wishful that way, he cannot set his teeth into the dulicious fibres of the young cabbage stalk. — Mc. Cut. White Grub Worm. The white grub or "dung worm," which infests sward lands, and in some instances does great dam- .age, by eating the roots of grass, is, when it emer- ges from the chrysallis state and becomes a perfect insect, what is commonly known as the May Bug, or cockchaper, which secretes itself by day and rises onl}' by night. A good way to destroy them is to make a fire in the field after dark, by the light of which the swarms that arise from the earth, will be attracted, and by the heat of which they will be destroyed. The perfect insect, as aflyirig bug, is quite harmless ; but the eggs they deposit in the earth before thev die, wmII generate myriads of new grubs which will do essential injury to the grass roots. — ilf. The Maine Farmer mentions with approbation the plan contrived by Mr. Daniel Savage, of Au- gusta, for taking a horse that is hard to catch. It is simply to attach a common trace chain to a strap, which is buckled around the neck of the animal This is no incumbrance, except when he begins to run. He will then invariably step upon it and stop himself. The Dr. says it is no use to try speed with a truant horse ; for |if he cannot run faster than your.self, lie is not worth catching. Fruiii 111? Xcw England farmer. I'atal disease in Calves. Mr. Editor — A farmer in North Andover selec- ted from ten calves, three for breed, a bull and two heifers — two born in March, the other in April. — They grew finely, and were in form and size a more perfect specimen of kine than is usually to be found. Tlieir principal food was skimmed milk. They were kept in a large pen in the barn until a- bonttwo weeks before their death, when they were put into the enclosure about the dwelling house. On Monday evening last they ate but about, half their usual quantity of milk, but as they appeared in perfect health, no notice was taken of it. On Tuesday morniii^^r the bull was found derd ; on Wednesday morning the other two went to the cel- lar door, which opened on the outside of the house, where their milk was preparing, and both appeared impatient to get to it; and when the person was about to give it them, one turned its head aside and commenced running round furiously in a cir- cle, bellowing ns if in great distress. It was short- ly seized and with great difficulty held by two men and in fifteen or twenty minutes it fell and expir- ed. The sweat in the mean time on the skin be- came a perfect foam — it was literally in its gravy. A post mortem examination was held in all its parts, and not the slightest appearance of poison or disease could be discovered in the entrails or head, unless the entrails had an uncommon degree of warmth. The remaining calf being removed to the barn was copiously bled in the neck, and dur- ing the day showed no particular signs of disease : at evening it took but about half the quantity of milk offered to it, its usual allowance: at midnight a distressing bellowing was heard : the men repair- ed to the barn and found the calf running in a cir- cle in the stable, exhibiting all the symptoms of the last dead ; in about half an hour it fell, and utter- ing two or three bellows, expired. This case was more aggravating, as the calves, for their superiority as perfect and well grown ani- mals, attracted mucli attention, and hid excited, in no small degree, the honest ambition and pride of the farmer. Ae this casualty is unknown to the farmers ill the vicinity, it may be conferring a favor if any of your numerous readers can throw some light upon it, and if a dis_-ase, point out a remedy. A. RE.MARKS.^We should be glad to have an an- swer to the above communication from some of our experienced stock raisers, as we are jint able at the present momenl to give any satisfactory informa- tion relative to tlie nature of the di,sease which terminated so fatally. — Mr. Colman is now absent on a journey to the west, and will not return for a few weeks: we trust therefore that we shall re- ceive an answer from some other quarter for the gratification and benefit of the sufferer, and the public at large. JOSEPH BRECK. ry simple in its construction and we presume will be furnished by the Shakers at Canterbury, N. H. at a cheap rate. It will cut the curd for a cheese weighing from twenty to thirty pounds in a very few minutes, saving much time and labor from the common method of doing the work by hand. It is said to be much better than the machine without knives which breaks and mangles the curd, caus- in;5 the "white whey" to runout, not only making the cheese dry and hard, bat diminishing its rich- ness of fl.ivor. THE MARKETS. From tite J^Tew Ytirk Juarnal vf Commerce of .lune^b. COTTON (tiilTt^red a decline arching and parched, leaving the pastures entire- y dertitute of every green thing. The large and capacious barns, the neatlv painted white houses finished in a style which would do credit to the handsomest villas, the well arranged fences and walks set with the mountain ash or other native trees around the yards and buildings, the neat and flourishing gardens, show that tlie farmers of North- wood lack neither taste, wealth nor ability ; by the aide of these come tiie fields of corn, wheat, rye, oats, and barley, with now and then a plat of flax, all '^dressed in living ?reen." The grass in the well cultivated, well manured lands, was the jier- fect contrast of that in the ground which had Ijoen many seasons mowed after it had been stocked down with no adequate previous dressing of ma- nure. As a whole there are few interior towns in the State, whose agriculture is much in advance of the town of Northwood : its strength and qual- ity of soil is greater and better than mo..^t others : and the mnjority of its farmers, in advance of the recommendation of the Montlily Visitor, pursue the renovating system, obtaining better crops from a constantly improving cultivation. We perceiv- ed in some places on the road where we passed that attention was jjaid beyond that of many other towns to the production of fruit trees other than apples : pear, plum, cherry and peach trees in some cases appeared to be carefuHv cultivated. The rich grounds upon the side hills having a south- easterly declination, stony, light and moist, are the best for orchards ; and we should think there are many positions in Northwood llic best that can be imagined, if not for the more tender fruits, for the abundant production of apples, the select kinds of which being the most palatable of all fruit and sought for in parts of the world where it cannot be raised, is destined lo become a more and more pro- fitable article of production to the farmers of New £ngland. Barringtoii. Nottingham. Lee. From Northwood, the turnpike (now made a free road) runs first into Nottingliam, then touch- ing a southerly corner of Barringlon, passes Ihrouo-h the northerly section of Lee, and then strikes Durham. The road is through a poor part of all these towns, and with a very few exceptions be- yond the limits of Northwood on the west and Durham on the east, there has been little apparent improvement in agriculture directly on the road within the last thirty years. Nottingham and ).ee to the south of the road are both good farming towns. Nottingham near the square, at a pretty high central elevation, was the first residence and place of nativity of the Cilleys and Bartletts — names conspicuous in the revolutionary recollec- tions of New Hampshire. The late Bradbury Cil- ley had a beautiful farm upon the square, and at no frteat distance was the farm of Gen. Cilley : we have not passed that way for nearly twenty 'years, and of course cannot say what have been the im- provements of Nottingham; but we have been told that the grandson, CM. Joseph Cilley, who did honor to the name of his grandfather by leading the attack at Lundy's Lane during the last war carries on the business of a farmer in its true spir- it, and is making good headway in the march of improvement upon the same premises occupied by his grandsire. The present Representative of Not- tingham in the State Legislature resides on a part 'jf the Furber farm on the the north road. This farm as a whole seems somewhat to have degener- ated in production since the death of its first land- lord and settler. The Representative, who was a regular soldier during the war, was doing justice to his part of tlie extended Furber premises by be- ing afield at labor when we passed : his persever- ance will make a farm worth having from the rough country wliich surrounds him. Below the Furber stand at no very great distance is a small stream ruuniiigfrom an extensive swamp or morass, part of which is in the town of Bar- rington. Turning the eye to the left up this stream as we pass the turnpike, we discovered an immense granite structure across the valley of the stream ; and on inquiry of a gentleman at work in an adja- cent field we were t
. Between North Berwick and Alfred is an exten- ded plain of a number of miles, some of it appa- rently of so thin a soil as to grow nothing better than stunt oaks. The plain here as well as the plain in another direction between Alfred and the town of Kennebunk is a very level and extended fiat. Tha upper surface or soil seems not generally to partake so much of sand as of clay loam. ISluch of the cultivation is abandoned; flocks of sheep and cat- tle range over these plains where they arc not fen- ced. In some instances there are enclosed fields of grass and corn. The want of manure here The ingenuity and industry of Judge Hayes in i proves how inadequate mere labor is to fill its place. increasing his quantity of manure is not less wor- thy of our notice than it is to be imitated by all good farmers. He keeps up constantly a large fam- ily of swine who as constantly do their day's work in the manure bed as they eat their portion of dai- ly food. There is an ample bed of black mud or muck in a field upon the h the barn or other buildings An upland farm depending on itself tor the means of fertilizing the soil, which has no resource in ground natural to liay, must suft'er depreciation without uncommon eft'orts shall be made to better its condition. The extensive pine plains of York county which are not within half a dozen miles of not far in the rear of i the sea are in this condition. We believe those From this bed ateve- j plain farms will be renovated. A single example ry convenient opportunity the mud is taken and i of opening new of procuring dressing or laid about the yards of the barn, where it is trod den upon by the sheep and cattle : afterwards, with other quantities of mud in its crude state, this is deposited in the hog yards where great and little pigs are kept constantly at work. In this way the quantity of good manure is annually increased sev- eral hundred loads; and Judge H. is able to sell several hundred dollars worth of hay without im- poverishing his lands. In summer and early fall he partially sustains his hogs by means of boiled ruta baga thinned out of the growing field when of suitable size. The soil of Judge Hayes' farm is light and re- quires rotation and frequent change of crop to keep it at a high point of production : it is generally ea- sy of cultivation, requiring to break the sward a team littLe stronger than a pair of horses. At ev- ery course of manuring ho is evidently improving the capacity of the land and the amount of produc- tion ; and if he does some things with more fancy and at greater expense than the man would do it who does not possess his means, we think his ex- ample and perseverance in the cause of agriculture to be worthy of our high praise. Value of the Roller. He makes an extensive use of the roller upon ploughed grounds ; and he had one double in di- ameter to any other we had ever seen in use, made from a discarded factory wheel. He stated as a fact which we think to be important to pvery far- mer, that his grass seed had never failed where the ground was laid down with the roller. This in- strument, but little used, we consider to be of great value either to wet and heavy cr to light and san- dy ploughed grounds. The three Berwicks— Elliot. What was anciently Berwick has been recently divided into three towns, to wit: — Berwick on tlie northwest extending along the Salmon Fails river which hero divides the State of New Hampshire from Maine; South Berwick on the southerly part of this same dividing stream, to which has been added a portion of the town of York to the north- west of the mountain Agamcnticus ; and North Berwick on the easterly line of the town adjoining Sanford. There are many excellent farms in all three of the Berwicks. Nearly all the way down the river on the east side through the town of Elli- ot which was formerly a part of Kittery extending nearly fifteen miles back from the sea, the lands are highly and profitably cultivated. The near vi- cinity to the sea enables the farmers to apply grand additional stimulants to their lands in the rock and sea weed and muscle shells. The most profitable growth for the market is potatoes and hay. These are shipped from all along the coast of Maine and New Hampshire to the southern States and the West Indies. The Hill Towns of York. Our information of the particular improvements in the most valuable agricultural region of York county to the northwest and north, is not as full as we could wish. In this region the Ossipee river flows from the line of New Hampshire until it con- nects itself with the Saco. The five towns of York county called the Ossipee towns embrace much food for this land would atford abundant proof of its capacity ; such an example would be speedily followed by others till every abandoned acre would be taken up. The means of making manure exist near every swamp fiole and on the margin of ponds and streams of water. It seems to us that nearer or deeper from the surface a great portion of these plain lands may be underlaid with the marl which has recently been discovered in similar lands in the States of Now Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and all along the seaboard farther south. 'This marl, like all undersoil valuable in renewingand invigo- ratino- production, does not operate beneficially when first taken out of its Led : it wants exposure to the atmosphere and frost for one or more years. It is even poisonous to plants when applied in its crude slate ; and from 'bis circumstance results a common prejudice against it. '1 he shell mar! that has been applied in Virginia is not, per sr, a renovater of the ground — it requires the ad- dition of common stimulating vegetable manures. When united, even if the latter be in small quan- tities, the efft-ct is doubly powerful. It is said the shejl marl will act of itself where the ground can rest; and tliat with its aid alone the poorest worn out lands, by the system of summer tilling, sowing and ploughing in buckwheat and clover, can be re- stored to their first fertility. The shire towu of York. ,\ll'red, the sliirctown of York county, is a very pretty clean village of painted white houses with yards anil gardens laid out in good taste : the soil about the village is very, light and the effcctsof the almost unparalleled drought of this summer were visible all around. The contrast upon this light ground of the crops of grass in dift'erent positions upon tlie same kind of land was remarkable. Well prepared, highly manured ground is certainly less aft'ected by the drying, scorching sun than ground of the ordinary preparation. Land that is ploughed deep will stand the drought far better than land where the surface is merely skimmed. .'\ vegeta- ble n-rowth, eitlier decaying sward or a summer crop turned under, retains the moisture, furnish- inr.- a field for the plants or grass to take deep root and flourish in defiance of hot sun, which burns up plant, root and all, where ihe plough has barely penetrated the surface. Deep Ploaghing. We have observed tlie present year that where rich heaps of manure liave been laid and taken off" and the ground has not been deeply penetrated with the plough, either the planted seed has not sprung at all, or if it has come out of the ground the drying sun and long absence of rain have ut- terly destroyed or prevented the growth of the plant. Here is the case of too great a stimulant : if it had been a common wet season, the crop on this ground would exhibit a greater luxuriance than the other ground about it. But if this ground had been dug or ploughed deep, say to the depth of twenty inches or two feet had it been possible to go so deep— if the surface stimulated with ma- nure had been turned deeply under and a portion of the subsoil had been brought to the top, the crop under the severe drought of this summer in all probability would have been excellent. So we 100 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. account for the fine crops of hay which we saw in gome of tlic liglit grounds ol' AU'red beside of fields parched and e'v-ery thing green burnt up, in the fact that high manuring and deep ploughing on al- most any ground, either in a dry or wet season, will ensure a crop ; and this on the principle that moisture longer remains where the ground is stir- red at greater di-ptli : and too much wet, dift'using itself as far as the soil is stirred, will not drown out the crop as soon in deep as in shallow ploughed land. An unfortunate public mau« The Hon. John Holmes, who fur many years has been the pater-protector of tile village of Al- fred, has removed from that place to a diijlant pari of the State of Maine. The village and lands ad- jacent had been mi;ch improved and beautified by his efforts. His farm extended a mile or more upon an eminence in sight of the village. On tlie side of the hill he had planted an orchard which was yet flourishing. He Iiad attempted the rearing of pea- ches and other fruit trees upon tlie southeastern declivity of the hill ; but llie deep snow banks dri- ven over the hill from the northwest, covering the trees with ice and frost late in the opening spring, prevented the anticipated success, and the fruit trees soon perished. The time was when tliisnren- tleman did a more extended and more successful law business than any other man of his county : but like many other men of enterprise who have had ambition for public life or who have been im- pelled to it by the voice of their fellow citizens, a reverse has gone over his fortune at that time of ■y-two years ago, iramed Elias Philpot, at work in the yard wheeling and piling wood. Tlieir garden for the production of vegetables and seeds was what We always expect to see when we visit a Shaker family in the summer season ; they had recently elected an extensive seed house, in the lower story of which were preparation rooms for labelling and packing seeds, and in the two upper stories ample gpace was given for drying, curing, thrashing and cleaning the seeds as they are collected from the field. The persevering attention which the several So- cieties of Shakers have paid to the production of Garden Seeds for many years, commends them to the public patronage. They have steadily pursued this business for more than half a century; and they are not a people to relax in any laudable ef- fort which is likely to be crowned wilii success. Others following their example have gone exteii- •ively into the production of garden seeds; but the growth of the country still affords the consump- tion which induces the Shakers to continue this as a profitable business. Of them useful lessons may always be taken in every thing connected with do- mestic economy and in the productions of the earth. If they raise garden seeds, they know how to pre- serve the pure varieties of onions, beets, carrots, cabbages, melons, squashes, &c. not suffering them to intermix by growing in near contact ; and they are in advance of most other horticulturists in a more sure and better n.elhod of curing and preser- ving seeds. The best bnru iu the State. The barn at the office family at Alfred is one of the largest and most perfect buildings of the kind iu iNew England. It is 1'14 feet in length by about 50 feet in width, and three stories in height from the basement to the plates; on one end say thirty feet beam, and at the other end froir. eighteen to twenty feet. Tlie entrance to the barn with load- ed teams of hay and grain is on the third or upper story. As the building stands on a side hill reach- ing up and down lengthwise, the entrance is of no very steep ascent on the upper end of the barn. The load of hay is pitched down either up'Ui the scaffold- ing over the cattle stalls, or where there is no stall to the doubly depth of the bays below. The quan- tity of hay orotherbarn material that this building will contain after leaving ample space for the cat- tle is immense ; and Instead of disposing of the hay by lifting and pitching overhead, the greater portion is merely thrown over. The ample barn floor extending the whole length nf the building is constructed on the principle of a moderately Incli- ned plane, so that the empty cart or other vehicle separated from the oxen or horses runs back of it- self to the entrance without backing the whole to- gether, as is ordinarily done iu common barns where there cannot be a passage through. This upper entrance and floor are at no time an inter- ference with the floor below fronting the cattle stalls from which they are supplied with their daily food. On this story a? an unusual convenience in a common barn were apartments for keeping cows expected soon to calve, and for keeping the nurs- ing calves. In [he basement beneath the cattle stalls on the one side the manure and urine are dropped down to be kept under cover, and on the other side was a capacious cellar in which root crops are kept free from frost during the winter. In the rear of the cattle-stall side of the barn is a large barn yard hollowed out from the centre to the sides so as to catch and retain the strength of eve- ry thing running Into it. Into this yard, which had been cleared of every thing the p.nst spring, loads of black luuck or mud from the swamp at no verv great distance liad been recently carti.-d. The cattle kept here or hogs running upon and work- ing it over in the course of the summer convert every material deposited in ayard tliusconstructed into an extra quantity of the very best manure. Tlie barn and the seed house ned, and an extensive West India trade was carried on by the owners : the bu- siness has much fallen off, and tlie navigation re- maining is principally employed in the freighting, coasting and fishing business. Kennebunk Port is a little larger than Kennebunk : the former con- tains a population ofabout 3000— the latter some five hundred less. Kennebunk Port embraces the (rreater part of the ancient town of Arundel, and extends back into the country from a point in the sea a distance of about ten miles. Kennebunk THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 101 Port anil York are two of the oldest settled towns of the county, beinff eacli more than two hundred years old. It is said that either of them within their present limits, and both situated on the sea, contains a greater quantity of growing wood and timber than any other town of the county of York. Villages depreciate: farms do not. It is gratifying to learn that in all the mutations of business— the fall of commerce and trade and manufactures in some places [and the building of ihem up in others— the price of productive, well- impiovcd farms in very few instances depreciates. This fact should afford the highest encouragement to the perseverance and industry of the farmer. If his course is onward in the marcli of improve- ment, there can be little danger of the country. Our opportunity to see the improvements at Ken- nebunk was not so good as we had wished. Our time was only two hours after sunrise on the Gth July ; and all the time the atmosphere was envel- oped in a dense fog. The soil about the village of Kennebunk especially near the Mousum river, is deep and rich loam resting on a subsoil of clay (perhaps marl)- this is natural to the production of herdsgrass, and red top, which is there probably the most'' profitable crop. The ligliter and more vsllow soil is better adapted to Indian corn and clover. Potatoes and hay here, as in most towns on the seashore and marginal rivers, are the grand crop for the thrifty Sinners. These are shipped to the south in great quantities and return generous payment fur the farmer's labors. The opportuni- ty of obtaining dressing from the sea, of which ev- ery good farmer avails himself, is a privilege which has raised the production of thousands of acres four fold, and increased the value of the land three for one. An experiment of the Buckthorn Hedge. The readers of the first volume of the Visitor will remember that the subject of Hedge Fences was introduced to them through the intervention of Barnabas Palmer, Esq. of Kennebunk. At the invitation of this gentleman at Alfred, we made his house our home during the short stay at Ken- nebunk. A farm of eighty acres of good land, which has been run down in the hands of succes- sive occupiers, has by him been recently purchas- ed. This farm is situated short of one mile out of the village, on the main road leading to Portland, and fronts on that road about one hundred rods, running back some two hundred rods on a trans- verse road leading to Alfred. Mr. Palmer has plan- ted on these two roads forming the outside of his farm almost a mile of Buckthorn Hedge. It has been set more than a year— has been wintered over, and presents such an uniform exuberance as we have never before seen in any transplanted trees. This hedge is composed of the common Buckthorn, a plant frequently Feen in our herbiaries. For these plants Mr. Palmer paid in Salem the price of seventy-five cents the hundred : he might have procured other kinds, which he deemed inferior, at twenty-five cents Ibe hundred. The English Haw- th.irn and some other kinds are subject to the bor- er—they are destroyed and disappear in a few years. Some of them will grow to a perfect fence in a shorter time than the Buckthorn. This re- quires five years; and there will be no great sur- prize that this kind of fence is not more generally resorted to when this circumstance is considered ; for how few are the farmers who can afford to look ahead for the erection of a permanent fence five years, at the same time this is growing to maturity beino- oblio-ed to keep up another fence in front to protect it f For the two first years Mr. Palmer has ruUivated his Buckthorn hedge with as much care as would be taken of a young apple or peach or- chard ; he breaks the ground and hoes it as he would hne corn or potatoes. His expectation is, whun the hedge is grown to maturity, that without much further trouble or expense it will make a most perfect and valuable fence that will last lon- ger than the age of iilan. The whole expense he believes will not exceed sevent-five cents to the rod twenty-two. . .- -. , . ■ i . i rich healthy green herbage, and the unitorm heiglit j ers in at which it grows, impresses us with the belief that , track, it will well succeed in the northern section of New England. Trees by the roadside. Nothing strikes the traveller as more beautiful when he approaches a village or a house surround- ed with farm buildings than rows of trees oh the side of the highway. Mr. Palmer has anticipated this adornment of a fiirm which he will double and perhaps treble in value in the course of a very few production, by transplanting rows of trees on each side of the highways fronting his premises. On hia farm we had the pleasure of seeing several a- cresof the Brown corn, the seed of which he pro- cured from us; and although a portion of this, as did his other corn, failed to spring out of the ground in consequence of the excessive drought, it was not unpleasant to learn from him that our corn went ahead of the other kind both in size and in pros- pect of early maturity. Wells. We took at eight o'clock the stage at Kenne- bunk, and between that time and six o'clock in the evening in stage to Newburyport and in rail road cars from thence to Boston, travelled the distance of ninety miles. Our progress was much too rajiid to trive us the benefit of a particular agricultural sur°vey. It was pleasing to see the change which had taken place in the town of Wells since passing it in the summer of 1816. The plains of that town over which the great eastern mail road runs were barren and dreary. Much of tliem has changed in aspect. We saw as fine fields of corn as we have any where seen on some of what was form- erly dry and barren grounds : the potatoes and arass were also luxuriant. The inhabitants of Wells, most of whom formerly depended entirely on fishing, and many of whom are fishermen as well as farmers, liave found a mine of wealth in the bosom of the ocean— they cover their land with seaweed and decayed muscle shells; and this accounts for the present rich deep green of their fields. York, and other seaboard towns. I The town of York, situated westerly from Wells and nine miles easterly of Portsmouth— much of whose face like that of Kittery, New Castle, and Rye, has been forbidding from its frequent ledges, its grey and grisly aspect, its savins flattened by the^sea wind and 'its barberry bushes which spring up, as has been supposed, to blight the grain-- agreeably surprised us for the fertility many of its enclosures exhibited. Side by side of the most sterile pastures tlie luxuriant herdsgrass waved with a crop of two to three tons to the acre, and the corn and grain crops were as good as we had ever seen. The mail stage took a course nearer to the sea than the main travelled road and passed throu'Th the ancient seat of government for the wholiT province of Maine, the village of York. Between that town and Kittery on the main road is an elegant grove in a pasture on either side of the w-ay^consisting entirely of beech. We have no recollection of before seeing this beautiful tree a native of so ne.ar a point as within two or three miles of the sea. The towns in Maine adjacent to the Piscataqua river, Kittery, York and Elliot, exhibit naught less of the improving system, than the towns of Newington, Portsmouth, Rye, Green- land, the three Hamptons, and Seabrook, on the New Hampshire side, extending to the line of Massachusetts. The Drought. The effects of the extreme dry season to the dis- tance of many miles north of Boston in early July of the present year are worthy to be noted. At Al- fred, in the linht grounds about the village, the .rrou'nd was parched and dry equal to any thing we had seen. At Kennebunk, ten miles south of Al- fred, and from that place to Poitsmouth, the her- bage was not withered by drought. Again leaving PoT-tsmouth through Rye, the Hamptons and Sea- brook to the north bank of the Merrimack river, the trround was parched almost as bad as at Alfred. From Newburyport, through Newbury, Rowley, Ipswich, Wenham, Beverly, Salem, Lynn, Sau- gus and Chelsea to East Boston, there was an al- teration from severe drought to moisture sufficient to keep up a fair green upon the fields. But out of Boston on the plains of Cambridge and West Cam- bridne, the drought again was severely felt. The dift'erence between the several places is to be par- tially accounted for in the showers of ram which have frequently succeeded each other in different from the ground this season. The excavat.oji of the new rail road, which when completed may car- ry tlie passengers sixty miles from Portsmodth to Boston in three hours, was approaching its con>- pletioii. It passes the Hampton and Seabrook mar- shes considerably nearer to the sea than that great undertaking of forty years since the "Hampton Causeway," which was long an oppressive mo- nopoly of taxation to every traveller passing over the great avenue east and west, near the seacoast. An immense pile of timber was gathered at New- buryport for the new construction of a bridge to cross the Merrimack nearest to its mouth. The Eastern rail road corporation pays the proprietors of the old bridge a certain sum, for which it is sti- pulated that the track for their locomotive shall go on a frame overhead while the ordinary toll bridge is to |iass from the river bank underneath. The old bridge has been torn down to leave space to build the new one. The course of the rail road from tha south is an excavation under ground for some dis- tance under High street, a main street in Newbu- ryport, where it suddenly emergis and,poised high in air, passes over the Merrimack river, which sep- arates the Port from Salisbury, Mass. and is nearly half a mile wide. Wliile this bridge is constructing the travel, is two or three miles up the river, where the redd passes over two bridges connecting the main land on either side with an island. The main bridga here is constructed in a manner which we re- member to have seen no where else —it is suspend- ed over the river in a single arch by immense iron chains : the vibration is about equal to that of a ' heavy load upon a floating bridge. If the traveller were not assured of safety by the previous passage of others, he might suppose there was danger that the bridge and all upon it would be precipitated in- to the cliannel below. the number of plants set in that distance is 1 directions. To those who have watched their The hardiness of the Buckthorn, its | course it will have been perceived that these sliow- successive days have followed each others iving a good degree of wetness in some places while the" cloudsliave divided and broken so as to avoid the track of greatest dryness almost entirely. New rail road and bridges over the Merrimack. The cornfields in Portsmouth and all the way in New Hampshire to Newburyport were very fine and had not o-reatly suft-ered ; but many grassfields that had already been mown were dried down to ■■%. .-1- _r ^^nr-.n V. a /I nnri jibip Bailding^. At Portsmouth and Newburyport there was ao activity and stir in the business of ship building that we hardly expected to witness in these time* of depression. The clanking of the blacksmith's anvil, the sound of the hammer and the chisel upon the closing up sides of the skeleton vessel, the scoring of the hard sides of the knotted, nurly oak timber, with the passing to and fro of the mas- ter giving directions, showed either that shippers were about to run mad as some others have done with anticipated prosperity, or that navigation and commerce is really prosperous. There are many more ships than usual on the stocks at the yards of Portsmouth and Newburvport. The same state- ment is said to be true of IJcvcrly, Salem, and that greater place than either for turning off new chips, Medford, within the harbor of Boston. The whizzing of the rail road engine over th^ new road from Newburyport to Salejn aiid froitl that to Boston, prevented the delightful opportiv nity of keeping the eye long enough upon the luxuriant fields of Essex county to judge how far in advance was the Agriculture of that ancien^ county to that of the seaboard counties of Ne^y Hampshire and Maine faitlier north. The eye however could not fail to lead the judgment to the conclusion that the greater part of the cultivated ground of old Essex may be ranked in the improy^ iug class. ' : The now rail roads as they have extended in New England have a most astonishing effect 0» the motions of men and women. Those who arb in business in Boston may live at Salem, Ipswich, Newliuryport, Andover, Lowell, or Nashua, and return everv day in season for their usual day's work. We' observed in passingfrom Newburyport that lar.TO numbers left and entered the cars a* Ipswich" Beverly, Salem, Lynn, snd other stopt pino- places. At Wf?hbam; a whole compt.ny at Marblehead ladies with their children, with no male atten,dants, took tlie cars on their retarft home, leaving the main route at Salem and taking the Marblehead branch ; they had been on an ex. for health or pleasure lo visit a nietticinal On the fourth of July, the day but- on? p'revious to our passing over it, there were said t<> be nine thousand passengers iii the rail road car^ on the Eastern road between B.jston and Newbury. port. An immense revenue must be derived fron» some of these roads, if the travelling and transport of ffoods shall be kept up and increase; and it i^ cursion : spring. years. jstreb e in value in ine course ui a yciy ■=" "..-- ---y -. -.pen had Boruni? obtaining his pay as he goes from the annual | the bottom so >f no particle of green had sprung perhaps well that the Legislatures of some Stateg have limited the amount of tolls to a profit that shall not exceed ten per cent. It is said that a^ ready the Directors of the Boston and Lowell rail road have hard work to expend enough in repairs^ and improvements on that road to bring its sum t^ be divided on the stock down to the limit. , ' r 102 THE FARMER'S xMONTHLY VISITOR. Reduced price and economy of travel. Having completed the businoss ivliich called hiin to Boston on Tuesday, July 7, tlie editor of the Visitor at six o'clock took the omnibus which runs in and out of Boston six miles twice a day to West Cambridge, wliicli commenced as an experiment only a few weeks previous. The omnilius is a vehicle with four whi-els, sometimes transported with two, sometimes with four horses— it is longer or shorter, as more or less power is applied to it. The seats are usually on either side with the entrance door in the rear: the driver remains on his seat and a boy wails at the door, • and rinjs a bell at the entrance or exit of passengers. These vehicles in the city of New York are used daily by men who do business in one part of the city and live in anollicr, enabling thejn to reside with then- families three, four and five miles distant from their shops and stores. In Boston the same carriages run Inlf-hourly, hourly, or less often, to the towns and villages 'in the vicinity, as Cam- bridge Port and Cambridge, Roxbury, Dorchester, &e.' Tli'v are one of the conveniences and me- thods of saving expense peculiar to the times ; for instead of paymg three dollars to some stabler for a horse and chaise to West Cambridge as we have sometimes done, we are now carried and left at the door of our iriend near the tavern where the omni- bus starts v/ith our trunk or valise for the small sum of twenty-five cents. Such cheap and regu- lar and ready means ol' conveyance are well calcu- lated to facilitate both social and business inter- course— to carry the benefits of the city into the country, and to place it in the power of the poor alike with the rich in the cities to breathe a purer and more healthy atmosphere. It is one of the blessings of this country and this age that all our public vcliioles are frequented by the various clas- ses : the daily laborer and his family can afford to be conveyed in as good and convenient a carriage, whether it be a rail road car, a stage or an omnibus, as the rich man rolling in wealth. Here there is no invidious distinction which confers a greater de- ference to the man of money than to the man with- out money, of any decent demeanor. The passion and the fashion of showing off wealth and dignity with any uncommon parade, becomes less and less: indeed, if pains should be t^.ken to work to the bottom of men and women, it will be found that those who make the greatest display are generally thjse whose pecuniary condition can least afford it. Excellent fruit the reward of care and attention. Our head quarters near the place of our nativity has generally been the house of .a friend and rela- tive both of whose parents were of the " kith and kin" of both of ours, and the house of whose birth within a few days was the place where we first drew breath. The son of a successful farmer, he chose an education at Harvard and the profession of law; and in the successful pursuit of this pro- fession he has acquired that wealth which is now beyond our hopes. Why is it that those who adorn their gardens and yards ii\ the country with beautiful trees and shrubbery cannot introduce them of the kinds tliat produce fruit ? Seldom do we find yards thus deco- rated and supplied in the interior. The old fash- ioned red cherry and plum trees which formerly stood about farm houses are not now even as com- mon as thev were formerly : pear and peach trees are still more rare. The cause of this declension in part may be sought in the more destructive worms and insects which infest fruit trees; but it is to be feared that the most potent cause is to be found in that indolence and inattention which fail to take measures for growing young trees where the old ones are destroyed'or viorn out in fair ser- vice. From the middle of June to the middle of July is the season of early English cherries in the vi- cinity of Boston. The front yard of our friend at West Cambridge has trees which produce bushels of this fruit. Never did we taste fruit of finer fla- vor than the black mazards which were presented soon afler our arrival taken from this yard, a bo.\ full of which were picked from the tree early next morning and carried more than eighty miles to furnish a re past for the inmates of our own home in tile evening. Laudable economy of a professional man. Our friend who for twenty-five years has practi- ced the economy of rising early, feeding and rub- bin!>A corriu^e in oideE — was nt our service af- ter breakfast by six o'clock A. M.. to carry us whithersoever inclination called, so as to take the late cars in Boston at eleven o'clock, and arrive home at sundown. The "West Cambridge Gardener. Our first call was at Mr. George I'ierce's gar- den farm, situated half a mile from West Cam- bridge meetino- house. He had been absent hours before sunrise at his daily marketing in Boston. He occupies the same ground as last year, only v,-it\i the addition of some twenty square rods which he was at his leisure making when we saw him last October by cartini in sand into a cove of Spy pond, converting it into additional land. This soil is made entirely of common quicksand taken from a ridge near the pond, only no very extraordinary quantity of stable or compost manure is laid upon the surface. Upon tliis new made ground were growing the first cucumbers of any respectable size that we had seen upon the vines in any gar- den. We were the more anxious now again to view Mr. Pierce's garden to see whether he had avoided and how he had avoided the eftects of the severe drought. We have before stated that this garden is situaled upon a light, sandy, dry pine plain — that kind of land is the first to exhibit the eft'ects of dry weather. The propensity to drought was manifest from the parched state of the grass and other grounds about it : but his garden had apparently suffered no very great inconvenience from drought. Where the strawberry and perennial plants did u'.t grow, a first crop had generally been taken off. Mr. P. in his made sandy ground constructed on the pond raised the first green peas, early in the month of June, that were taken into Boston market. His early radishes had given place to a second crop of cabbages which were mucn in advance of any cab- bages we had seen in the country. Hundreds, if not thousands of boxes had been filled from his strawberry beds, whose annual crop on the vines had been nearly exhausted. The contrivance to prevent the parching and drying up of the ground devoted to strawberry culture was as simple as it was effective. It was simply filling the open spa- ces between the rows with a species of coarse hay called sedffe. This hay is cut from the banks of creeks which abound near salt marshes where the daily tides overflow, and is secured and taken out green between low and high water. This sedge spread over the ground has a three-fold efP'ot : first, it imparts dampness to the roots of plants near it in time of very dry weather; second, the salt which the sedge contains in a great measure prevents the growth of weeds; and third, when it comes rotten it becomes a powerful manure. We observed also that Mr. Pierce made a similar use of dry pea vines that had been picked ; they v.-ere laid at once about tlie open spaces that surrounded tlie fast expanding cucumbers, melons or squashes that were to be raised as a second crop upon the sa.me ground. The ground cultivated by Mr. Pierce, all re- claimed from worn-out pine plain, will not proba- bly exceed twelve acres. On it were diligently at work six hands. Such is the confidence in his skill as a practical horticulturist, that an eminent counsellor of Cliarlestown has chosen to place his son with him as an apprentice to be taurrht the art of making barren ground profitable from produc- tion— an art which should give equal eminence with the exercise of high talents in any of the learned professions. The earth replenished three for out. The grandfatlier of Mr. Pierce had a farm many years since in the high rocky region of West Cambridge near Lexington whieir contained one hundred and eighty acres. More than fifty 3'ears ago he was a market farmer who carried milk and vegetables to Boston. His son inherited the farm; and lK)th father and son, who died se.eral years ago, accumulated their thousands. The home es- tate was left to three sons, brothers of George, and was divided into three farms of sixty acres each. It is said tliat either of the three farms now produces quite as much as th'' whole premi'^es for- merly produced. The brotliers dwell in the same neighborhood in peace and unity. One of them takes the vegetables of the others to market — an- other goes with the milk — and the third superin- tends th£ whole concern at home. The yoiins ambition of an almost octo- genuriun. From the garden of Mr. Pierce a stop of a few minutes was made upon the premises which liave descended probably a century and a half in the an- cestors of our own maternal line. The present owner of these premises, now seventy-six years of age, was at work on that ground which he has cul- tivated as a prolific onion bed with bis own hands every year for as many we think as ten years. Its first dimensions, being a square of about half an acre, have been enlarged to full three-fourths of an acre, the old gentleman feeling his ability to in- crease the amount as he increases in age. The instrument he used was a garden hoe with open blade on one side a.id point upon the other, with which, without stooping, the weeds were effectu- ally cut up and the ground dressed around the growing plants. The rapid and workmanlike man- ner in which the ground was gone over might be a good lesson to many a younger man who should iiave occasion to engage in the same work. Our aged friend, although blessed with abund- ance of the world's goods, the fruits of his own enterprise and industry, yet has a keen appetite for the rule of addition. His garden and grass grounds abound in beautiful apple and fruit trees. Tile cherry trees this season had been unnsuailv proli- fic : a large English cherry tree produced, if we remember him aright, five bushels of picked cher- ries. These sold in tlie market at wholesale for three dollars the bushel. He had himself, in the hurry of the liired help, picked cherries from a lad- der suspended to these trees sixteen successive week days, leaving his onion bed that time to gain a more than common head of weeds. The onion bed and cherry trees afford hfin that pastime which enables him to enjoy health and satisfaction in tiie summers of an advanced life. The farm which he owns (he having long ago considered it time to retire from active life) has been let out to the youn- gest son for about twenty-five years. li\ that time, besides the expense of rearing and educating a family, we believe often children, this son iias con- trived to amass a property in cash whose income at simple si.x per cent, interest, now amounts to between three and four dollais a day. The pro- pensity of some men is to accumulate as that of others is to dissipate. The community of farmers at West Cambridge and in that neighborhood are more uniformly of the former character than any other neighborhood which ever fell within our ac- quaintance. The eldest son of the man last men- tioned has but now married and commenced on his ''own hired" farm in the vicinity of the Rynl farm in Medford- He begins with only some little pro- perty for stocking the premises for which he is able in the first year to pav a rent of five hundred dol- lars and to lay up in cash as much more. These accumulative farmers live near the mar ket where every thing turns readily for cash, and this probably incites tiiem to greater efforts. But the incentives to industry farther in the interior of late years can be hardly less than on the well im- proved and continually improving farm lands from three to ten miles out of Boston; for how few of the productions of farms every where within the last few years have not commanded the highest prices.^ In the production of cattle, of swine, of tiutter and cheese, t'f siieep and wool, of grains and vegetables, the farmer many miles in the inte- rior has had grand encouragement in the prices these articles have commanded : he may even an- ticipate continued good encouragement. The fault is, not that too much, but that too little has been produced. How can the farmer expect to gain wealth who consumes all he raises and is obliged to go in debt for all that he buys ! The Ryal farm and its tenant. The next call was upon the " Ryal farm" in Medford, which has lieen so long tenanted by its present occupant, that he cannot help treating the premises as his own. The milk of forty to sixty excellent cows has for thirty-seven j-ears poured in a stream of wealth to the occupant of these pre- mises, after furnishing the means for the payment of rent and generous wages to the hired help. Na- than Adams, Esq. the tenant of this farm, seventy- six or seventy-seven years of age, attend,'- its su- perintendence with only the aid of a grandson who daily drives into the city and deals out the princi- pal article of milk to the customers, some of wliom iiave continued thirty to forty years to receive their supply from the same place. The fine land com- posing the pastures and mowing grounds of this farm is situated upon the north side of Wijiter Hill, kr^own as the encamping ground of Bur- goyne's army after it capitulated at Saratoga. Mr. Adams was absent in Boston on the 7th, it being the return of settling day of his quaiterly accounts. His lady, seventy years of age, but as active as some girls of sixteen in Household affairs, informed us that she had under charge, witli two female as- sistants, ten hired men engaged in haying. These ten men used and were furnislipd with no ardent THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. log spirits. Six pounds of meat were daily measured to be used for tlie family : to this was added all tlie liirhter food that the appetites ofthe laborers reqni- re^d The hired men we'-e furnished at this season with their meals five times a day, of which was a lunch in the field forenoon and afternoon, five men in winter and ten men in summer were em- ploved on the farm. The firty cows were milked bv the men morninj and evcnin? within the space of half an hour. Kxceptin; where there was more milk than would supply customers, no butter and cheese were made. . • n c The Ryal farm, which consisted originally ot three hundred acres, has been subdivided into two farms- a son of Mr. Adams occupies that part nearest the top of Winter H.ll; he now keeps his twenty to thirty cows, and employed seven hands in hayinT time. Under the improving system which has for so manv years been practiced by the tenants of this magnificent farm, division and sub- division have thegrandeff-ectof (Tivinga greater profit to the lesser amount of land cultivated by the individual— a principle that, we trust, is here- after to be extensively realized in the farming ot New England. What more could an ordinary far- mer desi're than has been realized by the tenants of the Ryal farm during the last fifty years ' If tiiey had been the exclusive owners, they could not have done better— they might not have done as well. Their kind trea'tmeni to the land which they did not own has been returned to them in that abund- ance which has m.ide diem happy and independent. The bright sun of a man like the elder Adams goes down in an unclouded sky, and " the glory remains when the light fades away." The Ten Hills farm. The last visit with which wo now intend totrouble the patience of our readers was a call at the Ten Hills Farm situated partly on the easterly declivity of Winter Hill, and extending to the bank of Mys- tic or Medford river. This farm contains two hun- dred and twenty-two acres consisting of a variety of soils; there is said to be sufficient clay of an excellent quality in the subsoil of this farm to build another city of brick of the size of Boston. 1 he ground is highly fertile and productive when well cultivated. Twenty acres of mowing ground up- on the side of Winter Hill in one field annually produces on an average three tons of hay to the acre each, without being ploughed, and only spread over with some dozen loads of compost manure once in three or four years. Col. S.amuel Jaques, a dlstinruished equestrian and breeder of horses, cattle, sheep and swine, w-ho has discovered more practical skill andbetterjudg- ment in relation to live stock than almost any oth- er man in the countrv, has occupied this farm for the last ten years. The estate is owned m a stock company of one hundred shares of three hundred d.dlars each; and the property is held in trust tor the respective owners of shares. The company was instituted at the instance of Col. Jaques, he paying the proprietors annually five per cent, equal to 'fifteen hundred dollars in the whole, and having the ritrht by himself or his legal representatives at any tune within twenty years of paying the hold- ers of shares the amount by them respectively in- vested, and the five per cent, and receiving an as- si-rnment from them of their right in the premises. "The ori,Ol}U; and to this amount was ad- ded $5,000 laid out in stock. Col Jaques has so managed as to pay the interest of five per cent, on the cost from the proceeds of the fai'm, and in the mean time to make such increase and improvement upon the stock as suited his fancy. He estimates the value of his improved stock upon the farm at $10,000 ; and for this amount at any other than the present dull times he thinks they would sell. He Rmploya upon the farm three hired hands in win- ter, five on the opening of spring, and twelve in the time of haying and harvesting. There are ex- tensive salt marshes attached to this farm ; and the low lands are irrigated fr(nn the waters of the Mid- dlesex canal which runs through the farm. Three hundred tons of hay in a year are sometimes pro- duced ; and Col. J. in a single year has taken from cows kept upon the farm milk that sold for the surn of S'3,500. Whatever may have been the sacrifices which have been made on the Ten Hills Farm to experi- ment and fancy, Col. Jaques has kept up a system of management highly commendable, which only could have resulted from the most indefatigable personal labor and attention. Turning to the books kept generally b}' his own hand for any day of the ten years during which this extensive farm has been under his care, he can tell not only how many and what persons were employed, but what each particular individual was doing : his journal ruled oft" shows on eac'i day whatever money, if any, was received and paid out, and for what par- ticular object. His account of hired labor upon this farm from May 27, 1831, to Dec. 31, 1839, all of which time it was under his charge, makes out in the aggregate 26,114 days work, at an expense of $20,53SJ !15. Clay for the supply of several brick- makers is annually disposed of upon the farm to the amount of ten or twelve hundred dollars. The clay is of excellent quality and the invariable price to brickmakers is fifty cents for each thousand of bricks completed. An arrangement in the original articles of agreement with the proprietors is that the proceeds of the sales of clay should be a sink- ing fund to pay for the fiirm for the benefit of the tenant and occuprtnt. it marks the liberality of the men of capital and merchants of Boston and the vicinity that one hundred men should be ready to advance three hundred dollars each on interest of five per cent, for the use of any man, leaving all extraneous advantages, such as the rise of the property, the sale of the valuable clay in which it abounds, and the chance to redeem at the lowest prices of^ the shares, to go for the benefit of the projector and occupant. The first pitch made within the tvaters of Bos- ton bay more than two hundred years ago, is stated to have been upon the Ten Hills Farm by Gov. Winthrop, who gave it this name, not exactly be- cause ten hills could ever be counted about and near the premises, but because the heads of several hills then discovered themselves when the land was a forest. The position being somewhat above the wider bay which is crossed below hy both the old Maiden bridge and the Chelsea bridge counec- tcd with the Salem turnpike, was found to be of wa- ter too sliallow for the convenient approach of ships; and the company, after effecting the first lodgment, retired as the more convenient point for commerce and trade to the peninsula of Boston, v.hich was connected with the main land hy the Uoxbury neck. For many years subsequent to the recollection of persons now living there was no bridge connecting Boston with the main land: all the traders and market men from the north did their business over a ferry near the site of the old Charlestown bridge. The Ten Hills farm has had in its time many owners and occupiers : before the revolution distinguished royalists connected with the government resided there. At the utmost stretch of our youthful recollection since that time it was the residence of Capt. or Col. Lane. Gen. E. H. Derby lived there for some year.^, and for other years it was occupied as a public house for parties of pleasure from Boston. Zoology. Why are certain animals called Mammalia, or Mammiicra •' Because they have breasts, (maiiniffij with wliich the females suckle their young. Why is the class ofmamniifera placed at the head of the animal kingdom.' Because, that not only we ourselves belong to it, but it is that class wliich possesses the most numer- ouB faculties, the most delicate sensations, and llie greatest variety of action ; and in which the as- semblage of all these qualities appear to be so com- bined as to produce an intellect more perfect, more fertile in resources, less the slave of instinct, and more capable of progressive perfection, than what is to be fViund in any of the other classes. Why are mammalia and birds called \varni blood- ed .' Because their blood is of a heat about one hun- dred degrees, more or less. Why are other animals called viviparous ? Because they produce their youngalive and per- fect, (from vivus and piirio,) as man, quadrupeds, &c. Why are certain animals called vertebrated ? Because they have a cranium, or bony cavity, containing the brain, and a succession of bones called the spine, and the divisions of it, pertcbrtB, proceeding from the cranium, and containing a prolongation of the brain, denominated spinal mar- row. Why are other animals called invertebrated ? Because they have no vertebrce. Why does the faculty of instinct differ from in- telligence ? Because instinct makes animals perform rertain actions, necessary to the preservation of the spe- cies, but often altogether foreign to the apparent wants of the individual ; and often, also, extreme- ly complicated. We cannot attribute these actions to intelligence without supposing a degree of foresight and un- derstanding infinitely superior to what we can ad- mit in the species that perform them. The actions performed by instinct are not the elTbrts of imita- tion, for the individuals that execute them, have often never seen them done by others : they bear no proportion to the common intelligence of the species, but become more singular, more skilful, more distressed, in proportion as the animals be- long to the less elevated classes, and are, in other respects, most stupid. They are so much the pro- perty of the species, that all the individuals por- ibrm them in the same manner, without any im- provement. The working bees have, since the beginning of the world, built the most ingenious edifices, agree- ably to principles of the highest geometry, and des- tined to lodge and nourish a posterity which is not even their own. Solitary bees and wasps form al- so very complicated nests for their eggs. From the eg^ there springs out aworm, whi::h has never seen its mother, which does not know the structure of the prison in which it is enclosed ; but, when once it is changed into a wasp or bee, it constructs a similar nest, equally perfect, for its own eggs. Bones. Why is fossil osteology, or the knowledge of bones dug out of the earth, an important branch of anatomy .■■ Because it not only brings to our knowledge ra- ces of animals, very different from those with which we are acqnaii.ted, but supplies many inter mediate links, in the graduation of structure, which are wanting in the present creation; and, there- fore, makes it probable that when the two are suffi- ciently investigated, one regular, connected chain will be formed, each class of animals imperceptibly running into that which is next to it. — 6';'r E, Hume. Why are bones excellent manure ' Because of the large proportioTi of lime which they contain. Why are teeth iiiiport;iul in identifying different animals.' Because, by the largeness of the tooth, the na- turalist can judge of the real size of the animal which bore it ; and by the form of the tooth he can tell whether it was fitted to grind grass, or to tear flesh ; and therefore, whether it belonged to an herbivorous or carniverous species. Pursuing his inquiries from this point, he could decide in a great degree as to the structure of the stomach and vis- cera: the extremities, whether armed with clawa or protected with hoofs ; and, farther, he can judge of the vivacity of the senses which belonged to the animal, and the habits which it derived from its peculiar conformation — knowing, beyond a doubt, that there was an intimate agreement in all the properties of its existence, and that every thing in its organization was regulated by an undeviating harmony. Why aro the lives of wild animals shortened by the loss of teeth ? Because, as old age increases, the teeth fall out, and the means of obtaining food thus failing, the body sinks to rest. Man i^ the only animal that can counteract the fatal consequences of the loss of teeth. Why are the incisors or front teeth of gnawing animals always sharp.' Because, as the teeth are covered by an enaipel only on their anterior or convex surface, and the bone wears down much faster than this harder co- vering, the end of the tooth is a sharp cutting edge. No animal exhibits this structure better than the rat. Why do carnivorous animals masticate their food very imperfectly ? Because their lower jaw can only move upwards and downwards, and is incapable of that horizontal motion whicli constitutes mastication. Why do other animals which live on vegetables, masticate their food thoroughly.' THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 105 Because they can move their lower jaw backwards and forwards, and to either side, so as to produce a grinding etTect, necessary to bruise grass and to pulverize grain. Tlie teeth may be compared, in the carnivorous animals, to scissors; in the other animals, lo the stones of a mill. — Bbimenbarh. Why do carnivorous animals prey on those which derive tlieir food from the vegetable king- dom ^ Because the food of all animals, either mediately or directly, is derived from the vegetable kingdom. Why are the teeth of some animals, as the cow, and sheep, darker in the centre than elsewhere ? Because the eement which should fill up the teeth, is sometimes not completely deposited before the tooth cuts the gum ; hence cavities are left in the centre of the tooth, which become filled with a dark substance, composed of the animal's food. — Blumenhach . Why are bullets sometimes found imbedded and concealed in ivory tusks ? Because they have been lodged there by the muskets of the hunters ; and as the tusks are con- tinually growing during the animal's life, the bul- let becomes surrounded by new layers of ivory, while no opening exists between it and the sur- face, to account for its entrance. Why does the dog, while changing its teeth, ap- pear to have the canine teeth doubled .'' Because the permanent ones cut the gum before the old ones have fallen out. The Stomach. Why are certain animals called ruminating ? Because they first imperfectly chew and swallow their food, and subsequently return it through the CRSophagus or gullet, in small quantities at a time, to the mouth, there to be thoroughly masticated, and then swallowed a second time. Why do certain animals ruminate.' Because, it is supposed, of a voluntary power in the oesophagus; and, imleed, the influence of will throughout the whole process, is incontestible. It is not confined to any particular time, since the animal can delay it when the paunch is quite full. Blumenbach knew four men who ruminated their vegetable food, and assured him they really enjoy- ed the process ; and two of them had the power of doing, or abstaining from it at pleasure. The final purpose of rumination is, however, unexplained. — Blumenbach. Why do some animals, as the dog, vomit very easily, while others, aa the horse, scarcely ever can vomit .' Because of a peculiarity of the opening of the (Esophagus or gullet, into the stomach, both in size and mode of termmation. — Blumenbach. Why are hair balls found in the stomachs of some animals ? Because the animal has licked oflf his own hair, which thus gradually accumulates in the stomach. Why is hair found in balls ! Because the motion of the intestines in which it is found is rotary. Clothing. Why docs the fur, wool, or feathers, of quadru- peds and birds, vary in quantity and quality, in dif- ferent countries.' Because, generally, nf the temperature of the region which the animal inhabits. Thus, the dogs of Guinea, the Indian sheep, and the African os- trich, are so thinly clotlied, that they may be con- sidered almost naked. The temperature of their bodies is thus necessarily diminished in proportion to the heat of the climate in which they live. The Iceland sheep and the Flsquimaux dog, on the contrary, are covered with a warm coat both of hair and wool, which enables them to bear the most intense cold, without much inconvenience. Why are the skins of hares and rabbits seldom ripe in their fur till frosty weather has set in.' Because the growth of the hair -is dependant upon the temperature of the atmosphere : previous to the winter, the hair of all animals is increased in quantity and length, and the more they are ex- posed, the greater is the increase. — Zoological Se- ries. Fruiu the fhiluj. Fanrier'a Cabinet. Manufacture of Cider, (From the papers of the late Joseph Cooper, Esq.) Cider is an article of domestic manufacture, which is, in my opinion, the worst managed of any in our country, considering its {usefulness ; and perhaps the best method to correct errors is to point out some of the principal ones, and then re- commend better. One of the first is the gathering of apples when wet; the next, to throw them together, exposed to sun and rain, until a sourness pervades the whole mass ; then grind, and for want of a trongh'Or other ves- sels .sufficient to hold a cheese at a time, put the pomace on tlu^ press as fast as ground, then make so larire a cheese as to take so long .a time to com- plete' and press off", that fermentation will come on in the cheese before the cider is all out ; and cer- tain it is, that a small quantity of the juice pressed out after the fermentation comes on, will spoil the product of a whole cheese if made tlierewith. When either of the above circumstances will spoil the cider, which I knsw to be the case, don't won- der at the effect of a combination of the whole, which is freiiuently the case. As 1 have veiy often exported cider, and sold it to others for that purpose, to the West Indies and Europe, witliout ever liearing of any spoiling, and as it is my wish to make the productions of our country as useful as possible, I will give an account of my method. I gather the apples for good cider when dry, put them on a floor, under cover, have a trough sufficient to hold a cheese at once, when the weather is warm ; grind Uiem late in the even- ing, spreading the j)oinace over the trough to give it air, as that will greatly enrich ffle cider, and give it a fine amber color ; then early in the morning press it off, the longer a cheese laysbefore pressing ofl', the better, provided it escapes fermentation un- til the pressing off is compk'ted. The reason is ev- ident from the following circumstance, take a tart apple and bruise one side, and let it Lay till brown, then taste the juice of each side, and you will find the juice of the bruised part sweet and ricli, though a tart apple. So, if sweet and sour apples are ground together, and put immediately on the press, the liquor therefrom will taste both sweet and tart, but if let lie tiil brown, the cider will be greatly improved. 1 always take great care to put cider in clean sweet casks, and the only way to etfect this is to rinse or scald them well as soon as the ci- der is out, and not let them stand with a remnant or lees to make them sour, must or stink. When my casks are filled, I place them in the shade, and exposed to the northern air. When fermentation takes place, fill them up once or more a d.iy, to cause tts much of the filth as possible to discharge from the berry bung ; when it discharges a clear white froth, put in the bung stack, or bore a hole and pat a spile in it, and thereby check the fermen- tation gradually; and when it has subsided, take the first ojiportunity of clear cool weather, and rack it off" into clean casks ; to effect which, when I have drawn the cider out of a cask in which it has fermented, I first rinse the cask with cool wa- ter, then put into a hogshead two or three quarts of fine gravel, and three or four gallons of water ; work it well to scour off* the yeast or scum, and se- diment which always adheres to the casks in which the cider ferments ; and if not scoured off as above directed, will act as yeast when the cider is put in again, and bring on fretting, and spoil or great- ly injure the liquor; after scouring, rinse aa be- fore. 1 find benefit in burning a brimstone match in the cask, suspended by a wire, after putting in two or three buckets of cider; the best method for wliieh jirocess is to have a long tapering bung, with a large wire drove in the small end witli a hook for the matcii, which for a hogshead should be sufficient to kill a hive of bees. W the cider stands a week or m-asoned wood, being coated over, so as to obstruct the sap from evaporating, it fermented, it is presumed, and rotted the inside of the solid parts of the timber; the shell, or outside having lieen dried and seasoned, and lost its sap be- fore the tar was applied, remained sound. I remember once sleeping in a room of a one story house lately built by Dr. Warfield, of Elk- ridge, Maryland ; in the morning T could not but admire the wainscot and ceiling ot the room, which were of poplar boards, in which ti\e joints could not easily be discovered; the work was not paint- ed, and i supposed the boards must have been sea- soning for many years in a tobacco house. The doctor pointed to two lengthy pits on the side of a hill, and said, the trees were fell.d and cut into logs, which were immediately hauled (o the pits, nvTr one of which a log at a time was sawed into boards, and immediately, while full of sap, a fire was made and kept burning under them, until the Vo-"d3 were perfectly cured ; some of the wainscot 1 .:i r put up with these boards, within two weeks 'laving been in the growing tree ; the pits .lUernatcly employed in sawing the logs and i. . _; 'he stocks. ■.■.."commending to a ship carpenter the trimming i:^,. '.IT roughly in the woods, and thus seasoning t;i' iiieces by fire, he objected, becau.se it would iriiderthe timber hard to cut and work— perhaps i .0, some might think it would render the timber I'l-i durable ; it may, however, some day be thought j:,-nper to contract for its being so seasoned, espe- cially for national ships."— i?ord/cy. P. S. From the above, we learn the necessity of dissipating, thoroughly, by the action of fire, or some other means, every portion of the sap, before covering the wood with any body, that would pre- vent the evaporation of such, should any be left re- mainino- — a consideration of the utmost importance, J. R. properties which almost all kinds of our grain, and even the grass requires. Ily that means we fail in our crops; but where we plough deep, we turn up tour or five inches of earth, which has never been brought into action by the influence of the sun and air. This has never been exhausted of the lime properties, and never will be till we stir it up so that the sun can act upon it, and slack it, that it may become food for plants. A lump of lime kept air tight will not slack ; just so with the lime properties in the earth. It must be stirred so that the air and sun can have their proper influence. I have no doubt but many a field has become al- most barren by shallow ploughing. You will per- ceive a> once that by ploughing deep and cross- ploughing three times on the top of the sod the loam and^ubsoil will become mixed so thoroughly that in the room of four or five inches of loam for the roots of our grain and grass we have from eleven to fifteen inches, just in proportion to the depth we plough. This will stand dry or wet bet- ter than four or five inches, for your corn roots will go down as far as we plough and no farther. Some say that liglit land will leach the manure, but 1 think in that they are mistaken. We know that light I'nd is first to feel the benefit of the ma- nure, and flourishes well in the fore part of the season, and then comes to a stand ; but it is not be caust the manure has gone down — it is because it has evaporated and the heat of the sun has caused the evaporation ; the greater the heat the greater the evaporation. By putting our manure in shal- low in dry warm land, the sun and air act upon it so powerfully, that it draws up the strength of the manure faster than the plant can receive it, and it evaporates and goes off. Whereas if the manure wa- put in deep in light land it would he more moderate in its evaporat'on, and the plant would receive the whole benefit, the same as it does in deep soil where the sun does not act with so much influence. Therefore I say put your manjre in deep in your light lands so that th" sun will not draw it out and waste it before the plant gets Urge enough to suck up the strength of it as nature re- quires. Too smnll Teams. 1840. For the Farmer's Montlil)- Visitor. Piscalaquug Village, June \Z. Preparation of sward land. Mr. Editor — \s every one should do a little for the prosperity of the agricultural interest, 1 would just give your readers what little experience I haveliad, and what I believe the best method for preparing sward land for a crop of corn and for all succeeding crops. First, say in August or before the lOlh of September, I plough my sward land about eleven inches deep, and lay the furrow as flat as possible. I let it lay till it becomes dry— then [ harrow, and any time before the ground freezes 1 cross plough on the top of the sod. In the follow- ing spring as soon as the frost is out, if the ground is not too^wet, I again cross plough, still keeping above the sod. I let it lay till just before I cart out manure ; harrow once; lay out and spread on my manure and then plough the manure in, still keeping above the sod. I sometimes smooth it with the harrow before furrowing. In this way all the subsoil that I turn up by deep ploughing becomes thoroughly mixed, and the ground is quite mellow to receive' the young fibres of roots, and gives the corn a quick start. I hoe one year and then lay down to grass with oats or wheat. 1 sow two bushels of oats or wheat to the acre. Sowing thin gives our grass seed tlie better chance to take root and grow, and it does not exhaust the ground so much as three busliels to the acre. In that way we get the more hay, which is the most profitable crop ; and by hoeing one year only we can go over our ground oftener, so it would not be so likely to get bound out. In this way I have generally raised good crops — about fifty bushels of corn or about three hundred bush- els of potatoes to the acre. I do not hold to straining my land with corn or other grain, but prepare it for as large crops of grass as I possibly can. I say plough eleven inches; that is about tlie depth I have ploughed ; but 1 behieve that twelvc- or fifteen inches would be better, if your plough is sufficient to turn the furrow flat. The reason I give is, that by siiallow ploughing we and our lorefatheys have worked over three or tour inclies of the surface till we have drawn out all the living But we lack in one thing: we try to get along with too small a team. We will try to make the old mare and steers do this year, and sell the oxen; but if our team is light we must plough light, and we have so much to do that we have not time e- nough to cross plough. We must harrow and let it go this year till the steers get large ; and so we cheat ourselves. Perhaps next year we can sell t'>e old mare and make the colt do; but this wont do; we must keep team enough by changing with our neighbors to do all the ploughing that is neces- sary, and do it well ; and that is all that is wanted on the farm. But be sure to go with a strong team when vou turn up your sward land: put on on an extra yoke and make then travel quick, and it will lay the furrow much better if your land is tolerable smooth, besides you can do more in a day. The way to make manure. Tlie true principle of farming is to consume all our ffrain, hay, roots, &c. on our farms. One sho- vel full of manure made from grain is worth three made from hav or straw. Besides by feeding out all oar hnv and grain, we have mor*: manure and better ; and our oxen and cows are better by giving them a little grain for our own use ; and certainly they will sell for more if we want to sell them. So let us sell beef and pork and consume our hay and grain on our firms, till we get them in a high stato of cultivation. A cow that comes out in high order in the spring is worth two that is very lean ; for the cow in high order when you turn her out to grass will give a largt* mess of milk, becau.se she does not require so mucii food to be converted to flesh ; and Hie first part of the season is always best fir making butter. But when tlie lean cow is turned out she requires a large share of 'he food she eats to bring her into a good state of flesli so as she m.'iy give her common mess of milk, which will take generally till your pastures begin to fail a little. Let us look at the difference. We will suppose the cow in high order that has had one quart of meal per day, to give eight quarts of milk per day. The lean one gives six quarts ; which will make two quarts per day in favor of the former. Twen- ty weeks will make 38!1 quarts difference : this al four cents per quart would be $1" ,20. The same cow in high order will always bring more than she would if lean. If we raise an overplus of root* or grain, let us put it into beef or pork, so we may save tlia best of manure, and makfl two spires of grass grow where but one grows now. And there is the article of straw ; I use all my straw generally in bedding my cattle and hogs. I also prefer a good bed of straw for my horse, was I to put lip with you, rather than one quart of oats. Whilst your horse is standing, if he has any thing before liim he will be eating; and he never will lay lono- on a hard floor : but give him a good bed of straw, and he will lav ilown and lay and rest as long as he lies easy. But when the horse lays down on the hard floor he becomes uneasy, and will soon rise up and go to eating, forcing the food through his stomach so as to give his food no time to digest ; and it passes off without doing him any good. But give him a cood bed, and he will cat fess hay and the straw will take up all the urine, which makes a fine addition to our manure. Just so with our cows and oxen : give them bed enough to take up all the urine, and it will be worth more to your farm than to cart it six or seven miles and get your four or five dollars per ton. Oxen better than horses. But I think we are in the habit of keeping too many horses on our farms instead of oxen. Hor- ses require better keeping than oxen ; it costs more for their harnesses than it does for oxen ; they are more liable to disease than oxen : they are not so good to break roads or go through miry places, as oxen, and when old are not so valuable as oxen. If we do our work with oxen, we have oxen to feed upon our grain and roots and make our beef; and that will add to our manure. Horses make a quicker team than oxen ; but if we would load our steers light, and always use them to walk quick, they would not be much behind the Iiorse team. I once saw a pair of oxen on a team behind two spans of horses, that walked to Boston and back in company with a six horse team, and it did not ap- pear to weary them any more than it did the hor- ses. I have a pair of cattle six years old that will plough their two acres per day. I have, used them to walk with a horse before them, and I don't allow myself to load heavy. I tliink it is the heavy load- ing that makes our oxen slow. When I plough any time with my oxen, if they are inclined to slacken their pace, I hitch on a horse for half a day, and we wont have occasion to bring the yoke up to their horns but a few times before they will walk as fast as I want to walk myself. Another thing will most assuredly make oxen slow : make your one yoke ulough all day when it is hard enough for two yokes. I would recom- mend to h ive" a strong team and light loads, and you will always have fast walking oxen. After I harvest my corn if my land is heavy, I plough in the fall, turning up the old sod : let it lay till the spring; plough twice and more if you can, harrow once, sow the grain and harrow suffi- cient to cover the seed and manure ; brush after- wards to smooth the ground for mowing. Small corn best. I have tried difl"erent kinds of corn, but T think I receive as much profit from an acre of land in five years from the spring after I break up my sward land to plant the Canada corn as from a lar- ger size. What I lack in corn I get in grass. The stalks are so small they do not take the strength out of the ground : there is no large butt to sour and mould the husk. Upon the whole there is but very little waste. The cob is so small that it will not" retain much moisture ; and we have good sweet bread. Hut the larger kinds of corn have large stalks, dilfieult to cure ; the butts are larger and retain so much mois'.ure that they generally rnould; or at any rate you will find them stripped of their leaves and the butts left in the crib before the cat- tle. And then the cob isjarger, and if it does not get properly dry in the field it will retain the mois- Ture so long that the corn cannot be so sweet for bread as tlie smaller kind. On hoeing corn the more hills you make the more hallows ; and if we do not disturb the roots by jilouirhing and hilling our corn, there is a dis- advantage in it when it rains. The water t-ikea the lowest places and tliere remains till it is all ab- sorbed or evaporated, and this leaves a kind of scum on the ground tliat keeps the moisture from penetrating into the ground. So the ground would be more likely to suffer with the drought than it would upon a more even surface. When the ground becomes crusty it will not drink up the dews as it will when it is kept loose with the hoe or the cultivator. Tlie sun will draw the moisture up through this crust, but the earth cannot draw the moisture from the atmosphere. This crust pre- vents tlie moisture from penetrating the ground, but will not prevent it from being drawn up in case of a drought. Then the more level the surface THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 107 the thinner the crust will be. Besides, where we draw up the diiltomake a hill to our corn, it takes it from the ends of the roots, and leaves them near- er the surface and more exposed than they would be it the ground was kept clear of weeds, and the surface level as when planted. Nature will fix the roots and fibres in tlie right place to feed and to support the stalk. Nature does the work ; but we must assist nature if we want our cows and oxen to tlirive well. We must keep the siieep and swine out of our pastures, that the cows and oxt'n may have zU the feed. So if we would have our corn and grain, we must keep out the weeds and let tlie crop liave all tlie strent^th of the ground. I would sav something on the improvement of our stock and the raising of calves, but it being a busy time of year, I will leave it for another time or fo-r some one else moie capable ; but I can't for- bear to say calves intended for veal — I don't mean intended for the butchers — should have the milk of one teat the first week, two the second, three the third, and four the rest of the time till he is killed ; and all good veal is better at five than four weeks oldone cent in the pound at least for tlie consumer. Yours very respectfully, JAMES WALKER. worms, I have much reaaon for believing that this process simply will clear an orchard from these trouhlrsonie enemies. At the same time in addition to the above men- tioned precaution, I prepared a wash made of lime and cow-dung, mixed with weak lye to the consis- tency of thick whitewash, which is put upon the tree the latter part of April, from the ground as high up tlie body of the tree and its limbs, as could conveniently bo reached — I mix the wash with lye because alkali has a strong afiinity for all animal substances, and of course is avoided by all animals. For the same reason, and from tlie fact that the fly almost uniformly deposits her eggs within three inches of the ground, I was induced to put from one to six pecks of leached aslies, according to the size of the tree, in tlie form of a cone around the bottom of it. I need not say to you that this treatment is well adapted to promote the growth of the tree, increase the quantity, and improve the qiiallty of its fruit, so that I think I have motive enough for continu- ing this process as often as once in two years, even though I have for many }'ears, had no worms to contend with. Yours truly, WILLIAM JACKSON. From the BtisKm (,'(illivauir. The Borer. J^'etctotiy June 14, 1840. To THE Editor of the Cultivator : — Dear sir, — You are mistaken in supj)osing, (as by yours of the 6th inst. you appear to do,) that I am pos- Bessed of any scientific acquaintance with the na- ture of the worm called the " Borer," which is such an annoyance to our apple trees. I have little or no knowledge of the science of entomology in any of its details. If my experience in contending with this enemy of " hard cider" can be to any ex- tent useful, I will give it you with much pleasure. Eighteen years since, I found my apple trees, almost without exception, attacked by this worm. Many of the small trees were literally cut off near the ground, by the multitude of holes wliich had been bored into them. Tlie quince bushes of which I had many, were all destroyed in this manner. My first operation was to follow the worm with a small gouge, and cut away until I could reach him. This is effectual, so fiir as killing the worm is con- cerned ; but it is evident that the injury done to the tree in this way, is as great, or greater than that by the worm, especially if done in the spring, af- ter he has had eight or nine months to bore his zigzag rourse into the body of the tree ; and if his change occurs annually, no good is secured by cut- ting at this season. Suspecting this to be of that tribe or class of worms which periodically change to flies, I in the latter part of Aprii, according to tlie best of my re- collection, cut from a quince bush, a part of one of its stocks, which had in it two worms — put it un- der a glass and kept it in that situation, until the worms came out and clianged to flies, wliich were about tiie size of a wasp, slate colored, with two dark longitudinal marks up their backs. From tliis I conrlnded that it must be from the eggs de- posited by iliis kind of fly, that the borer was pro- duced, and accordingly, by keeping up a close ex- amination, found during the month of July, nuil- litudes of these eggs — generally deposited under the- loose baik, wllliin an inch or two of the ground, always in this form, o g g g g o and I believe uni- formly of thi.=; number, 10; white and about the size of the head of a large pin. I found these eggs began to batch in the latter part of Auii:ust and beginning of September. I write fri»m memo- ry, having made no record of the time, and may not be exactly correct in datep. As soon as the worm is formed, he commences boring into the tree. If promptly attended to at this season, he may be destroyed by following him with a wire. Whether he remains in the form of a worm for one, two, or three years before his change comes, I am unable to say. My impression nt tiiat time was, that the change occurred nnnually. A more prevalent opinion seems now to be that it is trien- nially. But I have paid no attention to the sub- ject since '.hat time, nor have J seen one of this kind nf worms upon any of my trees for the last | ten or fifteen years. ] In the fall *f 1823, 1 followed and destroyed as many as 1 could find and reach with a wire. In the Bprjxig of 1824, I cleared av/ay alt the suckers and grass from the roots of the trees, and scraped ofl' all the loose bark, uiider an expectation that tlie fly would pas^ by my trees, and deposite its eggs! where they and its j'oung could have betteraceom- modaliuns, and a more perfect protection. And al- though 1 am aware that the smooth barked tree of tlie nursery' is sonie times puncturijd by these The grand employment. Fr iheCheshire Fynricr. [Comvtunivated for the Visitor.'] Husbandry was a primeval employment, and was engaged in immediately after the creation of the world. It has been pursued, with various success, by all nations down to the present time. It is a high gratification to realize that on a sub- ject of so much importrince as the cultivation of the soil, we can all unite for its advancement. Agriculture is a subject that never has been, nor ever can be, exhausted by discussion. Probably there is no branch of business so imperfectly un- derstood in this section of the country as husban- dry It would seem that there is no branch of busi- ness, of so much importance and so necessary that it should be well known, that it may be successful- ly practiced, as tlie cultivation of the soil ; as on its productions the ffreat family of man depend for subsistence. In agriculture, as in all other employments, if we would pursue it successfully, we should under- stand it, or in other words", have a thorough knowl- edge of its theory. That we may obtain that in- forinatiim, we should furnish ourselves with books from the best authors on that subject, and, at least, with one periodical, devoted to agriculture ; and studying them attentively, we shall be prepared to perfect our knowledge by experience. I am aware there has been, and is at the present time much prejudice against book-farming as it is termed ; but may not the same objection be urged against almost every other eniployinent, with quite as much reason ? and yet, does not the architect L'.tudy the different orders of work with plans and drawings before him ? The young man who would prepare himself for the practice of medicine not only studies for ypars, but, if he intends to become eminent, avails himself of all the new works on that subject, and studies them with diligence and attention. The traveller furn;.')n aftords for the improvement of his mind, pursues his moral labors with industry and virtue. JOHN CONANT. JafTrey, 1840. Consumption, Half a pint of new milk, mixed with a wine- glass full of the expressed juice of green hore- hound, taken every morning, is said to be an effec- tual remedy for consumption if resorted to in time. One who tried it says, ''Four weeks use of the horehound and milk relieved the pains of my breast, enabled me to breathe deep, long, and free, strength- ened and harmonized my voice, and restored me to a better state of health than I had been in for years." Our own experience enables us to state that horehound is an excellent specific for a cougli or coXA.-^ American Farmer. Destroy weeds ichile youngs or tJiey will get th» upper hand, and be apt to keep it during the sum- mer. THE EDITOR OFTHE CHESHIRE FARMER To the Farmers of Cheshire County. Gentlkmen --Having bcon cmiiipctpd with you for the four years past in efforts (o improve our affriculture and to elevate the profession in soine deJllP , and THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VmTOR^ derful principle in our nature is designed to afford, 1 into England by a ship, wreeked on Hif co^J^t of must, as the apostle observes, sleep in the night. Lancashire. During the many severe famines to you to pursue. Of tlie iiuportance of Agricultural readin_ of practical experiments judiciously made, and of a free communication ol the knowledge acciuired by individual experiments— in a word, of the utili- ty of agricultural papers, our conviction has been strencrthened from the connection had with them. We are confident tliat the agricultural improve- ment of any country will be in the ratio of its ag- ricultural reading, thinking, experimenting, com- municating. To read, think, communicate, forget not. The medium of our agricultural communi- cation is not to be withdrawn or iliscontinucd, but merely transferred, and we hope and trust it will be more fully improved. The "Cheshire Fanner" retires only by introducing another friend, the "Farmer's Monthly Visitor," with the assurance that it will be a more valuable acquaintance. Witli respect to our " Agricultural Association," we see no reason why it shall not be continued and perfected. Our hand is ready to co-operate with others to carry forward the design of its or- o-anization. Sustained single handed it cannot be, but by united exertion it will prosper. Citizen Farmers, reflect that your occupation is first in utility, and equal in respectability to any other, and in its rewards more sure than others. Remember too, that you occupy an unexplored, fathomless field for discovery and improvement, upon which the light of science has, as yet, shone but faintly, and in which its more full ray will show treasures to bless and gladden the world and soft- en that irrevocable sentence to man, " in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." In conclusion, farmers, shall we introduce to you, individually, the " Farmer's Monthly Visit- or." We hope and are confident that the friends of agriculture will take an active interest in the "Vis- itor, and secure for it a general circulation in the vicinity. Subscriptions should be forwarded as early in July as possible, to the address of B. COOKE, Keene, N. U. and particular directions given whether to have them sent by stage or by mail, and if by s^ag-f, where to have them left. If Jehovah, in" accordance to our necessities, docs stay the evils whicli an occasional rleparture from this order would naturally pnuUice, we have no encouraging grounds to expect he will do it wlien these departures are habitual or consulted. There- fore it must be an act of ignorant or foolish pre- sumption for any to expect the best success in any business, while the laws by which God directs the universe are disregarded. Apparent exceptions there may be to this observation ; these, however, could the real cause of the exception be fully sear- ched out, would be found to originate in other cau- ses, and tlieir existence not in the least possible degree to invalidate the general truth of the ob- servation. The laws of the pliysical, mental and moral world just as certainly bring poverty, in the wide sense of the expression, poverty in substance, bo- dily healtli, mental vigor, and moral discernment, upon those who work unreasonably by niglit, as up- on those who sleep unreasonably by day ; and there are as many considerations why persons should be regular in their hours of rest, as there are why they sliould be regular and fixed in their hours of busi- ness. The Maker of all has so planned his works, while the reason and experience of men both bear testimony to the general wisdom and goodness of such arrangements. — JV. E. Farmer. The day for labor, the night for rest. This is the arrangement of Providence, and our observance of it in its leading principles is essen- tial to health of body, strength of mind, and the most perfect exercise of the moral faculties. I do not believe that an instance can be found where a wilful and long continued departure from this prin- ciple has been indulged, and the transgressor not experienced some sensible inconvenience from it. It is not less important to the laboring part of ani- mal creation than to man. I have many facts which I could produce as confirmation of this, but one among these will amply express the conviction of my own mind, as made up from personal obser- vation. For a number of years I had occasion to travel considerably. I used my own horses, .^t lirst, if 1 had a long or hard day's ride to make, 1 was accustomed to rise quite early, and go on some distance, feeding my horse or breakfasting myself; but finding, as I suiiposed, that my horses suffered inconvenience, and perfectly confident that 1 did myself from this course, I changed my manner, gave my horses time to eat, took my own break- fast, drove probably faster, and made shorter stops, the result of which was, or 1 was unaccountably deceived, my horses would get through the ser- vice with less exhaustion, and I am sure that I experienced much less fatigue. There are other reasons, I know, besides the one first suggested, why travel must be more exhaust- ing to tlie horses and labor of all kind to cattle in the night than the same would be liy day : these ; come in as additional considerations, and should not be overlooked in reasoning upon the subject; but it must not be forgotten that the great govern- incr consideration is to be found in the fact that the wise and benevolent Governor of the universe has so constituted the laboring portion of the creation, that when the sun ariscth, they should go forth to their labor until the evening ; while those who sleep so as to gain the refreshment which this won- Every thing in its place. But this cannot be practised unless a place be provided for every thing. When a man takes pos- session of particular premises, he should inake a general then a particular survey of the various im- plements which are on hand, and the convenien- ces afforded for the disposal of them. This done, he should determine upon the place which eacli ar- ticle shall occupy ; and if there are many persons in the family, some designation should be made, so that no mistake may be made about it. When this is done, then he should himself be very particular not to transgress his own arrangements, and that others shall not do it. The axes, the shovels, the iron bar, hoes, rakes, baskets, wheelbarrow, each, every one, and all, shodld have its hook, nail, lo- cation, and when not in use, kept there. It may sometimes be thouglit unnecessary to be so partic- ular. It may be supposed just as well to leave them where you expect to use them next; but before this next time comes, you may alter your plan, or some other of the family may have occasion for them, and you at the moment be out of the vvay ; or you may have forgotten ; then comes the inqui- ry, the hunt, tlie general wonder where the article can be ; then follow mutual suspicions that each other has been in the fault; next, recrimination ; then evil surmises that some neighbor has without leave borrou:cd it, and neglected or forgotten to re- turn it; and in the end, besides all the excitement, recrimination, and evil surmising, twice the time and labor is lost in searching that would have been required to put the article in its place at first. I have presented no overdrawn lepresentation here: all and more than all of the evils above niiiubered, I have known many times to have grown substan- tially out of wliat niany would think hardly worth a notice. A hoe or some other utensil had been left where it was last used, instead of being put in its proper place, and a wliole family set in confu- sion thereby. How serious then must be the in- conveniences, how many the excitements \n those fiiniilies where notliing has a place, or where if thincs liave their places, the members are negli- gent" about putting them there. — .Viic Enrrland Farnif r . which Great Britain has been subject, there is no exatrgeration in asserting that the lives cf millions of human beings have been preserved by this veg- etable alone. It is but a little more than a century since the first coffee tree was^brought to France, from which all tlie trees in the*West India islands have originated. The original sweet orange tree, from which all the varieties of that fine fruit in Europe and America have been derived, although a native of China, was shown but a few years ago at Lisbon. The writer of tlii.i article, has plucked fruit from the original tree, which produces the Sickle pear now cultivated both in Europe and A- merica, as the finest variety of this fruit in the world. Tlie tree, he believes, is still growing in one of the meadows in the vicinity of Philadel- phia. Nor is it in the power of any government, by its strictest enactments, to prevent the dissemi- nation of fruits, plants, and seeds. If the ingenu- ity of man cannot accomplish it — the birds, the winds and the waves, will effect it. The cocoa- palm is now growing on the sands of Florida, the nut having been floated from Cuba by the waves of the sea. The sea grape, the shore plum, and more than a hundred other species of West India plants, not omitlng the mahogony, have been car- ried thither either by the winds or the birds. The white headed pigeon is known to visit Cuba every day, whilst it is breeding along the Florida coast, and thus becomes a courier and a planter between the island and main. The severity of the laws of that exclusive and extraordinary people the Chi- nese, could not prevent the productions of their soil from finding their way to other lands— nor could the rigor of the Dutch and the burning of their superfluous spice trees prevent, the dispersion of their cherished aromatic plants. The tea shrub of China is now cultivated in Java by men smug- gled from Japan, and also flourishes in the vicinity of Charleston— and the spice trees have found their wav to the islands of the West Indies and of the Pacific ocean. rr.iin the r^oiitliern Cabinet. Itecent introduction of valuable Plants and Grains. The most valuable plants and grains which now engage tlie industry and minister to the support of three°fourths of the world, are of comparatively recent introduction. Whilst tlie olive, the millet, and the silk, may be traced back to the ages of an- tiquity, the articles which now feed and clothe the inhabitants of the civilized world, have been more recently discovered by men of science, and brought into cultivation by the skilful agriculturist. A single generation has only passed away since a hairdi'ut of rice, and a few seeds of cotton, were sown in a o-arden in Charleston, as a curious, and no doubt, reg.arded by many as an idle experiment. Th*y are now such important staples, that they en- gage the commerce, and regulate, in a considera- ble'degree, the monetary system of the world. The Irish potatoe, which has been of the greatest consequence to mankind, was not known in Eu- rope till tl>e days of Raleigh, and found its way From tlie Pliilad. Farmer's Cabinet. Remarks on the General Principles of Hns. bandry. 1. Whatever may be the nature of your soil, and situation of your farm, remember, that there is no soil so good, but it may be exhausted and ruined by bad tillage, and that there is none so bad, that cannot be rendered fertile by good tillage, even barren heath, if it can be plouglied and swarded. 2. The true art of husbandry consists in suffer- ing no crop to grow upon your land, that will so fa? exhaust your soil, as to lessen the value of your succeeding crop, whatever profit such a crop may afford you. 3. To avoid this, suffer no one crop to grow two years successively, upon the same piece of ground, excepting grass, and buckvi'heat, without the ferti- lizing aid of rich manures to support the strength of the soil ; and even then, a change of crops will generally do best, excepting onions, carrots, and hemp. 4. Every plant derives from the earth for its o-rowth, such properties as are peculiar to itself; Uiis plant, when followed successively for two or more years upon the same ground, will exhaust the soil of those properties peculiar to itself, without lessening its powers to produce some other plants. The facTis most striking ,in the article of flax, which will not bear -to be repeated oftener than once in seven years, and is common to all crops, with tfle exception of those noticed above. 5. To avoid this evil, arrange your farm into such divisions as will enable you to Improve all the variety of crops your lands may require, in such regular succession, as to form a routine of five, six or°seven years, according to the nature, quality, and situation of your farm. G. This method will make poor land good, and good better. Try and see. For the F;iiiner's Monthly Vi.^itor. Farm House Architecture. No. 1. Mr. Editor:— It is with great pleasure I have noticed the promptitude with which you convey to the public, through the medium of your excellent periodical, every suggestion which may have a ten- dency to promote the advancement of science, the interests of agriculture and the improvement of the condition of the laboring population ; and with the hope that you will consider the proposal to for- ward you a series of articles upon the subject of Farm House Architectiire as of this descrip- tion, I will devote a little leisure time that is at my disposal, to the arrangement ofj suchj a series, provided the plan meets your approbation, and the THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 10» articles are found worthy of a place in your maga- zine. Having been induced by the calls of business, to visit different parts of the country during the pre- sent season, I have noticed with particular pleasure^ and interest a surprising and universal spirit of improvement anions the farmers of the Grariite State. Finding too, that while manufacturing towns and villages were embarrassed with an idle population, the country has awakened anew to the spirit of improvement, and has put on a thriving and determined zeal, in making it appear to the most casual observer what it really is, and has been very pertinently called, the hacB bone of our Re- public. In one particular much is doing to improve the appearance nf the country; I allude to the repair- ing, improving and erection of farm houses and other buildings, in every town and every section of the State. Such improvements, while they add value to the farm, beauty to the prospect, conveni- ence to the occupant, serve to bind him to the soil —to the liome of his fatliers — to the birtliplace of his kindred ; the local attachments become greater; his mind, instead of wandering in quest of new and stimulating incentives, settles down, complete- ly satisfied with its own society, with a full deter- mination of turning his whole estate into a profit- able and pleasing heritage. The wild dreams of personal advantage to be obtained by emigration are erased from the vision, and tlie space is replen- ished by highly cultivated fields, beautiful and convenient buildings, kind, obliging friends, and loving kindred. Such additions and improvements to one's own estate stimulates the neighbor to new and greater exertions, to improve and add to his, and as it is clearly for the interest, the very best in- terest of all, to do what lie can for the general im- provement as v/ell as his own, the influence extends from neighbor through district — through district to town, through town to the whole country, .until the whole community nre engaged in the noble work of improving that portion of the soil that is allotted them. Let no man say tiiat his example is without it? influence ; it cannot be so, as sure as men use tlieir eyes and tlieir reasoning faculties, the influence of the successful man is certainlj' felt, and his exam- ple followed ; particularly is this the case with the farmer. Example with him is more higlily prized than precept — practice preferred to llieory, and sub- stance to show. Utility and convenience are the crreat desideratum of this class of our fellow citi- zens, and for these they often sacrifice taste and comfort. But, sir, the principal object of this communica- tion is, to present to you and your readers, some idea of the plan 1 propose to pursue in treating on the subjectof Tarm-housc building, and the m"ans I intend to use, to convey to the farming interest my mite in the general prevalence of improveiiient. Farm-hounc Architecture : by the bare mention of this term many mind^ are led aw.ay to the con- templation of lofty and splendid mansions of curi- ous and intricate workmanship, tall spires, and massive columns, spacious galleries, collossal stat- ues of marble, ivory, gold, and the ,accomp;iny ing gorgeousness of wealth and luxury. These things have their use, it is true. Columns, galleries and statues are essential to the completion of extrav- agant architecture ; and terms a needful auxiliary to a theoretical knowledge of the science. But comfort and convenience are not dependent on them, and indeed comfort and convenience have nothing to do with them. All that is essentially requisite for he;illh, comfort and convenience to even the most luxurious of mankind may be com- jireliended in a well coiislruoted fiirmer's house ; and ihe canons of good ta.a- per — and since it has been committed to our care, its column., have frequently been enriched by his contributions — and in his death we lose "a friend, faithful and just." It is now nearly two years since he returned from Europe, where he had pas- sed many months, in travel, and in studying the manners and characters of the inhabitants — chiefly in Great Britain. He was there attacked with a chronic affection of the stomach — and on his return to this country, he suffered much from ill health. Since then he has been gradually declining — but he has never neglected his literary pursuits, or his accustomed exercise of walking, until within a few days. He was conscious of the approach of death, which at last came upon him suddenly — but he met the grim king of terrors like a Christian phi- losopher— and his last moments were soothed by tlie benignant spiritof Religion. The death of B. B. Thatcher has left a blank in society that will not be easily filled. When the editor of the Fanner's Monthly Visi- tor was at Boston in January last, on returning to his boarding house at dinner he found on his table a note from " B. B. Thatcher," saying that h» had twice called, and, fearing he should not find Mr. Hill in, asked tiie favor of his calling at No. 3, Tremont Place. We did call, but did not find Mr. T. in until a second time. The gentleman said he wished for an interview on account of the desire he felt for the success of the Monthly Visitor ; and in the course of conversation we very soon found that, without even a personal acquaintance and with a known difference from us in political opin- ions which had very much g.ven the tone to friend- ships or enmities as the individual happened to be on either side who came in contact with us, Mr, Thatcher had taken a deep interest in behalf of our agricultural journal : he had in fact written the principal articles in our f'avor which appeared in botli the Boston Mercantile Journal and in the New York Journal of Commerce, noticing our humble efforts in a more flattering manner than we had dared to suppose they had deserved. Mr. Thatcher was at that time laboring under great disability : his emaciated form, his cadaver- ous countenance, his shortness of breathing, gave but too sure an indication of approaching dissolu- tion. He was at that time in tlie midst of severe mental labor with piles of books around, and man- uscripts before him. He had delivered a Lyceum lecture at Cambridge the day before, and he was to give another at Brookline the ne.xtcvening. The nex* evening the editor of the Visitor delivered an address at the Boston State House on the subject of Agriculture, being very nearly the same that he had prepared for the farmers of Candia, which was afterwards published in the Monthly Visitor. Mr. Thatcher was too much exhausted by his previous efforts to attend our lecture ; but sent by a friend a request that he might have the perusal of the manuscript for a few hours. We saw him not af- terwards : indeed we never had with him but a sin- gle interview, for we three times called to obtain the manuscript before leaving town, and neither time was he at home. Tlie lady, a relative of his with whom he boarded, informed us that, too un- well to sit up, she read aloud to him our perform ance while he reclined U|)on a couch We could not mistake him when we saw in the N. V. Journal of Commerce in a few days afterwards an extend- ed and a flattering notice of our address under the head of ^' Correspondence from Boston." The manner in which the deci'ased gentleman gratuit- ously took up the pen in iavor of our particular agricultural work, when there were so many oth- er works of the kind nearer to him conducted by men greatly our superiors in experience and in ag- ricultural knowledge— an entire stranger to us — where no consideration peculiarly selfish could have led to it — was to the editor gratifying to his pride and favorable to the little interest he could iiave in an extended circulation of this paper. To deserve so good an opinion of so good a judge would be payment in full for every eftort that has been expended in all our essays for the Visitor. Although, by the untimely death of this amia- ble and excellent young man, we have lost the benefit of all such further notices as he was wout while a stranger to take oC each successive num- ber of the Visitor, his disinterested efforts in our behalf have drawn the attention of hundreds of others to this journal, in which number perhaps some one or more may bo found who will find it in their hearts to do us equal kindness from the same disinterested motives which actuated that which has returned to its original dust, while the soul, " immortal as its Sire," has winged its flight to a region where sin and sorrow never come. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. lil For the Fanner's Monthly ViBitor. 1 Farmers Philosophers. AH farmers might ntid shnuld be philnsophers— not like Newton, Locke, or Descartes, for few have the intellect, or time to examine nature as they diJ —but all hav-- the faculty and time enough to read the book of Nature, which lies wide open, and is so plain that " he who runs may read" many things for curiosity, and some for profit : I will relate a few facts ill my blunt way. A few years since, wliile standing beside a wall, I heard a splashing in water on the opposite side. Looking over 1 saw about eight feet from ine, two bullfrogs apparently wrestling. They stood upon their hind legs— took fair hold at the back with their arms (or fore legs, if you please) and tripped, and twisted just like two men in wrestling. Some- times one would get thrown, then the other. 1 saw them at this play ten or fifteen minutes. They certainly were not fighting, fur neither were hurt. The water was two or three inches deep, just up to their knees ; as soon as one gave the other a fall, he would jump off, and both would stand up and take hold again. Hawk Story. There was a pair of hawks nearly as large as the sagle, which visited our neighborhood for twenty years — how much longer I know not. They were curious and cunning creatures. They generally took five or si.x chickens annually from each far- mer. Nobody could shoot or trap them. One time wlien I was from home they pounced upon an old hen and killed her, but could not carry her off. I came home soon after, and placed myself in the barn with a double barrel gun about eight rods from the hen. There was a hole througli the barn door big enougli for the gun barrels. There I wait- ed, expecting they would come back after their prize. Tliey^did come back ; but whether they saw the barrels or smelt mischief otiierwise I know not. Tliey flew round a while— lit several times twenty rods off, and then cleared out forever from the hen. But the most curious thing about these hawks was their races. About a mile north of my house is a hill the highest in this town ; and southeast from me sixty rods, is another hill two hundred feet high, and nearly peipendicular on the north side. Many a day l' have seen these hawks have their races as regular as horses or men. They would fly slowly round in the air, and slowly take their way to the height of land on the north; and then apparently start fair, and with the rapidity of liglitning, or at least as fast as they could wing their way, rush to a certain bush on the top of the south hill ; and then wheel round and wend their way back again for another race. One afteviioon, (June 1837) 1 had watched them several rounds. A thought struck me that if 1 should get behind the bush wliicli was tlieir goal, I might be revenged for the old hen and chickens. Accor- dingly I "placed myself there with the double bar- rel.° 'Tliey came — I snapped the lock, but it mis- sed fire. I liad scarcely ever known it to miss fire before. 1 felt provoked, for I was sure of both, or one of thein at least. They wheeled round— look- ed scorn at me; but had no more races that day. A few days afterwards I saw them racing again ; my revenge was gone — I was glad I had not killed them . Another.— k few years ago I saw in my garden thousands of holes 'about the bigness of a goose- quill and perfectly round. Sujiposing there were some insects in these holes that were destroying my garden sauce, 1 dug some of them out. 1 found them from three to five inches in depth. They were different from any creature described in any natural liistory which 'I have seen. About one fourth of it (its head and neck) was black. It had six legs and some powerful looking claWs near the mouth for so little a creature. Tl-.e body and rest of it was very much like a whitish woAn. Its whole length was about an inch. I Ihouglit that boiling water would be a good thing to destroy them. I tried it and killed perhaps three fourths of them; but my carrots, onions, &c. went faster llian ever. I then thought it possible that these nameless animals might be carniverous, which 1 soon found to be the cae, by seeing one of them catch a buw which was passing over his house. 1 then put some maimed flies near the top of their houses: they were soon dragged to the bottom. 1 have no doubt they are a real benefit to a garden. " Wc often mistake, our friends for foes." How often the woodpecker is shot for his sup- posed injury to fruit trees, when in fact he is only destroying the vermin which are destroying the tree. An'd blackbirds, bobolinks, &c. are often •shot by boys, because they once in a while pick up a kernel of grain, when perhaps, If left to live, they would destroy worms and insects that would destroy bushels Even the crow I believe does more good than harm ; and instead of a bounty for killing him, there had ought to be a fine. 1 rec- ollect°ten or twelve years ago that the white grub worms were so plenty as to destroy half the grass in some fields. The crows at that time were very busily employed in hunting and digging them for food. Few other birds have the strength of body or form of bill to take them.— Did they no good in this .' No doubt they saved us many tons of grass in this town; and a little ingenuity in putting up images will save our corn from their ravages. But supposing (which is not true) that some of these feathered songsters should injure us in a pecuniary way. Do we wish any species of them extinct ? as the crow, the blackbird, &c ? No ! We all I hope love to see and hear them; for they were made by our common Creator; and have the same right to "vindicate their grain" that we have. " He who with careless scorn can hear The beauteous songster of the air : And view them and the flowers of spring, With but a look of withering. Is what.' 1 will not say." Yours with respect, July 20, 1340. STODDARD. they are at present — and now they would seem to be cheaf> enough. It may be discouraging to far- mers, when their products bring a small price; though consumers are benefitted by the circum- stani'e. On the whole no country is made poor by bountiful harvests, however cheap the produce may be. On the contrary wherever is the greatest amount of subsistence, there is the most indepen- dence and consequently the most real wealth.— Maine Callitator. Heads gathered for Seed. — The good and careful farmer takes the pains to select from his wheat and his corn and his tobacco fields, the prime ears and heads to put away for seed. In this way he may always keep these productions up to the mark — nay, if the selection be made with close at- tention and perseverance from year to year, it can- not be doulited that very great improvement would result from it, and that all grains and plants thus selected, would pass in a few years through a course of melioration to the greatest attainable de- gree of perfection — if indeed such a degree can be reached. The young farmer who would begin now to man- age on this principle, in regard to all his staple crops, as Mr. Baden did many years since with his Baden corn, and who, in the view of his neighbors, persist in carrying out the system under his direr: personal supervision, and with the utmost particu larity ; would not only render agreat service to hi neirrhborhood, but might command for his commo- dities, an extra price that would more than ceir. himself, he should esteem it a pleasing duty, an i ought to derive ample remuneration from the pie ■ sure It should give him to reflect, that he was a t- ting an invaluable example to his associates .•' I friends, in one of their most important duties l,. i interests. Doct. Anderson, in his "recreations," says : - Every attentive observer will remark among the plants of almost every kind of crop, some individ- ual stalks which are distinguishable from the oth- ers by a great degree of health or luxuriance, or profligacy, or earliness, or some other peculiarity. A friend of mine remarked some years ago a par- ticular stem of peas among his earliest crop, which came into flower and ripened long before the oth- ers. He marked this stem and saved the whole of its produce for seed. These came as much earlier as they had originally done. This produce was also saved for seed ; and thus he obtained a par- ticular kind of early pea, that came at least a week before the best sort he could buy in the shops, if sown at the same time with them. The Doctor relates facts similar to this respecting wheat and beans. The general idea he means to inculcate is obvious, and extremely worthy attention. — Amer. Fanner. An Agricnltural Editor iu office. An ofiice of trust and responsibility has been tendered to us, which obligations to our friends and ^ regard for our personal interests, induce us not to j p(^,„gjte jjiu, fnr'his trouble. — As far as relates to decline. If we thought however the acceptaiice i ■ , . _ . of any place would tend to sever us from the far- mers of New England and especially from the far- mers of our adopted State, we should hesitate long before we accepted the most honorable and lucra- tive appointment in the gift of any government. We by no means intend to resign the Monthly Vis- itor. Under certain favorable circumstances which we are led to anticipate, we are of the belief that our position will be quite as favorable for writing for and publishing the Monthly Visitor as it ever has been. The oflice of Receiver General for New Eng- land which has been created under a recent law of Congress, although located at Boston, will not of necessity forfeit our rights as a citizen of New Hampshire. Our family will for the present re- main here. We accept the place because, having advised to a separation of the finances of the gov- ernment from the operations of banks at the time the banks suspended specie payment, when our own interest in banks would have induced the wish not to break the connexion, it would have been unfair to refuse a pajticipation in the risques and responsibility of a place that was tendered to us under the change by those who had a greater individual responsibility to the people for the pas- sage of the law than wc could claim. We accept it at the time when, if public sentiment shall not sustain the law, our disappointment will not be like that of one taking the office who feels no responsi- bility for an experiment intended by its authors to be a benefit to the country. We offer this here as our mere apology, with no intention to force upon our readers a favorable estimate of any party opin- ion which we may entertain. -AH we would say is, that as the new office has been tendered without our asking, so we shall retire from it without that disappointment which shall be fital to otlier hopes, means and prospects of life, should either the pre- sent President or any other I'resident who may be his successor see fit to take it from us. In tlie mean time we will continue our besteiTurts to serve t!ie readers of the Monthly Visitor so long as they shall show the disposition to serve tis that they have up to the time of this writing manifested. BotiSTiFiiL Cnops.— According to the American (Baltimore) Farmer, which does not appear to be in the interests of the speculators so far as to give fiilse accounts of the prospects of harvest, all sorts of crops in the Middle States promi'^e an abund- ance oreater than common. The editor, Mr. Skin- ner, has an extensive correspondence, and has ta- ken pains to collect true iiif irmation on the sub- ject. The wheat will come in bountifully — indeed harvestino- is already taking place in Maryland and Virginia." Corn never looked better— hardly ever so well. Seasonable rains and sunshine, with an unusual freedom from insects, blight, mildew, &c. which have some years occasioned great devasta- tions, have driven all crops forward to a vigorous growth, without hindrance. 'I'he Farmer advises producers in all that region to take in sail and pre- pare for very small prices Grain, flour, and in- deed bread stufl's of all sorts, he thinks must be during the ensuing fyear materially cheaper than Be merciful to your Oxex. — For mercy's sake, in this hot weather, deal gently with your ox- en. Do not overload them, drive them too fast, or work them too long in theso long days. Another thino-, never yoke them up, or attach them to the cart, till all things are ready for you to work by means of them. Some people will yoke up their cattle early, before they have got well rested and fed from the labors of the preceding day ; and let them stand eating postmeat a long time whilst their drivers are getting things- in readiness out of season. They have just discovered that the chain is broken, and so the oxen must stand till Dick is sent off to the blacksmith to get it mended. When he returns, and all things appear ready, it is dis- covered that there must be some new stakes made for the hay cart, or the wheels need greasing ; and tlie poor cattle must stand another half hour or hour, eating noHiingand basking in the sun, wait- ing for their sUigsishlmasters to get ready. It stands to reason that oxen cannot work so long or heartily, driven out after standing in tlie yard or field, acquir- ing an empty stomach as if yoked up fresh from a cool stable where they had been eating till the moment of work arrives. Give them, too, a good opportu- nity to rest in the middle of the day. There is nothing lost in being reasonably merci- ful to the brute. On the contrary this is true poli- cy, as well as a dictate of genuine humanity. He who would overtax or abuse a faithful ox or horse, deserves to do his own pulling and trotting without the aid in the coolest part of the cellar, and you need not fear its becoming injured by keeping before ne.tt winter. — vVew) Genesee Farmer. Cramp in Bathing. — For the cure of the cramp when swimming. Dr. Franklin recommendsrfi vig- orous and violent shock o!l the part aliected, by suddenly and forcibly stretching out the leg, which should be darted out of the water, into the air, if possible. The Tuknip Fi.v. — The follt)wing is the sub- stance of an article relating to the Turnip Fly, condensed from an English Magazine. I'he fly does most injury in hot weather — no particular soil renders the crop safe — manure of any kind has no effect on tlie fl}' — That manure which produces the most rapid growtli of tlie plants will tend to save them from the ffy by quickly getting the plants too large for it — the drill system is altogether preferred for safety — quick lime is recommended to be sov^'- ed upon the young plants, and repeated ^-lienever it becomes blown or washed oil'. It should be sown when tlie dew or rain is on the plants. R. Peachi;s. — A correspondent of the Journal of Commerce speaking of peach trees and their lia- bility to be destroyed by hard winters states that .lodge Judsoii of the U. S. District Court of Con- necticut, who resides at Canterbury, caught the idea that it might be the too earlj' spring which created the difllculty. He therefore in January, after the ground had become thoroughly frozen, covered the roots a foot deep with hay or straw, which had the effect to keep the frost in the ground and so prevent the sap from starting until the spring was fairly opened. He succeeded complete- ly ; for the last spring the trees all around, and of his neighbors in the adjoining yard, were all de- stroyed, but his were fresh and blooming. The fact seems to be, that not the cold weather, but the warm weather does the mischief. The trees are killed by frost after the sap- starts. — ISoslon Times. Washington's opinion of Agricnlttirc. The following is an extract of a letter troni (ien- eral Washington to Sir Arthur Young, wlio was fond of agricultural pursuits: — ** The more Iain acquainted with agricultural aff'airs, the better I am pleased with them; inso- much that I can no where tind so great satisfaction .as in those innocent and useful pursuits. In indul- ging these facts, 1 am led to reflect how much' more delightful to au undebauched mind is the task of making improvements on the earth, than all the vainglor3' vvhicli can be acquired from ravaging it, by the most uninterrupted career of conquests. The design of this observation is only to show how much, as a member ot" human society, I feel my- self obliged to your labors to render resfiectable and advaiit.igeous an employment wliich is more congenial to tile natural dispositions of mankind than any otlier." Nf.w WiiKAT. — The Houston Telegraph says that a species of ^^■lleat indigenous to the country, has been discovered in the northwestern frontier of Texas. It is thought to be a valuable variety. Painting.— Spirits of turpentine is in most cas- es used in mixture vvitU paints, because it facili- tates the drying rapidly It decomposes and de- stroj's the vitality of the oil ; it should never be used when durability and lustre is required. I have been in the practice of painting my out build- ings with pure oil, mixed without boiling, and am satisfied that is more durable ; the drying process is not so rapid, buf the coat is liarder and more ad- hesive, and less expensive. S. W. JEWETT. Il'cybridgc, Ft. May 16, 1840. THE MARKETS. From the Jv'cw Yvrk Journal uf Commerce nf Juli/^i. COFFEI-^ — 'Miere is no cliange in llie stale of \he, nmrkei. The ejiIeB were 200H b;igs firazil at 9\ a in^; 400 Si. Unmin- coat8i{ct8, cash; 12i)U old (Government Java, al isajaiacis 200 Mnracaibo at 10 cts; 2u0 LaguJiyiii at lOiJ a U els ; 200 Cubaal'J^ a lOicts. COT TON— 'I hemirket was qiiiel. The sales were chief- ly to inanufactiirera, as follows:— 1700 Upland and Florida, at 7 a gjc; 1330 Mobile at 7^ a I Ic; lOU N. Orleans at 9\ a 10,|[C. Toial, 3,!20 hal«s. A raihtr better leeling wa.'' exci- ted (Ml Saitirdiij', by the arrival of the Q,ueeii. 'I'lie sales of [he dav were ahoiii 500 bale?. FISil— There arc nonldtiry Codfish of prime quality. ?urh as there are, may he quoted at §2; new at 1,87 a 2. No. 1 Mackerel sell al §12, when alone; No. 2 at 8,50a75 fnrold, an'l !la9.25 for new; No. 3 at 4,2.=>; 400 half hrls. No. \ Connecticut Shad brought $6,75; 50 bris. old Salmon, No. I sold at SIG. HIOES— Sales of Cnlirorniaal 12 ct-5; and Maracaibo at lOJcts, lb.; 1000 San Jnan at lOi cts. H( >PS — .NotliinR worlli re|tfiriin{;. iMOLAPSES— Uelailini; qualities continue quite in da- rn.md. A nar^o of Porto Rico sold in tois at tiOfts jjallon, and one of Trinidad Cuba at 2.Vi9. Poor and tait id plenty and dull, and dependent on the (lisiJlIerfi alone for a inarke'. PROVISIONS— I'here is a fainnnderate demand for Beet and Pork at steady prices. Indeed there is htile change in the price of any article. New Cheese goes offaioar^c; and Dairy Butter at 12 a J3c. SALT — A cargo •{ Liverpool sold at 25c bush, and 900 sacks common at ll2.^c. A carp'i of Bonaire is reported at 35c. hush. SUGAR— The market is firm wiili a cood inquiry and ^n upw ard tendei|cy in prices ; sales 400 lihds Orleans at 5 a 6c, au'i a small lot very prime, equal l'» St. Croij, al 75r,; 200 hhds St. Croix at S'a 9.^; 200 Porto Riro at 6 a 7^; of Cuba white, the market is bare; 1200 boxes brown sold at 7 a 7^0, 100 ('iiba Muscovado at 5|c; a cart;o of 5009 bags Manilla, arrived at Salem, has been purchased by a refiner here at Bg CI? Ih. TI:AS— The market stnnds we II. MONEY AND EXCHANGES— There is no new f< ature except the ronlinued improvement nf Domestic ExchangCF. Money is plenty aqd all gond paper readily taken by the banks at 6 per cent. nRIGHTON CATTLE MARKET, July 20, 1840. At market 200 bpef cattle, 30 cows and ralves, 2000 sheep and ITOswiiic. 120 Rw>ne were reported la.et week. Prices, —Reef Cmle— The prices obtained last week were sustained and we quote (he same. Firrt quality, SR 25; se- cond quality, 5,-5 a 6,00; third qualttv. 4,75 a 5,75. Cows and calvcH,' $20, 2:!, 26,28,32, 35. 40. andS42. Shepp, dull. Lots were sold alSI.'-?3, 1,33. 1,62, 1,71, I,SH, 2,00, 2,17,2,C5. 2,.'iO, and 3,00. Sw ine dull— No lots were sold to peridte, and no purchasers were at market. A few were retailed at for luer prices, from 4^ to 7. NEW YORK CATTLE MAKKET, July 20, IhtO. .^t market 959 head of beef cairic, iiicliidinj! 50 Iffl oM-r last week ; 300 from the «ontIi. hnlance from Illis Stale ; P5 milch cows, and 3 100 sheep and Inmbs. The Reef market was dull, and last week's price Iiardly maintained. The sales reached to 700 head, at $6 to H, ave- apinc $7 the 100 lbs. — Milch cows same a? last week. Sales oiTi.T at $25 a 48.— Sheep and tambs — Theie was a (an de- mand, hut prices sometlnng lower, 3100 taken, bheep at 1,50 to $1, and lambs at 1,2.') to .$1,25 each. PHE?;OiMEXOX FOR SALE. PHKNOMF.NON is a youn^r Short Horned Durham Bull, sired by GeorRC the Third, an imported bull, who took the State and County prrmiuiTis at the Worcester Cattle Show, in Oct. last. His Dam is Lady Lilly, also imported. Both are of the best possible blood. He may now be put to cows ; would answer for a herd of thirty. He is very larcre and o(* uncommonly fine fjymmetry. For Turthfr information, apply at tlie V'isitor office, Concord, N. H. or to CHARLES WILLARD, 'id, Har- vard. Still River Villace, Mass. Harvard, Mass. .\prtl 2'2. 18U). THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A MONTHLY N K \V .ST A t'EH, IS I'UBMSHKlJ BV JOHN M. HILL, Hill's Brkk Block, Cnncof'lj J\\ H. GENERAL AGENTS, n. COOKE, Kccne. .Y. //. TH: R.HAMPTON, IVashington City, D. C The Visitor will be issued on tlie lust day of each month. TKRAIS. — To single bubscribers, i^PvenU/'Jive cehts . Three copies for Ttt'o dollars : Ten conies for tfix Dol- lars: Twenty-five copies for F[l'(e€n Dollars. The twelve numbers embracinfi the year 1839, or the first volume of the Visitor, are offered as a premium for every ten new subscribers obtained and paid for by one per.son. Subscribers may commence at their election, either with the January or July number, in each year. An In- dex and Title Page will accompany each half year. IT Communications bv mail will be dir«ctcd to the Pubhshcr, Coricord, N. H CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILT.. lliosc who labor in the earth are the chosen -people of God, who.'^e breasts he has made hispecuUar depOiiteJ^or substantial and ge7inine virtue." — Jefferson. VOLUME 2. CONCORD, N. H. AUGUST 31, 1840. NUMBER 8. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A jio.vrHLy i:EUf:rAPi:n, is published ev JOHN M. HILL, mrs Brick Blod; ConronI, M H. GENERA L~A GENTS, B. fOOKi:, Kecnc, N. H. TH. R. HAMPTON, Witshmgion City, D. C. JOHN iJARSH, li ashingtvn St. Boston. Tlie \'isitor will be issued on the last day ofeach moiitli. TERMS. — To single subscribers, Sfveniif-five cents: Three copies lur 7'wo Dollo-rs : — Ten copies for &'ix Dol- /;;)-.s-;— Twciity-tivc copies ^or Fifteen DoUarfi. The twelve numbers embracing the year 1839. or the first volume of the \'ipitor, are oll'ered as a premium for every ten rev/ subscribers obtained and paid for l^y one person. Subscribers mny commence at their election, either v/ith the January or July number, in each year. An Index and Title P.oge will accompany each half year. [\ZT Communications by mail will be directed to the I*ublisher, Concord, N. H. PoWEii PitEss E. MANSUR, PnixTi;u. ai.-go:tM ir cmi.-'vjnvm HE THE SHAKERS. Tlie cxterual apj)paraiice of tl'.i.s extraordinary jicople presents to tlie .siipcrliciai observer sonie- 1 iiiiig wontlerliil in tlie cnconiy of human life antl in ihe volition of man as tlie agent ofliis own destiny. Although the lite of every created being and his jjositiou and success in the \'iortd are matters of luicertaiiity — altlioisgh it is not in the power of mortal to juedict with accuracy what even a day or an hour may bring forth ; _\et mitch more de- pends ii])on lullible human exertions as to the ex- tent of our enjoyments, our security troni 'wan't, our peace of mind, than we generally lead our- selves to believe. The societies of Shakers scattered through the .several States of the Union, and now not mueli more numerous than they were twenty, thirty and fifty years ago, are .standing proof that man is more the creature of mutation and change ihan lie need be. That people commenced in this country scon after the war of the revolution as as a conimunity almost exclusively separated frcni the rest of world. At first their movements were characterized by an enthtisiasm that presented ihcni almost like a race of supernatural beings; this enthusiasm discovered itself in out'.vard acts that bordered on mental liallucinatiou — spring- ing and leaping, whirling, upon the heel like a top, screaming at the highest pitch of the voice, and declaring such revelations ;,s hoidd be accom- jjlished only by supernatural agency. The en- thusiasm ill the course of half a century has been gtadually tempered down, so that tliere is now little more of what some call superstition among tills people than among the other denominations of Christians. Keiieving that no man has a right to judge of others as to matters of conscience, it will not bo our purpose in this place to bring up as a mat- ter for discussion the jiarticular religious belief or jiractice of the Shakers : we shall leave it to them to settle all spiritual matters as between their con- .xcienccsand their God. AN INTERESTING VISIT. Within the last montli the editor of the Visitor has taken to himself the opportunit}' of becom- ing acquainted v. ith many things of which he was before ignorant in relation to the Shakers. AVith every facility rendered to him for all iiujui- ries he should make, he spent two days with the three families at CanterlJury; and he can say with truth thai in no two days of his life has he ever been more interested or better enjoyed the acquisition of the knowledge he gained. A BEAUTIFUL LOCATION The residence of tlie Shakers of Canterbury is about twelve miles from Cnucnrd. The villa- ges of tlie three families are situateil upon a main street running in a direct line nearly north and soiilli, the villages gradually rising as you ap- proach from the south to overlook each other. The first or parent village on the south numbers about one hundred and twenty persons, and the two villages above from fifty to seventy each. These viltoges set upon u hill or eminence arc plainly discerned with the n;dced eye upon other eminences where the view is not obstructed at the distance of twenty to thirty miles. The soil on which the Shaker villages are lo- cated was more than commonly rough in its ori- ginal state: many of the fields after being dives- led of thousands of tons of rocks remain still rocky ; and when we look at the amount of man- ual labor laid out in artificial improvements w hich in olher places are supplied by nature, it is wonderful how this ]!eople in the course of fifty years should have laid up the abimdant means of good living and all the wealth th.at cou.ld be useful to their entire iudepcndence of the necessity of any extraneous human aid. Of the comforts, the conveniences and iin provcmeiitsofour Canterbury friends, we hayc sat ourselves down to give some description, believing that the system of domestic economy adopted bv the Shakers may as well consist with the object of the Moi\tlily Visitor and afford not Icsscutii tainment than any other matter about which ^\e can write. Leaving home early in the morning of th'^ fiist Thursday in August, we arrived with our friends in season for an early breakfast ; and in that and the following da)' with the genlleman that accom- panied us in the field, and with the ladies (oiu' wives) who visited the dwellings of the several families, we were pretty constantly on foot dur- ing the entire of the two days. THE SWINE HOUSE AND THE BERKSIIIRES. The first object of our attention was tlie piggery of the first family. This is not a modern inven- tion, fcir we remember to have visited the .same e.=tublislin-ieiit nearly twenty years ago, arranged niucli as it now is. it is a one-story building eighty feet long by forty feet in width. At one end is a well and puinp, a chimney with kettle aiul apparatus for boiling potatoes and other roots, a machine for mashing them when boiled, a meal room witl- lock and key, and a cellar under- neath in which potatoes and other aiticles that will not bear frost .shall be preserved. Tho pens for the hogs are apartments of some twelve by twenty feet on either sitlc of an alley running the length of that end of tiie buil- ding; these apartments communicaiiiig with each other by a door whii-li may either be closed so as to sJiut out one or more from the others — and ail of these coinmunicating by doors with an open yard of some eighth of an acre at one end and ill re;..r of the building. This jard is well adapted liir making and jircserving manure : in it we oliserved a pool of standing -water to and from which the swine [lassed at pleasure. .Arti- ficial stairs, being simply clamps cf wood nailed upmi ]ilank, were erected, so that the fattest por- kers who seemed almost incapable of rising up- on their feet to walk, rlambered iij) and down these steps iilaced at an angle nearly of forty-five degrees, with less trouljle than a fat man would go up and down stairs to bed. The litter of the inside pens was simple saw ihtst — an article so highly valued by the Shakers that eveiy particle made at their mills is preserved. Although con- taining in its crude state but little of the material for manure in itself, it is that perfect and clean retainer of the whole strength of the hog- pen ^vhich liiakes the mixture the very best of manure. The places for feeding the hogs are troughs set parallel and near to the alley in the centre. These have a shutter or cover which bv a simple contrivance is imt down or up at pleasure. The shutter is put down to enable the food to be ])oured into the trough ; taken up, it lets each hog feed in his peculiar and proper ])lace without interference with any other. In the outer yard we obsc'rved the Shakers were making use of their coarse meadow buy rather than straw as a material lor the hogs to work in- to ninnure. Tliis piggery contained twelve liogs of the lar- ger kind, as fat and as fair as any wc liave ever before set eyes upon. The old Berkshires were real beauties, although some oftliem were black as a coal, in both color and form. These twelve hogs at the time of slaughter at the age of eighteen mouths, will be made to weigh an average ol five hundred pounds each. The younger full blood, three-fourth and half blood Berkshires were remnants of several litters ; in shape and countenance several of these pigs were repre- sented to perfection in the following picture, which has before been printed in the Visitor. (Fig. 19.) The Shakers had sold the present season of these same litters, full blooded Berkshires as high as thirty dollars tlic pair at six and eight weeks old. Tlte introduction of the breed in almost any neighborhood would render the payment of the high price a profitable investment, from their superiority, esijocially when mixed with almost any other improved breed, as coining to early maturity from their readiness to receive fat, (or giving a greater quantity of flesh in proportion to the amount of food consumed, for the better ijuality of pork, and for larger bones in propor- tion to the carcass. THE NOVEL ARTIFICIAL WATER. POWER. Our next object of attention was the artificial water ])o\ver created by the first family at an al- most iucrcdible amount of labor and expense. The Shaker Village is situated at the high point near the sources of the Soncook river running into lie Merrimack from the northeast, and above the mill scats found upon the stream. Here, where no natural stream ever ran, they have created a more permanent and durable water ])ower than Ciin be found within the distance of ten miles. To make this water power effective in the diy as well as in wet seasons, no less tiian eight arti- iiciiil ponds covering from fn e to thirty acres each have been created, one rising above the other, and each furnishing a stream large enough (o carry different mills and factories. To feed the stream with a constant sujiply of water there was not at first any considerable stream or body of water. It was commenced by daming around a small meadow in which the melting of the snow in the spring caused the water to collect. Other reservoirs created in the same way succee- ded to the first ; until a permanent and highly val- uable water power was completed by the pur- chase of u considerable swamp or morass up- hill at the distance of nearly two miles, w hich wasdamed up to retain the water in the same manner, and from which a trench or ditch through the rough stony ground was formed for the whole distance. The dams which constitute in some instances two sides and nearly half of a reservoir have been made by n prodigious labor in collecting and arranging stones and gravel. It being found that the ^vater would ooze through 114 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. the natural ground, that has been dug up to give place to other materials, as gravelly clay and rocks, which should make the dam water-tiglit. The immense work done to create this artifi- cial water power, being at a distance from any travelled road and from the villages of the Sha- kers, has probably never attracted tlie attention of a hundred persons who have viewed and es- timated its magnitude. We know nothing of the kind effected by individual enterprise any -ivhere within the limits of the State. It is true there are works connected with the water power of fac- tory establishments that have cost more money ; but there are none where such labor has been performed, and such expense incurred merely for the purpose of the individual domestic con- venience of those performing tlie labor. At the lower point upon this artiiieial stream is 1. A building 35 by 50 feet and two stories, containmg apparatus and machinery for carding wool. 2. A building with a machine for sawing wood. At this place, being near wi extensive and beau- tiful woodlot, the fuel used by the family is pre- pared, being sawed and split of that size which is most effective in imparting heat. With stoves of their own invention and construction, with rooms fully finished, the brethren obtain double the effect from half the quantity of fuel general- ly consumed. In the preparation tljere is not a particle of wood wasted ; for even tlic finest saw dust is carefully preserved for use. 3. Rising to the outlet of the third pond from the foot is an extensive building eighty feet by forty and three stories high — a building framed of stouter timber than is often found in the lar- gest structures. This building covers a grist mill with four runs of stones, of which is one set of burrs for the manufacture of flour. This mill is visited by customers ten, fifteen and twen- ty miles distiint, who are unable to find another so good ; and it is remarkable that the Shaker stream made upon the dry land fails not lor wa- ter when others upon running natural streams give over their customers in time of drought. Under the same roof and moved by the same wheel is a mill for sawing common boards from logs — a circular saw for slitting — a machine for sawing pail staves— a mill for grinding malt — also, a shop for manufacturing measures, as half bushels, pecks, &;c. The great wheel which moves the machinei-y of this building is thirty-four feet in diameter, and the space in whicli its under part traverses is drilled out of the solid rock some eighteen or twenty feet deep, of twice that length, and some twelve to fifteen feet in width. The dust of the several saw mills falls directly to a basement into which, on the openhig of doors, cart and oxen are backed to carry it away for the profitable uses to which it is ap])lied : the surface slabs of the sawed lumber are all preserved for fuel or some other economical purpose so that no fragment on the prennses of the Bretliren is left to be wasted. The expense laid out in constructing the buil- dings and machinery of the third building, with the economical expenditure of the Sliakers, ex- ceeded ten thousand dollars, witliout taking into the calculation any part of tlie cost of the artifi- ficial water power. Levi Stevens, who has the personal cliarge of this building; a man of about sixty years, is known for some ten or fifteen miles round as probably tlie best miller in tlie county of Merrimack. 4. Tlie fourth building abpye on the stream, erected before the mills below, is forty by thirty feet, used as a factory for various purposes. In this building, when visiting the Shakers on a we.ek day, we have always found the venerable Francis WiNKLET at work. He is eighty-two years of age, and seiTed his time as an apprentice at the smithing business at Dover, N. H. about sixty years ago. He commenced witli the Shakers between fifty and sixly years since, and in that time has nianiifactured with his own hand twelve thousand iron candlesticks. He lias been for many years the eflicient financial manager of the whole establishment, and in that management has discovered talents which miglit have quali- fied him as an eflicient head of almost any gov- ernment. The machinery of this fourth building is of an age of twenty years. Here the Shakei-s bave made the improved pails whicli liave been so much used and admired throughout New Eng- land for their perfection and ilurability. The second family has lilcewise a pail manufactory recently erected on ,a small stream running through their premises, made after the fashion ol" more recent inventions; but the first family con- tinue to make their pails now as they made them with the machineiT of water jiowcr twenty years ago ; and they think their old labor-saving in- vention to be nearly if not quite as good as the new method which has Ijeoii adopted in several manufacturing towns of the interior. The water power of this building is also used for various other economical purposes ; among them was a cannon ball in a mortar turned for the purpose of pulverizing barks and medical roots — a ma- chine for polishing metals, and machines for turn- ing and boring. 5. The fifth building upon the stream was the clothing works, where the beautiful woollen cloths and flannels manufactured by the sisters are fulled and dressed. Here were samples of all wool, mixed worsted and cotton cloths that would have done credit to the best modern manufactur- ing establishments. Calvin Goodale had the charge of this clothing establishment ; he was educated to the business here. He made use of teasels in raising the nap upon the cloth; and he exhibited to us a specimen of that article which he had improved by the selection of the seed, the points of the pricks being turned so as to strike the surface of the cloth in the best direc- tion, and the head being a perfect cylinder in- stead of a cjlinder split in tlie middle ofhalftlie size. From repeated obsen'alion, we do not doubt that many vegetables have been and may be perfected and improved in shape, size and quality by attention in the selection of seeds, in the preparation of the soil and the care of culti- vation. 6. The sixth building on the stream covered a tannery and bark-mill in the basement story, and a mill for the manufacture of shingles and a thrashing machine room. The last machine w as an invention of the Shakers and had been used by them for thrashing their grain lor more than twenty years. The old machinery and geaiing of this mill had been just taken down, and a self- acting arm, or wheel made of tubes of cast iron — a recent invention — had been procured to sujiply their place. The head and fall at this mill is fif- teen feet; tlie water is forced into the iron tubes wliich revolve under the surface of the water. A small quantity of water pressing continuallj from above is only requisite ; and where there is little head and fall the wheel works well with abundance of water. The tulie wheels are thought to be a great improvement where they have been used. The works at this mill were constructing under tlic imiiicdiute direction of Elijah Brown, who had derived his mechani- cal knowledge with the Shakers, and was both tanner and mill-wright. Tlie mill was not only undergoing an entire change in the application of the water power to a diflerent wheel, but a more copious water channel was constructing through the hard rocks. PONDS CREATED BY MANUAL LAIiOH. Above the last described mills in the extensive range of pasture lands belonging to tlie Sliakers are the larger artificial ponds which tliey have created with great perseverance and labor. The masses of stones and gravel removed and brought together for the purpose of forming these reservoirs of water stand there as permanent evidence of the indiisfi-;\' and hard labor of this enterprising people. We can compare them to nothing more apposite than the mounds collected by that diligent little animal the ant, which is cited by the wise nian of holy ^M'it as an exam- ple of shame to the sluggard. The reservoirs cover many acres : the waters retained in them are let doAvn as they are wanted, being used as many times over, if necessaiT, as there are mills below. Still higher up than the mills whicli we have described to the distance of nearly a mile, the first family have permitted the third and younger family to erect on their stream a mill w ith machin- ery for sawing, which has been in ojieration foi- several years anfl a mechanics' shop with water power tor various machinery. To tliis last shop the younffer family is adding the present summer an additional building over the stream with the apparatus and machinery requisite lor the ready construction of common fiimily water tubs — a business which they will not fail to make a source of great use to the neighboring cotmtry and of profit to themselves. THE LONG DITCH. On a level with the jiond that supplies the wa- ter of this last mill is the long ditch extending about two miles which brings the water from a sunken morass of several acres. This morass or meadow is the upper source of the valiiabU water power below, and was ])urcliased w ith the farm to which it belonged a long time after the commencement of the first undertaking : it is highly valuable as giving permanency to the wa- ter-power which holds its own in seasons both wet and diy. From the nature of the groimd and supply, there is little danger that the works erected along this artificial stream will be at any time injured or overwhelmed by an abundance of water,as there are sluiceways liom several of the ponds which will let off the water in other dii-ec- tions than that in which the stream now runs. Originally there was no stream running through the valley where the water now goes tor the greater part of the distance. Several small streams running from springs weeping and ooz- ing from tlie ground have been turned lioni time to time into the artificial stream ; the right to turn these the Shakers have purchased whenev- er they could not obtain the full assent from their neighbors to the change. One case they named of paying two hundred dollars to the sons of a neighbor who had came into possession of the father's property, when the old gentleman lu'ged on them that the changing of the water was of more actual benefit to their fm-m than the ainoimt which they required in payment for granting liberty to do it, by improving the quality of the cultivated ground. LIFE PROLONGED. If the Brethren had not seemed to be delight- etl to answer all our iiupiiries as we were to re- ceive tlie information, we hatl thought ourselves obtrusive in asking to introduce ourselves into so many places and imtting so many questions as we did on our two days' sojourn with them. Three years ago in calling at the office of the first family we saw the iiice of one who had been long familiar to us in the transaction of business, of that pale and sickly hue which indi- cated a near approach to the grave — it was the face of a man in deep decline accompanied with tlie hectic check and tlie consumptive cough. Such is the value of a life of strict regulaiity and temperance that recovery is still possible in far gone cases ; had this man lived as some men live, lie would not have survived tlie falling of leaves in the moutli of October 1837; but he did sur- vive so that in August 1840 we again met the same fiice, delicate indeed when compared with robust and rotund health, but much improved from its former state. Not able still to perform manual labor. Friend Merrill stays at the office as a sort of superiiumeraiy to wait upon and ex- plain every thing to the niuiKrous visitors calling nearly every l';Our in the day. He was at our service to accompany us whitlierwe would go, and to obtain for us wliere lie did not liiniself pos- sess the information answers to every inquiry. He introduced us to the miller, the cloth-dresser, tliemill-wrightand several others. THE REVOLLTIO.VAI'.V SOLDIER YET A HERO. Near the tliiid mill on the north declivity of llic Vidley facing lo the soiilli we passed a yard of tiirce fourths of an acre of flourishing ruta ba- ga and beets, in the rear of which was another ])atcli of about equal size in which the early po- tatoes, corn and other garden vegetables for the sup]ily of the family were grown. Friend Mer- rill pointed us to a man hoeing hi afield of beans on tlie soiitli side of the stream as the one who had performed all the labor of the present year on the t\\o patches, besides many other things which he was able to do at his leisure. Intro- duced to this man we found his name to he John Wadleigh, eighty-four years of age, who stop- |ie_d his work resting iqion his hoe, to inform us that he was a soldier at the battle of Bunker Hill and at the taking of Burgoyne. He was born in Kingston, N. H, and was a brothei- of the vener- able Tho»ms Wahl^igii, who ill its first years THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. \16 many times represented the town of Sutton iu ^thc Legislature. Old and apparently scrliuled from the world as he was, he knew all of his re- lations ahroad, then- condition and connexions in life to the most minute circumstance. He com- menced whh the Sliakers at Knficid in the year 1782, soon aller leaving the army, and came to Cauterbiu-v, where he had enjoyed uninterrui)ted health and' peace of mind in that belief which had been his stay and support, and where in the pursuit of daily personal labor he had assisted in procuring these abimdunt means of sustenance and comfort which the society possess. He had served long enough in the army of the revolu- tion to be entitled" to a full pension; hut he had never applied for it because he had enough for for his support — he said he brought nothing into the world, and he rejoiced that he wanted noth- ing, to cany out of it. He had enjoyed for a long time tliat peace which the world cotdd nei- ther give nor take away. His familiarity witli the language of the holy scriptures was surpris- ing : he worked alone, and he had imdoubted- ly enjoyed full commimiou with his Maker and his Saviour by those inspiring thoughts which his frequent reading and hearing of the scriptures suggested. On being asked wliether the Sha- kers now had the same enthusiasm as when they first formed themselves into a society sixty year? ago, he said they had not. Being further asked how he accounted for the diminution of zeal, he said he would answer only for one — "When I was a cliild, 1 acted as a child, and I spake as a child ; but now I am old, I put away childish thmgs." OTHER VETERAN OCTOGENARIANS. On our way back to the office at the end of the fust half day's travel, we were introduced to other veteran pioneers of the Shaker first family. Of these the olde.^t man is Josiah Edgerly, aged ninety yer.rs ; he has been of the hard' workei s of that community who have enjoyed unilbrm .sound health, peace of mind — all those earthly blessings which temperance, diligence, benevo- lence and sti-iet integrity bring in their train. — Nathaniel Sleeper, aged eighty-seven years, is another worker of the society: he is employ- ed in the Botanic garden. He said he was bn- ginally a farmer, wliicli business he followed until he was employed for twenty years as one of the society's tradeVs. He had forgotten his farming until his youthful recollections were all revived and his first love returned in hearing read to him as it arrived the successive numbers of the Far- mer's IMonthly Visitor. He never expected, he said, to have his appetite sharpened with a desire to be again in the field. His work was in the Botanic garden, where plants were cidtivated to be manutiietured into medicine. He had been in good health all his lite,.and seldom had occasion to take medicine : he believed medicine killed more than it cured ; and it sometimes pained him to think his labor was producing what was killing so many of the human race. preparations of VEGETABLE MEDICINES. The Botanic garden and Herbiaiy at the Sha- kers' first flunily contains probably a greater variety of the useful medicinal plants than any other establishment of the kind in New- Eno-land. This garden was commenced by Thomas Coreett, one of the family and a self- taught botanist and physician, twenty-four years ago; it has been enlarged by the introduction of new species and new varieties until it covers a full acre and a half. We have before us a catalogue of Medicinal Plants and Vegetable Medicines prepared in the United Society of Canterljury, N. H. ("printed at Shaker Village" for they print there as well as perform almost eveiy other me- chanical business) consisting of about two hun- dred varieties. When this business was first commenced by Dr. Corbett the editor of the Visi- tor well remembers the aid he gave him in the sale of his vegetable preparations in connexion with the celebrated Rocking Truss invented by the same self-taught disciple of iEsculapius. The trusses liavc since become extensively used, and are one of the very best articles of the kind that were ever invented to alleviate the pains of hu- manity. The vegetable preparations have grown o-i-adually into an establishment probably more extensive than any other in the United States. The vegetables were introduced in the shape of dried lvoodcliuck, which came at his call and fondled around huii like a tamed kitten. It is said of 1 eter that they have never kiiosvn the second person «ho in early sjiruig would save the lives and rear up so many young hmhs as he, watch- ing them and attending all their -wants both by night and by da>-. Deac. Winkle^- says that not- withstanding all the amusements of Peter, he knows not the man livine in the world who has perfoi-med so much hard labor and accomplished with his own hands so mucli as be. Health and contentmem are still prominently marked ujion his countenance : at the age of eigijtv years iic will outtravel the majority of mankind iit forty \r work 111 the field Peter proved to us he had not been alone-he h,-ul daily and hourly communed ^\ ifli bis Goil : (or there was no scriptuie he could not quote in defence of his belief;— and the only objection that could be raised to that belief vvas the idea which he firmly maintained that the o- mi.ssion of all outward sinful acts constituted the perfect man of this life. TREATME.NT OF MOWING eRO'JNDS. In several large fields near the village the first family have mowing grounds which have never been turned up with the plough lor forty years -Ihey liave made use of comjfost manure "ur.on these once in every four or five years, spre.-.din" It uiioii the surface— sometimes" makin- use of the roller with forked teeth cuttinginto the ground. An elegant field of twelve acics lies di- rectly back of the great barn. This field prochi- c_es two to tliree tons of the best Enclish hay to tlie acre. \\ hen haying tin.e arrives ' all tic I'reii who arc able generally leave tlieir workshops and other employments to unite in the busine=s of making hay. _ The brethren have been known to mow this held of twche acres ^vheu it turned out upwards of thirty tons of hay before break- fast of a morning. The best Endish, hay ground o the Canterbury fiimilies is too wet for sure tillage laud, and they find it to be for their best in- terest not to stir it with the )>lounh. BETTER F.VRSIl.Va ANTICIPATED. Having turned their attention successfully to \arious manufactures— to the production of p"ails and mcasuro.s boxes, brooms and brushes, screws of both wood and metal, and other kinds of im- plements—to all the difti?rent kinds of gai-den seeds— to the manufacturo of trusses and surgi- cal instruments— to botanical and vegetable picu- arations— to household manufactory of flannels &c. &c,— it uill not he wondered if' the proper ianmng establishments at Canterbury should not .so far ex(;eed others as tlicse peojiledo in almost every thing else. Some of the Brethren are of the opmioii that they have not advanced in their common farming ojicrations as thev ouj;hl ; and we are of the belief that the same iai.ds are not now made much more productive than ihey were twenty years ago. GROUNDS IN USE AND UNDER CULTIVATION. In 18:38, the report of the Firs; Family was 35 to .JO acres of tillage ; 100 Fnilish mowing and 40 acres wet meadow ; 500 acres pasture : 30 orchard, and 500 of wood. Since that time this iaimly have luirchased two or three additional tarm.s. i heir live stock theu was 10 horses, 10 o.ven, 40 cows, 300 sheep, 40 swine, and 10 voung neat stock. Li the same family the amount of ,vy.,'^\'V" ^f^^a, was 140 tons— in 1830, 22tl— in I bJ7, ia.3 tons. They plant but little Indian corn, and raise neither wheat or other grain sufficient %mT%nnT'';'^'f'"''- *^'' b-ot^toes they raise -000 to '2,jOO bushels amiuall}-. THE DAIRIES. Their butter and cheese are of the very best quality : this they consume almost exchisivelv in their own household. Their cheese which has been kejit over a year is better than almost any made in the country. In the making of butter and cheese they are very nice and jiarticular— iione ol mlerior quality passes from their hands, the butter made in the first family for twelve yeai-s |iast has amounted to an average of about ^5C0 pounds yearly, and their best cheese to about. 3300 ]jounds. 'j'hc second and third liim- ihescach keep about half the number of cows of iiie first ianiily: their biutcr and cheese are equally good, and in qua:;titv not less for the number of cows. Going into their d.-iirics ne appro.ich nothin°- oftensive in smell : evei-j- part of the iireniises i'^s as neat as a wa.shed face. We counted ninety large cheeses in the room of the first fiunily weighing ciich probably not much short of fifty p'ound.s The extreme drought up to the first week of August had the eftcict to reduce the quantity of milk two thirds. The pastures where the co^^■s ranged arc some of the best lo stand drought m the countiy. Dea. Winkiey was of opinion this drought was about breaking up, as t.icre was a fine rain oii the first afternoon of our visit: he remenibered the reviy;.) of yefetation ike a second .sp,-nig after a severe drought in Jbvb, and he thought it v.ould be the same in tho hitler part of oin- present summer. SWINE FATTEiNED A.ND SLAUGitTERED. The first family slaughter annually about twen- ty hogs ; and lliese lisuaily average nearly 500 pounds each, in .some seasons they ha^e "made a proljlable use of appk s boiled, in ieediim- iheir liogs : pomtoes and pumpkins, with the addirion of a .sinall quantity of Indian meal, are inoro generally used. They ha^•e sometimes used swelled Indian corn, prepared b^• boiling Mater poured upon it, instead of corn in its new state Ibey make much use of saw dust as Htter for hogs, horses, cow.s, &c. This is very fine for horse beddmg; half a bushel thrown at ni-ht un- der a horse will give him .-.n easy ijcd,and leave him in the n.ornmgto be cl.-aned v.-ith very little trouble. The sa\v dust is an evccllenl founda- tion for compost manure. LAEOU SAVING .lIACHINERr FOR HAVING AND THRr.SiiiNo. In getting their hay, much of tiair hand labor IS saved by the revolving horse r.nke, v.hich is in part a Sliaker invention. 'i'{.e greater part of haying by them is treatrU as pasiime ; the ever- tion of much hard hlthig is siqierseded by the machine (or pnchingtlie hay from the load lb (ho mow. Their threshing machine which is carried by water is an old invention, saving them much la- bor: twenty years ago they used this machine wfiicb has been since that time a malt, r of pa- tent to many inventors. They thresh, winnow and clean at the same operation, from 100 to 150 bushels of grain per day. They raise annually iioi:] SCO to ICOO bushels of oats, which are used in tlieir own fiunily.— Ihese tlirov.n iu quantity into a large close "bin, they .s|)rinklo with fine salt : this prevents their heathig, and otherwise preserves them. The horses eat them wiih a beiter appetite, .so that the FHE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 117 salt on tlicm luis the panic salnlury eflrct it lias on hay when thrown, not t'uliy cured, into the mow. HOUSEHOLD MANUFACTURES. All three of the ianiilies have their manufae- tnres of fine wool and flaniiels. The (ir.--t family keep about S^OO iMcrino sheep; and many of the.se jri^ e from seven to nine pounds of wool each. This is generally ail sjiiui and nianufaetnred hy the sisters of tlie i'anfily. There is u s| lining jenny at each iiiinily : these draw out ironi ciiiii- ty to a hundred threads; and whether the wool he war]) or IJlliug ;i bell indicates with certainly the pouit of tiino when the twist is sufficient. The spinijinu' upon the htnd jenny is an o]ieva- tion requiring streng-th and causing fatigue: three Icniiilcs take turns by the hour, tv.o resiiug on ligiiter work wliilc the other turns and tends the \\hcel. Hand wheels both for fine linen and worsted are much used by the sisters. Ou these they run the threads bj- the eye and the feeling of the fin- gers, witli great exacftncss. The cloth made ilom the threads of these beautiful spinners is fit to be worn by princes. The sisters manutheturc ex- tensively as an article ibr sale at all the families, line woolen flannel drawers: these arc disposed of at a profit in New York and other southern cilica. THE ECO:act and confined that very few persons are troubled with it. Tiie ffi'st family were about in- troducing a horse power to do tiicir washing, tn save human female strength, cither in turning a machine or rubbing out the garments by hand. From a basement story v.hcre the washing is done, the clothes are raised to the drying room — thence to the place of ironing. «herc all the work is turned off with thos^ fiicilities and con- veniences io wliicli most of the world's people are strangers. THY. SEC0>'D FA?.fILV. We spent but a short lime at the second or middle tiimily. They have their hundred foot barn, their dairy of tv.'enty cov.'s, their various manufactures, their fine garden on both sides of the road. Tiiis ihmily has (pilte recently erected two additional brick buildings, at a cost of some six or seven tlioiisand dollars each. We went through the rooms of one of tliese Iniildings. — Here the females were busily engaged, some in plying the liai.d wheel and others per family at Canterbury, over- looking both (he others, is a more pleasant posi- tion, perhaps, than either. At this family wo found two sisters of the Wbitcher family, one of whom prepared and surerintendt d the neat and ample dinner to wliicli we were invited. Here too, the lemale fingers and arms were all engaged in the manufacture and making up of fine flan- nels and other kinds of cloth. The swine of this establishment, although not as numerous, were as tut and us tiiir as iliote of the first family. The method of feeding them in summer on green fresh mowed clover had been adopted : the animals were not only sustained,but increased rajiidly in growth when fed in summer almost exclusively on green grass and other veg- etables. The main barn at this family is constructed like that of the .Shakers at Alfred, \\ itli the entrance at the gable end, 'j'his barn is 105 lect in length by (10 feet in width. A centre ]iost in the barn riven by lightning when full of hay, was shown us. It is the oiily case of a barn stricken by ligliliiing after the fresh hay h^.d been taken into it that escajied conflagration. A EEAUlTt'UL ORCHARD. The most interesting improvement upon the premises of this family v.as its beautifully flour- ishing apple orchard. Peter Foster, a native of Canterbury, cotemporary Avith Parker and W'illard of the first liunily — the shoemaker of the family — in tlie course of six or eight years has made this orchard one of the foieet in the State. The only disadvantage it encounters is its decli- nation to the north, opening it to the rude attacks of old Boreas; but this evil young Foster has at- tempted to remedy by sotting at no great distance from each other a rovv' of tlie rock maple on the norlherly and easterly sides, calculated, when they shall grov.', to break the wind. This orcliaid contains seven hundred grafted apple trees of the best varieties: some of the grafts, four, five and six years old, are already in full bearing. The gralts and the trees then;sslves are green and flourishing beyond any otlier orchard we have seen in tlie interior. They have been nourished and cherished by the single hand of the young man who -will be likely to witness for a series of years the production from them of abundant fruit, so that the liunily will realize great profit in the sale as they will enjoy satisfaction in the home coiisumption of the great favorite of all fruits. If apjdes of ordinary finality are not held in so high esteem ibr the manufacture of cider as they were formerly, the impiovcd grafts, the Greenings, the Baldwins and the Russets, are more in de- ma!'.d in proportion to the tiuautities produced. A flourishing ajiple orchard, at the ordinaiy price of the best Iruit in the interior, will yield an equal if not a greit^r profit per acre, than al- most any other productioiL A single tree that will produce twenty dollars worth of apples in a year, must be worth twice twenty dollars if it will do the same as often a.s every other year. On this calculation, what estinir.tc shall we put upon our young friend's orchard? His attention and care in placing the scion upon a stock neither too large nor too small for its ready growth — his dis- crimination in preventing an overgroMlli by jirc- sennng a native litnb as a tender to the artificial shoot until it shall accpiirc stamina to take up the eiitire sap of t'le stock — his attention to the season of pruning and the careful manner in which that work is done — his cultivation of the ground about the trees calculated for their healthy growth ; these, and other methods suggested rather by his good judgment than by the instruc- tion of any experienced orchardist, speak well lor his ingenuity and his talents. EE.NEEITS ^U.'.IMED UP. ^^'e I are thus gone through a lengthy detail of our two days' visit to a people who probably ];ass tluough life with higher and more uniform enjoyment than almost any people that ever liv- ed. Where shall ^vc find a set of men in any coiiiuiunily — so ininiy together according to the wiiole number — ^^ho have enjoyed uninterriqited good health, and whose sun, passing from the uii-.rnins' ot Hie througli the meridian, seldom ob- scured bv the clouds of adversity, is setting in a serene and clear sky; as the patriarchs a.l Can- terbury ? There are reasons why a society constituted as tJiis is — where benevolence prevails over mere selfishness — should be hapjiy beyond the lot of mortals engaged in the bustling turmoils and struggles of the Avorld. They desire property only as a community ; therefbre there is no indi- vidual temptation to dishonesty. They contract no debts ; therefore they have no trouble or con- cern of mind how debts shall be paid. Dea. Winkley, reverting to the condition of the people forty-eight years ago, when the church which is yet standing was erected, said they had not a hundred dollars to l>egiii with : vet lie said a way alwa^.s seemed to provide itself to go on without nuining in debt. Tlieyhadno money to buy glass ; but going to Coucord they found a friend to furnish their glass in exchange for some of their then rude n«imifaetures, in the person of the late Hazen Kimball, Esq. who had just commenced trade on a small scale, and who in stdjsccpient years became a successful and for a time a v\ealtliy merchant at Savaiinab, in the !*tale of Georgia. "Owe no man ;iiiy thing" (the Deacon .said) wa.s a cardinal point of their doctrine. He recollected the time when the ven- erated .loB Bishop was at the head of their tem- poral affiurs and himself was young, that one of the brethren went to Concord ibr the purpose of looking out some shoemaker's tools. He pur- chased to the extent of all his money ; but he wanted a few articles more, and he was urged by the trader to take them, to the amount of a dollar and fifty cents, on the assurance that no charge should be entered on the book, and that payment might be made whenever it ^vas convenient. The brother returned with n report of his doings. No sooner was the story told than Elder Job, di- recting his speech to him, said, " Francis, you bad better saddle your horse and ride to Concord be- fore you sleep, to pay that debt." He did not go that night; but be was on his way in season to ride \2 miles, and offer payment, before the next morning's sun had made his appearance. From that day to this had the monitorial lesson of El- der Job Bishop been remembered by nil the fam- ily— '■ Never run in debt." A pcojde can hardly avoid becoming rich who never go in debt. HEALTH and LOXO LIFE, The position of the Canterbury families — be- ing in an elevated and generally a Serene and clear atmosphere — where tlie purest water gush- es from the granite rocks — where the Ibetid mias- ma generating disease finds no lurking place — is peculiarly conducive to health and long life. Recently tomb stones designating the name and age of all who have died since the Uniti d Breth- ren sat down upon this ground fifty-eight years ago, exceiiting two burials in a distant field, have been erected. The grave yard is upon the left liand of the road as you pass from the first to the second family : the graves arc disposed in rows in a direct line, those in each successive row be- hind those of the front row. Although A'ery fe^v of the Society have been born upon this ground, there is a continued accession of young children, both boys and girls, from the mere inlimt to six and a dozen years of age. The elder people prefer to take the younger children, because they can better mould them by instruction in that mode of life which gives them contentment, and permits no desire to return to the practices of the world. One of the families sometimes will take a dozen boys and girls in a single year ; so that there is always in the Society a due proportion of young people. The following numbers are the ages of all the deaths, with the two exceptions named, that have occurred in all the families for sixty years, via : — 87, 77, S3, 24, 58, 101,* 56, 32, 80, 81, 44, 74, 7.'"., 22, 38, 43, 7!), 82, 65, 2D, 34, 80, 43, 28, 76, 23, (i4, 74, 92, 27, (>.5, 40, 4!>, 8lS, 16, 23, 72, 55, 74, 74, 83, 21, 70, 40, porting the numerous population of their dynasties; so that Agricul- ture with thcni formed a special and paramount object of their government and their politics. At the commence- ment of the Monarchy the land was divided into three parts, corresponding witli t!ie three orders of the king- dom. One belonged to the Priests, who employed the revenues to the support of their families, and to the sac- rifices and expenses of religious worship. The second part was allotted to the King, to defray the expenses of war, and keep up the magnificence and dignity of his el- evated station, Tlie third was appropriated to the soldier who exposed his life voluntarily to the defence of his country. The members which composed these three orders did not cultivate themselves the land which was allotted to them. They had laborers who were solely oc- cupied with rural pursuits, and who only received a reas- onable part of the benefits. In order to retain this class of men, the most beneficial for the government, in the limits in which they wrre bmnt, they hrrd enacted Icnv3 THE FAKMER'tJ MONTHLY VISITOR. 119 which obliged, under severe penalties, the sons of the cultivators of tlie soil and rearers of cattle, to follow the occupation of their fathers ; seeing therefore the indis- pensable necessity to follow the pursuit ol their ancestors, and having no hope to rise to any office of lienor or rank, their whole ambition was limited to fulfilling the duties ot the rank in which they were born, to gain tlic esteem of the citizens, and to earn the glorious remunerations which were bestowed upon such as made important discoveries. We cannot doubt that the love of the Egyptians for the Sciences, and particularly for Agriculture, produced learn- ed works upon that important subject. It is very proba- ble that the libraries of Memphis and of Alexandria, which contained seven hundred thousand volumes, possessed a great number upon husbandry. It is known that these li- braries have been destroyed and with them all tlie books they contained. The Greeks imitating the Egyptians, who made t.ods of every thing that was marvellous, created Ceres as God- dess of Husbandry. This queen of Sicily came, accor- ding to them, under the reign of Ercrhthcus to Atlieiis, where she made them acquainted with Wheat, till tlien unknown to tlieni ; she taught them the art of making bread and of sowing the soil. But what confidence can we put in this tradition amongst the Greeks ? Several au- thors consider as fabulous all that is related of Ceres, and hold it only as an allegory ; they pretend that we must consider the arrival of Ceres at Athens, as a prodigious abundance of Wheat which Ercchthem brought from Egypt. Virgil, Pliny and others pretend that Ceres did not invent the plough, but attribute it to a certain Buri- ges or Triptokmtis, son of Calm, king of Eleusis, whom the poets represent sitting on a chariot drawn by winged serpents, because he distributed through Greece with in- conceivable speed, corn, during a famine. Polidor Virgil places the origin of Agriculture at a more remote age than the existence of Ceres. The Greeks, according to this historian, attribute to themselves the honor of the invention of husbandry as well as of other arts which they had learned from the Egyptians. We have only to go back to the remote peri'jds ot their histo- ry, to be convinced that Agriculture was not known amongst them at a time when it had made considerable progress amongst the Phenicians, the Midianites and the Egyptians. According to their own historians, tlie Greeks in these remote ages wandered round in their forests like brute an- imals; they fed upon wild plants and inhabited caverns and crevices in the rocks or hollow trees. The first change in their manner of living was to build cabins and feed on acorns, to cover themselves with the skins of animals. Pelasgits is supposed the author of thus reform. They found soon the necessity to associate tliemselves, to assist one another and provide reciprocally for their wants, they united then, and the advantages of such association quick- ly appeared. Tliey became by degrees more civilized and relinquished the ferocious liabits which they had contrac- ted in the forests. The moment they undertook their travels to Egypt, they became acquainted with the Scien- ces :md Arts and particularly with .\gr,culture. On their return to their country they made use of the Plougli and began to work the soil. Tliey soon found that this mode of cultivating the land was preferable to that in use before; they migmenled their products and diminished their labor and expenses. . The taste of the nation for agricultural pursuits was then increased by the advantages whicli it procured, or by the improvements of which they saw it was )et susceptible. Their whole political aim was turned tov. ards this branch of public economy, and the Greek sages, renowned lor their sagacity in legislation, enacted regulations upon .\g- riculture, so essential to the prosperity of the empire. Athens and Laceda!mon became in a short time flourishing cities, and it is to Agriculture that they must attribute their elevation. Every citizen in .\ttica in this moment of enthusiasm strove for the glory of contributing to the progress of Agriculture, and to enricli their country by new Fruits, which perliaps h ould but lor them yet b.o un- known to us. Aristaaus of .Vtliens was the first who cul- tivated the Olive, and discovered the mode of extracting its oil. We owe to the .\tlienians the Fig tree. This same people imported successively the Quince tree from the Island of Crete; the Chestnut from Sarjis ; the Peach, the European Kut from Persia ; the Citron from Media. All these foreign products and many more have come to us or the Europeans by means of the Greeks. The Ro- mans, after the conquest of Greece, tr.rnspoited to Italy all these trees. It was at that time that the Olive was introduced at Rome, because according to Fincstella the Olive was not known in Italy during tlie reign of 1 ar, to cherish and invigorate the friend ly relations of their two countries, upon the pres- ervation of which he believed the prosperhy and happiness of both nations essentially depended. He therelbre, only s]ioke the sentiments of his own country, when he assured them that its peo- ple and Government desired peace, solid, perma- nent peace with all nations, hut epecially good understanding with Great Jhitain, ii])on terms compatible with the rights and honor of both. (Cheers.) Mr. S. ihen asked whether he might be indulged for a moment in a bricfUotice of this association, and the great benefits it was calcula- ted to besto\v on agriculture. (Cries from all pai-tsofthe pavilion to go on.) He rejoiced, he said, in liaving hr.d it in his power to attend on the present occasion. Besides the op]iorlunitv it afforded him of witnessing for the two las't days proceedings so congenial to his fiieluigs, it enabled him to express in person his dccj) sense of the high honor which tlie Society had done lihn, in deeming him worthy to become one of its lionorai7 members. (Clieers.) He only re- gretted that it would not be in his power to re- pay such an honor by some corresponding bene- fit, worthy of such an Association, and of the in- terest he fell at its success. He could therefbrc, only offer the humble tribute of his homage and his best wishes. In such an assembly, it would, he was quite sure, be needless, if he were com- petent to expatiate upon the subject of agrieul- tiu-e, and its claims to support. He, however, felt a disposition to throw out one or two sugges- tions, which might not be entirely imworthy of consideration. (Cheers.) All, he said, cjinciiiTcd in assigning to agTicul- ture a high iilace in the scale of iudividiilil and national interest — (hear,hear) — but yet he thought they did not give it the importan'ce it merited, and to which it justly asjiired. In other words, that too many supposed the object of agriculture was alone for jiurposes of subsi.'»tenee. Now, a more fallacious oiiinion could not, he thought, ob- tain, than that the responsibilities of agricultm-c stopped at the jiroductioii of food lor eaters. Fur othei-AV ise — the duties of agriculture, he said, were like tliose of morality.they spread beyond the cir- cle of providing the means of subsistanee, into u wide e.xjianse, created by the obligations arishig out of a state of society, and were connected with all the great national interests. — (Cheers.) Hence the support of government — the encouragement of commerce, the basis of manufactures, the sub- sistence of the learned professions, dejieuded up- on the iin])ortance and interests of agrieulfurc. (Cheers.) It was the source from which all clas- ses not truly derived subsistence, but prosperitv. As an objcctof universal benefit, then, it was just- ly entitled to universal jiatrouage. (Cheers.) Mr. Stevenson said that agricidture had been justly considered national property — the whole country one great farm, and the inhabitants ;,5 one great family: in which, however, those who worked the least had the most jirofit. Now, if this was true, as he believed it to be to a certain extent, ihen those who aie not farmers had as great an inlcrist as the f;u-mer himself, uiasmueh as the whole class employed in agricultural labor wore first to be subsisted, and that of the other classea out of the stu-plus, and of course the larger the surplus, the greater would be the profit." This was a selfish argument, if might be said, but yet he tliought it not the less strong. (Hear.) Of all the modes which had been resorted to in aid of agriculture, the most beneficial were asso- ciations of this cliaraeter — societies for the col- lection and diffusion of knowledge; the iiilro- duction of useful c.vperiments; the writings of able and distinguished men ; and that excite- ment and emulation so essential to all improve- ment. Science was tibsolutely necessary to mod- ern agriculture. Theory and practice reflected light on each oilier, and this was the more felt, as of all puusuits, there was no class so wedded to old habits, and w liicli were so unyielding, as those who cultivate the soil. This v,"as the case both ill the old and new world. He rejoiced, therefore, in the giant strides which agriculturo was making in every quarter of the globe, under the beneficial aids of prastieal science. This was, he said, one of the great benefits which the soci- ety would .accomplish. (Cheer.s.) If any m,".n doubted the extent to which science had bene- fited agriculture, let him visit England and Scot- land— England, ■which had justly been said to be the Garden of all EurojK<. And why wun if to? THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Simply, because its entire Kiirfaec was niltivated upon ]iriiiciples, wliicli ^verc brougiit to the test of tlie most rigid anrl severe cxiicriiiient ; because agriculture wiis scieutiti* lly ami pliilosopliicully piirsued, and because slie ii'ad sucli excellent far- mers. (Cheers.) It was indeed delightful to witness the system of iiirming and rural econo- my throughout tlie land. It' a Ibreiguer wishes 10 kno-iv wJiat England really \\as, he must go into the country and mi.\ \vitli the farmers and yeomanry. It had been said he believed, by one ofthe princes of the reigning family, that the pride ot England \\ as in lier yeomanry. He re- echoed the sentiment, and was liajjpy to belong, when at home, to that class. iXe.M, lie said, to the proud dislinclion of being an Amcrictm citi- zen, was that of I)eing a iiirmer. (Cheers.) Who could look'upoii such an assemlilvas this witiiout Icelmg himself elevated and gratified .'^Cheers. 121 studying and the acquisition of useful knowledge in afterlife. ° This early taste for reading is the onlv sure source for future advancement— it is one' of the best preparations for school that the Aoung schol- ar can be in possession of Give nic, said an eininent teacher, a child with this habit, ,uul I will assme you a good schotar, ivhereas, if you give me one without this liabit, it will reciuire months; often years, before I can qualify him to stud)'. The (picstioii naturally presents itself— How can tliis taste be created and cherished ? We answer as the result of our experience let every father of a family provide a suita- lile collection of useful books for his children. VVith a httle care in k^election, and adding occa- sionally a new one, an e.\<-ellent family librarv iiy be collected fbr a small sum of monev i\r I ------■-— ... „.....».,.,. . ^^,i,^,_i!,. ,,,,iy ,ju coiiectea for a sma 1 sum of ninnnv 'nit> wi -eTnd' ''"'''f ",';'""' "r"''"^ «T\ ""°''^- '^'''^ '""»'y "»'« ""-^'«1 " yVe s ved ,e i^ J Ifie wise and the cood; the nub he aiu t be nr - ;., .1,0 .,.!„„„,: .,■. .1. ■._•' „, , "^"'"i" 1 he wise and the good; the public and the pri- vate man, those who fill high places, mixingwith the farmeis and cultivators of the soil upon pey- fect equality, :md the spiiit of peace and cliarity shedding around their holv calm,refreshhig alike to the feelings and intellect. (Cheers.) it was, he said, upon this Society and its wide spreading and fitr extending purposes, that the eyes ol Eiu-ope and America were now fixed with a steady gaze. He hoped there \\ ould be no disap- pointment. Viewed hi relation to their o\\n country, there w-s every moti^'c for supporting it, but viewed in relation to its eficcts upon other nations, as had been justly said, the motive rose into a much higher and nobler sentiment. It be- came then the cause, not of their country or his, but that of miiukiiid ; and \vlio so jioor or sordid in spirit, as to think only of himself or his coun- try \\ hen the great question was whether the eaith should be inhabited anrl cultivated by en- lightened viilDous and religious men, o'r by debased and ignorant human beings and hoides of savages ? (Cheers.) In conclusion, he could only lepent his thanks for the kindness and hon- or done him, and bis best w islies for the success of their glorious association. He trusted in God, that it might fulfil its highest purposes, do honor to its tbimders, and benefit mankind. Mr. S. then said that the most pleasing part of liis duty re- mained to be perlbnned. It was to projiose to Iht in a toa.sl « hicli would be hailed, he was quite sure, with the greatest enthusiasm. It \\ould be presumjition in him to do more than to name the distinguishcrl individual wIk.sc licalth he was about to pro]>ose. One, who in evei-y thing con- nected with the honor and glory of his country stood jiroiidly preeminent, and of whom it might justly be said, both in war and in j'eace, was wi'th- out reprocjch. He i)rojiosed to them the health of their noble president, the Duke of Richmond, with three times three. He set down amid the most enthusiastic cheering." I>oin the Practical I-'armcr. Habits of Headins in C'liildren. Teachers and parents, esjiecially the latter, should feel deeply interested to create a taste in children for usefiil reading — lio pains on the ])art of parents and teachers should be spared to in- fuse in the yoinig generally, a love of reading. It is owing to the neglect of this, that schools and books are hated by so many children ; and even many who have attained the age of liberty or manhood, and hence too it is that the "r«»i- /lo/es," and " ni/stcr-shops" of our country are so well " stocked.'' Fiomour limited ol sei\alion we have l.^ecn long convinced that the hal'lt of reading cannot be too early fbrtned in the young. Wc have seen those m horn we kiiei\- in their infancy — the one a reading child : the othera hook-hating-ckitd ; this oue very fond of mischief; and of dissolute habits; that one always outstripi)ed h.is fellows in class — he stood higher than all his school mates who had a fondness for leading. These we see daily, one a sot, the other rc- s])ectable and happy. The cause of this contrast is readily imagined. The one had, almost in his infancy, acquired a fondness for reading, the ether had not. The habit of reading informs, and consequently ex- pands the mind, and confers gradually the pow- er of abstracting the mind li'om the external world and its alhn-ements to vice ; a power which is iudisirensable to the succt^.~fid piotccution of m the education of a fiimilv. We have nevei known a family of children' grow up ignorant when they had access to useftd books ; but there are Iiimdreds who ha\e grown up ianorant and acqmrcd vicious habits, who had no access to a janiily library. The very presence of books will induce children, if encouraged by their iiarents to read. We have been engaged occasionally as teach- ers for fifteen years, atid we have alwa\ s fbimd that Avherever children had been stiimilated by the example cf leading pareuts, the children of such parents, made more progress in three months in the acquisition of useful knol^ ledge, than others of different habits did in nine moiiti'is! Hence the great ditrerence bca\een children ofthe same school and the same neighborhood. In this is the great secret why some childien make more progress than in our commou schools. We \\oidd, iherefcjie, urge it upon parents whose children have no access to a villaee or Sunday lihrarj— to ])rovide small, well selected family libraries, rest assured, you «ill never re- gret it. The perstuisive language of self-interest should induce you to do souicfliing in this way for those who call you by t!ieeudcariuga|)[)ellalioii of parentis. Their etiucation, Mitliout reading niu.st be defective— purchase them uselid and valuable books and you will confix- a lasting ben- efit ui>on yours and the community. Hints for Wool growers and homespun cloth makers. A friend in the County of Merrimack, who has had both the experience of a Farmer and of the business of Carding and Cloth Dressing for twenty-five years, tVnuishes us witii the Ibllowing useful hints: — For profitable rearing of sheep I would select those of the large kind prodnciug heavy fleeces, i mi.\ture of Merino with Irish or South Down, ■laving not ever h.alf blood Merino. For common wear, I would hat 0 the sheep washed clean before shearing; let the sheep bo sheared as soon a,s they arc ({t\ — say witliin two or three days; for if the sheep are suffered to run longer after washing, tlic wool is not fit to card without further cleansing'. Sort, examine and pick the v.ool before it is sent to the carder. Do this work so thoroughly, that there shall not remain a beachiiut bur, bur- dock bur, thistle head, nor any other .-ulherin;,' substance : nuik,- it as perlt-ctly clean as if it ivas to lie carded at lioiiie in coitoii cards. All ti.^lted vrool should he sheared so rs to take the felt off in preparing to card it, as no jiicker can entirely destroy the fih ; and it iiijmes the c.-ird and causes the rolls to have small niibs in them. When wool is prepored for coloring, let it be washed or well cleansed before it shall be put in the dye. Let it also b-j well cleansed after being taken out of the Aye. \{ the woo! is intended to be mixed, it had belter be mixed before it shall be sent to the mill. It ought not to go \vith the blue dye in it, as s'omc good ladies sometimes send itto'be carded ; for it is verj- oflensive to card, to sj)i]i or to keep any where about the house in that state. If the wool to be carded is fine, it ought not to be greased before sending to mill. If the wool be very fine, it should not be greased at all. For white IkTimel it may be oiled with olive oil ; for fuUrd cloth, with good sperm oil. Wool that is uea.rcd and lies in the mill two or three «eeks in hot weather must be oiled over, or vou mttb,. iiave bad rolls. Every good fenner's liotisewife will learn her- self and teach her daughters to prepare wool for the carding iiiacliine. Thev should be taught to spin and weave, and perform their other domes- tic manufacturing as ^vas done forty years ago. On the knowledge of household maiiufiictures depends our independence. When the art is lost, we must go to the large fiictories for our clothing ; and much of their cloth is hardly worth making up for coinmon A^ear. Cloth for every-dav common wear may be made of coarse open wool ; mix the white in equal parts with black or blue. Have this mixed \yool weW carded— .spun coarse as five skeins to the pound— beat up and wove very stout, and dressed by some good old fashioned clothier at eight or ten cents jieryard; and this will be cloth worth making up. But the wool grower pcriiaps will sav, it is cheaper to buy cloth when wool sells 'for fifty cents iier ])ound ; for my wool costs me a dollar or more m the yard to make mv cloth, and my girls can earn more at the factbrv, while I can buy cloth at the store at fifty to seven-five cents ])er yard. I say to 3011, alter twenty-five years experience in domestic mauufiicturcs, that in the heart of wool growing I have made from six to nine hundred yards of woolen cloth every year for ten jears from wool of my own raising ; that I have hired and paid females at tlie rate of one dollar fifty cents per week to spin and weave in the old vay and boarded — have made the busi- ness profitable, selling my cloths near Boston for c«sli. If you would be independent learn jonr 'laugh- ters to sjiin and w eave ; although they iv.i.x -ct seem to earn so much for a season, it is "mucJi better for them than to be at a fiictory, where they lose or never gain the art of domestic man- ufacturing and hou.«ewiferv, to the great injury of society, and frequently to the loss of their health, and sometimes of "their lives. If each fariMcr's wi)(; and groNvn dtuighter will iiiake for themselves a good woolen gown — the finer and more ingeniously spun and wove the more to her credit — lor winter wear, in lieu of buying some foreign manufacture at the store; It will contribute bolli in themakingand wearing to the healdi, comfort and best interest of each. How must every young man prize the "girl Avliich he lo'es best" that she is able to dress herself with the delicate work of her own lin- gers ! Salisbury, July I(j, 1840. How docs climate aflect the staple of Woolt The manner in which our two distinguished .friends. Col. Ja^ites and Mr. Siblev, arrive at the same conclusion iioiii ];rcmises directly op- posite, puzzles lis exceedingly. We have not the ability to exiilain or delijnd 'either position. All we can do is to exprees the hope that our read- ers, who are practical men pursuhig the success- ful busiiie.^s_of weaning lambs and raising sheep, will not be infhirnecd to change a sure course, for any untried exiierimcnt. Our fiiend Sible)-, -whose communications on any Hgricultnral siiliject we shall al',va\s prize l.iccause they are the result of expcricncej has ful- ly proved Jiis doctrines in relation to the man- agemeiitofsheephy his works: we should Ibllow his advice very tar on this, as on almost every other jioint of agricultural inlbrmation. Colonel Jaqucs is iicrhaps more a man of fancy and im- agination than the Hopkinlon farmer.' The es- .-a^sand the ideas of both gentlemen will amuse ourrcc'ders; if they do not afford in all cases safe instruction. I'oi- tiic farmer's Monthly Visitor. Hoph'nlon, jY. H. August 1st, 1840. Hon. Is.\.\<; Hill.— Ill the Visitor of yesterdav, now beliire me, I find a very interesting account of Col. Jaques, his farm, and his stock— but more especially interesting is the accnnnt ofthe man- agement of his stock, and his lheor\ for its im- provement. I will touch onlv upon "his theory re- specting his flock of Soudi Downs. He stiites,"that " to give them the finer, and uniform quality of wool,down to the fetlock,aiid an increased quanti- ty, over the whole body, he had so disjiosed of tlieir breeding, tluit they should present ihiiir lambs in the lall. in.-tcad of (he spring." He founds the 122 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. iinprovemeut of the wool of his sheep, on the piinciple, that " the economy and providence of nature are sucli, tlmt animals clothed in wool or fur will increase or diminish the quantity of eith- er according to the climate, which requires more or less wool or fur to warm the body." It is on this same principle, of the "economy and providence of nature," that I found the im- provement of the wool of my sheep, but my man- ner of doing it is the reverse of that of Col. Ja- ques. If my views are right, they may be of some service to wool growers, who would be likely to follow a principle laid down and reduced to prac- tice by a person of so much influence as Colonel Jaques. My reasons lor adopting a different maimer of unprovement may be seen in the fol- lowing account. In the fall of 1821, I bought a small number of full blooded merino sheep, for the purpose of in- creasing my flock and raising fine wool. For a number of years I allowed the buck to go with tlie flock the year roimd, in order that my lambs should come in the winter, supposuig birth at that season would have a natural influence in producing a more abundant quantity, and a much finer quality of wool. In breeding a few years in this way with the nicest care as to male par- entage, I fbmid all my yoimg sheep bore wool of an interior quality to my original stock. I had nearly made up my mind that our country was not suited to the growth of fine wool, and that in the course of time the offspring of fine Spanish sheep would become assimilated to and lost in our native breed. From conversation and reflec- tion on tlie subject, I concluded to change m> course, tuid let the month of May be the yeaning niontli, and a few years only were needed to pro- duce a change tor the better, as apparent as day from night. All agree, that a cold climate is calculated to produce a finer, softer and more abundant covering for the animal creation, than a hot one, and for that reason, a lamb that is drop- ped in May, or the fore part of June, will pro- duce more and better wool, than one which comes in the fall or winter. By allowing the male to go to the female in Decemlier, we have the whole of the winter for the formation of the animal, and with all the other parts, every fibre of the wool is formed, and the lamb is fitted for a cold climate with a fleece of the finest and warmest kind. After the perfect formation and production of the animal, the heat of our summer produces no change in the quality of the wool, or if any, it is so slight as to be wholly unperceived. Sheep that are at all times kept in a perfectly heallliy condition continue to produce wool equally fine, soft, and beautiful, year af\er year, till visited by old age, and then, like the hair of an aged person, it becomes in some degree more_ harsh and rigid. By providing for the birth of lambs in the fall, gestation is going on during the heat of sunnner, and nature, true to her work, prepares the lamb with a hairy, coarse covering, suited to a warm climate. STEPHEN SIBLEY. season of the year, is bo infeeted with hen lice, as they are called here, that it is almost impossible to make the hens stay on their nests until the eggs are hatched. The mo- ment a person enters the door, they come from every di- rection right down upon him ; and if by any chance, there happens a' few egi;s to get liatched out, the chickens are so.jn t iken with a disease called the gapes, and very few if any survive. The best thing I have ever yet found for this disease, is ground black pepper and butter, mixed well together, put down their throats; this, if applied soon enough. I think is a pretty certain cure. Any information upon eitlier of those evils would be thankfully received ; also the best method for building heu-houses, bo that they may be the easiest cleaned, accommodate the most hens, and keep t!iem the warmest in winter." Mr F.li Westfall, of Rhinebeck, gives the following remedy : — " Remove the worms out of the windpipe and they will get well. This can be done with safety and facility after a little practice, in the following manner. Let some one take the chicken, holding its legs in one hand and placing the other over its back, so as to hold it firm ; then let the operator tike a small hen's feather or a large pigeon's feather, atJd strip off the featlier from the stem excepting about an inch or inch and a half from the tip end, accord- ing to the siie of the chicken. Wet it a little, and strip that part b ick sn that what remains on the stem, will stand hack like the barbs on an arrow, excepting the extreme point, which roll a little so as to make a point ; then let the operator take the head of the chicken in his left hand, placing his thumb and forefinger on each side of the bill, m such a manner as to hold the mouth open, the neck gently but firmly drawn out in a straight line ; then observe the opening back in the tongue, place the feather as near it as possible, and when the chicken breathes, the windpipe will be open, enter the point quick, and fear not after the point is entered ; push down gently from two to three inches, (don't be in too much of a hUrry ;) then draw out, and turn the feather as it is drawn, and the worms will ad- here to the feather, and others will be loosened, and the chicken will sneeze them up frequently, so that they will fly out of their mouths. It is not advisable to enter the feather more than twice at one time ; let the chicken go, and if it gapes the day after, you have not got them all ; try again. This is a sure cure if attended to ; generally you need not perform the operation more than once, but sometimes ofteirer. My chickens, over 100 in number, never had it worse ; the greater part have had it, and I have Notes at home and by the Way. Saturdaij, Aug. 1. This is the first day sinc^ the month of June in which all the customary signs of rain did not tail. The commencement lost but one, and that was doubtlessly neglected too long ; " ■ ■ ' 'ife. From the Albany Cultivator. G.VPES IN CHICKENS, &c. We have four communications on the management of chickens, relating principally to the cause, preventive and cure of the gapes. .Vs we have not room tor fhcin a.l, we extract from each of them the most essential parts. "A PottUerer" inquires tlie cause, and asks for preven- tive and cure. He describes the disease as follows ; — '• So far as ray observation has extended, and from the information of others, 1 gather the following facts relu' live to the disease. I'pon dissection there are found in the windpipe, several small red worms, varying in size and length — some half an inch and more in length. The licart .also is much enlarged, quite soft and suft'useJ with bl.io,.' It is supposed that these worms continue to increase in size until the windpipe becomes completely filled up, and the chicken suftbcates. The disease first shows itself when the chicken is between three and four weeks old, and not generally after, by causing a sneezing or snulfing through the nostrils, and a frequent scratching of itself at the roots of the bill. In two or three days it commences to droop and grows stupid, anil at every breath raises its head and gapes, apparently for the want of breath. It thus continues for a week or ten days, when it dies, per- fectly emaciated. The appetite continues good, and it will eat greedily so long as it lives. The disease is atten- ded with mur;h fever, so much so, that the end of the tongue becomes white, and so dry that it curls up." From the communication of " JV. S." of Js'ewWind- and I never saw a lot of chickens thrive better in my li ^ have taken out as many as eleven worms at one haul. — .^ One of my goslins, not long since, appeared to have the gapes. It was something new to me, I never had heard of goslins being subject to it ; I thought the goslin would soon die ; it occurred to my mind that it was not an im- possibility. I tried the remedy, and the goslin is now well and tiiriving." " J. R. S." of Fultonville, says :— " Hens having chickens are usually kept confined while the chickens are small, and too often so that they cannot get the ground. When thus confined, it should always be on the ground, and in a good sized moveable coop,- which should be moved so as to occupy a new position on the ground, as often as once in ten days. SucIi a course will have a tendency to prevent the young brood from becom- ing lousy ; for it is well known chickens cannot thrive if covered with vermin. I not only feed and water such broods several times a day, but I cut grass and clover into short pieces and place it in the coop, and have the satis- faction of seeing it greedily devoured. In addition to this course of treatment, I almost daily, dig earth worms for them. I hear my neighbors often complain that their chickens are lousy, or have ' the gapes,' either of which will destroy them. I seldom lose chickens from either, and attribute my success to the course of treatment as above recommended. Thousands upon thousands of chick- ens would probably be saved annuiily. by a little attention to ttie course I pursue. Lice may be destroyed by placing lard beneath the wings .and on the back of the chicken. .\ sure remedy for the gapes I have not ye! discovered ; but have heard "a very simple one given, which I have had no opportunity to test. It was to extract a few of the end feathers from the wings, the barrel of which it is said will be found to be black. Fowls, while laying, should be well fed, and the size of the eggs will generally determine their keciiing j as the eggs are largest when the fowls are best fed." Young orchards may be kept in vigorous growth, the limbs of the trees of a smooth as- ])ect, and the foliage of deep green, by washing tiie limlis in potash v.ater, and by keeping the ffround in cultivation with the plough without striking upon the main roots of the trees. Fresh soil takin from the woods and from richer spots may he laid under the trees to advantage. Where the ground is not ploughed, mow the grass and let it lie under the trees. Tlie Borer. — Mr. Brcck of the New England Farmer says " there are other instruments quite as effectual as the gouge or the crooked wire for the destruction of the borer ; and these are tlio bill and long tongue of the little speckled wood pecker." soon after si.x in tlie morning was little more tlian mist. It passed by mid-day mth the wind con- tinuing to blow from the east. Before sundown more rain had fallen during the day than in the two preceding months — a sufficient quantity to revive drooping nature where life had not been dried out of it. SHALL WE OFFENn OUR NEIGHBORS, OR LOSE OUR CROPS ? Sunday, Jlug. 2. Was informed while going to church that a neighbor's unruly cow under tlie darkness of night, surmounting all obstacles, had filled herself from the fine eais of our yoimg cornfield, breaking down and destroying much more thmi she had eaten. From thence she pro- ceeded to the beautifid garden made and kept on Our premises by Mr. Whitney — a garden, which with the work of his own hand (he has but one hand) assisted by his son fourteen years of age, on less than two acres of ground, will yield as great an amount of produce as any two other acres of the county the present season. Travers- ing his beautiful plat of onions set for seed and prostrating them in the way, the mischievous cow reached and seized on several hills of choice corn : thence she took her comse to the cabbage plat, where she destroyed a few dozen of the fast growing heads, and in this position, having her appetite fully satiated, she was discovered by the light of the early morning. Mr. Whitney thinks he nuist be paid his bill hy the owner of the cow for the damage done in oin- garden : it is doubtful whether we shall prosecute for the two dollars damage done in the corn-field exclusively our own. There are some twenty cows kept, in de- fiance of the law, wandering in the street, ready to poimce upon our Iiuhan corn, broom corn and turnip fields on either side of the river, whenever they can fuul the bais down, or himger shall drive them to break over the best fences. If we shoidd direct our men, in our absence from town, to take them to the pound the first time we shall find them where they have been more than once, should we \iolate the rules of good neighbor- hood .-' This evening at si.x o'clock a most animating rain commences and continues for two hours. The water runs in the streets as it was wont to do. Monday, Axig. 3. After a clearing oft' of the previous night, we have another exhilarating, smalt rain from the southwest, at about four o'- clock in the afternoon. PRODUCTIVE OATS. This day our attention is called by a gentleman who visited Pembroke yesterday, to some heads of oats produced from the field of Mr. Tilton, near his tavern on the main street of that town. They are of a kind, several bushels of which were brought tiom V'ermont during the last win- ter, and sold for one dollar the bushel, called the Scotch oats. Mr. Tilton sowed two bushels of these iii)on an acre of ground along-side of the common oats. Our intbrinant judged that the crop of the Scotch oats would be twice as great as the otlier kind. They are not quite as for- ward, but are much taller thiui the common kind. They resemble in length of head the horse-mane oats, which it will be recollected hang only in one tier: the head of the Scotch oats is of a dou- ble tier, or rather the oats seem to hang nearly equally aroiuid the stem. We have two of the heads from Mr. Tilton's field on wliicli the oats hang to the length of full ten inche.s. An acre of ground well filled with stalks such as were ex- hibited to us, iiiu.-(t produce an immense quanti- ty of these oats. With the proper quantity of sowing and strength of ground, we sujipose a hundred bushels of these oats might be raised on an acre. Mr. Tilton and other gentlemen who raise them will do well to presene for seed all of these oats raised the present season. EXPERIME.VZT UPON TIIE PLAINS. sor : — " Can you give your readers any information as to the best methods of rearing chickens ! I have taken a creat deal of pains, but have invariably been but poorly paid fur , i. ■ 1- ■ r my trouble. In the first place, my hen-house, in the warm \ worm upon apple trees, the application of tar, JohnW. Proctor, Esq of Danvers, Mass., SecreUuy of the Essex Agiicultural Society, re commends as the best remedy against the f anker Tuesday, Aug. 4. Walked to our field of ten acres of barren pine jilaiii land that had been bro- ken up last fall from the stump of the forest cut down the previous winter. Two acres were plan- ted with beans, and eight acres were late sowed with buckweat. Strange as may seem the drought THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 123 has less affected this land than almost any other oil oiir premises. The whole surface of the ground, where the frequent pitch pine stumps, in- termixed with now and then an oak stump, would permit tlie plough to fiuii up the sod, was cover- ed with rooty fibres, of brakes, blueberry and ivo- lyplum roots, &c. We were at a stand, on the advice of others, whether to plant or sow any thing on this gi'ound — all that it would produce we expected woidd be very little. Two bushels of Black sea wheat were first sowed on an acre and a half: this partially failed solely because there was no rain to bring the seed up. A small part of the seed did vegetate ; and at this time the wheat looks better on this groimd than it does on the highly nianiu-ed lot of last year, where we raised our best corn. Two acres of white beans from seed procured of Mr. Fowler of Hill, with one lioeing, and with no other application than a spoonful of plaster, look as flourishing as almost any other field we have noticed in our travels. But the eiglit acres of buckwheat have greatly and happily disappointed us. It was sowed late in the month of Jime in the midst of the severe drought. Some of the seeds sprung at once from the ground — others came up sparingly after- wards, so that Ibm- weeks had elapsed be- fore a sufficient quantity had risen from the gromid to give any encouragement for a crop. That portion of it which first came up grew vig- orously in spite of dry weather, and all of it con- tinued to go ahead. The rains of the last week have brought it forward so that it i!ow nearly covers tlie surface of the groiuid — it has grown above the brakes and otlier green weeds which started ahead at first: a portion of the whe;,t in spreading branches blooms in beautitiil white- ness, distinctly seen from our own donjicil at the distaiice of a mile. If nothing befals it — if the the wandering sheep kept upon the highways by some of our friends on the east side, to s;.ve tlie expense of pasturing, do not again bretik throu;; h the fence stronger and better than " stone walls," ;uid annihilate our hopes, we will have on the ten acres of this ])ine plain lalid a crop that will more than pay for all tlie labor we have laid out in subduing tke land and ti-ncing it. "bettkk latk than never." Jf'ednesday, ^lug. 5. Our hands taken fi om the hajiield this and the two previous day.sof doubt- liil weather to clear the weeds from a 'field of ru- ta baga and French sugar beets of about two a- cres. The same diffioiilty existed in relation to this crop as to that of the Black sea wheat: in the dryest part of the ground the seeds did not veget;tte at all ; and much of it that did spring was full six weeks hi coming up. The drills were not disturbptl, so that tlie weeds had ample time to grow, and we did not attempt their entire extirpation until this time. An attemjit to tians- ])lant had failed in part, the parcliing sun having dried up and killed the plant. Now the slow pro- cess was gone through of clearing out the weeds, and to do it effectually, after they were cut down or pidled up, they ^^■ere gathered in baskets, and five waggon loads, weighing as many tons, were taken to the hog ])en where they will make ex- cellent manure — the belter for being taken away before the new seeds upon them, had been matur- ed. Thursday and Friday, Aug. C, 7. For the foun- dation of our work on these days see another part of this luunber of the Visitor. We have at home three hands doing up the last of our hay- ing and getting in of oats which had stood stook- cti in the field, and three hands going through with hoes our corn and jiotatoe fields the last time for the season. Although the corn is in the milk, we think it better to cxtirjiate the weeds that grow in highly manured ground i|uite as lux- uriantly as the corn itself, than to suffer them to remain and go to seed. A copious rain fell on the afternoon of Thm-sday, which was the first wetting any of our hay had this year received. Saturday, Au^, 8. Haying and hoeing contin- ued. Through the whole season of haying, our hands, without asking for a drop of ardent siiirit, have taken to the barn each day a full average of four loads of fifteen hundred pounds each for ev- ery five persons engaged. Monday and Tuesda^u Aug. 10, 11. Hayiiig arid hoeing are kept up. The process of hoeing in the corn and potatoe fields is necessarily slow, in consequence of llie crop completely covering tlje groimd. The rank weeds ought at all hazards to be torn up — otherwise they must go into the crop of the next year on the same ground. Wednesday, Aug. 12. On leaving home at ten o'clock we perceive the men have mown down two full acres of the heaviest late grown grass upon the intei-vale this morning : over a portion of this the water flowed several times in May — and over some of it the river had backed in when raised by rams, none of which fell here, far up country. IMPROVEMENTS ON MERRIMACK RIVER. On the river road to Nashua, we marked as the peculiarity of a majority of the cultivated fields the prevalence of weeds in the growing corn and po- tatoes. Some of the gardens betrayed their in- difterent cultivation by the tall weeds and grasses peering above the ruta baga, beets, carrots, Cab- bages, and beans. As a general remark, up and down the Merri- mack river, the cultivation has been much impro- ved for the last ten years : the improved acres and products of the lighter lands have been at least doubled. A great deal of land has been worn out in raising rye. The method has been to plough in the summer and sow the pine plain lands with rye so long as they would bear any thing : some of these lands have been so strained and exliaus- ted that they will hardly bear common sorrel. They wouUl be the very best lands for cultivation if they «ere as highly manured as that land on the Winnipisseogee island where Mr. Brown rais- es his hundred bushels of corn to the acre. Ma- nured well and ploughed deep with clean culti- vation and a rotation of crops coming round once in five or six years, the farmer's never need fear the eflect ol drought on these lands: excepting the gromid shall be pure Siiiid or small Liavel, the manure placrd upon the surface neve) can filter itseh ij.\\:); under ground — the iieat object of fear would he that its strength should fi_\ away into the air, if exposed upon or too neiir liie t,\ir- liice. The improvements most worthy of atteniion bi^tween (-^oncoid and Nashua of late j.re in the Noyes Farm two miles above Hooksett falls, and on Col. Daniel Farmer's farm one mile above Amoskeag falls. To the.se we mijihtadd the M'- Grcgore tiirm belonging to the Amoskeag compa- ny, Mr. Walker's adjoining farm near Piscataquog village, and some other farms below in Bedford and Merrimack. Tlie Noyes fiuin in Bow, always a very good hay farm, has nearly doubled its productions with- in the last f(!W years by the application of stable manure fiom Hooksett. The hay has been taken oft' and sold, and the manure returned. So much has this tiirm been inqjioved by that jirocess that one half of it without the buildings sold the last year lor $4000. Sixty acres were sold : the whole of the original farm, comprising more than dou- ble that (luantity of land with the house and barns in good repair, sold a few years since for .S4.'500 or $4800. We ought not to pass by Rlr. Mitchell's garden on the road about half way between Hooksett and Amoskeag falls. This gentleman is a minis- ter of the gospel of the Methodist denomination : his friends say of him that he always jireaches well when his garden flourishes ; lint that he never preaches when his crops are likely to fiiil. He has the finest onion bed, saving that of our Mr. Whitney at home, that Ave have seen on the Boston road. The other garden vegetables on his premises arc almndant: squashes, melons, cabbages, all prove him to be a good cultivator. It was mentioned that he last year took about a hundred dollars for melons, at Amoskeag. On a plat of between one and two acres he iirobably obtains a greater net profit than some farmers get from a farm of fifty acres. There is a field of some forty or fif^y acres on Col. Farmer's farm about a mile from Amoskeag that deserves the attention of the passer-by who participates in any of our enthusiasm at the thought of great production where nothing has been produced. The largest portion of this field was not many years ago an almost impenetra- ble swamp of black hemlock, spruce, water ma' pie and birch growth, on which the water stood the year round. Col. Farmer, who certainly dis- covers taste and skill as a farmer, commenced op- erations after a new direction on the edge of this swamp had been given to the river road, carrying it fiirther from the river, by cutting down the trees and afterwards digging a deep ditch thi'ough the swamp, and from that through the rise of land between it and the river, draining off the redundant water. That part nearest the river has been in cultivation several years, and produ- ced an abundant crop of grass. Gradually has the ground been treuchedand the roots which pei-vaded the rich swamp mud have been tlirown into piles and burned. The black mud full of fi- bres is rich to appearance as a manure bed, and is several feet deep. This year the work has been carried on in earnest, and several acres have been dug over, leaving huge piles of logs and roots taken from beneath the surface to be burned when they shall become dry. On that part first taken up, have been planted potatoes, which were green and flourishing ui the time of drought beyond any potatoes on the river. It will cost much money or labor to subdue each acre of this gi-ound. When it is subdued there can be no danger the succeeding crops wUl not pay :i5 or perhaps 50 jier cent, annually upon the cost. The farm of the Amoskeag Company, under the management of Col. Reed, is a most mag- nificent fiirm tor the State of New Hamiishire : on it sometimes are kept twenty yoke of oxen — with the addition recently made on the east side, it yields about three hundred tons of hay in a year. This crop has been greatly increased by highly manuring land broken up to be laid down to grass. We observed this year on this farm what we had not ot late years seen there before — the weeds making a considerable head way a- niong the rank growuii mangel w intzel and corn- fields lyin^ in sight ol the road. Not so tlie corn-fields and garden of the ad- joining farm, south, the proprietor and occupant Ol wliich (Mr. James Walker) has presented the readei« ol the Visitor \vith an interesting account ol some portions of the process by which he makes a small farm i most profitable one. Opposite the town of Merrimack and in sight of the travelled road is the rich little town of Litchfield, whose entire population does not con- tain a single pauper. The farms lie along the bank of the river for several miles, the township being narrow and long. The occupants of these farms have always been wealthy and indepen- dent. Farms of much the same description con- tinue down on that side of the river in the town of Hudson nearly all the way to Nashua. At no very great distance before arriving at Nashua within the limits of that town on the low- er road we pass Col. Greeley's farm which hag been made highly valuable fiom superior niau- agement and cultivation. This farm (at least that part of it which appears from the road) is made from that light gravelly or sandy soil which has heretofore been denominated jioor land. The renovation and fertility of this land is standing proof that perseverance in the new husbandi-y is alone wanted to enable New Hampshire to sup- port five or ten times its present population. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Mon- day, Aug. l.'i to 17 : busied in preparation at Bos- ton for a new business — attending the usual wor- ship and devotions of the Sabbath— and writing out at leisure hours the history of our two days' agricultural experience with the Shakers — the best matter falling within our obsei-vation to keep alive our attachments lor the farm was the Amer- ican minister's speech before the gi-eat meeting of the Royal Agricultural Societj', delivered on the Kith .July last, which met us in the Boston Morning Post. Mr. Stevenson advances the true idea when he says that the blessings of Ag- riculture stop not at the supply of our physical wants, but extend to the safety and preservation of morals and the charms of social life. " The support of government, the encouragement of commerce, the basis of manufactures, the sub- sistence of the learned professions, depend upon the interests of agriculture :" an object of uni- versal benefit, it is entitled to universal patronage. Tuesday, Aug. 18. On the invitation of our old acquaintance, in company with Judge Cor- ning of the State of New York, visited the beau- titiil seat of Mr. Harrison Gray, on the Leinist estate, being a part of the premises of the late Gov. Sumner in Roxhur)', about three miles fiom the old State House. The house of Mr. Gray stands over a cellar dug from the solid rock, at a few rods distance fiom a neat stone F.piscopal church: Irom an uibour in the rear oi the house 124 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. ut a liigher point of tlie ciiiiueiicc, Cambriilge, witb the Poit and Lccliineie Poiut, Cliailestowii and the Bunker liill nionunieut, Boston, with the several bridges and avenues over Cliarles river on the onclland, and the islands and South Bos- ton on the other, can be overlooked. A nearer amphitheatre covering clegaiit green fields, gar- dens and villas witb the city part of Roxbury, is likewise spread out before you. OREEN HOUSE AND GRAPERY. Mr. Gray surprised us by turning the keys of of the outside and inner doors of a beautitid green house shuated on a declivity of a hill upon his premises. This green house had been erected at an expense of" al)out two thousand dollars: one ball' of the expense was incurred in the ap- paratus for creating and using m-titicial heat, by which vegetables may be forced to grow at all sea- sons. The green house is completely covered with glass on the sim side,whicli is raised,o))ened or shut down at pleasure by a very simple pro- cess. Besides the cultivation of grapes the green house is used for forwarding eajly garden vege- tables. It is fifty to seventy-live feet in length by thirty feet in width, divided lengthwise by a brick wall, in which are the apparatus for healing, and in the rear or narrow part a place tor coal and hunber : the green house proper cndwaces perhaps two thirds of the space within the out- side walls of the budding, which are of brick ma- son work. In the wall on the south side arc apertures through which the grape vines are connected with their i-oots planted on the outside The \ ines run on trestles overiiead, and presented a most astonishing production of fruit. The clus- ters of grapes were each about the size of a quart, thirty or forty of which might be counted on the single stran of one vine. There *ibb evi- dently a greater quantity of grapes than the weight of 3ie vines including leaves and all the vegetable growth besides. On the vines w ithin this small space there proVably bung 900 or 1000 poiuids of grapes. The white Sweetwater grapes were now ^Aug. 18) so nearly ripe that the visi- tors picked an ate several luscious bunches. The Black Hamburgh, a larger grape than tlie Sweet- water, ripe about tlie 1st of Septendier, >vasjust turning to its rich mature color. The Black rain or St. Peter's grape was yet more green than cither, not ripening till the middle of Se])tcnil)er. In rearing these grapes it is necessary tlic roots should be planted in rich ground on the outside surrounded by manure. Judgment mid skill arc required in trimming them early in the season. The greatest trouble with those of Mr. Gray was that of bringing down and selecting early in the season tlie quantity to be taken away, tor the bet- ter growth of those w Inch remained. JMr. G. men- tioned that notwithstanding the inmicnse quauli- fy left, many had licen t;dicn off wlieii irreen fur mukii'g tarts, to which use they were peculi;u-ly a- dapted. The ripe grapes sell in Boston market from .'iO to 75 cents a pouncL The present sea- son will prove to be lung enough lor the latest of these erapes without the necessity of forcing them with artificial heat. If a green house can be erected for one thousand dollars, whieli would produce annually grapes that with but a few days labor in the cultivation would sell (or live hun- dred dollars, such an estabhshuient might not be considered a bad investment.. The mere exlijlii- liou to the eye of sucli a jjicturc as the haiiaing clusters presented to the horlicultund aiiiatiur might be worth half the interest on the cost of ))roduction. The tomato is becoming a vegetable of com- mon use ru New Kngland: it is hoalthlid us'.-d in ■\arious ways. Roasted, boiled, stewed, or cut up raw, it is the more liked the more it is eaten — it makes the most superb i)ickle, is excellent in a soup,and is extracted into a savory catsu]). Of the tomato pills already celebrated we have not \rt taken sufficient to testify to tlieir merits. Tlie tomato pioduces wonderfully in rich land. Tiiere were tomato vines in Mr. Gray's garden, a single f.talk of \vhich contained clusters measuring near- ly a peck each. Tho-trestled peach trees were quite a cm'i- osit}-. The limbs of the tree tied to the trestle •were made to grow flat like the fingers standing upright li'om the band. Tlic advantage of llius directing tlie young tivig was the 'xposin-e of tlie fiuit to the sun so as to induce earlier ripeness. BOSTO.^ MARKET AKD MARKET-ME.V. Thursdaij, Aug. 20. — The market house in Bos- ton, a graiiite structure of se\eral hundred feet in length and probably a hundred ftict wide, pre- sents at siuirise the appearance of bustle and Ini- siness. This noble structure was erected by the corporation of the city some dozen or fourteen years ago, and the stall's are tenanted by industri- ous and active marketers, the most of whom, in tiocks, attend to their business personally. Formerly the farmer or gardener fi-om the coun- try went through the town to dispose of his jiro- dnee. Of late years they come to the market with their loaded carts, discharge at once on sale to the occupants of the stalls and return home to their business ; so that the man who formerly returned late in the day or evening, bringing jter- haps a part of bis load ol' unsold stale vegeta- bles, now gets home by nine or ten o'clock in tlic morning, having disposed of his entire stock. Prices in the market of the fiirmer's ]n-oducts were high enough, compared wiih the prices of every thing else. Beef 12^ cents; mutton and veal Scents; chickens per pair 75 cents; geese 87.] and .'*1 ; lump butter 25, firkin butter 17 cents; eggs 14 cents dozeti ; cheese 8 cetits lb; potatoes (!2i cents bushel ; Boston hams Vih cents; middlings pork 10 cents. The vegetables in the market are very fine. Turnii)s of the size of a man's large palm, beautifully w bite and clear as amber ; gieen corn, very fine ; blood red Ijects and yellow orange carrots do., and so of the rest. One need only t;o into Boston market to be come convinced that the right kind of cultivation and manuring will do wonders. Why is it that the Boston marketers can always present larger cabbages, better onions, better potatoes, larger asparagus in its season, finer ears of corn, hirger melons, more magnificent si|uashes, than are usu- ally found fifty miles and over from the city .' It is because the ground is generously fed by the best prepared manures, and constant attention i^ paid to its cleanliness: weeds are not permitted to usurp one half the strength of the earth. The market farmer is at all times busy. Soon after one o'clock in the morning there is a con stant rolling of cart wheels through the (>rinri |):d avenues leading into the town. The market man is not only up betimes to dispose of liis ar tii-les, but he laliors early and late, in rain and in shine, to raise and gather and |iiepare bis artich lor the market. Formerly a portion of the mark- etinen, when it A\as fashionable lor all to call fijr something to drink, indulged themselves and lie- came intemperate. Now intemperance is almo.st totally superseded, and the time formerly wasted at taverns and tippling shops is devoted to nobler purposes. AN EXCURSION. A chance of which I could not well deny my- self WH"! this day offered to go into the country a few miles — an exclusion of the craft of tyjie makers, type setters, booksellers and stationers, to which the editor belonged in times of old lang syne. The day was spent in great hilarity : par ticularly were the campiuiy-delighted and enter- tained with the quick retort and lively repartee of a great ■i\it of the city, who once started off leji resenting him who carried the \vorld on bis slioiil i)eratc on the culti- vators (iu'thcr in the country as an encourage ment lo them to raise twice, thrice and fburtbld the amount of their present crops by making, .saving and ajtplying jiist so much manure to ev- ery ph)Uj;luil acre as will produce a great croji and leave the laud better than the plough found it in early spring THE CAKE-KNIFE BEAN. Salurdw/, Aiig. 22. — Visit the stone market at sunrise, and find the men ah'cady there who live seven miles out of town. Peaches brouglit by steam boat from the Jersies by way of New York sell for half a dollar a half-jieck and four dollars a bushel ; they come in ba.skets of about one and a half bushels each, covered and fiistened down w ith thick cloth. A profitable item in the fiirm- er's account, and a good nutritive and healthy ar- ticle fiir the consumer at this season, are shelled green beans. The Seavey or case-knife beau is generally admired : this bcmi runs upon the pole, and it is said a dozen well cultivated hills will furnish a fimiily through the season. They hold on from the middle of August until the frost kills the vines. A market fiirmer of our acquaintance brought in his bushel of shelled Seavey beans as one article, which sold at the stall for six dollars in casli ; and this quantity he is able to rc])eat in successive market ilays. The richest shell bean in the market is a larger kind, called the Lima beau. EVILS OF EMIGRATION. Perhaps there is no greater misfortune to the States on the Atlantic seaboard than the tempta- tion which the extreme fertility of the land farth- er west holds out to emigration. Our first culti- vation is always on the exhausting system. We get great cro))s from the virgin soil until it be- comes exhausted ; and then we retreat to other virgin soil. This exhausting system of culti- vation will not jirobably be abandoned until the shore of the western ocean shall bring up the swilt-fboted iiioneer. If the exhausting cul- tivation shall become general, our old States must soon be abmidoned. If we do not make the ground better, it will grow worse. The southern States have felt the effects of ex- haustion still more fatally than those of the \ortli : tlie norlliern and middle States seem to be awakening to their true interest. Free white labor is more favorable to Agriculture than the labor of slaves : one independent hardy laborer of New England perforins as much work as four blacks. We pass through jilains of land , of light soil which seems to be entirely worn out : there is not strength ciiongb in it to make a sward. — Even this land possesses the power, if properly treated, of self renovation. Successive good crops, with deep ploughing, will bring it up in time without the application of manure. It is in our I'oor opinion bad husbandry to skin over this land with a ;'lougli once in three or four years and get oft; may be, eight or ten bushels of rye as the largest croj) to the acre. All such land may be made good by good treaf:iicnt — by deej) ploughing and the application of proper stimu- laiit.s. SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE. There are s.-iid to be thousa'nds of acres of worn out tobacco, cotton or corn lands in the Southern Stales. These have been in many cas- es abamloiied by the planters, wl;o have "trans- ported theniseh es with their slaves to Alabama and IMississi|)|ii^and in a few years havc'thcre ^■o far exhausted their generous mother earth as fo be looking even west of Ihe Mississijipi fvhose tendency is to" elevate the immortal mind of man, by bringing it to be hourly con\ersant with nature's o|ierations in all her multifarious forms — that which was man's primogenial employment, and that to which I must return if I would obtain that boon for which all men are striving— happiness ; that I liave not- ed the improvements which have been made rel- ative to the manner of cultivating the .soil. And it is with ]ieculiar interest that I liave seen Chem- istry and the other natural sciences lending their aid to tiie elevation ofthis only original source of wealth, notw ithstanding all that has been said re- pudiating'■ book fanning" as diametrically op- posed to that kind of experimental knowledge H'hich every fiirmer needs. liowever, I would merely remark that (his kind of " book farming" which is spoken of .so contemptuously by many who wish to " keep to the good ol..' way"" and do as their fathers have done before them, is nothing more than I do when I take the advice my neighbor save ine on the last rainy day, viz : "that if I would put tho manure of four acres upon one, and instead of planting corn four feet one way, and three tho other, and cultivating four acres I would plant shirty inches by two tijet, and cultivate one acre, I should raise more corn, with less trouble. Neither does this repudiated "hook farming" any njqre deserve the name than mine does, when after trying, unsuccessfully, for years, to raise a decent crop from a certain piece" of sandy laud, I concluded, from the little knowledge I have of Chemistry that there probably is a certain natural manure, which, if put upon it would incorporate with it, and I should secure good crops ; I try the experiment, it proves successful, and I reconi- mend it to my neighbors. Here is the whole sum and substance of book farming. The subject upon w liicli we would now like to say a tt^w words throueh the columns of votir 126 THE FARI^IER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. widely circulating, aud valuable paper, is the hackneyed subject of manures, to which we have before alluded. „ . r j k„ It is a hypothesis pretty generally believed by practical fanners, and geologists ot the present day, that almost every soil, be it ever so poor, with regard to its power of affording nutriment to vegetable life, has, somewhere in its immediate vicinity a natural manure, which will, by a cliem- ical process, incorporate with it, when they are placed in juxtaposition, and make it capalile ot producing large crops. Hence we see that in districts where the soil is very sandy, there are found inexhaustible beds of marl, winch render a soil which would otherwise be barren, very truit- ful; as is the case with almost the whole State ol New Jersey, and the eastern shore ol Maryland. It is evidence again from the tact that lime is seldom good as"a manure to ,aiy soil otlier than that in the vicinity where the lime is louuil ; there having been thousands of acres of land rindL^red almost worthless by the tree use of liniu as a ma- nure, the cliemical properties of v.hich were such as would not unite with, but, on the contrary, would nullifv the Ibrnier strength of the soil. And I am astonished when I hear one particular kmd of manure spoken of, as (.'ossessing pro])erties, which will render every soil tructiterous. Not unlike this is the empiricism which is abroad in these days, with medicines, each one of which is a panacea, curing every disease to which poor human nature is subject. Undoubtedly compost, marl, plaster, lime, bone, salt, aud saltpetre are all good upon cerUiin soils, but I deny the assumed fact, that any one will incorporate with even/ soil. Upon the last men- tioned, as a manure, 1 will submit a few tacts which have come under my observation the past season. . The soil upon which this experiment was tried was neither sandy, nor was it yet a soil whose substratum was clay, but a soil similar to that seen in districts where iron ore is found in abundance ; being something like the soil which, in some parts of the country is called " leachy," though not so much so as to render this its characteris- tic. By [lutting upon several acres of meadow land, of this kind, a composition of saltpetre and plaster, in the proportion of oue part of the for- mer to three ol' the latter, and sowuig about oue bushel and a half per acre, it was found, that where last year there was cut, from one half to one ton per acre, and that grass of a very ordina- ry kind, that this year there has been cut from two, to two and a" half tons per acre, and that a mixture of clover and timothy, which constitutes probably the best kind of hay : and, furthermore, upon this same ground there is now (the 25th of July) a crop of grass, ready ibr the scythe, of this same mixture, which is so heavy that from the effects of a recent raiu a great share of it has fallen down. This great increase in the crop may have aris- en partially from the fact that we have had more rain this year than we had on the last ; but by comparing this meadow with others which were equally rich previously, we are led to conclude that it is mainly attributable to the composition placed upon it. From a knowledge of the properties of the saltpetre a dry time was selected in which to sow it. If any ofyour nun-.erous subscribers should try a similar experiment, we should be glad to hear, through vour paper, of its success. To carry out the idea which we commenced above — if," in a word, American farmers would be, not only such as they are, practical chemists, but miderstand the principles of the science enough to analyze different soils, and different kinds of manures, they could then tell, at once, what kind of manure would incorporate with one soil, and what with another; and experiments which might be made by them then, would not, so often as at pregent, prove abortive. Yours, &c. An Observer. From an Europpnn Publication. Astricultural School at Hofwyl in Switzerland, " The pupils of tlie agricultural school are adnitttotl at an early age, there beintr, however, no fixed limits, and are expected to remain until twenty-one, if supported <,rratui- tfu>lv. By so doin^, they would be enabled, by their manual labor, to repay the expense of their miintenince and education, so as to leave the institutirm without pe- cuniary oblujalion. They would, besides, be detained be- yond what may be considered the most critical age. In practice, however, it is found ditlicult to induce this lengthened stay, the actual expediency ol which must depend so much on individual circumstances. In addition to tlie gratuitous pupils, others are taken, who pay, in part, or enti'relv, for tiieir education. Twenty is the usual number of gratuitous pupils, and at the time ol my visit there were ten pay pupils besides. This number is essen- tially restricted by the plan of the school. i-'ormerly, the pupils were under the charge of a single leaclier, lor manual labor, instruction and discipline. The teacher lived with tiiem, and w.is expected to be their c.nstant companion, adviser and friend, as well as instruc- tor. Tlie first teacher of the agricultural school, V\ herli, was specially trained for the purpose, by Mr. de * ellen- herg, and executed the plr.ii of the school in a way to pro- duce commendaUon from .all quarters. It is easily seen Uiat sucli a place would be most dinicult to supply, and u't t., at to preserve the ougiiial principle ol organization reuuires absolutely that it should be supplied. At present, ti.e arrangement is essentially ditlerent. riie pupils work and live witn Uie te.icher, but receive m- sUuctioii m tlie middle school. In summer, the Ume oc- cupieil in labor lo from eiglit lo twelve Hours per day, and imust.uction from tv.o to lour hours. In winter, the am uiit ol labor is less, and of study more. At particular se.isoiis m tlie summer, as during the time ol harvest and hay iniking,the instruction is omitted altogether. In the winter, -ymiiastic exercises, in a degree, replace agricul- tural labor. Thus the character of the instrucUun is en- tirely changed from what the former records of the school represent u to nave been. It was intermingled with work, and much of it incidental, the oeculiar talant of Wlierll appearing to have displayed itself in improving ei'ery op- portunity for communicating instruction of this sort. At present the mtelleetual -and moral instruction, andthe field-work, both assume a more formal cliaracter. The former plan appears to have been peculiarly well adapted to the Swiss character, and certainly produced happy re- sults upon the youth educated under it, and, if I under- stood Mr. de I'ellenberg aright, he is anxious to return to it when a suitable teacher shall have been obtained. In addition to ordinary farming and labor, and gardening, the pupils are employed in an extensive dairy and a shop lor making agricultural machines. They have besides in the agricultural institute, means of acquiring the theory as well as the practice of farming. The farming operations in which they assist, are carried on to great advantage up- on the extensive domain of Hofwyl. ^ , ■ They rise at live in summer, attend to tlie police of their dwellino-house. .and unite in the prayers and lessons of the middle school ;' breakfast at half past six ; are engaged in labor or instruction, with an intermission of an hour at noon for dinner, until six o'clock ; sup, and are engaged in their lessons until near eight ; have prayers and retire to bed at nine. Their meals are served from the same kitch- en, and are of tlie same quality with those of the hands upon the farm. On Sunday tliey rise at six in summer, breakfast at seven, attend prayers, study, and join the classes of vocal music with the pupils of the middle school until eleven, meet the other classes at chapel, where they have a sermon from a Protestant or Catholic clergyman alternately ; dine at twelve, liave study and rec- reation until five, when they sup and are free unUl seven, have pr.ayers and retire at eight. The instruction received is in reading the German lan- guage and exercises of induction four hours per week ; arithmetic three hours ; elementary geometry, or knowl- edge of forms, two hours ; geography and the history ol Switzerland, three hours ; natural history and philosophy two hours ; religion and morals two hours ; writing, draw- ing and vocal music three hours. Three hours per week are devoted to military drdi, in which the pupils of the several schools are united. An admirable arrangement is made for bathing, by enclosing a copious spring, so as to form a reservoir with an over- flow, by which the water is constantly changed. The depth is regulated so as to be adapted to the use both of those who can and others who cannot swim. ,\ bathing- house, steps to enter the water, and apparatus of various kinds, for instruction in swimmiug, complete the arrange- ments. The discipline of this school is of a mild character ; the elder pupils have much influence over the younger, and where the teacher is constantly with them, as in the for- mer organization, his control is a substitute for reguha- tions. 'In the beginning, the number of pupils .admitted was so small that no one could escape the teacher's obser- vation and kindly admonition ; and when the numbers were increased, this spirit was propagated fn.m the older pupils to the new comers, In connexion with this rural school should be mentioned the establisliment kn. vva as the colony of Meykirk , placed several miles from Hofwyl, u;>on an uncultivated spot. The object of this est iblishment was lo demonstrate the iMissibilitv of rendering rural schools self-supporting, and that tliey' might even be used as the means of improving the agricultural condition of the country. .Vspotoffil- teen "acres w.is selected, and a log house built upon it. The colony was opened with six pupils in 1827, and placed under the charge of a pupil of VVelirlis. The number was gr.idually increased. The instruction was made en- tirely incidental — agricultural labor being the first neces- siry for the colonists. Their me.le of life was of the most frugal character, to an extent unpracticed in cur country. In the earlier periods they were supplied from Hofwyl, but were made to dencnd upon that snurce as little .as possi- ble. The scliool was disconti ued a iVv/ years since, and dl the accounts relating to it closed, when it .appeared that durin the corn for a few days only of the season, while he is constantly employeil many other days m destroying noxious destriiolive ver- min. Our three crow s'^ of last year, escapuig a- droitly the discharges of the fowler, have multi- plied to something'over half a dozen. There are millions of grass-hoppers in the fields, some much more numerous than others. There is a wide difference in the numbers of these ou the two sides of Merrimack river in Concord — the east side carries the palm five, and even ten !i)r one. Our rye reapers on the east side were a- niused witluhe family of crows preying u])on the grass-hoppers. One wise head took his |)lace as a watch upon the dry limbs of a tree, wiule the rest of the flock alighted in the field and went to work like so many turkies, jjicking up and swal- lowing hundreds of the devourers ol' grass, and cveiT useful green thing. Forwarding the Crop of Corn. Monmouth. Maine, Jidij 23, 10 10. Ho.N. I. Hill.— Dear Sir: The State of Maine has been thought by many not well calculated ll:)r Indian coin. It is true that we have heretofore had some jH-etty severe seasons which destroyed the crop, but it also cut oft' the same crop more or less in all of the New England States, as well as in New York. Notwithstanding these cold seasons, I have always succeeded in having a good crop, by se- lectmg and preserving an early variety. I tliis year plucked good full ears from my field on the 95 of this month, (July) a dozen of ^vliioli I sent to the Editor of the Maine Fanner, and wliieh wevc noticed by him in that ]>aper. I find it very easy to iuue a good crop of Indian corn every year; and most of our farmers can do the same if they would only work it right. Respectfiillv Yours, EI.IPilALET FOLSOM. We calculate that the proper stimulating ma- nure will forward Indian coi'ii at least one week ; and a selection of fi"st ripened ears will make tlie difference of another week — so tliat the same kind of coni can be jint forward one Ibitnight with ease. — Ed. Visitor. Cheshire Coimty Agricultural Association. We are requested by B. Cooke, Es([. Secieta- ry, to say that the Cheshire County Agricultural Association will liold tlieir annual meeting at Keene on the last Wednesday in Sejitember, be- ing the thirtieth day of the month. The address on that occasion isto be by IIENKY COLMAN, Commissioner of Agriculture in Massachusetts. More particular notices of this meeting will be given in the Keene newspapers. A better and more intelligent class of farmers cannot be found in the United States tlian tliose of Cheshire County. From "Hough's Concord Herald" of Scptend'jcr 8, 179'2, (almost half a cen- tury ago) under the head of " A description of New Hampshire" we find the foUowiiiE: " New Hampshire may properly be said to consist of two (iivisions. The East and West, formed l)y the chain of hills east ol" the Connecticut river. Tlie past divi'^ion copies those parts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire which border on the sea. Although the settlements are much more new iu the west, }xt they are much higher ultivatcd, and more improicd, than in the cast division. The whole country, from Ihu south to the north line of the State, ou and near the banks of the Connecticut river, is one continued, unintferrupted tract of fertile country, well watered from the heights by brooks and arlilicial con- veyances. The farms are well cultivated — the houses commodious and well built— the barns extensive and well Clled — the fences in good order — the stocks of cattle large — and provision of every kind most abundant. Wheat, cattle, potashes and lumber are the staple com- modities of that division of the State ■. rye, peas, oats, bar- ley, Indian corn, pork, butter, and cheese are also plenty. Winter wheat is rarely cultivated east of the mountains ; and the home manufactures of woolen and linen (except in Loudondern) are inferior iu quality to the western. 'I'his IS the case in all other productions. Ortbrd, and some other places, make good cheese. " The College, in the middle of the western division, (at Hanover) dftfuses a thirst for knowledge, and improves society in its neighborhood ; thereby exhibiting it as an ornament and blessing to the State. " .\cademies are erecting in the eastesn division, but have not yet extended their benefits very far. A rustici- ty prevails in the yeomanry, and a hauteur in the gentry or more wealthy, in .the cast division, which checks in part the whole advantage that ought to be derived from the ricii and poor being beneficial to each other. " Much of the land in the interior part of the country is owned by the inhabitants of Port3mi>nth, but has not pro- duced that profit or incre.-Lse in its value that might have been. Very little attention has been paid to the improv- ing of the breed of horses, cattle and sheep. The horses in^general are bad j the few which exceed were brought from Vermont and the Southern States." In this manner some writer (we think Dr. Bel- knap the historian) converses of New Hampshire almost half a lumdred yeais ago. The causes which then existed for the superiority of the Connecticut river towns over those to the east- ward, have operated from that day to this. " Al- though the settlements are much more new in the west, yet they are much higher cultivated, and improved, than in the eastern division." Is it not true tliat this higher improvement and cultivation are discernible down to the present day ? The farmers along the river towns of old Ciieshirc and Grafton may well be proud of their advance over the other farmers of New Hamiishire. AVith the proper efforts, they might make such a display in Clicshire «ith the crojis oftlie present year, as would he a terror to all in- dolent men and slovens, and a praise to those who cultivated the ground well. Mr. Colman, who is to be the mouth for our Cheshire friends on their anniversary festival, is a man of great ar- dor in our cause, and his zeal is hardly outstrip- ])ed by his ability. All lie sees he treasures up, and the only fault to lie fbiuid with him is, that he is a little too credidous in all that he heats, and readily believes what he wishes to be true. His discourse to the farmers of Chesiiirc will, without question, be a rich and a varied intellec- tiial treat, which will well pay for traveling ten, fifteen, twenty or more miles to hear him. We should be glad to go fifty miles to witness as many, if no more farmers' faces than we saw at KcPiie at the Farmer's Holiday last September. We sliall, however, he denied that pleasure; for if we are able to attend any where, it will be our wish to comjily with the nivitation of the Execu- tive Officers and Committee of Arrangements of the Vermont C.A.LE.nO.NIA AGRIcni.TLR.iL SoCIETY, Whose annual meeting will be on tlie same thir tieth day of Sei>tember. The editor of the \is itor h.as been invited to meet the tiirmers of that County on the 30lh at Lyndon Corner, and next day to attend a meeting at Peachani. We will go, if indispensable business or other casu- alty shall not prevent; and we already anticijiate much greater instruction from the farmers and farmers' fields in that bcaulifiil northern region of the United States, than all that we can impart to them. Tomatoes. — The Editor of tlie Pittsburgh In- telligencer in sjieaking of the large supply of fruit iuid vegetables fiir that market, says, " that there is ready for the market within a circle of ten miles around the city, upw.irds of fifty thou- sand bushels of tomatoes. One gardener lias about four acres of this delicious vegetable. The retail price is from 20 to .SO cents per bushels, the same as potatoes." The Farmer's Monthly A'isitor is this month presented to its readers in an entire new dross. It is hoped its readers \\\\\ pardon the delay in the appearance of the paper a few days : we were unceremoniously and without notice, depri- ved of the types on which it hatl been printed. flJ^JAMES BURNS of Boston is no longer Agent for the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. The Agency has been transfered to Mr. JOHN MARSH, Bookseller Washington Street, nearly opposite the Post Office, to whom all persons who had subscribed and paid the former Agent may apply and receive the muiibers after and inclu- ding the Jidy number of the present year. THE MARKETS. Counterfeiters, — TJie Ncw-Allxmy (I}idiana) Ga- zette says that, " for some time past, an extensive combination of coitnteiTeiters and coiners have infested a large portion of Michigan. Among them are shcriiis, magistrates, lawyers, doctors, colonels, majors, landlords, and other dignitaries : their princi|)ul field of lalior being the connries of \\\ayne, IMacomb, Oakland, St. Clair, Washte- naw and Jack.son. The wife of one of tliem has now made disclosures which will probably lead to the arrest and convioiion of many of them, and tli^ di.«perBion of the remainder.'" NEW YORK MARKET, AUGUST':^. Tot and Pearl Aslies sell freely at ^i 8S for the former and $^) 50 for the lattec — Sales of INewcastle Coal at ,§7 50, G mos. Coffee is firm — sales of Brazil at 10 a 11^ cts — Cuba 9\ a 10^ cts — L:iracca3 Indiijo in demand, and sales at.^l 20, G mos. Slides Missouri rig Lead at 5 ct-:. Porto Rico Molas- ses has sold freely at 32 a 32^ cts 4 mos. Sales North county Turpeutino at ^'2 35 cash. Wliale Oil at 3Cc cash; crude Sperm at 95 a 9bcts ; Winter strained do at ^\ 09 a 1 10; Olive do. at ^1 05. G mos. Prime Butter is more plenty, and sells at 15 a 17 cts ; Cheese in boxes 7 a TActs. Rice brings jj leash. Sales Turks Island Salt at 31 cts per bushel, 4 mos. Sumatra Pepper 7 cts G mos. Steady sales of domestic Whiskey, in drudije casks at 27 cts anil sales State prison bbls at 23 cts. Porto Rico Suijar has sold at^.J; a 8 cts ; New Orleans at G.^ a 7^ cts ; Brown Ha- vanna. 7|- a 8 cts ; St. Croix, 8^ a H.i ; Cuba Mu^ravado 7 a 7^ ; white Havana 10 a 11 cts, all usual credits. Sales Kentucky Tobacco at 6 to 9.^ els time. Cotton quiet. Flour steady, (^orn is better. Sales Jersey to-day at 59 cts wt. Rye 62^ cts. BOSTON MARKET, AUG. 29. FLOUR — The market is quiet, with moderate sales at a little fdlini^ off in prices for some descriptions. Sales of Genesee common brands, ,^'525; Ohio, via New York, ^5 12 cash. Southern — last sales of Howard street, §5 G2, cash ; sales of several hundred bbls Rye Flour, for ex- port, ^3 25 pr bbl casli. FISH — For new Codrisli there is a good demand, with sales of new Grand Bank Ccd at %'l 25 ; Shore Cod, ^2 20 a 2 25 ; Hake and Haddork. .^1 a 1 33 pr qtl, cash. GR.MN — The demand fi r torn has increased, which has criused an advance, and the market clo&es bare — sales <-f yellow fi..t, Gl cts; and white, 59 ett per bush ; Oats con- tinue cxceedin^dy dull, and unsaleable. Last sales cf Southern about 25 cts per buEh. Rye.ncthintjdoint;. PKOYISIONS— Tlicre i.> soj.ie stir in t!ie market fur Pork, and Mess in particular has advanced. There are purchasers at ^15, but no sales. Lard has improved, will* considerable sale3 for export, at II cts per lb. 4 mos. and cisli. The stock of Lard is much reduced, and small. Beef is in moderate request at quoted price?. BRIGHTON MARKET— .1/onda?/, Aug. 24, ICJO. Prices — Beef Cattle — First quality, 55 75a G; second quality, , "^5 a 5 25; tiiird quality, J^3 75 a'4 7i\ Stores — Sales were not brisk ; purchasers arc hardly v/illinfT to pay the cost of the cattle in the country. Wp noticed sales of tv/o yeai" old at C14, 15^ and 13: and three year old at $U, 25, 27, and 29. - i^hecp—lJiiU. Lots sold for «1 25, 1 33, 1 42, 1 50, 1 67,' 183, 2, and 2 25. ' - . Suuju'— -Dull. Lots to peddle at 3A a 3^ for sows, and 4^ a 4| cts for Barrow.s. 'At retail, 4i~a G. NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET, Au^^.^k At market, lOCO head of Beef Cattle, including 150 lef\ over last week — and 3500 Sheep and lambs. The Beef market was dull at last week's prices. Sales of 800 head at ^5 a 8, averaging $G 75 per 100 lbs. Sheep and Lambs were in less demaijd. Sales of 3200 Sheep at ,?1 50, 3, and ^'^ ; Limb? at 1 , 2, and g3 each^ THLY VISITOR. CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. Those u'ho labor in the earth are the chosenpeople of God, xnhose breasts he has made hispeaUiar deposite/or substantial and gennine virtue.'' Jefferson. VOLUME 2. CONCORD, N. H. SEPT. 30, 1840- NUMBER 9. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A MONTHLY NEWSPAPKR, IS PUBLISHED BV JOHN M. HILL, HilPs Brick Block, Concord, A'. K GENERAL AGENTS, B. COOKE. Keene, N. H. TH. H. HAMPTON, Washington City , D. C. JOHN MARSH, Washington *S/. Boston. The Visitor will be issued on the last day of each month. TERMS. --To single subscribers, Seventy-five cents: Three copies for Thoo Dollars : — Ten copies for »Sjj: Dol- lars:— Twenty -rive copies ^or Fifteen Dollars. The twelve numbers embracing the year 1839, or the first volume of the Visitor, are offered as a premium for every ten new subscribers obtained and paid for by one person. Subscribers may commence at their election, either with the January or July number, in each year. An Index and Title Page will accompany each half year. [nx* Communications by mail will be directed to the Publisher, Concord, N. H. Po%VER Press E. MANSl R, Printer. THE VISITOR. Design 1. A dwelling for a laborer without a Farm. Fig. 1. For tlie Farmer's Montiily Visitor. Farm House Architecture. No. 2. In tho present article, it will be ni)' object to present yoin- readers with a few simple model designs tor dwelling houses, suitalile for the ac- commodation of tlie laboring man. It is in such, more than any others, that improvement is need- ed ; and less pains are taken to render them ap- propriate and tenaiitable, than in the higher cl.iss of houses. It is the natural residt of the employ- ment of the out-door laboring man, to overlook tho fine wants of his nature; the little tilings, that go so far to make iij) the comforts of social life are too often neglected during the fatigues, irri- tations and discomforts of an e.vposed employ- ment. Instead of conforming to the laws of na- ture and their own constitutions, we see men contending witli disadvantages at home — buffet- ted by the elements — often sick through the want of care though surrounded by every thing that makes life agreeable. I am confident that many of the "ills that flesh is heir to," may be correct- ed by a little more consideration to the construc- tion of the dwelling houses for the laboring clas- ses. If every person w ho builds would set earnestly about the work of improvement in the constuc- tion of houses, tliey would find that money e- nougli, and many times more than enough, is now spent to accomplish all that is desirable. In the arrangement of tlie designs, simplicity is the principal feature. Economy in the construc- tion of a sn^all cottage is one of the most desira- ble objects, and may be studied to good advan- tage in tlie disposition of partitions, windows and doors. Partitions should- be as few as possible, and windows are an expensive as well as a ne- cessary appendage to a dwelling. I would have them large in size, and few in numbers. It is a prevailing fault with New England houses, that they have too many windows; it is not economy in'tiie original cost, nor productive of comfort in a long run. Two wuidows in a room, si.xteen feet square, are sufiicient for all the purposes of light and ventilation, each additional window adds to the expense and lessens the comfort. It is, I be- lieve, generally conceded, that too much light is admitted into our dwellings. If no other proof was at hand, the single fact that the first object of the female part of the family is, to shut out by of- fensive curtains what the builder has with addi- tional expense and pains let in, would settle that point. (Fig. 21.; Accommodullon. — This plan represents n house 24 by 30 feet; though small, containing many conveniences, the principal entrance is at tho end into the entry, C. There is a good kitchen, A, 15 by 12 ft. ; parlor, B, 15 by 15 ft; a bed room, D, 9 by 12 f\; back entrance, E, with their way to the chamber and cellar stairs under them ; pan- try, F, 8 by 7 ft ; sink, b ; kitchen closet, H ; Chi- na closet, I. The heartlis are represented by, a ; doors, d ; windows, w ; ventilating flue from the cellar, i ; the second floor may be divided into two chambers. principal rooms are sufficient for light and venti- lation, and will be found to be more comfortable in a cold climate than a larger number. Situation. — Li the selection of a spot for a dwel- ling house in the countiy, two things are neces- sary to be kept in mind — prospect and conveni- ence. The first, however, is generally but little thought of, while the latter comprehends all that is worthy of consideration. But it is recommen- ded that pleasantness of location should be thought of in the choice af a spot. This build- ing is well calculated for an elevated and expos- ed situation. The out buildings may be extended upon either side to break off the bleak winds ; and the rooins may be reversed to accommodate the location. General estimate. — Contents, 1 1,000 feet of stock, including frame. — Cost, $450 00. Expression. — The style of this cottage is mod- est and agreeable. The appearance may be im- proved by setting it high, and siu-rounding it with a low parapet fence. Houses of this description do not admit of high fence ; when used, they be- tray a want of symmetry. Design tt. A Village Cottage for a small fami- ly, or a Farm«laborer's Cottage. Fig. 1. (Fig. 2-3) Represents a front end elevation of the same Cottage. Construction,— This is probably the most sim- ple form in which a framed cottage can be arran- ged ; it has but little exterior ornament. That lit- tle consists in a projecting cornice, raking cor- nice or the front and autae corners, windows fin- ished with pannels to correspond with the door, have a good eflect. Two windows in t-ach of tjir (Fig. 23.) ../Iccommodation.— This plan represents a house 35 by 20 feet, with a piazza of 4 feet. The prin- cipal entrance is under the piazza, D, at the entry, C; back entrance, H ; kitchen. A, 14 by 19 feet; parlor, B. 19 by 12 feet ; bed rooms, E and F, 9 by 7 feet each ; cellar way, I ; China closet, J ; pantrv, G ; stairway, L ; hearths, a ; fine to ven- tilate "cellar, i. This arrangement is very conve- nient and is much approved by those who have built in this manner; those who approve of a small kitchen and large parlor in a cottage will find this form pleasaut, comfortable and convne- 130 THE KyVRMER'S MONTIIJ.Y VlSircjR. (Fig. 34.) Represents a i)art ami elevation of tlic same Cottage. Construction.— The principal objcition to this design is its length ; Init tlie arningenient is con venient, though the rooms are cxtfjuhd back. The parlor is so placed that it may be a very warm winter room.'Tlie chimney is b(i\, ecu that and the kitchen, as is the case m the other design ; this is the best place for it when pj^rticuble. It liclps to diffuse a warmth through the house which is lost, when placed asiainst an an outer wall. The roof is steep, and will acri.nimodate two cham- bers on the second floor; the brd room windov.s look out mxin the piazza, and may be opened to the floor if rcipiircd. Si7i(o(io?i.— This building is well calculated for an elevated site: k hai- a small number ol win- dows, and witli a southern front v, ouhl be considered as well located ; surrounded with a garden, low fence, and small fruit trees, it uould be a choice residence lor a small kiinily. I.iOWEIiL,"Its rise, progress, aud increase— Furmius about IjOwell~Maiifacturiiig statis- tics. In a recent visit at Loui'li, the great Mannlac- tuiing Emporium of the United States, the editor of the Monthly Visitor was exceedingly gratified at tlie evidences of ils rising prosperity. We remember passing oviM- the ground where Lowell is now situated aliout the year 1817, when there wa.s no village below the old Chelmsford glass- works, near the entrance of INliddlesex canal from the Merrimack river, and when a very few inferior wooden buildings were clustered around Murd's factory, on tlic Concord ri\er. It is not our purpose here to present an account of the present statistics of Lowell ; wc h.'ive not the means before us of doing it ; and every former account \\ould do uijnstice to a description of Lowell as it exisis at jiresent. If the census should be there taken as it has been in other towns, we will have an accurate description of Lowell as it was in the month of June last. From the successful enterprise of erecting e.\- tensive mannfactiiring establishments at Walth- aln, on Charles river, distant about seven miles out of Boston, soon after the termination of the late war with Great Britain, some of the men of capital al Boston were induced to look out a more extensive water-power at some convenient point of distance from the capital of New-England. One of the master spirits at Walthani, who has done more, perhaps, than anj- other man, to give permanent success to nianiifactures in this eoun- tiy, was Pathick T. Jackson, ^vllo, in the muta- tions and changes of business, has both made and lost for himself what most people would consider a Ibrtune. The diftcrence between the Waltham and Lowell establishments, and most other cor- porate manufacturing institutions, has been, that while the latter, in nearly all cases, have either sacrificed the oriaiiial investment or given no profit at various periods of their existence, the tbriner have gone ahead imder everj' discourage- ment. In no instance have we ever heard that the stock in the manufacturing corporations at Lowell has been sold at auction much under its nominal par vahie, even when almost every spe- cies of stock \vas below par. (Fig. 25.) Is an outline perspective view of the same, the buildings should have good elevation alcove the road, at a good distance from it. General estimate. — Contents, 11,500 feet, iucluding frame. — Cost $5,00. Expression. — The stjle partakes of the Gothic, although it is only the balustrade on the roof of the piazza, that gives it that character. It is simple, and is perhaps the only reason lor its introduction here. Other forms might appear better, but would be more comjdicated and costly. Benutrks. — In such dwellings as arc here given, every laboring man ought to live: and any man, no matter how wealthy, might live. All that in any dwelling exceeds these accommodations must be either required for large families and extended hospitality, or for the display oi' snperfiuous wealth or highly refined taste. The necessaries and even the eondbrts of life are within tlie rea<-h of afar greater portion of mankind, than is generally supposed. But one room can be used at one time by cither tlic poor man who has no other, or the rich man who has many ; and that room can only be rendered comfortable by being \varm, dry, light, well ventilated, and convenient, qiKdities which dcpeud not so much on the materials M.sod in its construc- tion, as on the manner of applying them. All that is wanted is knowledge — first, of wluit is iieces- sarv and desirable ; sccondiv, of tlio means of obtaining it at a small expense. STEPHEN GILMAN, ARcnrrr.cT. Manchester, .V. H. Daniel Putnam, Esq., of Danvers, Massachu- setts, has sent us two ears of eight ro\ved corn, which are a beautiful sample of tiie improvement which is making in that valued crop. The ears are of the eight rowed kind, and of a similar color to the Brown corn : the Piilnani corn is longer than the ear of the Brown corn, and ap- pears handsomer l>efore it is shelled. There is no other kind of corn wc have yet seen w hich comes up to the Brown corn in size of kernel and in the quantity compared with the size of the cob. The Brown corn also sets for more ears than most other kinds of corn ; and it turns out more corn for the same weight of stalk and liusk than any other kind, if we except the small Ca- nada corn. It also ripens sooner than evei-v kind of corn, if we except perhaps the small corn last namri'', i\T ■. T'liipnin'seorn, wr believe to bo an excellent kind for the highly cultivated lands near the seaboard of Mass!(chi-setts. and perhaps for the warm alluvial lands upon Con- necticut river ; but for ihe higher ground in the interior of tlie state we cannot think it so w ell adapted as the Brow n corn. In the year llS17, .^Ir. Putnam raised of the kind of corn of which the two ears received by us are a specimen, ninety-five bushels of slielled corn to the acre: he thinks his crop of the pre- sent year w ill exceed one hundred bushels to the acre. The farm on which Mr. Putnam lives, is the same on which the veteran General Putnam, of revolutionary memory, was born niore than one hundred years ago. It is land which has been under profital'le cultivntion for almost two hun- dred \"e.-irs. The men employed to look out the location of a manufacturing city pitched upon a point of most forbidding ground, in the northeast corner of the town of t'hclmsford. If the land ever was good for any thing for farming, the virgin fertil- ity of the soil had been extracted, and the occu- pants, who lived in a very few inditferent dwel- lings, depended more upon the fishing privilege aflbrded on the river below the Patucket falls, than upon any thing which the land produced, for a livelihood. The shrewd men who had looked out the spot for the future city, went there rather in the character ol' s]iies tlian of open pur- chasers ; the "Boston folks" tiir several days hunted about the grounds in search of quails, and l)heasants, and squirrels, and discharged theu' tbwling-]iieces probably many times at vacuity, to lull every suspicion of any sinister design upon the owners and occupiers of the ground. Grad- ually the subject of purchase was introduced, and before one owner had any information that any offer had been made to his neighbor, the main part of al! tlie land on which I lie city of Lowell now stands Axas purchased for any avowed or sujiposcd purpose but that for which it was in- tended. At the same time the corporation, which had long existed, of locks and canals at the Patucket falls, with the water-power, was bought out; and from that day to this the parent manufacturing company at Lowell has existed under the name of the '• Locks and Canals." The men engagefl in the great enterprises at Lowell have been slow to publish to the world their intentions. The several corporations are like " men without souls ;" they consult their ow'n interests at all events, whether these shell conflict or not with the interests of the jieople around them. If the}- have a design to build extensively in any one year, they would be most likly to make propositions antl contracts for materials and jobs of work at a lime when prices were most depressed ; and we believe it is a ]iriiieiple with the managers even to keep the stockholders ignorant of their immediate designs when any important change is about to take place. From the cnniin''neenie' t of the manufhetur- TriJ^ FAltIVlER^S MONTHLY V ISITOR. 131 iiig comiianies at Lowell, the Locks and Canal coniiiaiiy htwc lieen the locomotive power tliat has put forward all others. The owners of the ■water privileges: their business has been that of building faclories and manufacturing macliinery for the use oi" the great corporations which liave grown from their foiuidation. The city of Lowell, under the auspices of the original company, is without a parallel in this counti-y for increase of property and population. No other city cveV 1ms grown up to the extent of a population of more than twenty thousand souls in the space of twenty years. We have no means of knowing how great have been the gains of the proprietors of the original company at Lowell. It is said tliat dividends of twenty, twenty-five, or more per cent., aimually, have refunded several times over the amount of original investment; and that the stock, after all these dividends, bears a price of two or three times its first cost. All the corporations growing out of this, to the amount of more than ten millions, retain at least their par value at times when manufactures have been so depressed as to give no dividend. The Boston and Lowell railroad, an undertak- ing devised and carried through under the ]ier- sonal superintendence of Mr. Jackson — more ex- pensively done and more permanently construc- ted than any other railroad in the United States — virtually annihilates space between the city of Lowell and the seaboard. Independent of the passenger cars passing between Lowell and Bos- ton four limes a day eacji wa}-, the merchandize transport trains now pass and repass as many times each way. One hundred ton.s a trip is the average amount carried. What would ha\'e been thought twenty years ago of carrying and fetch- ing fi'om any one point out of Boston, at the dis- tance of t\venty-five xiiiles, eight hundred tons of any or all kinds of commodities? The common price of transj)ort from Boston to I^owell is two dollars the ton ; the manufacturing corporations, being in some degree connected with the rail- road coi'poration, having separate tracks, after the arrival at tlie depot, leading to each establish- ment, pay only one dollar and fifty cents a ton for transport. We think the time not very dis- tant when the price of transport on all the i)rin- cipal mail roads in New-England will he reduced from one-third to one-lialf When n railroad siiall be completed to this point, (Concord,) which must in the natural course of things take plare within three or four jears, we sluill probaltiy be able to go seventy miles to Boston in trom three to four hours, at an expense of one dollar and a half to two dollars, and the transport of a ton of produce or merchandize at the same time will not cost mucli over two dollars. Viewed from the liirm of John Nesmith, Esq., near the village of Belvidcre, (formerly a part oi' Tewlisbiny.) on the east side of Concord river, the city of Lowell appears larger than the city of Boston was in the year 1798, vie^v-ed from the dome of the State House on Beacon hill, which had then just been erected. Overlooking Low- ell, the view 'is more interesting from the sub- stantial character of the buildings. All the fac- tories, and all the recently constructed dwelling- houses belonging to the several corporations, are made of brick ; and the brick buildings are gen- erally covered with Welch slate. The slating has been almost exclusively done by one enter- prising, hard-working individual, by the name of Wavgh, who will complete the roof of a build- hig in a much less space of time than the most expert carpenters would cover it with shingles. It is said that t'lc covering of Welch slate will last one Inuidred years ; if so, it is much cheaper than shingling, at the prices charged by Mv. Waugh, independent of the great security it gives against fire. At the recommendation of the editor of the Visitor, while in oflice, the State House in Concord was lately covered with Welch slate by Waugh. This building had been covered with Mr. white pine-heart shingles when it was built in 1816 ; these had decayed so as to become leaky in some places. The slate was laid on directly over the shingles, covering the roof anew, at the same time the building, lilsc the well constructed arch of a bridge, was strengthened by the addi- tional weight thrown upon the roof. On a par- ticular examination of the shingled roof, it was found that the sparks from the chimneys had caught in several places and gone out, so that the house narrowly escaped conflagration. The sub- stitution of slate for common shingles upon a building the body of which is granite, is an im- provement in appearance which makes the Capi- tol of the Granite State look far better in 1840 than it did in 1810, when it was first built. To return to Lowell, the new city of New England ; its limits have been much extended since the year 1833, \-\hen we Avent over it. The compact part, which shows to be almost entirely brick, spreads over a large extent of ground, and beautifid white houses overlook it, as well from the heights on the southwest and on the east of the village of Belviderc, as from the highest point of ground in Dracut; on the easterlj' side of Mer- rimack river. Lowell is surrounded by hills in almost every direction. It is is situated in a ba- sin or amphitheatre, w hich for many ages subse- quent to the time when the mountains were first thrown out of the bosom ef the deep \raters by Omnipotent Power, was evidently the bottom or bed of an extensive pond or lake, the waters of which broke through the gorge below Patucket falls, and in that direction found their way to the ocean. Previous to this the country was sid)- merged all the way back to the Amoskeag falls, 30 miles above, where another breaking through of the ridge united aeother body of water, mak- ing the chain of lakes one continuous stream. Tlie grounds round about Lowell, especially the lower grounds through which the old Mid- dlesex canal and the railroad piu-sue their way towards Boston, is poorer than the avei-age lands of New England. There is much of the siutken meadows in the direction of Chelmsford, Biller- ica, Wilmington, and Wobuni. Tliese meadows have, in some cases, produced inferior hay for more than a hundred years ; in some of these the quantity and quality have been so much de- teriorated that they have been abandoned by the scythe. One dollar onroduction. Where the black vegetable mould exists to the depth of fs\ o or three feet, tlie material most useful is sim- ple gravel or sand. !n one instance, near Lowell, we saw the men carting from a knoll the clear gravel, and layiiig it over the meadows to the depth say of six inches. V/ith a very slight stim- ulant of stable or other manure, in addition to the admixture of the old soil with the gravel, it need not be doubled that the old Horn out meadows may be made to produce, for many successive years, an nh;indant crop of the very best English hay — herds-grass, clover, or red-top. .\ case of this' renovated meadow ground at Chelmsford, two or tliree miles out of Lowell, was mentioned to us, where the production of hay was niore than one and one-fourth ton, the l)rescnl year, tmon one-fourth of an acre. Wo made only a ride of some tw o nfiles out of Lowell Oil the Tewksbury road, during a sjjare hour on the afternoon of "the 9th of September. In this distance there were as many as three dif- ferent hog or low meadm^'s, which were under- iug the operation of improvement, such as we ve" been describing. The evidences of im- provement in the farms of this part of Tewks- bury, within a very feNV years, arc ]n-ominent — they are evinced both in the neat dwellings and barns, and in the fruitful orchards hanging tiill witli the ripening fruit, and in the fields from which large crops of grass and the earlier grains have already been taken, leaving others with the standing ripening corn and abundance ef other vegctubles. The farmers about Lowell have great encour- agement to increase their vegetable crops for the market wliich the population of the city affords. They are as well rewarded for their labors here as the farmers can be in the vicinity of Boston. One gentleman at Tewksbury, from a farm of no very great extent of acres, but which was ex- tremely well culli^■ated, is said to have taken from it in a single season, in the Lowell market, a sum not le.'is than fi\e thousand dollars. TABLE OF THE LOWELt CORPORATIONS. Corporatiotw!. Capital. No. of No of Year miUs. Spindles eomenc's Locks and (^anala, S600,000 2,000,000 o _ 1822 Merrimack, 5 37,981 1823 Hamilton, 1,200,000 3 20,992 1825 Appleton, 600,000 o 11,776 1828 I.uwell, 500,000 1 6,000 1828 Middleisex, 500,000 Q 4,620 1830 Suffolk, 600,000 2 11,264 1832 Tremont, 600.000 o 11,520 1832 Lawrence, 1,500,000 5 32,640 183.!. Boot, 1,200,000 i 29,248 1836 Massachusetts, 1,200,000 4 - n 1339 goi hav Total, 10,500,000 32 166,041 The Merrimack. Manufactures 230,000 yards of cloth ; dyes and prints 19.5,000 yards of cali- coes, and consumes ,'5.'),000 lbs. of cotton weekly. Hamilton. Makes 110,000 yards, and prints and dyes 70,000 yards calicoe per week. Lowell. Makes 2500 yards carpeting, 150 rugs, and 70,000 yards negro cloth per week. Middlese.T. jMakes 0300 yards cassimere, and 1500 yards broadcloth, per week. Consumes 600,000 lbs. wool, and 3,000,000 teasels, per an- num. Suffolk, makes 90,000 yards drillings, No. 14, per week. Tremont. Makes 145,000 yards shirtings and sheetings. No. 14, per week. Lawrence. Makes 200,000 yards printing cloths, sheetings and shirtings. No. 14 to 30, per week. .Boo^ Makes 1.5,5,000 yards th-illings No. 14, shirtings No. 40, and print cloths No. .50. Locks and Canals. Employs 500 men ; works 1225 tons wrought iron per year ; uses 200 chal- drons of Liverpool coal, and 200 tons of anthra- cite coal. Manufactures machinery for the mills, cars and engines for the railroads. It can com- plete 5000 spindles in four months. When build- ing mills and machinery, this Company employs, directly and indirectly, from ten to twelve hun- dred men. The number of yards of cloth made at the Lowell mills in a year is 58,26.3,400; the pounds of cotton consumed, 19,255,600, making 53,340 bales. A pound of cotton averages 3 2-lOths yards of cloth; and 100 lbs. of cotton produces 89 lbs. of cloth. The average price of work of females at the mills is two dollars per week ; average price for males, exclusive of board, eighty cents per day. One jiower-loom turns out. No. 14 yarn, 44 to 45 yards of cloth per day; ofNo. 30, thirty yards per day. One spindle averages yarn for 1 I -10th yards per day. The average amount of wages paid by the Cor- porations per month, $160,000. Starch consumed in a year, 600,000 lbs. Flour used for starch, &c., 3000 barrels peranniun. Besides the foregoing Corporations, there are at Lo\vell the Powder Mills of O. Whipple, Esq.; the Lowell Bleaching, with a capital of .'«<.50,000; a Flannel Mill ; Blanket Mill ; Rolling Mill ; Pa- per Mill; Card and Whip Factory ; Planing Ma- chine ; Reed Slachine ; Flour, Grist, and Saw Mills. These employ about 300 hands, and a capital of $300,000. AMOSKEAG. The foundation of the largest compact town or city in Nimv Hampshire has been laid at the Amo- skeag Falls, being the longest fall of water in the whoh- course of the river Merrimack, and jn-oba- bly the greatest and most valuable water power in New England. The old works of the Amo- skeaif Company were erected at the village on the west side of the river, near the head of the falls, some twenty-five years ago. The works gradually extended over the lesser branch of the river to one of the several islands tlirough which V3'^ J'HK lAUMERS iVJONTHLY VISITOR. the river has broken in Bcvoral clmnnel:;. AVitli- out any coiisiderublc d;ini the vator has been used lor iaetories, both ujion tlic main lund and upon the islands. An excellent Inisinees, for the amount of capital invested has been carried on by the company for several years : the article prin- cipally manufactured has been bed-tickings,wliich has often sold at a profit when other cotton man- ufactures have failed. The immense water power at these fiijls, be- ing, we believe, about sixty feet in the space of little more than a mile, while those at Low ell are only about half that number of feet \\as in a measure thrown away upon the first works. About five years ago an extendeil capital \\ as in- vested, and besides these falls on the west side of the river, the land and water jjrivileaes on tlie east side were also purchased. Tlie company also purchased out tlie water-jioweron both sides of the river at the Hookselt falls, eiglit miles above, where they have extended the cotton fac- tory to about six thousand spindles and looms to correspond. Subsequently to this, they united the capital of the Concord Water-Power Compa- ny at the falls on the river three miles below this (Concord) village : to their inv< slinent, adding the purchase of farms for the lo(:iii.in of a village joji the east side of the Merrimark, witli niajiy acres of woodland near it. As yit the water power here, which is a fall of some tljirty feet, is unoc- cupied. The present investment of the Anioskcag Company which corresponds with the Looks and Canals at Lowell, is one million of dollars. It includes the three falls at the distance, the lirst of eight miles, and the last of twelve miles abo\e Ainoskeag : it also includes besides valuable farms, several thoi-saud acres of wood and tim- ber land, the growth of which is constantly in- creasing, and the value of wliich is appteciating with every new improvement made iij)ou the riv- er. A granite quarry upon the river about six miles above Amoskeag, lieiug a movmtain afford- ing an uiexhaustible quantity of the very best of that beautiful material, belongs to the com])any by purchase : also an extensive stone quarry or ledge not very far from the site of the future city which if it shall bear the name of the town in which it is located, may vie with another most extensive manufacturing town in Englmid of tlie same name, will furnish in great abundance the material for foundation and cellar walls that do not require liev. ed stone. Amoskeag (for this is the name by which the settlements on both sides of the river are kiwwn ) already has the appearance of a city on the east side, nearly the whole of which has gro\\n uj) in the three last seasons. The Comiiany has erect- ed two large factories of five stories from the basement, one hundred and fifty-five feet in length by forty-eight feet in breadth : one is called the Stark, the other the Manchester mills. The water-power and superstructures of each, inclu- ding the mills and machinery, the offices and dwelling-houses, have been purchased of the ori- ginal Amoskeag Conqiany, and are separate cor- porations. The capital of these companies is five hundred thousand dollars each. The Amoskeag Company has constructed pro- bably the best and most capacious canal in Ame- rica, from the head of the iiills to the distance of five thousand feet, nearly one mile. This canal carries the water upon the higher level, and is forty feet wide at the bottom, and sixty feet wide upon the surface. Below it, upon a ^icond le\ el after the water has been once ui-i d, another ca- nal of similar width has been mrde fiir ihe dis- tance of one thousand and fifty lie!. Tiie ex- pense of making these two n.agnitii'cut canals, in which the water is amply secured lor its des- tined use, has been one hundre^l and tqrty thon- sand dollars. Near the Stark and Manchester fmnories, the Company have erected tVir machine shop, a brick structure three bundled and I'orty feet in length by forty feet in width: of this tlic black- smith shop embraces the length of eightv feet. The expenditures in the machine sho)) alreadv amount to about $175,000 — the shop itself having cost in the erection .$46,000, the dwelling house's attached .*30,000, and the machinery tor makiii'^ the spjndles and other inanutaeturing apparatus having aJready been made to the amount of ."ias- 4{000. W)l^n completed, this machine shop w ill exceed probably any other siiniler eBtahlishmeiit of the country. The several forges of the black- .^mith establishment are furnished w ith a a blow- er or bellows which acts without manual aid. The factories and iiuichine shop already erect- ed furnish the most perfect fire apparatus tliatwe have ever seen. This apjiaratus by simply turn- ing acock at convenient distances on the outside of the building, throws the water through hose at all distances so as to strike the tops of the high- est eliimneys. The inside preparations for ex- tinguishing fires are likewise of the ncwcpt and most elfei'tive inventivm. The bricks, with which Jhe Company build- ings have been erected, ate principally made at Hooksett, on the bank of the river eight miles above. These are, we lliink, the best model of brick tor permanence, if not of elegance, of any ever used in the country : they are but nt deeper than the common brick — so deep that in a day of sunshine they will throw across the river from the liictory buildings at the distance of full half a mile, the rays of the sun as we sometimes see them upon glass. The economy of building with bricks like these, which can be injured neither by wet or by frost, which will stand fire like iron and far better than granite .or almost any other Isard material, and w liicli must be as lasting as .time, eaiuiot be disputed. The coinmeiicemeiit of the compact town by the Company, borders on the canals near to the river and extends b; ik some fifty rods. The great factory buildings and machine shop, near- est to the river, face it in their whole length. Further in the rear are the commodious three story brick houses facing in a direction at right angles, used as dwellings for the operatives, ^\'e A\ere pleased to obser\e that the rooms of these houses were constructed of more ample dimen- sions than has been usual at mantifacturing esta- blishments. There cannot be a doiilit that the better policy has been consulted by building tlie houses in those airy positions and with that op- portunity for ventillation so necessary and so con- ducive to health. The crowded position of build- ings in cities, the close and confined air breathed many times over by several sleeping together in a room with a single window, are causes of the premature sickness and death of hundreds and thousands of human beings. The village of Amoskeag is still in the rear and further distant from the river than the Com- pany's factories and dwelling houses already erected. For the purpose of accommodating those who wish to buikl, fifty-twn ticres of land have been laid out, and sales of the lots have been realized to the amount of .^7ci,000 on this ground. Besides the lots the Company have made provision for open s(|uares, and have left ample streets at the proper intervals. They have likewise presented lots to the dilierent religious societies for places of public worship, on Avhich three elegant and commodious edifices have al- ready been erected. Rents have been higher at this place than at any other place in New Hamp- shire for the last four years; and they continue high. The teinjitalion presented by these high rents has induced the owners of lots in some in- stiinces too much to cover the ground purchased with buildings of an inferior (luality. The mat- ter of erecting better buildings hereafter, will come in of course. In the course of the next two years a rail road will b(! completed from Amoskeag to Nashua, if the ow ners of .\moskeag stock in Boston shall consult thei.' interest — ^^ibr such a road would raise the value of the Cominmy's property on the river above proliably equal to the whole expense of grading the ronj the distance of eighteen miles. The building up of such a place as Amoskeag is destined to become, is a matter of some inte- rest to fhe agriciiltuial community around it : it iiirnishes an inducement lor agricultural iin- provements that ought not to be neglected. The population of the farming towns in the vicinity of large manufacturing places has not much in- creased in the last twenty years, because too many have been tempted to leave their fauns to take up an employment that .seemed to aflbrd the more ready means of gain. But if the popula- tion has not increased, there has been an increase in the production and value of real estate, which proves that population must increase hereal>er where it has iallen oft" or only holds its own. The farmers in the old towns of New F.ne- land, some of whom have suffered their grounds to become sterile and un]iroductive, have every inducement to renovate them, audio increase the capacity of their land to yield greater crops. They can raise hardly any product that may not be turned into means contributing to wealth and independence. The mamiliicturing towns, such as Amoskeag and Nashua and Lowell, are fast increasing in the ability to purchase all the sur- plus produce which is too heavy or too perisha- ble to be carried to a greater distance. The healthy growth of the manufacturing towns will contribute to the healthy growth of the whole farming region about them. There is a mutual interest w hich should induce each to seek for the prosperit}' and growth of the other. We should desire to see aveited all cause for jea- lousy between the ftrming and the manufacturing interests. The great manufacturing corporations, owned by wealthy non-residents, are naturally ob- jects of jealousy to the mass of the people: lei them, by a liberal and generous course, by omit- ting to take an unjust advantage which their posi- tion sometimes gives them, do away all suspicion that they act so much against their own best in- terest as to disregard the general good ; for in that general good consist the elements of their prosperity. We would greatly rejoice to see Amoskeag grow into a great and flourishing city, if it can come up on the only true principle of "l.ivr. A.ND Lr.T LIVE." Fi'^tm the Third Report on tlie Agriculture of Mass. On Braining and Subsoil Ploughing. The statements which I give below, are from an examination had before a large committee of the British Parliament, relating to thaining and subsoil iiloughing. I at first intended to give on- ly a short abridgment of them; but they are of such remarkable importance, that I have chosen to give them at large. I know they will be read with the greatest interest. Stulciiient bi/ T. F. Kemicdy, Esq. of Duntirc, fro- mcrly M. P. for the Ai/r Burghs, respecting his txpericttcc of Ihc system of Draining and Sub- soil Ploiigliing, recommended by Mr. Smith, of J)eanslon, in the County of Steiiing. I liave practised Mr. Smith's system of drain- ing and .subsoil iiloughing upon my iarm, in the county of Ayr, during the last three years, and the result has fully justified every anticipation of benefit. It Is applicable to all soils not rocky w hiel) have not an absolutely porous subsoil — the great objeel being, tliat the subsoil should be ren- dered artificially porou.«, and that all rain water should sink on the spot on which it falls, and that no running of water should take place on the surltice. There was, at the outset, considerable difficul- ty in ha\ing the work executed; it was arduous, and those engaged in the superintendence and labor were adverse, because they did not see the principles of the system, or the sdvantages which were likely to arise. A little encouragement and a distinct intimation that then" must be persever- ance, overcame every dilficiilty. This observa- tion applies to the subsoil ])lougliing, while some difficulty attached to the ]ierfi3ct execution of the drains, in having them made of the full depth of 30 inches, and filled neither too much nor too lit- tle, and ^vilh all due care in all particulars which must be attended to secure permanence in the eftects. 1 have invariably made the drains twelve feet apart, in order to secure the effect being com- plete ; being much imju'cssed w ith the lolly of spending a considerable sum per acre in the op- eration, and still failing to obtain what I may term perlt'ction in the system. I have also used brok- en stones as the material when they could be ob- tained within such a distance as to prevent the expense of cartage being excessive ; in other cas- es I have used tiles, witli a layer of three or four inches of stone or gravel over them. When stones alone were used the drains have been uniformly 30 inches deep, leaving 16 inches for the opera- tion of the plough and subsoil plough ; where tiles have been used the de]ith has been about 24 inches, the same depth for the ploughs being left as in the other cases. A crop of oats has gener- ally been taken after the drams have been execut- ed, and the land ha? been compBrfttively dry rilE FAKiVlEK'S MOiMHLy Vh^^lToK. 136 but even the visible eftect has been very imper- fect until the subsoil plough has been applied. By means of tliis plough the whole ob.Iurate un- (lerci'ust of the soil has been broken up, nnd all water lias instantly escaped, and after six or eight months of the alternations of heat and cold, wet nnd dry, a most i-eniarkable change has ajipeared in the condition of the soil ; what was before ob- durate and retentive, has become comjjaratively mellow and friable, and the longer the time since the operation lias been performed, the gi-eater has been the perceptible progressive effect. Tlie op- eration of the subsoil plough has produced cracks and crevices and interstices to the depth of ](> in- hces; through these the rain passes of with rapid- ity, and these crevices are innnediaii?ly tilled by the uir of the atmosphere, and during dry and hot weather these cracks and crevices arc multiplied to an indetiDite extent, and in clay soils to an ex- tent quite remarkable. Instead of resuming its oWginal tenacity, there seems to be u decided change effected in the character of the compo- nent parts of ilie land to the depth the plough has reached. It is tor the skilful farmer to apply ma- nure judiciously according to the state of each field. Drilled green crop has followed a crop of oats, and the land which before was unfit to grow turnips, has become fitted for that crop, although perhaps a little rough and cloddy during the first year. Next has come a crop of wheat, and in it has been seen the great and remarkable effects of the system, in the condition of the soil and the quantity of produce. Land which was before, in truth, unfit to carry wheat from extreme wetness, has become altogether the reverse, being sown with wheat without ridges and furro^vs, being perfectly porous ; all rain disappearing as it falls, and being carried off by filtration to the many drains, and each drain ba\ing little more than a thread of water to cany off. Possibly the land of which I speak might have previously yielded a precaiious produce of 20, or at the utmost 24 bushels of ^^•heat per imperial acre, ^vhile in its improved state, the actual produce of the cro]) of 1835 has been JO bushels thrashed out, a few bushels of which v\ere not very good in quality, owing to what is now to be mentioned. The faidt of the crop was, that it was to strong, and there being nuich rain while it ripened it was laid down. Had this not occmied, the quality of the whole would have been good, and there is no doubt that six or eight bushels more per acre woidd have been obtained. The facts, therefore, are most satisfactory, because the result in the first wheat crop may truly be said to be twenty bushels of w heat extra produce, in return for an expense of 10/. 10*. per acre, wliicli was tlie cost of the drainage and the extra expense of subsoil ploughing. It ought to be stated that with the turnijis, the land was well manured, and subse- quently abundantly. After the w heat was carri- ed, and during the winter, the field was jilough- cd about nine inches deep with the ordinary plough, and remained rough until the month of March, the whole rains of u inter, wliich were ex- cessive, sinking as they fell. Towards the end of March the field was harrowed, drilled, and sown with beans without any manure. The croj) is promising, and there can be no doubt that the powers of the soil which have now been l)rouglil into action, will render it abundant. The soil is so powerful, thai it is hifended to take a cr»p 'if wheat after the beans, without any manure, bur taking care to make the laud perfec tly clean : and there is little doubt lliat the wheat crop of 1837 so treated, \\ ill be iiKire productive than that of 18:?5, because it will be less superabundant in straw, and incur less ]iiobable injmy from behig laid down. My experience, on a moderate scale, leads me to siiy, that the system is the greatest discovery which has been made in agriculture, (because it is applicable to soils hitherto almost intractable and most expensive to cultivate,) provided it lie applied only where the altitude justifies the un- dertaking, by securing a climate suitable to vain- able crops. It in truth converts almost the worst into the best land — that is, the most powerful in respect of production, because the quality of land to which it is iqi)iiicable, the heavy clays and re- tentive subsoils will yield heavier crops after such treatment than the lighter loams and many of those varielies of soil which hitherto bav(^ been so pleasant to the agriculturist to cultivate. The reforinalion \\bichllie system effecis on lands which previously weft- looked on as hope- less, is quite surprising, and no one believes it until it is seen ; but again 1 say, that the whole success depends on the pirleet and complete maimer in which the operations are executed, as any thing being merely an approximation to the system, will end in disappointment. The ex- pense of what is jierfect must not be grudged, and as sin(! as it is liberally given will if be abun- dantly repaid. I would also say, that the ef- fects of the draining and sub^oil ploughing are dependent on each other ; the one is compara- tively worthless without the other; the ploughing would be thrown away without the previous draining, and the draining is a poor improvement compared to the combined effect with the subsoil ploughing. I may state that my bailiff and llie ploughmen who worked the subsoil plough, certainly, in the outset thought my orders .ilmost foolish, (who nevertheless carried them into effect faithfully,) but now see the effects of the system, and are ful- ly sensible of the e.xtraordinai-y benefits resulting from it. The VcU-ious views of the advantages might be multiplied to any extent, but a concise statement of them seems to be, that the most obdurate and intractable soils assume a friable and mellow char- acter, and at the same time are rendered perma- nently most productive. A system which is ap- plicable to ten acres is equally so, in its prin- ciple, to 10,000 or 100,000 acres, and conse- quently the system becomes a most important national consideration. My decided impression is, that capital judiciously ajiplied in the execution of this system maj yield a return vai'ying from 10 to 40 or .50 per cent, according to the various circumstances attending the infinite variety of cases in which the system may be carried into effect. Every thing depends on the mode and perfection of execution. If any one thinks of limiting the expense of complete execution, he inaj' rest assured, that the recompense will be still more restricted, and that it is more judicious to iminove one acre well, than to deceive himself by a superficial opertttiou on a more extended surface. A remarkabli! effect is, that the haivest is con- siderably earlier on land so tr"aled than on the same land in its previous state, and it is scarcely necessary to remark, that there will be a constjuit return for the same seed and labor and mamii'e far greater than when they arc apjilied to land in a naturally w et condition. t^indfurc nf Janus Smith, Esij. inveiilur of the Sub- soil Plough. Chairman. You live at Deantton ■ — Yes. Where is that ? — In the western district of Perthshire in Scotland. Di> you oi-cupy a considerable farm in that part of Scotland ? — About 300 acres. lla\e you improved your farm lately ? — I have. In w hat way ? — Chiefly by thorough draining and- subsoil ploughing. What was the natme of the soil upon your farm '■ — It was \ arioiis : there is some part of it rather light soil, some of it gravelly upon the edge of the river, and some lightish loam, with rather a tenacious bottom, and in other parts a stiff sandy clay. Is it a stitt" subsoil •• — Some part of it very stiff And it was all sidijeet very much to wet ? — The greali'r part of it was covered with rushes and bent before being drained. Will you describe to the committee your mode of draining? — The principle upon which I drain is to put in drains tiequently, so that there may be opportunities for the water to jiass off, because ! find that in our climate the chief injury arises from the water that falls from the heavens. ,\re those drains jilaced up the furrows or acioss the land ? — Tliey are placed in the same direction that the farrows were beffire, but I have now no furrows. I lay all my fields down with- out any furrows. I object to furrows, because water is allowed to ..ollect in a body, and thereby ruins the soil. The fact is, that those drains are so frequent that they answxr the purpose of furrows ? — Yes ; they answer the puriiose of furrows. How far are they apart r — Twenty-one feet, and two feet six inches deep to the bottom. rto von dr.iin with "Stouot nr « ith tile? ? Cbief ly with broken stones, because I have stones up on the land. You spoke of sub.-oil ploughing; you are the inventor of a subsoil plough .' — I am. Do you use it afti r draining.' — After drainhig, I first take a grain <'i — Some of it 15 ycais. What is the next crop after the turnips and po- tatoes ? — I then lay down what I have had in po- tatoes with wheat"; I sow wheat in the end of the season; as soon us I can get the potatoes up ; what I have had in turnips I grow barely upon in the spring, and I sow grass seeds upon both. You could not have attempted barley upon that soil before? — Not with any siicces.s,_ and not w^heat, because the land was so full of moisture that it honey-combed liy frost, and so threw out the plants. There was one field especially, after a vei-y severe winter, and with a frost, there was sometimes a space of 20 or 30 square yards from which eveiy plant or vegetable had been thrown, not a bit of grass remaining upon it. After the wheat what do you take ? — I sow grass and barley. Do you cut the grass (or hay ? — Some : the oth- er is pastured from the beghming. What is the nature of the grass it produces ? — Very good, and very heavy crops of hay ; I have generally about 300" stone, which is about three tons per acre. Do you think that any improvement is likely to be so valuable lor general purposes as frequent draining and subsoil ploughing for strong land ? — None. That, you think, is the most important thing f^lr general purposes of fanning that you are ac- quainted with ? — Decidedly. And applicable to more qualities of soil than anv thing else ? — Applicable, I should say, to all qualities of subsoil. And equally ajiplicable to England as to Scot- land ? — Equally so, and very much wanted. I have a friend who has made an experiment under mv directions in Cheshire, upon very stiff' land, Mr. Barton ; it is the most thorough lirick clay I ever saw; and extremely sterile farm in its origi- nal state. ^Ir. Barton has been completely suc- cessful ; he has thoroughly drained the ground and suhsoil ploughed, and it is now laid down without fiirro\-\ s, and I there sa^v a large field of this extremely stiff' clay with a beautiftil seed sur- face upon it. Mr. Denison. Do you think that it is apjdica- ble to a soil where there is a bad gravelly substra- tum ? — I think so ; I think any substratum, if it is exposed to the atmosphere for a sufficient length of time, will become I'ertile. In the most barren country, if you see where a ilitch has been dug, on the soil ^i Inch has been thrown up, you will generally find a richer verdure and strong weeds gi-o«ing. cumstances, which requires much attention, as great expense might unnecessarily be incurred, or the object fiiil. When the laud is ready for the ojieration of the subsoil plough, a man with a pair of horses turns out the first furrow from 10 to 12 inches wide ; then follows the subsoil plough to the depth of 14 inches, taking care not to stir the turf covering the stones in the drains ; it is worked at right angles of the drains, and drawn by six horses, two and two abreast. The plough is drawn from an axletree, withdoidjle shafts and low wheels ; the horses draw perfectly even, and by this mode it is no more than ordinary work. MAIN D R A I ^ . ;.; i/L H'lntt^s Account of Draining on SmitlCs Plan. The main or leading drains are cut 3 feet deep, 15 inches v.idc at the top, taper to 6 inches at the bottom, ;nid tilled up with stone from 15 to 18 inches. The smaller drains, leading into the main, are 2 feet t! inches deep, 12 inches wide at the top, taper to 3 inches at the bottom, and filled with stone 13 inches, with turf upon the stone. The stone is first jilaced on edge, about 6 or 7 inches, and the remaining jiart covered with stone broken to 2 1-2 inches; a section of these drains is given : the drains are parallel to each other. The subsoil varies much ; the price for cutting the whole, breaking the stones and filling, has in- vai'iably been Id. per yard ; some part has \\ork- ed better than others, and, upon the whole, I think the work cannot be done for le»s. With regard to the distance between the drains, in this part, the work must te put out according to cii- .Stoneslriid on tlKircdgc. Os' M|rr-^^3^=^s£^3=/ Turf laid on tile stones. v,r-;,?i'''oy.'-..J Rrokun stones. 5j3\il!i l{;//' Stones laiJi-n tlicir edge. '11 .■- ' '; (Fig. 27.) Carpeting. " It is an ill wind that blows no good." The effect of the compronuse act of Mr. Clay, which abolished the duty on all imported wool valued at the place from which it is imported at less than eight cents per pound, has liecn virtually to leave the wool grower without tlie protection of any duty upon all kinds of wool. Large quanti3 ties of wool, several millicuis of pounds annual ly, and the quantity jiaying no duty continually increasing, are imported into the port of Boston alone. We are informed at the Custom House, that since the passage of the act freeing cheap wool from duty no merchant's price current has presented wool at the port of Smyrna in any case over eight cents the pound. Considerable woo! is also brought in from South America, and some from New "South Wales. A numufacturer of Massachusetts lately went out to that distant new countiT and purrhased of the o\vners the wool upon the sheeps' back, paying in advance, so as to bring the average cost less than eight cents. If the operation of the Utr\iT compromise act THE FAKMER'S MONTHLY ViSl'l'OK. 156 is to lessoii'thi' |)!-ii-cs of our liome-rnised wool, it lias opcrutect, iis it was iindoiibtpdlj' intended to tlie encourafjiii": ot" certain kinds of nianulae- tures. The editor was surprised the other day to be told by u nierchant-nianulaeturer of oar- pets, who resides in Boston, and is concerned in two maiuifiicturing establishments in Massachu- setls, that the manufacture of ingrani, correspond- ing with the IJritish Kiddei'minster carpeting, has entirely superseded the imi)ortatioii of that arti- cle. The ((uantity of carpeting used iias been constantly hicreasing for the hist two or three ysars since the reduction of price, which is more ■ than twenty per cent, below the Ibrmer prices. The duty on Kidderminster carpeting is thirty- two cents the square yard: the compromise act will reduce it in 1842 to twenty per cent. This will probably be a sufficient protection to enable the American manufiicturer successfully to com- pete with the foreign establishments of any cotni- try. A single carpet loom will produce as an ave- rage, two thousand yards of Ingram carpeting per annum. Of the looms now in operation, om- informant recollects the following: 24 at Canton, 2.5 at Danvei's, GO at Lowell, 7 at Dracut, 10 at Chelmstbrd, SOat Framingham, 1.5 at Wrentham, in Massachusetts ; about J20 at Thompson, 40 at New Haven, Ct., and 10 at Gorhani, Maine — in the whole, 341 looms, producing 682,000 yards of carpeting per annum. There are also 105 carpet looms at TariftVille, Ct., which have been sometime standing still. From the Albany Cultivator. Belgian Husbandry. In no part of the A\'orld has the art of culti^a- ting tlie soil attained greater perfection than in Belgium, and the muiibers devoted to a descrip- tion of the husbandry of that coimlry, and the manner in vihich, by persevering industry, its barren sands have been converted into the most fertile of soils, are not the least valualile of the series pulilished by the London Society. Farmers in this country frequently speak of the impolicy of extensive outlays i]i inqiroving their farms ; it will not pay the exjiense, is the objection nio.st frequently made, and one which is the most forcible, in reply to those who urge upon them systems for tlic permanent ameliora- tion of their soils. We have sometimes been disposed to consider this feeling of regard to im- mediate expense or profit, more as the natural resolt of that restlessness of character which is said to belong to us jis a j'eoiile, and whiirli leads us to sup|iose, with reason, ri^at wliat will not ])ay now may be lost to us, (as from our known migratory jtropensities, it is scarcely probable our lauds \\>l\ remain in our hands or those of our children, f )r any considerable time,) rather than of any disinelitiation to encounter the labor which au inqjroverl husbandry requires. The benetits of a good system of farming, or the evils of adeU'ctive one, can only be fully seen and appreciated in a considerable term of years. On such lands as the greater part of those in this country are, when brought imder cultivation, what may be called the skinning or scourging system, in which rejieated erojjs, with little labor and no mynnring, are taken oftj may be the most profitable iiir the time, though fatal to the soil, and till! prosperity of the farmer in the long run. But when the permanent value and productive- ness of lauds are taken into consideration : when it is remembered that it is much easier to keep lauds in heart, than to restore them when re- duced to sterility: and that the eventual agricul- tural prosperity of a country is depending on a correct system of management, the import.''nc,e of selecting the best models, and conducting our farming o|ierations with relei'etice to future re- sults, as ^veli as present prolits, perfeclly e\'i- dent. " I To ilhistrate (he eflects of the two systems of farming, or rather to show the results of the im- proved one, as compared with the one generally practiced with us, wc give a few extracts from the papers on Belgian farming, and the first is a description of a liirm of 140 acres on the river Lys, near Courtnay, " Of this farm about 20 acres arc in fine mea- dows, along the river, occa.sionally flootled in win- ter, but not irrig.ated ; about 10 acres are rich, heav'y land, adjoining the mcado\vs, in which beans a'ld ivlieat thrive well ; a'l the remainder. about 10(3 acres, lie in on oblong form, boimded by a hedge row, at one corner of whicli, nearest the river, stand the farm buildings. A road or path, six fee! wide, rims through the middle of the field, and the road or path that leads to the farm yard skirts one end of it. The soil of this large field is a rich, light loatn, whicli lies over a substratiun of clay, but at such a depth as to be jierfi^ctly sound and dry. It is not very fertile in its o\vu nature, but has licen rendered so by many years of an improving husbandry. E\ery part of the land has been repeatedly trenched and stirred two or three feet deep; and the im- mense quantity of manuie, chiefly liquid, juit on year after year, has converted the whole into a rich mould. The strength and vigor of the crops bear witness to the goodness of the luisbandry. As we walked along the middle path, which is just wide enough to admii the wheels of a cart, the whole produce might be seen at once. The flax had been pulled, and remained stacked on the ground. Tlie colza [cole or rape seed,] had been Ijeat out, but tlie stems remamed where they had been cut. There were fifteen acre.s of most beautillil fla.x, of a bright straw color, and the stems a yard long. This, besides the seed, was -worth in the stack from 25 lo £30 per acre ; 12 acres of colza had produced aboiU 50 quar- ters of seed ; eighteen acres of oats looked so promising that they cotild not be set at lers than nine quarters per acre ; eighteen acres of wheat, whi(di stood well, with short, plump ears, are va- lued at live ipiarters per acre ; eighteen acres of rye, parlly cut, with the sti-aw above six feet high, would ])robably protluce rather more than the wheal. There were six acres of white poppy, of which every plant was strong and ujiright, and the produce of which was estimated at from twenty to twenty-three bushels per acre; six acres were in jiotatoes, expected to produce at least twenty-two hundred bushels. About an acre was in carrots, which looked fine and large, twelve acres vvere in clover, nearly the ^^■hole of which was cut green to give the horses and cows ; it produces three good cuts in a year, when it is not allowed to go to seed. The 10 acres of hea- vy land were partly in beans and partly in wheat. The stock kept on this farm consists of twenty- seven cows in nulk, five or six hehers. nine hor- ses, and three colts." It cannot fail to strike the most inattentive reader, that the crop of Ihis 120' acres greatly exceeds, perhaps doubles, that of our ordinary farms of the same size, while on many of what are called our dairy fa.nns of about the same size, not more stock is kept than on this grain liu-m. Manuring and dee)) tillage has done this for the Brabant farm, and it will do the same for any, or almost any ftuni on which it is adopted. We are convinced that money exjiended in con- verting land into rich old garden ground, is well applied, although for the moment it may seem to be Ihrowii avvay, particularly on lands, the own- ers of which are expecting to get to the fiir west by " vear after next at farthest." We add a de- scription of the tillage cultiu-e of another farm of son)e 400 acres, ot'naturally first rate land, but which, by being treated as deseribed, is so iiiuch^ deteriorated, that the crops rarely more than half e(pial those on the same number of acres on the one just noticed. " The rotations on this crop are as follows : — I, fallow ; 2, winter barley; 3, "tieaus ; 4, barley or wheat : 5, lieans, clover, potatoes ; 6, wheat ; 7, oats. Thirty cart loads of long maunre, the straw not much decomposed, are put on the fal- lows before the last jiloughing, and the winter barley is sown in October: the produce is eight quartei-s per acre. Wheat on the same prejiara- tion produces from f()ur to five quarters, so that the barley givef: the best crop, and with tlie least exhaustion to the soil ; every year a small |)or- tion of the pastui-e is proken up .and sown with colza. The natm-al fertility of the soil is shown bv the succession of crojis" produced on the new- ly broken up land, widiout manure, viz: colza, Vvheat, beans, barley, beans, wheat, clover, wheat, birit, if too mellow. Let them stand half a day after being beaten, before put into the press, then press them slowly. Discon- tinue it as soon as the juice appears thin and wa- tery. The advantage of slow pressure is in mak- ing the liquor run pure. Let your casks, previ- ously well cleansed, be filled quite full, to per- mit the froth ami pumace to discharge itself at the bung. When the fermentation abates, cover the bung closely with something that may be lit\ed by the fixed air that escapes during the fii- ture fermentation. In a week, rack oft" the cider carefully, ceasing the moment you observe it to run muddy. Now stop the cask more firmly. In ten days, rark it oft' a second time, and in fifteen days a third time. In every instance, the casks are to be clean and ])erfectly well filled ; and w hen filled for the last time, to be bunged close in a deep, dry cellar, never to be moved until drawn for use. Late eider need not lie racked until March, and then one racking, or at most two, will be sufficient. Be very careful that no water, not even the little that will adhere af\er rinsing a cask, is mixed witli the cider. The smallest quantity of rain water will render cider unfit to keep. The addition of any quantity of distilled spirits is not only useless but injurious." Mr. Nail's method is the result of long experi- ence, and its success justifies me in recommend- ing it to the public. I hope it will be tried. CALVIN JONES. Raleigh, July 25, 1819. A man last year,in Vermont, made .4(1000 dol- lars in alteiKling to his own aflTair!*. An English Summer. Descriptmn of an English Summer, in the year 1768 — extracted from a letter of Horuee li'alpole, dated June 15. "I perceive the deluge fell upon you before it reached us. It began here on Monday last, and then rained near eight and forty hours, without intermission. My poor hay has not a dry thread to its back. I have had a fire these three days. In short, every summer one lives in a state of mutiny and murmur, and I ha^e found the reason: It is because we will atlV'Ct to have a siiinmer, and we have no title to any such thing, (hw poets learn their trade of the Romans, and so adopt tlie terms of their masters. They talk of shady groves, purling streams, and cooling breezes, and Me get sore throats and agues with attempting to realize their visions. Master Damon writes a song, and invites Miss Chloe to enjoy the cool of the evening, and the deuce a bit have we of any such thing as a cool evening. Zephyr is a north- cast >vind, that makes Damon button up to the chin, and pinches ('hloe's nose till it is reil and blue ; and then they cry, this it a bad summer, as if we ever had any other. The be:^t sun we have is mnde of New onsllo cnni. and I ,nm determined never to rsckon upon any other. We ruin our- selves with visiting our foreign trees, and make our houses clamber up hills to look at prospects. How our ancestors would laugh at us, who knew there was no being comfbitable, unless you had a high liill before your nose, and a thick warm wood at your back. Taste is too freezing a com- modity lor us, and, depend upon it, will go out of fashion again. " There is, indeed, a natural warmth in this country, which, as you say, I am very glad not to enjoy any longer — I mean the hot liouse in St. Stephen's chapel. My own sagacity makes me very vain, though there was very little merit in it. I hail seen so much of all parties, that 1 had very little esteem left for any ; it is most indifler- ent to me who is in or who is out, or which is set in the pillory, Mr. Wilkes or my Lord Mans- field. I see the country going to ruin, and no man with brains enough to save it. That is mor- tifying ; Imt what signifies who has the undoing of it y I seldom softer myself.to think on this subject ; my patriotism can do no good, and my philosophy can make me Ije at peace." The late season lias been a return of the old fashioned summers of thirty and forty years ago. Indian corn in the three northern States of New England, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, has had ample time to grow and come to matii- ritv. If a series of seasons like this shall conti- nue, New England will soon have no further oc- casion to procure bread stuffs from a distance. \ strong evidence of the melioration of the season is given in the abundant production of fine melons, and especially in the extraordinary perfection of grapes and peaches in those places which used to produce them in the olden lime. Peaches, which grew in the towns about Lowell, of fine flavor and quality, were selling in the first week of September, for from one dollar to one dollar and fifty cents the bushel. The peaches raised in Massachusetts this year were of a better size and flavor than those brought fiom New Jersey. The most beautiful peaches we ever saw were sold in the Boston market at the price of one dollar the dozen. They exceeded in size and exquisiteucss of co- loring any pictorial representation of a peach that ever came within our view. They were the pro- duct of a tree on the premises of David Hill, Esq., of AVest Cambridge. from tlic All>any Areus of 1819, then published by the lite Judge Buel. Treatise on Agriculture. SECTION I. On the rise and progress of Agriculture. The origin of this art is lost among the fables of antiquity , and \\ e have to regret, that in the present state of knowledge, ^ve are even ignorant of the tinxe when the plough was invented, and of the name and condition of the inventor. When, therefore, we speak of the beginning of the art, we but allude to certain appearances which in- dicate its existence, and the employment given by it to the minds as well as to the hands of inankiud. Such were the artificial canals and lakes of Egy))t. Menaced at one time by a re- dundancy of water, anti at another by its scarcity of wanl,"the genius of that extraordinary people could not but employ itself, promptly and stren- uously, in remedying these evils, and eventually in converting them into benefits; and hence it was, that wlicn other parts of the world exhibited little more of agricultural knowledge than apper- tains to the state of nature, imagined by philoso- phers, tlie Egyptians thoroughly understood and skilfully iirartised irrigation, tiiat most scientific and profitable branch of the art." Like their oMii Nile, llieir jiopulation had had its overflow, which colonized Carthage and Greece, and car- ried with it the talent and intelligence of the mother country. The former of these states, though essentially commercial, had its planta- tions, and so highly prized were the agricultural Avorks of Mago, that when Carthage was captur- ed, they alone, of the many books found in it, were retained and translated by the Romans. A si:nilar inference may be drawn from tlie history of Greece; for assuredly that art could not have - The best praciir.il iilustralion of this opinion is found in llie valley of the I'o— wlieve -■ every rod of earth main- t:iin9 its m-in." THE FARJVIER'S MONI'HLY VISITOR, 137 been eithec unknown or neglected, which so long employed the pen and the tongue of the great Xenophon.* It ninet, however, be admitted, that of tlie ancient nations, it is only among the Romans that we find real and multiplied evi- dences of the progress of the art ; fittts, substi- tuted for conjectures and inferences. Cato, Varo, Columella, Virgil, and Pliny, wrote on the sub- ject, and it is from their works we derive the fol- lowing brief exposition of Roman husbandry : The plough, the great instrument of agricul- tia-al labor, was well known and generally used among them ; it was drawn exclustively by horned cattle. Of fossile manures, we know that they used lime, and probably marl,^ and that those of animal and vegetable basis were carefully col- lected. Attention to this subject even made part of the natural religion ; the dunghill had its god, and Stercutus his temple and worshippers. Their corn crops were abundant ; besides barley and far,l they had three species of wheat ; the rolnts or red — the siligo or white — and the triti- cum Irimestre, or summer wheat; they had, be- sides, millet, panis, zea, (Indian corn,) and i-ye, all of which, producing a flour convertible into bread, were known by the common name of frumentum. Leguminous crops were frequent ; the lupin, in particular, was raised in abundance, and besides being employed as a manure,^ en- tered extensively into the subsistence of men, cattle, and poultry. The cultivation of garden vegetables was well understood and employed many hands ; and meadows, natural and artifi- cial, were brought to great perfection. Lucern and fenu-gree were the basis of the latter, and |)eas, called /a/rag-o, were used occasionally in the stables as green food. Their flocks were abundant, and formed their first representative of wealth, as is sufliciently indicated by their word pecunia. Vines and olives and their products (wine and oil) had a full share of attenlion and use. The rearing of poultry made an important part of domestic economy, nor were apiaries and fish ponds forgotten or neglected. Such was the husbandry of Rome, when Rome was mistress of the world, and it was to this il- lustrious period that Pliny alluded, when (speak- ing of the ancient fertility of the soil) he re- marked "that the earth took pleasure in being culti\ated by the hand of men, crowned with laurels and decorated with triumphal honors." If we pause for a moment, to glance at the civil institutions of this wonderful people, we discover how soon and how deeply it entered into their policy not merely to ])ronK)te, but to dignify, agricultiu-e and its professors.|| When Cicero said that " nothing in this worlil was bet- ter, more useful, more agreeable, more worthy of a freeman than agricnlture,''tt he pronounced not merely his own opinion, but the public judgment of his age and nation. Were troops to be raised for the defence of the republic — the trihus rusti- cus was the privileged nursery of the legion \tt Did exigencies of state require a general or dic- tator— he was taken from thii plough ! Were his services rewarded — this was not done with rib- ands or gold, but by a donation of land.i^ With such support from public ojiinion, it was )iot to be supposed that the laws would be either adverse or indittercnt to this branch of industry; we accordingly find the utmost security given to the labors of the husbandman :|||| no legislative in- terposition beHveeu the s<'lier and buj er ; neither tbrccd sales— nor limitation of prices, and a sa- credness of boundaries never dislm-hcd ;** fairs and markets multiplied and luotecfed against in- ' Xenophon wrot** sevurai treatises oii liusbandry, and gave public leetiircs on it, at Scillonte, wiiither a weak anil wicked Ciuvcnnnent had binishcd him. f Kor tllf first part of tins assertion we have the author- itj ot' I'liuy ; fortlic latter, the praetiec of their eolonies in Gaul and Brltiiin. * Of this last, there \ver> three kindtf, i. either ofwhicli in now cultivated. (\Thc lupiniis albus, of Linnecus : ■■ many other vegeta- bles are used for this purpose, particularly the bean, but lIo not answer as well as the lupin; when this is heated in an oven and then buried, it forms the most powerful of kU manures." T. C. L. Simonde. Tableau dc L'agricul- tui-e Toscane. II Tanus and Numi were deified for services rendered to agriculture. +t Cicero de officiis. L. 2. ttThis continued to the time of Marius. ^vS As much as he could ploujh in a day. lllfTo cut or destroy in the night the crop of his neigh- bor, subjected the Roman to death. '"•Terminup was among their gods. vasion or interruption,* and highways leading to these, every where established, and of a charac- ter to call forth benedictions and admiration.t Nor were these regulations confined to the proper territory of Rome ; what of her own pol- icy was good, she communicated to her neigh- bors ; what of theirs was better, she adopted and practised herself Her arts and arms were there- fore constant companions ; wherever her legions marched, her knowledge, practices, and imple- ments followed ; and it is to these we are to look for the fotmdation of modern agriculture in Italy, France, Spain, &c. SECTIOIf II. Of the actual stale of Agriculture in Europe. This is very different in different states, and even in different parts of the same state ; its greater or less degree of perfection, depending on causes phj'sical, or political, or both. Where a state, or part of a state, from soil, climate, man- ners, or geographical position, draws its principal subsistence from the fishery or the chase, as in the more northern parts of Em-ope, agriculture will not succeed ; when a state is from any cause both essentially maratime or manufacturing, as in England, or principally manufacturing, as in Prussia ; where public opinion has degraded man- ual labor, as in Spain, Portugal, and the Papal territory ; or where laws villaini^e it, as in Rus- sia, Prussia, Poland, or Hungary, &c., &c., it is in vain to expect pre-eminent agricidture. These principles will receive illustration as we go along. 1. In the Campania of Rome, where in the time of Pliny were counted twenty-three cities, the traveller is now astonishedj and depressed at the silence and desolation that surround him. Even from Rome to Trescati, (four leagues of road the most frequented,) we find oidy an arid ])lain, « ithout trees, without meadows, natural or artificial, and without villages, or other habita- tions of man ! Yet is this wretchedness not the fault of soil or climate, which (with little altera- tion)}: continue to be what they were in the days of Augustus. " Man is the only growth that dilhn- rfte A«(f," and to his deficient, or ill directed in- dustry, are owing all the calannties of the scene. ^Instead of the hardy and masculine labors of the field, the successors of Cato and Pliny employ themselves in fahricating sacred vases, hair powder, and pomatums, artificial pearls, fddle-strings, em- broidered gloves, and religious relics! They are also great collectors of pictures, statues, and med- als--" dirty gods and coins," and find an ample reward in the ignorance and credulity of those who buy them. 3. IIow different from this picture is that of Tuscany! wliere the soil, though less fertile,|| is covered with grains, with vines, and with cattle ; and where a smtace of 1200 square leagues sid)- si.sts a [lopulation of 950,000 iidiabitauts, of which 80,000 are agriculturists. It mayamu.se, if it docs not instruct, the reader, to offer a few details of a husbandly, among the most distinguished of the present age. The plough of the north of Eu rope, as of this coimtry, has the powers of a wedge, and acts perpendicularly ; but that of Tus- cany resembles a shovel, is eight or nine inches long and nearly as broad, anil cuts the earth hor- izontally. This iustrmnent is particularly adap- ted to the loose and friable texture of the soil. A second plough of tlie stine shape, but of smaller size, follows that idready described, and with the aid of the hoe and the spade, throwa the earth, already broken and pid\erized, into lour feet ridges, or beds, on w hich the crop is sown. The furrows ims«er a tiu-ee-fbid purpose : they diiiin the beds of excessive moisture, ventilate the growing crops, and siqiply paths for the weeders. The rotation of crops employe two periods ot different length ; the one of three, the other ot five years. In the rotation of three years, the ground is sown five times, and In that of four years, seven times, as follows :■ — Ist year, wheat, alul after Wheat, lupins ; 2d do. wheat, and atler wheat, turnips ; 3d do. Indian corn or millet. 1st year, wheat, and after the wheat, beans ; 2d do. wheat, and after wheat, lupins ; 3d do. wheat, and after wheat, lupinella; [an- nual clover ;] 4th year, Indian corn or millet. Li the Syaiiese Maremna, where the lands want neither repose nor manure, the constant alterna- tion is hemp and ichcat, and the produce of the latter, often twenty-four bushels threshed for one sown. It will be seen from this course of crops, that the principal object of Tuscan agriculture is wheat, of which they have two species, the one bald, the other bearded; both larger than the corresponding species in other countries of Eu- rope, convertible into excellent bread and pastes, and probably but varieties of that Sicilian family which Pliny describes as yielding " most four and least bran, and suffering no degradation from time." It is harvested about the middle of June, and when the grain crop is secured, the plough- ing for the second, or forage crop, begins ; which, besides lupins, lupinella, and beans, often consists of a mixture of lupins, turnips, and flax. The lu- pins ripen first, and are gathered in autumn ; the turnips are drawn in the winter, and the fla.\ in the spring. Besides the application of ordinary manures, the lupin is ijloughed down when in fower ; a practice that began with the Romans. Columella says, of "all leguminous vegetables, the lupin is that which tnost merits attention, because it costs least, employs lea.st time, and furnishes an ex- cellent manure." The culture of this vegetable is different, according to the purposes for which it is raised ; if for grain, the ground lias two ploughing.s, and twenty-five pounds weight of seed to a square of a hundred toises ; if for ma- nure, one ploughing is sufficient. Like our buck- wheat, its vegetation is quick and its growth rap- id ; whence the farther advantages of suppres- sing, and even of destroying the weeds that wouUl have infested any other crop. In the neigh- borhood of f'lorence they are in the practice of burning the soil ; which tliey do by digging holes, filling them with faggot.s, and raising the earth into mounds over them. The faggots are then inffamed and burnt, and with them tlie incumbent earth, which is afterwards sctittered, so as to give the whole field the same preparation. ^.-Vssemblies of the people on days designated for fairs, and on subjects other than those of trade, were not lawful . t The Appian way yet remains the wondjr and reproach ot modern times. tThe climate of Italy is now warmer than it was in the .\ugustan age, which Butlbn ascribes to the draining of* great tracts of swampy land in Germany. ^" Roniain meme le plus indigent rougiroit de cuUivor li terre.'' Bosc. Jj" Two-thirds of Tuscany consists of mountains.'' Vol. viu, p. 232, Geograptiic Mathcmatique ct pkysicjuc. .See also Forsyth's remarks, p. 80, where arc detailed the principal causes of her pri'spenty. "Leopold,"' says he, '' in selling the crown lands, studiously divided large tracts of ricli but neglected land, into small properties. His fa- vorite plan of' encouraging agriculture consisted, not in boardt, societies, and premiums, hut in giving the laborer a security and interest in the suit — in multiplying small free- holds— ill extending llie livelli or life Iciscs,'' &,c., &e. l-'rom the Boston Daily .\dvertisGr and Patriot. KARTHQl AKF.S AI\i) THF.IR TERRIBLK EFFECTS. In looking over Murray's Encyciopi-dia of Geography, we were very forcibly struck with tlie graphic description of these destructive phenomena. We shall therefore state a few of the facts as there given ; but must refer the reader to the "work itself for a full account of these dreadful scourges of the human race. F-arthqitakes may be said to be universal, there is no country entirely e.sempted, and not a week passes without some part of the earth's surface being more or less agitat- ed ; while a few districts, sometimes, experience a con- tinual series of concussions. Confined to no particular season of the year, or state of the atmosphere, they oc- cur at noon as well us at midnight, and without a momenta warning pre<-ipitMc thousands into eternity in a few sec- onds. 1'he shocks at first appear like perpendicular heav- ings — then as horizontal undulations or osciltations — the efi'ects of these are terrible ; but the most dreadful of all are the rotary motions — during » hich large masses of rocks and houses .are whirled about — sturdy palm trees are twis- ted around one another like willows — the most substantial buildings are instantly shattered to pieces, and the inhabi- tants buried beneath their ruins. 'I'he duration of a sin- gle shock rarely exceed* half a minute ; but in most cases, more shocks follow at short intervals, .\fter the first and second, the others are less destructive, though they fre- quently continue for months with longer or shorter inter- missions. During one of these awful scenes, the violent agitation of the sea shows the extent, as well as the power of these tremendous agencies. The submarine land seema to be thrown out of its bed by the struggling and bursting of the pent grasses ; and the waters, as if afl'rightetl, rush to the shores and overflow their bounds even on distant continents. In 1755, a wave sixty fvet high overflowed a part of the city of Cadiz ; .and during the earthquake at Lima, one of eighty-four feet rolled into the harbor of Cal- lao. Ships at sea and at anchor are sh.-^ken so that they seem to be falling asunder — their masts spring — tlie guns bre ik loose from tln*ir fastenings, and spring from the deck to the height of sfiveral inches. Sometimes the earth is torn a:'uiidcr for miirs, .and chasms hundreds of t'ert in 138 THE FARMER'S MO^J IHLY VISITUR. width and depl'l are formed in ;rn instant ; at others, Ihr ground licaves like a boiling sea, and several hundred of these rents may be seen at a time opening and closing m rapid succession. The largest mountains tremble as if they were about to be torji from their foundations ; their summits open — the sules heave and rend — and huge mass- es arc thrown from them into the subjacent vallies ; rivers arc dammed up -, lakes formed, and the general features so much changed that places can scarcely be recognised. The earthquake in Calabria, threw down nearly all the houses in two hnndred towns and villages in tlie sliort space of two minutes. One hundred thousand of the in- habitants perished, and in some instances, it was difhcult to find even distant relations to succeed to the property of some families. " During the reign of Justinian each year was marked by the repetition of earthquakes of such e.\- tent that the shocks were communicated to the whole sur- face of the globe, or at least of the Roman Empire ; and of such duration that Constantinople was shaken above forty days. Two hundred and fifty tliousand persons are said to have perished in the earthquake of .\iitioch. 'I'he earth- quake of IS'ii, in one horrible night, destroyed every city, village, and cottage in the pashalic of Aleppo within ten or twelve seconds, and buried a vast number under the ruins. If the earthquakes of Syria have often prostrated Anti- och, Balbec, and Acre, those of South America have over- thrown Lima, Cumana, and Caraccas; and for magnitude, number, and duration, the latter are not inferior to the for- mer. We shall give an extract from the description of the one which destroyed Caraccas in 1812, and refer our readers to the work for tlie rest. '• On the 2ljth of March, it was overthrown by one of the most dreadful earthquakes recorded in either hemisphere, .\fter four in the evening, two successive shocks were felt, during which the ground was in continual undulation, and heaving like a fluid in a state of ebullition. The danger was then thought to be over, when a subterranean noise was heard, like the rolling of loud thunder ; it was followed by two shocks, one per- pendicular and one undulatory, so ti-emendous, that in a few seconds the whole city was in ruins. Several of the loftiest churclies fell, burying 3000 or JOOO of the inhabi- tants, and they were so completely destroyed, that none of the fragments were more than five or six feet above tlie ground. The Cazerne el Quartel vanished almost entirelyi and a regiment of soldiers stationed there, disappeared along with it: only a few individuals escaped. The sky was clear J there was no forewarning; and the duration of the shocks, which produced this awful ruin, was thought to be less than a moment. In lSd5, Chili received 300 shocks in 12 days, averaging a sliock an liour, which completely pros- trated many of her towns. Warm and Cold Baths. On tlic healtliliil- iiess of warm butliiiig there eau be no doubt : iu- cleed, it is astouisliiiig tluit it is not nioi-e gener- ally known and ))raeticed,tliata clean and healthy state ot'the skin contributes essentially lu promote not only health ami cheerluluess, but also lon- gevity ; the light and i'greeable I'eeling eonsc- qiieut on the use of warm baths, fully continns this — not only from the peculiar softness of the skin which is the result of it, but the muscles anil limbs seem to acquire from it increased clastici- Some persons inutghie that warm ball).ng expcses those who practice it to "catch cold." r>Iothing can be fartiier from the luct. Colds arc oftener produced by impeded jierspiratiou, caused by an accumulation ofmatterv.hich luis tilled the pores: warm bathing opens them and promotes a free and healthy prespiration ; and its repetition takes oif those impurities "\\Iiich otherwise attn<-h to the persons of those of the most cleai>ly habits, who do not practice warm bathing. Cold bathing is ipiite a diti'erent thing : ■\\ ith young, strong and healthy ])ersons, it is a bracing luxury and an agreeable exercise ; the sick and ■v\eakly should never practice is except imder the instructions of their medical advisers. From the Delaware Journal. The Diirliam Cow " Blossom." Observing in the Pennsylvania Inquirer a short time since, a statement of Mr. J. Gowen's i-elc- brated cow Dairi/ Xdaid's yield of milk for one week, which he states is " unprecedented, being on an average rather o\er 33iJ (piaris ])er day," J concluded to try my cow Blossom, a statement of whose milking for one week you will find liclow, and liy which you will perceive she averaged for the week over 8.-) quarts per day, and yielded ]3i lbs. of well worked butler. Not having a spring- hoii.se, we are obliged to keep our milk in a cel- lar, wliich at lliis sea.'jou of the year every one iicquainted with the (irocess of butter-making knows wotild be unfavorable for a large yield. BIy dairy maid is firm in the belief that at a cool- cr'season, or :.vith a siiring-house, the cretuu she had from Blos.som (or the week wiuild have yipld- ed 15 or Iti lbs. of biuter. tJncommou as this produce may be, 1 do uot rousider it more hf.' tliali the firt of her having never been dry since she had her first calf, more than two years ago, and in the space of 2.5 months has produced five living calves, viz : — on the 5th of April, 1838, she had her first calf (Delaware) : on the 4th of Jid}', ]8:3i), sha had twins (Liberty and Indejtemkncej; and on the ICthof May, 1840, she had twins again (Romeo and JuUetj ; and 1 tliink I can safely say that during the whole of thiit time she has averaged f till 20 quarts per day : she gave 25 quarts per tlay with her first calf, and made nearly 12 lbs. of Ijutter per week. As I consider it an injury both to the cow and calf to milk up to calving, we tried both last year iuid this to get her dr} a lev; weeks before the time, but fbuiul it impossible, although we kept her oft' of grass for some days. As you may suppose, such constant milking keeps her very much . reduced : if she could be got dry for a time so as to gain flesh, I tliink her yield would be much greater, but I am satisfied with it for the present, and until I see it beaten ; when that is done, I will try again, for the credit of little Delaware. Blossom is a thorough-bred short-horn Dur- ham, roan color, cahed iu 1835, bred by Charles lleniy Hall, Esq., of New York, (of w bom 1 pur- chased her v\hen two years old): she was got by Fox's Regent, dam the imported cow Leonora, (a great milker) by a son of Lancaster, &c. Very respectfidly, Samuel Candy. Jf'oodside, June 29, 1840. Blossom's yield of Milk for one iccek. MORN. KOON. EVE. total. June 13 12 q'ts. ll.i Hi 344 " 14 121 m 11 34i " 15 m 11 m 35 " 16 r^i V2i 11 36 " 17 12.i m 11 35 " 18 13 J2 iu 36i " 19 13i lid n 36 Total 247i Being on an a\ erage over 35 quarts per daj'. Statistics of Pauperism. From the .'\lbaiiy N. Y. Cultivator. One of the greatest dl■a^^■backs to the prosper- ity of Gteat Britain, tlie load that hangs with more than millstone weight on the necks of her producing classes is her p;iuper system ; origina- ting in some of the best ii-elingsof the lieart, but wrongly directed, and so frightfully abused, as to have become an almost immitigated curse, instead of a blessing to the comnnniity. The true end of all legislation on subsistence, as connected with poverty, should lie ba.sed on the fact that every one able to labor, is bound by the original law of God, and of society, to siqiport tlieni- .selves ; and that every measure that tends to in- fringe this rule, whether by encouraging idle- ness, or by appropriating the labors of the indus- trious, miist, in the end, result in unnii.xcd evil to all concerned. Ill-directed aid to the ))oor, tends to encourage Ihcin in their habirs of im- providence, and jierhaps profligacy ; and depress- es and discourages the eftbrts of the honest and iudu.strious. ]t was Burke, we believe, that said, '■ every man was as idle or la/y as he could be," or, in other words, that nothing but the dread of want prompted men to exertion. Now, ^^ ithout stopping to inquire as to the extent in which this is true, it is very evident that men very readily acquire the habit of living on the htbors of oth- ers : that this is soon done without any apparent ieeh'ngs of reluctance or shame; and that no- thing has a more direct tendency to destroy all honorable independence of feeling and conduct in the mass of a people, than to know the idle and improvident are sure of support, without care or labor on tlieir part. This, experience in England, if not in this country, has abuiidandy proved. We believe that with many, the influence and i'xamiile of the foreign vagabonds who, educa- ted and instructed as beggars at home, jnowl around our streets, subs'isting on charity, and im- posing on the credulou.s, is most destructive and contagious. While we welcome to our shores the poverty-depressed, but honest laborer of Eu- rope, we cannot avoid deeming the luultiludesof [laupcrs and profligates poia-cd in upon u.s, as one of the most serious evil.s of the day. They ■r!o{ o'llv biib^ist thcni.-^-'lves on the c:irnin!,'s of the frugal and industrious, but by their example, they deprave the morals, and unsettle the habits of niany, who had before, by the fear of public opinion, or some remaining sense of shame, been capable, or eomin'iled, to support themselves. Strange as it may seem to the hone.st, indus- trious laborer, whether farmer or mechanic, that the man who is able to dig, should not be asha- med to beg ; it is certainly'true, that the numbers of those who subsist on the ](ublic bounty iu this country, has been rapidly increasing, and the tax paid by the man who works, to sujiport the idler and the pauper, has increased in a corresponding- ratio. Society is bound to take care of them- selves; those, ^vho by an act of God have been rendered incapable of providing for their own Wiuits ; but neitlier justice or policy, requires any thing more than this. The clearest dictates of human nature, the soundest jjrinciples of jihilo- sopby and economy, no less than the voice of in- s])uation, i)roclaim that labor and bread are to go together ; that if a man will not work, neither shall he eat. If you wish to malie a man worth- less and depraved ; if you wish to destroy him iu his own estimation and that of others ; if you wish to root out the last spark of independence and nuuily feeling fiom his bosom, make him a voluntary pauper, and teach him lo accept of charity without a blush, and the work is done. We have been led to these remarks by an ex- amination of the "Report of the Secretary of State, transmitting abstracts of the returns of the Superintendents of the poor in the several coun- ties of this State, for the year 1839." It is an in- teresting document, to be read and reflected upon by every friend to his coimtry. England has found her poor rates increased to the fearful sum of forty millions of dollars annually ; and al- though the past year shows a slight" falling off" from former years, in the ex|ienses, yet the rapid anniud increase, shown in the tables given, proves that the same causes are at v\ork here, as there ; and if not timely checked by an imjiro^ed .sys- tem of general education, and the inculcation of a spirit of self-reliance and independence, will eventually produce the same bitter fruit;-\ Wo may ;idd that the exaniination of the poor house and pauper returns, as well as those of the pri- sons of the State, demonstrates that nine tenths of tlie pauperism, degredation, and crime of the coimtry, is owing to the unrestricted use of ar- dent spirits. Warming Houses. There is much popular ignorance prevailing on the subject of warming houses both among the English and Auglo-Aiiiericans. One would have thought that the experiments of such men as Frazfklin and Ilumford would have dispelled the illusions about [leoplo being more liable to catch cold when a regular and uniform heat is kept up iu their apartments, than when these arc traversed by currents fiom doors, windows, and e\ery crevice, all rushing towartis an open fire. But ])rcjudices we hard to be overcome— the aiiore so indeed, the more beneficial their aban- donment. It' we were really made hardier, and acquired exemption from the complaints so com- mon hi our variable climate, during the autumn, wiiiler, anil spring months, by the common ]n-actice of using open iires, — single windows and doors, we might give uji the comfort of the oiqiositioii plan : hut no such good follows our exposure: no Irame, however vigorous, is exempt from the assaults of streams of cold air in our houses. This is not, however, a matter of theo- ry, or to be argued from individual experience. National usage, in the coldest climates iu Europe, is decisive on this [loiut. The iiussian.s, Finland- ers, and Swedes, of all classes, are not ashamed to keej) up nearly a summer heat in their houses during tiie winter mouths — they have no lijars of liiMiig called effeminate. On the contrary, allege, the.t in sallying out from their houses into the ex- ternal frosty air, they are able to bear and even enjoy this kind of exposure, or air-bath, the bet- ter from their |jre\ ious vvm'tnth ; [neeisely for the same rea.son that a jierson ^\Uh a v igorous circu- lation of the blood, and hot skin, is better enabled to bear the shock of a cold iKith. In tlif o[)po- site circumstance's, of immersion in cold air or cold water, wlien a person is chilly and with pale skin, as when coming out fiom a cold room and inipericctly clad, he will snirer greatly, and be less able to resi.'-t the secondarv and morbid THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 139 effects of cold. Rumford declares that notwith- standiug Lis first prejudice iiguiiist stove heat, he found from an exjierince of twelve years' resi- dence in Germany, not only that warm rooms were more comibitable in winter, but certainly tended to the preservation of health. — Journal of Health. For tlic Monthly Visitor. Liiu$ addressed to MaJ. Gen. STARK, at the age of 93, then the only surviving ( .imerican) General qf' the Revolutionary Army of the United Utates. [First published in a Boston paper in 1821.] Lyre of oIJ times, re-wake thy clieeriny lays, With valor's deeds, which once have swell'd thy song, AVhen in the warrior's halls of other days, Thy chords to triumph's answ'ring notes were strung. Last of the mighty race ! who drew the blade. In years long past, to quell th' invading foe ; Stern scourge of royalty ! thy potent aid Ne'er failed thy country, in her weal or woe. I'irst in the ranks where warring champions stood. Whose freeborn spirits brook'd no sceptred lord, Thy deeds of fame were writ in Tyrant's blood, .\nd freedom blessed thy ever conquering sword. As the proud oak that braves the pelting storm, Lnbroke, unbent, tho' lightnings play sublime, Tho' ninety years have mark'd thy war-worn form, I'hou stand'st alone amid the march of time. Where the dark tide of conflict roU'd its wave, And the dread onset gleam'd thro' flame and smoke. Thine was the glorious task to lead the brave, 'Tv.'as thine to front the battle's doubtful shock. But now. are all those days of fame gone by; The darker scenes they knew are with them gone, ,\nd all their warrior chiefs now slumbering lie. Shrined in their lowly graves save thee alone. Peaceful thy sleep in honor's blooming bed, Where fame's undying rays shall gild their ui n ; O'er their green turf, shall after heroes tread, Who fought at deathless Bennington. One name is Icit to grace the minstrel's song ; One, still to read his valor's laurcU'd page ; One hoary veteran of the martial throng, Unbowed by storms amid the waste of age.' Last of the patriot chiefs vvhi bled of old, (ireen are the b.ays, thy whitened locks that twine ; Thy soul-inspiring deeds shall long be told. When thou hast joined the brave of other times. The veteran General was gathered to his fa- thers, we believe in the year 181ii, at the age of ',)4. His remains repose on an elevation a little distance from the east bank of the ilcrrimack, about tifteen miles below Concord, and directly opposite the reclaimed meadow of Col. Farmer, on the left hand side of the travelled road on the west side as you approacli Anioskeag village from the north. A granite moiuunent which may be descried by the" traveller at the distance of a mile over the riser, an obelisk prejsared at tlic State Prison in Coi^cord, was erected many years since by bis sou, Maj. Calkh Stark, who died more than a year ago in the h>tate of Ohio. The man- .sion house of the General, a connnon two story building erected by him soon after the revolu- tionary war, has lately Ix'eu thoroughly repaired and painted : it is the property of a grandson, a thriving fanner of Old Hillsborough. The pos- tcritv of General Stark are nnnierous. saved from rtiiu. Though otir merchants give employment to their thousands, there is no class of business which involves so much wear and tear of hmnan life. — How much privation and hardship — how much health, and how many lives must be sacrificed in the accunndation of one great estate in the mercantile svay I They owe it then to the public and their fellow men, to set the first example of munificence in multi- plying and augmenting the public charities ; and in promoting all that tends to the instruction, or- astnres,by swallowing potatoes, or otlier roots without sufficient chewing, and to other causes. The stomach of the animal be- comes distended \vith wind, and if a vent Ibr this cannot be aflbrdcd the beast must die. A'oHfrfy.— Open a hole with a sharp pointed knife, "with a blade three or four inches long, between the bin and short ribs, where the swell- ing rises highest, and in.sert a small tube in the orifice, till the wind ceases to be troublesome. The wound will soon heal up again. Mr. Young Flowers. " Flowers, of all created things, the most hnio- eently simple, the most superbly complex ! play- things for childhood, ornaments of the grave, and companions of the cold corpse ! Flowers, belo- ved by the idiot, and studied by the thinking man of science ! Flow ers, that unceasingly expand to heaven their grateful, and to iimn their cheerful looks — partners of human joys ; soothers of hu- man sorrow ; fit endjlems of the victor's tri- umphs, and the young bride's blushes! Wel- come to the crowded hall, and graceful upon the solitary grave ! Flow ers are, in the volume of nature, what the expression " God is love" is in the volume of revelation ! What a desolate place would be a world without a flower! it woidd bo a face without a smile — a feast without a wel- come. Are not flowers the stars of the earth ? and are not our stars the flowers of heaven? One cainiot look closely at the structure of a flower without loving it ; they are the emblems and man- ifestations of God's love to the creation, andthoy are the means and ministrations of man's love to his fellow-creatures, lor ihey first awaken in hia mind a sense of the beautiful and good. The very inutility of flowers is their excellent and great beauty, for Ihey lead us to thoughts of gen- erosity and moral beauty, detached from, and su- perior to all selfishness, so that they are sweet lessons in nature's book of instruction, touching man that he liveth not by bread alone, but that he hath another than animal life." — Zion's .Advo- cate. " Good maxims lose nothing by being oft repeated." Poor Ricliar«l's Alniauac. The winj to icecdth, as ckarhj shown in the Preface of an old Pcmisyiuania Almanac, emitted Poor Ricliard Improved.* Courteous Reader: — I have heard that noth- ing gives an author so great pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other.s. Judge, then, how much I must have been gratified by an incident 1 am going to relate to you. I stopped my horst; lately, where a great number of people were collected at an auction of merehant'ci goods. The hour of sale not being come, they were con- versing on the badness of the times ; and one of the company called to a plahi clean old man, with white locks, " Pray, Father Abraham, what think you of the times ? Will not tlicic heavy taxes quite ruin the country? How shall we ever be able to pay tlieni ? What would you advise t;s 10 do?" Father Abnduun stood up, and re- plied, '' If you would have my advice, I will give it to you in sliort, • for a w ord to the w ise is enough,' as Poor Richard says." They joined in desiring iiim to speak his mind, and gathering round hhn, he proceeded as follows: — " Friends," says he, '■ the taxes are indeed very heavy, and, if those laid on by the Govcrmnent were the oidy ones we had to jKiy, vve might more eusiiy discharge them ; but we have many others, and nuich more grievous to some of ns. Wo arc taxed twice as u;ucli by our idlencs.s three times as miich by oiu' jiride, and four times as much by our fidly ; aud from these ta.xes tho conniiissioners carjnot ease or deliver us, by al- lowing an abatement. However, let us hearken to good advice, ami something may be done for us: ' God helps those who help themselves,' as Poor Richard says. ■ Dr. Franklin for mai]y years published the I'oiinsvlva- nia Almaiuic, called Poor Richard, [!i to keep one in fuel,' as Poor Richard says ; so, ' rather g6 to bed supperless than rise in debt.' ' Get wliat you can, and what you get hold, 'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold.' And when you have got the philosoj)lier's stone, sure you will no longer complain of bad times, or the difficulty of paying taxes. " This doctrine, my friends, is reason and wis- dom ; but, after a.ll, do not depend too much up- on your o\vn industry, and frugality, and pru- dence, tliough excellent things ; for they may be blasted, without the blessing of heaven ; and therefore ask that blessing hund)ly, and be not uncharitable to those who at present seem to want it, biu comfort and help them. Remember Job siiffiired, and was afterwards prosperous. "And now, to conclude, 'experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other,' as Poor Richard says, and scarce iti that ; for it is true, ' we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct ;' however, remember this, ' they that will not be counselled cannot be helped ; and far- ther, that ' if you will not hear reason, she will surely rap your knuckles,' as Poor Richard says." Thus the old gentleman ended his harangue. The people heard it, and approved the doctrine ; and immediately practised the contrary, just as if it had been a common sermon, for the auction opened, and they began to buy extravagantly. 1 found the good man had thoroughly studied my iilmanacs, aiul digested all I had dro])t on tho.se to|)ics dining the course of twenty-five years. The frequent mention he made of me must have tired any one else ; but my vanity was wonder- fidly delighted with it, though I was conscious that not a tenth ])art of the wisdom was my own, which lif ascribed to me, but rather the gleanings that f had made of the sense of all ages and na- tions. However, I resolved to be the better for the echo ot it; and, though I had at first deter- mined to buy stuff ii)r a new coat, I went a^^ay resolved to wear my old one a little longer. Reader, if thou wilt do the same, thy profit will be as great as mine. I am, as ever, thine (o serve thee, RICTL\RD SAUNDERS. On the Management of Fruit Trees. The following directions for the management of Fii'iit Trees, in ever}' stage of their growth, will be found satisfactory. They are from Mar- shall's Rural Economy : A seed bed and niiiseiy ground should be kept perit'Ctly clean, and be double-dug, from a foot to eighteen inches deep. The seedling plants ought to be sorted agi-eeably to the strength of their roots, that they jnay rise evenly together. In transjilanting, the tap or bottom root should lie taken off, and, at the same time, the longer side rootlets sliould be shortened. The young plants should theu be set ui rows three feet apart, and from fifteen to eighteen inches asunder in the rows : cure being taken not to cramp the loots, but to lied them evenly and horizontally among ill-' niMuld. In siricinesfl of managenient thev ought, two years previous to their being transfer- red to the orchard, to be retransplanted into un- manured double-dug ground, four feet every way apart, in order that tlie feeding fibres may be brought so near the stem, that they may be re- moved with it into the orchard, instead of being, as they generally are, left behind in the nursery. Hence in this second transplantation, as in the first, the branches of the root should not be left too long ; but ought to be shortened in such a manner as to induce them to tbrm a regular glob- ular root, sufficiently small to be removed with their plant ; yet sufficiently large to give it firm- ness and vigor in the plantation. If the raising or improving of varieties be the object in view, the nursery ground should be naturally deep and well soiled, and highly ma- nured ; and tlie plants repeatedly moved at ev- ery second, third, or fourth year, that they may luxuriate not only in rich but in fi^esh pasturage ; thereby doing perhaps all that art can do, in this stage of improvement, towai'd giving freedom to the sap vessels, and size and richness to the fruit. The intervals may, while the plants are small, be cropped with such kitchen garden produce as will not crowd or overshadow the plants ; the rows being kept |)erlectly free from weeds. In priiningthe plants, the leading shoot should be particularly attended to. If it shoot double, the weaker of the contending branches should be taken oft". If the leader be lost, and not easily recoverable, the plant should be cut down to within a hand's breadth of the soil, and a fresh stem trained. Next to the leader, the stem boughs require attention. The undermost boughs should be taken off by degrees ; going over the plants every winter ; always cautiously preserving suf- ficient heads to draw up the sap ; thereby giving strength to the steins aiul vigor to the roots and branches ; not trimming them up to naked stems, as in the common practice, thereby drawing them u]) ijieinaturely tall and feeble in the lower part of the stems. The thickness of the stem ought to be in proportion to its height, a tall stock, therefore, requires to remain longer in the nur- sery thiin a low one. BEST METHOD OF PLANTIiNG IN THE ORCHARD. Describe a circle about five or six feet diame- ter for the hole. If the ground be in grass, re- move the s%\ ard in shallow spits, placing the sods on one side of the hole, the best of the loose mould placed by itself on another side, and the dead eartli from the bottom of the hole in a third heap. The depth of the holes should be regulated by the nature of the sub-soil. Where this is cold and retentive, the holes should not be made much deeper than the cultivated soil. To go lower, is to form a recci)tacle for water, ^vhich, by standing among the roots is very injurious to the plants. On the contrary, in a dry, light soil, the holes should be made considerahly deeper, as well to obtain a degree of coohiess and mois- ture, as to be able to establish the plants firmly in th* soil. In soils of a middle qualitj', the hole should be of such depth that wlieu the sods are thrown to the bottom of it, the plants will stand at the same depth in the orchard as it did in the nursery. Each hole, therefore, should be of a depth adapted to the particular root planted in it. The holes ought, howerer, tor various reasons, to be made previous to the day of planting. If the season of planting be spring, and the ground and the weather be ilry, the holes should be wa- tered the evening before the day of planting, by throwing two or three pailfids of water into each ; a new hut eligible practice. In planting, the sods should bo thrown to the bottom of the hole, cliopt with the spade, and covered witli some of the finest of the mould. If the hole be so deep, that with this advantage, the bottom will not be raised high enough for the plant, some of the worst of the mould shoidd bo returned before the sod be thrown down. The bottom of the hole being raised to a proper height and adjusted, the lowest tire of roots are to he spread upon it ; drawing them out horizon- tally and spreading them in different directions, drawing out with the hand the rootlets and fibres which severally belong to them ; siii-eading them out as a feather; pressing them evenly into the soil, and covering them, by hand, with some of the finest of the mould ; the other tires of roots aie then to 1m^ spread out ,niiays their en cunibrance of the soil. How injudicious in such case is the conduct of the ])roprietor, who per- mits such trees to remain year after year indiib- ing and wasting the sid)stance of his soil ! From the Genesee Farmer. Proper age of Sheep for lUutton. In England, where mutton forms such an essea- tial part of the food of all classes, great attention has been paid, not only to producing .the greatest quantity, but the best quality of nuitton. After years of trials and experiments, it seems now to be generally conceded by the writers of the coun- try, that sheej) of great size and quick growth, siich as the Leicesters, will not gi\e as fine mut- ton as smaller sheep, and those longer in coming to inatin-ity. In other w ords, the profit is on the side of the large sheep ; tlie pleasures of eating are with the smaller, such as the South Down. A writer in a late volume on British Husbandry, says : — "" A sheep, to be in high order for the palate of an epicure, should not be killed earlier than when five years old ; at which age the mutton will be foimd firm and succulent, of a dark color, and full of the richest gravy ; whereas, if only two years old, it is flabby, pule and savorless. The graziers, indeed, do not admit this ; and we con- stantly read flaming accounts in the reports of the shows of stock exhibited in various jiarts of the kingdom, of pens of wethers fattened to an enor- mous size in extraorduiary short periods of time ; but if any one chooses to ascertain the differ- ence in quality, let him cause an equal weight of one of these young Leicesters, and a five year old South Down, to be stewed down into broth, and he will find that of the former to be little better than greasy water, while the latter, besides its superior degree of nutriment, possesses all the flavor of full grown meat." Among the amateur mutton -eaters, wether mut- ton is always considered preferable to that of the ewe, mdess the latter has been spayed, in which case, when kept to five years old and well fat- tened, she is considered by connoisseur^, supe- rior, as mutton, to any thing else. Youatt, in his work on sheep says : — " The Leicester will yield more meat with the same quantity of food than any other sheep can do ; but that when fed too high, as is sometimes the case, so much fat is put on that the muscles or lean, seems all absorbed, and the carcass has the appearance and taste of a mass of luscious fat." This propensity to fatten, or to come to early maturity, in some of the improved animals, is a source of great profit to the breeder ; but the consequence to the consumer is, that for mut- ton he gets neither lamb nor mutton ; and when steers of eighteen or twenty mouths old are con- verted into beef cattle, so far as weight is con- cerned, the meat, it is clear, is neither veal nor beef, but a compound of both, and not equal to ei- ther. As a general rule it may be remarked that all animals should be killed while the flesh is in the white state of the young animal, or when it has reached the firm, red fibre of matinity ; a result which a forced growth and fattening does not seem to hasten in the least. Effects of Lightning:. In the Animks d' Hort. Soc. de. Paris, vol. xxii. 1». 120 to 134, an account is given of sixteen trees, which have been struck by lightning in diffierent parts of France, at various periods, from 1813 to 1837. The eflTects appear to have been very dif- ferent on diflierent trees. In some, the leaves on- ly were destroyed, in others, the leaves were but slightly injured, but strips of bark appeared to be torn off; in some the branches were broken, and no other injury done ; in some the trunks were split ; and in others, no injiuy was done to the top of the tree, but the roots w ere laid bare, and torn in pieces. In several cases, where the trees were standing near houses, or hay or corn ricks, they seem to have acted as conductors to the electric fluid, and saved the cottage or the corn-stack or hayrick from being struck by the lightning. This was iiarticularly the case where the Lombardy poplar or the silver fir had attain- ed a great height. The authoi- of the article, Vicomte Haricart de Thury, concludes with the tbllowiug advice : — 1. Travellers and country people, reapers, haymakers, &.C., during the time of a thunder storm, should never take shelter imder detached trees ; more especially inrder a tree which stands at a distance tiom any other, such trees acting as conductors. 2. To take shelter rather under- a bush, than a tree, and the lower and more spreading it is the better. 3. Never to take shelter on that side of an ob- ject, from which the wind or the storm comes, or, indeed, in the direction of the wind or the storm. Thus, supposing the storm proceeded in the di- rection of the east and west, then the north and south side of a bush, or other sheliering objects, are to be chosen, and not the east or west side. 4. In the moment of danger, the safest way is to recline at length on the ground, choosing a fiir- row or ditch, if any should be at hand ; but no time should be lost in searching for a furrow oj- ditch, or tor a bush or a hedge, because the uji- right position, maintained during the search, is incomparably more dangerous tlian the horizon- tal one. 5. Always to bear in mind that the danger is great in proportion to the shortness of the time which elap.ses between appearance of the light- ning and the noise of the thunder. 6. Those who cannot afford the expense of lightning conductors to their houses, farm buil- dings and ricks, should plant near them late growing trees such as the pyramidal oak, (Quer- cus peduncnlata pyraniidalls,) the Lombardy poplar, (Populasfestigiata,)the cypress, the larch, the silver fir, the spruce fir, &c.— vSnnafes rf' Horf. 14:^ THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. riTLT'S PATENT HORSE POWER AND THRASHING MACHINE. AVe insert above, a cut of this machine, one of wliieli lias l)een successfully used on the pre- mises of the editor of the Visitor, during the pro- sent season. The Horse Power can be applied to other purposes besides thrhshins grain, and makes a great saving in the salving of wood, &c. We had intended to have given a more detailed description of it in this number of the Visitor, bat are, unavoidably, obliged to defer our remarks to some liiture time. Applications for the use of the Horse Power, may be made to Robert East- man of this town, or William Whitman North Haverhill, N. H. by whom they are constructed. The patent is now owiu'd by Mr. Oliver Her- RiCK, of Lcwiston, Me. to whom applications can also be made. To make Wives love their Homes. A great deal has hfen said, here and elsewhere, about tlic stay at home duty of wives ; and the obligation under which they live, to make home pleasant and comfortable, attractive and all that. | The inference from this one sided preachiripnt| and caution is, that men have nothing to do in the matter; and that nothing depends upon: them in relation to the comforts of what is in- tended to be the pleasant place upon earth. — Women are soundly rated for gadding, as if they had no right to be seen out of doors; while men may treat their hoiises as mere cook-shojis, and places where lodgings are provided for them — coming in only to their food and to their beds, and no body questions either their right thus to neg- lect their families, or the propriety and polic}- of such neglect. WHien a man thus contemptuously treats his home, and evinces in every action his preference for any place except his own fireside, v.'Iiat are we to expect of the rest of "the folks" hut that they should emulate the father of the family, and despise home too? If they make it comforlable, it must l>c from selfish considerations ; for nobodv cares any thing about it more than an hour at a time. AH the eftbrts of the wife to call attention to improvements and alterations in the house- hold being lost, or, at mosi, responded to in the language and tone of indifference, she becomes dispirited; and naturally learns to put a small estimate upon what receives but small considera- tion from others. Of course she must " gad" or be miserable. Waives and religion are treated much alike in this world. Both, to use an Hibernicism, are conceded the one thing needful — and both are neglected. To both a great deal of li|i wor- ship is paid — and towards both, to do human na- ture justice, there is a great deal of wnrnith of heart. Jt is however but an abstract feeling — a sentiment by fits and starts, which comes Oier one when he is melted by adversity, or cheered by extraordinary good fortune. It comes out upon great occaion.s, but in the daily walks of life, where its infiuence should be seen and felt, it is a hidden thing. If a man is dying himself, he calls upon his Maker with as much fervency as if he had never forgotten Ilim; and if his wife is at the pointof death, he makes him- self as busy and anxious as if he had never ibr- gotten her. The same feeling, equalized through his life, would prevent a man's terrible anxiety at the hour of death; and proper and attentive care of his wife, at all times, and under all cir- cumstances, would leave him no necessity to be over anxious to atone for usual remissness when she is in danger or distress. Every married man who does not know that his wife's whole soul is in her house, ought to learn it. — If such be not her disposition he will stand a fair chance to be unhappy, unless, indeed, he can find some means to alter her tastes, or to conform his household and his )]ursuits to her peculiar mental conformation — Waiving such as extraordinary cases, and taking women as we usually find them, the married man should con- sider his house as his wife's empire ; and if he would obtain and keep a hold ujion her sincere affections, he must learn to feel an interest in all she does within her proper sjjhere. The veriest trifle that takes place at home by her direction, is conducted with a view to his comfort and wish- es. Men do not think of this sufficiently. Their cares and intercourse are divided on so inany different points and among so many differ- ent people, that they cannot, without schooling their minds to the subject, comprehend a wo- man's single attachment to one jierson, and care for him. He cannot realize that it is his duty to meet this by a corresponding feeling, to be shown always at home. Engrossed in the weighty'cares of business, he forgets that what appear but tri- fles to him, employ as much the attention of his wife, as his negociations upon 'change, or his business transactions or affairs occupy him. He would feel sadly annoyed, if what he chooses to tell his wife of his business, did not interest her, or if she made no inquiries relative to his business and prospects. On the same ground, lie should reflect that his wife has a right ito be nettled and vexed, and may naturally become habitually despondent, -if he passes the budget of domestic news without the expression of any interest. He ought to seethe w-hole advantages of any removal of the furni- ture, any change of the carpet, or indeed any moveinent within doors which she may have re- solved upon in her cabinet councils. He may even assume a right to a voice in these discuss- ions, and she will like it all the better, if he do not attempt too often the exercise of the veto power. She is queen of the realm ; he should be, in a manner, a Prince Albert — a sort of a subject consort; never disputing her authority, but mak- ing suggestions, as Prince Albert most certainly will. Ho may be sure that if he attempts to dic- tation, and merely expresses wishes, and 'acJsnowledges gratification, that the bare express- ion ofinterest in household matters will put him in the attitude of a "power behind the throne, greater than 'the throne itself" This participation of the husband in affairs at home, will necessarily keep him more in the house. He will never fihd a chance to complain of his wife's gadding, because, having no induce- ment to seek sympathy and society abroad, she will become domestic from choice and habit. The participant in all her plans and pursuits, he will know better tlian to be in a pet at her trips abroad, because he will understand her motive and her reason for all such excursions. In a woi-d, being a reasonable husband, he can but have a reasonable wife, (or there are few, if any, faults of husband and ivives, that are not mutual. — X. Y. Dispatch. Social Kcoiiomy of a Bee Hive. .\ hive consists of the queen, or mother beo, the workers, vnrving in numbers from 10,000 to 20,000, or 30,000, .-iiid the males or drones from 700 to double that number. The qneen is the parent of the hive ; and her sole province and occupation consists in laying the eggs, fi'om which originate those prodigious multitudes that people a hive, and emigrate Vrom it in the course of one summer. In the height of the season her fertility is truly astonishing, as she lays not fewer than 200 eggs pei- day, and even more jvhen the season is particularlv warm and genial, and flowers are abundant : and this laying continues, though at a gradually- diminishing rate, till the approacli of cold weather in October. An opinion has been entertained that the queen is followed in her progress through the hive by a nurnlier of her subjects formetl in a circle gar- round her, and these, of course, have been re- ded as the queen's bodyguards. The truth i.s, however, that her bee majesty has no attendants, strictly speaking : but wherever she moves, the workers whom she encounters in her progress in- stantly and Inirriedly clear the way before her, and all tm-niug their lieads toward their approach- ing sovereign, lavish their carresses upon her with miiclr apparant aflection, and touch her soft- ly with their antenna? ; and these circumstances, which may be ohser\-cd ei-ery hour in the day, have given rise to the idea of guards. On oiie occasion we gave her subjects an op|)ortunitv of testilying their courage in her defence, as well as their aflection and zeal. Observing her laving eggs in the comb next to the glass of the hive, THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. U3 we gently but quickly opened the pane, and en- (Icavoied to seize her. But as soon as the remov- al of the glass afforded room — (wliile shut it was almost iu I'ontact witli lier back) — and before we could accomplish our pinpose, they threw their bodies upon lier to the number of at least a hun- dred, and formed a cone over her of sncli mag- nitude, that slie could not be less than two inches distant from any part of tl]e surfin-e. ^Ve dis- persed the mass \\ith our finger, and got hold of her precious person, and kept looking at her lor some minutes before we restored the cai)tive to her alarmed defenders. It is remarkable that this violence was not resented by them ; tliough they coiu'sed over our hands i)i scores, wliile \\c kept hold of their mistress, not one individual used its Bting. The all-engrossing oliject was the queen. The mutual aversion of queens is a striking feature in the natural histery of this insect. Their mutual enmity may be said to be an inborn dis- position with them ; for no sooner has the first of the race on a hive about to throw oft' a second swarni escaped from her own cradle, than she hurries away in search of her rivals, and exerts herself with the utmost eagerness to destroy them. The workers, to the nimiber of 10,000, SO,COO, and even 30,000, constitute the great mass of the population, and on them devolve the whole labors for the estalilishment. Tlieirs is the otHce of searcliing for and collecting the precious fluid which not Ojily furnishes their daily food, as well as that of tlieir j'oung, and the sm-plus of which is laid up fbr winter stores, but also the materials from which they rear their beautifid combs. In the little basket sliaped cavity of their hind legs they bring home the pollen or farinacious dust of flowers, kneaded by tlie help of the morning dew into tiny balls, which forms an injportant in- gerdient in the nomishment of the brood ; and also the propolis or adhesive gum extracted fr-om willows, (Sec, with which they attach tlieir combs to the upper part and siiles of the hive, and stop every crevice that might admit the winter's cold. The natiu-al term of the woiker's e.\i.steuce docs not extend, we think, beyond six or eight months. It is the opinion of Dr. Bevan that all the bees brought into existence at the queen's great lay- iijg in spring die before \\ inter. But many never reach that period. Shovvcrsof rain, violent blasts of wind, sudden changes of atmosphere, destroy them in hunrlreds. In liic clear, cold mornings and evenings of autmiui, tlieir eagerness fbr fiir- aging entices them abroad early and late ; when lighting on the ground, many are chilled and quickly perish. And should lliey escape the blighting atmosphere at the close of autumn, a bright sunshine in a winter day, when tlie ground perhaps is covered with snow, lirings them abroad in multitudes, and the half of them never return. The sole office of the male, or at least tlie pri- mary one is, to pair with the queen. He is ihe father of the hive. Indolent and luxurious, he takes no part in liie internal operations of the domicile, and never leaves it with a view of shar- ing in the laliors of the field. When he docs venture abroad, it is only in the finest weather, and dining the warmest part of the day. He is easily distinguished from t'le workers by bis lar- ger size, by his heavy motion in flight, and by his loud humming soimd. His life is extremely short. Intermeddling. — The iljol is busy in every one's business but his ov/n, saitli an old pio\ erb, and there is much truth in the saying. We know of many a one who seems to take a vast deal more pains to find out, regulate, and direct other people's business tlian their own. They wulch the movements of their neighbors with as much vigilance as a cat docs a mouse. They peep, or would if they could, into a man's kitchen to see what he is to have for dinner, to see if the cook- ing IS done well, to see if any thing is wasted, to see whether he used Sydney coal or Orrel coal for fuel ; whether he burned" oak wood or iiiaple, beach wood or birch ; whether he drank green tea or black; whether he boiled his coflce or fil- tered h. The Paul Prys are a most grievous nui- sance in a neighborhood, a nuisance which ought to he abated by a sjiecial law made for the pur- pose, as much'as any other which annoys die in- habitants of any piirticidar section of the city. ,.We could point out several who are conlimiaily poking their noses and introducing their imperti- nent interference into matters which concern theni no more than they do the man iu the moon. Such people are the pests of .society, the plague of a ueigliborhood which is ciu-scd with them. Meddlers and tattlers are evils which are, we sup- pose, inlroduced into the world to m.ake mischief, and stir up strifes and contentions. They are continually buzzing about your ears, like gnats, to annoy but never to benefit you. Such beings help to make up a population, and we suppose must be considered as necessary evils, hut it does seem to us that we who make it a matter of prin- ciple to mind our own afiiiirs anil let other peo- ples alone, could contrive to get along, ujion a pinch, with a fewer number of such sort of an- noyances. We cannot but throw a word or two of " ad- vice gratis " to the numerous, too numerous, class of pensonages, who are wise in their conceit, to mind their own business and let other people's alone. Ye meddlers, when jour assistance is wanted, wait till it is called for, and it will be much more acceptable than when it is intruded. There is a vast difterencc between people's per- forming a kind and friendly act, and intermed- ling with affairs which do not concern or belong to them. Let people mind their own business, and remember and profit by the proverb with which we commenced this article ; " the fool is bus}' in every one's business but his own." — Bos- ton Transcript. A Hint to the Girls. We have always considered it an unerring sign of innate vulgarity, « hen we have heard ladies take particular pains to impress us with an idea of their ignorance of all domestic matters, save sewing lace or weaving a net to encase their del- icate hands. Ladies, by some curious kind of hocus pocus, have got it into their heads that the liest way to catch a husband is to show him how profoundly capable they are of doing notliing for ids comfort. Frightening a piano into fits, or murdering the king's French, may be good bait bait fbr certain kinds of fish, but they must be of that very small kind usually found in very slialtow waters, 1'he surest way to secure a good husband is to cultivatate those accoinplishinents which make a good wife. Dru.nken Crows. — A South Carolina paper relates a curious incident, which tells well for the moral character of some of the jiarties con- ccnietl— iu one point at least. A gentleman on finding that his cornfields were beset by a great i)Umber of crows, steeped a quanlity of corn in al- „cohol,and threw it forth as a s])ecial " treat." The nsusiiecting spoilers swallowed the bait greedi- 'y, and soon began to manifest all sorts of funny censequeiwes, being most essentially fuddled. They staggered al>out, even in mid-au", as they sliauibled towards a neighboring forest; where ihev held a most loquacious and uproarious con- fab in the Cawcaw language, resulting, it seems, in a resolution to avoid that shop in future ; which resolution they faithfully fulfilled, after hav- ing regained their sober senses — (a lesson to oth- er bipeds) — although they continued to plunder tlu^ neighboring fields in all directions. Amkrica.n Cottons. — The Chamber of Com- merce and Manufactures of Amsterdam has pub- li.shod a notice to the effect, that, according to ar- rangements made by his Majesty tlie Emperor of Russia, in concert with the Danish government, American cotton, no matter under u-hat flag, and coming from any Eiu-opeau porfs excepting those of the Mediterranean, will be henceforth admit- ted into the Russian ports in the Baltic without being furnished with clean bills of health deliv- ered l.iy the Dutch qtiarautine . officers. The American origin of the cotton must be proved by the requisite certificates delivered by the Rus- sian Consuls in the ports fiom which it is con- signed, or in the absence of consuls, by certifi- cates of the local authoi-ities. — Baltimore Jiepjib- Hcan. the most elevated, arc but slaves of imperious lords, and panders to the most debasing passions. Their mental culture is almost i\ holly neglec- ted ; and they are invariably treated, as belong- ing to an inferior order of beings. But even .hidaisni, though designed for a peo- ple compai-atively barbarous, and adapted to a rude state of society, exalts woman to her just rank, as, in a command of the decalogue, it re- quires children to honor their mother equally with their father. Mothers. — It is the glory of Our* religion, that it assigns to woman her n])propriate sphere. In all nations, ancient or modern, not bles?ed with revelation, and even among the followers of Mo- hammed, whose imposture is ingrafted on the sacred script ires, women, the best instructed and Redemption of Bog Meadow. Rev. II. CoLMAN, Dear Sir:— At the request of Mr. Brown, I for- ward you this paper. It is well wortli notice. I have rarely seen labor more successfully ajiplied. I saw the field in the month of August, and I have no question of the correctness of the state- ment. JOHN W. PROCTOR, Secretary of Ihe Essex ./Igricullural Society. I have myself been at the place two or three tiines, and witnessed with the highest pleasure this valuable improvement ; not so extensive as niajiy in the State, but remarkable for the good judgment, per.severance, and labor, which its ex- ecution evinces. H. C. " The swamp in which I have been engaged for two years past, is situated in Saugiis. "Between 5 and (i acres of it I have wrought upon. The mud or soil varied from two to twelve feet in depth. Two years ago this land was so thickly covered with briars and bushes, that it was almost impossible for a dog to pass through it. These bushes were mowed and burnt on the ground. There wei-e so many stumps and logs that it was not possible to plough ; .so I commenced cutting the turf or sods into squares, about 1.5 inches over, and then with forked hoes, made very strong, pulled them up ; and at the same time cleared out the .stumps and logs, also cleared out all the small roots with the hoes, and replaced the sods the other side up. This part of the work was done in strips of about one rod in width. I commenced a year last August. I mowed the bushes and dug one ditch in 183(). The stumps and logs were cleared out without the help of oxen. Some of the stumps had nearly half a cord of wood in them. There were m,anv trees blown down, and the meadow had fornie"d over them. Many of them were sound, and some measured 60 bfeet in length. The stumps were very numerous. In some jjlaccs, apparently three tiers, one above the other; and under the bottom one, lay a pine log, that had been on fire. The expense of clearing the land as above described, and of digging the necessary ditches to drain it, and to protect the adjoining land from fire, in burning the bushes, I estimate to have been ,'S504. In the winter I took off the wood and piled it up for coaling. The largest of the roots I collected for my own fire. The small ones were burnt upon the ground. This part of the labor I esti- mate at J*;i.5. In the spring, as seen as the frost began to come out of the ground, I commenced harrowing the land. The sods being fastened down by the frost, and the harrow passing over the upper side ; they mouldered away as "fast as the frost would admit ; and when the "harrow had got to the depth of the sods, they were worked up [iretty fine. The frost below" facilitated the passing of the teams. This part of the expense I estimatcil at ,ftl2. About the 1st of Mav, I be- gan planting the potatoes, without anv liianure. I cut the seed very fine, and planted "them near together. I merely marked the hills with a hoe ; then a man followed after with the seed ; then another to cover it. I calculated to have the seed one inch from the surface. I u.sed 89 bushels of seed. I should not have seeded so light, had it not lieen for the uncertainty of obtaining a crop without the use of manure! There was but one man who gave me any encouragement, fllany said I should lose my labor. But to their aston- ishment I harvested 927 bushels of excellent po- tatoes. The expense ef plaining, cultivating and harvesting this crop, I estimate at SH". I^Iy land is now in ;i condition that I can plough it when I please. On a smidl piece, I |danted corn, v.ith- out manure, and it ripened well. I sowed a small piece with wheat, but it did not come to any thing, either in the straw or grain. The wood procured from the stumps and logs, I made into charcoal. 144 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. In 1837, I coaled 1201 bushels, which I sold in market for $166,40. Expense of coaling and marketing *40. In 1838, I coaled 4200 bushels, which sold on the liearth for $a33,33 ; but I af- terwards ascertained from the purchaser, that it sold in Boston market for $630. The expense of coaling this lot, I estimate at $100. I sold wood to the amount of $50. I estimate the fuel that I used on my own fire to have been worth $50 more. I have on hand 100 cart loads of the bot- tom of the coal pits, which I value at $75 ,having some knowledge of its virtue as a manure. The result may be stated as follows, viz. : — Proceeds of coal in 1837, $166,40 « " 1838, 333,3:3 Value of crop of potatoes, 927 bushels 463,50 " the remains of the coal pits, 75,00 " wood sold, " fuel used. Increased value of land, the same being estimated at $125 an acre. 50,00 50,00 565,00 $1702,23 $504,00 35,00 12,00 117,00 140,00 Gross amomit of receipts. Clearing the land, as stated. Carting roots. Harrowing, Planting, hoeing, harvesting, &c.. Coaling and marketing coal. $808,00 Estimated balance in my favor, as the result of the experiment, $894,23 My potatoes grew finely, and it was obsei-ved by many, that they never saw a handsomer field. This crop being cut off in most other places, in this vicinity, induces me to value them at 50 cents a bushel — wliich I know to be above the usual price in common seasons. I have about two acres more of similar land, which I intend to manage in the same way. It requires much liard labor, but it pays well. Respectfully yours, TIMOTHY H. BROWN." Saxigus, Dec. 7, 1838. Commerce of the United States. Imports and Exports of each State and Terri- tory during the year ending on the 30th Sepi. 1839. Value of imports. States. In .American Vcs'ls. In Foreign Ves's. Total. Maine, $839,330 $143,388 $982,724 N. Hamp. 50,665 742 51,407 Vermont, 413,513 413,513 Mass. 18,622,681 762,542 19,38.5,223 R.l8land, 610,431 1,626 612,057 Conn. 442.847 3,:344 446.191 N. York, 88,360,867 11,521,571 99,882,438 N. Jersey, 3,782 400 4,182 Penn., 14,023,150 1,027,565 15,0,50,715 Delaware, Maryland, 6,079,985 915,300 6,995,285 I). Colum. 105,921 26,590 1:32,51] Virginia, 828,300 85,162 913,462 N. Car. 217,304 11,929 929,2:33 S. Car. 2,210,635 875,442 3,086,077 Georgia, 293,745 120,242 4i:3,987 Alabama, 614,849 280,352 895,201 Miss. Louisiana, 9,723,230 2,341,712 12,064,942 Ohio, 14,309 4,971 19,280 Kentucky, 10,480 10,480 Tenn., 146 146 Midi. 174,169 2,052 176,221 Florida, 186,943 92,950 279,893 Missouri, 46,964 ^143,874,252 46,9ti4 Total, ^ 18,217,a30 162,092,132 V.VLUE OF Exports. States. Dompptic Produce . For.Product Total. Maine, 878,4:34 17,051 895,485 N. Hamp. 74,914 7,030 81,944 Vermont, 193,886 193,886 Mass. .5,526,4,55 3,749,430 9,276,085 R. Island, 17.5,808 9,426 185,234 Conn. 583,226 58:3,226 N. York, 23,296,995 9,971,104 33,268,WI9 N. Jersey, 78,434 19,645 98,075 Penn. 4,148,211 151,204 5,299,415 Del. 8,680 8,680 Maiylaiid 4.313,189 263,372 4,576,,161 D. Colum 497,965 5,753 503,717 Virginia, 5,183,424 3,772 5,187.196 N.Car. 426,934 9il2 S. Car. 10,318,822 66,604 Georgia 5,970,443 Alabama, 10,338,159 Miss. Louisiana, 30,995,936 2,185,231 Ohio, 95,854 Kentucky, 3,723 Tenn. Michigan, 1:3.3,305 Florida, 291,094 43,712 Missouri, 427,926 10,385,49(J .5,970,443 10,»38,159 a3,18I,167 95,854 3.723 133,305 334,806 Total, $103,5*3,891 17,494,525 121,028,416 Total amount of Imports, $162,092,132 " " Exports, 121,028,416 Excess of Imports over Exports,$41,063,716 ! B.\iSIK NOTE LIST. Corrected by Geo. F. Cook & Co. Exchange Brokers, No. 26, State Street, opposite the Merchants' Bank. — Sept.26. MAINE. ■ ct. dis. Bangor Commercial Bank. Bangor, 3 a — pc Calais Bank, at Calais, 6 a 7i 6 a f Washington County, do. Stillwater Canal, at Orono, 23 a City Bank, Portland, 10 a Frankfort Bank, Frankfort, 2a a 30 Westbrook Bank, 3 a — Georgia Lumber, Portland, 5 a 10 Oxford Bank, at Fryebuig, fraud. Bangor Bank, old, closed. Mercantile Bank, Bangor, 4 a — NEW HAMPSHIRE. Woifeborough Bank, 75 a — " Concord Bank, Concord, 5 a — " MASSACHUSETTS. Commonwealth Bank, Boston, 20 a — " Chelsea Bank, at Chelsea, 80 a — '' Farmers' & Mechanics', South Adams, 80 a — " NahantBank, at Lynn, 80 a — " Fulton Bank, redeemed at their counter, Kilb)' street. Middling Interest, 35 a — " Middlesex Bank, at Cambridge, 5 a — '* Norfolk Bank, at Roxbury, redeemed at their counter. Roxbury. do fraud. RHODE ISLAND. Scituate Bank, 20 a — " VERMONT. Bennington Bank, at Bennington, 3 a — " St. Albans, St. Albans, 3 a 5 " Manchester, at Mancliester, 2 a 3 " Essex, Guildhall, 80 a — *' Montpelier, at Montpelier, 3 a 5 " CONNECTICUT. Bridgeport Bank, at Bridgeport, Fairfield County, 2 a 3 " 2 a 3 Stamford, 2 a 3 '' Housatonic Rail Road Co. 2 a 3 " The other Banks of of Now England, are received at the Suffolk Bank, and bought by the Brokers at | per ct. discount. Banks in New York city, *' Slate of New York, " State of New Jersey, " City of Philadelphia, " City of Baltimore, '• District oi* Columbia, '* Virginia, Old United States Bank Bilie. Checks on New York, do on Philadclpiiia, do on Mobile, Savannah, do on Augusta, do on New Orleans, do on Baltimore, do on Charleston, Exchange on England, Spanish Doubloons, Mexican do, Sovereigns, American Gold. BANK NOTE TABLE. [nr The Bills of all the Banks in the New England States, which arc in good credit, are received at par, on deposit, by the following Banks, viz: — Atlantic. Atlas, Eagle, Freemans', Globe, Granite, Hamilton. Market, Me- chanics'. Merchant's, North, Soutli, State, Suffolk, Shoe and Leather Dealers', Tremont, Traders', Shawmut, Un- ion, and Washington. \izr The Suffolk Bank transacts the business relating to tho Country Baaks, for the above mentioned Banks. [nf Bills of the following Banks are not received by the Associated Banks : — MAINE. Oxford Bank, atFryeburg. Damariscotta Bank, at INewcastle. Georgia Lumber Company, Portland. City Bank, Portland. Bangor Commercial Bank, Bangor. Calais Bank, Calais. Wasliington County Bank, Calais. Bank of Old Town, ?^ Stillwater Canal Bank, \ ^•'O"**- Bink of Westbrook, at Westbrook. 6 a 7 prem. 15 90 a 15 60 a 4 85 a 4 87 4 adv. IS Boston. Mercantile Bank, Bangor. Globe Bank, Bangor,** Peojiles' Bank, Bangor. Frankfort Bank, Frankfort. Penobscot Bank, Bangor. MASSACHUSETTS. Fulton Bank, Commonwealth Bank 1 Franklin Bank, Lafayette Bank, Nahant Bank, at Lynn. Chelsea Bank, at Chelsea. Middlesex Bank, at Cambridge. Roxbury Bank. > r> u . Bank of Norfolk, ( ^"^^'^'V- Middling Interest Bank, Boston. Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, at S. Adams. NEW HAMPSHIRE. Woifeborough Bank, at Woifeborough. Concord Bank, Concord. VERMONT. Bank of St. Albans, at St. Albans. Essex Bank, at Guildhall. Bank of Manchester at Manchester. Bank of Windsor, at Windsor. Bank of Bennington. Bank of Montpelier. CONNECTICUT. Stamford Bank, at Stamford. Bridgeport Bank, at Bridgeport. Fairfield County Bank. ^Redeemed at par by G, F. Cook &, Co. THE MARKETS. NEW YORK MARKET, SEPT. 29. Pot and Pearl Ashes sell freely at j?4 83 for the former and $5 50 for the latter.— Sales of Newcastle Coal at gl 50, 6 mos. Coffee is firm — sales of Brazil at 10 a 11^ cts — Cuba 9^ a 10^ cts — Laguayra IO4 a 1 1 cts — Government Java 13 cts, all 4 mos — Brazil at 9^. and St. Domingo at 84 a 9^ cts, cash. Moderate sales of new sheathing cop- per at 24.;^ cts, G mos — old do at 16A cts, 4 mos. The stock of Cotton is low, and sales moderate at 8 a 10 for Upland and Florida — 8^ all cts for Mobile, 8^ a II cts for fair quality of New Orleans, and some fine at 12 a 13 cts. Sales of Ginseng at 35 cts — Oil Peppermint ^2 37^, both cash. Refined Camphor ^1 — Turkey Opium ,gr2 75 — Ombre Madder II a 13 cts. Small Bank Codfish have sold at\52 37^a 2.^)0 per qtl— No. I Mackerel at ^l-I — No. 2 at II. ' Sales new Salmon at ^20 50 per bbi. Small sales of Bunch Raisins, at 5I 35 a 1 37^half boxes, do. at 65 cts, 4 mos. Clean Russian Hemp in small lota at ff235 a 237 50, G mos— Riga Rhine, at ^240. Caraccas Indigo in demand, and sales at^l 20, G mos. Sales Missouri Pig Lead at 5 cts. Porto Rico Molas- ses has sold freely at 32 a 32^^ cts 4 mos. Sales North county Turpentine at ^2 35 cash. Whale Oil at30ccasiij crude Sperm at 95 a 9Gcts ; Winter strained do at ^1 09 a 1 10; Olive do. at ^\ 05, G mos. Prime Butter is more plenty, and sells at 15 a 17 cts ; Cheese in boxes 7 a 7^ctB. Rice brings J?4 cash. Sales Turks Island Salt at 34 cts per bushel, 4 mos. Sumatra Pepper 7 cts 6 mos. Steady sales of domestic Whiskey, in drudge casks at 27 cts and sales State prison bbls at 28 cts. Porto Rico Sugar has .=;old at 7A a 8 cts ; New Orleans at 6^ a 7^ cts ; Brown Ha- vanna, 7 1 a S cts ; St. Croix, 8^^ a 9A ; Cuba Muscavado 7 a 7.;i ; wliite Havana 10 a 11 cts, alf usual credits. .Sales Kentucky Tobacco nt G to 9^ cts time. Cotton quiet. Flour steady. Corn is better. Sales Jersey to-day at 59 cts wt. Rye 62^ cts. BOSTON MARKET, SEPT. 22. COTTON — Market quiet and no sales of consequence making ; prices firm. FLOUR — Sales of Genesee common brands at 5 25, and fancy 5 37, cash. But little Southern in market ; 500 bbls. Fredericksburg sold at a price not public. GRAIN — Sales of yellow Corn C2c, and white 58 a58Jc. Oats are a little higher ; sales of Delaware at 32c. MOLASSES — ^The markot stands the same, but we learn no saley of magnitude. BRIGHTOIS MARKET— il/(»i(/aT/ Sept. 21, 1840. (Reported for tht? Daily Advertiser and Patriot.) .\t market 525 Beef Cattle,' 720 Stores, 4;300 Sheep, and 112;j Swine. Prices — Beef Cattle — The prices obtained last week were not sustained. We quote first quality 5-50 a ,^6 j second quality ^'5 a 5 25 ; third quality ^Sf4 a ,!^4 7a. Stores — Yearlings ^8 a II ; two year old ^14 a 18 ; three years old ^22 a Jj;28. Sheep—hotH sold for 1 17. I 25. I 37, 1 50, 1 GG, 1 88, 192 ,92, and 2 50. Swine — Lots to peddle sold at 3, and 3^ for Sows, and 4 a 4| for Barrows; one lot, part Berkshire, 3^ a 4^0. At retail from 3A to 5.^ NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET, Septal}. At market, 1425 head of Beef Cattle, including 75 left over last week ; 290 from tlie South, 70 from the East, and the balance from this State— ^0 milch cows — and 3500 Slieep and lambs. The Beef was of a fair quality and met a fair demand ; but the supplies being large, the pricas of last week were not quite maintained. The sales reached to 1026 head at 5 to gf72 averaging gGJ^ the 100 lbs. Milch Cows— All sold at 25,85, and ^42 each. Sheep aud Lambs — T'he market was active, and 4000 were taken at ,^1 50. 3, and ,§4 for sheep, and lambs at «I, 2. and J?3 .W eaeh. S MONTHLY VISITOR. CONDUCTED RY ISAAC HILL. Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breaats he has made his peculiar deposits for substantial and ganuine virttte.'' — Jefferson. VOLUME 2. CONCORD, N. H. OCT. 31, 1840. NUMBER 10. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A MONTHLY NEWSPAPER. I.S PUBI.l.SHEP BY JOHN M. HILL, HiWs Brick Block, Concord, JV. H. GENERAL AGENTS, B. COOKE. Keene, N. II. TH. R. H.X.MPTOlV. Washington City, D. C. JOHN MAKSH, Hashinglon St. Ilostmi. The Visitor will he issued on "tlic last day of each month. TERMS. "To sincle subscvibevs, Scvtnty-f.vc rents: Throe copies for Ttnn Doilurs : — Ten copies for Six Dol- lars:— Twcnty-Hvc copies fot I^ifteen Dollars. The twelve numbers embracing the year 1839. or the first volume of the Visitor,' are . 'offered as a premium for every ten new subscribers obtained and paid for by one person. .Subscribers may commence at their election, either with the January or July number, in each year. An Index and Title Page^will accompany each half year. noncommunications by mail.will be directed to the Publisher. Concord, JV. H. PO^VEU PRt ,ss E. MAi\SUR, Printer. Til E VISITOR. Good Sense from a Practical Man. It gives us gveiit pleasure to present the reatl- cr.s of the FannerV Monthly Visitor ^vith the fol- lowing Address from a practieal Fanner of Old Cheshire ; and that it was, in oliedieuce to a res- olution of the Cheshire County Agricultural As- sociation, first coniniiiuicated to us for publica- tion. The author in'orins us that this address was Iiy him hastily prepared after it was asrer- taiuLHl that the distinguished gentlemen at first appointed would not attend ; and that the work was done while he " \vas engaged in dail}' labor of such a nature that he coidd revolve in his mind the subjects connected witli Agriculture, so as to he able to take them down in tlie evening of each d.'iy." The performance requires no apology for deficiency or impropriety of either matter or manner, which the modesty of the author im- pels him to make. It is one of the best address- es we have seen; and it will be read with tlic more interest as it comes from one who knows how to digest his thoughls while engaged in the labors of the field and to put those thoughts up- on paper when he retires to the closet. Address Delivered before the Cheshire County Agricultural Association, .Sept. 39, 1840. By JONATHAN K.SMITH, Esq. of Dublin. BnoTHETi Farmers : — The office of speaker on this occasion is not one of my own choosing. After the annuncia- tion that so distinguished a pen as that of the Agricultural Commissioner of Slassacluisetts was to minister to the gratification and instruction of this respectable audience, I cannot divest myself of the feeling tliat you will be bitterly disappoint- ed. With a classical education, great informa- tion and experience, and intellectual powers of the fust order, that distinguished individual would have appeared among us " as one having author- ity" in agricnltural matters. Highly favored should I have deemed myself, had it been my for- tune to have listened to him, rather than to have occupied his place. But since sickness has pro- vented his attendance, I must bespeak your can- dor towards such suggestions as the short notice 1 have had, has enabled me to make. If ardent desires to advance the cause of Agriculture could supply the place of ability, I should not be with- out a hope of edifying my hearers. In every civilized counti-y agricuhure must be the paraniount interest, — the parent art, whence the others drew their nourishment and support— the great wheel which moves the machinery of the comnnmity. And, generally, in proportion as this languishes, or is prosperous, will a nation retrograde or advance in comfort, wealth, and virtue. Commerce or manufactures may in some localities, and for a limited time, give consequence and wealth to a comnnmity ; but it is only when they are well sustained by agriculture, that they can be considered as fixed on a firm basis. It follows, then, that not agricidturists merely, but every member of Society has a deep interest in promoting it. Would that all might feel this in- terest and be induced to make an effort for its improvement. That it is abundantly susceptible of improvement is too plain a case for argiunent. The following plain statement of facts by Dr. Humphreys, in relation to the agriculture of Great Brit'iin will set the matter at rest especially when it is considered that in that country agricultural improvements are far in advance of those in the United States. "It is the opinion of competent judges," says Dr. Humphi-eys, "th.it the advances made in the agricul'me of Great Britain, during the last sev- enty or eighty years, are scarcely exceeded by the improvement and exertion of its manufac- tm-es, w ithin the same period ; and that to these advances, no other old settled country fiirnishes any parallel. That they have been very rapid in- deed, the following figures and comparisons n- bundantly show. In \7C>0, the total growth of all kinds of grain in the island of Great Britain, in- cluding England, Scotland and Wales, was es- timated at 170 millions of bushels. In 1835. the quaniity could not have been less than 340 mil- lions of bushels. In 175.5, the popidation of the whole island did not exceed 7,600 000. It now (1838) i)robably is between 17 and 18 millions, being an increase of 10 millions or more than l.'^O per cent. Now the improvements in agri- cultm-e have more than kejit iiace with this pro- digious increase of demand for its various pro- ductions, for it is agreed on all hands that the population now is much fuller fed, and on i)ro- visions of a much better tpiality, than that of 17.5.5. Nor is Great Britain indebted at all at pres- ent to foreign markets for her supplies. Since lft32, she lii'.s imported no grain worth mention- ing; and till witliin the last six months prices have been so depressed as to call fbrlh loud com- plaints from the whole agricultural interest of the country. England is at this moment, (1837) so far fi-oi'u wanting any of our bread stufis if we had them to export, "that she has been supplying us liberally, all winter, from her own granaries. And yet it is the opinion of practical men of the first I'espectahility in England, that the raw pro- duce of the island might he well ingh doubled ivitliout being dependant on foreign countries tor a supply. That is to say, 35 millions of people miultt draw their subsistence from that one lit- tle speck in the ocean ! Now we have a terri- tory more than fifteen times as large as the is- land of Great Britain. And what should hinder it, when it comes to be brought under no higher cultivation than some parts of I^ng-laud and Scot- land from sustaining a popidation of five or six hundred millions of p<»pple ? This woidd give to Virginia, Illinois, andMissouri something like thirty millions ; to New York near twenty-five millions, and so on in proportion to the other States." '•! am aware," continues Dr. Humphreys, "that this estimate will be regarded as extremely visionary and incredible by many of your read- ers, but "not more so than it would have been thought in the middle of the last century that England, Scotland and Wales could ever lie made to sustain thirty-five or even thirty millions." But without "speculating fiu'ther, let us come to facts which bring the sidjjeet near home. To bo as populous ns' England is, New Hampshire would contain nearFy eight times as many in- liabitants as she now does, and a town of six miler. square aliout ei^ht thnu=Jand people. With our present mode of cultivation, how could such a mass of ])opulation be sustained if no gruiu was procm-ed abroad ? If Keene had twenty-four thousand and the other towns around from five to fifteen thousand each, where w ould they find sustenance ? Yet England hn3 done it, and talks of doubling her population. By nature her soil is not superior to ours. A skillful and systemat- ic agriculture has given her this proud pre-emi- nence. Shall not we imitate the example ? I have spoken of England, but my remarks will apply to some other districts in Europe with equal force. " The soil in Flanders is generally light and moist, and much of it was absolutely incapable of growing farm crops in its natural state. Yet the skill and industry of the Flemings have rendered.it the most productive agricidtur al district in Europe, and its fertility is still in- creasing." Indeed we frequently find the actual in'oduction of the soil in an inverse proportion to its natural fertility. " Necessity is the mother," not only " of invention " but of industry, and hence in poor districts where nature has done least, we find men doing most; and hence, also, rich lands are suftered to deteriorate while art and industry are augmenting the fertility of poor ones. The ag- riculture of the United States, as a whole, will not compare with that of several countries of Eu rope. Various causes have operated to produce the difference. Among the most prominent of these may he mentioned the low price and great abundance of new lands. By tliis cause the far- mer is tempted to crop his lands to the utmost without due care to replenish them, and when they become exhausted, to sell them for what he can, and purcha.se a new farm, on which to in- flict the same exhausting process. Until the great West is filled iqi, this cause must operate to re- tard, in some measure, llic improvement of ag- ricultui-'?. The same season also stimulates to the cultivation (or radicr the carrying on, as it is called,) of too large farms. By a seemingly tri- fling difference in the mode of cultivation, one acre may be made to pay the annual interest of an hundred dollars, or it may produce less than suf- ficient to pay the expense of cultivation, But notwithstanding the operation of this and other causes, agriculture in the Northern and 31iddle States is advancing. Some districts are highly cultivated. The county of Duchess, in New York, ranks among the best cultivated districts in the coun- try. " Entire ftu'ms in that country have netted the owners an anual profit of filYeen and seven- teen dollars an acre. And forty years ago some of these very farms ivere mostly old fields, e.\ hausted of fertility and lying in commons." The late Judge Buel says of his own farm lying west of Albany : " It was considered a barren sand, and I became the butt of ridicule to some of my acquaintance, for attempting to bring it under profitable cultiu'e. It was a lean sand aboun- ding in springs, swamjis, and low wet grounds. In twenty years, however, it has assumed (|uito a different appearance. It is now worth S'^OO an acre for farming purposes, that is, it netts me more than the interest of $200 per acre. My average acreable crop in corn is 80 bushels, in grass nearly or quite three tons, in potatoes in fa- vorable seasons 300 bushels, and my other crops are in proportion. These improvements, it is true, have required a considerable outlay of capi- tal in draining, clearing, manming, &c. in some portions to the extent probably of fifty dollars to the acre. Without the outlay, these reclaimed lands were valueless : with it they are highly pro- ductive, and give me a liberal per cent, on the money expended, and I have no doubt I could readily sell lor cost and charges." These instances shov,- what can be done in this country, by an enlightened and scientific people in applying capital to the cultivation of their fields. But hn"w fe>v. alas, tlyc. number that can apply so 146 THE FARiMER\S MONTHLY VISITOR. Bkillfully and judiciously as the talented and la- mented Buel, the great priucijil-B of science to the culture of Uie soil ? I have niyselt visited and examined his farm, and c;in bear testimony to the truth of his description ot it. But he had advantages that few comparatively can enjoy. Situated witliin three miles of the city ot Albany, he could have a full supply of the best of manure at a trifling cost of transportation, wliich no man could apply more judiciously than he. Then his vicinity to the city made a good market for many products, which would have been of no value to one at a greater distance. But, gentlemen, how is agriculture to be im- proved, and the benefits diffused generally over the country ? 1 answer, first by co/ivmcmg men thai the method pwstiel by many of ourfurmtrs is bad, and by setting before them, both by m^ans of reading and examjjles^ltlve best mode of renovating their exhausted lands. Here comes up the prejudice against " Book- farming." But this is fiist wearing away, as the recent increase of agricultural publications clear- ly demonstrates. Farmers are learning the value of the many suggestions contained in well con- ducted agricultural papers, and much more gen- erally than formerly tliey subscribe for tlieiii.— One" dollar laid out in this way will probably benefit each farmer who reads it attentively five dollars at least. Of course judgment and dis- crimination are necessary in adapting the infor- mation to our own case. The soil, the cliinate, the manure, &c. may each and all have an influ- ence in producing different results at different trials ; but the skillful cultivator will be at no loss in detecting the cause of difference, and will lay his plans accordingly. Another means of bringing the improvements of the age to the immediate notice of farmers, is Agricultural Associations. To these and to the efforts of the enterprising and enlightened men connected with them is the country indebted for almost all the progress that has been made. At the meetings of these associations principles may be discussed and settled. The facts collected by the members, and the result of experiments made by each, become the common property of all ; and thus the necessity ot each individual going through the process himself is obviated. The superior kinds of animals and vegetables here exhibited bring these improvonients immediately before the eye of the public. A spirit of einiihi- tion is enkindled, and each individual i)erhaps goes forth to repeat the experiment, \vith the va- riations suggested by what he has licard in rela- tion to the subject at the meeting, or by his own reflections. Thus one thought suggests another, and one advance is but the precurser of a suc- ceeding one ; and improvement cannot fail of be- ing the result. Thus the streamlets tiiat flow from the springs of individual minds unite to ' form the broader and deeper current, that .spreads fertility and plenty along its course. Providence has "wisely provided that we should be dependent on each other, not only ibr daily comfort but for knowledge. In this resjiect it is most true that "no man liveth to liimsclf." No one has so much knowledge that another cannot instruct him on some points ; and not unfrcquent- ly the illiterate and simple can instruct the learn- ed and wise. It M very desirable to improve our breeds of stock— horses, cattle, sheep, and swine. How is this to be done ? The first step is to convince farm- ers that some improvement is iicJciI. This may be done in part by agricultural )injiors, but it must be principally effected by mean? nl' ciiillr shows. There the best kinds are e.Nliiliiti'd to tlie in- spection of the community, and lie must be dull of perception indeed, who duu;- not see a differ- ence between these and the common kinds. — And having seen, and being convinced of the im- portance of rearing only the best kinds, and of treating them well, he must be a poor tiirmer in- deed if he do not return home resolved to iiiuke an effort to accomplish so desirable an object. This can only be done by a selection of the best animals for breeding, and by a judicious crossing to prevent the evils attendant on bn cding in and in. This has brought the several brords of Eng- lish catllc, sheep and swine to their ]lre^ynt stale of perfection. And what has been done there can be (iccomplished here in due time. I have no doubt that in fifty ycnrs, breeds of cattle might In this way be produced from our native stock. that would vie with the best imported specimens. Still it may be advisalile to avail ourselves ol these imported breeds when It can be done with- out too great an outlay of capital for the reason- able returns therefiom. The kinds of stock should be selected with refer- ence to our means for keeping. It is vain to ex- pect an extraordinary animal, even if it be a Dur- ham Short Horn, if in summer and winter, we subject it to short keeping. If we are under the necessity of putting it on short allowance, some of our hardy native breeds or the Ayreshire, would be preferable to the Short-Horns. Few seem to be aware of the difference between a superior animal and one that is ''about middling," as the phrase is. One may not repay the cost of rear- ing and keeping wliile the other is the source of a handsome income. We still have specimens of the two kinds of cattle seen by Pharaoh in his dream, some are " well favored and fat-fleshed, " and others " very ill favored and lean-fleshed ;" and al- though they may not literally " eat up the fat kine," they do eat up the forage of their own without any adequale return, and still are "as ill favored as before." If it cost twenty dollars ])er annum to keep a cow, and the whole income from her be hut twenty dollars, the owner is as much the pgorerfor keeping as the labor of mak- ing the butter and cheese is worth. But if the income be thirty or forty dollars (as it will be from a first rate cow,) we realize a large per cen- tage of profit. And in regard to su-ine, if with some breeds four hundred weight of pork can be made with the same.«ost that three hundred weight can of anoth- er breed, it is surely worth the attention of farm- ers to select the best The Berkshire is proba- bly the best breed to be obtained at present. The proper se'ection of seeds is of much conse- quence to the farmer. Much greater attention is paid to this subject now than formerly. Very lit- tle attention to the subject will enable the farm- er to improve liis seeds. A slight examination of his fields of wheat, rye, barley or oats will show him a difference in the appearance of the heads. Some will be fuller, some longer, and some earlier th.nn the rest By selecting the kind he jirefers, tlic fanner may in a year or two prop agate that kind and that only. Indian corn, in particular, may be thus inl))ro^■ed in one year. When it first begins to lipen let the earliest ears'be selected and an early variety may be pro- duced ; and so of any other points desired. The farmer should be furnished tcith the best too's and implements for cari-ying on the various o])era- tions of agriculture. These have been much im- proved within the last twenty years. There is still room for further improvement ; and our farm- ers have not all adopted the best kinds now in the market. But public attention is turned towards this subject, and I anticipate great improvement in Farming Tools in the next twenty years. How great a difterence there is in the ploughs now us- ed and those made a few years ago ! Then no one thought of plongliing grass land without two or three stout yoke of oxen for a team ; now it is done with ease will) one pair. Forks, both lor manure a:id for hay, are very different articles from those in general use formerly. They are not only much lighter and convenient, but are made of much belter material and can con.se- quently be kept much sliarper, so that they will enter the sulsstance to be moved with much greater fiu'ility. Who does not remember the unsigljtly ai'i! iii^ouveuient things called scythe ''iKitlis a fi'V, years since ? We look in vain
»ry good, corn never better, barley and oats of I he best quality, roots generally better than middling. Potatoes in snme instances have failed, o-,\ inj; to the curl or loo great drouth. That tHie curl is a disease of the varictij, and not caused iiy the soil, or by an insect, I have long supposed, and the observa- tion and experience Oi' this year has confirmed that impression. The cause I am inclined to at- tribute to the decay of vegetative povier in the varietv owing to its age. 1 have never seen one of the new seedling kinds aflected with the disease, and they show a vigor and strength in their growth of which most of the old kinds are desti- tute. The disorder called in your quarter of the Union the black rust, is a disease iudpn fcr: any lime Ir se\'eral yenr:;. Winter wheat, first quality, I luiderstand, is worth 75 cents, and Spring wheat (>G cents. The fiirm- er.s, however, sell freely, and money is evidently becoming more )denty through the country. Mo- ney will always be had when there is any thing to liny money with ; and fiirmers do their fnll share in fm-uishing such means of ])in'chase. Farmers as well as otjiers, who are out of debt, are doing well ; it is debt — debt — debt, that nuns indivi- duals, as well as nations; and happy will it be for our country when that truth shall be universally underslood and acted upon. Truly and respectfully, Yourti, &c. WILLIS GAYLORD. MR. HILL'.S Address before the Agricultural Association of Caledonlii County, Vermont, Sept. 30, 1840. Whether we regard health and coudbrt, the enjoyments of the mind or the body, there is no section of this country or of any other country more desirable than the niomitaiu region of the United States. The fashions and the lollies, the gilded palaces and the miserable hovels with their inmates of the cities, destroy that acute mor- al sense which gives the charm to life ; while the azure of the distant nionntain, the contrast of deep vallies with magnificent swells of laud teeming with the richest verdure of nature, the busy farmer sowing or tilling or gathering his crops, the herds upon the distant pastiu-e, the new mown cocks of hay, the stacks of hixnriant grain, the cottage buzzing with the spinning wheel or rattling with the shuttle — furnish tin- life those views which never tire or fall upon the sense. Passing through this Green Blouutain region, who can ai-rive at any other conclusion than that " Plenty liere a residence has found ?"' We who were born and raised in the older States of New Englandnearer the sea — we, some of whose fathers taking the journey thirty, forty and rif'y miles in the interior from the abodes of the first seltleis forty years ago, looked upon eni igration to the then "New States" as an event of more peril, and a farther remove from civilization, than a present jom-ney and settlement in Wiscon- sin or Iowa ; — we were early taught fiom the magnificent products brought back alter a lapse of two or three years, to look upon this as a coimtry much exceeding by uatiu'e that from \\hich they had removed. The emigrant, we found, had soon sought out the means of obtaiuing abundance of food for man and beast. The smaller growth was cut down, and the large trees were "girdled" to ]Jie- vent the rising of the scq>, the aliment to life ; the fires ])assed over the prostrate growth ; and tlie first crop of winter grain soon sprimg from the ground under the influence of that genial sun whose rays had hitherto been intercepted on that ground for imcounted ages. Industry and dili- gence, perlia])s after only a single year of priva- tion, were soon rewarded with a competent sup- ply for the year. Sometimes the yomig men came alone or in pairs, \\ ith tneans suflicient to carry out the season, while each cleared his lirst spot, and took ample time to rear his log hut with a view to the accommodation of the future help- meet, leaving the ground and returning to the hniiie of bis father on I he npiuoach of the in- clement season. At other times, the new marri- ed pair have reniovcdat once into the forest with little preparation for even the shelter of some humble shed. But either, and these not in frequent cases were those where liarents with some half a dozen ehilihen the oldest not of doidile that number of years, journeyed at once over many a hill, and through paths surrounded by the dark wood which had never yet been traversed by car- riage wheels, with hope reviving at eveiT cleared si)ot which would let in the midday summer smi, and braving the return of gloom at each new en- trance of the forest; these last in many instan- ces have arii\cd at their uncleared spot, with neighbors none nearer perhaps than miles, and found but the naked canojiy of heaven to cover them imtil the log cabin of a week's labor sliall be made tlie fit residence for one or more years. 'I'he largest farmer, and I believe the largest man in Vermont, who resides westward iqjon the smooth shores of the beautiful lake upon your borders, informed me not many years since that be rommenc'Hl living in your Slate by trapping and hunting furs up the streams wliich he follow- ed to the sources at the very back bone of the State, passing over and down upon .some other stream taking the contrary direction. This gen- tleman (Hon. Ezra Mkech) is a fine sample of that class of men who were the pioneers to our prosperity. Where others culti\ate their lum- dred, he cultivates his thousand acres — in the ()lace of a dozen, he has his hundred milch kine, producing tons of butter rud cheese, where oth- ers raise their five hundred pounds, and raising tenfold bushels of wheat or barley or other grain, to those who in some parts arc denominated far- mers of the larger class. The man who with the ;.'id of his o-ivn effort? alone has made a fortune by the cultivation of the earth, deserves the gratitude and tlianks of all such as would imitato his example. Such gains are not like the gains and thrift of those who have obtained wealth wliich is but the fruit of other men's labors. The latter camiot, ought not to enjoy in the spending as that which came from the toil producing substantial production. The virgin fertility of Vermont, similar to that of the most beautiful agricultural region of west- ern Massachusetts, exceeds the (c;rtility cither of Maine, New Hampshire, or Massachusetts, faitlier east. Tlie consequence is, that- here has been produced more fiit and large cattle, more pounds of butter and cheese and pork, and larger dairies than in any other county of New England of the same extent. Virgin fertility, although it continues longer at some points than others — and no where perhaps, if we except the alluvion of some river over- flowing its banks and leaving annually its ricli sediment longer than upon the elegant swells of land, some of them steep and high without even a ledge, as precipitous mountains in Vermont, must sooner or later wear out. .Vnd when they come about, there is not so much diflerence be- tween what is considered good and that estima- ted poor laud, as many imagine. I have seen liirms on the hills of Vermont at the south, not many miles from Connecticut river, which were soon after the first clearing, feasible, light and ex- ceedingly productive, becoming hard of face, their stinted crop of pasture grass mixed with dry moss or tufted hardback, becoming annual- ly less and less jiroductive. There was not, I must insist, a very great difference between the bald v,orn out lands on the more rocky hills in New Hampshire to tlie east of Connecticut river and those I have been describing; nor woidtl it require much more expense and labor to reno- vate the former than the latter. The exhausting system of agiiculture gener- ally jirevails in the new settlements. The ground, at first most fertile, ilien needs no ma- nure or other artificial stimulent — the native soil needs no extrinsic aid. The more fertile the soil, the more gradual the deterioration. The richer land of easier tillage, favors those habits of indo- lence which are the more sun> to terminate in a real or tiuicied inability to repair the evil. From this cause we soniFtimcs see the farm whieh was originidly the best, becoming the least valuable among those which are worthless for all other purposes than a dear ledemption by an improved system of husbandry. The objects as well of agricultural associations like that of your counly as of every individual who desires to see a community of farmers flour- ish, are or should be the continued increase of the cajiacity of ilie soil to yield a larger, and yet a larger crop. In no way can the foundation for wealth and cenqjetence he so effectually laid as by a course of cultivation which shall annually turn out a greater product, leaving the ground ca- llable of yielding more next year, than it has yielded this year. May it not be possible, in a time of encouraging prices, that the price of all the labor and of aftording stimulants to the ground can be jiaid in the crop, « bile it shall be again paid in the addition to the value of the land ? There ought to be encouragement of this kind afibrded to some fanners, who, although of them- selves unable to work advantageously, are still anxious to promote the cause of agriculture by their example, and who would find more "true joy" in the conviction tliat they are able to pursue the business of cultivating the ground to their nwn ndvnnlHge and the pnltlic i^nrx], t]mn they THE FAiiMER'S MOiNTHLV VISITOR. 149 would to bo cousideied the cliampioEs of some Biicccssftd pitched battle, That men who are not practiced fni'iiieis some- times fail in a laudable attempt to carry on the business of farming, is more their misfortune than their fault. There is often a want of iideli- ty in those employed whicli is destructive to the best interests of botli employer and employed. The confiding, generous individual who consults the welfare of his hired man as belonging 1o his own household, ought not to be tantalized by eye service or other evasion of duty. Cases are not unfrequent of a tenor like this. A young man, having studied navigation, and learnt how to conduct a ship in safety across the ocean, after a .series of years of successful busi- ness, becoming wenllhy enough to give up that for an easier occupation, sets down upon a first rate farm. He wants a good farm at first, because he is utterly ignorant of the best method how to renovate a bad one. He hires for help to carry on this f;u-m oiic or more men who calcu- late more on their pay than on earning it. Thc-^e go to work — they know how to work well, be- cause they liave heretofore perhaps been employ- ed by just such men as knew how to teach them; but they did not choose their present employer fertile purpose of Jjotter instruction, but with the view to \'iolate their duty with in]punily and in the anticipation before they commenced that they could do it without the master's detection. The farming project of the generous .seaman, nine chances in ten, mu.st fail. Warmed with zeal at first, loathing and disgust follows disap- pointed expectations. The luiprofitable servant who hides his talent in the earth, hardly considers that he injures hiiusclf more if possible, than he has injured Ids generous employer. A faithful man who regards the interests of his employer that is not inclined lo be severe, is to be highly prized — such a person, faithful over a tew things, rarely fails to become a fit man to be trusted with the care, and even to obtain the ownership of many things. Tlie conserpiencos of an uusucce.ssful tcrmi- nafion of a laudable attempt to subserve the ag- ricidtnral cause, are .such as any discriminating mind might anticipate. The man is not only in- jured for himself, but his lamily and all around him feel the consequences. Many a day after- wards is his example cited as a discouragement to all future similar attempts. The notion con- tinues as it has begun to be prevalent that no man can tlirive in the occu]>ation wlio performs not the whole work with his own hands, or by the hands of dependents who cost him little or nothing ; and the final result is, to east no incon- siderable porfion of the farming counnunity be- yond that desirable pale of respectability which is necessary to constilute the gentleman, and it may be the civilian and the statesman capable to dis- charge any and every i>ublic trust. Jt will not be expected that New England shall at once advance lo that slate of improved agri- culture which is evinced in some districts of Eu- rope. England and Sculland are far in advance of us, as well ^vc believe in particular instances as in their general agriculture. The business tlierc is reduced to a better system. Regard is had to the suitable division of labor — to the ef- fecting great objects at the less expense — to the careful execution of phuis well laid out — to the assurance of certain crops from the best use of stinudating in-.uiures — to the ;iccurate analysis of soils, and the true adaptation of chemical affini- ties, calling forth the greatest production with the least labor. If New England is now behiLid Old England in agricultural knowledge and imjirovement, we are by no means behind the jiarcnt country long after she had attained to our age. Let not com- munities be discom-aged ; let no man, who lias the agriculiural sjiirit in him, pretermit his best efforts. V/e sJiall, by and by, see eye to eye on this subject ; and the work of renovation must then go on. This is the first time I have ever set foot in your county. If my avocations had permitted me to accept the invitation of one of your citizens most zealous for improvement, Henry Ste- vens, Esq., of Barnet, I should have preceded this address with a tour days' journey through many of the to\\'ns, and been able to convince myself from actual examination that he did not exagger- ate when he said he v.isheil to convince n-c that there is no county in New England that surpasses Caledonia in production, takiiig into considera- tion nundjcr of acres of imj)rGved land, apprai- zed value, and nund)er of inhabitants. IVIost fertile and inviting is much of the soil, even the mountainous land of Vermont; and none is pcrijaps better than that of Caledonia C(«inty. With no fears of sterjliij', you j)repure tlie gromids for crops which scarcely ever liul you ; your mountains fiirnish rich and luxuriant pastures which depreciate in no perceptible de- gree at a new return of the vernal season. Such land as yours may always be expected to produce the largest and best fallings for slaughter — the milch kine, from whose generous udders shall be furnished the greate.st quantity of the best milk — the bleating flocks whicli shall annually aflbrd the greatest quantity of wool. But it should he marked that there is greater danger from a very good than from a somewhat indifferent soil ; for the land now yielding almost spontaneously, must, like every thing belonging to tliis world's creation, become less and less capa- ble of retaining its original life, instincts and [lowers ; and yon may be, as they arc in other [larts of the country, driven to the west, because the good mother which furnished the whole means of your livelihood, no longeryields her in- crease. If you suffer your land to be starved, that may stane yourself and your fimulies, anil you be obliged to take up your line of nmrcli for new countries, which, although they may be equally fertile, can never give you the health, if the)' do exceed the production of the land which you have left. T\vo years ago an enterprising and talented cit- izen of your comity presented yon an address which I iierused with great interest for its facts and the general scope of his argument. He then showed you that the amount of woolen manu- factures imported into the United States in the year ending Sept. 30, 1836, cost at the place of imjiortation the gross sum of .'?24,575,989 ; and to this sum he was not very far from correct when he added sixty-five per cent, for duties, insurance, freight, tonnage, importer.s' and retailers' profits, amounting to o\'er fifteen millions of dollars. — He would have been nearer to the triilh, I think, if he had doubled the original cost, making forty- nine instead of forty millions of dollars as the amount expended in the United States in a single year for woolen goods, equalling as the cost for each individual in the country, two dollars and seventy cents, and as I believe more than three dollars and fifty cents. }?y the General List of Vermont for the year 1S37, the number of sheep was shown to be l,1Cti,'*34 ; and these at two and a half pounds each would yield a little short of three millions pounds of wool per annum. lie was of opinion that nine [lounds of w oo! would be little enough to clothe each jierson in the State ; and if the po|julation be three hundred thousand in Ver- mont, the whole amount of wool raised in the State in a year will but a very little exceed the luiaiitity consumed by its inhabitants. At the same time he went into a calculation to sliow how much it would cost to manufa«**ire the wool in the great establishments of othafi' States before it was returned liere ; and this he showed to b(.' a larger L^im of money than the whole val- ue of the wool at the price of fifty cents the pound ; and that it would require an additional exiiensc of one million and a half of dollars be- yond the value of the wool raised to furnish the people of Vermont «ith the necessarj' woolens for a year, calculating that it required nine pounds of wool to clothe each person one year. From these premises he arrives at the just conclusion that tho raising of wool for exiiortation beyond the rniiits of the State, was injurious to its inter- ests and ought to be changed. Can it be possi- ble (said he') that the farmers of this State will continue to pursue so ruinous a policy as that they have heretofore pursued — sell their wool and buy the manufactured article ? I wish that the guar- dian angel of our country woidd write in great capital letters on the door of every husbandman — The iioman who manufactures for her own household and one piece, of g-oods to sell, doth more, to retain the solid coin in the Slate than a':. Vie banks or the greatest fmauocrs." I agree with your fellow-citizen that the Stale of Vermont has greatly suffered in its means by sending- the raw material out of the State to he manufactured, whcic she ought to manufacture for herself. It is imt so much in tho deficiency of large incorporated establishments as in the failure of the spinning wheel and loom of the fa- mily, that your peo|)le are deprived of their means. Where the people pay a large and bur- densome tax in the increased price of their tea and cofiee, their sugar, molasses and salt, they do not sensibly li'el the ta.x, although it takes iVom them fifteen, twenty or thirty dollars a year each : if this were laid upon them as a direct ta.x, their burden would be considered unbearable. So when a liuiner buys a broad-cloth coat or surtout made of cloth manufactured either in England, France or Massacluisetts, with the additional price of five dollars, either placed in the national trea- sury as a duty on the cloth imported from a for- eign country, or in the shape of a premium to the mannfiicturer at Lowell, he does not realize the cause why he is impoverished and made poor. There is a sure way for the farmers and me- chanics of Vermont and New Hampshire to keep themselves clear of enibaiTassment ; and that is for every fiimily to produce within itself for sale as much as it ])urchases. It may seem a hard case to carry on in each fianily the manufacture of woolen cloth ; but every man who keeps sheep, every man who does not keep them, but can purchase wool in the neighborhood, should have his clothing manufac- tured as much as possible in his own family. The man with a family of daughters, who arc led away by the temptation which the employ- ment and wages of a great manufacturing estab- lishment in a distant State presents, is certainly the loser by changing their position to a place where they can gather money by tending of spin- dles and looms from his own fireside \vhere the same hands might make the clothes which are \\ orn by the other members of his family, while he actually pays more money for the clothing manufactured abroad, than all the wages which his family obtains from abroad. I have lately visited a society of those enter- prising people, the Shakers, situated at no great distance from my residence in New Hampshire ; and I am no longer surprised at their acquisition of wealth and all the means of comfortable living, when I see their industry in all departments of life. These people do not satisfy themselves sim- ply with the manufacture of their own clothing. They keep their due number and jiroportion of sheep of the finer and coarser wool, but they send abroad no wool on sale — they buy wool of their neighbors, but they dispose of none of their own raising. The men card and prepare their wool for spin- ning at their own mill and machine — the women draw the threads from a hand spinning jenney with almost as great unilbrmity, regularity and raiiidity as can be done by the most expert man- ufacturers ; and they dress their cloth and make u]) their garments with a neatness and workman- ship such as the best manufacturers need not be ashamed of At each establishment of three Sha- ker families I lately visited, I found a portion of the females at work in making up fine flannel drawers from the cloth made in the families. Sales for these at a sure profit, the article being of a better quality than is elsewhere obtained, \\ere readily made as fast as it could be furnished in the city of New York. The s))inningof wors- ted by the females of one of these establishments, was quite a curiosity : tlie thread drawn out to the distance of some twelve or fifteen feet from a single patent-headed wheel like the gossamer of a spider's web, proved that spinning might be made an art as curious as that of making the movements of a clock or any other machine. Should all the rest of the world grow poor, the Shakers, practicing their rides of economy and industry with really more pleasure than other ))eople enjoy in departing from all rules, will con- tinue to increase their means. Again we find examples in the case of single families where increase of wealth results not sim- ply from hard work, but from coiTCCt calcula- tions. Not one week ago I visited a farming town ill Hillsborough County of the Granite Slate. It is one of those hard fiiced towns lying in llie vicinity of sonic of tho highest hills, through whicli the upper branches of a consider- able stream, tributary to the Merrimack, send dov.n their waters sometimes in roaring cascades, sonietinios on a sluggish 1e\fl The hills of this 160 itiE FARMER'S MOiNTHLV VISITOR. township, like many of tlwse iu Vermont, are in those elegant swells neitlier too steep lor conve- nient cultivation, nor so flat as to leave the stand- ing water an obstacle to the profitable cultivation of the soil. This town, n wilderness one hun- dred years ago, containing now little more than a thousand inhabitants, has sent forth its two score of liberally educated men, some of wlioni are eminent as lawyers, divines or physicians: it furnished its half a hiuidred men lor the war of the Revolution at different times, some of whom bled and died upon the field, and others of whom returned to enjoy the fruits of an after life spent in diligence andindustry. Two only of the vet- erans of the Revolution survive, and one of these, while passing, I saw upon his well tilled, produc- tive farm where he has lived and enjoyed life since his return from the wars for nearly sixty years. Although the soil of this township is more hard than that of your hills in Vermont, there was scarcely a family within its limits that could be called really poor. I went out of my way three miles, at the invi- tation of an old friend now sixty-three years of age who lived nipon the highest hills near the mountain at tlie north-west section of this town. His premises had been described to me as beau- tiful and highly productive. He married the daughter of a neiglibor to his father who lived at no great distance from his present premises in another town forty years ago. His first pitch at that time was upon an eighty acre lot that had been poorly cleared by some indifferent husband, and which he took in a worse condition if jiossi- ble than if it had been the original forest. He began by improving that, and adding another lot so that in the space of five years he kept fifteen cows. He soon raised upon this so as to double the number, and for the last thirty years up to the year 1838 he has kept each year from thirty- five to forty and fifty cows. Thirty-six years ago the making of new milch cheese for sale was scarcely known north of the Connecticut. The gentleman of Hillsborough near the mountains was the first in New Hampshire to make this man- ufacture of cheese a business for the summer. He has increased in wealth so as to become the own- er of an extensive fiirm of five hundred acres of most excellent upland soil. The westerly line of his farm extends nearly three miles on the out- side limit of his town : on this farm are seven hundred rods of stone wall, extending along the roads which run by it in different directions, and he has more than one thousand rods of durable stone fence. He is besides the owner of other property than liis farm ; he has purchased first and last real estate for which he has paid forty thousand dollars, being at the rate of one thou- sand dollars a year. Some of this he had sold — but he said he never took a dollar from a bank in his life, and never paid so much as fitly dollars for the use of money. He pointed to a beautiful white pine timber grove of twenty acres, being the only grove of equal extent within many miles of the original growth. This lot he pur- chased twenty years ago at seventeen dollars the acre ; he had sometimes sold a single tree from the lot for the price of the cost of an acre ; but there was more timber upon the lot now than when be bought it. Some of the acres were worth at least five hundred dollars. It was nearly nine o'clock m tlie evening on the night of last Thursday, when clinibing up tlie hill nearly two miles before we arrived at the premises, I accompanied this man to his house to spend the night. An only son with two unmar- ried daughters are all his children living. The son, for the last year, having a young family, oc- cupies the brick mansion at the principal tarm, as more convenient for carrying on the farm ; and the elder gentleman has changed places with him going into a one story house half a mile dis- tant The moment I entered this dwelling I dis- covered that there was a cause of thrill as well within doors as there could be without. The lady with her daughter sat by the kitchen fire to which I chose to be conducted, plying the blades from which she was winding her fine woolen yarn. Beside the room stood the woolen wheel itself which had been used during the day ; and the fair-faced daughter apparently some twenty years of age, rising from her seat at the entrance of her father to introduce him to a chair, instant- ly returned to her knitting the nioment that ob- ject was effected. Around the house hunc the Birings of pared apples for drying, which next morning «ere exposed to the early sun. The morning's breakfast presented us, not with cof- fee, but with such a cup of tea as seldom can be found in the most expensive boarding houses; the hard yellow butter taken from the bottom of the cool cellar hardly needed ice to preserve it in the warmest weather; and the beautiful cream toast, now not so much in fashion, brought to me all the ardent appetite of childhood forty years ago. The good lady, three months only younger than her husband, and scarcely five feet in height, had for many years personally superintended the dairy with the help of the hired men to milk morning and evening; and this dairy had turned out for sale in some seasons five tons of new milch cheese as one article of profit upon this ex- cellent farm. The ways of Providence are dark and inscru- table. I have mentioned that my friend's fanii had kept up his number of cows until the year 1838. That year, in the midst of the highest "feed of the sinr.mer, without any premonition of ap- proaching sickness, the cattle upon this favorite farm began to die one alter another. One crea- ture would begin to droop as another dead body had been disposed of until several oxen and twen- ty cows had died. This untoward event in the course of a few weeks blighted the successful dairy which had continued so many years : and from that time to this the farm has sustained oidy a few cows. In the course of this season two more cows have died of the same disorder. The brother of this gentleman residing on a farm which keeps thirty cows, has lost none by the same disorder ; and none have been lost on the land of a similar quality upon the hills in the neighborhood. My fiiend who has encoimtered this calamity, who not only entertained us at his house and con- ducted me to a high hill upon his premises over- looking the distant towns far and wide, but \vho likewise accompanied my contpanion and me on our way home through a mountain road neither of us had before travelled had evidently beei; af- fected in his health. His left arm trembled from the shoulder to theenti of his fingers from some cause allied to palsy ; he supj)Osed it to be from a disorder of the spine, and he attributed it to the excitement which came over him at the time his cattle were dying. He said he could not rise in the morning without tremblingin the expectation of finding those cuttle he had left well of a pre- vious evening dying or dead; and the idea filled him with the same horror that he would feel at the premature death of so many human beings. The cause of this mortality of cattle is yet un- explained. If death had been produced from any common disorder.it would seem as if the cattle of the neighborhood had been similarly af- fected. The conjecture was that the cause was local. The yard adjaiient to the barn in wliich the cows were folded in sunmier and winter was originally so low and wet as to be inconvenient for keeping or milking them in it. To remedy this inconvenience the surface had been covered with a layer of small stones and the top of these had been overlaid witli soil eighteen inches to two feet deep. All the cattle that had died had re- cently been in this yard more or less ; no cattle kept constantly in the surrounding pastures had been similarly atfeeted. It was conjectured that the nitre of tliis yard coming up from the small stones under grouml might be tlie cause of the disorder ; and in consequence the worknion were digging ii|i and carrying to the grass ground the upper soil, and disposing of the small rocks at the bottom in other places. I have introduced the facts in this case because they have been before me so recently that I was anxious to take them down together. The mor- tality of the cattle at this peculiar spot and in this manner, is a subject interesting to the far- mer; and the more extensively a knowledge of the facts shall be diffused, the more likely will it be that the causes of it may become develojied. Our broken soil in New Hampshire will not permit our dairies to grow to the extent of those in many parts of Vermont. Instead of farmers of forty and fifty cows, I am aware that you ha\e them with a hundred and a hundred and fifty cows. The cattle upon our thousand hills may be sometimes found equal to yours. Twenty yokes of oxen in the immediate neighborhood of my last week's visit were equal in size, color, shape and beauty to any I have ever seen. The hard, high mountain ground which raiely if ever suffers irom drought, the more rocky the better if the stones do not cover more ihan half the sur- face, is the most sure ground for rearing and sus- taining the best cattle. The substantial evidence of prosperity in ma- ny neighborhoods of New England, the neat and comfortable cottage painted red or white, and frequently the spacious house of two stories built either of brick or wood and painted, the ample and substantial barns, the new and better every year supplying the place of the older, the impro- ved and injproving crops upon the fields in the vicinity, the thriving orchards bearing choice and select apples and other fruits, the ornamental shrubbery and flowers decking the neat front yards about the dwellings ; the sleek looking cattle, the stately and gay horses, the fat weathers and ewes with their young studding the pastures Up- on the hills — all, all is gratifying to the lover of improvement even though he be journeying in a land of total and entire strangers ; and the gen- tlemen of this society and others present will pardon me if, instead of a more learned disserta- tion upon agriculture, I have oftcred merely a simple narrative of farming as it has been follow- ed in one of the New Hampshire granite towns that claims no superiority to other towns which surround it. The pursuit of agriculture and horticulture has attractions and fascinations beyond every other pursuit. When taken up from mere plea- sure, without regard to profit, how is the ardor of the devotee increased by the progress which na- ture makes daily under the cultivation of his hand in the growth of such trees and flowers as merely please the eye ? Still more is he delight- ed that the work of his hand brings forth rich fruit from trees on ^vhich a worthless kind of the same species only had been produced, and that in the lapse of only a few seasons, or perhaps from the growth of a single season, he is furnished v^'itli what regales at the same time the eye, and the appetite. To their owner the clean fields of growing corn, or rye, or wheat, or grass, are scarcely less beautiful and attractive than the fair innocent faces of his children « ho gradually unfold the powers of mind under the instruction which dai- ly wants afford them, as the leaves of the grow- ing vegetable are opened. Every time he visits such fields he sees them with renewed interest. The lilies of the field which toil not for them- selves, are arrayed in beauty such as the most fa- vored monarch of the world in the Jays of his youth and gloiT, could not attain. The employ- ment of gathering the fields of golden grain thf.t have grown up under our own eyes and watchful attention, wheru no useless tares or weeds have been suffered to usurp any portion of the earth's strength, we all can realize must be grateful to the best feelings of the heart. In this republican country and government, the ambitious politician ought to realize that he may not expect uninterrupted public employment in places where hundreds are equally qualified for office with himself; for the man who cannot un- derstand that here the claim to office is not per- petual, deserves at no time to hold an office. So the jirofessional man, the clergyman, the lawyer, and the jihysieian, whether successful or not, sometimes finds it convenient or necessary to lay down his calling. So the merchant or mechanic who has or has not laid up an ample fortune, re- tires from the city to the countiy. And the man of leisure and fortune is sometimes brought to realize that he will be unhappy if he shall not take up some active einploymenf. What better can all these men do than turn farmers ? AVhat better or more pleasing business can they under- take than to lay out a tract of land and dress it, and to cause the deserted waste now producing thorns and briars, to become the fruitful field ? Much is the world indebted to wealthy men and to the scientific and the curious for their im provements in Agriculture : much is this country indebted to a Humphreys, a Livingston, a Lowell, and hundreds of others for the introduction of improved breeds of animals, and for many inter- esting experiments in the production of various grains, roots, fruits and grasses. Much are our common farmers indebted to those experimenters who have from time to time communicated facts tluough the press to the public eye. But there THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 161 has generally been one fault that has greatly les- sened the effect and the value of the best agricul- tural theorists ; and that is the fact whicii has come home to the bosom of almost every man wlio has not been practically taught from his childhood to be a farmer, that each improvement he has made has cost him more than its direct positive value. The fancy iiirmer adonis every thing in beauty around lam; but he finds his forming ojierations to be not a gaining but a losing business. He joys in the grow tli of his crops ; but if he be not a rich man, that enjoyment is marred by the consideration that his liirm is a drain upon his means and his purse ; and the worst of it is, that his more liardy and more ex- perienced neighbors who know bow to make money, instead of thanking him that he is aiming to do some good, talk about him, and either pity or laugh at his lolly and infatuation. The farming business in New England is yet only in its infancy. It would be my purpose to improve it by teaching the tiue economy of the farm ; and I would have wealthy men who have gained property in other pursuits, instruct them- selves how to enjoy all the comlbrts of the for- mer by making this pursuit to them a gaining business. The price of labor must soon adapt itself to the price of every thing produced by labor. Now it seems to me that the present is peculiarly the time when the piu'suit of agriculture may be com- nienced and cari-ied on as a business lor the pro- fitable investment of capital, like manufactures or any other enterprise. To this end the econo- my OF AGRICULTURE must be studied ; and if oiu' agricultural amateurs can invent some scheme by which a man with nearly mathematical accu- racy can assure himself that his new occupation «ill not be a losing business, thousands of our liberal high minded men will become farmeis, and a new face will soon be put upon the coun- try. Let the " true economy of the farm" be the motto of every man in the community who desires the promotion of the cause of agriculture ; and let the learned and the scientific, the shrewd obser- ver and the zealous theorist, direct his attention and inquiries mainly to this point of our object. Let him seek out ihe cause why a liberal man upon his farm who has not been taught to labor himself, or who, if he be taught, is obliged for any cause to be away from his work while it is going on, encOLinters more expense than profit in the piU'suit of iarming. I will suggest at first thought — for I have only taken this subject in my mind, while on a hurried journey a few days ago — that the ca|)ital of the liberal fanner is wasted in various ways, where it might be saved under those exact calculations that are made in some large jiiechanical or man- ufacturing establishments in which profit comes as a matter of course. I know of a wealthy man in the lower part of the State, near the sea, who has one of the mest productive farms of New Hampshire. The price of hay and potatoes at his door is twice as much as the same articles would bring a hundred miles in the interior. He annually raises some two hun- dred tons of hay and some thousands bushels of potatoes for sale. After doing this he may save a hundred tons or more for the consumption of his own stock, which is certainly always well kept, for the evidence of which I need only recur to the fact that the largest ax ever raised in New Hampshire, with the exception of the Hubbard ox raised in Claremout, after him, was born and reared upon this farm. The hay sold is repaid to the farm in the abimdance of manure taken from the stables of the adjacent town where the hay is consumed. The arrangements of this great liuni are as good as could be imagned. Its wealthy owner must enjoy a mental feast when he sees the spacious fields turning out an average of three tons of the best English hay to the acre, and when he witnesses the rapid growth of his improved cattle. But, I understand, his calcula- tion to be, that he chars no money from his farm. I Hid not know how to account for it ; but another gei'ieinan, who for the love he bears the occupa- tion, U' . undertaken to be an experimenter in cultun, - ' . . agncuiuui , j j^l^^yyj, ]jo\v at least the income ers, and liberal and gene ot a '°. ^^I' • j|,t)i} is annually lost on this great i be tainted with the repro farm , It is ^^^^ ^j- ^^ .of the extended buildings expense applied to farmi and lences,^so ^^ jj,)|,, „|,,.j. fo,. „gg^ ^ut more - in «nd nbonr for oriwr these buildings. The houses, (not over extrava- gant) barns and other buildings, for this form, erected of perishable materials, cover acres of ground ; the board fences, cither for use or ornament, part the farm into mmecessary lots. The gentleman thinks that all the buildings and fences necessary might be built and supported at a for less expense ; and if they were cheaply erect- ed with granite or other material not so perisha- ble, that a very large annual saving might be made in this one item alone. Thousands of our formers make a great mistake when they build a great house, two-thirds of which is never occu- liied, if it is finished, for any purposes of the farm, — likewise in erecting other buildings with roofs pitched, so that the shingles will become rotten in from five to ten years, and sills laid in the ground to decay in a still sliorter time. If a great real e.state be lell to a child or children, free and clear, ten to one, he or they, follovving in the foot- steps of the father, at the time of taking posses- sion, must tear down the old to build an entire new set of buildings; and incur at once a debt which shall either drive him from the premises, or make him a slave for life. The true economy of constructing buildings is one item, the study of which may teach a lawyer, clergyman, merchant, or other man of business, how to take up farming as an independent occu- pation, and pursue it with the satisfaction not only of making "two blades of corn or two spears of grass grow where only one grew before," but be will accomplish this object with benefit to his own purse. The economy of labour is another important point of Ihe farmers calculations. All labor saved is money earned. If from the use of some new agricultural implement that shall cost little more than one that is not improved, as the plough, the cultivator, the seed sower, the horse rake, &c., manual labor can be lessened, — all this is so much gained. But to purchase an ingenious and ex- pensive machine that is but little used for every forming operation will be money expended, that the farm will not return. For exainple, the pur- chase of an improved seed sower or corn planter, costing twenty to thirty dollars, to s.ive a single da\'s work in a year, is bad economy. Expense may be saved by a proper division of labor ; and this can be better done on large farms than on small one?i. iVIueh of the labor done by human hands might be done with teams, as ploughing instead of the use of the hoe, &c. &c. The benefit of division of labor, is, that each per- son pursues thai for which he is better qualified. This division can take place only to a limited ex- tent on the small farms of New England. But the business of the farm should be so arranged that the laborer in all working days ma}' never have occasion to stand still in the time of work- ing hours, whether the system be eight, ten or twelve hours daily. In the case of liiring, the man hiring and the man hired, should mutually understand how many hours per day are to be employed ; and on this understanding no hour should be lost, cither in wailing for breakfast or dinner. The rainy days also of such a liired man, instead of being spent idly at an adjacent tavern, store, or shop, where others are hindered in their business by bis presence, should be occupied in the repaij- or making of utensils — for every farmer should have a broad axe, an auger, or gimblet, a shave and a plane ; in the cleansing of cellars, in thrashing and cleansing grain, in mixing mate- rials for compost, or in some other business that may be done under cover. The liired man, each and every day, should make it a matter of con- science to earn for his emplover not less than the price of his boaid and wages ; and ihe parents of all children who are intended for working men — the best part of man's education is to be taught how to work — will not do them a more valuable service than bring them up habitually to consider that it is dis'ionest to do less work for an employ- er while he is out of sight, than he feels obliged to do when that employer is present. If these and other rules which might be sug- gested were invariably oliserved by the working men of New England, their character might be elevated to an equality with that of their employ- rous men need no longer oach that their labor and ling was vain, and worse than vain. Tlte eronomv of .tv-^tennnc^ i^ rtnotber HUhject connected with forming that requires calcu- lation and forecast. I am not sure that those who stint their workmen and families are ever the gainers. I know a noble spirited farmer who has been a tenant, paying rent tor his form for the last forty years, and has cleared from it in that time sufficient money lo purchase half a dozen com- mon farms. His ten hired men were at work haying in July, when I called upon him ; and the good matrou, his wife, informed me that these hired men had their meals five times a day while engaged in this hard work of haying— that she cooked lor this family, including two hired girls, a nephew, her husband and herself, precisely six pounds of meat in a day; and this with just as much bread and butter and cheese, and tea or coffee, once a day, as was wanted, with no spirit stronger than home brewed beer, constituted the sustenance of the family. Regularity of diet, good salt pork, corned beef, fresh' and salt fish, with now and then fresh beef veal or mutton, is a maimer of living fit for kings ; and these, with good calculations, the employer can afford to sup- ply to his workmen, with the better alacrity in proportion to the fidelity and assiduity of those who are performing tho labor. The main source of profit of the fanner to whom I have last alluded has been his flock of thirty and forty cows, the milk from which has been regularly six times a week in the morning, and every Saturday night carried to the city market, and there disposed of at a somewhat higher profit on the cost than the Caledonia farmers obtain on their butter and cheese. However, when the price of the last ten years is considered, and that of the pork which the large dairy affords, together with the differ- ence in the price and sustenance of labor between this country and the sea-board are considered, I do not see why the interior country farmer may not have increased his means with an equal ra- pidity as the tenant milkman in the vicinity of Boston. The economy of sustenance will not, therefore, OS is evinced in Ibis case, be so much consulted by stinting the allowance or lessening the number of meals, or by affording food of an inferior qua- lity, as it will be by the careful use and good pre- paration of that which is supplied : the fragments, in imitation of the example of the Saviour, who fed those who were an hungered, should be all saved to be applied to some valuable purpose. Though perhaps, last not least, should be re- garded the economy of investing additional capi- tal to our farms. The usual passion of the thrifty farmer is directed to the enlargement of his num- ber of acres, and the increased quantity of ground brought under cultivation. Frequently is he much mistaken in the means of accumulation. My facts may not as well apply to your natural fertile lands in Caledonia, where the "ground may long yield good crops without inmiure. as well as they do to the more rough and sterile parts of New England, where little or nothing can be done without the use of aitifical stimulants. The labor expended in well preparing and cultivating land for a crop is capital always well invested. Many farmers, I am confident, do not well appre- ciate the benefits of generously manuring their ground in some manner as ot\en as once in every half a dozen years. The manure ordinarily put on to four acres, say at the rate of ten cart loads to the acre, if all placed upon one acre, will give the farmer probably as mucb profit the first year, according to the amount of labor, and fit tbatacre for the five subsequent crops, so that it shall yield liiur times the profit on the same labor. In the mean time it would be equally well to cultivate three aci-es left uiimanurcd witjiout any stimulant, and still better to sow and plough in a crop of clover or buckwheat, and thus at least half manure the land for the next year's crop. Another economical investment, if it be not so now, will in future years be understood, and ex- tensively pracliccd by fiirmtrs, esjiecially by those w ho can find a ready market for their" produce. A general improvement under this head might increase the jiroduction of New England ten-fold. I am happy to see a part of this improvement going into effect. The improvement is there- claiming of meadow lauds by ditching, draining, and hardening with gravel, sand, and manure, thereby changingthe stinted crop of wild grass to excellent English hay ; likewise the reclaiming of hard, cold uplands, where the water running npar 152 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR- the surface, i-ciiders the soil imfruilful nnd barreu, bv under drains and subsoil i>loughmg. From the ditching of low grounds duruig the past suuuuer, thousands of acres ot mowing mound will be made at an expense ot Iroin ten to fifty dollars the acre, according to the extent ol the improvement, and the previous state ot the •Tround A double pm-pose is irequently answer- ed in this labor in the rich material for compost, taken from the ditches and carted to the yards and sides of the road, and turned into manure lor the uplands. , But, another investment for capital, scarcely yet besuii in this country, is to be that of subsoil draining and ploughing in the cold wet uplands, where a hard pan approaches near the surface. Take a field that has been often ploughed, wlicre the upper soil has become heavy. It has yet left many small rocks upon and near the siutace. Let drains be dug at suitable distances, a suflicieut depth to make the drain and stone covering be- low, beyond the reach of the deepest ploughing. After the bottom shall be left for a fiee passage of the water in the drains, conducting it to^^ ards the point where it should pass oft', let the small stones upon the surface of the field be disposed of in the ditch, and ui)on these let there be laid straw or turf, or some other material, that shall prevent the Buperincuinbent soil from mixing with the stones, so as to obstruct the passa{!,c of the water. The dram may be so carefully laid as to last forever ; aud the small stones will he put in a useful place, forever out of the way. After the drains are com- pleted, let the subsoil be at first stirred by the plough made for that purpose, going after the or- dinary plough ; and gradually in subsequent years, let this subsoil come uiion the surface, until the moidd, which is now only four or five inches deep, will become eight, ten, and even fifteen in- ches deep. Land, thus prepared, may call for an investment, in labor almost exclusively, of twenty-five, or even fifty dollars the acre. In many places the whole cajiital would be returned in the additional crop of five or six years ; and the ground forever after\\ards would be worthy four times, nay, ten times, as much as it was hctbre it was touched. Gentlemen, I am almost ashamed to say to you, that I have come here with the press of other avo- cations, such as to afford lue scarcely twenty-four hours to prepare for the address which has per- haps been expected from me. Fool, you will say, that you are to travel one hundred and fifty miles for siich a purpose. My apology is, that I did not undertake this business to enlighten you : I came to obtain fioin you that information, and to make those obseratioiis which would add to the stock which I feel the disposition every where to ex- haust, if it can be of the least benefit in adiling to the productions of our beloved country, and will prevent one man from abandoning in despair that soil which, if we will it, may be made a paradise, approximating as near as human fallibility will admit, to that garden of God, presented to man in his state of primeval innoceucy. Tavo days in Caledonia County, Vermont. The editor of the Farmer's Montlily Visitor, agreeably to the promise he had made some inoutlis before he was placed in a new position, as a public officer, failed not to make his tour to the State of Vermont, at the time whon the only exliibition of the only county of that lair and beau- tiful State took iilace. The agricultural exhibi- tion lor the county of Caledonia was holden on two difterent days in different townships — at Lyn- don, Wednesday, September 30th, and at Peach- am, on Thursday, Oct. IsL Mistaking the days to be Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, when the editor arrived at Haverhill, N. H., while on his way, he was induced by his political friends to engage being back to that place on Thursday, so that he w'as deprived of the greater pleasure which it would have given him to be at Peacham on the second day of the exhibition. Both Tuosda) and Wednesday were agreeably, and we hope profitably, spent in the county. We know not whether it be safe to trust our own •senses in judging of a country which we had not before visited: the last sight leaves the strongest impressions, aud whether the opinions we form be favorable or disgusting, all due allowance should be made on that account. Arriving at the hospital residence of Hi:>rv Stevsns, Esq., of Barnet, on the evening of Monday, Sept. 29th, he gave us the following day, with his horses and carriage, to introduce us to the farmers of Caledonia. CURIOSITIES ON CONKECTICDT RIVER. Barnet is situated directly above Ryegite, and opposite Lyman. N. If., on the Connecticut river. The Passuinsic river, whose fertile valley extends northwardly towards the Canada line, diagonally through the cciuty of Caledonia, unites with the Connecticut river at Barnet. On this river below, near the lower end of Ryegate, the river at some former remote period, bioke through one of the several barriers that seem to have existed in olden time, making what is at present Connecticut river, a series of lakes, either communicating with each other, aud discharging the waters to the sea. by a diftiirent route fVom the present. The river has become deeper and deeper imbedded into the earth at ditlerent epochs of time, leaving in some places two, and in other iilaces three, higher lev- els, one above the other, on each of which the v/aters at some former period rested for a suc- cession of years. The breaking through and imbedding the wa- ters upon this" streani has cut down the flinty rocks alike with the soil, and left no space to make roads, but either by the erection of founda- tions in the river, or by blowing away and form- ing a tract through the ruck itself. Above the splendid Oxbu^v farms in Newbury on the Ver- mont side, the ror.d which has been traveled fljr many years, passes for a considerable distance, as it' it w as suspended over the w ater, looking down a peqiendicular ledge of forty and fifty feet. So, on the New Hampshire side, the mountain which divides the towns of Bath and Lyman, comes so close down at a point in the river where the wa- ters above are compressed to a width hardly one- third the common width of the river abo\e and below, that the road is literally chiseled out of the rock, making a turn at nearly right angles. Still above, near iSarnct, the river cuts directly through an island of rock, making a clumnel that leaves on either side the prominence which shows that both were orisinally shaped into one at some former period. "Above the interval, at Barnet, the ledge falls oft' more than one hundred feet, ai;d the track of the road at this elevation pursues a path niade by the waters at a former period, which found their way through the rock, wearing it down to the proper shape and size. Where there is no flint rock or ledge, especially above the compressed waters, between Bath and Newbury, both along the Connecticut and the Passumsic, tliesides of the steep banks wliich have been cut down by the v\ aters, are black clay or marl, containing io their greatest depth the ele- ments of extraordinary fertilily. It is probably the rich sediment over which ihe waters of many lakes flowed for thousands of years, that is the basis of that excellent soil that is found all the way down tlie Connecticut river valley. It is the same quality ren-aining on the soil of most of the towns of Caledonia county, that makes that one of the most delightlftil rich'tracts of country on the north- ern state:;. THE 'rOWNS OF CALEDONIA. A little above Wells river at Dodge's falls, on the Vermont side, extensive saw mills have been erected. These nulls tin-n oiu large quainities of boards and plaiik.^ maiiufaclnred from pine logs, which come over the fifteen mile falls, all the way up the Coniiectirut river to its sources, near the Canada line. Above, the first village in Barnet is at M'lndoe's f dis, a considerable village : aud four above this village, at the distance of twenty miles from Haverhill, is Stevens' village in IJarnet. The Scotch settlement in Ryegate, the first town on the south line of Caledonia, was made under a srant obtained by the late James Whilelaw, Esq. who was distinguished as a surveyor and author of the first map of Vermont. The Scotch settlement in Barnet was under a grant of land obtained by an intelligent and enterprising man of the name ofllarvey, who reared a family of sons and daugh- ters still" living as among the pride of Caledonia. A son of that Pliinehas Stevens, of No. 4, whose posterity yet remains at Charlestown, N. II., pur- chased that tract in Barnet, which surrounds and comprises the Stevens' yillag(\ At this vil- lagv Stevens' brook, which comes down from Har- vey's |)ond in the westerly side of Barnet, and from the valley constituting a greater i)art of the town of Peochnm, luiiles with ConneciiciU river: the fidl of the brook at the village is 130 feet. On this fall there are tv/o woolen ttictories and other mills already elected. The water power through diis region of fine country not yet taken up, is so abundant, that whenever the country shall be opened by rail roads, in that direction, annihilat- ing the long distance now travelled by heavy load- ed teinns, which pass backward and forward to the distance of one hundred and fifty and two hundred miles to the seaboard, room will be given for hundreds of manufacturing establishments, to work up the wood, the wool, and other raw materials which the country produces. A. MINE OF INFORMATION. Agreeably to previous invitation from Henry Stevens, Esquire, oi' Bai-net, the son of the man who obtained the first grant of land in Barnet, we made ourselves at home at his house. In his house we were surprised to find probably better materials for a complete history of Ver- mont, from its first settlement to the present day, than can be found in all other places put togeth- er. Mr. SteA'ens ivas so fortunate as to obtain on easy terms the collections of newspaiiers. pamph- lets, and manuscripts of the late Major Whitelaw, and he has been indefatigable in laying hold of and preserving every thing curious and interest- ing that pertains to the State of Vermont. The newspapers printed as far back as 178-1, at Ben- nington and Windsor — the first rude eflbrts of Haswell and Spooner, to fiirnish the " folio of tour i)ages, hap)jy work, ■which not even critics criticise," carrying intelligence to the log-houses first erected — are in Mr. Stevens' collection ; and the history of politics and legislation, and of the progress of improvement and wealth, are brought down through these fugitive collections to a point of time reached by the memory of the present generation. Here we have oiiporlunity to learn all about the peculiar traits of character of Ethan Allen, who on " the authority of the Great Jeho- vah and the Continental Congress,'' captured Ti- conderoga, and made prisoners of its British gar- rison, nearly simultaneous with the day of Lex- ington battle. Here also we trace the bold good sense of Thomas Chittenden, the first Governor, the father of a race of strong-nuuded, eminent men. We also can find out all about Matthew Lyon, the son-in-law of Chittenden, who figures in having ])rovoked the " powers that be," by doubting the patriotism of the President ;md_ob- taininu' sentence of fine and imprisonment, from a United States Judge, under a prosecution for sedition. The first legislative acts of the settlers of the " New Hampshire Grants," are marked with that sterling good sense and regard for sound jiolitical economy, which was more preva- lent in the public men of that d;iy, than they havo been since. The files and collections of Mr. Ste- vens, jiresent a fund of information, ancient and rare, more accurate in marking the histoiy of Vermont, than we ever expected to find. We might have spent a month jirofitably in searching tor that kind of knowledge which it would be ex- tremely diflicult to find any where else, and still have left many interesting volumes unexplored. THE SCOTCH BUTTER M4KERS. Tuesday morning, Sejit. 29, with a pair of horses and dearborn wagon, we took together a jaunt among those farmers in Barnet, who for several successive years have been successful competitors for the higii irremiums on butter wOiich have been oft'ered by a society in Boston. As this comjieti-^ tion was open to the whole country, the merit of the Scotch butter of Barnet w^ill be the more high- ly ajipreciated because it has outstripped the best butter of those fine farmers in Connecticut and Massachusetts, w here the country has been longer settled, and where it might be taken for granted that better opportunities for learning the trade and mystery of butter making might exist. Our guide was a gentleman famihar with most of the farm-_ ers and farmers' houses in Caledonia , and of i>onrse there w^^s very little ado in introducing us fiom the kitchen pantry to the cellar of each thrifty estaiilishment. Mr. Alexander Stuiul. inheriting with jj' er William, the farm of his father. '' fanner doing most of the laljfv^„_ |jp hands, keeps ten and :\X'd pounds in a makes about one Jiie milk stands about fom'- from eacli c.yptbre the cretin is taJcen from lU eisht ' I'rotli- a gocul >■''!] his own lieually season THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 163 A common old-iashioned hand cliuni is used. The biitier is woiked in cold water, drained ofi' successively until the milk entirely disappears: generally three waters are sufficient. The less the butter is handled the more perfect anvest, from the main travelled road, run- niug towards Dauville, is the fine farm lately the property of Gen. William Chamberlain, an emi- grant from the vicinity of Concord. Still further north was the place of residence of Rev. Leonard Worcester, «ho, originally a printer, afterwords became the pastor of one of the oldest churches in that jiart of Vermont. This gentleman, the brother of a family famed for their talents as well as their theology, has lately left the people of his charge, and sold the farm on which he had long resided. The purchaser was improving this farm much by excavation and draining. The soil of Peacham and Danville seems to lie but the beds of several lakes from which the wa- ter has been drained at some former point of time. The hills surround the valleys on every side, sometimes oblong, sometimes nearly round, but always in the shape of those surrounding some pond" or lake. Tiiese hills are very free of stone, and this commonly limestone which lays under the surface, at times breaking tlirough and mak- ing its appearance above ground. These hills are fertile to the very. tops— there being no percepti- ble difference between the liiaher grounds and the low. The land hardly ever fails of a crop of any kind of vegetation common to the climate. ill passing tlVrough Peacham, we took tlie op- portunity to" call u|ion a veteran lady, a sister of the Eastmans', aiul a native of Concord, now more than eighty years old. AVith a si.ster who married brothers, she was one of the first settlers of Peacham ; and both of them had raised ni> sons and daughters, some of whom had become judges and magistrates, and all of tliem, men and women, respectable and independent. Another gentleman, who had the kindness to accoinpauy ns, that and the succeeding day, iilso a native of Concord, has gained wealtli and respectability as a farmer and a merchant, first in the State ot Maine, and latterly has set down on a delightfiil tarin very near the academy, in Peacharn, and overlooking the surrounding country. \ LAWYER, POLITICIAN, AND FARMER. The member of Congress elect for this district, who, we believe, has the good luck to succeed al- ways when he offers as a candidate, who has gath- ered an ample fortune in the |>ursuitof his iJiofes- sioii, and who has often proved himself the gene- rous friend of youihfiil enterprise, if he has not hesitated sometimes to take the pound of flesh, when the law would give it, resides at the village central in this beautiful town. For old ac<|uaint- ance sake, although at political antipodes, we hes- itated not to partake of his proferred hospitality, and we were happy to find him so far inter- ested in the prosperity of agriculture as to take pride iu the exhibition of the products of his own field. His potatoes were a true sample of the exuberant soil round about him, two bushels of which he had, since, the goodness to present at our own door, one hundred miles distant. He had paid great personal attention to his apple or- chard, which in appearance resembled the heal- thy orchards so i)rofitable to their owners in the vicinity of Boston. Speaking of the condition of the farmers of Caledonia, compared with what it was a few years ago. Gen. M. said, the advantage was much more in their tayor than his own : they had all redeemed their mortgages, so that in any present intercourse of business he was now the debtor and dependant, and could seldom obtaui their obligation in exchange for any s))arc money which might be lying useless. THE PENNSYLVANIA POLITICIAN. New England is the soil which has bOrne many enterprising sous : her young men, with no bet- ter protection than their own shrewdness and tal- ent, go forth to other States, and report soon echoes back their names as distinguished men in a laud of strangers. The academy at Peacham is, we believe, the oldest in all the northerly half of Vermont, eastward of the Chain]dain lake shore ; and the town of Peacham has sent forth into other States more than its pro])ortion of educated men, who have been instructed in the rudiments at this institution. Political men will remember the man who, in the State of Pennsylvania, three years ago, possessed an influence beyond all other political men around him. This man is a native of Peacham ; and it is to the credit of Thaddeus Stevens, that, leaving the ])lace of his nativity, without proiierty and without patrimony, he re- turned ill a few years and jiurcbased one of those beautiful farms on the hills, which extend around the town in a circle, on which he jjlaced his widowed mother. More recently on this farm, which is well cultivated, under the superintend- ence of a bachelor brother, he has furnished the means for substituting a new house for the old one which had become dilajiidated, and new barns in the place of the old. Exercising the right of ownership at her own home, the old lady, at the age of seventy years, carries herself with all the jiropriety of a venerable matron, w ho has nursed those sons, \\ ho in more elevated life for- get not the tenants of the humble log housL's in which they spent their first, and may be their happiest days. A SAMPLE OF UNEER-DHAININC. Passing from Peachaiu to Danville the farm was pointed out which had been a few years improv- ed by a Mr. Leach, a Scotchman. The furniers who are contimially arii\ing from Scotland and England, bring with them those improved me- thods of cultivation that are highly useltil in the neighborhoods of their location. We only saw Mr, Leach's farm as we passed it ; but we were struck with the efiectthat his better manageiuent had produced on laud, which in its natural state, is more productive than much of the land in otiier jjarts of New England, that is well cultivated. Mr. Leach has advantageously introduced liie Europetm method of under-draining, by earring utt' the superabundance of water naturally re- maining an injury to the crops by means of cover- ed passways. We know of many persons, me- elianics and others, who cultivate only a small lilat of ground, say from one to five acres, and keep no stock licyoiid one or two cows, and pcr- hajis a horse. If their laud be of the he^vy kind with a pan filled with small stone.*, how can they better imiirove it than by making covered diains, disjiosing of the small rocks under ground I el )w the depth of the plough. After the lan.d is su'l- ably drained, continued deep idoughing will make the heaviest ground productive beytnd all |)revious calculation. Near the line which divides the towns of Peach J 64 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. am and Danville, we called a few moments at the farm of Mr. Kankin, the brother of the first man of that name in Littleton, N. H., whose descend- ants are fomiliar as rnen of some public consider- tion in New Hampshire. Mr. Rankin had here been settled forty years on a beautifid farm of two hundred acres. On this soil every thing grows well thai is put into the ground. Mr. Rankin had growing in his field sucli ruta baga turnips as we must look for in vain the present year in the county of Merrimack, or even on the best cultiva- ted grounds in the vicinity of Boston. A OOVERiSOR-FARMER. Danville, a town of larger dimensions than Peacham, of equal fertility and having less land, is the shire town of Caledonia county. Belbre arriving at the elegant village called Danville Green, which is the county seat, having a fine new court house and several meeting houses, all of which together with the dwelling houses not of brick are neatly painted white, on the way from Peacham, we come to the premises of Gov. Palmer. This gentleman, long in pu lie lile ei- ther as clerk of the courts of his county, Sena- tor in Congress or chief Magistrate of his State, seems to have retired to the care exclusively of his household and his farms, where, from the prosperity of every thing without and the com- forts within, he must realize enjoyments which the turmoils of public lite can never give. Gov. P. apjieared as the farmer who labors with his own hands : he was in the working dress of his profession. At the age turning into the " sere iuid yellow leaf" no man wears a healthier face and a more active limb than the working man upon the fiirm. E.xeicise upon the feet, exercise of niiiscle by the rake or The hoe or the crow bar in the held, "will give to the man of fifty years stamina and strength of arm such as the student or man of .sedentary Jiabits at the green age of twenty-five knows not. From information we are inclined to believe that our colemporary of Danville who has the fortune to have been made a man of uncommon ])hysical power, might ad- vantageously change llie present habit of almost entire seclusion for the mingling now and then in public matters relating to the welfare of his fellow citizens. We had been delighted to spend more time in viewing the farms of Gov. Palmer. His crop of corn of the present year, (or the region far north, was very encom-aging. From precise- ly one fourth of an acre he obtained sixty fidl bushel baskets of soinid Canada corn, and from one acre, two hundred bushrls. Those who know how to distinguish the small Canada corn from the larger kinds raised southerly of Caledo- nia county can judge of the greater weight anrl superiority of the small to the large corn in the ear. We think the crop of corn raised by Gov. Palmer, undi^r all the circumstances, to be equal to any croj) ever produced in New England — it *erlainly exceeded the growth of any acre on whicli we ever set eyes. The quarter acre pro- ducing the greater crop was directly in the rear of the barns upon the farm ; it was rich Iroin cul- tivation as well as by nature. The land of Gov. Palmer, as well as the greater jiart of the fine region central in the county of Caledonia, is of that fine deep rich mould in which the plough finds no bottom, occasionally bringing up small gravelly pebbles of limestone which we believe disappear on long eyposure to the atmosphere, and essentially contribute to the earth's fertility. The growth upon this land is generally maple and beech with the black and yellow birch inter- spersed. Three fourths of an acre of the corn was land that had recently been ftMiced off at the point where two roads meet and which had hiid co'umon. Not more than the usual quantity o' manure had been put upon the ground; and the ground tliis year was only nimured in the hill with a composition from the hog pen. The liills of this corn, the stalk of which is very diminutive, were placed at the distance of about two and a half i'crt one w;iy by two feet the other. The corns butts were cut down U]ion the irrouiKl where this corn grew: the remaining hills and slump's exhibited the marks of that good hus- bandry in which the owner delights. At a distance from the house on Gov. Pahner's premises wms another field of corn. On this gromul he carted niamu'e at the rate of fortv loads to the acre : and as an inducement to a neighbor who had no field of his own he offered him the one half of the crop to plough the ground, |)lant and carry it on, and guaranteed him lor the service thirty bushels of com lor his halt; The land produced eighty bushels. Nearer to Danville Green than vvhere he re- sides. Gov. Palmer has another fine farm, the whole income of which he is said generously to give to a friend and relative. This and other beautiful fiirms in Danville we had no time to give more than a passing view. We had the pleasure of calling for a few mo- ments upon the Hon. Israel P. Dana, an old friend and acquaintance of thirty years, who, at an age somewhat advanced, was laboring under a pain- ful, but we hope not alaring temporary illness. This gentleman, we were informed by others, has constantly made the sheep growing business prof- itable for many years. His buildings and his grounds out of doors showed his good taste as a farmer: the cushioned chairs and carpeted floors within evinced that farmers of the country, not less than the men of affluence of the cities, en- joy not only the comforts, but the elegancies of life. THi; DRAINED POND. Northwardly from Danville we took our course to St. Johnsbury, the first above Barnet in the valley of the Passumsic. To get here we had come round about more than half of the whole distance taking the circuit across from the river road to the hill road and returinng back. The mail stage from Haverhill to Canada line passes three times a week each way by Peacham and Danville over the hill road, and the three alter- nate days by the road which jvasses tip the val- ley of the Passumsic. There is at the point of this road where the waters of the Passumsic and the waters running north into lake Memphrema- gog and the river St. Lawrence have their som-ce, a natural curiosity which goes to conform our theory that the rich amphitheatres among the hills constituting some of the best townships of Vermont were originally lakes and ponds of wa- ter. In the town of Glover up to the year 1817 near tlie summit level there was a pond of con- siderable extent which discharged its waters on the way to Long Island Sound through the valley of the Passumsic. In the first settlement of the wilderness beyond towards C.inada, a man had erected a mill below the level of the |)ond on a small stream running the other way. As he had a deficiency of water it occurred to him that he nfight bring to his aid a portion of the waters in the pond, there being only a small ridge barring them out. He commenced digging out a pas sage way upon the surtitce of the ridge, and found the soil so pliable that the work of an hour or two brought it down to the surface of the pond The water began to flow and in a few minutes made such progress that he barely had time to run to the nnll and alarm his wife whom he knew to he there so that she might retreat to a place of safety. The artificial or natural ridsre was not able to stand for a moment w hen the water had oi.ce gained headway. Down it came, taking nff the mill in a moment, and carrying along with it trees and rocks weighing many tons and every other obstruction, swee|)ing down to the lake an immense mass of material. Since that time a simple brook running towards the lake Memphremagog is all that is left of the pond; and the ground constituting and surroun diuE its bed, is just like that of other valleys on which we suppose the water to have rested in da\ s long subsequent to the creation. The trav eled road pursues its course through the bed of this pond. Returning to our journey; there has grown up within a very few years a considerable village called North Danville upon a stream which from the height of land unites with the Passumsic at St. Johnsbur)'. ruvEU KOAns i\ Vermont. The ro.ids running through the mountains and liills of Vermont which have been recently con- structed up the stream.o, discover the powers of invention and imrenuily of the Yankee cliaracter in contending with obstacles apparently insm- mountablc. Roads are there made on the side ot precipitous ledges and through steep gorges, that, looking over the ground, woidd seem to hid defi- rince to man. Some of these roads running into the wildest country that can be imagined, now pursuing their way along the margin of a stream down to whicii it is trij>fitf'ul to look, and nowdi- ving into and through some bank whose edge is fringed with trees apparently stanoor in that region of fertility where the roads furnish so good feed that the dairy-maid is doeiiied unfit to be recommended for a husband who cannot make her hvuidred pounds of butter in a season from the two-year old hiefer feeding upon them. Among the cattle exhibited we noticed three pairs of oxen and steers of the pure Devonshire breed, who were all of a dark red color with the surface of the hair as smooth as silk, and the liml sand horns beautifully uniform. The exhibi- tion of cattle on the succeeding day at Peacliani lithough the weather was rainy and inclement, was greater than at Lvndon, The number of farmers collected at Lyndon was greater than had been usual at other exhibi- tions. The editor of the Visitor on the occasion delivered an address at the meeting house near Lyndon Corner, which was too hastily prepared to suit our own taste but which, wnli its imper- fections, will be found as njaking up a portion of the present iiundier of the Visitor. BEST CHEESE MADE IN NEW ENGLAND. Am( ng the farmers collected at Lyndon was the son of Mr. Timothy F'isher, of the township of Burke, situated north of Lyndon, and adjacent to the county of F.ssex. There is an isolated mountain in the town of Burke, whose sides fronting the sun furnish excellent pastures. Ca- ledonia county, not content with repeatedly bear- ing off the palm for the best butter at the New England annual exhibitions, also claims prece- dence for the best cheese. Mr. Fisher has obtain- ed the prize at Boston lor several years. He has 120 cheeses made the present simimer weighing from thirty-five to forty-five pounds each. He keeps twenty cows, whose milk is set and made into cheese twice a day. We left Lyndon as soon as the public exercises had closed on the invitation of our old friend Bartholomew Somers, an intelligent and enter- ])rising Srotchman, who came to this country in 1793, with only a single gold guinea, and some small change in his pocket. He paid his guinea for a five pail iron kettle, and he swapped his watcli for a cow, being furnished with a tract of laud lo begin upon by the gift of an uncle. He has now i, beautifid farm (so it is de^cribed to us) on the Passaniic, which we regret not having seen, inasmuch as it was dark and rainy on the evening when we jjassed it. He has made upon this farm six hundred rods of stone wall. He keeps but one horse to do all his work, being of opinion that there is a better profit in keeping grow ing young cattle and cows than to own work- ing oxen. He procin-ed a few years ago an ele- gant short horn Din-ham bull, which was import- ed into Canada. From tliis, upon a native cow, he has obtained another, now we believe two years old, which was to be driven to Peacham for exhibition. The orii:inal bull has been sold to a farmer on the New Hatnpshire side. Mr. Somers has a fanjily of sons and daughters one of vvliom has married a young man, who has made himself comparatively rich in a few years, by a systeui of industry and rigid economy. In five years, from 1895" to 1830, he worked on wages for his father, and earned .$559. His per- sonal ex|)enses in the whole time, including cloth- ing, were only .$99 35, leaving as the amoiuit of his earnings, $46865. He then married and went into his father's family, continuing, himself and wife, on wages for seven years, until 1837, in which time their earnings were .$963, and tlje ex- penses of clotliiiig for himself, wife and three children, and all other expenses, were $199 04, leaving S763 96, as the amomitof gains for these seven years ; and the whole sum saved in twelve years, $1993 61 His account of clotliing and necessaries, during the last seven years, not of liome manulacture, was only $98 87. Since 1837, the man has proceeded to wealtli with in- creased celerity. lie purchased a farnj near tliat of his father, and clears enough annually in the increase of cattle, and in the sale of produce to purchase additions or make improvements. Mr. Somers himself is now about seventy years of age: he is a man of exalted sense and sound discrimination. He placed several months since in the hands of tlie editor, a manuscript work in which the various stdijects of the Bible are brought togethe- undei a single her.d — a work of great labor, and, we believe, of great utility, as illustrating the holy writings. We have hope of sometime being able to jiresent this i teresling work to the pidjlic in a bound volume. We have seen the result of the census, as to tlie productions of Caledonia county, in seven towns, and we are promised the result of the whole when thev shidi be comjjleted by the uiarahals. The majile sugar produced in this county is an article of which many of the agricultural districts iu New- England cannot bo;.st, the seven towns in Cale- donia turned out, last spring, of that article, as follows, viz: Hardwicke, 60,843 ])o\inds; Danville, 69,487 ; Wheelock, 39,l(i0 ; Groton,90.,530; Peach- am, 21.186: Cabot, 54.715 : Walden, 40,370. HAVERMLL, N. H. In all the line of Connecticut river towns, there is none more flourishing and beautiful than Hav- erhill. , The principal village at which one half the courts for the extended county ot Gralton are held, lies near the southwest corner line of the town, and within the limits of what was lormerly Piermout. The township extends more than ten miles upon the river : all the way the Connecti- cut winds its way tiirough a tract of the most fer- tile alluvial!, now approaching the easterly rise and leaving nearly the whole width in Vermont, and now receding to the western bank, making the fertile portion a part of the territory of New- Hampshire. The fiimous " Ox-bow" is upon the Vermont side in the town of Newbury, which nearly corresponds with Haverhill in length upon the river. The jurisdictional line of the State of New Hampshire extends to the western shore of the Connecticut river, so that every grant for atoll bridge or ferry is made by that State. The village of Haverhill Corner is situated upon a square elevated some hundred and fifty feet upon a second level or ])lateau from the river : the street runs nearly north and south at the westerly end of the square, and up and down this street at each end of the square are continuous rows of houses on either side. Central in the square the turnpike road comes in from the east, and on this a portion of the village is built up, including the_ gaol and gaoler's house, and a fine fiie-proof building in which the county records, for the re- gisti-y of deeds and the files and books of the courts of law are kept In this village also are two meeting-houses for the worship of the Con- gregationalisls and Methodists, and the County Court-House, which is used for a high school, or academy. Half a ndle north is the Oliverian brook which has its source in the Coventry mea- , dows ten miles east on the south end of the Moosehillock mountaui. Up this valley proceeds the main travelled road towards Concord and Boston, recently constructed, and the meeting of this road with the river road is the ]ioint for an- other village. There are several villages and three churches on the river road between the Oliverian village and the line of Bath. Within the last twenty years much of the land in Haver- hill has been brought into cultivation. Above the elegant low lipids immediately upon the river is a second plateau of light land. This land has been found to be more feasible and nearly as pro- ductive as the best interval. Recently at the nor- tlierly extreme of Haverhill on the river, a new village has grown up nearly opposite the Wells river village, in New bury. The amount of large white pine tind)er taken from Haverhill has been immense : the stumps, three to five feet over at the point of severance from the trunk, and in some cases with prongs eifjht to twelve leet in diameter, are taken tiom the ground by means of large wheels operating on the princijile of the lever. These are disposed of edgewise on the line of the road, and make the best of fence. Some of this fence which has been erected twenty and thirty years remains as perfect as when first made. The town extends back seven or eight miles eastward from the river, and touches some of the sjiurs on the Moosehillock, a mountain w hicli of- ten glistens with a coat of coat of snow in Octo- ber, long before it appears in the valley nearer to the river, and where it sometimes remains until the nionth of June. The white pine growth ex- tends not fin- uj) the mountains, but is found on many considerable stony prominences. Gener; lly where this beautiful tindier grows — and nowhere is the white pine timber more clean and ol richer grain than iu this valley, to the iqqicr ri gion of Coos — the soil is light and of a sandy nature, but not such sand as treads up in the travelled road, or blows into naked banks. It is more adhesive than the sand upon the hard jjine plains, fre- quent in the Merrimack river valley, and its fer- tility is found to increase the longer it is well cul- tivated. It will even keep up its lertility without manure, simply by the use ol plaster and summer tilling with clover. There are fine farms on the light land in Haverhill, at " Slab city," five miles .-diove Haverhill Corner; also, at the "Horse Madow" village, still (iuther north. In llie east- erly part of the town where the forests have bet n cut off, the land has been brought into cultiva- tion by several persons who purchased it solely for the pine lumber, when that was estimated at IS6 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR a very low i)rice, and who conBted the land as of no value alter that was taken off. In the Oliveiiaii valley near the line oi'Coventry, a meeting-house has been erected ibr the second society of Methodists, which are the most nume- rous religious deuomination in town. Lund in Haverhill hears nearly as high a price as at Concoitl. Wheat, oats and corn, have all turned out to I)e fine crops this year : potatoes are light here, as tl>ey are generally in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. At Haverhill we saw a ciop of two acres of teasels, an article much used in the manufacture of cloth. A successful crop of this article will give a greater profit than almost any other kind ot' crop. It however requires two years to bring the plant to perfection, and e.xce])t the teasel shall grow to a size more than three- fourths of an inch in diameter, the boll i^f consid- ered as of no value. The teasel plant is first rear- ed in the garden in compact beds, and the next spring transplanted in rows or ridges at the dis- tance of about three feet, the plants being dispos- ed in the ridges eight to twelve inches apart, and hoed like corn or i)otatoes. Lime has recently been discovered iu the east- erly part of Haverhill, where it is burnt in the kilns and can be afforded at a late much cheaper than the Thomaston lime on the sea-board. Col. Reding has had good success in liming his land for crops: his oats, he thinks, have tinned out nearly a double quantity in consequence of the lime put upon the land one year ago. There can be no mistake in the use of lime either in mixing it with peat or muck in making compost, or in scattei'ing it when slakeued over the fields of newly broken up giound broadcast. Doctor Jackson, having examined and discov- ered Several beds of limestone in the Connecticut river valley, wo intend at some future time to take more extensive notice of them in the Visitor. Americau Enterprise. We understand that the Emperor of Russia, by his agent, has closed a contract with Mr. Nor- ris of Philadelphia, for " The efi'orts of the former in encouraging agriculture, is sufficient evidence that the labors of the latter will exert an equally beneiicial iniluencc in spreading a taste for Horticulture. By Mr. S. W. Cole of the Yankee Farmer. , Agricultural Improvement : The day has arrived when it is acknowledged, that in Agriculture, as in all other pro- fessions, " knowled-^e is power." In behalf of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, by Col. M. P. Wilder, President. The Worcester Horticultural Society ; We welcome ' her as a younser siiter. V\"e extend to her the right hand ol ji-llOT\-ship. We pledfc to her oTir afsisl-mre and friend ship, and we regard this, her first exhibition, as a mo tval- uable assurance of her future growth and usefulness. By Mr. James L. L. Warren, of Brighton. WoRCESTEK — Town anel County: Renowned for the v^isdom and patriotism of her statesmen ; for the skill and industry of her manufactures and mechanics ; the practi- cal knowledge and persevtreiice of the cultivators of her soil, and the unbounded hospitality of her citizens. Many other excellent sentiments were offered by the members and guests of the Society, which the hurry of the occasion, and the engagements of the Secretary prevented him from |)reserving or reporting : but which we may hope hereafter to furnish. After more than an horn' had lieen passed at the table with that enjoyment which hurried time along rapidly, the Society proceeded to the Union Church, where they were first addressed by the President. He alluded in terms of affec- tionate respect to the late Recording Secretary, Ifenry Wheeler, Esq. whose brother died while holding the same ofBce, and rendered a just trib- ute to the memory of the officer of whose servi- ces the society were deprived by the sudden dis- pensation of Providence, and to those of his kin- dred who had so zealously and faithfully co-op- erated in promoting the prosperity of the associ- ation. If any delay had occurred in the execu- tion of the arrangements of the occasion, it had been in consecpience of this affliction, and be- cause the heavy labors of the occasion had de- volved suddenly upon those oppressed with oth- er toils. It was stated, that the Hon. Daniel Web- stpi-, and Mr. Senator Hubbard, had been invited to address the society, and the regret which all felt for tlieir absence was exjircssed. After ad- verting to some topics of general interest, and con- gratulating the society upon the continued and increasing ftvor of the public, and bidding wel- come to the mniierous guests who Itad honored the festival by their presence, he introduced the Hon. Isaac Hill, to the asseiid:)ly. Gov. Hill of New Hampshire, made an excel- lent practical address, in which he proved con- clusively the exceeding bad policy of young men emigrating froiti New England to the WesI, with the expectation of bettering their Ibrtunes, and that the soil of New England will better repay the efforts bestowed in a judicious cultivation, than any of the far-famed vallies of the west. He spoke of various ways in wliich liirmers ought to cconomi.se in time, in labor, and in the investment of capital — and of the mutual rela- tions and good understanding which ought to subsist between the fiu;mcr and the workman he employs, in order tluit their connexion may be agreeable and advantageous to both. He observed that the " true economy of the farm" snouin ue lUc ilv.*.- "♦'ovpvv one concern- ed in agriculture ; and that true economy cuiini^.c ed, in part, in a constant annual improvement of the soil, so that each succeeding year it may pro- duce a larger crop than the year preceeding. In discussing the economy of labor, he observ- ed that labor-saving machines and imjiroved im- pliments of husbandry ought to be sought for by the farmer, but that judgment and somid calcida- tion should be used in their selection, for " to pur- chase an iuifenious and expensive machine that is hut little used in every farming operation, will be an expenditure that the ihrm will not retuin ; for instance, to purchase an improved seed-sower, costing from twenty to tliirty dollars, to save a sincle day's work iuayear, Vvould be injudicious." \Ve forbear to enter into any extended notice of the address of Gov. Hill, as we have the pleas- in-e of assuring our readers, that from correct notes, we shallsoon furnish to them a "full and complete copy of his sound and acceptable re- marks. The Rev. Henry Coleman spoke with great eloquence and beauty, conqiaring the advantages of the East and West ; illustrating the blessings bestowed by Providence on our own New Eng- land— its natm-al and physical condition and re- sources, and jiainting the excellence of its moral, social, and reli,i;ious institution.s, in that elevated tone which made the heart beat quick, and the spirit of the native of the Bay State feel proudly. J. P. Gushing Esq. of Wa'ertown, generously sent for exhibition some of the finest neat cattle of the Ayreshire breed which have ever been seen in " this portion of the commonwealth, and with great liberality presented one of them to the Society, which had been imported by him- pelf nt great' px-pensp. He also perniiltPd two fine swine, half Chinese and half Berkshire blood, (dear little beauties both) to be placed in the pens. Whether these breeds are the best for the farmer in preference to others, is a question about which there would be difference of opin- ion ; tlicre could have been nojie as to the superi- or excellence of the animals, or of the munifi- cence of the owner. The thanks of the society were iiublicly tendered to Mr. Gushing, and as a testimonial of grateful acknowledgement for the interest he had taken in the objects of the associ- ation, by an unanimous vote, he was admitted an hoijorary member, a mark of respect conferred before on two occasions oidy, when President J. Q. Adam?, the late chief Justice Parker, and the Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court accepted the same relation. After the addresses the several conmiittees pre- sented their reports on the subjects confided to their examination. The pressure of political matter must compel us to postpone the immediate publication of the reports of all of the connnittees. The following abstract will furnish a stnnmary of the premiums awarded, and gratuities besto\\ ed by the society. PLOUGHING WITH DOUBLE TEAMS. To John McClellan, Sutton, first premium, glO To Leonard Wheelock, Grafton, second premium 7 To David Carpenter, Charlton, third premium 5 To Simon Carpenter, Charlton, fourth premium 3 Oratuities. To Stephen Marsh, Jr. of Sutton, g2 To Joseph Dudley, do . 2 To Dexter Putnam, do 2 To Marshall Pratt of Oxford, 2 To Paul Cioodale of Woreesfer, 2 TLOUGHING WITH SINGLE TEAMS. To Leonard Wheelock, Grafton, first Plough gS Himself as Ploughman 4 To Loren Carpenter, Charlton, second Plough 6 Himself as Ploughman " 3 To Elbridge G. Wheelock, Millbury, third Plough 5 Himself as Ploughman 2 To Nathaniel Dodge, Sutton, fourth Plough 4 Himself .as Ploughman 1 To Elijah L. Case, Grafton, fifth Plough ) and Ploughman 5 3 MILCH cows AND FAT CATTLE. To Jedediah Est.abrook, Rutland, first premium Jj(20 To Luke Baker, Rutland, second do 16 To Silas Dudley, Mendon, third do 10 The above for Fat cattle — The following for Milch CO\\'S. To William Blanchard, Charlton, first premium g!2 To Thomas B. Eaton, Worcester, second do 10 To Dana H. Fitch, Leicester, third do 8 WORKING OXEN. To James Leach, Westboro', first premium $12 To Simon Carpenter, Charlton, second do 10 To Harvey Dodge, Sutton, third do 8 To Tyler Carpenter, Charlton, fourth do 5 STEERS — THREE YEARS OLD. ^^'^ Leonard Wheelock, Grafton, first premium S8 rn ij 1 I- '.u ,," .■r""''t™. second do b To Royal Keith, Gralton, t„..i ,,,, ^ To John McClellen, Sutton, — for best two year oiu «,.- To Franklin M. Farnum, Charlton, second do 4 To .Samuel Perry, Worcester, third do 3 To Franklin M. Farnum, Charlton, — for best yearlings $u To Nathaniel Dodge, Sutton, second 3 OTHER NEAT CATTLE. To Willi.am Carlton, Sutton, for best Bull, first Piem. gl2 To Oliver Barrett, Bolton, second do 8 To Josejih Sawyer, Bolton, third do 6 To Nathan Brooks, Bolton, for best Bull calf Ij To Freeland Converse, Charlton, next best do 4 To Moses Ayres, New Braintree, next best do 2 To Henry Snow, .Shrewsbury, for best yearling Heifer 5 To Joseph Temple, .Shrewsbury, next iSest do 4 To Smith Taft, Charlton, next best do 2 To Job Rainger, N. Braintree, for best 2 year old Heifer 6 To Orasmus Willard, Harvard, next best do !> To Isaiah Munroe, Shrewsbury, next best do 3 To J. H. Allen, Shrewsbury, for best 3 year old Heifer 8 To Heywood and Harrington, VV^orcester, next best do (i To Reuben Newhall, Spencer, next best do 4 SHEEP. To Rejoice Newton, Worcester, for best ]\Icriiio or Saxony Buck ^1 To Avery Bush, Oakham, for es 5 SWINE. To Samuel A. Knox, Grafton, for best Boar 1st pre. g5 To Benjamin N. Childs, Worcester, 2d best 2d do 3 To Harvey Dodge, Sutton, best breeding Sow 1st prem. 5 To Samu'l Chamberlain. Westboro', for nest best do 2d premium. 3 To H-rvev Dodge. Sutton, for best weancl Pig, 1st d" fi 168 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. To John McClelkn, Sutton, for next best do do 2d do §i BUTTER AND CHEESE. Butter. , , ^ 1 <• o»-> To I'eter Fay, of Southboro'. first premium ol Jj(/ To E. &. C. Newton, Worcester, second do do 5 To Isa,ic Stone Jr. Shrewsbury, third do do 4 To Luther Chamberlain, NVestborough, fourth do d «10 7 3 3 iVeio Cheese. . „ . <- To Alei.inder G. Rich, Warren, first premium of To Lorenzo Converse, IVew Braintree, second do To Roswell Converse, New Braintree, third do To Josiili Gleason, New Braintree, fourth do Old Cheese. To David Lee, Barre, first premium do To John Mattliews, New Braintree; second do do A Gratuity to Jared Kawson, of Milford, for the best specimen of Honey To Ellen Davis of Webster, for I Box Honey To Wm. M. Hall's patent Bee-hive— Exhibited by Mr. Child, of Willingford, Conn. 1 M.\Ni;r.lCTUKES OF LE.\THER .IND WOOL. To Matthew C. Connell, Leicester, forbest Calf Skins $1 To Col. Jacob W. Watson, Princeton, for best Sole Leather To James H. Wall, Worcester, do do Cow- hide Boots . , r> To Jeremiah Bond, Worcester, do do Bro- J. M. Eirle, Worcester, for best Cocoa-nut Squashes. Levi Lincoln, Jr. for several Squashes. GARDEN FLOWERS. To Josiah Maynard, Shrewsbury, for best display of Dab- lias. To Mrs. A. D. Foster, for next best display of do. gans 12 S3 To Thomas Bottomly, Leicester, for best Broadcloths, 1st premium To Thomas Bottomly, Leicester, for next best do 2d do To Rufus Robinson, Oxford, forbest Satinett 1st prem. To Rufus Robinson, Oxford, for next best do 2d do To Mrs. R. Curtis, Worcester, forbest Flannel 1st do To Mrs. Harriet Williams, Charlton, next best 2d do To Thomas J. D.ivis, Holden, for best Carpet 1st do To Mrs. Lucy M. Hersey, Worcester, next best 2d do To Mrs. Fidelia A. Gates, Worcester, do do 3d do Gralnities. To Col. J. W. WaUon, Princeton, for a lot of Calf Skins „, , To Mrs. Lucy Rich, Charlton, for Woolen Blankets To Miss Betey Foster, Worcester, fordo do To Mrs Clarissa Fay, New Braintree, do do , ALL OTHER MANUFACTURED ARTICLES. To John p. Kettell, Worcester, for best Hats 1st prem. $6 To Nathaniel Tead, Worcester, for C silk do 2d do 4 To Thirza L. Sibley, Oxford, for 8 pairs woolen half hose 1st prem. "^ To Eliza C. Clapp, Leicester, 7 pairs do do do 2d do j To Lucy Rich, Charlton, for best Coverlet 1st prem. 4 To LucindaSlade, Faxton, 2d do 3 The following gratuities were recommended. To Barzilla Spencer, 'Worcester, for a specimen of Book-Binding , , ,. To Miss Caroline E. Fay, Southboro, 6 yrs. old— for a beautiful Ruii ' To Charles P. Chapin, Worcester, for specimens of Painting , To Mrs. Cowden, Rutland, for a Rug 1 To Charlotte P. Bryant, Royalston. for a Palm Leaf Hat • To Marii E. Barnes, Leicester, 12 yrs. old, for pair of tufted Crickets 1 To Miss Elizi R. Est.abrook, Rutland, piece oi Linen Diniask Diaper ^ To Mrs. J. Nelson, Leicester, for a Shell w"-'- ••■ -' ^ c^,^"'PJ"5«)0li, Worcester, for two Lace veils and ■ Shawl 2 To Mrs. Daniel Howe, Princeton, one silk veil 1 To Miss Ellen T. Harrington, SJirewsbury, for a piece of Embroidery 1 »1 Merrimack County Agricultural Society. At the regular Amnml Meetiiifr of this Socie- ty, held oil Boscawen Plain, Oct. I4th and 15th, the following persons were chosen officers of the society for tiie year ensuing : — JAMES WILSON, Pembroke, Prtsident : GEORGE W. NESMITH, Franklin, V. President ; Jeeemiah Kimball, Boscawen, Secretary; Nath'l. B. Baker, Concord, Treasurer. Benjamin Whipple, Dunbarton, ") James Cochran, Northfield, ( Exeadive Nathan Walker, Warner, f- Silas Call, Boscawen, Committee. Jeremiah Pecker, Concord, j The foUomng premiums were awarded :— Hamilton E. Perkins, Hopkinton, best farm, $8 00 William H. Gage, Boscawen, 2nd do 6 00 Isaac Hill, Concord, 3d do Abraham Broivn, Northfield, 4th do Reuben Johnson, Boscawen, best garden, Thomas Ames, Canterbury, 2iid do Enoch Coffin, Boscawen, 3d do Jeremiah Kimball, do 4th do Samuel Chadwick, do best acre of corn D. S. Caldwell, Dunbarton, 2nd best acre of corn ... 2 00 Laban M. Chadwick, Boscawen, 3d best acre of corn - - - 1 00 Benjamin Whipple, Dunbarton, corn 2 00 Benjamin T. Kimball, Boscawen, potatoes 3 00 Samuel Chadwick, do do 2 00 Joseph Whitney, Canterbury, best pair working cattle - - - Josepli S. Gerrish, Boscawen, 2nd do Enoch Coffin, do 3d do Isaac Virgin, Concord, 4th do Samuel Gerrish. Boscawen, 5th do Trueworthy Hill, Canterbury, best pair 3 year old steers - - " Joseph Whitnev, do 2nd do Joseph Whitney, do best two year old steers . . - - Laban Morrill do 2nd do Henry Fai-num, Concord, two best yearlings 2 Miss Ruth B. Eastman, Concord, best rug, t 50 Miss E. M. Brown, Hopkinton, lace veils, I 25 Miss M. J. Boyden, Boscawen, muslin collar, 1 00 Mrs. Enoch Couch, do. do. do. 75 Miss Nancy M. Foster, do. travelling bag, 50 Miss Caroline Kimbafl, do. muslin collar, 2.5 Wra. H. Gage, do. best counter- pane, - - - - 1 00 Miss Judith Coffin, Boscawen, 2nd best counterpane, ... 50 Miss Caroline Kimball, Boscawen, best blankets, - - - - 2 00 Charles Moody, Concord, best woolen hose, 1 00 Mrs. C. B. Choate, Boscawen, 2nd do 75 Miss Mary Morrill, do best flannel 2 00 Stephen Pingrey, Salisbui-y, 2nd do 1 50 Stephen Pingrey, do 3rd do 1 00 Mrs. Enoch Coffin, Boscawen, best hearth 5 00 4 00 3 00 2 00 1 50 1 50 3 00 rug. 4 00 3 00 To ' LIST OF PREMIUMS AWARDED BY THE WORCESTER CO. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, At their first Exhibition. October, 1840. ' FRUITS. To E. F. Dixie, Worcester, for best sample of Seckk- Pears, To Capt. Silas Allen, Shrewsbury, for best sample An- drews Pear. To Dr. John Green, Worcester, for do. do. St. Michael Pear. Dr. Burnett, fordo, do. Seedling Pear. A. H. Green, Worcester, fordo, do. Winter Bak. Pear. B. N. Childs, Worcester, for do. do. " Green'g Apple. Jona. W. Stowe, Grafton, for do. dn. Baldwin do. S. A. Knox, Grafton, for do. do. Huhbardston Nonesuch A. H. Green, Worcester, for do. do. (old kind) Nonesuch Apple. A. D. Foster, Worcester, do. do. Blue Pcarmaine Apple. Silis .Xllsn, Shrewsbury, fordo, do. Roxbury Russetts. Geo. W. Rugg. Worcester, fordo, do. Sweet Winter Rus- sett Apple. Jona. Wheeler, Grafton, for dn. do. Pomewater Sweet g. Dr. John Park, Worcester, for do. do. Porter .\pple. C. W. Korbush, GraftoM. fordo, do, Dutch Codlin. Dr. John Green, Worcester, for do. do. Hamburg Apple. S. H. Colton &. Co. Worcester, for do. do. Russett Pear- mine. Clarendon Harris. Worcester. for do. dn. Lady Apple. Philo Slocumb. Shrewsbury, lor do. do. Quinces. Dr. Benj. F. Hiywood, Worcester, for do. do. Isabella Grnpes. VEGETABLES. E. F. Dixie, Worcester, for best crook-necked Squashes. 2nd 3d 4th 1 3 2 1 llllCIl cow 4 do 3 do 2 do 1 Wm."Danfortli, Boscawen, 2nd do Enoch H. PiUsbury, do best bull D. S. Caldwell, Dunbarton, 2nd do Geo. W. Dow, Concord, 3d do L. M. Cluulwick. Bn^-"" ij.^,.iicii .lolinson, do John C. Cog.'ple, Dunbarton, best butter, ."{ 00 Haz'en Kimball, Hopkinton, 2ud do. 2 50 John Killiurn, Boscawen, 3rd Albert .\iiies, Canterbury, 4th Geo. W. Nesmith, Franklin, .5th do. do. do. do. Wm. H. Guge, Boscawen, best cheese. Reuben Jolinson, do. 2nd do. D. F. Kimball, do. 3rd do. Benjamin Wiiipple, Dunbarton, 4th best cheese. 50 2 00 1 50 1 00 3 00 2 50 9 00 1 .50 Wool. An important memoir by Professor Chevreul was presented to the Academy of Sciencfe at Pa- ris on the 28th April, on the composition of \vool, and process of extracting the natural grease from it, and certain properties of the substance, inter- esting to nmnutactures. M. Chevreul had been pursuing his experiments on wool for fifteen jon.« He had already proved, thai \ylien wool hud been thoroughly cleansed it contained three evident substances. 1st, a fat substance, which remained solid at the ordinai-y temperature, and was liijuid at 1)08 contigi-ade ; 2dly, another tat substance, liquid at 158; and 3illy, a filamentous substance of woven stiiffij. Some new experi- ments had shown him that this latter substance, the filamentous one, contained hydro-sulphuric acid, which was ftdly entitled to he counted as a Iburth component part of wool, and was often of great injury to manufacturers in their dyeing pro- cesses. His experiments to isolate this sulphuric element had lasted four years and a half. The two fat substances of wool corresponded to stearine and elciine, only they admitted of being converted into soap; and therefore, to distinguish them, he had termed them slearerine and elaieierine. The following is a table of the results given by examination of, and e.xperinientation upon, a Me- rino fleece : Earthy substances 26 OG Fat substances dissolved by washing 32 74 Fat matters " 9 97 Clean w ool 31 23 100 00 In order to give an idea of his experiment, M. Chevreul went into long details of his highly in- genious and patient methods lor the isolation of the snlplnn- ; the ultimate results which he had been able to obtain was, that out of 100 parts of pure wool, the 40 of sulphur is to be deducted. M. Chevreul then developed the importance of these results for manutacturers ; lie had already shown that nothing was more prejudicial to print- ing on wool than tlie ])resence of certain salts of copper sometimes to be detected in the stuffs, and which always caused a partial discoloration. He Ijud recoinineiifled that iron cylinders tor print- ing tilioiild be used instead of copper ones, to- getlier with other precautions ; he had now clear- ly ascertained that the discolorations were caused by a sulphate ol' copper, resulting from the reac- tion of the sulphur of the wool on a coppery matter, and presence of which was accidental ; and he pointed out the importance of these re- sults to all dyers of woollen goods. M. Chevreul further remarked, that the liit component sub- stance of wool entered into it in the same pro- portion as the oil which was added to it when thoroughly dressed, in order to make it fit for spinning. If any difference was found in tlie weaving of wool when merely washed, and of V ool thoroughly dressed, it must be accounted for by the fat substance formed by the stearerive and the tlaiererine not being so liquid as oil, and by the former retaining in the wool a certain quantity of earthy matter, very much subdivided, which made the filaments hard to work. The discovery of the sidphur remaining in the sub- stance of the wool, and standing repeated pro- cesses with various metallic oxides and alkaline bases, and still adhcrmg to the wool after foin- years' constant experimentation, was considered by the Acadenjy as a circumstance highly curi- ous.— Paris Paper. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 159 Mou'toiiborottgh, Oct. I'ith, 1840. Hon. Isaac Hill:— The lively interest that you have heretolbre manifeste j^ „„ 75 cents pel' day. ^ ' The crop of corn raised on the acre, is i^531 pounds, and estimating 70 (lonnds ibr a bushel, makes 121 bushels and three pecks. Calculat'ng the crop of corn to be worth .jslOO, and the fod- der equal to two tons of hay, at .$10 per ton, .¥20 ; estimating the acre belbre the manure was put on at $50, and !fil20; interest .*3 for one year ad- ded on to the $77, makes ,$80: deduct "the .$80 expense from the .$120 income, makes $40 nett income, aiul the acre of land worth at least .$30 more than it was oneyear ago, which is in reality $(J0 net income. Besides 5480 pounds of the corn is neatly traced up for seed and is the finest lot of seed 1 have ever had. Sui)posb I had cultivated the same acre of giouiid in the ordinary way : say put on 10 loads ot manure, Plough and harrow once. Planting, $4,50 ; small seed, 50 cts. Hoeing, $7,.50, Tojiping stalks and harvesting $5, Interest on the land, .$3, $10,C0 3,50 5,00 7,50 5.00 3,00 834,00 The whole expense of cultivating } in this way is 5i 30 bushels of corn would be a tiiir estimate, and fodder equal to one ton of hay, which would make $40. Deduct the .$34 expense liom the $40 inconie and we have .$(> nett income, and the ' Mid not at all improved. Thus by adding 30 loiids of mai.ure and a little labor, we gain $60 iistej.d of $(i. The above estimate is a fair contrast between the two modes of cultivation, and shows the great advantage of the one over the other. I have raised over two hundred bushels of corn the present season, and have about one hnndrtd bushels of very fine seed. By the 8|>ecimen ol corn which 1 have sent, you wMI see some eight rowed, some ten, and some twelve. The two ears braided together grew on one stock. I plant- ed all eight rowed but the abundant increase ol the crop increases the rows on the ear and shows that improvement is still in progression. The specimen of wheat which I have sent yon is the superior Siberian white bearded wheat. It was sent to nie by Hon. H. L. Elswoith, from the Pa- tent office at Washington. I have raised eight bushels the present season, and I think it bids tail- to be the best wheat ever cultivated in this part of the countr\ . The straw is. bright as silver and not liable to rust. It stands the drought better than the tea wheat, is free from smut, and is clear from any other grains. Yours with much respect, JOHN BROWN, 2d. Boston, Oct. 16, 1840. Sib : — Agreeably to my promise, I will now give you a statement of the quantity of butter made at my farm in Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. No. 1, is Young Sv, luley, an Jiyrshire cow of best blood, imported by me in August, 1831'. She was served in Scotland by a bull that took the first premium at the Baileston Cattle Show, on the 7th of June, 18-39. This premium was a massive sil- ver medal, elegantly wrought, with £2 sterling from Gen. Pyde Douglass, of Rose Hall, and £2 /i-oni the Society's funds. Swinley gave me a beautiful heifer calf on the 20th of" March last ; conunenced to make butter from her on the 26th and continued up to the 10th of October. No. 2, a native co^v. She gave me a calf on the 22d of May last, commenced to make butter from her on the 28th, aud up to the 10th inst. No. 3, a native heifer raised on my farm. She gave me a calf on the 18th of June, at which time she was two ye.ir.s, two months, and 7 days old, made butter tioin her up to lOtli inst. The two cows and heifers have brought up four calves, and made 469 11-16 pounds of very supe- rior butter. Very respectfully, Yom- obedient servant, GEO. RANDALL, of New Bedford. Hon. Isaac Hill. —The following (r«"j ("nr winter use. Preservation of Cabbages niemuOB v»i* |»i ,.0^. , •...j, -...i.i,,, are the result of exiierience : The cabbages should be gathered before inju- ry is done them by the severe fall frosts ; the heavy outside leaves should remain on the stalk. Fix a string or cord round the stump near the roots, suspended from the sleepers with the heads downward in a cool cellar, and they are ready and fit for use at all times. Calfbages kept in this manner retain all their peculiar flavor and sweetness ; the whole virtue of the stump and leaves is concentrated in the part which is used, are li- ndy of access, occupy but little loom which would he occupied by other |)urposes, and sel- dom, if ever, rot ; the outside leaves wilt and con- tract, and in time become qifite dry, which form a sort of coaling that serves to exclude the air from the inside of the head. Another method practiced by some, and high- ly recommended, is to cut the head from the stump, pack close in a sack, taking care to fill up the vacancies with dry chaf^^", thereby exclu- dinii the air, and keejt in a dry cellar. — Mbanti Cultivator. Trial of Ploughs. — The interesting trial of the skill of machinists in constructing ploughs, look place on Tuesday Oct. 13, and was conduct- ed imder the direction of the Conuuittee of the State Agricidtural Society, consisting of John Welles, Boston ; Henry Coduian, Boston ; John Prince, Roxluny ; Isaac Aldeu, Bridgewater; William Clark, jr., Northampton; Allen Putnam, Danvers; John Phelps, Marlborough; Levi Lin- coln, Worce.ster ; Hcnrv Cohuan, Boston ; Edward Mills, Pittsfield. The |ircuiium of one hundred dollars for the best plou^ii ihat will tian the sod ovci- and l;i) il flat, regard being had to strength and excellentre of construction, ease of draft, and cheapness, was awarded to Pronty & Mears ot Boston. For this liberal gratuity there were eight competitors. 1 he premium of seventy-five dollars, lower in amount, but not second to the Ibrmer, for the best plough ^vhich will lay the sod on edge, was be- stowed on Charles Howard ol Hingham, who bore away the prize lioni eight n\a\s.— }Urcesttr, Mass. JE^s. The above decision has confirmed fully our opinion of the best plough invented in the coun- try. We were confident there could he no better or more perfect plough than tliat presented us last spring by our friend Prouty. We gained by it, in breaking up six acres of sward land, fully the price of the plough. — Ed. Visitor. Ijime. A Pennsylvania paper states that a Mr. Cald- well, of Valley township, near Danville, raised 400 bushels of wheat from a field of land, the past season. Five years ago the product of the same field was but thirty biLshels. In the mean- liine, Mr. C. has spread 1500 bushels of lime on said land. Lime is not every where to be had with the same ease, but on the other hand, it is not every where wanted. Wliat is wanted, is science enough, on the farmer's part, to know when and where he has occasion tor it, and to what extent. The Geological Reports are throw- ing great light on these matters, and they are disclosing, at the same lime, numerous new lo- cations of valuable lime. Ten dollars saved.— A distinguished gentle- man of Massachusetts informed us, that, being about to erect a cottage farm house for the use of a tenant, he made application to an architect in his neighborhood, who said his price would be ten dollars for the calculation and plan. In the mean time the plan and calculation in the last Month- ly Visitor came to hand ; and this exactly suited. The next time he met the architect, on inquiry he found he had not done his business, and said he would be obliged to work on Sunday to do it. The gentleman informefl the architect that he need not trouble him further, as he already had the matter at hand in the Monthly Visitor May every reader of our unassuming journal derive at once the benefit of ten dollars. It will hereafter minister to our pride to reflect how much we have saved, and how much we have put in the pockets of our readers and patrons. All we ask of them is, that whatever benefit they shall receive from o\ir own and the labors of our corresjmndents, beyond the price they pay for the jjajier, may be rctin-ned to us by the efforts ol its patrons to e.\- '' ••'" ciicidalion of the next year. Greatest crop oj corn yet noticed. — We are pi„ity confident that the islands of the Winnipiseogee Lake in Ne\v Hami)sliire, will bear away the l)almof the largest crops of corn the present year. Capt. Pillsbury, upon the Derby farm, which em- liraces the Caw island, has this year seveial acres planted with the Golden .'r'ioux, being of the same kind w itli the Diitton or PItinney corn. The corn was ()!anted in hills at the distance ol two leet one way by three feet tlie other. As the best method of ascertaining the quantity of corn upon an acre, Capt. Pillsbmy hasudoipted the more ceitain me- thod of measuring by weigliL The whole weight of a measured acre of the Golden Sioux corn, upon Mr. Derby's farm, was 9216 jjounds : this at 70 pounds to the bushel would measure 131 6-10 bushels to the acre. Of the species of Black oats, as high as 94 bushels to the acre without manure, were raised on the fields uhich i>roduced the great crop of last year. This is an extraordinary ciop tor the present year. The average crop of wheat — larger than we liaM! heard in the State the prc-sent season — was 34 bushels to the acre upon the Derby farm. Foy the Ibretoing inlormution we are indebted to Doctor Jackson, the late Geologist, who has visited the farms upon the Lake islands. Doctor J. says, there is noihingin the soil of these islands difteiing from that of the highland townships in the vicinity. A letter received by the Caledonia, speaks of a qu;iiitity ol flour just landed from an American packet ship, hi-in- iiiji'ivdby having imbibed the odor oMurpeiitine. 160 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. From the Albany Cultivator. Preserving M'inter Apples. Messrs. Gayloud & Tucker :-Last April, a rear ago, 1 visited a trieiia, when lie made a pres- ent of a large dish of line flavored apples, and it be ng out of season to have apples in snch a good state of preservation, I inqnired Ins mode of keep- h,rthcn,. He informed me that in the fall he n.ade a box six feet deep, which he sunk into the ..round to a level with the surtace, then he filled tlie box with some apples, and covered it with hoiirds in the form of a roof, but leaving an open- iiii' at both ends. The roof he also covered with straw and earth to the usual thickuess ol an ap- ple or potatoe hole. In this condition he lett it till the apples are frozen, but as soon as a thaw romes, he makes it perfectly air tight, and in a few davs the frost is altogether removed and the apples are as fresh and perfect as when they were takon from the trees I am aware that this is an excellent plan be- cause I know that most of the apples and pota- toes in holes rot and decay in consequeuce ot the warm and foul air accumulating having no oppor- tunity to escape. I thought, ho^vever, to improve it 1 consequently last fall buried my apples in tl'ie usual way ; then I took foin- strips of one inch boards, and nailed them together m the form of a chimney, leaving a vacancy in the middle, of one inch square ; this I placed in the centre <.t the ap- ple-hole, the end resting on the apples inside, and the other end projecting two feet above the ground. This succeeded far beyond my expectations.— The vacancy in tlie chinmev was barely suflicient to permit the foul air to escape, and not so large as to let the frost in to effect the apples. My family, during the winter, whenever they wish- ed to have apples for consmnption, only removed the chimney and reached in with the hand to get - a supplv, and then replaced it again ; and I can assure ;ou that of eight bushels which were thus buried ■ only tliree rotton and five or six slightly affected apples were discovered, whereas my neighbors, who buried their apples in the old fashioned way, lost a large quantity. Can you inform me whether asparagus roots can be set out in the fall ? They may be transplanted in autumn as well as in tiie spring.— Eds. Cultivator. \\ M. J. r^i tK. Cattawissa, Pa. July 7th, 1840. A Brilliant Stucco Whitewash. Many have probably often heard of the bril- liant and lasting whitewash upon tlie bast end ot the President's House at Washington city. Hie following is a correct recipe for making it:— [recipe.] ^ „ \ I^X'l.,'iinl',] sVaclTthe same with hot water in a tub, (covered, to keep in the steam,) pass it in the fluid form through a fine seive ; add one-fourth of a pound of whiting or burnt alum, pulverized ; one pound of good' sugar ; three i)ints of rice flour, made into a thin and well boiled paste, and one pound of clean glue, dissolved by first soak- ing it well, and then putting it into a small ket- tle"", which should again be put into a larger one filled with water, and placed over a slow fire. Add five gallons of hot water to the whole mix- ture. . , This wash is ap|>Uod, where particular neat- ness is required, with a painter's brush. It must be put on while warm, if upon ihe outside of the buildiiur— if within doors, cold. It will retain'its brilliaii'ov for mauv Years. There is nothing of the kind that will compare with it. About one pint of the mixture will cover a square yard upon the outside of a house, if jiroperly applied. If a larger quantity than five gallons is wanted, the same proportfous must be obsenxd in preparing. Coloring matter may be added, to give it any re- quired shade. Will some one try it, and communicate the result? — Genesee Farmer. Rohan Potatoes. The Shakers at Enfield, N. H. have raised the present season from one ]iotatoe of the Rohan kind, weighing 7 oz. : 171 lbs. or 2 l-'3 buslicls. One' eye [n-oduced 12 lbs. 3 oz, and one potatoe weighed 3 lbs. 5 oz. We doubl if our fiirming friends can produce a greater yield fioin a single potatoe' than has been done by the Society of Friends at Enfield. Preserves. The following recipes for making PreseiTCs we take from the Albany Cultivator. They will no doubt be useful to some of our Farmers wives and daughters: — Pears.— When made into preserves this fruit requires three quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of pears. Svrup made as directed from brown sugar is go*d.* Put the pears m the syr- up and boil them till soff. The astringent or choak pears are good for preserving. A little n-in"ertied in a bag and boiled with the fruit im- proves their flavor, or lemon, or orange, sliced, may be added at pleasure. To make Pear mar- maiade, boil the pears with the skins on ; when soft rub them throush a seive, and put to each pound of pulp three fourths of a ])Ound ot sugar. Stew it slowlv till it. is a thick jelly. Marmalades must be stirred constantly, or they burn on the kettle. Mr. Willi amII. Wyman of this town has a pair ol' beautifiil hogs of the Berkshire breed. We have not seen these hogs hut have under- stood that they arc highly recommended by good judges as an excellent specimen of the above breed. THE MARKETS. "For most kinds of fruit, or onlinary preservea, good brown, or maple sugar, will do very well. Brown sugar requires clarifying, or cleansing, which is done by dissol- ving it in a small quantity of water with a gentle heat then, after cooling, stirring in the whites of eggs well beaten, and gradually heating the syrup unUl all the impu- rities rise tn the surface, when they are to be skimmed off, and the clarified syrup left pure for preserves. Water Melon Ri.nds.- The rinds of a good, ripe water melon are cut into strips, and boiled in water till tender, with a tea spoonful of saleratus, and a dozen peach leaves to two quarts of water. The rinds are then to be taken out, and soaked in alum water an hour. For the syrup, allow as much susrar as rind. Put the rinds m the syriiji while cool, with ginger tied in a bag. Boil til the rinds are soft, and when partly cooled, add some essence of lemon. In the course of two or three days, take out the ginger, turn off the syrup, and boifit till there is just enough to cover the rinds ; return it to them while hof. Apples.— Tart mellow apiHcs are the liest for preserves, and they must be pared and the cores taken out Mith a small knife. Three fourths of a pound of susar, a tea spoonful of ginger tied m a bao- and water to cover the apples, is allowed to a pound of ftniit. The apples must be put into the prepared syrup when it is lukewarm; boil them till they are transparent ; and when takeii_ up and [lartiv cooled, put in a little essence of lemon. In a" week turn oflfthe syrup, boil it, and return it hot to the fruit. The Siberian crab ap- ple makes a superior sweetmeat, preserved as a- bovo, whole and without pariusr. Through the politeness of the publisher, H. B. Williams of Boston, we have received a copy of the "Cultivator's Almanac and Cabinet of Agriculture for the year 1841." Besides the usu- al matter of an aluiauac this work contains much agricultural reading from which the farming community will derive gr-cat profit. The author of this book, Will. Buckininster Esq. is well know n to the agrirultnral world as a gentleman who has taken a great interest in farming and particularly as editor of that excellent paper, the Boston Cultivator. The work itself is got up in a style which for neatness does credit to the pub- lisher. It can be had of John F. Brown, at the Franklin Book Store. NEW YORK MARKET, OCT. 17. ;\SHES— In the early part of the week some small lots of Pots were sold at s;.'5, 12.1.— since which lOU brls. were taken at jfo ; and at this price, there is a moderate demand. Pearls have also slightly declined. BEESWAX— Sales 300 lbs. southern yellow at 274a.iHc, COFFEE Sales largely confined to Brazil, which amount to about 3000 bags, at 10:5allic ; 4C0 do Laguoyra, 10.*nllc ; 1000 do old Government Java, at 13c, all 4mos; 13UU bags St. Domingo, at 9a9ic, cash. " COTTON- The market has appeared quiet and the sales amount to but 2000 bales, chiefly for home use, and at a decline of iccnt all round. The narticulars are 800 Iplandsand 200Tlorida at SXaiOic ; 200 Mobile .at 8ial0|c, and 800 Orleans at S^alOic ; fully fair is firm at 10c lb 1.-ISH— The arrivals of Dry Cod have been about 4000 quintles, and all the prime have sold at J?2,73 ; some se- cond qualities were taken at ;^2,624ajj2,b9. HA V— Sales at .5G_lc per 100 lbs. HEMP— Small sales of Clean Russia, at ;?2«, b mos. HOPS We know of no change since our last, and con- tinue to quote, from 26 to 32c. ,. n . Tj- MOLASSES— Sales of about 100 lihds of Porto Rico, fair quality, in lots, at olcts ; some very prime do at .34c ; inOhhds Trinidad Cuba, at 28«29cts; 120 hhds New Or- leans, at 28cts, all 4 mos. ; 120 hhds Sour Matanzas, at 21cts, 3 per cent, oft' for cash. OU,S— Whale has declined to 29 cts, cash, at which 12,000 gallons have been sold. ,,...,, RtCE- The market is well supplied, and hmited sales at g3 75a3,S2,t, cash, as wanted for consumption. H\LT— Safes 4720 sacks Liverpool fine, at gl,.io for \shtons, and «1,45, 4 mos, for other descriptions. SUGARS— Sales of Porto Rico have reached about 40U hhds at 71a8Acls ; 300 do New Orleans, 7ia7|cts ; 150 do St Croix at SiriU ; ilOO boxes brown Havana, at l^abl ; 300 do white, at 10alOA.all4 mos. ; 7235 bags Manilla, the entire invoice per^ship Thomas Perkins, have been taken, for refining, at 7cts, ti mos. 1'E\S— Prices as follows •.— 19 chests fine chop Hyson, at «1 2;' ; 128 chests and half do Hyson, at 71 to 81Jc ; E78 hi- chests Young Hyson, at 70a79 ; 313 chts do, at G5a80i; 500 131b boxes do at 71; 028 hi chests -ioung Hyson, Canton packed,at53a54J ; 306 chests Hyson Skin, at5Ca.59; 51 hf do Imperial, at 75J ; 32 hi do Gunpowder at78.V, :33 chests Souchong, 534a 15; 23 do Oulong^at 75c ;"lb do Orange Pecco, at 67 ; 50 13 lb boxes, at eSc, all 6 mos. , , ^ . , * TOB ACCO— Sales 160 hhds Kentucky leaf, at about 8Ac,lbrseconds, including some firsts. Sales of 550 bales of St. Domingo, at lSul9c, 4 mos. . r „„ \VOOL— Most descriptions are m fair request. Large sales have been effected on terms not transpirei . CORN EXCH VNGE— Genesee ;j(4,88a4.94 per bbl. Michigan at ,§4,81 ; (Georgetown «/•»/ i^^'cflotir scarce and =nld o„ the ^'orth River at SS/'K Jf'-\' '"^-d ■^^§3,}., Southern wheat at 9.")a9bcts. per bushel— Genesee j(l,Wa 1,03— Rve closed at ftOuSlcts.— Jersey yellow corn at 59cts. measure— 67- Marsh, Esq., Washington Street, Boston,^ is general agent for the Visitor, in the State of Massachusetts. Orders tbr the paper, subscrip- [ tions and communications for the Visitor, left at 1 the honk-store, will be thanktiiUy received. BOSTON MARKET, OCT. 27. COTTON- Market dull and sales unimportant. FLOUR — In increased demand at improved prices; sales C.encsec common brands 6,31, cash ; a sale of 5a600 hbls Fredericksbum extra Eagle for export at gO, cash. GRAIN — Corn is dull and declining; sales ol white at ,51c and yellow CO. .MOLASSES— Extremely dull and no sales making. SUGAR— In good demand, with steady sales. BRIGHTON MAmiEV— Monday October 26, 1840. (Reported for the Daily Advertiser and Patriot.) At market 3300 Beef Cattle, 775 Stofcs. 8500 Sheep, and 875 Swine. Pricks.- Bff/ CalUe—Fmt quality at 5 50 a 5 /5 ; sec end quality §5 a 625 ; third quality 3 75 a 4 75. Bamlling Calllc— Mess §5, No. 1 ^4. S/oi-fs— Yearliuffs i?5 a9 ; two year old iJ12 a IS ; throe year old S21 a 27.' Sheep— Lots sold for 1 25, 1 33, 1 42, 1 G2, 1 75, 1 92, $2, and 2 50. , Smiiie — Sales quick at a small advance. Lots to ped- dle at 3J a 3.J for Sows and 4^ a 41c for Barrows. At re- tail from 4 to 5.^. NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET, Oct. 19. At market 1250 head of Beef Cattle, including 150 left over last week, 75 was from the South. 100 from the East and the balance from this State; 55 Milch Cows, and 4000 Sheep and Lambs. , . ■ , The quality of the Beef was good, and Ihe market brisk, at au advance of 25 cents the cwt, from last week s pnces, sales of 1150 head at $5^ to S7J, average »»0A the 100 Ih. Milch Cows were all sold at K25, ,g35 a.id §40 each. Sheep and Lambs, were in fair demand at lonner prices; sales of 3700 Sheep at J? 1 ,50 ,g3 and >s4 ; Lambs at gi, IJ2 and ,«3,.50 each. ,_, , , ,^ „ Hay—Sales by tli.- load at ,"* to 69 rents the lilOIb, HLY VISITOR. CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. • Those who labor in the earth are the chose? people of God, whose breasts h c /tas made hi-i peculiar deposite/or substantial and genuine virtue." — JtFFEBsos. VOLUME 2. CONCORD, N. H. NOV. 30, 1840. NUMBER 11. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, A MONTHLY NKWSI'.VFLR. IS PUBLISHED BY JOHN M. HILL, Hill's Brick Block, Concord, A*. H. GEJiERAL AGENTS, B. COOKE, Keene, N. H. TH. R. HAMPTON, Washington City. D. C. JOHN MARSH, Washington St. Boston. CHARLES WARREN, Brinle,/ Row, Worcester, Mms. The Visitor will be issued on the last day of each month. TERMS. --To sinjrle subscribers, Seventy-five cents: Three copies for T'it'o Dollars : — Ten copies for ^'ix Dol- lars : — Twenty-tivc copies lor Fifteen Dollars. The twelve numbers embracing the year 1839, or the first volume of the Visitor, arc offered as a premium for every ten new subscribers obtained and paid for by one person. Subscribers may commence at their election, either with the January or July number, in each year. An Index and Title Page will accompany each half year. 03' Communications by mail will be directed to the Publisher, Concord, N. H. Power Press E. MANSUR, PuisTrH. THE VISITOR. THE .STATE OF MAINE. In the latter i)ait of tlio niouth of October, the editor of the Visitor took a rapid jounicj- of eijrht days more tliaii tuo hundred miles from tiie hue of New Hampshire to the north-east into tlie State of Maine. If popidation lias rapidly spread to- wards the " tar West," carrying oft' more of tlie eiiterjn-ising sons and daugliters of New Enghuid tlian we ought to have spared — there is no ])art of tlie United States that, during the last forty years, lias had a more steady healthy increase of botli population and wealth than that most recent state at the extreme north. We had never been farther cast than Bath, some forty miles below Portland, and that was twenty-four years ago ; aiul we were not aware that in passing over the road nearest the seaboard we saw the jioorest original soil of the state. Last summer we visited a part of the county of York, and presented some speculations on the change in tlie agricultural aspect of that county in the lust twenty years: a hardy, enterprising, temperate and highly intelligent race of men has grown up in that county, whose works prove that comlbrt and thrift are the sure accomptini- ments of industry and enterprise upon our very hardest soil. The change that has come over much of the rock-bound soilfof Kittery and York, the sandy plains, as well as the heavy cold clay lands of Wells, the Kennebunks, Biddeford and Saco, furnishes the grateful demonstration that the poorest lands in New England may be made to support in comfort tenfold the popul.ttion which up to the time of persevering renovation has subsisted rather than lived so as to make ex- istence bare!}' tolerable. Lumbering and fishing, in an age of personal exposure leading to intem- perance, drove much of the population into po- verty; and poverty, in its tin'n, has forced atten- tion to the true source of prosperity for every peo- ple under the sun, the cultivation of the earth. The interior towns of York county, later settled than the seaboard, are already among the most flourishing fanning towns of iVew England. All along the seaboard of this county there has been great individual accumulation of wealth in the ownership and management of coasting and for- eign navigation and trade. The shipping of lum- ber and agricultural produce, and the transship- ping of produce from the southern and western states, from the West Indies, and from Europe, have been a sure roiid to wealth to hundreds of enterprising men. Tlie advantages which the fa- cilitiee fbr navigation to all ports of the ^vorld fur- nish the farmers of Maine within twenty and thir- ty miles of the seaboard, or of some navigable point upon the rivers, are by no means slight. If a cro]) of Indian corn or other grain has been un- certain, many a farmer has obtained in the sure crop of Irish potatoes, bushel for bushel lu ex- change with the South, the corn being esteemed as three for one in value to the same measure of potatoes. THE FAMILY OF ROYAL NAME. Cumberland county, both to the westward and eastward of Portland, is said to have been origi- nally a better soil than the towns westward in York. It was matter of rejjjret that we passed through this county on both hands in the gray of the night, when we had not even the advantage of moonlight to judge of the quality and improve- ments upon the soiL In Scarborough, a few miles westward of Portland, is the tract of land origi- nally taken up by the fiimily of King, the branches of which have been and continue to be distin- guished for talent and for thi^ir standing in the liublic councils of the country. The father of the family [litched upon this ground, which has been divided into two extensive fiirins, owned still by descendants of the family. RufusKing, William King, and Cyrus King, all distinguished men and brothers, were born at this spot: some of the de- scendants on the female side of the family arc known in their respective neighborhoods as wo- men of more than common intellect. VIEW OF MOU.VT WASHINGTON' FROM THE SEA. — THREE HUNDRED A.ND SIXTY ISLANDS. From Portland to Bangor our course was by water through Cusco bay by the mouth of the Kennebeck to the wider niouth of the Penobscot. The number of islands all the way exceeds that upon any part of the coast : there is said to be in Ca.sco bay three hundred ;ind sixty-five, corres- jionding with the number of days in the year. As tin' eastward as the month of the Kennebeck, at tlie distance of one hundred and sixty miles. Mount Washington in New Hampshire may be descried on the water. Below this point near the indentation made by the iuslde mouth of the Kennebeck a fog-bell has been erected upon an island as an exjieriment This bell is rung by the action of the tide, wliether rising or falling, and is intended to warn the mariner in a thick fog of the dangers which beset him from the rocks. At some points along the coast the islands are so numerous as nearly to shut out the view of the main land. The towns of Brunswick, Harpswell, Phippsburg, and may be some others, are nearly islands of themselves, being almost surrounded by water. On some of the islands there are culti- vated farms ; others are used as pastures — some of them are merely rocks upon which suvins clinging close to the little soil that remains give the color of green to the surface ; and others of greater or less extent are covered with trees. The indentations of rivers and bays from the sea throw many of the settled important townships of Maine without any travelled main road leading from south-west to north-east along the extent of the state. Coming into the Penobscot bay there are seve- ral passages between the islands; and in the bay there are islands which compose of themselves townships: of these Viimlhaven is a considerable town. Mount Desert is also an island township still eastward of the Penobscot bay. THE LIME REGION OF MAINE. Thomaston hag a considerable extent of eea- coast along the north-west side of Penobscot bay. Owl's Head, being two prominences, resembling the head and eyes of the bird whose name it bears, is situated in Thomaston. Behind and within these prominences is the bay and harbor of East Thomaston, from which the lime bearing the name of the Thomaston lime is taken in almost I inc^x'^iiblc i:)uantitica. Unlike most of the land upon the coast, the soil of Thomaston partakes of the nature of the limestone region in the interior: it is easy of cultivation, and very productive when once brought into cultivation. The town of Thomaston is said to be one of the best for agri- cultural purposes in the State of Maine : there is much fine land in the westerly part of this town on George's river. It is probable the agriculture of the place has been neglected in the greater at- tention paid to the production of lime. Thomaa- ton is the lower town of Lincoln county; adjoin- ing it still further eastwartl is Camden, also a largo township, having within its limits a considerable mountain of some two to three thousand feet ele- vation overlooking the bay. On boartl the Bangor steamboat, after we had undergone the salutary process of half a day's sea retchings and cascading which most of the fresh water travellers endure, we bad the good fortune to change the subject of jiarty politics in which almost all on board seemed to be engaged to a rational conversation on agricultural improve- ments. AN AMATEUR FARMER. It is hardly possible to travel in any direction of New England without finding agricultural ama- teurs who have become our actpiaintance through the columns of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. Of these we met Doctor J H , who has been fifty-four years a resident practitioner in Camden. The doctor, although a warm whig politician, is of that practical plain reiinblican cast of charac- ter which best enjoys itself in witnessing the in- creased and increasing means of human susten- ance and comfort, and derives a higher gratifica- tion in viewing the healthy growth of field crops than in taking the money of bis unhealthy patients. Among bis agi-icultural experiments he has taken in hand about six acres of sunken meadow cov- ered with alders. He commenced his operations, first by draining, and afterwards taking out the alder.s by the roots. A portion of tiiis land turn- ed up the last year he sowed with oats, which yielded him a handsome crop. His swamp land lies in the near vicinity of the lime rock quarries: with the black mud taken from the ditches and the covering of the limerock and the pulverized rock itself, he has commenced the making of compost. In making manure he has also made use of sea rock weed, and menhaden fish which are caught with seines in great quantities. This manure operates on his ground like yeast. In the cultivation of his ground he has so well suc- ceeded as to raise the value of his land cultivated more than three to one. Some of his neighbors, who do not duly and truly estimate the value of generous cultivation and high manuring, think there is a mystery in the better crops which he raises. The Doctor cultivates only a small farm, and has found it much for his benefit to purchase a single yoke of oxen each year with the view to their employment, only three months, disposing of them when the farm work no longer requires their labor. LIME AN ARTICLE OF COMMERCE. There are immense quarries of limerock in the towns of Thomaston and Camden ; and so great is the quantity of lime here made, that about three hundred vessels are constantly employed in ship- ping it to the seaboard towns all along the coast. William Carlton, Esq. of Camden, this year, ma- nufactured twenty thousand casks oflime. Being an extensve farmer, he furnishes his own teams : engaged also in the business of a store, he advan- tageously furnishes and pays his workmen. There" are three villages in Thomaston — one upon or near the St. George's river, to wliich there is ship navigation ; one central in the town : the other is East Thomaston, on the Penobscot bay, where we were detained a few hours by the grounding of the boat accidentally. The inhabit- ants of liiis large and flourishing village are al- most exclusively eiife-agcd in gatheiing the rocks There are also a Uu-re luini- 1 the pleasure of thcsport, was not less than twenty 1^ ;^f^;"u:S:rin;^w^;pa;rc^c..;Kie,.,a bw niiles (listaiu and in siglit of East Ihomas- to.i at a place called Goose river : at this point is Mr.' Carlton's lime establislmioiit. LIME KII.-N3 AND LIME MAKING. ' The lime kilns are built of a kind of mica slate rock, somewhat resemblii.f: the common soap stone and nearly impervious to fire. Each k. n is about fourteen feet high and ten feet long with three openings under it, something like the com- mon hoi- kiln. It requires about seven cords o spruce or hemlock wood to burn one, liuiMiied casks of lime. Much of the wood tor lime lu.rn- inn- is procured from the numerous umnh!ibitcv? state, the very best land, situated at a distance from roads or other avenues of conuiiunication — shut out by _strean)s that are not easily forded, bj' impenetra- ble morasses and swanjps, and blocked up by thick woods, or interrupted by intervening hills and ravines — is deemed to be of little or no val- ue. The interior of Maine has been viewed in this light, even after it was partially explored, un- til successive isolated openings and settlements have brought each other to be united. Particu- larly has this been the case in the interior of Pi;- nobscot and the other lower counties. For lifty and a himdred years liave there been small settle- ments along the seaboard and up the navigable livers, holding their conununications by water or by floor roads exnending from one town to its nearest neighbor. These first settlements for a long time made little progress; and during all this time the interior country was looked upon as of no value beyond w here cedar and pine timber and other wood could be carted to the seapoits to be transported to the ports of the old New Eng- land States, where timber aud wood had become scarce. To show what ^vas the impression relative to the Penobscot region, it will suffice to say, that an old gentleman named Holland, still alive, aud we believe a member of the Society of Cincin- nati, and if we mistake tiot, author of an ancieut map of Maine, about forty-five years ago was employed to survey a i-oute for a road from the Penobscot to the Kennebeck, a distance of about sixty-five miles. He was a finished surveyor for his tin)e, aud after a long and careful examination of the proposed route, re|)orted to the persons who employed him, that it was utterly impossible ever to construct auy road between the points proposed on account of the intervening hills and swamps! Over the same route now the mail stage runs daily at the rate of ten miles the hour for nearly the whole distance, and a rail road is in serious contemplation, which may be yet con- structed before the old gentleman, who luade the unfavorable report, shall die. THE BETTER FACILITIES IN THE M0RTH-EA9TEK- I,Y STATE. When the boundary question comes to be set- tled—as settled, we truFt, it never can be except under the strict letter of the treaty of 1783, which is more definite and certain than any other lan- guage can make it — the State of Maiue will con- tain more acres of land capable of cultivation than any other present State of the linion. It lnul^t be ultimately the most valuable and the nin?t wealtliy State of the Union. Its better fa- cilities for a market cannot fail to make it so. — The land in tlic valley of the St, John's i& eome of the very best in the country. That part on the Aroostook, now in the possession of the United States, is more fertile by nature than almost any other laud in New England : it is of the lime- stone tbrmation, a dark colored loam inclining to red, and of such a quality in its natural state as to turn out the most luxuriant crops. On this rich laud potatoes grow so that at the distance of three and (bur leet from each other, the vines, continu- ing green through the season, cover the ground. The lighter soil is natural to wheat. The Mar- shal of Maiue, who had personall\' taken the cen- sus of the new county of .Vroostook, of the agri- cultural items of that county, informed us that Messrs. Shepurd Cary aud company at Houlton, raised on their own |)remises this year, five thou- sand bushels of wheat: this was produced part- ly on old land that had been before cultivated and was now ploughed, and (jartly on new buint ground. The yield was generally twenty-five to thirty bushels to the acre. Spring sowii wheat was the kind produced. It was worth in that country one dollar and fifty cents the bushel, dou- ble the value of the same article in Michigan and the western part of New York. A |)erson by the name of Noland, an enterprising Yankee, who- had been a soldier in the United States service, clearing land which he had found means to pur- chase, raised the present summer two thousand bushels of wheat, all upon burned new land. — Mr. Cary is a representative in the Legislature for lloulloii. The house to which he belongs have erected a beautiful set of grist mills four sto- ries high on the Military road, four miles from Houlton. There can bo no hesitation as to what williie the true interest of the young men of New Eng- land designing to enfigrate and pitch upon new lands. They will find in the new lands of Maine a soil not less piodiu'tive than the best lands of the western States. They dread the deep snow and the cold long winters; hut it is a serious question which we slioidd be willing every west- ern emigrant, who has settled and lived one, two, or five years in a log cabin should decide, wheth- er there is not more comfort and enjoyment in one of our steady cold, long winters, where there are seldom sudileu changes, where the ground is Avell protected with a covering of snow, where the merry sleigh-hells Jingle before the traveller as he swiftly glides over the hard smoothed path- way, and where the facilities of ready transport of timber and ^^ood in the forest, and of produce to the market, are ten-fold better upon snow than upon liare ground — than in the unsteady, open winters of the western States, where the roads are impassable from mud, where all comfort in travelling in the winter mouths is out of the ques- tion, where the fire-side enjoyments of thanksgi- ving and Christmas visits from distant friends arc seldom realized, aiul where cold weather is a more micomtbrtable gu(?st from the total want of pre- paiation to meet it .' The cold weather with its suflerings in Maine bears no comparison with the mihealthy climate of the new countries at the West. There is hardly an instance known of the New England emigrant at the West escaping the "chills and fever." For the last three or four years the west has been th" grave of many enterprising sons and daughters of New England. A rich soil is but a poor com[)eusation for other privations. We are apt in some parts to consider the prevalence of rocks to be an evil to the farmer; but does not the New England emigrant, who for hundreds of miles cannot find materials for stoning his cellar, envy those he has left for the possession of his abundance of locks '•' The New England settler finds the heavy woods standing on his land to be cleared, a burden he would gladly be rid of; but how does the western settler, who cannot find either wood or rocks for fences or fires within the distance of miles, look back with longing on the rough wooden country he has left ? His rich ands will turn out great crops : suppose they success which has attended hundreds of New Hampshire farmers who have settled in the State of Maine within the last thirty years, proves that the latter is a good State to emigrate to. For all hardy, enterprising young men, we believe no part of the country affords more decisive advan- tages than the Aroostook country. MOUNT KATADIN SEEN FROM THE HIGHLANDS OF PENOBSCOT. Returning to the Penobscot highlands, from them we have a view in the north-west at some twenty-five miles distance overlooking a portion of the county of Piscataquis, of a rauge of moun- tains in the vicinity of Moosehead lake ; aud fur- ther to the north-east at the distance of some six- ty rniles, the two heads of Mfpunt Katadiu make their appearance. By some, Katadin is said to be of greater attitude than Mount Washiugton it- self: to appearance the former reaches not to- wards the sky in the same majesty, as the latter. Katadin is the high land near the sources of the Penobscot aud south of the valley of the St. John's river. Piscatatpiis running easterly unites with the Penobscot some forty miles above Ban- gor. Dover, the shire town of' the new county of Piscata(|uis, situated on the river of the same name, more than half way fioin its mouth to its source, is only about forty miles distant froiri Ban- gor in a northerly direction. There is a fine water power on the Piscataquis, and a village sit- uated partly in the towns of Dover and Foxcrofl between which the river is the bound, where is an extensive aud flourishing woolen factory. In the town of Dexter, twelve miles south-west, on a steady stream of water emptying into the Penob- scot river, there arc also two other large woolen factory establishments. THE VALLEY OF THR KENNEBECK AND ITS TOWNS. The mail road from Bangor to Augusta takes its course the first five miles down the Penobscot river to Hampden, when it leaves aud passes across the country over the hills in Dixmont by Albion, China, and through Vassalborough to Au- gusta, the eajiital of the State. China, at the dis- tance of about twenty-five miles north-east of Aueusta, is one of the best farming towns in the State under cultivation. This town received iiiore money for the State'.-* premium on wheat in 1838, than any other town. Vassalborough is an extensive to« n above Augusta, extending ten miles on the east shore of the river. A large por- tion of its inhabitants are of the denomination of Friends: it mmibers nearly one thousand voters, having several small villag'es. The soil of Vas- salborough is good : it is j'enerally highly culti- vated. The buildings are well finished — the houses neatly painted, and the barns of that large size that indicates farming here to be done on a large scale. There are excellent apple orchards in this town, from one of which there were seiU to the markets at Augusta and Hallowell the pre- sent winter, five hundred bushels of fine winter apples. Below Vassalborough we first come to Augus- ta which divides with Hallowell an original ten miles square township, extending five utiles east and five miles west, and ten miles up and down the river north and south. Tiie tow n split in two leaves both towns with a tenitory on each side of the river, Augusta being the upper or northerly division. The population of both towns proba- bly exceeds ten thousand inhabitants. Here are evidences of wealth, such as none but a highly productive agricultural district of country can af- ford. The valley of the Kennebeck river, al- though embracing a region settled many years af- ter that of the Connecticut or Merrimack, pre- sents villages and buildings and improvements which are not l)ehiiid the older settlements on either of those rivers. Augusta is indeed a beau tifiil town. Connected by a splendid bridge, the village extends to both sides of the river. The U. S. Arsenal, and the Asylum for the Insane, should be double the New England crops, is not just now finished at an expense of more than one the one half here intrinsically worth more than the whole there ? We do not believe there is a better country in the world for the New England farmer to emi- grate to, than the State of Maine. We cannot rt'conimend to any 3'oung man to fix hiiiKself down on land before he has seen it. He who has been brought up in cultivating the ground can- .... -j.j^^ hundred thousand dollars, ore on the east side. — To this humane institution. Judge Williams, of Augusta, and Mr. Brown, of Vassalborough, con- tributed each ten thousand dollars. The female Academy is also on the same side ; and of the el- egant private houses, that of Judge Williams will attract the attention of the traveller as he passes from the road on the east side to cross the bridge. Blocks of brick wtorivi, eihopii and dwell- 164. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. ings extend on a street up and down the river as the place of business and trade ; and at nu eleva- tion of some hundred and fifty iert above, distant Bome iorty rods, is the parallel street on which Btand the'granite eai)itol and other public budd- ings, with numerous elegant private dwellings. — Ashort distance above the bridge is the Kenne- beck dam, whicli was erected a few years ago at an expense of ahout two hundred thousand dol- lars: this dam originally flowed tlie water back to Watcrville, distant some eighteen miles. The intention in its erection was to improve the navi- gation above Augusta, and to create a water pow- er for the crectio i of muncrons manufactures. The project is considered to be little better than a total failure. A friend informed us that of the expenditure on this dam, his portion was about eighty thousand dollars! A mistake was made in the nature of the ground where the dam was erected : the foundation, supposed to be rock, turned out to be only sand ; and when the higli floods came, the water undermined the earth so that the river soon found a channel on the west- erly side, sweeping away in a few hours an incre- dible quantity of ground, and even endangering buildings supposed to be laroutof the way of the river on high terra tirma. A new dam raising the stream "above to a less extent than the first dam, has lately been erected. Two miles below Augusta is the village of Hal- lowell, a longer settled village than the former. To this place up the river, steam boats and lar- ger craft approach as the highest point to which they venture. The village is more compact, but apparently not so large as Augusta, and like that has a street on the river bank and another west of it more elevated. A few miles below Hallowell, we come to the village of Gardiner, at and between both of which places on the river are extensive steam mills lor sawing lumber. The latter village has a fine wa- ter power in a stream tumbling down the steep bank from the west. In rear of Augusta, Hal- lowell and Gardiner to the west, the ground rises nearly to a mountain height for several miles on the river. There is a great amount of pine tim- ber brought all the way down from the sources of the Kenuebeck to the Moosehead lake and streams beyond it, which is maimfactiu-ed at the saw mills at the three villages on the Kenuebeck at the head of sloop navigation. Wealth has here for the last quarter of a century been accunuila- ting nearly in a compoimd ratio. A DISCOVERY. nie mail-stage road leaves the bank of the ri- ver at Gardiner, and passes over into the valley of the Cathantz, a considerable stream intervening between the waters of the Kenuebeck and the Androscoggin, the name of which we had never heard until approaching it. At a village in Bow- doinhani, bearing tlie name ol' this stream, we were surprised with the appearance of two large new ships standing out of the water like dwelling houses. Not anticipating that the water here was on a level with the sea, we would have been no less surprised at seeing two new ships floating on the Merrimack in front of our capitol, seventy- five miles from the sea, than at this place in the interior of the State of Maine. These elegant ships and probably others had been built here during the present season. There are many ri- vers, or rather m-mt of liie sea, which Ibrm ex- cellent liarbors all along the coast of Maine, making the three hundred mih ;, .f ronst into ap- proachable navigable shores by ii. dentation pro- bably three or four times that dii=tr.iice. All along this extensive coast are found tlir s:ir(ST and best harbors in the world. Generaliv the shore is bold and the water deep : a ship of lie lii'c may as- cend the Penobscot to Bangor, The port of Bath is situated tl..- Cum above the mouth of the Kennebeck, on tl e jioint below where the waters of the Androscjggin and Cat- hanz river, forming the ?ileiTymc'Oti!\vra, uiic acid, saline, and earth- ly matters. All these substances may he used for manure, and require more or less soluble water; those that are easily dissolved should not be exposed to feiui.'ntation or putrefaction, and those processes a; c only useful when the manure consists principally of animal or vegetable fibre. Gelatine, wh.en combined with water, becomes jelly, and is easily soluble. Fihrine is not soluble in water, but liy the action of acids it become an- alogous to gelatine ; putrefaction with heat and exposure to the air, will reduce it from a solid to a liquid, and a considerable quantity of ammonia and carbonic acid is formed. Mucus is easily so- luble in water. Animal fat and oils and albumen are also poluble. Urea is very nmch so, and rea- dily undergoes putrefaction. Uric acid consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azoti, and is least liable to undergo the process of fermenta- tion. According to the different proportions of these principles in animal substances, the changes From the Western Farmer and Gardner. A comparison of the different Breeds of Sheep. In the Western States, where land is, of course, not so valuable as in the East, the Bakewell breed of sheep, although of a more tender constitution than the Southdown and Cotswold, and of coarser and smaller fleece, may be advantageously kept for their wool, notwithstanding its quality is rath- er coarse ; it appears, however, from all the in- formation on this subject, (the comparative value of the breeds of sheep,) that the Southdown and Cotswold are much hardier, better nurses of their ambs, and will live on shorter pasture in sum- mer. The Meiino and Saxon sheep have often too much the same objection as the Bakewell; they are of lather weakly constitutions, and not very good in rearing their lambs. Some of the Southdown wool is pretty fine aud makes good cloth : the mutton is, perhajjs, superior to all other kinds, (excepting some of the small Welsh breeds,) their constitutions are very vigorous and strong, and they will make a living in ;my situa- tion. The Cotswold are equally hardy, but want richer keep than the Southdown : their fleeces weigh heavy, and their quarters have been known to reach 80 pounds in England. Some of the Southdown and Cotswold lambs have weigh- ed, at six months old, 60 pounds, and when full grown 240 pounds. It seems, amongst many other " hard cases" in agricultural eftbrts for im- provement among farmers, very difficult to con- vince peojde of the benefit they derive fi'om hav- ing good stock. They complain too nuich of the first cost, without considering that in two or three years there is a fair prospect of not only seeing their money back again, but piobably ten times as much more. We do not wish to advise farmers to go beyond their means on much imcer- tainty, but we do say, that twenty dollars laid out for the best breed of l>igs, and fifty to one hundred dollarsi for sheep, or one hundred to two hundred dollars towards improving their cattle, will with proper management aud attention to the sale of their produce, pay a handsome profit at the end of a few years, besides supplying siqierior articles at cheaper keep (on accoimt of the fiittening pro- perties of the best breeds) lor domestic use, and enjoyment of both sight and taste. We subjoin, in the first place, a comparative statement of the value of the difterent breeds of sheep. Saxon Lamb C months old, weighing 18 lbs. at (i cents. Merino Lamb do. do. Bakewell do. do. Cotswold do. do. Southdown do. do. In the second place, their wool,- Saxon fleece weighing 3 lbs. at 40 cents, Merino do. 3 31 Bakewell do. .5 20 Cotswold do. 10 95 Southdown do. 5 31 Of course this is rating the best breed of sheep at the price of the common kind, which cannot be for a long time to come. These animals are now worth about twenty dollars each at least. In the third place we give a cojnpaiative state- ment of the sheep when full grown: — Saxon sheep weighing 50 lbs. at 4 cent.". Merino do. 60 4 Bakewell do. 110 4 Southdown do. 340 4 E. J. .*1 08 20 1 20 30 1 80 (iO 3 60 50 3 00 ts, $1 20 03 1 00 2 50 I 55 $2 00 9 40 4 40 9 CO H. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 166 For tlie Farmuv's Monthly Visitor. The Husbandman's Harvest Hymn. Father of Light ! entlu'on'd above, Thv bounteous hand is open still j Tliy kindness and paternal love With harvest Truit our garners fill. No blight nor drought hath chill'd the heart, Or ftll'd our bosoms with despair; Hut thou in kindness didst impart Thy blessing to reward our care. Ani 710IW, '.vith glowing hearts we haste To bow in suppliance to Thee ; — To thank thee for thy mercies past, And lowly bend the willing knee. O ! may thy goodness warm the heart With pure devotion's sacred fire ; — Bid every anxious fear depart, And witl) new zeal our souls inspire. ' Our Father!' — what a gracious name By whicli tliou deignest to be known — How the heart kindles to a fiame For all thy loving kindness eliown. Upon onr heads thy mercies rest Like sunsliine on tl]e ' sobbing seaj' While we with sin's dark stains oppress'd, Turn with repentant heart to Thee. O Father ! help us so to live That we thy iavonr may secure : Our wanderings from thy ways forgive. And bid us /jo and sin no more. S. C. Dorchester, Nov. 12, 13-tO. Picarooning. If there is any difleicnce of grade in thieving, the most meun and despicable kind is that of roh- liiiig gardens and orchards. And yet it is practised by ninny who consider themselves respectable and would resent being called a thief as the high- e.st of insults. They are a sort of land pirate — Picaroons — harpies who would snatch from oth- ers what they were too lazy to grow for them- selves. The fruit or articles purloined may not be par- ticularly needed by the light fingered gentry who purloin them, and yet the loss of them be severely iclt by the real owners. A farmer takes pains lo raise a tree — to send to a distance and obtain a choice variety of fruit : he nurses and watches it day after day and protects it summer and winter, and at length it puts forth blossoms and a few specimens of the fruit begin to grow. He looks forward with ple.nsine to the consunnnation of his labors, and the rewai-d of his care and atten- tention ; at any rate he thinks he will soon be able to test the accuracy and result of his choice and know lor certainty what ho has been rearing with so much solicitude. Now the fruit itself — no matter what it be — whether aj'ples — jilums — pears or any thing else, may not be worth in the market three cents, aud yet to the owner it has a value not to be measured by dollars and cents. Very well, they are nearly ripe, when along come some of these locifing 7iuisances and (brthwilh strip the tree. Remonstrate with them and they will laugh in your face — talk of prosecuting and they are actu- ally astonished tliiit you should " tnahe such a fuss" for two or tlirec apples. HhaVs two orlhrte apples! and that's all the consolation you get. We had rather a man would take us by the throat and rob us of our watch, ])ocket book or coat, than creep round oiu- preniises like a skunk in a hen coop, picking off this or that little thing — apple, melon, or berry, and then be so confoimdcdly astounded if you .-'ay any thing against it. In the former case there is courage and decision aboiU it which may give it the semblance of no small deed, but in the latter, there is not a single redeeming circum- stance— nothing to give it the shadow of a shade of respectability or decency. It is sinking down on a level with the crawling reptile — nay, below even that, for the reptile may plead of reason and himger for excuse, but the Picaroon has neither of these to plead in extenuation of his nasty, sneaking, contemptible acts. — Maine Farmer. inent |)ublislied in the newspapers of upwards of two millions, as compared with the official report ; the newspaper report making the amount of im- ports from other places than India and China $21,- 350,6(i9 ; and the official report making the same item $18,685,295. Silks from India and China, piece goods, $1,738,509 do do do sewings 50,650 do sewings from other places thair India, &c. 818,284 do raw silk 39,258 do from other places than India, &c., laee, veils, shawls, shades, &c. 354,490 do other manufactures from oth- er places than India, &c. 18,685,295 Manufactures of silk and worsted, 82,- 319,883, (allowing one-half the va- lue thereof to be silk,) 1,159,943 ,Sa2,&38,628 Compared with other articles imported, that of silk is one-fourth more than the amoimt of any other. The amotint of manufactures of cotton imported was .$14,692,397; of iron, .$12,051,668; of cloths and cassimeres, .$7,078,906 ; worsted stnfTs, $7,025,898 ; other manufactures of wool, .$3,.567,16l ; one half the value of silk and worsted stuffs, $1,167,942; total woolen goods, $18,831,900. The importations of sugar amounted to .$9,924,- 632 ; linen, $6,931,278. So that the importation of silk is nearly equal to that of woollen and linen together, and is equal to half of all other fabrics combined. Need we say a word as to the import- ance of .caving this immense expenditure to the nation, now tliat it is established I cyond all ques- tion that we are more capable of producing the article of silk om-selves than any other country ? — Journal of the Am. Silk Society. It IS tndy jiainfid to reflect that the importation of silk comes directly in competition with the manufiictiu'o of cotton in this country. Will it not be both just and expedient, as well for the fur- therance of all laudable efforts to produce silk in this country as to protect other manufactures, that in a future adjustment of the Tariff the tax on im- ported silks should be at le.ist equal to the ta.x on imported cottons and woollens.' — Ed. M. Visitor. Importation of Silk. The importation of silk during the year ending 30ih of Seplf-mher, 1839, amounted to nearly twenty-three millionsof dollars, as will he seen by the following items copied from the report of the fiecretary of the Treasni-y of the commerce and navigation of the United States for that year, which has been politely sent ub by the secretary of the Treasnrv, There is an error in the stnte- The Insane Hospital at Worcester, Ittass. A SEW VIEW OF INSAMTY. There can be conceived no object of more no- ble charity than tlie institiuions for the meliora- tion I f the condition of the insane. Indeed in the institution of governiTient, one of the first objects for which the mass of the coinniunity shotdd he boiuul to contribute would be for the comfort and support of that i)ortion of humauity which, from any cause, is bereft of reason. Insanity oi^en assiunes the appearance of vice ; and from this cause the world has imputed as a sin in the iiuli- vidual what was his misfortune and not his crime. A hereditary predisposition for insanity has some- times given a family in its successive generations the character of one or more prevailing vices ; and it is possiUe that a diffisrent degree of insanity may liave tinged or led to a cast of character the veiy reverse of vice. The disease of insanity is perhaps less understood than almost any other disease to which the hiunan system is liable — it is a disease with both moral and physical affinities. It appears in so many shapes — there are so many diflereut degrees of the same species of insanity, leading to such a diversity of action and propen- sitv, that the study and experience of the life of any single individual will enable him to contri- bute the addition of a mite towards developing the causes of the disease and the remedies for its cm-e. We have reason to believe that no man in this country has done more towards perfecting the best system for treating the insane than Doct. S. B. WooDW.iRD, the principal and superintendent of the State Hospital at Worcester, Massachusetts. The world, we think, is growing wiser in relation to both education and government. The severer discipline is giving place to a njilder regime. It is found that we may better lead our children un- der the influence of moral suasioti than drive them into virtue and the practice of honesty by the force of frequent flagellation. The rod may not be spared in extreme cases, but never should I he jtsed when milder remedies mav be made to efl'ect the same object. So it will be found that the best objects of civil government are answered by the certainty rather than the seventy of inflic- tion for breach of the laws, and that the commu- nity in which the mildest remedies for crime are applied has the less occasion for their use. This principle ims been carried out to a great extent by Doct. AVoodward in the management of the Insane Hospital at Worcester. We have wit- nessed with great pleasure the progress of that Institution din'ing the last few years. The most miserable condition of humanity is that where the subject is bereft of reason. If one person, situated 3t the mercy of the winds and waves, without compass or chart to direct that immortal faculty ivhich distinguishes man from the brute, produces so great trouble as not only to destroy the peace of families and neighborhoods, making him the object of concern and terror to others, as he is of discomfort and even agony to himself; what must we think of tens and hundreds of maniacs col- lected in one spot, and breught into frequent con- tact with each other? THE INSANE MADE RATIONAL AND CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF EACH OTHER. On the fourteenth of October we last visited (he Insane Hospital at Worcester. More than three hundred persons at that time were in that asyhun laboring under different degrees of insan- ity, fiom the homicide to the most inoffensive of the human species. It was the remark of a visi- tor present who had spent some days there, that it would be difficult to find any community of an equal number associating with each other where more rational enjoyment wouhl be realized than at this asylum. The fact struck us then as it had struck us before, that instead of one insane person being an annoyance to another, the different de- grees of the disorder were calculated to give em- ployment to the insane on one point in looking after and preventing iujin-ies of some one insane on a different point, so that the insanity of the first was changed for the time or lost in the pre- ponderance of the rational faculties. Within the last three or four years, public social worship has been introduced as an exercise of the insane pa- tients at Worcester ; and with the exception of some half a dozen maniacs whom for the time it was necessary to restrain three hundred and more of these attend at the chapel constructed for the ])urpose, and either unite in the devotions or listen as spectators, with scarcely less decorum than so many of the rational part of mankind in a com- mon church. Of the religious exercises, sacred music has a peculiarly soothing effect upon the attendants. The value of the course of treatment at the Worcester asyhun is found in the speedy cures of a very large portion of the cases of insanity of re- cent origin, and the incomparably greater com- fort of those who from the long continuance of the disease are in most cases incurable. Here the incurable ))aticnt, who is miserable else- where, who is either confined in a cage or by chains in some solitary apartment, enjoys compa- rative contentment and comfort under the system of management which leaves them to their own volition where that is not of obvious injurious tendency. AGRICULTURF. AT THE WORCESTER HOSPITAL. Our object in introducing the Insane Hospital here was with the view of bringing to the public attention the excellent management of the lands belonging to the Asyhun for purjioses of agricul- ture and horticidture. The institution, by purchase at different periods, has at this time sixty acres of land. Seventeen acres of this land is a garden or field fronting and near the principal buildings. These seventeen acres produce as much probably as any other seventeen acres in the county of Worcester. The land is naturally very ii-ee and fertile, of a kind that will produce the largest crop when well cultivated, and retaining all the strength of manure put it upon it after it becomes incor- |)orated with the soil. Upon thirly-fwo square rods of this land were, this year, produced 125 bushels of onions. On these seventeen acres from two to three thousand busliels of roots, such as ruta bnga and English turnips, carrots, beets, &c. are annually raised. A part of the same ground is planted annually with potatoes. Three years ago there was purchased a side hill lot more than a half mile distant of gome twentv-five ncres. as forbidding in appearance as i6G THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR- could be Well imagined. A part of it was mossy side hill filled with rocks, descending into cold swampy land that was botli miry and rocky. The lower part of the lot \vas tenred off, many of the stones taken out, and plonglied into a field. The wettest part Mas dna; up into drains, at siiitahle distances, tor carrying offthe water near the sm- facc, and into the drains the small stones gather- ed on the field were carted. With a sinitle at- tendant and u team of one yoke of oxen, five of the disordered inmates of the asylinii were at work as so many steady men, in digging, laying, and covering the rocks for a new drain. By this improvement of draining the low land of this lot is made to produce hay to the amount of between Sand 3 tons to the acre. The field from which the stones were originally taken is also becoming beautiful mowing groimd, as it has become sub- dued and stocked down to grass. The pasture above is also improved by digging out the rocks and cutting off and levelling the hassocks. This lot cost at the lime of purchase eighty dollars per acre ; the income of much of it is now three or four times the annual interest on the cost. Another lot below the preceding and adjacent to it, consisting of an unsightly njorass or low meadow producing little or nothing, consisting of a few acres only, h;is been purchased in behalf of the Asylum at one hundred dollars per acre. This land is preparing for grass by digging and turning over the surface, and by carting upon it a poi'tion of sand or gravel mixed with compost manure. Nearer to the buildings and upon the same emi- nence as the land described in the first piu'chase, another considerable lot of ground has been pur- chased for the Asylum. A portion of this land has been much im]>roved, simply, by plashing water over it in the spring, being the surplus of water from an aqueduct that leads fi'om a higher hill to that on which the Asylum buildings stand. Irrigation from simple spring water has a great influence in producing an increased crop of hay. In the latest improvements of the Asylum grounds we noticed a beamiful grove of young oaks on a lot fronting the road upon a side hill. One of the inmates of the hospital had planned the improvement of this grove, and performed the work with his own hands in the eomse of the present season. The quantity of labor he liad nere voluntarily performed would have seemed to be great if it had been done by a conujion labor- ing man. He had torn away the old wall running by the side of the road which had become useless from age, and erected iji its place a wall facing the street. On the inside of this wall, the small stones taken from the grove were collected to a depth varying from one to two or more feet. Be- low the wall on the lOad side the groimd had been ploughed and its upper siuface thrown upon the rocks in the inside of the wall, bringing the lower side of the field or grove equal in height and upon a level with the top of the wall. Dr. Woodward showed us how land had been prepared in this way in another place, leading a soil of one or more feet upon the top of the small rocks. The drain which it might be supposed the imder rocks woidd afford to this groimd is not such as to dry rp the surface above ; on the contruiy, the rocks create a moisture which imparts vigor to the grass or other crop upon the groimd, proving ihnt land with such a substratuiu will stand the drought bolter than where there is no such rocky bottom. The laboring patient of the Asylum was preparing and beautifying the grove by digging over the entire surface, taking away the stones and depositing them in drains, causeways or walls, where they would be most useful : no matter how rocky or rough the ground — every thing was made plain and smooth under his hand. This grove was especially intended for a place of cool resort in the season of extreme iieat, where the in- mates of the Asylum, or such of them as could safely go abroad, might amuse themselves and enjoy the swing and other athletic exercises and pastimes. GRAND MODE OF MAKI.NG MANURE. From two to three hundred loads of the very best compost manure are made annually near the Asylum by means which are hardly thought of by common farmers. Pans or hollows in the earth are made which will hold tec or more loads each upon the descent u few rods below all the build- ings Into these [kids drnifls arc conducted through which flow every species of ofSil and every liquid material gathered about the house and other buildings. The pans are first filled with loam or soil (Voni the road side or other places : this soil becomes so strongly impregna- ted with the matter and liquid fidling into it, that in the course of a few weeks it is better and stronger than the best stable manure. When the material is sufficiently jirepari'd in one i)an, the drain is turned to another, and the first is carted off. So strong is the liquid flowing from the top of the pan, that during the last season three large crops of hay were taken otf of the ground over which this surface water was conducted. When a pan is cleared it at once is prepared tor a repetition of the same process. In this way by an easy method manure is made which would cost by purchase each year ])robably three hundred dollars, and which undoubtedly adds to the crops upon the land where it is placed at least five hun- dred dollars annually. The water used in the Asylum which is brought in abundance to the upper story of the main buildings, and is freely communicated to every part of the establishment, after it has been applied to its appropriate use, all passes ofl" through various avenues, carrying with it every thing that can be converted into matter that is offensive into the manure pans ; and thus what is commonly treated as a great inconve- nience or nuisance is converted into a most bene- ficial fructification of the earth. SWINE AT THE ASYLUM. Another item in the economy of this establish- ment is the beautiful herd of swine there annually produced. These swine t; ke every thing left in the consumjition of the lamily, gathering up all the fragments so tiiat nothing shall be lost. A part of the swine, at the hour of our visit, and what might be considered the most choice part if all were not of the best kind, had been driven to the pens of the Worcester County Agricultural Society some half a mile distant. The kind of hogs which have been kept at the Asylum is pe culiar, being probably an improvement of the Byfield breed, which has been known in New England for the Inst thirty years. As they are here kept they can hardly be considered a work- ing breed : for they lay fiom morning till night as lazy as the\ are fat, the flesh growing over the head FO aslilmost to conceal the eyes. To give them the faculty of locomotion it is necessary to do more than invite or drive them with the voice — they must be moved v\ ith blows. The practice at the Asylum is to keep two breeding sows which produce two litters in a year: these sows are kept until they are two and three years old for the pur- pose of breeding, so long as they continue to be good natured and not too unwieldy. The second and subsequent litters of pigs from these sows are always better than the first litter. In proper time the sows are easily liittened at the age of' two or three years, and make the thickest and fiiirest middlings ; but the pork is coarser and not as pa- lafeable as the younger hogs. The two litters of fall and s|>ring are usually kept until they are twelve months old. We saw ten of these eleven months old, which would have weighed on an average three hundred pounds each when dressed. The common growth ot' the swine at the Asylum is an average probably of one |)oimd n tiny cacb. In tlie keeping of ewine much is llue to the regularity of feeding at the return of precise intervals of time : it is easy to conceive that one omission in the twenty-four hours feediug might lose the entire fattening and growth of the day. There were t«o litters of' pigs, we belie\e, one twelve and the other fourteen in number, fiom sows two years old, at the Asyliun ; these wei'c half blood Berkshires and were about one week old. HORSE AND OXEN. A i)air of steady fat horses are kept at the Wor- cestef Asylum ; with these in an easy carriage, such of the patients as are of feeble health and depressed spirits, in fair weather and at the suit- able seasons, are driven around the surrounding country, that they may breathe a .=erene atmos- phere and enjoy the view of nature in her rich attire. A single yoke of oxen is kept to do the farm work at the Asylum ; and these, being the same that we had seen the year before, did credit to their keepers. They do their work and draw in the team directed only by the motion of a whip in I the hands of the driver without either words or blows. A NOBLE FLOCK OF COWS. The other stock kept on these premises are ten beautiliil cows, the best we have any where seen. They are generally of native breeds, and are mostly made what they are fiom the feed and keeping at the institution. We would say, that each and all of these cows will give in the season, fiom one third to one half more than the best cows usually to be found on common farms. They furnish abundance of milk for the daily use of the Asylum. They must be better fed than common cows. They were uniformly in fine flesh ; and their capacious bags proved that their feeding produced both milk and flesh at the same time. We believe it is the practice at the Asy- lum to feed the cows, morning and evening, in the yard before they are sent and after they return lioin the pasture, generally with green clover or other herbage. CROPS INCREASED. By means of improved cultivation and manur- ing the hay cut on the premises of the Asylum has been increased in the space of three or four years from twenty to about forty ton.s ; and we do not doubt that the same system pursued four years more may, on the .same ground, again dou- ble the quantity of hay. EXPENSE AT THE STATE ASYLU.M. The Insane Hospital at ^V'orcester is an institu- tion managed by the direction of the government and at the expense of the State. Individuals there supported by their own or the funds of their friends, generally pay for board and medical at- tendance at the rate of two dollars and a half a week : those supjiorted by towns ])ay no more than one dollar and a half a week : the higher price is from fifty to one bundled per cent, less than the common price has been at other institu- tions of New England conducted on private ac- count. What the institution fails in obtaining at these prices for its support is made up by grants dollars a week who aro not more difficult to ma- nage than many of those kept at the State Asylum of the State Legislature. In some cases patients are charged at other places as high as five and six for one and a half and two and half dollars a week. .\11 are treated alike at this Asylum : the insane pauper receives the same attention as the insane person worth thousands and even millions. Happy must be the people where the poor are on a level with the rich, and where this condition is one of elevation of all without the depression of any. The admirable farming arrangements of the Worcester .\s\lum are made and carried on with no very great additional expense. Ninety per cent, of the labor is performed voluntarily by the in- mates of the institution. Such of them as choose to work do it freely and cheerfully ; and of those who are most efficient laboi-ers upon the farm are sometimes found those whose insanity is most dangerous. Those monomaniacs who have the strongest propensity to homicide or suicide are probably more safe while associated and at work together than they would be in solitary confine- ment, for it is found to be the nature of each to " do the deed" either in the gloom of solitude or when the intended victims have none present or within the call of alarm. f^alt for Animals. The importance of furnishing salt to domestic animals does not appear to be sufficiently under- stood. Though all are are aivare of the avidity with which animals eat it when given them, there are many who scarcely salt their'animals through the season. Now it is evident that animals should have ii at all times at their command. They will never eat more than is good for them, and it is essential to their health and comfort. The quan- tity allowed in Spain tor l.'JOO sheep, is 25 quin- tals— probably twice the amount the same num- ber usually get in this country; and this quantity is consumed by them in aboiit five month.s, they getting little in the winter or while journeying to and fiom their mountain pastures. Lord Somer- villc allowed a ton of salt to a thousand sheep, and found they consumed the most in the spring and fall, and at these seasons it was probably most useful to them as security against disease. Of its Millie for animals in a medicinal point of view, the following fact, stated by the celebrated Curwen, must be deemed decisive ; THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 167 ' Before I commenced giving my cattle salt, my faniei's bill sveni^'etl 56 |ioun(ls per annimi, (or more tliau 250 dollars,) and since 1 have used .Sf\lt, I have never paid in any one year over five shil- lings.' Where cattle have access to sheds, troughs with a constant supply of salt in iheni sliould he kept for their use. Where they nnist lie salted in the fields, troughs should he placed, and salt sup- plied frequently. There will, in exposed troughs, always he more or less loss fi-om rain, but tliat should not prevent a supply. — It has been found an excellent ])ractice where sheep alone come to the troughs, to put a liltle lar on the bottom and sprinkle the salt upon it. In this way a small por- tion of the tar is taken with the salt, and is not only found conducive to health, hut rubbed in this way over the nose serves to prevent the attacks of the Estrug ovis or sheep-fly. — Alb Cult. Mistaken notions respecting Labor. If there is one subject more than another, upon which the opinions of the American public re- quire to be set right, it appears to us to be the great one of labor. We do not jiretend to assign any cause other than such as exists every where, — the natural tendencies of mankind to separate into castes, in which freedom from labor is consi- dered the great good, and where the necessity of submitting to it is associated with the ideas of de- gradation and dependence. In European coun- tries, where the ancient forms of society tolerate such artificial distinctions, they may be expected to prevail ; where one man is born with a golden spoon in liis mouth, and another with an iron chain about his neck, freedom from which is im- jiossible, we should not be surprised to find such erroneous ideas of labor ; but here, in republican America, where every man makes or mars his own fortunes, and is the architect of his own des- tiny, to dream of any other distinctions than such as merit confers is preposterous, or to talk of labor being disgraceful or degrading, is a gross perver- sion of terms. Still with such facts staring them in the face, there are multitudes in cm- country who have yet to learn, " that any condition of lite is honorable, which shall [lermit them to be inde- jjendcnt, and preserve them from dishonor." it' the opinion that labor is degrading, personal labor with the hands we mean, was a harmless error, (if any error can be considered such ;) if it did not have a blighting and pestiferous influence on the prospects of thousands in om- coimtry, it might be allowed to pass without notice ; but such is not the case. Let this notion become instilled into the head of any individual, man or woman, and unless they muster philosophy sutficient to shake it off, they become useless to society, a curse to themselves, and not unfrequently a bur- den their friends would willingly shake oft' but cannot. We see the influence of this feeling in the anx- iety shown by jiarcnts to crowd their sons into what are called ihe learmd profession.*, in prefer- ence to giving them a sound practical education, and fitting them for usefulness as tanners or nje- chanics. Is the ac(|uisilion of wealth rnore general with ))rofessional men, than with well inlbrmed, industrious farmers or mechanics ? — It is believed not; but the boy and the man is flattered with the idea that he is going to escape the primal curse, and that when mixing with his fellow men, he shall not be classed with the common mass that toil filr their daily bread. Poor fool! if such are his reasons for spending so many years of his life, and so much money in obtaining what is too fre- quently misnamed an education, he had better been a slave at the oar, for of one it may be said he is useful in one way at least, while the other is not only useless to the world, but by his examples serves to perpetuate error. Educate the young as much as you jilease ; but do not edu- cate them for places where they are not wanted ; nor in such a way as to render them worthless members of the community, incapable of getting a direct living in any honorable way, if a change of circumstances or unavoidable necessity, thro^v them upon their own resources. That is not edu- cEtion, at least not sucli as we require in this country, which only accumulates abstract know- ledge, without regard to utility or condition, or that pliysical and mental training so indispensable in a country like oins. If the pernicious influencB of this notion of the degradation of labor is thus jierceptible on our young men, it is still more fearfully marked on the conduct and condition of our females. In all parts of the world, the female of pure morals, good habits, and sound constitution — fomides in short, fit to become the mothers of /Hen, such men as are to control the destinies of our republic, have been found in the domestic sanctuaries of rural life. Trained up under the eye of a judicious mother; taught that to be useful in whatever sphere they are placed, is one of the first duties of woman ; free from the contagious examples of s|)lendid vice, and the poisonous influence of the moral atmosphere of the city, the daiighters of the coimtry should remain the noble and pure heart- ed women their mothers were, uninfected by the prevalent absurdities of the day. There is every reason to felir that such is not the case ; that the feelings \vhich emanate from the atmosphere of wealth, idleness, and vice, are insensibly spread- ing over the country, and pein>trating bosoms that should be sacred to nobler aspirations. A father may be worth his hundreds of thousands ; but is that any reason why his daughlns should not be so instructed and trained as to be able properly to sustain the high obligation which is expected to rest on them as women and as mothers, in any of the situations in which an honorable woman may be placed ? A thousand examples may be shown where wealth has glided away, and those who have been educated, improperly educated we say, with expectations that they were always to abound in riches, have found themselves cast on the wide world, and its cold chiirities, wiihont the disposi- tion or the power to help or jirovide in any honor- able way for themselves. The lault is in their edu- tion. It has been instilled into them, that to be qualified for usefulness was a disgrace ; that the more helpless, and we may add worthless, a wo- man was, the more she was to be prized ; that to inquire what were the duties and the ijiobable destiny of an American woman, were an infringe- ment of her high prerogative ; and that if the teacher had pronounced her finished, and the fa- shionable world accouiplished, the great end of education had been gained. She gets married, and then what does the world, what does hcrhus- baiid care for such things, as the most valuable jiortion of her life has been spent in accjuiring ? Will playing on the piano, or dancing, or singing, make a shirt fir the husband or a dre.ss for the babe .' Will an acquaintance with all the ologies construct a pudding or a loaf of bread 'f Will years sjient in the study of rhetoric or metapliy- sics, qualify her to do her own marketing, or make herskilfid in the selection of cabbages or pota- toes? If a rich man wishes a doll, ho buys a china one and places it on his mantle; he certain- ly, if he is a man of sense, does not wish his wife to be one ; and on nine-tenths of the females who spend their years in lhe.se .studies, the money and time is as really thrown away, as if spent in gild- ing the edge of the domestic dinner pat. No per- son « ho looks at things as they are, can wonder at the increasing numbers of unmarried women in our country. The man who marries, in every ease, (or if there are exceptions, they are so few as not to be worth notice,) wishes a wife that will take care of his property as Well as himself; that is competent to take charge of his h*use in every respect, and see that every thing is managed and cared for as it should be; mid when so many of our females receive an education for directly the reverse of these things, it is not to be wondered at, that the indu.strious young man who has his fortune to make, and wishes to rise in the world, stands aloof and lets them pass on in single bless- edness?. The ability to make a good wife and mother does not come instinctively. The duties must be learned, an apprenticeship must be served, and she who declines this must fail when she comes to the trial. The ambition of woman should he to beautify and adorn the domestic circle; her proper place is the bosom of the Ihmily ; and it is only there she can be qualified to iiilfii her high destiny. For a poor giv I, or one in nifiderato cir- cumstances, the very best place is a situation in an orderly well conducted ilimily ; yet how often do we see them declining to labor in a family, and preferring the qiwsi slavery of a cotton factory, the last place in tlie world. .1 fashionable temaie academy excepted, to fit a woman for domestic society and uselhhiess. A poor boy commences his life In the country ; and there he gains vigor of constitution and ener- ey of will. He goes to t)ie city and amasses n large property. His wife was selected for the qualities he admired, tin ilt and good housewifery. His sons and his daughters are educated with all the fashionable additions of the age, and the conse- quent cordial dislike of labor in any ibrm. Mislbr- tune overtakes the family, and from the heights of gentility tbey sie plunged to the abyss of des- tuition. How mtary of tljcse sons and daughters will have energy and decision of character enough to accommodate themselves to their new condi- tion ; to set about in earnest learning the art of being useful, of being able by lionest industry to provide tor themselves ? M'e wish we could say there was any pjobubility that a single one would do so. On tlie contrary, it is almost ceitain they will cling to former associations, still strive lor the former ^ood society, and gradually sink down into a kind- of .shabby gentility, the principal ingredi- ents of which are poverty and pride. Too often, ho\\ever, to keep up a|ipearances, resort is had to couses which debase the mind, and are sure pre- cursors to infamy, degradation and ruin. Let it be fully impressed on the mind of every one that labor, personal labor, in itself is never disgraceful ; and that the ability to jirovide for themselves, is a duty enjoined by God himself on every indiv- Aaa\.—Slb. Cult Worcester Horticultural Society. We are qinte confident that the attention of farmers, and gentlemen of the liberal and mecha- nical professions who have leisure, cannot be bet- ter directed than to be turned to the rearing and propagation of those fruits adapted to our soil. Fruits of the tropical climes are made a matter of extensive commerce. Oranges, lemons, raisins, fi^s, currants, etc., are brought to oiu' country in siiiiis, and become a matter of extf'iisive merchan- dize ; yet it is questionable whether there is any fruit produced in the world so palateable and use- ful as the apple which is raised in New England. This is said to be the fruit chosen above all others in foreign countries, where it can be obtained. The apple is peculiarly congenial to the soil of New England. In the varieties of apples wc have a.s many kinds and qualities as there are dif- I'erent tastes, and almost as many colors and sizes as kinds. The improved fruits are much more valuable than those in a natm-al state ; and science and skill in rearing fruits are no less valuable than science and skill applied to any thing else. We are glad to perceive the public attention drawn to the productions of the nursery and or- chard : this attention ought to spread from the seaboard to the interior. A good apple orchard is not less valuable a hundred miles in the country than near the seaboard. If the farmers do not raise their apples to sell, what sort of eating gives Ihe palate more gratification than a fine Baldwin or Kussel apple of a winter evening ? The neigh- bor who visits you talks belter, feels bctler, nfin- gles better his .sympathies, while eating your ap- ples than w bile drinking your wine. The charms of country neighborhood association are increased by such enterlaiunjents as the f'ririts of the earth afibrd without cereniony and without ostenta- tion. We wish to see our country farmers enjoy, not only the common comforts, "but all such elegan- cies of life as may be procured without too great sacrifice. If a fiirmer, by the application of skill and taste, with no very severe labor, may in the course of twenty years, while carrying on a piece of land, raise up an ajiple orchard that will yield him annually one hundred to five hundred bar- rels of choice apples ; and from those apples he can obtain a revenue equal to the annual lawful interest of two to five hundred dollars to every acre of land thus cultivated ; how much better will it be to set to woik than \vork not at all .' With the exhibition of the Agricultural Society at Worcester, >Iass., in October last, there was the first exhibition of the Worcester Horticultural So- cieiv- The spirited gentlemen who instituted this Horticultural exhibition — aye, and the ladies too, who aided with their delicate hands In decorating' the hall containing the various fruits, with flow- ers as fragrant and beautiful as the taste of the fruits was" delicious — are deserving the thanks of the whole community. Although the report of the committee on fniitu of the Worcester Horlicultural Society is but a catalogue of names as repects some kirdfl, yet its description of others contains more ii formation than we are in the habit of finding elsewhere. 168 THE FAMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. And to show other counties and diKtricts of coun- try what the " Heart of the Commonwealth" of Massachusetts is doing on the subject of orchards, we copy the report entire. We do not doubt it wili lead the attention of many of our readers to a kind of cultivation that has been but too nmch neglected ; that it wili lead tlie present generation to look out for a most excellent mode of provid- ing for those who come ailer us, and teacJi the children a better way of remembering their pa- rents than a gitl of money which may be dissii)a- ted a thousand times during the age of a noble apple tree tliat shall furuish its annual fruit. It should be remembered that the apple, the pear, the ])each, the plum, and the grape, are all fruits which may be greatly improved in quantity, size and quality, by cultivation ; and that the object of the scientific and curious horticulturist will be to produce these fruits in their greatest perfection. With this object in view, there is sometliing more than mere f mcy in the institution of a Horticultu- ral Society. — Ed. Visitor. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FRUITS. Vour Committee have attended to the subject commit- ted to their care, and respectfully submit the following re- port. The show of fruits in the Society's hall was much lar- ger than could have been expected "from the recent orit^in of the society, and the necessarily hraited notice that could be given of an intention to hold an exhibition this season. It is but a little more than one fortnight since the first meeting for organizing this Society was held. The variety of Pears, through the kindness and civility of several gentlemen of Dorchester, Roxbury, Watertown, Brighton, Salem, etc. waa more numerous than we could hope to collect in this vicinity alone. Several choice va- rieties of the new Flemish pears were exhibited, and some most beautiful specimens of the St. Michael and other choice old varieties were exhibited. The show of Apples was fine in every respect, as to va- riety, size and quality. The Apples of this County exhibited on the society's table would bear comparison with those from abroad with- out coming oft" second in the contest; indeed the chief excellence of tlie show of fruits, so far as this County is concerned at this time, may be said to lay in the variety and excellence of its apple's. The Quinces, Grapes, &c. were large and fair. • In speaking of the fruits generally, your Committee per- ceive already one prolific source of confusion — the num- ber of different names given to the same variety by various individuals. No less than three different names were given to one and the same variety of pear (a winter baking pear.) Apples of the same kinti were found labelled with different names. This is a subject of much inconvenience and annoyance, and early measures ought to be tnkcu by the Society to remedy the confusion as tar as in their power lies. In awarding the premiums, your Committee have en- deavored to divide them as far as they could among the different members, having regard to merit and to distribu- ting the premiums, they adopted as a rule, that where a premium had been awarded to any individual for a choice ■ample of one kind of fruit, and the same person had sam- ples of some other kind of equal quality with another mdividual, to award the next premium to the last person. This rule probably prevented some persons from obtain- ing more than a single premium. Your Committee have awarded on Peara, premiums to the following persons : For the best sample of Seckle pear, a premium to E. F. Dixie, of Worcester. Andreiv' spear, best sample, a premium to Capt. Silas Allen, of Shrewsbury. St. Michael, for the best sample, a premium to Dr. John Green, of Worcester. BurnetVs Seedling, a premium for the best seedling pear, being a new variety, to Dr. Joel Burnett, of South- borough. Winter Baking Pear — Iron pear, Black pear, of Wor- cester, Gros rateau gris, for the best sample a premium is awarded to A. H. Green, of Worcester. Apples — Winter Greening, for the bt-si sample, a pre- mium to Benjamin N. Chllda, of Worcester. Baldwin, a premium for the best sample to Jonathan W. Stowe, of Grafton. Hubbardston Nonsuch, a premium for the beet sample to Samuel A. Knox, of Grafton. Nonsuch (old kind.) i'or the best sample a premium to A. H. Green, of Worcester. Blue Pearmain, best sample, a premium to A. D. Foster, of Worcester. Roxbury Russet, a premium for the best sample to Silas Allen, of Shrewsbury. Sweet icinter Rusf:et, a premium for the sample to George W. Rugg, of Worcester. PomexonUr Sweeting, first premium to Jonatiian AVhcc- ler. of Grafton. Porter Apple, for best sample, a premium to Dr. John Park, of Worcester. Dutch Codlin, for best sample, a premium to C. W, For- bush, of Grafton. Hamburg, the only sample exhibited, a premium to Dr. John Green, for its great beauty and excellence, a Novem- ber fruit. Ritsset Pearmain, a premium to S. H. Colton &l Co. for their sample. Lady Apple, a premium for the best sample, to Claren- don Hnrria. of Worc/^strr, i-luinces, a premium for the best sample exhibited, to Philo Slocumb, of Shrewsbury. Grapes — Isabella, i'(sT\.\\e best sample of Isabella grapes, a premium to Dr. Benj. F. Heywood, of Worcester. Among the fruits on the Society's tables we noticed fine specimens of the winter (irctning, exhibited by Messrs. Charles White, of Northhridge. Samuel Knox, of Grafton, Jonathan W. Stowe, of Gratton, A. D. Foster. S. H. Col- ton & Co., Ephraim Mower, Wm. Lincoln, L. Lincoln, Jr., Robert Gleason, and Sleplien Salisbury, of Worces- ter, Moody Morse, of Spencer, Silas Allen, of Shrewsbu- ry, and John A. Kenrick, of iVewton. Many of these were samples of rare beauty and exccllence.showing that much pains had been taken in cultivating trees. The Greening is one of the first class winter apples, for eating or cooking, and ought to be on every man's farm. Of the Baldwin apple, one of our finest winter fruits, a large number of samples of fine size and tair exterior was exhibited. Among the gentlemen who furnished tliis variety of ap- ples for exhibition, we notice the luimes of JMessi*s. John A. Kenrick, of Newton, J. L. L. F. Warren, of Brighton, Ephraim Mower, Thomas Chamberlain, Benj. N. Chiids, Isaac Davis, Wm. Lincoln, John W. Lincoln, S. H. Col- ton & Co. Stephen Salisbury, L. Lincoln, Jr., Lewis Cha- pin, S. A. Rowland, C. A. Hartwell,of Worcester, Henry Snow, and S. Harrington, of Shrewsbury. Roxbury Rusaetts. Of this variety of winter fruit one of our best apples for keeping for use late in the winter and into spring, fair samples were exhibited by Wm. Lin- coln, Ephraim Mower, S. Salisbury, S. H. Colton &i. Co., L. Lincoln, Jr., and Benjamin N. Chiids, of Worcester, C. W. Forbush, of Grafton, Harvey Bancroft, of Auburn, Silas Flagg. of Holden, Jonathan W. Stowe. of Grafton. Mrs. Timothy Bigelow, oi Medford, Daniel Tenny, of Sutton, L. Harrington, of Shrewsbury. Russet Pearmain. Of tliis fine variety of winter fruit, specimens were exhibited by Messrs, Colton & Co.,, Wm. Lincoln, L. Lincoln. Jr. of Worcester, Daniel Tenny, of Sutton, and others. This apple is of moderate size, but keeps vvell and is of fine flavor. Blue Pearmain. Fine lartre and fair specimens of this l>uit were exhibited by Mrs\ Timothy Bigelow. of Med- ford, Alfred D. Foster, Samuel M. Burnside. Isaac Flagg, and C. W. Hartwell, of Worcester. Among the other varieties of apples exhibited by differ- ent individuals, we noticed the following: Dutch Codlin by C. W. Forbush, of Grafton, Hapgood apple by Silas Allen, of Shrewsbury. Hawihorndcan, by E. Vose, of Dorchester. Red Cheek, by AVm. Lincoln, of Worcester. Marigold, by E. \'ose, Dorchester. North Branch, by Jonathan W. Stowe, Grafton. ^tvcet Peai-main, by Edward Earle, Worcester. Porter apple, one of the finest of early autumnal fruits, samples from Silas Allen, of Shrewsbury, Dr. John Park, of AVorcester, John Clapp, of Leicester, L. Lincoln, Jr., o( Worcester, &.c. Pomewater, fair samples from Colton & Co., and Ed- ward Earle, of Worcester, Henry Snow, of Shrewsbury, C. W. Hartwell, of Worcester, Harvey Bancroft, of Au- burn, and Asa Johnson, of Worcester. Hog-pen, an apple judging from its fine external appear- ance, worthy of a more savory name, from Tilla Chaffin. of Holden. Pumpkin Sweeting, by George Newton, Worcester. Royal, by Lewis Chapin. Dwarf, by Thomas Chamberlain, of Worcester, very email, almost rivalling in that respect the crab apple. A large fine looking striped apple by Robert S. Gleason, of Worcester, and called by him the New York Pippin, though said by gentlemen acquainted with the N. Y. Pip- pin to be a misnomer ; at any rate worthy of a good name for its size and beauty. Old Fall Pearmain, by J. L. L. F. Warren, Brighton, an apple of very beautiful exterior, rather large in size and \Qry fair ; color bright red with yellowish spots and russet dots, said by the grower to be an excellent winter fruit and worthy of propagation. Russet Sweeting, by Doct. John Green, Worcester, a very excellent and valuable variety of u't7i/fr sweet apple, large and fair, usually of a bright cinnamon russet, some- times of a greenish russet; keeps well through the winter and comes into eating earlv in the winter. This apple we feel warranted in saying, from good authority, is undoubt- edly a seedling variety from the farm of the late Dr. John Green, the firsf of tli^t nim^ in Worcofitcr. The kind is a regular but seldom great bearer. It is a variety well worthy of cultivation by those who are fond of a good sweet apple in winter. Other samples of this apple were exhibited by A. H. Green, and George W. Rugg, of Wor- cester, and S. H. Colton & Co., and Wm. B. Earle. ' Lady apple, a fruit of small size but very beautiful ap- pearance 3 specimens were exhibited by Clarendon Harris, of Worcester, and Samuel Downer, of Dorchester, Jno. A. Kenrick, of Newton. This variety is cultivated more for its beauty than any thing else, though it is a tolerably good eating apple in winter. Hamburg, a very large apple, rather flat in form, color dark red, and striped on a greenish yellow ground, one ot the finest and fairest of late autumn fruit, it comes into eating the last of October, and at its prime in November. The only specimens of this variety were exhibited by Dr. John Green, of Worcester. This variety of apple is worthy of extensive cultivation as a first rate table fruit. Dudley a/ipie, specimens by Harvey Bancroft of Au- burn. Shirley apple, a large, oblong shaped apple, striped with red on a yellowish ground. Recommended by its grower. Maj. R. Newton, of Worcester, as a first rate autumn fruit, ripening in August and September. The sample exhibited was a little past its prime. Detroit apple, a very large dark red autumn fruit ripenr in^ in S*>p(/>mbit/Hl by Capt. Silaa AUen, nl' Shrew'sbury. and recommended by him as a good autumn fruit for the table. A little past its best eating time. BeUJlower, specimens of this fruit were exhibited by L. Lincoln, Jr. of Worcester. E. Vose, of Dorchester, and John A. Kenrick, of Newton. Early Nonsuch, tliis name was given by Maj. R. New- ton, of Worcester, to a fine light and bright red apple of rather large size growing upon his farm, and which cornea into eating in October. The tree is a great bearer. Parle Sweeting, this name was borne by a very larce red, striped sweet apple exhibited by Edward Earle, of Worcester. Ribstone Pippin, several samples of this variety of ap- ples were exliibited by F. W. Paine, of Worcester, E. Bartlett. Roxbury, &:r. Log Cabin Pearmain, n variety resemblina; the Black Gilliflower very much, exhibited by Henry Snow, of Shrewsbury. Queenitig.a very beautiful apple, of medium size, ra- ther conical form, liglit red color, and striped, by this name was shown by M. P. Wilder. Quality of the fruit not known. A Siveet ap'ple, of monstrous size by Dr. John Green, of Worcester, a cooking fruit. Cat Head Sweeting, by Jonathan W. Stowe.. of Graf- ton. Black Gillijloiver, by C. ^V. Forbush, of Grafton, pro- bably a misnomer, and should be the red Gilliflower. Lyscom, one of our finest autumn apples, samples ex- hibited by A. D. Foster, and A. H. Green, of Worcester. Spice Apple, a beautiful large apple and fine autumn fruit, samples exhibited by C. P. Hitchcock, of Worcester, from the farm of Edmund T. Brigham, of Shrewsbury ; by E. Vose, oj Dorchester, Isaac Flagg, of AVorcester, S. Allen, of Shrewsbury. A Native Sour apple, large size, oblong: shape, straw colored with a redish cheek, autumn fruit, by Silas Flagg, of Holden. Royal, an apple somewhat resembling a Greening, by Lewis Chapin, of Worcester High Top Sweeting, an excellent autumn sweet apple, medium size, conical form, straw color, with a russet cheek, ripening in September, good for the table or cook- ing, by Dr. J. Green, of Worcester. Dutch Codlin, a very large, fair, autumn, sour fruit, well adapted for cooking, by C. W. Forbush, Grafton. Peck's Pleasant, by Jonathan W. Stowe, of Grafton. Wales, a variety exhibited by E. Vose, Dorchester. Monstrous Pippin, an apple remarkable for it? enormous size, sometimes called Gloria jnnndi. Samples exhibited by E. Bartlett, Roxbury, and J. L. L. F. Warren, ol* Brighton. Bearing Russet, a variety exhibited by Maj. Daniel Ten- ny, of Sutton. f nA-nou'H, an apple shown by Maj. Tenny, of Sutton, .•lomewhat resembling the Hubbardston Nonsuch. Spiizeiiburg. by D. Tenny, Sutton. Tenny Harvey, by Daniel Tenny. Sutton Nuzzle Nosed, by Daniel Tenny, Sutton. Black GiUiJlower, samples exhibited by Daniel Tenny, Sutton, A. H. Green, Worcester, Isaac Flagg, Worcester, Goo. Allen, Shrewsbury, Charles White. Northbrid^ie. &.c. Natural Fniit, by W. B. Earle. Leicester. Netcton Spitzenburg, by John A. Kenrick, Newton. Mr. Isaac Flagg, of VVorcester, exhibited a basket of fruit from the Fisiie place, containing samples of the Glo- ria mundi. Porter, Black Gilliflower, Blue Pearmain, Spice apple, Hubbardston Nonsuch, and a largo winter baking pear. Basket of fruit from C. W. Hartwcil. containing fine samples of the Pomewater, Baldwin and Blue Pearmain apples. Plate of Fruit, by Rev. Geo. Allen, of Shrewsbury, con- taining samples of the Williams Sweeting, Pound Sweet- ing, Sweet Russeting. White N. Y. Pippin, Nonsuch, Pearmain — two varieties. Black Gilliflower and Spice ap- ples, and Bezi d'Montigny pear. Low Elder, a very fine rich flavored October sweet ap- ple, by Dr. John Green, Worcester. A large fine red cheeked autumn apple, name not known, by C. Harris. Worcester. Golden Pippin, a small beautiful fruit by E. Bartlett, Roxbury, and Mrs. Timothy Bigelow, Medford. Gardner Sweetitig, by John A. Kenrick, Newton. Golden Russet, bv Silas Allen, Shrewsbury. Pennoek's Red Winter, a very fine variety of winter ap- ple, by John A. Kenrick, Newton. Crow's Egg, the only specimen of this excellent varie- ty of winter apple, by A. H. Green, of Worcester. A large fine looking apple, not named, by Col. J. W. Lincoln, Worcester. Green Harvest, by W. B. Earle. Leicester. Natural Prtiit. by do do do. Bacon apple, by do do do. Five Pound apple, hy do do do. Pippin, a large fine looking apple thus called, exhibited by Asa Johnson, of Worcester, York Russeting, a large, fair, conical sliaped apple, by John A Kenrick, Newton. Blackstone Sweeting, by A. H. Green, Worc-^rtcr. We have endeavored to mention every specimen of ap- ple exhibited : it i^ probable, however, that we may have omitted some. Where we have not spoken of the quality of the apple particularly whether sweet or sour, late or early, good for the table or cooking, it is because no description was gi- ven on the labels — and it was not within our power to test every kind, and the merely tasting of a fruit in the Hall oi exhibition would be but a poor test of its actual merits. Pears. We come next to the subject cf Pears, and we mav here express the greut satisfaction we frit in view- ing so large a variety of samples of choice Iruits, for the exhibition of which we are highly indebted to the liberal- ity and kindn'^sa of n number of gentlpmrn frif'udiv fo thr» THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 169 rbjects of the Society, and distinguished Horticulturists fhemselves — residing in the vicinity of Boston. And first we speak of the St. Michael, specimens of this noble old variety, a fa- vorite ana celebrated fruit more than 150 years since, and when in peiTcclion almost without a rival at the present time, appeared upon the Society's tables in a pericctne:>s of form and beauty that we hardly expected to witness. — This variety of pear for some years past has been subject to blast, and has usually been considered ?iS a worn out va- riety. Specimens were exhibited by Dr. John Green, of Wor- cester, and Capt. Silas Allen, of Shrewsbury, grown on their grounds of good size, fair and free from blotch, crack or imperfection, a large basket full of the same kind of pear was exhibited . grown on quince stocks in the grounds of Mr. J. P. Gushing, of Watertown,of unrivalled beauty and excellence. Samples of the same by G. B. Parker, ot Boston. A large Pear, without name, apparently a cooking fruit, was exhibited by Miss JacKson, of Leicester. Lhichi-^se d' A7if;oiile7ne, of this fine new variety of penr, specimens were exhibited by J. L. L. V. Warren, of Brigh- ton, M. P. Wilder, J. P. Gushing, and E. Vose, of Dor- chester. Those grown upon quince stocks being much the finest samples. 31o7is le Cure, or Burgomaster. Fine samples of this pear, some of them of large size, were exhibited by J. L. L. F. Warren, of Brighton, J. P. Gushing, of Watertown, A. D. Foster, of Worcester, and M. P. Wilder. This is a pear that comes into eating in November and continues ripening till January, said to be a pretty good variety for a tabic iruit, and is a great bearer. Surpasse Virgalieii, specimens by E. Bartlett, Dor- chester. This pear was of rather small size, the trees usually yield large crops and of good size — a fine October fruit. SlHped long green, by M. P. Wilder, a pear of medium size and singular appearance, being striped. Prince's Sf. Germain. Fine specimens of this pear were exhibited by Dr. B. F. Hey wood, of Worcester, and M. P. Wilder. This pear is of rather large size and comes into eating in Oct. and Nov. A very fine, but not quite first rate fruit. The tree is a great bearer. Fulton, a beautiful light russet colored pear, about the size and form of the Seckle pear, and said to be a very su- perior fruit — by M. P. Wilder, of Dorchester, and F»obert Manning of Salem, ripens in Oct. and Nov. Lewis Pear, bv E. Vose, T-Jorchester, a pear of small size but fine appearance, a good fruit ripening from Nov. to Feb. Trees great bearers. Great lUogid. a specimen of 20 ounces weight from Dr. Burnett, of Soutliborough. a cooking pear only. Beurri' Did, specimens of this noble and excellent new variety of pear of Flemish origin were exhibited by Ro- bert Manning, of Salem, and Samuel Pond of Gambridge- port. This is an excellent table fruit ripening in Nov. and Dec. Bleeker^s Meadow, a rather small but excellent pear ri- pening in Oct. and Nov. — exhibited by Dr. Btirnett, of Southborough, and M P. Wilder. A fine large pear, from Samuel Downer. Dorchester. — The name of this fruit was nut attached to the sample, and it is unknown to the Gommittee. Winter baking pear, — Black Pear of Worcester, or Iron pear : samples were exhibited by Dr. John Green, A. H. Green, Isaac Flagg. and E. F. Dixie, of Worcester, and Capt. Silas Allen, of Shrewsbury. A winter baking fruit. Hacon's Incomparable, by Robert Manning, Salem, a fruit of medium size jiearly round, dark colored ?nd a good eating pear, ripe in Oct. A pear, of medium size, roundish turbinate form, dark russet color, not yet in eating, by G. Harris, of Worces- ter, name not known. Passa Colmar, fine specimens of this excellent late pear were exhibited by A. D. Foster, of Worcester, E. Vose, of Dorchester, and M. P. Wilder. This is an ex- cellent table fruit, ripening from Oct, to February, Burnett's Seedling, one of the most beautiful among the beautiful pears exhibited, large size, pyramidal furni. red cheek upon a vellow ground, an autumn fruit said to be of first rate excellence. Your Gommittee intended to make cure of this fact by actually tasting, but this .sample, as well as some other choice variefies disappeared from the Society's tabic.'' during a short absence of the Gommittee at dinner time on the last day of the exhibition, and have not been heard from since. We truet the fortunate eater will report as to the quality of this pear in particular ; as several gentlemen of our acquaintance are exceedingly desirous of knowing if tlie quality of taste is equal to the beauty of its ext-irnal appearance. I'his fruit w:is raised by Dr. Burnett, of Southborough, and exhibited by Dr. John Green, of Worcester.'*^ St. Germain, specimens of this fine old variety of pear were exliibitc^d bv J. P, Gushing, of Watertown, and Dr. B. F. Heywood,' of Worcester. Tiiose were unusually fair samples of llic St. Germain : it has generally lailed in thi.s vicinitv and rarely comes to perfect growtii. A pear, of medium size, turbinate conical form apd rus- set color, by Samuel Downer, no name attached. Striped St. Germain, a very long pear, yellow ground striped with green, by J. P. Gushing, Watertown. Broifn Benrrc, fine samples of this choice old variety * Since writing the above, wc have received a state- ment from Doct. Burnett, saying that this fruit is p.ot equal in flavor to the Seckle or Vix pear, that the tree is a good and sure bearer, and the kind worthy of cultivation to a limited extent. The original tree from which this variety came, is now dead and was about 30 years of age when it died. Thus it will be seen the variety is of quite recent origin. Doct. B. has used the fruit of this variety for se- veral years past, both for cooking and the dessert, ft is a late antumn pear. of pear were exhibited by J. P. Gushing, of Watertown, and G. P. Parker, of Boston. Jalousie, a juicy but not high flavored pear, medium size, russet color, tree bears well, and fruit ripens in Oc- tober. Wi7iier Warden, by E. Vose, Dorchester. Wilkintcn, by E. Vcse, Dorchester, an excellent pear of good size, ripening in Oct. and Nov. ; tree bears young and well, worthy oi' extensive cultivation. Seckle. This exc^-Uent pear, unrivalled for flavor, is so well known as to need no description. Fine specimens were exhibited by E. F. Dixie, ol Worcester, Silas Allen, of Shrewsbury, and Samuel Pond, of Gambridgeport. Auttimn Svperbj a large fine pear, ripe in Oct, by M. P. Wilder. Cnloiie d' Suisse, a small striped variety of good flavor. Napoleon. This fine new variety of pear was exhibited by E. Vose, M. P. Wilder, and J. P. Gushing. Size large, form long, skin greenish yellow, flesh good, ripens in Oc- tober. Bezi d' Montigny. Beautiful specimens of this fruit were exhibited by J. P. Gushing. In appearance it very much resembles the old St. Michael when in perfection ; ripens at the same time, and is of a similar flavor An old variety. Glout Moraatt. Specimens of this excellent winter eat- ing pear were exhibited by M.. P. Wilder. This is one of the new Flemie:h pears; it ripens from December to Febru ary : the tree is a good bearer. Cohimbian, by M. P. Wilder. A new seedling pear of large size and fine appearance, from West Chester, New York 5 long, conical form, greenish color. Fruit not in eating Oct. 15lh, and quality of it unknown. Amhrelte, by E. Vose. A rather large fruit, greenish russet color. PlatVs BcrgamoHe, by John Clapp, Leicester, Medium size, fair, and good flavor. Beurre Bronze, of a truncated, conical form, medium size, of a bronze russet color. R. Manning. Andretcf;, a penr of medium size, russety color, a good fruit, ripening in Sept. and Oct. Silas Allen, Shrewsbury. Marie Louise. This fine m w variety of Flemish origin, was exhibited by Robert Manning. Medium size, long, conical form, dark russety color, flesh very fair, ripening in Oct. and Nov. Scinille, a monstrous variety of pear, resembling some- what tlie Duchess d'AiigouIeme. but larger, and of superior fl ivor, is ripe in October, and a fine eating pear, by J. P. Gushing. *S7. Michael of Archa^xgel, the most beautiful pear upon the table. A sinole specimen only of this variety of the St. Micliael was exhibited by J. P. Cusliiner. We under- stand this is the first season the tree has produced fruit. It is of a pyramidnl form, bright yellow color, with a red blush cheek. Fruit very juicy, and of a high and somewhat peculiar fl ivor, ripe m Oct. Large Pear, by Doctor J. Green, resembling very much the Dix pear, but not yet in eating, Oct. 15. Name un- known. I>j.r, a large, oblong pear, yellow color, with n redish cheek, an excellent variety of penr ripening in Oct. and Ncv.,by Simuel Pond, and M. P. Wilder. Flesh juicy and rich with a high flavor, a variety worthy of extensive culti- viition. Fondantc du Bois, by M. P. Wilder, a pear of medium size, ripening from Dec. to Feb., eaid to be juicy and ex- cellent. Green Sugar, by Henry Snow, Shrewsbury, a pear of small size and fair appearance. Easter Beurre. Specimens of this noble variety of win- ter eatins pear were exhibited by M. P. Wilder. It is a pear of larfiesize ripening from Dec. to Miy, flesh melting and of high flnvnr, tree a good bearer. Every man who aims at having fine pear trees on his ercunds, should be sure and have one tree at least of this kind. Bergamot, samples of this variety by G. Harris, of Wor- cester, a little past their prime at this time. Urbaniste, a very superior and delicious variety of pe.ar, of recent oritiin, and of all the new varieties the best sub- stitute for the' old St. Michaels. It ripens in October, large size, yellow color when ripe, flesh meltinL', juicy, sweet, and perfumed. -Tree a good bearer, fruit ripens in Sept., Ort. and Ni'V. Samples of this fruit were exhibited by M. P. Wilder nnd E. Bartlett. Biijfum. a fine large pear ripening in Sept. and Oct., by J. L. L. F. Warren. " Holland, a large and fine looking variety of pear, quality unknown, by J. L. L. F. Warren. Quinces. There was a fine exhibition of large and fair quinces, as good as we have ever seen. Specimens were e'xhibitcd by Capt. Silas Allen, of Srewsbuiy, E. F. Dixie, A.H. Green. S. A. Howland.nnd George Newton of Wor- cester, S. Downer, of D^n-ohester, PhiU> Slucomb, of Shrewsbury, and Salmon Hathaway, of Grafton. The va- rieties were the Orange and Pear Quince. Gk.apf.s, a choice collection of grapes, of native and foreign varieties, was exhibited. Isabella. The specimens of this grape were large and fine, the season having been very favorable for the ripening of them in the open air. Specimens were exhibitf?d by Captain Isaac Southgate, Leicester, Doct. B. F. Heywood, and Doct. J. Green, of Worcester, J. L. L. F. Warren, of Brii^hton. This is one of the finest of the native varieties of grape, and almost the only choice variety which will ripen with us in tJie open air, and even thi^i fails in some seasons. We think by careful pruning and good man.-igemcnt of (he vine, the grower may be quite sure of a good crop every year. This vine is a great bearer and is liable to exhaust itself in good years, with an uncommon crop, if left to itself entire- fy. 'rhc true mode of manacement. wc conceive to be, to prune the wood in such a manner as to leave a succession i.{ bearing wood every year to a moderate extent ; the crop of fruit will be less in amount to be sure, but better in qua- litv. Catawba. A fine sample of thin native variety of grape was exhibited by John Glapp, of Leicester. They were not in eating at the time of the exhibition. This variety ripens so late that it will rarely succeed with us in the open air. Black Hamburg. Of this variety of grape, samples were exhibited by Doct. O. H. Blood, of Worcester, grown by Mr. Hall, one of the most skilful and best practical horti- culturist in this vicinity, in his CJreen House, and by J. P. Gushing, very large and beautiful clusters. This varie- ty of grape, in a sheltered situation, in favorable seasons, will ripen in the open air about as well as the Isabella, in this section of the country. Muscat of Lunelle. Clusters of this beautiful grape, of very large size, were exhibited by J. P. Gushing, of Water- town. St. Peters. A fine large cluster of this variety of grape, was exhibited by G. P. Parker, of Boston. Flame colored Tokay. A cluster of this large and beau- tiful grape, from S. H. Perkins, was exhibited by F. W. Paine. Pk.\ches. Only one sample of the peach wasexhibited. A large, white, late, clingstone peach, of a juicy flesh, was exhibited by A. H. CJreen, of Worcester. Plums. Semiana. Samples of this fine late variety of plum, were exhibited by Samuel Pond, of Gambridgeport.*^ The time of our exhibition was too far advanced in the Au- tumn for a good show of plums, this being the only variety exhibited. We trust that next year an exhibition will be held during the cherry season, for the show of cherries and early pears and apples 5 and a second during the plum and peach season, at which time we hope if the season is favor- able, to witness a good display ot plums and peaches. We know there are mi;ny choice varieties grown in this town and vicinity, and we feel confident that gentlemen having rare varieties of truit will be happy in giving their fellow citizens an opportunity of seeing them. At a later period in the season another exhibition would be composed of the autumn and winter apples and pears, as it has been this year. Figs. A sample of this delicious fruit, grown in the open air at Brighton, was exhibited by J. L. L. F. Warren. It is seldom that we see the Fig in perfection in this sec- tion of the country. A sample of Cranberries, of fine size, exhibited by E. F. Dixie, closes the list of fruits, that were assigned to the at- tention of your committee. Vour committee in conclusion cannot but renew their expression oi" satisfaction at witnessing so fine a display of fruits as they have this day seen. They feel much encour- QLienient and a strong assurance that this good start of the Horticultural Society is the forerunner of many fine exhi- bitions in cominix years : and that the Society is destined to be a very useful as well as pleasant institution. Your committee have reported at greater length, and more minutely than is perhaps usual on occasions of a simi- lar kind ; they have done so, partly from a desire to notice the contributions of every individual to this exhibition, but chiefly from a wish to give some slight descriptive notice of many of the choice varieties of fruit exhibited, well knowing that any description given through the medium of a report published in a newspaper, must have an extensive I circulation, and come to the knowledge of more persons j than Similar matter embodied in boons. The description ottriiits found in bociks comes to the knowledge of compa- ratively few, while the newspaper account drawn up partly from actual observation and exiicrieiice, and partly taken Irom works not comrnoi in the country, will come to the hands of manv. and we trust will be found to be of some upe ; it wns w'ith this view this report was drav/n up thus mi- nutely ; that we h' ped it mi -ht be of use, must be cmr ex- cuse. We trust than'ur hopes may be in some degree real- ized. All which is respectfully submitted. WM. N. GREEN, For the Committee on Fruits. '^ Wiiile upon the topic of the plum there is one subject in connection with its cultivation to which we feel bound to allude. Some Nursery men liave a practice of working plum buds on peach stocks. This mode of propagating the jilum cannot be too much depvecoted; it makes a fine, tlirifly, showy tree, in a short period, but one which rarely produces much fruit. Mr. Sayres,an experienced and in- telligent Horticulturist, in his useful work entitled the " American Fruit Garden Companion," speaks thus of this practice. '• But let me here caution the reader against tlie very im- proper method often practised, of ii;oculiting the plum into peach stocks. This method pn-duces fine young trees, that seldom or never bear fruit.'" — Page 94. Mr. Wm. KonricU, an experienced Nursery man, ppcak- ing of the same subject, i. e. the propagation of tlie plum, say.s, ** The varieties of plum are inoculated on the plum stock. Those raised from the seed are preferred, and some varieties will flourish on the peach stock ; but this is not deemed so suitable for a very high northern latitude."—^ Ncvj American Orchardi^t, page 'STi?. One of vour committee, from his own experience, can bear testimcny acj-ainst thi.« mode of propagating the plum, as producing unfruitful, and as he is inclined to think, '\t\ our climate, short lived trees. Chokixq. — Important to Farimrs, — The follow- \na: method o Jielieving neatcatttlo when choked by a turnip or potatoe, has hecn tried, and found swccessrul ill every instanrc. Pom* into the throat of tlie animal, from a junk hottle, a jtint or so of lamp or any kind of oil, at tlie sani" time rnhhing tlie throat briskly with the hand. Immediate re- lief will follow. 170 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. I Education of Agriculturists. It is admitted that agriculturists are of llu! most honest, u|iri:;lit, industrious and peaceful class of mankind. ~ It is acknowledged, that they are the buhvark of our protection against the overwliclniins tide of selfish propensities pre- dominant in tlie breasts of too many of our ease- seeking lovers of pleasure. It is by their labour that the sustenance of those millions is dravvn tiom the eaith vvlio revel in pleasure and roll in luxury. Why then shoidd llieir education be neglected .•' Whv should not knowledge be imparted to them in adegree that woidd comport with the impor- tant station they occupy in general esteem and individual welfare, and such as would have a sal- utary effect on the influence they exert on all around tbeni ? Why should not they be made finished scholars in tlieir sphere, with as much propriety as the professional man is made fanfil- iar with the sciences? Why should not the far- mer store his mind with knowledge useful to him, with as much propriety as the classical scholar hoards up the treasures of Greek and Roman literature ? It is saying much to aver that on the laboring nopulace'chiefly rest tlie stability of the govern ' '^ 1 .* _i It: ■. .1 ,, ;*^. .^4^ ^...1 ment and national welfare ; the prosperity of our free institutions and enjoyment of liberty so dearly bought; the protection of our rights and freedom of all ; the continuance of a well con- structed government and the integrity of our na- tional character. Those dignified personages who look upon tlje agriculturists as an inferior species of huinaiikind are but wheels of minor importance in the great machine whose main- spring is the class they despise, and whose reg- ulator ougiit to be their will. Many and weighty too are the reasons that may be adduced for the education of those on whom so much dejiends. As much as we may urge the necessity of intellectual cultivation, it is not meet to ur^e farmers, against tlieir means and w ishes, to aim at a classical education. It avails them but little farther than the profits arising from mental disc iiiliue. It matters little with the man of the plough whether a circle be squared or not; he cares not lor the abstruse facts of mathemat- ics, nor heeds the vain speculations- of antique philosophers. It is vain to press the necessity of such knowl- edoe upon the conscience of the laboring far- mer. His vocation turns his attention from these things to those which have more innnediate ref- ereirce to his calling and situation in life. To those who live by the learned professions a knowleline. He should enter upon .<> course of study begin- iiiiu? Willi e\]ierience, and graduate only to die. He shoidd make those pul)jects objects of his at- tention that every day and week of his life will assist and benefit him, and lay the foundation in his mind on which he may build the monument of his own literature that may forever stand un- tarnished beside tlie revered cenotaphs of those philoso|ihers iiiid poets who flourished in ages that long since the overwiielnnng tide of time has overrun. The ostentatious pedantry of pres- ent systems of instiuction should be banished from those who wcnild honor their name and gen- eration. The gaudy display of superficial ae eomplishments should be displaced, and upon the very bone and muscle of our country let the light of pure intelligence shine. Let the lawyer be learned in law — let the phy- sician be trained in his profession — let the farmer be instructed in the science of farming, and the theory will be reduced to practice. But how is this to lie efiected? Abundant are the means and many the ways through which it may be ac- complished. Begin v. ith nature and feast your greedy mhids from that volume ever before you. Even the grass of your fields is fraught with in- struction. Not a day passes but aflbrds objects for contemplation and inquiry. The daily oper- ations of nature are so complicated as to con- found the wisdom and perplex the sagacious dis- cernment of the wisest sage. — There is no prac- tical farmer, however small his revenue may be, who caimot aflibrdtotake at least one agricultur- al journal : — suppose the cost of this may be two dollars, will lie not in the course of his life be repaid abundantly in his pecuniary emoluments? How much more intellectual profit may he not derive from its perusal ? The instruction he gleans from its columns may avail him, and no estimate can be made on the good effect it has on his own habits and those of his family. They all imbibe the s()irit of research,and not long will he remain unconscious of the means by which in- calculable blessings are showered upon him. There should be agreement among farmers: let all of one district or neighborhood unite to- gether and take several agricultural journals, put together their mites and form a libiary for their own special benefit — and not be so far be- hind tlieir learned neighbors in this respect as justly to merit their sarcasm. Farmers should meet often and discuss matters relating to their occupation. Let them be as much excited in this as in other matters, and we have little reason to fear that the disruption of such an association would soon take pbice. They would soon be knit together as firmly as self interest and love could consolidate them. There is a lack of energy among the far- mers of New England: too many of them take hold of a systen^ of improvements "with mit- tens on." There seems to be a sort of vacilla- tion in their progress — they do not advance bold- ly onward in their cause. This passive sluggish- ness must be cast of!'. The nigged hills of New England requii-e something sterner than the thin finger of disparagement to crown them with autumnal abundance and convert the desolate waste into a fruitful field. Farmers — philanthropy calls on you to edu- cate yourselves. Patriotism presses its suit, and in bold and fearless accents commands you to improve your privileges as you enjoy them. Posterity urges the necessity as an imperious du- ty devolving on you. Consciousness admonish- es you to beware of slighting so many opportuni- ties for stocking your minds with useful knowl- edge. Self respect and gratitude to God require it. Heaven warns you to improve your talent and as you receive instruction so impart it by voiir e.xamplesof improvement. JUVENIS. the common long eight rowed corn, both the kernel and cob being smaller and more compact, it is possible this may he an exception, and may adapt itself to our north "hill country." It should be marked as dangerous always to take seed corn from locations where there is a longer Slimmer for its growth to a position where it must sooner ripen to escape the early frost ; it wilt never be safe to carry seed corn from the north to the south to any perceptible diflTerence of cli- mate. Corn will change from smaller to a lar- ger stalk and ear as the climate is more mild, in the course of a few years : so corn may be im- proved every year by selection of the seed in the field, takingears of the best size and must per- fect growtiiand which may be earliest ripe. — Ed. Visitor. Long-eared Corn. Amherst, Xov. 5, 1840. Dear Sir: — As yon a|)pear to be the " Receiver General" of the rare products of the earth, (as well as the cash of the nation,) I send you herewith two ears of corn, of half a dozen presented me by Mr. James Dickey, a farmer of this town, of unusual length, measuring about 17 inches — uniformly eight rowed, of large kernel ; — it being a speci- men of 40 or 50 bushels of the same kind raised by him this season. He says he has raised this kind a number of years; and that the richer the ground the larger will be the ears of corn : gen- erally one ear on a stalk ; but in some instances two or more. It may be worth your notice ; al- though perhaps you are already acquainted with the kiiul. It evinces that our farmers are not so "long-eared" but that they readily discern what is of general utility and for their own benefit and advantage, lam no fartner, you know ; " crop- pini:" here and there a little where I have not "strowed" — and make out to "cut my own fod- der," and raise my own "cellery" with a diligent hand. I mhmit to you thereibre, this specimen of long corn, for your " crib" of extraordinaries, — hoping it may be a source of filling it with the means of a siii-stantial treasury on which to •' draw" without " check" or liniit. Verv respcctfullv vours, in haste, ■ ■ K. BOYLSTON. Hon. Isaac Hili.. The two ears received with the above are specimens of beautiful corn. Of the long eight rowed i:orn we have generally observed that it requires a longer season for maturity than the shorter corn. As this kind is different from Capture of a Bear.— The skill of the Mexi- can rancheros in throwing the larriat, or slip noose, is an exciting subject of remark and admiration among travellers in that country. In a late Hous- ton Morning Star, we find the following incident related to the editor by a recent traveller. While crossing a large prairie, with only a Mexican ser- vant in company, he discovered at a distance in advance of them abear, of the largest kind. The animal was making long strides for a distant piece of timber, when the Mexican observing him seized his larriat, and [ireprred for a chase. — Putting spurs to his horse, he soon overtook bru- in, ami with no arms but his larriat he commenc- ed the attack. At the first throw the fatal noose with unerring accuracy, encircled the animal's neck ; but before it could be drawn sufficiently tight, he pushed it off with his paws, and turned upon his enemy. The rojie was recovered in an instant — thrown with equal accurecy — the horse at Ihe same time was wheeled and put to his speed. Tliis time the movement.-; were too quick fiir bruin. He immediately found himself rolling and tumbling along the ground in a manner alto- gether surprising, while every struggle to disen- gage himself from the thraldom only rendered it worse. In this manner, the anim;d was fairly chocked down ; and when the genllenian came up he dismounted and easily dispatched him uith his knife. — jY. O. Picayune. The Bride.— The writings of Washington Ir- ving abound in pictures, which, for delicacy, taste, and truth, are not surpa.ssed by any writer's in the English language. The following is an ex- quisite jiassase Vrum a chapter in his Bracebridge Hall: "I know no sight more charming and touching than that of a young and timid bride, in her robes of vircin while, led up tremblingto the altar. When 1 thus behold a lovely girl in the tenderness of her years, fbr.saking the house of her fathers, and the home of her childhood— and, with the inqiliiit eunfidenee, and the sueet self- abandonment which belong to woman, giving up all the world for the man of her choice ; when I hear her irt the good old language of the ritual, yielding herself to him -liir belter or for worse, for richer, ibr poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and obey, till death us_ do pan' — it brings to mind the beautiful and ;ifiecting de- votion of Ruth. 'Whither thoii goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will ludg<> ; thy people shall he my jieople and iby God my God." Knowledge as well as property is acquired by piecemeal. Time and study are to the acquisition of knowledge, what industry and prudence arc to the accumulation of properly. Let there be few idle hour.s. What of your time is not due to toil and biisines.s — let it be devoted to a course of systematic reading and study. Every new idea acipiired, is more than a dollar stored where it will always abide, and where it will ever be yield- ing compound interest. Dig for new ideas, and persevere in the acquisition of iliein. impress them upon the memory, and ihe aggregate of many ol'them will make you a learned and wise man! Knowledge is worth more than money — ■ for that can neither be stolen, nor can it, like gold, takn to itself wings and fly away. .Vnd a wise man will always be more resepcted than a rich man. Many a liiol can boast of his wealth, to his shame; but honest poverty suffers no disgrace if coupled with a well cultivated and intelligent iiiind._ '-A- boveallthy getlings, get under.-*tanding — in her right hand" are lengtirof days ; in )jer left hand arc riches and honor." — .Mninf Cullivatar. THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 171 statistics of Xew Hampshire. We copj' below and present in the same col- umn from tlie New Hampshire Patriot the Ceijsus of New Hampshire taken imder direc- tion of Col. Chaki.es Lane, U. S. Marshal in 1840, with tlie Census of the same towns taken in 1830. To this we have added in separate col- umns the rateable polls and valuation of taxable property taken in 1840 and returned to the office of Secretary of State, as condensed and prepared by that indefatigable officer, Josiah Stevens, Esq. ROCKINGHAM COUNTY. No. of inhab- itants. Atltinson. Brentwood^ Candia, Chester, Danville. Deertield, Dcrry, EaBt Kingston, Epping, Exeter, Gosport, Greenland, Hampstead, Hampton, Hampton Falli, Keniington, Kingston, Londonderry, New Castle, Newington, New Market, Newtown, North Hampton, North wood , Nottingham, Piaistow, Poplin, Portsmouth, Raymond, Rye, Salem, Sandown, Seabrook, South Hampton, Stratham, Windham, 1830. 568 891 13G2 2089 528 208(5 2178 442 1268 27o9 103 681 913 1103 582 712 929 1469 850 549 2013 510 767 1,342 1157 591 429 8082 1000 1172 1310 553 1096 467 838 1006 1840. 567 888 1430 2173 638 1953 2034 651 1234 2985 115 726 890 1320 656 647 10.32 1556 742 543 2746 .541 885 1182 1193 626 428 7887 989 1205 1408 525 1392 462 873 926 3 • ^n 03-= fc-0 fe o 8 169,896 352,317 135.929 723,395 107,888 240,201 142,481 621,267 76,763 241,041 218,395 191,485 311,672 265,702 619,726 637,113 337;i49 977,489 327,982 134.019 255,421 214,497 383,779 * Separated taken, .Mlenetown, Andover, Boscawen, Bow, Bradtbrd, C'anterbury, Chichester, Concord, Duubarton, Epsom , I'ranklin, Henniker, Hooksett, Hopkinton, Loudon. 53,916 61,119 from Effingham after the census of 1830 was MFJiKIM 483 1321 2093 1065 1285 1663 1084 3727 1067 1418 1370 1725 880 2474 1642 ACK coi: 455 1169 1963 1001 1331 1643 1028 4903 950 1205 1281 1715 1175 2454 16 Hi NTY. 100 264 422 183 26S 283 202 1071 182 243 288 350 221 593 324 105,449 2.50,426 571,713 257,892 297,304 477,694 173,720 1.519,223 277,1.55 241,646 314.5'25 572;665 283,733 .559,240 42it,2'29 Newbury, New London, Northfield, Pembroke, Pittsfield, Salisbury, Sutton, Warner, Wilmot, 798 913 1169 1312 1271 1379 1424 2221 ~934 816 1019 1413 1336 1719 1332 1361 2159 1212 173 220 257 269 285 260 308 433 238 34,619 36,282 HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY. Amherst, Antrim, Bedford, Brookline, Deering, Francestown, Goft'stown, Greenfield, Hancock, Hillsborough, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, Lyndeborough, Manchester, Mason. Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, Nashua, New Boston, New Ipswich, Pelham, Peterborough, Sharon, Society Land, Temple, Weare, Windsor, Wilton, 1667 1309 1654 627 1227 1540 2213 946 1316 1792 1501 1282 505 1147 887 1433 1191 1303 763 2417 1630 1673 1075 1981 271 164 641 2430 247 9M 1663 1223 1549 652 1124 1308 2366 834 1345 1808 1333 1144 481 1033 3233 1275 1113 1465 720 6064 1570 1678 1003 2163 231 133 576 2375 177 1033 341 305 131 223 296 455 173 260 409 300 236 103 740 256 241 302 149 1146 315 330 235 383 66 123 553 43 247 37,762 42,478 CHESHIRE COUNTY. Alstead, Chesterfield, Dublin, Fitzwiiliam, Gilsum, Hinsdale, Jartrey, Keene, M.Trlborough Marlow, iXelsoii, Richmond, Rindge, Roxbury, Stoddard, Sullivan, Surry, Swanzev, Troy, Walpolc, Westmoreland, Winchester, 1559 2046 1218 1229 642 937 1354 2.374 822 645 876 1301 1269 322 1169 .5,65 .539 1816 676 1979 1647 2052 1454 1766 1075 1366 656 1141 1411 2611 831 626 835 1165 1161 286 1006 496 481 1765 683 2015 1546 2065 27,016 26,430 SULLIVAN COUNTY Acworth, Charlestown, Claremont, Cornish, Croydon, Goshen, Grantham, Langdon, Le nips tor, Newport, Plaintield, Springfield, Unity", Washington, Wendell, Alexandria, Bath, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Bristol, Campton, Canaan, Coventry, Dame's Gore, Danbury, Dorchester, Ellsworth, Enfield, Franconia, Grafton, Groton, Hanover, Haverhill, Hebron, Hill, Holderness, Landatf, Lebam>n, Lincoln, l.iabon, 1101 1778 2526 1687 1057 772 1079 667 999 1913 1581 1262 1268 1135 637 1450 1722 3217 1726 9.56 779 1034 615 941 1958 1.562 1252 1218 1103 795 292 672 356 196 162 203 138 189 421 244 262 238 163 19,687 20,313 GRAFTON COUNTY. 1003 1626 666 7.':J3 799 1318 1423 441 785 702 234 1492 443 1207 689 2361 21.53 533 1090 1429 951 1868 60 IWi 128t l.i91 779 717 11.53 1513 1576 413 54 800 769 300 1515 523 1201 S70 2613 2675 5GS 999 1528 957 1754 76 1682 271 165 159 2.50 282 3!3 9! ISO 159 325 107 259 175 479 585 98 217 213 341 18 174,100 208,970 336,624 373,709 331,196 390,145 274,610 420,084 137,766 492,199 286,784 461,886 142,652 38;3,471 514,772 589,313 235,224 483,U4 640,883 447,960 380,614 178,920 724,554 307,869 450,574 422,128 187,900 2,467,822 476,955 609,490 432,084 663,201 124,638 205,385 563,682 52,793 352,479 36.5,711 1,296,847 471,218 207,120 1,37,201 217,029 267,369 214.512 ■148,740 189,(01 277,931 210,1 ',"0 136.719 184,077 337.239 124,714 110,026 184.035 242,531 323,368 68,727 122,082 107,7.-0 24.221 376,745 99,180 137,787 90,365 592,229 691 ,521", 90,443 165,526 171,749 685,66, 15,665 2!i7,o;« Littleton, Lyman, Lyme, Mash &, Sawyer' Orange, Ortbrd, Piermont, Plymouth, Rumiioy, States Land, Thornton, Warren, Waterville, Wcntworth, Woodstock, sL. 1435 1321 1801 405 1839 1012 1175 993 1049 702 96 924 291 Bartlett, Berlin, Cambridge, Carroll, Clarksville, Colebrook, College Grant, Colunibia, Crawford's Grant Dalton, Dummer, Dixville, Errol, (iorham. Hart's Location, H lie's I.ocationj In lian Stream, Ja;kson, Jefferson, Kilkenny, L tncaster, Milan, Millstield, Nortliuinberland, I'lnkham's Grant, Randolph, Slielburne, Stark. Stewartstown, Stratlord, Whitefield, Wentworth's Loca. Sec. College Grant, Success, 38,691 COOS 644 73 108 88 3'I2 422 632 63 30 111 615 495 1187 57 3-12 143 312 236 .529 443 685 1778 1196 1785 17 463 1707 1037 1232 1110 4 1045 938 62 1119 472 42,215 COUNTY. 706 116 5 218 88 743 3 620 9 664 66 4 104 156 44 6 315 584 .575 19 1316 386 12 399 39 , 113 350 349 630 441 731 25 383 279 320 325 256 231 214 212 205 12 23-1 228 25 1 49 21 145 US 137 13 9 112 96 271 68 2 80 8 74 66 162 93 173 4 1 320,379 278,890 449,210 602,534 23,5,171 242,313 226,434 160,.527 119,713 16,386 191,471 38,014 81,510 31,852 57,143 13,640 103,607 64,452 85,358 23,258 27,680 3,145 G6,C.50 61,011 1,867 233.964 55,686 15,236 78,920 6,894 18.579 62,898 46,647 73,821 97,986 136,460 7,0CO 8,.390 9.849 The Marshal gives the following additional in- Ibrinatioii : — " In the loiegoing there are 1:^ males and 7 lenialesover 100 years ol age, 94 males and 1(J7 females between !!0 and ICO. 'J he old- est person is a leniale, HO years of age, lesiding in lirooktield. 'loUil luuiiber of males, ],'ie. Sanliornfnn. 172 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Sandwicli, Sti-artbrtl, Tuftonborongh, Wakefiell'». A Pattern County for the whole United States. The most profitable as well as the most valua- ble agricultural district in the United States is the County of Dutchess, in the State of New York. This county lies forty-five miles along the easter- ly Bank o( Hudson river, extending about thirty miles eastward to the westerly line of Connecti- cut and cornering on the county ot Berkshire in Massachusetts. It touches the Hudson ri-.-er just above the highlands, having for its southern boun- dry the county of Putnam, and Cohmibia county to the north. The population ot DiUchess coun- ty was in 18:38, 50,926. The number in 1840 is not given in the report below. Passing up and down the length of Dutchess county a few weeks ago the pleasing fact struck us of seeing large piles of Nova Scotia plaister lying on the whai-ves of every landing. This led to an inquii-y as to its use of an intelligent gen- tleman of Poughkeepsie, who assured us, from the best opinion he was able to forin, Ihat the an- nual agricultural produce of Dutchess county had been doubled during the tost ten years soteli/ from the %ise of plaister. There are large quantities of the mineral called ])laister of Paris along the line of the canal and rail roads to the westerly part of New York, and we had supposed as a matter of course that this woidd be taken and used up and down the Hudson. The rail road between Syra- cuse and Auburn runs directly through ledges of this plaister ; and it is carried w ith little difli- culty all along the line from Albany to Buffalo, where it is distributed either north or south trom the banks ofthe canals and the depots ofthe rail roads. But the New York plaister is of a different color and quality from the Nova Scotia plaister : the former is of a dark clay color : the latter is much lighter, and is probably much purer. Gain- ing in the use as plaster must every year, as it is discovered to be adapted to some kinds of soil even where no other stimulant is brought in aid of it, the trade ofthe United States with the ports of Nova Scotia and New Brimswick for this arti- cle will beconie greater and greater. A company in the State of Maine has made a purchase of an extensive plaistev quarry in New Brunswick directly on the shore of the Bay of Fuudy, where there have been erected extensive mills for grinding the article. The Nova Scotia plaister, when ground, appears much of the con- sistence of flour. When the kinds of land on which plaister shall have the greatest eftcct can he ascertained, its use will muUi|ily in a rapid ratio through the country. We tVequently see the Vermont teams carting and sledding it from the seaboard to the distance of two hundred miles in the interior: it is believed the Connecticut river valley is es])ecial- ly well adajited to the use of this article. There are soils on which it may not be much felt the first year, where it very likely will have a good ef- fect the second and subsequent seasons ; and there are some seasons when it will have a nnirh bet- ter effect than others. In dry seasons its imme- diate action is probably the greatest. We believe it will well ])ay wheu applied to ])ine plain r.nd other light grounds in almost every case. Some have supposed that after a rertai'.i quan- tity of ]ilaister is upon the ground it will no long- er operate. Our information from Dutchess comi- ty is, that the keeping up of a continued applica- tion was found to kee]) up the increase of the crop. Dutchess county is the greatest wool producing region in this country. The whole value of its agiiordtiiiTd jnoducts may be estimated tiom the quantity given in the table. The produce of its miiung operations is a highly important item. — Its whale fisheries are also nearly an entire addi- tion within the last ten years, and amount to more than a hundred thousand dollars. It is favorably situated tor coasting commerce, although not ac- cessible to large ships for foreign trade. Its man- ufactures are greatly swelled by the material found in the bosom of the groimd as well as in the extent of its agricultural productions. This beautifid Comity, as a whole, is a niinia- ture represeiitfitlon ofwhat the \yhole of New ihigland may be. Improved cultivation of the ground raises the value of all the gi'aund adjacent to it. The common jirice of farming land in the comity of Dutchess is one hundred dollars the acre, raised .at least one third within the last ten years. When it is found that by some extraordi- nary investment land that now givee no profit inay be mavestward. — H heeling Gaz. Reverses of Fortune. — The United States Blarshal who has just completed the census of Cincinnati, menlions these incidents: I met a man who has mined himself liy intemperance, and was subsisting on charity, that I knew in Pittsburg in the year 1815 owner of a fine prop- erty and stoie worth $.50,000 at that time. The property alone, I have no doubt, would since have brought $150,000. I founil in the person of a day laborer in one of our ibundries, a man w ho had once owned a large iron establishment in Scotland, on the Canon side. He had be- come involved with others, and rendered there- by poor. Yet far from the simple dignity which Ibrbore repining or complaint, the family mani- fested in the case. I found also the widow of a distinguished professor in an Ea.stern college, who was at the time eating her humble supper with her daughter, under such chcunistances of penury, that their veiy tiible was formed of a board laid across an old barrel ! I found in the city two cases of disparity of age between the oldest and youngest brother. In one instance the oldest I irother was CM, the youngest 35. In the other, when the fatlier was living, and aged 73 years, one brotlier was 40 and the other 2. M.iiiiNG Butter. — Every farmer who makes his own butter, will be glad to learn how to make the most from milk, and at the sanie time jiroduces an article of gooil quality. Pulling a pint of cold water during the sununer months into each pan of milk when strained from the cow, will mate- rially aid tliese desirable olijects. The milk will not sour as quick, and the cream will rise nioic per- fectly. The reason why butter made in summer becomes rancid so soon, is ow iiig to the imperfect manner in which the milk, rnquciilly soured be- fore churning, is separated fhuii the butter. Re- tarding the souring of the nillk by the aiJ]ilication of cold water, obviates this difficulty. — Ueuesee Fanner. lUit lew of our readers, we imagine, have any adeip;ate idea of the anioiuit ol fiour alone sent out of the United Slates. Dining tlie year 1839, ending last September, 923,151 barrels of flour, estimated at $6,9S5,170, were ex]'ortfd from this country. From official sources, we leain that more or less was sent to every yon in Europe. Russia, China, British East Indii s, Cape of Good Hope, and many other remote jiortions of the world received bread-stiifis (Voni the United Sl.itcs. Over 150,000 barrels uere sent to Eng- land, about the san\e luimlier to the British West they will fL-el such lull gatiefaction that they aref Indies, 80,000 to Cuba, and 177,000 to Br;.ziJ. 174 THE FARMER'S MOiX THLY VISITOR. Root Crops. The cropof Riita Baga in tliotfe parts of New Euelaiid where the dry weallier was felt in all its Ibrcc (luring the suiiinier have been almost a failiue. On one acre and a half of ground vvell prepared, where we expected a thousand husliels, we did not get tliree hundred ; and until after the (irst frost we Ijad not the expectation of gath- ering one hundred. The growth of the root was retarded hv llie prevalence of niiinerous vegeta- ble lice until these were killed hy the severity of the weather. Our Sugar Beets in the tield "did little better than the riua Imga, although thev grew luxuriantly in the garden. Mr. Whitney raised on our pren)ises on the same ground where he produced nearly an hundred pounds of onion seed, one hundred and eighty bushels of carrots: these grew luxuriantly, notwithstanding the drought permitted not half the eomi>etent seeds to vegetate. The carrots were jfrown in double rows about twelve inches asunder between each row of trans|)lanted onions without at alt injuring the latter crop. In a late conversation with Mr. Christopher Howe, ofMetliuen,Ms. one of the first rate tarui- ers of old Essex, we were informed that his Ruta Baga crop failed the present year, though not to the extent we have just mentioned. In the year 1(^30 Mr. H. raised 725 bushels of ruta baga on three fourths of an acre. TIjp land was ploughed from the sv/ard in September pre- vious and cross ploughed in the spring before j)lanting: about twenty five loads of' manure were spread lo the acre, and about thirty busli- els of ashes were added. The ground was partly moist and heavy anfl partly of dry light soil. lu 1810 he prepared two acre's for ruta baea. The land was manured as highly with the excep- tion of the ashes,and e(|ually well prepared. Only eight himdred bushels were raiseil where two thousand bushels had been expected. Ill the year 180!> Mi-. Howe raised Mangel Wurtzel at the rate of 600 bushels to the acre on land which had the previous year produced ruta baga. His land, which was manured for the previous crop, received at the rate of twenty loads of barn manure to the acre : also a few liushels of ashes were applied. The present year he sow- ed Mangel Wurtzel on ground siiiiiiarly prepar- ed with the exception that the ashes were omit- ted. The crop was much better than the ruta baga, not so good as the sugar beet — say at the rate of six hundred In shels to the acre. In the year 1840, Mr. H. raised 100 bushels of the sugar beet on alioiit one fourth of an acre of land planted the previous year with ruta ba^a and manured : this year manure was applied at about the rate of twenty loads to the acre. The land was part gravelly, i,nd on the driest gravelly part the crop was the greatest. Mr. Howe sowed one and a half acre of oats in tlie year 18>;> on land, the one half of which had been the previous year sowed with ruta baga and the other half planted with potatoes. All the first part of the season the oats were one third less on the rula baga ground than ujiun ;hat where the potatoes were raised : and at the close, although the former gained Uj)Oii tiie latter, the '■"•■"*■"• of grown oats was less and the straw the upper vegetable mould has been removed. He had a spot of a few rods of gravelly knoll off from which two or three feet of the soil had been carried away. The first year, manured like the ground which had not been thus treated, he plan- ted with beans and had a tolerable crop. The year afterwards with the same preparation he raised as large a crop of ruta baga on the gravel- knoll as upon the surrounding land. Mr. Howe makes it his practice when striking out a field with the plough from sward land to take the two furrows which make the ridge of each and which are turned up either on the cen tie or at the sides, consisting of sods and tufts of grass, into carts or other vehicles, and transfers them to the barn yard or hog pen, where they contribute to make at least an equal quantity of manure. He also turns the first two furrows on the side of walls enclosing the fields, and con- verts the siibsiance to thesame object. He had been in the practice of keeping his ma- nure tbrnierly clear fiom litter. Latterly he has made much use of litter, and in additionbroiight soil into his yards. He finds that not only is the (juantity of manure greatly increased by the pro- cess, but that the quality is equally good of the large as of the smaller amount. Mr. Howe has used and recommends the use of the Cultivator instead of the plough in pre- paring ground for sowing in the spring. For this purpose he has a Cultivator made as wide as a common harrow, with teeth cast so as to run deeper through the wood than in the eomnion Cultivator used with one horse. This iniple- iiient he finds all that is necessary to prepai-e for sowing the small grains in the spring. His Cul- tivator is made with nine teeth, and as stout and as heavy as a common harrow used for oxen : it is made like the liariow without handles, and is much heavier than the common Cultivator. We have put to paper these facts gathered in a conversation with a practical man whose knowl- edge and observation will be valuable to many of our readers. quantity considerably iniierior upon the latter. Mr. Howe has a piece of land containing about three acres. One half of it having been previously cultivated, was laid down lu clovoi-, <,iiil producod in 1837 two and a hall' tons of hay to the acre : in the fall following the grass roots were killed out by drought. The other half was planted with com in the year 1837 ivuh manure, and sowed with oats in 1838 with grass seed. No grass ap- pearing in the spring lS;iy, the whole of both sections was ploughed u|) and manured with about twenty-seven ox cart loads of manure to the acre, the stubble ground being considered in the best plight, and there being no sward upon the land where the clover was killed out. All was sowed with oats and ^rassseeri in 1840 ; and tiiere was little or no dift'erence in the quantity of oats produced. Put there was a dif-tinct and in;irkcd difference r.s to the c: tolling of the grass this fill : there was very liule or no grass caught on the part where tl,e clover had two years be- fore been killed out, and the grass seed was well caught on that portion wlieie the oats hud grown two sia'uns belbre. 'fhe saiu" gci;i:eii!;.n iiKntions a fi;cl which no<'D to prove tJiat land is not ruined even when Condition of Society in En-jland and the Uni- ted States. .At the meeting of the Royal Bucks yVgrioullii- ral Society at Aylesbury, England, on the lOtli .Septemlier, the (act may strike some of our sim- ple repiibl'cans with a degree of surprise, that when it came to the distribuiion of prizes, which were given in cash and in articles of clothing, "the several recipienis were then called in, and his grace the Duke of Buckingham having ad- dressed them upon their past good conduct, the prizes were handed them witira printed testimo- ny of their success, and a glass of wine each, to drink the health of tlie farmers present." How iiinch happier is the condition of society among us, how iiiiich more favorable to the proper ele- vation of the laboring idatses, and how much more beneficial in its intlueiice upon the charac- ter of the ri<'h and distinguished, where men are not " called in and furnished standing with a glass of wine," but eoiiK' of their own accord and of their own right, and with a self-respect arisius from the concioiisiiess of their own personal in- dependence, sit down at the same table willi the most distinguished men in the community upon terms of jierfect equality ; and buy their own clothing, anfl nil their own glasses IbViheinselves. The industrious, honest and virtuous yeoiiianrv are the true nobility of our land. They can show themselves worthy of this rank only liy cultiva- ting their minds as well as the soil ; and deter- luiiiing to extirjjate every weed in their moral habits and charactijis, with even liir more reso- lution and tlioroughness than the weeds among their growing crop.s.— A". E. Fanner. H. C. ' " Our life is ever on the wing, And death is ever nigh." THOiMAs Ames, Esq, of Canterbury, suddenly fell dead in liitt yard oh Tuesday, Nov. aSth at the age of about tj2 years. Mr. Ames' constitu- tion was ol the kind that indicated sudden apo- plexy, being so corpulent as to weigh probably over three hundred pounds. He was not only an excellent citizen, a kind and indulgent husband, father and friend, but he was one of tlie very best practical liirmers in the county of Merrimack, whose example has done much in his town and 111 those ol the vicinity to promote agricultural improvement. He was among the first to intro- duce the successful cultivation of the Black sea wheat in his town and county. Many times has he obtained the premiums of the Merrimack County Agricultural Society, of which he was the constant i)alron. We once visited the farm, a great portion of the labor on which he performed with his own hands, notwithstanding his "reat weight must have rendered severe labor extreme- ly inconvenient : it was a fine example for the ag- riculturist who studies neatness, convenience of arrangement, and the application of labor and expense intended as well for temporary as for permanent benefit. The death of such a man as Mr. Ames is a public loss. JosiAH Rogers, Esq. formerly of this town, a man of much the same size and constitution as Mr. Ames, died in much the same sudden man- ner a few days previous. Mr. Rogers was a man of great enterprise and indeliitigable labor, who, after great discouragement, had been eminently successlul as a lumberer upon the river and gain- ed a handsome estate. This he lived to see dissi- pated in that mania for speculation which seized on hundreds of the shrewdest men in the coun- The latter years, of his life, Mr. Rogers ex- O.v A large scale. — At (he show of cattle and iiiiplenients at Cambridge, in England, in Sep- teuiher last, the money receivcd'for admission into the yards to see the cattle and iin])lemeins, was frnni 1600 to 1G50 jioiinds steriiuf, or uji- wards of 8000 dollars. The nuiubcr of' persons at the dinner, including ladies, was 3000. Ten dollars, and in some ca.^es even fifteen dollars each, were offered Hir tickets. A particular ob- ject of altiaclioii wilhoiu doubt Was to hear the agricultural spfcchc-i of distinguished individ- uals.— .\; E. IWnier. H- C. pended in constructing one of the best grist mills erected in this part of the State, in the town of Bow, on the south line of Concord, about two miles from this village. He has also made great improvements on the fine farm where he resides, showing to his neighbors that there is little bet- ter soil than the light jilain lands which abound in the vicinity of the Merrimack river. Mr. Rog- ers liad a few neighbors on the Concord side of the line as good (ijrmers as himself: the example of all these we trust will go far to arouse the too dormant ambition of many others who have not thought enough of the importance of imjiroving the cultivation of the earth. " The good that men do shall lire ajler them." - Our old acquaintance, one after another, are drop- ping into the tomb, reiniuding lis of the necessity of doing with our might whatever our hands Jind to do, if we expect either to amend our lives or to inake our remaining days u.seful in this genera- tion. The death of our old acquaintance and friend, Hon. Daniel French, of Chester, at the age of about seventy years, brings to remeni- br.ince u single disinterested act of friendship of his, before we had a personal acquaintance, that preserved us from incarceration under a project- ed inosecution which was entered upon by com- bination and intended utterly to prostrate "all our hopes of business, at a time of pecuniary help- lessness, more than thirty years ago. Mr. Freiie-h then occujiied, as he did" for several years alter- waids, the post of .Attorney (General of this Slate. He pursued successlully the business of attorney and counsellor of law nearlv to the close of life ; and brought u|) a large faiiii"ly of children late in' life, some ol whom are already doing credit to the name which they hear. Hut our object in iiilroducing the subject of this nonce is to say that Mr. French had for several years connected with his professional business that of iiiqiroved farming. The two late Govern- ors Bell ami the lute Chief Justice Richardson resided in his immediate neiyhborhood: thev were together all and each of them more or Ics's amateur furniers. But there was another profes- sional man living there who died before these, (the Hon. Samuel Bell, of the four mentioned, only remains) wliose efforts did much for the cause of Agriculture in that neiffhborhood : this gentleman was the late Hon. Amos Kent, also a lawyer, a man of good talents, and who had been both a judge and a member of the Senate of this I State. Mr. Kent for several years entered with j gre;;t zeal on the hu.-iiiess of i"iijpi-oving the huid, I |ier)iaps lo the neiilect, if iiotalatidoijiiieiu of his I profeesional business. He carried on his opcrn- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 176 tious on laml at a coiisideialile distance tioin his domicil, wliicli was too lougli and too sterile per- liai}S to reliuid the exjiense. On tlie ground near his honse in the village he was more snccesslul ; and although lie has been dead some twenty jeuis, the \alue ot' his lahof has this very season been slioivn in the inoduction of some tivc hundred bushels of market apples, excellent winter Unit, from trees which he had planted and nursed. The good eifects of the agricultural eflbrts of all the gentlemen we have named are now felt in the increased value of the grotind which they have made many years productive. The culti- vated land in the inniiediate neighborhood of these gentlcnieu's late residence, is valued and will sell (juick at the rate of one hundred dollars the acre, while in every part of the towti and iieighboiliood where no such improvement has been made, equally good lands, if they will sell at all, will not give onc-lburth part of that price. — Mr. French had a held of ten acres, which he has alternately ploughed lor cultivation and sub- sequently stocked down. This field liad been cleared of stones, and year after year pioduced good cro])s of potatoes, corn, wheat, oats, and grass in succession. Two tons of hay to the acre was generally the minumun crop u hen laid down to hay. This land by a board of apprais- ers has been set down as worth lor farming pur- poses merely, one hundred dollars the acre. One of the committee, a good farmer of the town, valued the land at one hmidred and fifty dollars the acre. A gentleman in the immediate vicinity (Mr. Orcntt) has a hay field on which he raises RunuuUy all average of between three and four tons of excellent English hay. Tliis field, sur- rounded by substantial stone wall, fills up in the summer to an even heiglit with the wall the straight standing herdsgrass or timothy : before he comnicnccd its treatment and culti\Htiou the land was like thousands ol acres whifli are con- sidered to be good lor nothing. The fiiniiers of the old towns of New Hamp- shire have the examples of these distinguished men to w honi we have just alluded belore them, urging them on to the improvement, without which the Granite Stcte never can expect to ar- rive to that ultimate degree of wealth and jiro.sper- ity which awaits her if she shall be true to her- self. It will avail us little that large maniifiictur- ing to^vns shall grow up at the expense of the abandonment of our farms. Both the farms and the villages may be made mutually to sup- port and foster each other. The nearness to mar- ket and the liighi r piices ceitainly oftVr an in- ducement lor the fininers of New Hampshire to niiike constant eflbrts to raise on the ground not only whatever they consume but a large surplus w I'i which to supply the neighboriug mechanics imd manuluctuieis. The Western Rail Road Bridge, now building at Springfield, will be the finest and most sub- stantial structure on Connecticut river, if not the best in New Enahiud. Tire piers are built of hewn granite, and cemented fngether. The cost of the structure is estimated at about SCO,COO dol- lars. The harder the times, the harder he must work, and hope Ibr a better state of things. A niaii cannot expect the ]uiblic tosup])ort him iinlos he exerts himself Idleness and a continual cry of hard times are not the way to get along. Indus- try and fiugidity are necessary, and nothing will soften the hurduess of the times so much as la- bor and a strict and faithful attention to business. — Boston Transcript. Commerce of the United .States. Imports and Exports of each State and Territory dur- ing tfie year endinp Sf-pt. 30th, 1839. Vali'E of Impokts. THE TIMEvS. Never were there such liiues as the pretent : they are so hard : they never were so liaroseible. 176 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. Construction or hiinneys. We have luul on h.-iiid lor some time, and hud Biijiposed the eiifiraviii^s would have been pre- pared lor tliis immher ol' tlie Monthly Visitor, Mr. Oihnan's thiid numher of " Farm House Architecture." By mistake, the engravings liave not yet been Itniiished. We will endeavor that this interesting number, which explains the true principles of constructing chimneys to pre- vent their smoking, shall be given in the Month- ly Visitor for December: it will be worth at least a hundred dollars to every man who is about constructing a dwelling house in which he ex- pects to reside for life. GiRARD College. — This marble palace, now in the progress of construction, tor the education of " poor orphans," according to the will of the late Stephen Girard, affords one of the most astonisli- hig instances of squandering an estate, on record. According to the Philadelphia Ledger, sevtnleen thousand dollars are now annually expended in salaries to officers and artizans connected with the institution. A. D. B;iche, the President, lias a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, from the time of his appointment in July, 1836. The cost of thirty-four splendid and needless columns, amounts to the enormous sum of $448,800, or $ 13,000 each. The corner-stone was laid on the 4th of July, 1833. The architect was appointed the 23d of March, 1833; the clerk of the trustees was appointed in March, 1833, and the President was appointed in July, 1836. The estimated cost of the College"was $700,000, and of the out buddings, $200,000 — making a to- tal of $900,000. It is a well ascertained fact that the expenses up to January last, on the College, amount to the colossal sum of .*1,372,712,45, and the College is reported by the architect, to be but about two-thirds comjileted. — Jl'atchiower. A Discovery. — Some three or four weeks since, a party of farmers assembled together at a mound on the premises of Dr. Hughes, for the purpose of digging into the same mound, and as- certaining what it contained. They accordingly commenced operations, and after digging some three feet below the smface of the mound, they came to a layer of hard earth, similar to brick. — On breaking through this layer, they were not a little surprised to find a large roll of old "Continental Bills," neatly enveloped in an un- tanned buffalo skin. On fintlier search a num- ber of ancient coins were found, composed chiefly of zinc, brass, copper, and pewter. IJiit what is most remarkable, an iron time-piece was found, nearly at the bottom of the mound. This watch or thne-jiiece was marked on the inside " Pela I'omche, Patre 1300," and on the back of it was engraved " hon vivaiit." — The watch weighs twenty-eight ounces, and is .somewhat rusted. The works are com|)osed of brass and steel, and it is similar in style and make to the English liuntei's watch of this day. Several other articles were found, the names of whicli, our informant did not recollect — Cincinnati Led- Agricultural Papers. — Nothing has contri- buted so much to the improvement of agrlcultiuc in our coimtry, as this class of puMicatioir.s. No farmer is so poor, that he can afford to be without one. They serve as a vehicle by which a v::st amount of inlorniution is disseminated, and the experience of a large number of practical men is brought into active o])oration. To be a " Book- Farmer," is not i!0w ss formerly, a term of re- proach ; and fi-w farmers of iutilligeiice in the country are now ;is!i;imcd o' t!;e title. These pulilirations have induced a spiiit of iiifpiiry, and if all men engaged in agriculture, cannot become ex|ieriMiental larniers, still, they may j)rofit large- ly I'roni tlie exjicrinjeiils ol' tliii.sc wlio can. An- other good arising finni them, has been to induce men no longer blindly to follo\v in a beaten track, 1 because their liithcrs did so helbre th(-ra, but to ■ inquire for themselves the rer.son why certain causes [iroduce certain effects, ;uid to endeavor to learn from them some new n,odes of applica- tion, 'fhe great and ]>aramount im|iortarice of the agricultural interest is now (ully dS MONTHLY VISITOR, PUBLISHKD AT CONCORD, N. H. ON THE LAST DAY OF EVERY MONTH, ON A SINGLE EXTRA ROYAL SIZ- ED SHEET, SIXTEEN PAGES, EQUAL TO DEMY QUARTO. EDITED BY ISAAC HILL. ItT Present Subscribers are reminded that no papers will be sent to them after the expira- tion of the term for which they have subscrib- ed, unless their subscription shall be renewed for the next volume. XU The patroaajre thus far bestowed on tiic Visitor has been sucli as tu encourage the Editor to new efforts to make it a vehicle of useful and entertainin;? information to Farmers, and all others who take an interest in the ris- ing prosperity of the country. The Visitor contains oritrinal essays and communica- tions from the pen of the Editor, and from many heads more able and experienced than himself; and the best se- lections from other kindred publications in this country and in Europe. Both in writing and selecting articles, the Editor has constanliy in view the promotion of that GREAT IN- TEREST of the country which may be regarded as the foundation of its prosperity. Every thing calculated to further the cause of AGRICULTURE, to gratiiy the taste, and to advance the dignity of the FARMER, will find a welcome place in the columns of the P'armer's Monthly Visitor. Thus far we believe there has been no subscriber to this, our Visitor, who will not concede that he has been remu- nerated to the full amount of the price of subscription, cither in some new information gained tor himself or by some one of his family. For less than the cost of one dollar, knowledge worth many dollars has been conmiu- nicated to individuals in many parts of the coun'.ry. The printed matter in a single number of the Visitor, which costs sij and a quarter cents only, is equal to tlie printed matter contained in a volume of history, divinity or novels, which will cost from Ji/iy cents to one dollar. The Editor acknowledges his obligations to those Post- masters and other gentlemen who have acted as agents and who have kindly forwarded the amount of subscriptions obtained in their several townsi. TERMS. — To single subscribers, Seventy-five Cents. Three copies for 7V»o Dollars: Ten copies for Six Dol- lars : Twenty-Hve copies for Fifteen Dollars. []j^ As a fuftiier encouragement to obtain subscribers, the Editor offers the twelve numbers embracing tlic year 1840, or the second volume of the Visitor, as a premium for every ten subscribers obtained and paid for by any one person. (nr" Agents may take subscribers for more than one year, on noting the facts against the subscriber's name, and in- timating their responsibility for payment of a new year's tubscription when itshnll become due. All letters must be addressed, postage paid, to JOHN M. HILL. Concord, N. H. BANK NOTE LIST, Corrected by Geo. F. Cook & Co. Exchaiv^e Brokers, A'o. 20, Slate Street, opposite the Merchants^ Bank, Boston.— Now. 23. MAINE. Bniigor Commercial Bank, Bangor, 3 a — pcrct. dis. Cahis Bank, at Calais, G a *' Washington County, do. 6 a " Stillwater Canal, nt Orono, 25 a " City Bank, Fortinnd. 10 a " Frankfort Bank, Frankfort, 5 a " VVestbrnuk Bank, 3 a — " Georgia Lumber, Portland, 5 a " Oxiord Rank, nt Fryoburg-, fraud. Bmgor Bank, eld, closed. Mercantile Bank, Bmgor, 3 a — " NE\V HAMPSHIRE. Wolfeborough Bunk, 90 a — " Concord Bank, Concord, 3 a 5 " MASSACHUSETTS. Commonwealth Bank, Boston, 10 a '' Chel^^ea Bank, at Chelsea, 80 a "' F;irmers' & Mechanics' South Adams, 80 a " Nihant Bank, at Lynn, 80 a " Fult'ui Biiik, redeemed at their crmiter, Kilby street. MitWIing InterpRt, 3d a ■* Middlesex Bink,at Cambridie, 5 a Norfolk Bank, at Roxbury, redeemed at thcr c( unter. Roxbury, do. fraud RHODE ISLAND. S::itUTtc Bank, ZO a — '* VERMONT. Be^-'ni-tcten BivtU, at Ben'iingtoi:, 3 a — " St. Alb-ins, St. Albans, 3 a 5 " Ma'K'hester, atManchoctcr, 2 a 3 <• Es^ex, Guildhall, 80 a — " Moiitpelier, at Mont'^clier, 3 a 5 '* CONXECTICUT. H unt-^nin Riil Ro.id C'. 2 a 3 " The fther Banks of New Endnnd, are rereived at tie SirT: :i.; Biiik, a;:d b^Uj^i.t by ti.c Brokers ut ^ per ct. diecou;if. Banks in New York city, " State of New York, *' State of New Jersey, " City of Philadelphia, •' City of Baltimore, " District of Columbia, " Virginia, Old United StUes Bank Bills, Ciiecks on New York, do on Philadelphia, do on Mobile, Savannah, do on Augusta, do on New Orleans, do on Baltimore, do on Charleston, Exchange on England, Spanish Doubloons, Mexican do, Sovereigns, American Gold. THE MARKETS. BOSTOJN MARKET, NOV. 25. From the Boston Morning Post. COFFEE — The sales since our former report embrace 409 bags Porto Rico 11 J a II§c— 2,'JO do Cuba lO.Jc— 350 do Java Government \3^c — 250 do do private Ti-Jt- a few hundred bags St Dommgo at9J a 9| for export, and 91 a 9i to tlic trade. COTTON — The recent advices per steamer Caledonia from Liverpool have produced no effect on this market. Sales of the week comprise 10 to 1100 bales to consumers at 10.J a ll.Jc for Uplands, and II a Pic for Nev/ Orleans. FLOUR — Sales of the week consist of 600 bbls Balti- more City Mills 5 37, 4 raos. — 800 do Howard st 537 a 3 50 part cash and short time — 5 50 do Fredericksburg 5 44 a 5 60, 4 mos, credit — 5 dO do Georgetown 5 50 cash — Genesee from vessels 5 3UaQ37Aand Michigan 5 25 a 5 31 per bbl. Gk.\1N — There is no change of consequence in the market since our former report. The same dullness con- tinues for yellow corn, and more firmness is manifested by holders of white, in consequence of the stock of that description being comparatively light — a cargo good, has been sold at 5ijc and in lots 55c. Southern Oats 33c per bushel. HIDES— Sales of about 40 bales green salted Calcut- tas at 1 10 a I 20 each, 8 bales dry do. f!5c. each, Gmos cre- dit. The stock of this description in m.irket is unusually small. HOPS — By late advices from England inferior sorts had materially declined, while the finer decriptions were held with firmness. Sales by dealers of 120 bales to go out of the market, at 37 a 38c. By growers, MassachusettB in- spection 35c and New Hampshire S'le per 11>. M0L.\SS1!)S — The transactions since our last report comprises 5f)0 Iihds Cuba sweet, at 22i a 23c — 150 do or- dinary, 22c— 200 do Trindidad, 2KA a 27c —COO do Cuba tart, for distilling, 20c — 150 do Suri'nam tart, 21c ; and by auction, Porto Rico, 2G.J a 23.Jc per gal. N.\ILS — -\ good demand h.as prevailed for Southern shipment, and also with the trade, at 5.^0, (i mos cr. OIL — Sales of a lot of English Linseed Oil at 77c, cash, and some lots of Southern at 70c, ou time. Olive, by second hands, at gl 25 per gal. PROVISIONS- .\ decline has taken place in Beef, in consequence of heavy supplies. Sales Mess, 5(11 a llA —Navy, ,510 a lOA— No 1, Da 9i, and Prime G| a ^7. No change in Pork. — Sales Lard atUaUic per lb in kegs. SUG.\R — .\ good demand has prevailed tlie past week, and sales have been made of BOO boxes Cuba brown, at 7^ a 8Jc, and 200 do white do. 10 a lOjc per lb. By auction. 50 bbls Havana brown, Gc, and 20 do do white, ii{c per lb, 4 mos. SPICES— Sales ofIG casks Nutmegs' at 82.1 a 85c— 600 lbs do, 85c per lb. Cayenne Cloves at 20c per lb. TE.\ — In consequence of late advices, holders ot Teas h-TVe further advanced prices. BRIGHTON MARKET— Mo7iday, November 23, 1840. (Reported for the Daily .-Wvertiser and Patriot.) .\t m.irket 1700 Beef Cntllc, 750 Stores, 5700 Sheep, and 1420 Swine. Several lots of Beef Cattle, 2 or 300 Stores, 1000 or more Sheep, and several hundred Swine unsold. FmcKS—Betf CalHc— First qualitv 5 25 a 560; second quility 4 75 ajj5; third quality 3 50 a'54. Bamlling Cattle— Mesi 4 50 a 4 75 ; No. 1,R4; No 2, S3. . > tf ) Worf.^— Dull. Yearlings, $4 50 a 8 50 ; two year old, gll a IS; three years old, ^21 a27. .SViPijp — Dull. Lots were sold at SI 24, 1 37, I 50. 1 62 1 83, ^'2,217, and 2 37. .S'wmt — Tlie prices obtained last week were net fully i-uttiined. Lots to peddle, 3, 3A for Sows ; and 4 a 4A fr r Barrows. .\t retail Irom 4^ To 5^. NEW YORK C.\TTLE MARKET, Nov. 24. At market 900 beeves including 200 left over last week, I 240 fn-ni tlie South, and the bnlance from N. Y. State; 650 were sold Bt 5; to 7.^, averaging §6^ to the ICO lbs. Market riu'l — and hst week's prices hir l!y ui.aintained. Cows A>l- TERESl' of the country whicli maybe regarded as the foundation of its prusperitv. Every thing calculated to furtlier the cause of AGRICULTL'HE. to gratify the taste, and to advance the dignity of the FARMER, will hud a welcome place in the columns of the Farmers Monthly Visitor. . . ., . Thus far we believe tliere has been no subscriber to tins, our Visitor, who will not concede that lie has been remu- nerated to the full amount of the price of subscnption, either in some new information gained tor himself or by some one of his lainily. For less than the cost of one dollar, knowledge worth many dollars lias been commu- nicated to individu.als in many parts of the country. The printed matter in a sincrle number of the Visitor, which, costs six and a quarter cents only, is equal to the printed matter contained in a volume of history, divinity or novels, which will cost from fifty cents to one dollar. ' The Editor acknowledges his obligations to those Post- masters and other gentlemen who have anted as agents and who have kindly forwarded the amount of subscriptions obtained in their several towns. TERMS.— To single subscribers, Seventy-fiBe Cents. Three copies for Two Dollars : Ten copies for Six Dol- lars : Twenty-five copies for Fifteen Dollars. [p= .\s a further encouragement to obtain subscribei-s, the Editor offers the twelve numbers embracing the year !S40, or the second volume of the Visit'^r, as a premium for every ten subscribers obtained and paid for by any one person. • Uj" Agents niav tike subscribers for more than cue year, on noting the facts against the subscriber's name, and in- timating their responsibility for payment of a new year's subscription when it shall become due. \11 letters must be addressed, postage paid, to JOHN M. HILL. Concord, N. H. THE VISITOli For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. Farm House Architecture. No. 3. In the midst of the many improveiueuts which have taken place both in the domestic and public buildings of this country, there is still one pre- vailing and apiiareully an increasing dsl'eel iu their iHterlor construction, which calls loudly for H remedy: 1 mean the construction of chimneys. Blany individuals have directed their attention to the subject, and many suggestions have been pub- lished at different times Tbut the evil seems to be on the Increase, and the means now so generally resorted to for the cure, are so devoid of certain- ty, that they have become a foul blot on tbe char- acter of our Builders nnd Architects. In our v/alk about town, or ride in the country, may be the builder and the architect have failed to do what was e.xpected oi' them by the owner. To the writer, it appears quite evident that no individual, however excellent his plans, or dis- interested his motives, can perform the work of improvement alone; but he is not without his hopes, although the evil is a great one, if every one who may wish the accomplishment.of a very desirable object will do what he can, the progress of the error may be arrested, and the means of obtaining a chimney that will answer the purpose for whicli it was inlended may be within the reach of every man. For one, i am satisfied, that there are j)rinci|)les on w,iicli cliinmeysmay be built, that will insure them a certain and unin- terrupted passage for smoke. If one chinmey can be built to answer its purpose, so may twen- ty ; and if twenty can be made perfect, so may twenty thousand. And yet, in many jilaces, if not generally, more than one half of the chimneys are so built, that they infiict this lasting evil — this century calamity u|ion a whole liousehoid. The fuel that is expended, either to make a thorough draught by increasing the tire, or to heat tbe rooms with half ojien doors; the colds, rheuuia- tisms, and variolis disetises induced in this way ; the irritations, tbe actual ill temper occasioned by such circumstances, constitute, altogether, no small item iu the trouble and afflictions of do- mestic lile. The ancients, according to Pliny, were subject to the same troubles from sniuke, that we are; and iu order to mitigate the nuisance, they an- ointed their wood, intended for fuel, with the lees of oil. This, indeed, is not a vej^ poetical rea- son for the [iractice of burning fragi'ance, but still jjvwiH be a very plausible one; and although it robs tlic poet of part of his IJuicy customs, it will have quite us iiuicli weight with the practi- cal man. Possibly, the ancients were not alto- gether unacquainted with the uses of the chim- ney and of the damper; and that they knew that damp air or vapor which is specifically lighter than dry air, is the vehicle by which smoke as- cends, "is very )i!obiible ; and the " bottle in the smoke" referred to in Psalms 119 : 83, might have been used ibr the purpose of creating steam and causing smoke to ascend ; and probably gave the idea of hanging a blown bladder in the chimney, which has been used either to iiicrease tbe draught or to prevent the return of the smoke. As late as the year 172(3, builders proposedto provide tbe flues with hollow brass bails, of a reasonable cap;,city, with a little hole in one side to receive the water, to be placed in the flue with the liole upwards, that when the water was hot, it would emit the steam, andibrce up the smoke that might linger iu the way, and oftcnlinics re- turn. Here is ;i description of a real damper; and as this, by the space it occupied contracted the chimney, hence probably tlae lerni damper lias been applied to other modes of contraction. But whether all, or either of these modes answer- ed the purpose intended, is a matter of uncertain- ty and doubt. The great vice of modern chimneys is smoke, and that cause is tour-fold : 1st, the wideness of the throat : 2nd, the variation iu the size of the flue ; 3d, tlie contraction of the fli:e from throat to top ; 4th, the careless and Slovenish manner in wiiieh these ill-formed chimneys arc finished—- the numerous crooks, crevices, and projections, causing many draughts, currents, and eddies in the smoke, retarding its proper course, and often ibrcing the newly tbrmed smoke into tho room, to the annoyance of all practical house-keepers and lovers of comfort. It is, I believe, a fact in hydrostatics, that water will not flow through a pipe of unequal size, so freely as through a pijie of equal and uniform I size ; for cxanqile, the opening from a cistern is one inch in di;>meier, and in the pipe which leads cistern. The water in this jiipe will not run in a steady course as in the pipe of equal and uniform size, but will produce eddies and counter cur- rents in the manner shown at tig. 1st. Fig. 1. Fig. 2, M Pig. 2nd, represents a pipe of equal size throughout, and supposed to be placed iu a cistern with equal head of water with rig. 1st; the dif- ference in the course of the water may be easily traced; and every one at all acquainted with the action of iiuids, "may readily perceive that the water in fig. 1st will not flow so fas! as in fig. 2d. The same principle holds good in relation to the passage of smoke in the chimney. If there are contractions and enlargements of tlic flue, the current of smoke is inqieded in its iirogress by counter currents, eddies and expansion of the volume of vapor, combined with a larger jiortion of air. Under these circumstances, the operation of the smoke is similar to the water in the pipes, retarding its ascent, and forcing 't '^ack a- gain to the fire-place to find some oftiw way of escape. Fig. 3. fVg-. 3J, represents a section of a chimney with flues of unequal size, and nearly in the common form of coiistrnction, with wide throat, contrac- ted and crooked flue, enlarged in some places to iavcr the .size of the chimney, contracted m otli- ers to favor the situation of other fire-places— al- together such a chimney a.: may be considered certain nuisance when erected. II doubts e e.iam:ne a chimney ot as n sliould arise, let any seen the nianv devices t!i;'.t man's ingenuitj' has , .... contrived, to elinrin or coax out the smoke, and i off the water there are protuberances of t^^■o in- proclaiming, as it were from the hotiso top, that I ches in diameter at dilKerent distances fi-om the known smoking piopcjisit'CF, and thev will find that the foiin here shown, is as near the shape of ii smokv chimney as t;an be. 178 THJb: FARMKR'S MONTHLY VISITOR- the maiitlc bar, ninke it good size — to contain at least 144 s<|uare inches, and in no case reduce the flue to a less number of inches than the tliroat contains. If angles occur in the tlue, make them larger across than the flue is at right angles, and when enlarged, care should be taken that it is not reduced again ; in addition to these, the flue should be free from ])rojections and nnevenness, should be plastered well and smooth from throat to top. Adopting the principles here laid down in ex- tended detail, I have had a large number of chim- neys erected, in different locations and under dis- advantageous circumstances, and not one has fail- ed to be free from the usual objections to modern chimneys. STEPHEN GILMAN, Arch't. Manchester, 1840. Fig. ith, is a section of a chimney, having one side removed, and showing two fire-places and two flues. Description : — No. 1 is a fire-place 3 ft. 8 inches long, and 2 ft. 4 in. high, to the mantle bar, A ; from the mantle bar to tlie throat, B, the distance is 1 ft. (J in.; and diminishes by drawing in the sides and carrying back the front of the chimney, keeping the back of the fire-place perpendicular, as in No. 2, A and B; in this example the tliroat is 6 by 24 inches ; and is of sufficient size for or- dinary rooms, and should not be smaller for any room. D is the first angle in the flue, and should in all cases be larger than the tlnoat or the fine at right angles witli tlie sides, as at C ; the reason for this will appear obvious by an examination of Fig. 3d, at the angles in the fliic, and Fig. 1st, showing the course of , the fluids in tlie ]iipe. Af- ter passing the angle, D, the fitic is ki pt in full size, and should not in any casr he reriliced small- er than the throat, (144 sq. in.) In passing the upper fire-place, if it is absohitely necessary to contract the chimney for any cause, the flue may be carried up partly in the angle of the jamb, as seen in No. J. The size and form of tlie throat is shown oh the i)lan of the fire-place at B, No. 2 ; the dotted lines showing the contrac- tion of the fire-place. Undoubtedly the best form for a flue in a chim- ney, is the cyhnder, but ae this is not practicable ■without great expense, the square and oblong form must be made to answer the piirpo.se. Af- ter observing the form illustrated in Fig. 4 ; the following simple rule will ensure ii good cliim- ney. Carry up the back of the fire-place jjcrpen- dicnlar, contract the throat within two tcct alx)ve Hon. Isaac Hill, — Dear Sir: — While reading rather u sharp conflict, this morning, between the editors of the N. E. Farmer and Maine Cultivator relative to the production of potatoes from the stalk of the gilliflower, where it was contended that nature employed only two methods in propa- gating the potatoe, viz : — by seeds and tubers, I was reminded of some facts which i'ell under my observation last August, and which I intended to connnunicate to you at the time, but have neg- lected it till now. Early in August my boy informed nie that po- tatoes were growing on the stalks fiir above ground. 1 immediately went to the field and found the facts as he had stated. Several stalks in different hills were producing potatoes in this (to me) new manner. I cut one of the best spec- imens, even with the ground, brought it into the house where it has been seen by hundreds of people, and is now before me. Eight inches from the ground one potatoe grew something larger than a lien's egg. Eight inches above this grew another, which now when very nuich wilted is three and a half inces in circumference and near- ly round ; two and a half inches above this sec- ond potatoe grew a third one, now five and a half inches round and rather oblong; six inches above is another, five and one fourth round, being also somewhat oblong. The stalk now extends six inches above the upper potiitoe, where probjibly 12 or 15 inches of its former length has been bt-bken off. The potatoes thus grown are of a blue color, identical with those in the ground, an early kind, fit for the table otten on the 25th of July in this cold region. Perhaps this may be no uncommon occurrence, yet to me and all others with whom 1 have mentioned the subject it is new. With high respect, I am Sir, Your ob't. Servant, JOHN W. WEEKS. Laneaster, Dec. I3,18i0. Eliza. She married witli the liighcEt proapects ; but, from a petvilantjpeevish, complaining disposition and negligence every thing went wrong; and lier home became a place of disquietude to her husband. To avoid this, he sought a place to pass away vacant time, where, associated with those more wicked than 'himseli', he contracted the habit of intemperance, and all was lost — and poor Eliza was thrown on the charity oi her tViends. Be pleasant and obliging to your neighbors — ready to grant assistance when necessary. Be careful of their characters, and do uotreadily believe an ill report. Throw the mantle of charity over their failings, knowing that we are human and liable to err. Abhor a tattler, and give no place to the reports of such. However strong a prov- ocation may be, never contend tor the last word. Let your Bible show that it is used. Give no place to novels in your library. Let history, biography and trav- els be read, when time and opportunity admit — without interfering with the important duties of the family. Be not ignorant of the events of the time being, therefore read some journals of the day. As to tlie friends who may call on you — never be confu- sed or in a hurry ; treat them with hospitality and polite- ness, and endeavor to make them happy in their own way. Never tease to do this or that which they do not prefer. True politeness consists in an easy and pleasant deport- ment, and making our friends easy, and permitting them to enjoy themselves in that way which is most pleasing to them. Speak with deliberation. The other sex tell us that "the female tongue is never tired;" be it so : let it be regu- lated by reason. At the close of the week, if possible, let all your work, for the time, be done ; so thaton Sunday you may improve your time in such a manner as will be appropriate to the day, and never, eitraordinaries excepted, fetyour seat be vacant at church. As to dress ; decency is becoming to all, but extrava- gance opens a door to want ; follow the fashion of the day as far as decency and good sense will approve, but avoid singularity. Be not troubled for what you have not; be thankful for, and take care of what you have. A Leghorn hat loaded with flowers, will not cure the head-ache, nor a gold watch prevent the consumption. — American Far- vier. An intelligent correspondent at Kennebunk Me. has sent us the following extract ; — Brother Jonathan's Wife's Advice to her Daughter on theday of her Marriage. Now, Polly, as you are about to leave us, a few words seem appropriate to the occision. Although 1 regret the separation, yet I am pleased that your prospects are good. You must not think that all before you are Elysian fields. Toil, care and trouble, are tlie companions of frail human nature. Old connections will be dissolved by distance, by ^iine and death. New ones are formed. Every thing pertaining to this life is on the change. ,\ well-cultivated mind united v\'ith a pleasant, easy dis- position, IS the greatest accompllshmenl in a I.-idy. I tiave endeavored from the first to the present moment to bring vou up in such a m'tiiiif-ras to form you tor future useful- ness in Bocieiy. Woman was never made merely to see and be seen ; but to fill an important space in the great chain in nature, pianned and formed by tlie .\linighty Pa- rent of the Universe. You have been educated in habits of industry, frugality, economy and neatness, and in these you have not disappointed me. It is for the man to provide, and for the wife to care and see that every thing within her circle of movement, is done in orderand season ; therefore let method and order be considered important. .\ place for every thing and every thing in time, are good family nioltos. A thorougli knowledge of every kind of business ap- propriate to the kitchen, is indispensable, for without such knowledge a lady is incapable of the management of her own business, and is liable to imposition by her servants everyday. Bui in those things you have been instructed. You ^viU be mistress of your own house.and observe the rules in which you have been educated. You will endea- vor above all tilings to make your fireside the most agree- able pl.ire for the man of your choice. Pleasantry and a happy disposition will ever be considered necessary to this important end — but a foolish fondness is disgustinsr to all. Let reason and common sense ever guide — these, aided by a ple.isant, friendly disposition .render litis happy ; and with, out these it is Hot desirable. Kmeinber your couejn For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. Utility of select breeds of Cattle and Sheepa 11 oodstock, JVew Brunswick, ? Oct.. 17th, 1840. i My Dear Sir: — Having had the gratification of reading your vei-y welcome " Visitor " for the period of eighteen months past, I now afford my- self the pleasure of informing you that I highly appreciate the principle upon which it has been and still is conducted, and referring to you the hope I indulge, that, as these principles become more fully developed, tlie object you have steadi- ly kept in view will rot fail of being realized. The improvement of Stock and the best means of effecting that improvement I regard as being of great importance to this country. From this conviction I have constantly observed the progress made in the Eastern States as well as in the Pro- vince, towards elevating the character of Stock and Sheep in particular ; great numbers of whicli I presume are kept by many of your farmers : and with regard to these I cannot avoid express- ing au opinion founded on my own oliservation while traveling in various parts of the State of Maine, that too little attention is p.-sid to those iiighly valuable animals. I am well convinced that the farmer who incurs expense and trouble in carrying into effect prudent measures adojjted tor the improvement of Sheep, will in the end be well remunerated. On this subject I speak from my own experience, having for the last seven years devoted particular attention to this object, and I have now the satisfaction of being amply rewarded for all my trouble and the cxjiense 1 had incurred. My flock of Sheep (my own impoilation) are of the Dishley and Devonshire breeds, of which I winter about fifty. Last season, forty-one of these were breeding ewes. The fleeces shorn Irom the flock averaged 6 6-16 lbs. of unwashed wool. I raised fifty Lambs ; and I am assured that a finer flock of lambs cannot be produced in Amer- ica. I find a ready sale for the Bucks at .$10 each With these facts before me, 1 conceive that all the difficulties in the iinprovement of the neces- sary and valuable part of farm stock may be sur- mounted by industry and perseverance, and the farmer abundantly repaid for his laudable exer- tions. Should any of your readers visit this part of the country, I shall "experience much pleasure in affording them an opportunity of seeing my flock, and iiarlicularly the sheep already spoken of. I atTi, dear sir, yours, very truly, CHARLES PERLEY. a \ THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 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Value of the products of the dairv. Value of the products of the orcliard. X en CO I JO en to -f^ — -5^ C5 en 0l _ — ■ wj ^j ^j l-ilSr-iCOOJO*>-vi*»x OJO>-OvJ ^"dS^'ocjioxoox^Io — joxo cocc*» — o'^Dooocni'i-'vjjov) — — K&0505C2^59tgvj CO .. JO CO — V} CO en o Vahie of home made, or fami- ly gotxls. "Ou the Grampian bills iny father feeds his flocks." The Statistics of Caledonia County, Vermont, have been forwarded by oiu' inihifiiiifiable and en- terprising correspondent, Henrv Stevens, Esq. of Barnet. The six fnc-^t coUiinns he has pro- cured from the Grand Li^t t(dro- ducing its bushes, flags, pnlly-pod and wild grass- es. Now, by means of conductinL' oft'tbe water by digging (ne or two I'itches, at no great ex- pense, some of the most productive and profita- ble land upon the whole farm is here to be found. The liuildings of Mr. Perkins are generally ca- pacious and convenient. About them we saw a place for almost every thing, and every thing in its plac<'. And the tommittep loo, cannot but speak approvingly of the ladies of the household, who received us upon their best carpets all wet with rain as we wer,:, without showing the least ill tenijier, and led us, hmigry as we were, most profusely, and sent us av\ay rejoicing. How then could we relbse to uw ard to Mr. Perkins the higiiest premium upon liirnis, which we found to l.ie $7,00 ? The Committee also examined the intervale liirm oi' WiLT.iAM H. Gage, Esq. situated on fhe jMerrimack river, near the mouth of the Coutoo- cook. The repiiiation of this larrn has for some years stood deservedly high. It consists of three hundred and filly acres of land ; sixty of which arc pasturing, and eighty of the intervale part are tillage and mowing. About sixty tons of li.ay are annually cut on the iiatn. Esq. Gage had this year about four and a half acres of excellent corn, "his land being previously i)rc])ared by the appli- cation of nineteen loads of barn yard nmuui-e spread and harrowed in upon each acre, and again by six loads of compost for each acre, be- ing put "in the hill. He had also three and a half acres of potatoes, pait of which were manured by barn yard manure, and the other by simply putting plaister of Paris in the bill. In the growTh of the Pot:.toes wc perceived bi;t little difl'erence, — giving some preference to those sup- plied with the yard manure. Ivir. Gage had also two acres of Black Sea wheat, injured, however, by a severe mildev.' ; seven acres of oats, of a middling nualiry : twenty-five bushels of rye. — He keeps on his iinin thirly-ibur head ol' horned cattle, including eight cows, and four oxen ; also 108 sheep, 78 of which produced this year 314 lbs. of good fine wool. Also seven ohl swine and seventeen young ones. Esq. Gage has made extensive improvements upon Ills place, not more by the erection of good new fences ar.d a new bam than by the manu- factm-e of good compost manure. He in this way has already made more than two blades of g)-ass spring up where but one grew before ; and his eminent success in this way will of course had him to make renewed efibrts to efl'ect still more. The Committee voted to Esq. Gage the second premium on farms, viz: .*6,00. The Comniittcp examined the farm of the Hon. Isaac Hn.L, siliiated on both sides of Merrimack river in Concord. We were so unfortunate as to find the owner absent, and therefore cannot give a very minute detailed account of the manage- ment of if, nor of the crops of the season. The readers of the valuable Farmer's Manual, the Visitor — will find in the numbers of this year, as well as last, well condensed view's and results of the ownei's improvements, and general experi- ments upon his farm, in tilling his land, in his crops, stock, and impletncnts of husliandry. It therefore, becomes unnecessary to recite them again at this lime. Sufiici; it to say, we Ibund about one acre of land near the buildings of Mr. Hill, under the care of Mr. Whitney, who has an interest in the profits of this tract, very tastefully and skilltidly laid out ior a garden. Here were good arrangements, — a good selection of such vegetables, seeds, and roots, of various kinds .as give the greatest profits to the gardener. This was the largest, and this year, the most profitable garden in the County e.xatnincd by ns, and would (irobably have commanded the Society's highest in-emium, had not our By-Laws prevented us from giving a premium of this kind two years in succession. Mr. Hill's farm is valuable lor its great products of h.iy. And it is near one of tlie liest hay-markets iii the State. It costs but little io remove this hay to the stables of the Inn-hold- ers in Conco;d street, or to take back in ex- change for it the valuable manure from the sta- bles of those who piu'chase it. A profitable bar- ter trade can in tliis way be carried on, and the owner of the farm, managing econonncall}, in- creasing the tpuuitity and quality of his stable manure by inte:n;i.xing with it meadow mud or turfs from the road side, and applying it with judgment to his land, will thus find out the art of all arts, that of doubling his coppers without prejudice to any one. We found the Brown corn, on Mr. Hill's intervale flourishing; also a very large luiid called the Lamprey corn. We fear this corn will reipiire too much strenglh of soil and ti)o iung a season to make it a proillaljle crop li:r New Humpshire. 'i'ije buck wheat on IVIr. Hill's plain country was very flourishing, as were the ruta baga, squash, &r. The barns of Mr. Hill, (or convenience are well worthy of imitation. Ourroot crops which farm- ers will find advantageous to raise tor feeding their stock, require barn cellars. Mr. Hill furnishes a good specimen in his cellar. The Committee voted the third preniium to Mr. Hill, viz : .*5,00. A portion of our number next examined the farm of Abraham Brow.-v, Esq. in Nortljfield. This was an upland farm, and the only one enter- ed for a premium. It consists of one hundred and twenty acres of land, thirtj-five of which are mowing and tillage, forty of iiasturing, forty-five of wood-land. The wood-land will furnish about seventy-five tons of good white oaktindjcr. Tliis farm descended to the present occupant tiom his father, and prior to the occupation of his lath- er uiore tlian thirty years since, although a large portion of it was then cleared, it produced only about five tons of English hay. Ir was then car- ried on under the high steam pressure, and fenc- ed with em|)ty new rum bottles. Under the cul- tivation of Mr. Brown and his father it has been renovated, producing now from twenty-five to tbii'ty tons of hay ; about forty bushels of wheat from three bushels sowing, and three acres of land ; thirty bushels of rye ; from sixty to one hundred bushels of oats; two hundred bushels of potatoes from two acres of land ; more than one hundred bushels of corn from three acres of land. He had for stock, seven cows, four oxen, iliree horses, tliirty-five sheep and eight swine. Mr. Brown makes from all sources about one humlrcd and twenty-five loads of manure annu- ally. Tliis fiirm is mostly well fenced by about five hundred rods ef good stone wall. Some built every year. Mr. Brown's boys do not ^vear safety watch chains, nor go to the stores and s^vap jack-knives and French watches for a live- lihood. But they are trained ii|) in applying the custom work upon stone wall, and in doing some- thing either useful to themselves or to posterity. The Conrmittee awarded the 4th prem um on farms to Abraham Brown, Esq. viz: 4,00. The Committee examined two pieces of corn owned by Capt. Samuel Chadwick, on Water street, in Boscawen. Ca[)t. Chadwick planted three acres of corn, two with the Brown corn so called, and one acre with the Gilford corn. It was well manured by about forty loads to the acre. The laud where the Brown corn grew was broken iq) this spring, and the manure prin- cipally spread upon the surfiice and harrowed in. The corn was planted pretty thick, and it was uniformly good. The Committee awarded the first premium on the crop of corn to Mr. Cliad- w ick, viz : §3,00. We also examined on his fiirm about one half an acre of Rohan potatoes, planted on ground naturally moist and which has been eiu'lched by good cultivation. It was this year manured by fourteen load.s of manure. The growth of the- potatoes was large and luxuriant, and the whole [jroduct bushels. The Committee re- commended a ]iremiuni to Mr. Chadwick on these potatoes. Tlie Committee also examined a piece of corn, consisting ot about one and a half acre on the farm of Laban M. Chadwick, near his iJitlier's in Boscawen. The land on which this grew was grass land ploughed in the spring, inanurrd by S|)reading twenty loads and putting ten loads in the hill for each acre. The Connnittee awarded lo Mr. Chadwick the third premium on corn, viz: the sum of S1,00. The Committee also examined an excellent |)iece of corn on the farm of D. S. Caldv.ell, in Dunbarton. (t grew on the eastern side of a fine piece of upland, well manured and managed. To this piece we awarded the second premium on corn, viz : ,f 2,00 We also examined another )iiece of corn in Dunbarton, on the farm of BIr. BeiXjami.n Whip- ple, a good growth from a hard piece of land. We recommended a preniium of §2,00 to Mr. Whipple. We find no premium awarded to tlie crop of potatoes by the f>xecutive Committee. There was jnobably not so many Irishmen on ihat Com- mittee as there were on the farhi Committee: — Iherelbre we excuse them for this oier-sight. We, therefore, recommended a premium of at least $2,00 to Cajit. Be>-j. T. Kimball, of Bos- cawen. for the best field of common jiot; toes. Mr. Kimball had about t.vo acres in iiis piece. Thev had suffered none from the drout lit. The /k THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 181 laud was well prepaied and manured by tlio application of twouty-eiglit loads to tlic acre. Tlie Society will uiore readily vote sonieiliing to tlie growers ot' potatoes, wiieu tliey learn that we difl not find onr wheat crops this year worthy of the designed and customary awards. The Committee examined the kitchen gardens of Rkubem Johnson, Jeremiah Kimball, Enoch CoFtiN, of Boscawen, and Thomas Ames, Esq. of Canterhuiy. Sonic of the vegetables in each of these gardens had bren injuriously afiectcd by the severe drought, but they were all generally in good care, producing most of the substantial necessaries and luxuries of the season. To Reu- ben Johnson we award the first Premium on garden's, viz: .§3,00. To Thomas Ames, second do. .f 3,00. To Enoch Coflin, third do. $1,50. To Jeremiah Kimball, fourth do. $1,00. The garden of \V. Webster. Esq. with its rich vines and idum trees, apple trees, and pomegran- ates; its arbors and beds well lined with herbs and flowers; with its walks and shrubbery, its plants and roots, all combined, woidd have com- manded the Society's bounty this year had noi our reports told ns it was last year No. 1, and tbere- foie we were prohibitsd from placing it on our list this year. We have thus briefly stated the result of our observations and opinions upon the several farms, crojis and gardens exhibited to us for our exam- ination. And we would here congratulate our Society and the farmers generally in this region upon the satisfactory evidence exhibited to us ol the general improvement of our lands, and slock, of the daily increasing inquiry. Zeal and infor- mation among them, pro\ing incoutestibly th:,t the great science of Agriculture is on the ad- vance and will not be suffered to retrograde. — Our books and journals are already rendering the ingenuity and successfully well directed energies of others the comnjon property of all. Theie is HOW no occasion :hr llie lanner to lose by rasi e,\perimeius. The true road to profit in this sci- ence has been well proved liy othej-.s. Watch their eftbrts ; study your own resources; be sure you are right, and then go ahead. Judge Buel bought saiuly plain for seven dollars per acre, hauled blue clay a mile or more, put it on lo tbi> sandy land, and mamn-ed his land too in tiie com- mon waj', and m.ade this sandy plain soon worth to him .$100 per acre. Now we have tried this experiment to a limited extent, on our own riv- er soil, and we can say witli good success. We thus reform our soil, mrikingit more compact and solid, better calculated to retain the moisture, to feed the roots of the vegetable, and to resist drought. We say to all, owning sandy or light soils, try the experiment, you will not regret it if you can command the materials. And for obvi- ous reasons sandy or light soils can be success- fully combined with our cold clayey lands to open the pores and let in the heat, keeping up a salu- tary circulation throughout the Ufiper suriiice of the land where there v,as none l)eibre. Report on Articles of Special Improvement. Your Committee on articles of Special Im- provement, found nine articles enteretl for a pre- njium. In the article entered. No. ] specimen of Pen- manship, with the name of C. C. Hodgdon, they r.ward a premium of one dollar. It was well ex'- ecuted: in the frontispiece, headed by the eagle, the shades were beiuuifully figured. Article No. 3, a pair of silk gloves by Mrs. Wood, widow of the late Rev. DiX Wood of Bos- cawen, in her 84th year, manufactured and knit by her own hand ; a beautiful specimen : the silk very fine, thread very equal, and the article well jnoporiioned. These gloves were manidacturcd from the first iMnlberry trees reared in our coun- ty, and it will be long remembered that Dr. Wood was the ])ii!neer in the manufacture of silk in our county. The Committee award 50 cents. Article No 3, a Shawl by Mrs. A. N. Caldwell, a large and good article. They award the sum of fjiiy cento. One Highland Sliawl, entei-ed by Reuben Johnson, a very tine article ; the -.voo! e\-cel!e:it, colors tasteful and well proportioned, the ial)ric firm. The manufacture of the two s lawls demonstrate the fact that ne are not am! iic'cd not be dependent on foreign importation fbi sucii fabrics, but tl'.e fair hands in Merrimack Conntv are rendv (n art of Moody & SToriill's Pa- tent Saw Mill, the part called the Euiacipater or running back, and that it more than equals our expectations, and we think it possesses many ad- vantages over the old fashioned mills, such as do- ing more work with less labor, and not freezing lip in winter. LEVI FRAZIER, MOSES FRAZIER." Article No. 7, A Bible, entered by Rufus Mer- rill of Concord. It is believed that'this is tlie first article of the kind ever ofiercd liir a premium in our county. Your Committee, so far as an op- portunity afforded, did not ascertain any improve- ments in the contents of the book, aiid did not suppose that to be the object of presenting it, but in the e.xccntion of the work they were highly gratified. The e.xcellency of the contents in their opinion do require that the word be dressed in all that neatness and delicacy of workmanshi[) we Ibund it to possess: the binding in goat, the cuts, paper, and type all bcautif idly proportioned, yet modestly neat. Your Committee award to Rtiliis Merrill a premium of one dollar. Article No. 8, one dozen silver table and two dozen silver tea spoons, entered by Seth Eastman of Concord, very well manufactured. Your Commiilee award fifty cents. Articles Numbered" 10 & 11, two pair of gloves supposed to be made of rabbit's fin- ; very well made. Your Committee award twenty-five cents to Miss Polly Thurston. In closing their rejiort, your Committee were of unanimous opinion thai every article of siie- cia! improvement merited a reward, but regretted e.xceedingly that they had only the sum of eight dollars at tlieir disposal. The Bible, Saw Mill iind Shawls, deserved more reward than was iu their power to besto^v ; and in fact most of the articles merited more tlian the small pittance in our hands. Bui it is hoped that the small premium at the con- ticl of tlie Society v.ill not deter art and genius in our flourishing county of Merrimack fi-om pre- senting in future more articles of special im- provement than heretofore, or the present year. Respectfully submitted, ENOS HOyT, For and in behalf of the Committee. Eejjort on Cutter. The Committee on Butter have attended with pleasure to the duty assigned them and eubmit the following report: There were twelve lots of butter exhibited for premiums, all which v.t.s of good quality, and your committee found it very difiicuit to decide which was entitled to the first premium, as there was not any which Vviould not liave been worthy of the iir.st if there had not been so much com- pititioii. There is i!ot one article of domestic produce so much complained of as poor butter, and that shows the want of skill and care in ma- king. Many people think (if we may judge from what they offer for sale) that any thing which has the appearanoe of butter will do to cany to the stores to sell. And there is nothing more dis- gusting and which shows the true index of >v!iat we may expect to find if we should visit their dai- ry rooms and kitchens; and that shows the true character of iJic v.oman offering such butter ibr sale. And of the reverse v.diatis there more pleas- ing in the eye and taste both to the butterand La- dy, then to see the buttermilk all worked out and put in;-o clfni! boxc'v' or luhs : and the Lndv of course will be in the .same style as the butter, for they will both always have the same appearance, and the inquiry will he, have you any more of tliat good butter to .>-ell.' It is worth and will bring the highest juice and the thanks of the purcliaseis. Your committee have finally concluded to award the First premium of .f3,00 to lot No. 7, ])resented by Benj. Whipjile, Dunbartoii ; second do .'*'2,50, lot No. 6, incseiited by Hazen Kimball, Mopkinton ; Third do $'2,00, No. 8, presented by John Kilburu, Bosca\\en ; Fourth do 1,50, No. a Albert Ames, Canterbury; Fifth do 1,00, No. 10, &. II, Georac W Nesmith, Franklin. JAMES WILSON, for the Committee. Report on Mares and Colts. The Committee on Breeding Mares and Colts, submit the Ibllowing report: — That "like produces like" is an axiom estab- lished by universal observation throughout the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and the laws are so definitely fixed that the product of animals of different species are unilbrmly barren ; and this is no doubt wisely ordered that we may certain- ly know how far aiUulgamation may be practi- ced without violating those laws. But notwith- standing every species stands thus distinct, there are diflerences iu every species, which niaj' be important, though perhaps unaccountable : these may be improved by care, and the valuable traits made more prominent, while the vicious and unworthy pans may be eradicated in the course of a few generations. The offspring of any animal is aflijcted by both parents, and fre- quently the properties of the male are most prominent, but usually we maj calculate that the ftmale parent has the greatest influence over the jirogeny both with regard to external form and the qualities of the mind, (if mind may be appli- ed to brutes.) In the human family it is deemed all important, in order to rear good citizens that the mothers should be properly fbrmed ; their natural powers of mind strong, and that their minds be properly disciplined and cultivated ; that they may not only impart to the rising gen- eration a well proportioned muscular frame and good imdei standing, but that they may so mould the morals and guide the understanding, that the youlh shall despise meanness, and aspire to all that is worthy and honorable. All men of ob- servation have noticed in others some peculiar trait of character taken liom the mother where they have been intimately acquainted with tv>o orthree generations. Every schoolmaster judges of the mother of his pu|iils b}' their daily devel- opements, not only of the manner and amount of authority she may exercise over them, which he may do with accuracy, but of her intellectual powers, her moral feelings, and her delicacy of thought ; no doubt but the influence of mothers of the hiiinan race is far greater over their cflT- spriiig, than of the bi ute creation, because they have them longer under their care, and instruct them for good or for evil by example and pre- cept, which beasts lu[ve not the power of doing in the short period ihey are usually together. But I have noticed vicious trpits iu the charac- ter of cows for five or six successive genera- tions not all alike in every generation, probably varied by the male, yet the same stamina of char- acter is there. I have cows now of a very docile character which I can di.-tinctly recollect Ibr five generations without a ii-actious one in the line, and one of the opjiosite character, which ha.s more or less developed itself through the whole race fbr thirty years. It is the same with horses. I have been credibly informed of a mare that had tl:e vicious property of letting down rails with her teeth, which trait discovered itself in all her colts fbr succeeding generations; and it could hardly have been learned by example of the an- cestor, as her owner -ivas careful to keep his bars securely pinned. If these premises are correct, which I believe every observant man will concede, it is a crcat motive to induce stork growers of all kind^■, to be cautious in selecting their breeders. There are certain desirable "properties which every horse should possess ; a comely Ibrm, nuiscnlar striMigth, agility, and a good docile dis]iosUion. These are desirable ibr any business. Diflerent kinds of business require difierent sized hor.-es; and those who breed horses should aim to adapt tlicir horses to some particular purpose. If colts 182 THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. aiP designed for lienvy tennis and tnicke, tlien make biillt a desideratum in join- breeders both male and female ; bnt still look well to nerve and muscle, which cannot bs well attained without good proportions. Quick walking is valuable in all horses— a team walkinfj naturally two and a lialf miles an hour, is altojjrther prelerable to one walking but two 'miles; and in a year the extra labor per- formed or the extra rest enjoyed would not be a despicable item ; — anil horses for ordinary pur- poses iu our billy country are obliged to walk so laree a proportion of the ground, that it should be "made an pbject to rear fast walkers. The horse is a most noble animal, and should be treated more as n friend than a slave, and his docility and moral feelings, (if a horse may be said to have a moral character) depend in a great dea:ree on his early treatment, which should nev- er be severe till all gentle means are imsuccess- ful. A horse can appreciate kindness, and I be- lieve will not if i)roperly used often betray your coniidence, but will leel a degree of resjionsibil- ity, in easing your cairiage down a derlivity, or over a dangerous place which other animals do not feel. But if your horse feels that be is a slave, that you do not appreciate his services, that your feelings are all mercenary, he will then "leave his care of you, and use all means in bis power to take care of himself Inreariui; colts, care should be taken that the size of the stucl be not disproportionate to the mai-e. 1 have seen a colt from a moderate sized mare, and overgrown stud, which partook in a great degree of the spirit and energy of the mare, but seemed mostly limb, and lacked the muscu- lar strength of the" dam, and on the whole was a miserable apolo^'y for a large horse. There is more danger of a stud too large than too small, and whoever would raise large colts sliould be careful if his niiu-e is small to let his increase of size be gradual. The same remark may be true to some extent retpecling neat cattle, but the er- ror is not so dangerous, as ungainly cattle may be made valuable'for beef; but it sbnidd be re- garded if cattle are intended for the yoke ; and in crossing sheep great care shoidd be used — a half breed from a Merino ewe and Native buck is not half as valuable ns one produced vice versa ; but this is a digression. Improvement in the breed of horses in this section of country has been but litlie sought, and therefore we may not wonder that it is no more visible. Many have been willing to be penny wise and pound foolish in the matter of employ- ing stud horses. Generally the cheapest is thought the most economical, and any thing that would answer the purpose has been resorted to ; but this is the direct way to depreriate our si- ready depreciated stock of horses. Some studs have been fatted up and palmed upon us as val- uable ; and the deception could not be detected till detected in the stock, which has been a- nother cause of our statiouary stand in this stock. Another reason may be that colts are often abus- ed by work, or in sport before they attain their full strength. I believe colts may be worked af- ter three years old to some extent without inju- ry to their speed or physical strength ; to exact the labor of a mature horse from one of three or even fo\ir years old, is apt to destroy his energy, if not impair his strength. I have known a colt kept at v.ork from three to four .veins old. nnd brought to the api)otiraiice of an old worn down horse, who in after life, let his flesh be ever so high, and let him be ever so full of glee when loose and no horse had more— the moment he was in the harness he was the same dull, drudg- ing animal, with all the natural marks of a sprightly hor.se. Thej-e is no reasonable excuse for a community keeping from generation to generation miserable horses. It is die ready way to make a jioor com- munity poorer, and make a rich one poorer. The exjieiise of keeping and .shoeing is as great, and the profit and the pleasure much less than if our horses were of the right quality. The man of business who rides much will find a horse of eight miles an hour will give him a much greater amount of time for business than one pf four miles — probably if his time is of much value, enough to pay the expense of bis horse's keep- ing. "The farmer and teamster who have well made herses will perform more with two, than be ,?,oidd with three long, lean, lank-sided apologies for horses, while the expense of keeping one of Pharaoh's lean kind is saved ; beside it is a luxury to use good horses wliieh none who have enjoyed it would wish to Ibrego. There seems at present a disposition in the members of this society to awake fiom their lethargy on the subject of improving horses, nnd the true state of the case is becoujing known ; and your committee are highly gratified at the exhibition of so many breeding mares and colts on this occasion, none ol' which but were respec- table, and we regret that the liind.i of the society are such that more premiums are not at our dis- posal ; and the committee feel that in awarding tliose oftered it is diflicult to satisfy, even our- selves that we make the most proper selection. Yet in confidence of our own integrity of pur- pose, we feel that if others judge differently from us, they will allow the difterence of opinion to be the result of human frailty, and not criminal ; and we feel that the thanks of the society are due to all those who have exhibited mares and colts on this occasion, for their et)bit to improve this most important and useful kind of stock ; and that it will be not only a source of profit to themselves, but a benefit to the counrjuuity. That the ex- ample will stinuilate many others to go and do likewise, or even to surpass them — and that the next generation shall see a stock of horses in this county as hardy as our granite bills, as beauti- ful as our streams and meadows, as fleet as the wintry winds which swetp with fury over hill and plain, and as docile as the lamb, when lamb and lion shall play together in peace. These five mares and colts were entered for premium, and three colts under five years old ; and though our cognizance of colts without mares was rather by implication than otherwise ; yet as premiums were offered lor such, and no committee special- ly directed to them, we took them into consider- ation, and do recommend that the first premium of 2 dollars be given for the best mare and colt to No. 3 ; — The second of 1 dollar to No. 2 for 2d best; — That the first premium of 2 dollars on colts be given to colt No. 7 ; — That the second premium of 1 dollar be tiven to colt No. 8. Submitted by S. B. LITTLE. for the Committee. The Haverhill Farmer. In passing through Haverhill, Massachusetts, a few days ago we made it a point to inquire for the veteran merchant and farmer of that to«n, David Howe. Almost every busijiess man of thirty years ago, fiom this side the Haverhill on Connecticut river and the Coos above it, who has driven a lumber box in winter loaded with pork, butter, cheese, grass seed or other produce to- wards the seaboard, has traded with David Howe, who could always do quite as well with coimtry customers as they could do either by pursuing their journey to Ncivbury|iorl, Salem or Boston. Mr. Howe was a man who jileased the people— ah U|)right, worthy man, who deserved their friend- ship, because he never took any undue advantage of them in the way of trade. His stores were always well filled with the articles they would purchase, and he was ever ready to pay them a part cash ibr their produce and to exchange such goods as they might wniit tor the remainder. But it is in the cliaracter of amateur farmer that our particular inquiries were at this time directed to till!* tlisiiuiiuished individual. Unfortunate as he had been in business by incurring responsibil- ities for others, he never has given over his pas- sion nnd taste for agricultural improvements ; and now in the "sere and yellow leaf" of more than eighty years, he still directs in the operations of the field. Several farms, which have been improved under his hand to twice and three times their cost iu a worn-out state, have lieen disposed of, nnd are now in the hands of others. Sir. Howe for years employed many hands and carri- ed on farms not only in his own town, but in ad- jacent towns. He not only made manure in great quantities, btit he purchased if wherever he could find it ; and many people thought he made im- prpvements more for the pleasure of gratifying his peculiar taste and his pride than for any im- mediate profit they would bring to his coffers. His agriculture was considered to be a constant drain upon his purse ; nnd it was generally thought that there were few who could afford to farm it in the manner he did. He once reared an ox that was an object of won- der nnd curiosity far and near ; this ox was brought up by him from a calf without ever being mated or put to labor. He was ii'd and kept fiom year to year with that food and in that par- ticular manner supposed to be most conducive to his growth and fatnes?. We have no present means of discribing this ox, or of comparing him either with the famous Greenland ox raised by Mr. Pierce, or the Clareujoiit ox of Mr. Hubbard: we bad always understood tliat be was not so large as either of these, the latter of which was exhibited iu this town some four or five years ago. Mr. Howe's ox, whose day and generation was prior to either of the others, was kejit by him so long as he would continue to thrive, and was not slaughtered until he had begun to fall away in size and fatness. Expensive as were the agricultural improve- ments of Mr. Howe — I'ar more expensive as they necessarily were than could be any single farm whose operations were constantly imder the eye of the proprietor — we are nevertheless of opinion that he did not, so far as improvement of the land was the object, suffer pecuniary loss. The raised cash value of the land, we believe, has turned out to be equal to the extra expense laid out upon it. The day before the ground was covered with snow, as we passed iu the stage towards the line of New Hampshire, our attention was turned to four or five fields in Haverhill, of about twenty acres each, a mile distant from the village of Ha- verhill, which some twenty years ago had been re- claimed by Mr. Howe. Someofthe unreclaimed land still remains along side of it ; and from this we have an opiiortunity of judging how great has been the change which cultivation has made up- on this ground. The ground was too near a lev- el to have the water readily drain fiom it ; and the soil was too clayey and retentive for the stand- ing water to soak away : the water oozing out of the springs near the surfiice remained through the spring and early summer, until the sun run- ning high became sufficiently powerful to take it off in the air, leaving a cracked, dry surface that refused nourishment to every kind of useful veg- etation. This ground seemed to he a little worse than any other similar ground we had ever before seen, because in addition to its clayey cold quali- ties and its proneness to hold the water upon the sin'ace, it was full of rocks of all sizes, but gen- erally of those from twenty to a hundred pounds each. The adjacent field of the same kind of soil which probably never was ploughed, now shows these rocks covered with moss usurping iu thousands of p'rotuherances nearly half of the surface, and that |)art of the ground free from then;, so wet nnd cold that even hardback bushes would not grow upon it to their common size. The improved ground has never been fit for any other crop than grass ; and this it will proba- bly continue to produce many years without ploughing, with the spreading of manure over the surface once in a few years. The improve- ment commenced with digging out the rocks so that the land miirlit be broken, which was at first done by a plough with a heavy team, and dug up with the crow bar nr negro hoe where the plough could not do its work. Afterwards it was work- ed up into ridges of one or two rods in width, leaving a space for a drain to let the water off at the lowest jioint of the lot. To make the drain effectual it became necessary to sink the valley to the depth of two or three feet iu some places. The ground was at first subdued by rais- ing potatoes ;' and all the small stones near the surface were carried off and deposited in piles ; after it was well manured it was sowed with oats and laid dov.-n to grass. It is decidedly the great- est improvement of worn out land that we have ever seen in so large a body. Probably there is not another instance in the United States where as large a lot of land of this kind with so many discouragements upon its face, has been brought into high production and value. There were many thousand tons of stones up- on this land, which were gathered into piles upon the ground. These have been since taken away and appropriated to useful purposes ; of which hundreds of tons have been disposed of under the track of the main road fronting the land, be- low the frost, so as to bear off upon the surface tlie many henvy teams passing over it. We believe a different method of improving this land, with jjcrhnps no additional expense, would have made it much I)etter, and the im- THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 183 provement more permanent. Our plan would be under-dniining, which might have been followed ut any subsequent period by subsoil ploughing, conducting the drains either into open or cover- ed ditches where the water might be made to pass off. The drains, at suitable distances, per- haps not nearer tliau the lowest point of two rods between the ridges, might in this land easily be sunk below where any plough would ever reach ; and these would furnish a very convenient space for the disposition of thousands of tons of the surface rocks, so laid and covered that the water could always pass oft" in them without obstruc- tion. They would forever carry away not only all the redundant surface water but the spring water rising above the bottom of the drain. — Deeper and deeper stirring of the ground at ev- ery new ploughing, this land would not only have been first rate grass ground, but it would become the best for almost any kind of crop. The ap- ple trees, which have been set surrounding some of the fields, and which now have not flourished as they do on lighter and easier soil, would in that case have grown up without difficulty; and the land that is now estimated and has been sold at seventy-five dollars the acre, would be worth at the lowest calculation one hundred and fifty dol- lars the acre. We were informed that the price paid by Mr. Howe for this land before any im- provement was made upon it was seventeen dol- lars the acre : such land, farther removed from a village oi- city would be valuable perhaps only for growth of .such forest trees as might be natural to it. From the Connecticut Congregatinnalist. Twenty Acres enough for a Farm. Mr Editor : — I have long been convioced, both by practice and observation, that one of the greatest mistakes in om- farming is, that we cul- tivate too much land, and have been too eager for acres, rather than to improve those we already possess. To illustrate this opinion, and to carry conviction more forcibly to the mind, I will insti- tute a comjiarison between a Hundred acre farm, cultivated according to the common course of farming now pursued in the town of Bloom- field, where 1 reside, and a Twenty acre farm made rich and cultivated in the best manner. One lumdred acres, average value of land in Bloomfield, $40 per acre, $4000 Twenty acres in a high state of cultivation worth $200 per acre, $4000 It will be seen from this, that the capital in- vested, is the same in both farms. I will now go into a minute calculation of the profits and ex- penses of the large and small farms, and invite iariiiers to give it a candid examination. ESTIMATE OF THE EXPENSES AND PROFITS OF ONE HUNDRED ACRE FARM. Twenty acres in mowing, (1 ton to the acre, average |iroduce of the land in Bloomfield,) worth, to feed stock, $7 per ton. 20 tons, at $7 per ton, is .^140 00 Ten acres of Corn, 30 bushels to the acre, 300 bushels, at 50 cts. 150 00 Ten loads of Corn Stalks, at $3 per load, 30 00 Three acres of Potatoes, 150 bushels to the acre, 450 bush- els at 16 cents, 72 00 Seven acres of Rye, 12 bushels to the acre, 84 bushels at 75 cts. fi3 00 Ten acres of Oats, 20 bushels to the acre, 200 bushels at 30 cts. 60 00 The mowing and cultivated crops, take up 50 acres of the farm, leaving 50 acres for pasturing, which will keep, and keep well, 1 yoke of Cat- tle, 7 Cows and a Horse, 10 head, at $6 each, 60 00 Produce worth, to feed to stock, $575 pO 575 00 ESTIMATE OF THE EXPENSE OF CULTIVATING ONE HUNDRED ACRE FARM. Labor of Cultivating one acre of Corn. Ploughing forCorn once,] 50 Harrowing, 50 Manuring in the hill, 3 00 Planting 1 acre of Corn, 1 50 Hoeing 3t. $2 each time, 6 00 Gathering and husking 30 bush. ap'g-. crop, 3 00 CulL 10 acre.s Corn, at 15 50 pr ac. 155 00 Labor of Cultivating one acre of Potatoes. Ploughing- once, 1 50 Harrowing. .50 Manuring in the hill, 3 00 Planting, 4 00 Hoeing 3 times, 6 00 Digging 150 bu. average crop, 6 00 Cult. 3 ac. Potatoes, at 91 00 pr ac. 63 00 Labor of Cultivating one acre of Rye. Ploughing twice, 3 00 Dragging, 50 Sowing and dragging, 1 00 Reaping, carting, &c. 2 00 Thrashing & cleaning, 1 00 Cult. 7 acres of Rye, at 7 50 pr ac. 52 50 Labor of Cultivating one acre of Oats, Ploughing once, 1 50 Dragging and sowing, 1 00 Cradling & gathering, 1 50 Thrashing 20 bushels, 75 Cult. 10 acres Oats, at 4 75 pr ac. 47 50 Mowing, making and securing 20 acres of Hay, at $3 60 00 Seed for 10 acres of Corn, 4 qts. to the acre, at .f 1 per bushel, 1 25 Seed for 3 acres of Potatoes, 12 bu. to the acie common quan tity used, 36 bushels, 25 cts per bushel, 9 00 Seed for 7 acres Rye, 7 bush. at 75 c 5 25 Seed for 10 ac. Oats, 20 bush. at 30c 6 00 Clover seed, to seed down 17 acres of Rye and Oat-ground, 3 qts. to the acre, common quantity used. 15 30 Keeping fences in repair on 100 acres of land, 30 00 Cutting the hushes, 10 00 Am't of expenses of 100 ac. farm, $454 80 Mit profit of the large farm, $120 20 STATEMENT OF THE PRODUCE AND EXPENSES OF TWENTY ACRE RICH FARM. Four acres of mowing, 5 tons to the acre, at 2 cuttings, 20 tons of Hay, worth to feed, f 7 per ton," Two acres of Wheat, 30 bush. to the acre, 60 bush, at $1 per bush. One acre of Corn, 90 bush, at 50 c Four loads of Corn Stalks, at .$3 per load. One acre Sugar Beets, 800 bushels, al one shilling per bushel , One acre of Potatoes, 400 bu. alls. Half ar. acre of Ruta Baga, 450 bush, at 12A cts per bushel, Half an acre of Carrots, 440 bush, at 1 shilling per bushel. The mowing and cultivated cro])s take up 10 acres, leav- ing 10 acres for pasturage, wiiich will keep, and keep well, 7 cows, a yoke of cat- tle, and a horse, 10 head at $6 each, Produce, worth to feed the stock, EXPENSE .$140 00 60 00 45 00 12 00 134 00 67 00 56 00 73 67 60 00 — 647 67 ACRES OF CULTIVATING TWf LAND. Mowing one acre of heavy grass first time, 2,00 Making and carting first crop, 4,00 Mowing second crop, 1,00 Making & carting 2nd crop, 2,50 Mowing 4 .".cres, nt (per acre.) 9,.50 — 36,00 Labor of Cultivating one acre of Wheal. Plowing twice, 3,00 Harrowing and sow ing, 1,50 Reaping, binding and carting, .3,00 Thrashing and cleaning30 bu. 2,50 Labor in cultivating 2 alied with turf, or muck, oi' some other substance BufRcient to absoib the liquids of the yard, make double or treble his ]n-esent quantity of manure.' That it costs capital, or labor, which is the sanje as money, to bring up land into this high state, I liiiinit; but what 1 am endeavoring to show is, that it is lar better to expend capital in improv- ing our land, than to expend it in increasing the number of our acres. — Carry out this system of farming, and Conneccticut can supjiort one and a hnlfimUions of inhabitants from agTiculture alone. How many one himdred acre farms there are amongst us which now give but a scanty support to one lamilv, but which might by labor judici- ously ai)plied, be made to support five such fam- ilies in com[)arative opulence. It is astoifishing what can be done on a single acre of groimd by proper ctdtivation. There is not probably, tw'enty acres of land, in the State of Connecticut, lying in one bod}', but might be i I proved; and I very much doubt whether there is a sijig/e acre lint what might be made better than it now is, by giving it a more perfect culti- vation, or by adding some ingredient to its soil Vom-s, very respectfiillv, Bloomfidd, Oct. 26, 18-10. D. W. Grant. A Lecture on Geology, PELIVEaED AT BATH, ?i. 11. OCT. 21, ] 8 10, BY DR. M. F. MORRISOK. Geology is that science, which gives a history of the physical revolutions of different ages, from an examination of the changes they have appa- rently produced ; with a description of those ma terials which compose the terrcs oxidte or o.xidi zed crust of the earth. Tlie ages whicli are marked by revolutions pe culiarto eacli, are three; tbe chaotic, the organ ic and the historic. By the first is meant a time anterior to the ex istence of organic life; apparently of intense heat, followed by the convulsive energies of vol- canic action. By the second we coittem plate an age when the crust ot the earth had become sufficiently consolidated, and the condensed waters had at- tained a reduction of temper'attn-e compatible with the more simply organized fonns of animal and vegetable bcintr- By the third or historic age, reference is had to a still later period of universal renovation, when after a series of dread convulsions and wide spread revolutions, the earth assumed its present form, adapted to the wants and capacities of in- tellectual existence, and inan became its inhabi- tant. Philosoiiliy asserts as a probable fact, and chemistry goes strong to prove the assertion, that the original state of this globe was that of a burn- ing mass of fluid lava. The proofs are, 1. The continuance of volcanic action ; more than two hundred of our mountains still being active volcanoes, these with the existence of thermal springs and elevation of temj)erature as we descend into the earth, prove conclusively that intense lieat even to fusion still e?;ists and is in action beneath us. 3. The oxidized crust of llie globe, the result in all cases of combustion, confirms the univer- snlitv of tlinl action over the earth : and 3. The crjstaline Ibrm of the primitive rocks, the product of igneous fluidity, cooled down by glow reduction imdcr high |iressure, sustains the idea of its long continued action. Many of the objections which formerly existed against the igneous origin of our crystalinc rocks have been removed by the analysis and synthesis of the chemist. Sir James Hall repro- duced the chrystalline rocks from their ]iulverizcd ingredients by the aid of a high tem|ierature, and strong pressure. Professor riiitscherlich pro- duced the same crystals by taking deliiiite |iro- portions of their component elements, and Pro- fessor Kersten found distinctly liiiMued crystals of primitive felspar, a mineral which had resisted every effort at chemical synthesis; upon the walls of a fiu-nace prepared for the smelting of copper ore from the slate of the Mansfield Hartz. The theory of the {/rimeval reign of fire is thus supported by the logical reasoning of the most scientific deductions. Tlie consequence of flu- idity would be a concentration of the elements in accordance with their specific gravities, and while the denser metals would tend towards the centre, tlie lighter would float upon the sin-fiice, and the tluidsknown to us as natural products would be vaporized and form ^vith the gases the surroun- ding atmosphere. And could the ken of hiunan vision from the region of a more congenial clime have penetrated the gloom which veiled our planet at this period, it ivould have brought to view an ocean of fire, visible alone from the lurid light of its own reflections upon the dark cloud winch overshadowed it. And the grandeur of the scene might have been heightened perhaps by the calm tranqtallity which prevailed ujion its surface: and ages might have rolled away before the conflicting elements commenceil their convul- sive energies. The grand agencies of renovation were the antagonist principles of heat and cold. By the reduction of teinpernttue a thin crtist of partially consolidated lava would be formed, and the condensed waters settling upon the half cooled mass would shiver the surface to atoms, and dissipate the waters again into vapor Acting upon masses of different densities and dil^ ferent capacities for heat, cavities and elevation? would be formed ; and ilie waiers again coiiden sing and flowing into the chastns, the explosions woidd be repealed and reiterated, becoming more and more intense and powerful imtil a deiuh and firmness was obtained suflicient to form an o])posing barrier to the warring elements. Hence arose a scries of revolutions, chaotic indeed in character, yet harmonious iu their residt and highly beneficial in their design. The frsi of these was the production of vast quantities of sand, the result of the collision of the waters with the surface lava. For although we consider the masses of clay as sedimentary dejiosites, we can view the sands only as the re- sult of extensive and long continued abrasion. They woidd not only enter largely into tlte com- position of the primary and secotidary rocks, but as a non-conductor of caloric they would be of essential service in the grand pi'ocess of reno'i tiou. If at the same time we take into view the immense bodies of sand now in existence, net only in the beds of seas and rivers and within the stratified formation of the earth, but frequent- ly forming immense deserts upon its surface, where the winds rage with a violence only equal- led iipuii tile scjircely more fluid ocean of waters ; we imist attribute their origin to more sudden and powerful causes than the long continued ac- tion of the elements upon the surface strata. A second was the formation of liasiii-like cavities filled with marine waters and surroun- ded with narrow Isthmuses -vhich prevailed so generally at the close of the chaotic age. These basins were as extensive in luunber [irobably as the universality of the commotions wjiich produ- ced them. That such a disi/osition of the earth did exist, we have full aiifl satisfactory evidence around us in the disposition of the strata and the fossil remains both marine and lacustrine wJiicli prevail in all the level or geiitly imdulating sec- tions in every part of the globe. The London and Wealdcn basins in England, the Paris and Artesian basins iu France, and the Vienna and Epplesheim basins of Germany, reniai . ])orpet- ual monuments both of the corrcctne-.^s of this conclusion, and the beneficent wisdom of the design. Filled afterwards with the disruptured materials of volcanic elevations, mixed in some instances, with the vegetable elemeiits of coal, and in others with crystaline masses r)f common salt, and stratified iu all by a repetition of marine or lacustrine sedimentary depositcs, they present an arrangenientof the highest importance not on- ly to the progress of civilization and the arts, but even to the habitability of the globe. To illustrate this position we have only to con- sider liir a moment the inconveniences which might have attended other forms- of arrange- ment. Had the earth's surface presented only one unvaried mass of granite or of kua, or had its nucleus been surroimded by entiie concentric coverings of stratified rocks, a single stratum on- ly would have been accessible to the inhabitants and the varied intermixtures of limestone, clay and sandstone, which under the actuid disposition are so advantageous and necessary to the beauty and fertility of the earth, would have had no place. The highly valuable mineral treasures al- so of coal, table salt and metallic ores, confined as they chiefly are to the older formations would have been wholly inaccessible, and we should have been destitute of all those essential elements of industry and civilization. But the sim ile arrangement of basins causes not only the mineral deposites but the permeable and impermeable stratified depositories of fresh water to he brought to the surfiice around their circumference rendering their contents accessi- ble at tlie same titne by sinking mines or wells in almost every jiart of their respective areas. As a supply of fresh water is essential both to animal and vegetable existence, the adjustment ol the earth's surface to this important jiurpose af- fords one among the many proofs of consummate w isdoni in its formation. The filling up of the basins may receive some illustration by supposing a series of metallic bowls, lessening in size, placed one within the other, and corresponding to the impermeable strata of clay while their interstices are filled with sand and might represent the alternating permeable strata of sand and sandstone. These last receive rain water at their surface which de- scending, until arrested by the subjacent bed of cla}', accumii'ate throughout the porous strata, forming extensive reservoirs, the overfl.owing of whic!) on the sides of valleys constilute the ordi- nary supply of springs and rivers. These are modified again by fractures and dislocations in the strata, Ibrming faults and dikes which serve as dams in their respective areas. Hence if a well is sunk to the water bearing level of any strata it forms a communication w ith a perfect subterranean sheet of that fluid which rises to its summit levej by hydrostatic pressure. The valley of Artois in France is surrounded by an elevated range of hills, no where broken by deep valleys of denudation. Hence l>y lioring a small hole through ihe impermeable sliuta to the per- meable, they obtaiu perpetually flowing artificial fountains. These wells arc called fioni the val- le}' V, hence they had their origin Arlcsiuii wells, aiul by inserting tubes into their orifices, water of any quality may be conducted from any requir- ed depth up through the intervening strata to tbe surface. At Perpigran and Tours the Ujiward pressure is suff.cienily powerful to eject a cannon iiall tiirown into the tubes, and at Rousilloii the water is throivn up to the distance of from forty to fifty feet above the surface. These wells liave been successfully found in the I,ondon basin, in Lincolnshire ami other parts of Englaiid, in Ital3', Holland, China, and North .'\raerica, and it is in contemplation by the Pacha of Egypt to con- struct these wells along the thorough-ftires of the Afi ican deserts, particularly alons the main road v.liich crosses the isthmus of Suez. The extent of these basins may be imagined from the size of the great chain of American lakes, and the sea of the Caspian }et unfilled, and the Wealden ba- sin a stratified formation in England, w Inch is two hundred miles in diameter, with a depth of two thousand feet. A third result of pyrotechnic phenomena was the formation of the primilive chrystalline rocks. These are granite, gneiss, mica slate, ]irimordJal limestone, hornblend rocks, talcose slates, green- stones, serpentines, porphyries and clay slates. Many of these are comjiomid iu tlieir structure, and the simple minerals which enter into their composition, and uniting with the debris of the primary rocks enter into ihe composiilou of the secoiulnrv strata, are argillite, chlorite, felspar, HE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 185 gypsum, horiiblend, lionistoue, liraeeloiie, mica, quartz and talc. As no fossil remains have been found imbed- ded in the primary rocks it is universal!)' conce- ded that the period of their formation must have been anterior to the existence of animal or ve- getable life. And as regular gradations of min- eral character extend fiom the modern lavas, trachytes and ])orphyrics, through trap and ba- salt to infinite varieties of serpentine greenstone, sienite and finally lo granite, we cannot but relcr them all to a common igneous origin. A/ourth result of the same phenomena, was the formation of metalic veins. As the mean density of the whole earth is about double tliat of its ox- idized crust, its composition taken as a body is supposed to be metallic. Indeed but little doubt remains since the im]iortant discovery by Sir H. Davy of the metallic nature of our surface soils, alumina, calcia and magnesia, that all the differ- ent materials which enter into the composition of the solid parts of our globe have metallic bases although a few ametalics as boron, carbon, fluo- rine, iodine, phosphorus, seleifumi, silicon and sulpher, have as yet resisted the analysis of the chemist to olrtain a claim to that character. As before suggt!Stcd the denser metals in a state of fusion would tend towards the centre while the lighter would become oxidized upon the surface of the earth and it would require some extra effort of subterranean dynamics to tlu'ow up the denser metals and form veins and detached masses of these metals in the fractures and chasms of the primitive rocks. But what- ever might have been the nature of the forces which caused their elevation we find them most- ly, to be sure, in the rents and fissures of tlie prim- itive formation though frequently in such of the transition and secondary and even tertiary strata as are superincumbent upon, and lying immediate- ly in contact with the ]irimary. These fissures are more or less filled with various forms of me- talliferous and earthy minerals, deposited in suc- cessive and oflen corresponding layers on each side of the vein. Occasionally, a metal is found disseminated throughout the substance of a rock, as tin is sometimes disseminated in granite, and copper in the slate of the Mansfield H;'.rtz. But these cases are rare. In general the metallic veins are distinctly fonnod, varying much in their width and unequal in their depth; sometimes running out after a short distance, and .:it others descending to unknown depths below tlie sur- face ; but still in a gancuo ditlercnt (ionithe min- eral product siUTOunding it and exhibiting a dis- tinct formation. The most numerous and valuable of the metallic 1 veins of Cornwall in England, and in many other mineral districts are found n.'ar the junction of the granite with the slate. These vary in width from less than one inch to more than thirty feet, but the prevailing thickness of the veins both of copper and of tin in that county is from one to three feet. And it hnsbeen fbmid tlmt in these narrower veins the ore is less intermixed with other substance s and consequently wrought to belter advantage. But the [jrimary rocks are not the oidy depository of metalllic veins. Mines of haematite and spathose iron ore found in the Eastern Pyrenees in limestone of three agt 8 referable severally to the transition series, to the lias and the chalk, situated however where the limestone is in near contact with the gran- ite, and the consequcncG has f.een to crystalizc the limestone wherever the two minerals have come together. Also in tlie Cordilleras of Chili at an elevation of fourteen thousand feet the granite has evidently been fluid so late as the de- jiosition of the tertiary strata, sections of which strata have not only been rendered crystaline but are traversed with dikes froni the granitic mass beneath, inclined at high angles and form- ing regular and complicated anticlinal lines. Those dikes with the accompanying lava are fill- ed with very nmnerous true metallic veins of iron, copper, arsenic, silver and gold, all of which can be traced to the granite mass before mention- ed. The gold mines of North Carolina are found in talcose slate, and the Pliitinum mines of the Ural are fbimd not only in talcose slate, but in volcanic porphyry, m clianged limestone near in- trusive granite and green sand, the detritus o! primary rocks. Several hypothe'ieB have been advanced to ex- l)lain the rationale of the Ibrmation of metallic veins. Werner siqiposed that they were filled from aljove by the substances suspended in a state of aqueous solution. Hutton believes that their contents were injected from below in a state of igneous fusion. Mr. Patterson refers the process lo sublimation from subjacent masses of intensely heated mineral matter; while Mr. Fox attributes it to slow segregation or infiltration mod- ified and controled by electro chemical agency. But in whatever way formed, one thing is cer- tain, that the total quantity of all the metals known to exist near the surlace of the earth with the exception of iron and perhaps of lead, is com- paratively small ; — their value to man being of the utmost consequence, they are so placed by a wise and beneficent Providence as to be out of the reach of immediate and improvident exhaus- tion ; exercisins all om- ingenuity first to find theni, and then to overcome the difficulties by which their attainment is surrounded. A fijVi result was the conmiencernent of ani- mal and vegetable life. Hitherto the temperatin-e had been too elevated and the convulsions too fre- quent lor the conuneiicement or temporary safe- ty of animal or vegetable existence, even in its lowest and most simply organized forms. But a new era had commenced. A state of conq)ara- tive repose from chaotic convulsions and a re- duction of temiieratiu-e comj)atible with organ- ized beings was obtained. The crust of the earth had assumed a depth and firmness indica- ting at least for a time a comparative state of re- [lose. V'egetable and animal existence were proba- bly nearly simultaneous in their origin. The first of tliese commencing on the sands of the narrow istlimuses which surrounded those isola- ted sea.s, were in the form of the tropical ferns, and assisted by a high temperature and profuse evaperation, soon attained a size and elevation far exceeding their congeners of the present age. Happily the existence as well as the size and species of these' gigantic plants rests not upon the conjectures of speculative theorists, but, treasured up in the subterranean storehouses of the I'arboniferors strata, they still exist as monu- mental records of the past. In the coal fields we find jilants resembling in their texture and striicttu'e the club moss, the arborescent fern, the horsetail and scoiu'ing rush of the present times attaining tlie size of our largest forest trees. The history of fossil plants goes to show that of the plants of the transition strata more than one Inmdrcd and twenty of the known sjie- cics were ferns forming almost one half of the entire flora of that period. The others were in- termediate between the ferns the mosses and the pines, a few of the last being even then in exis- tence. Of the plants of the secondary strata about one third were ferns ; the remainder were mostly cycadeaj and couil'erre with a few of the lilly tribe. The vegetation of the tertiaries ap- |)roximated clearly to that of the |)rescnt period. Thus among living plants the nearest relation to the earliest forms are the seaweeds, ferns, mosses, cycas and jiines. The fiimily that has most uni- versally pervaded every str.ge of vegetation is the conifera;, increasing in the number and varie- ty of its genera and species at each successive change in the climate and condition of the sur- face of the earth. This family fonim ut thu present time about one three hundredth part of existing vegetables. Another family which has pervaded all the series of formations, though in small proportion, are thejialms. 'i'hc iHuiil.cr of fossil plants already described is about five hundred, nearly three hundred of which are from the transition series, and almost entirely from the coal formation. About ono hiuidred arc from strata of the secondary series and some- what more tlian tliat number from the tertia- ries. As the known species of living plants are more than fifty thousand it proves conclusively that the jiresent admixture of soils and reduction of temi)erature is far more congenial to the ex- tent and variety of vegetation than any fi^rmer period ol' the history of the earth. As the first outlines of vegetation commenced on the isth- muses, so the first germs of animal being ' eiian ia the deeper of those isolated seas enclosed by tliem, and were in the commencement exclusive- ly marine. The Ibssil remains of the first series are those of zoopliites, crustaceans and mollusks. In the second of these belonged the family of the trilobites, remarkable for their early extinction, none being found later than in the carbonili'rou.s strata of the transition series; as also tor their almost miiversal diffusion, being Ibuiid in great numbers in almost evei7 section of the iilobe. To these succeeded at an early period the fiuuily of fishes, many of them of "a large size and destructive character, amongst which the sharks and megalichthys or lizard fislies were predom- iirant. These were followed by the samians or lizards and indeed the peculiar f(?atures in the population of the whole series of secondary stra- ta was the prevalence of numeious and gigantic forms of saurian reptiles. Many of these 'were exclusively marine; others ani|)hibious ; others terrestrial, ranging the savannahs and jungles clothed with a tropical vegetation ; while othei's even tenanted the air under the dragon form of flying lizards or pterodactyles. Of the marine saurians the most remarkable were the ichthyos- aurus and plesiosaurus fiom their size and des- tructive powers reigning the tyrants of the ocean, some of their fossil remainsj exceeding thirty feet in length. And just at the time when their existence among the timnlies of the ocean ceased, which was dm-ing the deposition of the chalk a new genus, the mosasaurus, appeared desliried for a while to supply their ofiice ami place, and at length jield both to the cetacia of the tertia- ry periods. Of the amphibious reptiles together with five or six species of crocodiles appeared the inegalosaurus an enormous lizard fiom forty to fifty feet in length partaking of the structine of the crocodile and the monitor. The hylaeosau- rus or lizird of the weald was intermediate in size between the lust and the crocodile, beino- about twenty five feet in length. Of the terres^ trial saurians the iguanodon found also in the Wealden fresh water formation, jiresented a length of seventy feet with a liody fourteen and a half feet in circumference. And to finish the strange picture of these monstrous inhabitants of the land and waters of our inliint world ^ve find the filing saurians or pterodactyli presenting a series of anomalies in their structiu-e which the genius alone of a Cuvier could reconcile. Altliough a continued series of revolutions had materially changed the face of the ea.rtli since the commencement even of organic life; still the condition of the globe at the period of wliicli we are speaking seems not sufficiently advanced in the work of renovation to admit of its general occiq)ancy by warmblooded terrestrial mammal- ia. The first evidence we find of their existence is in the forest marble of the oolitic strata, situa- ted in Ihe ascending series about midway be- tween the transition series and the to-liary" for- mations. This was the fossil skeleton of the didelphis bucklandi, an extinct s[)ecics of the family of o))ossums. That animal, the first spe- cies perhaps of created mammalia, was extinct in the eastern continent long before the com- mencement of the historic jieriod ; hut its con- geners are still found in the opossum of our ov,n country and the kangaroo of New Ilollsnd. But Ibssil remains of quadrupeds ai-e extreme- ly rare until we arrive at the tertiary deposits, where they are found in abitiidance ; and hero as if nature to make amends for the tardines;s of their api)carance, put forth al! her poweis, in the diversified forms and extraordinary mngnitmlc of lier naw creation. In the first great fresh water formation of the eocene tertiary fifty exlii.ct sne- eies of mammalia were discovered byCuvi,?r. The largest of these was the palpcotlieriuni, an animal it appears which was the size of the largest rhinoceros and intermediate in ibrm be- tween the rhinoceros, the horse, and tlie tairir. Eleven or twelve species have already been dis- covered, some smaller than oihersj biit ail of extraordinary strength and magnitude. ^ Another animal of extraordiiiary size and re- feralde to this ]ieriod was the sivatherimri ot In- dia, an animal intermediate bel ween the rliinoce- ros and tajiir, but larger even than the first named animal and Ibmid in the Sivalic or Sidi llimaljiyan range of hills between the .Jumna and the Gan- ges. In the basin of Eppleshiem rem'hiiis of the following ainniids referable to the miocenc tertia- ries have been found, viz : two species of dii:o- iheriimi or gigantic tapir — tv. o species of the ta- pir much 1,-irgerthan the living animal — two spe- cies of the chalicotherium allied also to the tapir — two of the rhinoceros — one species of tefr.n- 186 THE FAMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. caulodon allied to tlie mastodon — four of the cut kind some us large as the lion, and one spe- cies allied to the dog, but e<|uully extraordinary in size with the others. These with the hip- potherium allied to the lior«e — three species of the hog, one of the bear and one of the glutton formed the principle part of those animals that ten- anted our globe in the second period of those tertiai-y deposits which i)revail so generally in the Gorman Empire. The dinotherium was the largest of all terrestrial mammalia among the fossd remains yet found. The lengtli extended to eighteen feet and a skeleton head tliat was found at Eppleshiern measured more than a yard ill length and as much in breadth. In the third and fourth divisions of the tertia- ries or pliocene period, the palceotherian family had become extinct ; but a new genus, the masto- don, as also the megatherium and megalonyx with the still e,\isting elephant, rhinoceros, hip- popotamus, tapir, horse, ox and deer were found. The fossil remains of the megatherium are found in the great sandy plainsof the Pampas, in Buenos Ayres to an extent of six himdred miles. It was a gigantic animal larger than the rhinoceros and api)roximating in form to the anomalous genera of the sloth, armadillo and chlnmyphorns. The mastodon, so called from the monstrous size of its molar teeth is the same animal that has been described in the United States by the natne of the mannnoth. The tirst fossil skeleton of this animal was found on the banks of the Ohio by a French Officer in 1750, who sent the bones to Paris. The mastodon, though differing in many important particulars, has, not- withstanding, a great general resemblance to the elephant. Six species have already been discov- ered, the largest of which is the mastodon gigan- tium or mannnoth of America. The megalonyx found also in the United States h.id the same general resemblance to the megatherium that the mastodon had to the elephant, but was much smaller. As the saurians attained their maxi- mum size in the secondary depo.sits, since which they have constantly degeneiated, so likewise did the quadruped manmialia find their most con- genial clime and productive soil in the formation of the tertiaries during the last revolutions of which many of them disappeared leaving only the fossil relics of their giant skeletons to sliow that they ever had existence. Tin; palcothe- rii (linotherii ; ma.stodon and megalonyx with many other genera have become extinct every- where. The elephant and rhinoceros are found only in Africa and Asia allhou;;h their fossil re- mains are found throughout Europe. We have no evidence that these extinct genera were ever cotcniporaneous with man, no relics of the hu- man race ever having been found mixed U|) with their remains ; and the proof remaining clear and positive that a series of changes preparing the earth for habitability was in progress ibr a long period of time anterior to human existence ; anil that we were ])laced here after the great convul- sions of nature had matured the work of reno- vation and those giant uiiimals incompatible with human safety had ceased to exist. A sixth residt was the remarkable changes jiro- duced by volcanic agency during the organic age and even down to the present jieriod. Previous to iliis the effects of conflicting elements of heat and cold had been confined to the surfice.or near the .surljice of the cirth. Jt might be compared to the action water would have upon a ball of heated metallic matter when thrown upon it. The action w culd be general over the ciutli and the crust oxidated as it was formed. Yrt from the slow reduction of temperature and the thin- ness of the crust, the elevations and de]>re^^sionK would be comparatively small. Hut at the com- mencement of the organic age the crust had ob- tained a depth and firnmess sutlicient to oppose a hairier to this general action ; and a state of comparative repose took place. Still we find those agents had only slumbered for a time ; their energies had not ceased ; Ihey were soon awak- ened to renewed and more terrific action. Their operations were changed however from the sur- face to beneatli the crust and a system of subter- ranean dynamics was carried forward which miglit be compared to a globe of coinjinct mate- rials filled near the surface with detached pow- der magazines with slow matches of unequal leiistli, burning down to the explosive m:iterials. They were not like the esirlier jilieiionienii si- multaneous in time, or general in their opera- tions; but vastly more powerful in their effects. The face of the earth was again changed. The volcanic upheavitigs elevated the recently formed crystaline rocks up through some basins and pouring their contents into the cavities of oth- ers would form those stratified diluvial remains which we now find as the aggregate of their de- posits. These wo^ild be compooed of sands, the fragments of primitive rocks anil animal re- mains. In some, the deposits of salt which had accumulated to a vast amount would form a part of the stratified diluviie while in others the ve- getation of the isthmuses which bordered these basins would be swept into their cavities and form the extensive coal beds now found in dif- ferent jiarts of the world. " In the state of tranquil equilibrium (says Mr. Buchland) which our planet has attained in the region we inhabit, we are apt tp regard the foun- dation of the solid earth, as an emblem of dura- tion and stability. Very different are the feel- ings of those, whose lot is cast near the foci of volcanic eruptions. To them the earth affords no stable resting place, but duringthe paroxysms of volcanic activity reels to and fro, and vibrates beneath their feet. They behold cities over- thrown and buried in ruins, while the earth yawning with dreadful chasms, converts the seas into dry land, and the dry land into seas. To the inhabitants of such districts we speak a lan- guage which they fully comprehend, when we describe the crust of the earth as floating on an internal nucleus of molten elements ; for they have seen these elements burst forth in streams of burning lava ; they have felt the earth be- neath them quivering and rolling as if upon the the billows of a subterranean sea ; they have seen mountains raised and vallies depressed almost in an instant ot time ; and they can duly appre- ciate from sensible experience the force of the terms in which geologists describe the tremu- lous and convulsive agitations of the earth dur- ing the passage of its strata from below the bot- tom of the seas where they had their origin to the plains nnd mountains in which they find their present |)lace of rest." It is evident al.so tliat the inimary rocks, dur- ing their elevation would be fractured and dislo- cated, and these fractures being filled sometimes from helow with igneous fluid matter, and in oth- ers from above with aqueous deposits would form the dikes and faults which are (bund in all stratified tbrmations and which are of such im- portance to the miners and hydrographic engineer, For instance in a coal field, had the strata of shale and giit that generally prevail alternately, been continuously united without fracture, the quantity of w ater that would have i)enetrated from the surrounding country into any considera- ble excavation that might be made in the porous grit beds, would have overcome all power of ma- chinery, that could ])rofitably be applied to the drainage of a mine. Whereas by the simple ar- rangement ot a system of faults, the water is admitted only in such quantities as are within control. Thus the component strata of all bn- siii formations are divided into insulated masses or sheets of rock, of irregular form and area ; not one of which is continuous in the same plane over any very large district, but each is separa- tpd from its next adjacent inais by a dam of clay operating as natural coffer dams, impenetrable to water and filling the fissure produced by the frac- ture which caused the fault. We niso find the rocks adjacent to modern volcanic craters, inter- sected by rents and fissures which have been filled with injections of more recent lava, form- ins transverse walls or dikes ; and as similar dikes occur also not only in districts occupied by basalt and trap rocks at a distance from the site of any modern volcanic activity, but also in stra- ta of every formation fi-om the most ancient transition to the most recent tertiary, and as there are insensible gradations from a state of com- pact lava through the varieties of greenstones, serpentines and porphyries to granite, we refer these dikes not only to a common igneous, but to a volcanic origin. We therefore learn that eleva- tions and subsideries, inclinations and contor- tions, fractures and dislocations, are phenomena in geological history, which although at first sight jireseiit the appearance of disorder and confus- ion, yet when fully understood, are found to be eovorned bv general laws, and demonstrate the existence of order, and method, and design, even in the operations of the most turbulent and ap- parently the most chaotic, among the many mighty physical forces which have affected the terraqueous globe. The subsequent changes were the result of volcanic action. And the severUh in order of time was the for- mation of vast beds of mineral coal. The veget- ation swept into the basins by the upheavings of the primitive rocks; and buried under the detri- tus of marine diluviae would not like the vegeta- tion of modern times undergo rapid decay yield- ing back their elements to the soil and atmos- phere f iom whence they were derived ; but trea- sured up in subterranean storehouses, would be transformed by the united influence of confine- ment, heat and pressure, into those combustible elements which now contribute so largely to the comfort of man as the sources of heat and light, wealth and power. JVliscroscopic observations of late years have proved not only the vegetable na- ture both of anthracite and bituminous coal, but mineralogists have generally been able to distin- guish the peculiar vegetable which entered sev- erally into their composition. The disposition of the earth in the form of troughs or basins before mentioned as being of a peculiarly interesting character, and which is found to be common to all formations, has been more particularly demonstrated int he carbonifer- ous series of strata from the circumstance that the valuable nature of beds of coal often causes them to be wrought throughout their whole ex- tent. This disposition of the strata causes the coal beds to be brought to the surface arountl the circumference of each basin and renders them accessible at the same time by sinking mines in almost every part of their res- pective areas. The carboniferous system of the transition series is now known from the aecumu- lated experience of many years to bo the only strata where productive coal mines on a large scale have ever been discovered. The peculiar plants of that period, and the chemical changes to which they were subjected fbr a period of time apparently immense in its duration, and un- der circuinstaiices far distant from what would occur during the secondary and tertiary depos- ites, go conclusively to prove, that this formation in its relative order is the only one in existence. Examples of coal to be sure occur in the secon- dary strata, yet they are few and insignificant, while the lignites of the tertiaries although they occasionally present small deposites of compact and useful fuel, yet tliey exert no important influ- ence on the economical condition of mankind. Probably the most characteristic type of the con- dition and circumstances of the carboniferous strata is found ill the north of England. The stratified basin fiom New Castle upon Tyne to cross Fells in Cumberland gives an average thick- ness along the whole of this sectional line of four thousand feet. This enormous mass is com- posed of alternating beds of shale or indurated clay, sandstone limestone, and coal. The indi- vidual strata are thirty-two beds of coal, sixty- two of sandstone, seventeen of limestone, one intruding bed of trap and one hundred and twenty eight beds of shale and clay. To illustrate the importance of dikes and faults in these coal fields, it may be mentioned that a shaft was began at Gasfbrth near New Castle in 1825 on the west side of the ninety fathom dike which was so inundated with water that it was soon found necessary to abandon it. Another shaft was then commenced on the oth- er side of the dike only a few yards fiom the former ; in which they have descended twelve hundred feet without suffering any impediment from the waters so abundant in the first. The cighlh result of this phenomena of chan- ges was the fbrinalion of vast mines of chloride of sodium or table salt fiom the volcanic agen- cies belbre mentioned. These undoubtedly were formed in the first instance by the profuse and intense evaporation of those shallower seas highly charged w ith saline ingredients ; not deep enough for the support of animal life ; hut acted upon b}' the elevated temperature both of the earth and atmosphere which then prevailed, would form immense incrustations of that min- eral which being thrown from their native beds into the reservoirs of other basins and acted upon bj' heat and pressure would occupy their place in the Poioilitic strata where they are now THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 187 found. The destructive agency of the elements of their composition will readily account for tlio rare intermixture of organic remains both ani- nial and vegetable whicli are wanting in tlietie beds. And philosophers who estimate the quan- tity of sea-water as it is now found, necessary to form these mineral deposites ; take not into the account the modified changes wrought by thous- ands of years of fresh water intermixture, after the subtraction of the vast amount of saline matter produced by the intense evaporation of the earlier period. A ninth residt of the same phenomena of changes was the elevation of extensive mountain ranges during the different periods of the strati- fierunm; upon it ; antl this yer;r have been pickcl eighteen barrels of the grafted fruit which we understood Pvir. C. to say were >.vortli to him upon the trees con.viiltrably more than the anniu'il legal interest Ujion th.e cost of the vrholo let. In addiiion to tiiis, while he continues a por- tion of the lot in ])MSture, BIr. Clement has com- menced the renovating process of agriculture upon a small space of the ground at a time — thoroughly subduing and highly manuring his ground. The improved land he linds very pro- ductive, and doubts not that he will soou give to his lot two or three times its original value. A still greater improvement and piofit than either of the foregoing is a small apple orchard of two acres and a half along side of tlie laud sold by Mr. Paine, which has for several year.s been owned and occupied by iMr. .Joseph Robi.n- soN of Chester. We had the curiosity to go and see this orchard, notwithstanding a recent snow had just covered the ground and lodged upon the trees. From this orchard Mr. Robinson has ob- tained a clear profit year alter year of three hun- dred dollars. The last season he |iicked iiom it six hundred bushels of fair beautiful apples. The trees of this orchard seemed to be of the growth of thirty to forty years ; they were set so near each other as almost to shade the whole ground, the vacant space lelt by one tree being filled up by its neighbor in a dilTfrent row. Mr. Robin- sou's mode of treating this orchard has been simply the manuring of the ground highly and keeping it constantly under the plough : as a sec- ondary object he somctiiues procures from the shaded ground a decent cro;) of potatoes — at other times, oats or peas. He has been very for- tunate in the selection of his kinds of apples, which find a ready market in the fall and winter at Lowell, Newbury]iort and Portsmouth. A popular and valuable kind of apple raised in this litle orchard is the New York Pippin and one of the varieties of Russet which remains a most pal- atable apple until the succeeding summer. The trees of this orchard had been tarred, a practice quite unusual so tiir in the country. The catei- pillars and an army of canker worms had attack- ed the trees; but Mr. Robinson was quite too vigilant and courageous a warrior upon these ver- min to sufter them to obtain any headway. The orchard itself is a euriositv, and the careful at- tention of its proprietor is worthy of imitation. The trees had been so trimmed and pruned that there was no supernumerary limb interruptincr the action or growth of so luaiiy brandies us were proper to give the tree its greatest product. The ea.sterly village of Chester is situated upon an elevated swell ol land about thirty miles west- erly from Portsmouth, and twenty-five miles southeasterly of Coiicoid. At and near the village a commendable ambition for agricultural im- provement, fostered liy a few individuals, has lieen awakened. The efteet has been already to raise the pirico of lands in the iumtediate vicini- ty of the village. We did not expect so great iiiqirovement as wc witnessed here in the several aiiple orchards, nearly all of which have within a very few years, old trees as well as young', been changed from the natiual sour cider apples tA select fruit. Almost every owner of an orchard does his owu grafting, and he improves his or- chard in this way every year. Begiitjiin'g on one side of a large tree the limlisare talien off at the proper jioint for grafting: it is found btist to insert the scion upon a smaller than a larger stock, as the limb will sooner become perfect at the point of insertion. When the grafts on one considerable limb have become surely set and thrifty, other parts of the tree are devoted to the same object, until the tree bears none hut the intended new fruit; and if the original kind bo of any value, the amiual production need not be. much interrupted wiiile tlio i)recess is going ou. The quality and flavor oi' fruit are said to be afTected by the stock into which the graft is in- serted. If the original tree bear largo ai)ples, or if land be highly cultivated, both the size aud the flavor of the same kind of selected fruit will be improved. An old tree whose growth lias been retiirded, into which new fruit has been in- serted, will not present as lively or as large ap- ples as a thrifty young tree. V»'o liiul supposed that the same species of fruit were alike when ingrafted into any tree. 15ut comparing the com- mon Baldwin apples obtained in tlie Boston tnar- ket with some of the same kind ]iresonted us by the lady of Henry F. French, Esq. which were raised on his premises in Chester, wc found an apple much larger and fiiirci-, more lively and more juicy, with a higher scent and flavor; at the same time it was evidently one and the same kind of fruit. The better "cultivation of the ground improves the ajiple and other fruit tree no less than it does any vegetable crop ; and we cannot doubt in the coitrsc of time, apples, peaclip.>;, ]ilums. aiifl cherrip-= m.-y be made as THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 189 much better tliaii they now are, as our cultivatiou shall be better. While ou this subject, we cannot omit to notice two other orchards wliich have recently come to our kiiowledire. Rev. .loHis F. Adams of the Methodist con- nexion, purcha^sed a small farm with buildings ut Stratliam, N. H. a few years ago, the ])rice of which was two thousand dollars. He com- menced quietly and at his leisure grafting apple trees upon the farm which bore cider apples of iiifi'rior quality. The last fall, he sold the apples upon these trees, without any trouble of gather- ing, for four hundred dollars in cash, being a profit of twenty per cent, in a single year upon the whole cost of his farm. Mr. David Stevens purchased a few years ago an orchard of six ao'cs a shoi't distance out of the village of Haverhill, Mass. which had late- ly been ingrafted with winter apples. For the last lour years be has derived a profit from the ap- ples alone of from $120 to $150 dollars each year. Ijoing fiom forty to fifty per cent, upon the investment. Farm Schools. We have ever been favorable to schools in which farming business and mechanical trades may be united with other objects of education. Several years ago, in the excellent regulations of the Asylum tor the Deaf and Dumb at Hartford, Coun. we uitnesscd the process of instruction in various liijids of labor. Particularly were we at one tinje interested in the perlbriuance with the needle of a young female fiom the State of New Hauq)shire, who was both deaf and dumb and bliuil. It is ail but inconceivable how any one deprived of sight, of hearing and necessarily of speech should bo instructed to do any thing. In the absence of the greater faculties, the subordi- nate senses are made to supply their place. The touch enables the blind mute to distinguish not oidy substances but color.' — to identify both liv- ing beings and inanimate objects: the smell is likewise an assistant which comes in coutiuued aid to the operations of the mind. Ujider a course of carefid instruction the deaf and the blind are taught the puijiosesand the enjoyments of life, and the utterly helpless how to become their own helpers. To the deaf and dinnb at Hartford the value of instruction in the different kinds of labor by both males and females, has been manifest in various directions. Matrimoni- al connexions of the two sexes have there been formed wiicre both v.ere deaf and dumb, in which the parties entered on the business of life witli all ilic alacrity and success of those who could both hear and sjieak. There is a farmer in Merriuiack County v.ho manages his concerns with gieat prtidence and iliscretion, and who has thriven in property, married to a mute who also acts well her part in the drama of life; and this jiair we have been told are rearing up an interes- ting fi'iriily of c'lildrcn v.'ho are bright in the faculties of vv'hich the parents are deprived. This pair received their education at Hartliird, and were taught not only the rudiments which open to them all the advantages of language, but the male was there instructed In the business of the fiu-m, and the female in the rnanagenieiu of hon.sehold affi.irs, in the use of the sj)inning wheel and needle, and in the economy of the kitchen. Among the charitable institutions thatnrepccu- li;u-lj' charactcri.-ticof the city of Boston, where tlicrois a commendable zeal to minister to the Wiiuts of every destitute audaiHictedchildofAdam our atlenliou has been called to the " Farm School for Ind''i;X7it Boys" insiittited in 1833, for "the education and reflirmation of boys, who from the loss of their parents or other causes, are exposed to extniordinary temptation, and are m danger of b(?coniiug vicious and dangerous, or seless members of society ;'' and v. Inch in 1835 .as united with another charitable institution lo- afed within the city of Boston, for the purpose f " relieving, instnicting and employing Indi- ent Boj's" belonging to that loviToR,~Having been a subscriber for the Far- mers' t'abinet I'rom the beginning, 1 tliink it right to in- form you that f am delighted with your labours. The magnificent style in whicli the late numbers have been adorned with tlie portraits of some of the finest animals in the country, is above all praise. You give us too much for our money ; some single numbers are worth a whole year's subscription. From what 1 have said, however, yod ai-e,nnt to suppose I wish you to relax in your exer- tions, but to express a hope that the farmer everywhere will patronise a work which is so well worthy their atten- tion. Only think of the good done by it to the young people in our families, girTs, as well as boys, for they all rea4 it with avidity, and are doubtless made wiser and better by your labours. The only way in which our agri- culture isto be improved is by instructing the rising gen- eration in ti\G principles as well as the practice ofthe art. Old folks are apt to think they know enough already, although they may actually be very ignorant, but the young ones are the stutf that will take a new impression most easily, and there the result of your labours will be most conspicuous. The day is now gone by, never to return again I trust, when farmers think it useless to re- cord their own experience or to read the experience of others. We are rapidly becoming a thinking people, and people who reason and think, like to be informed of the reason- ings and thoughts of others in the line of their profession. iDoctors and lawyers have their books, detailing the practice and opinions and judgments of those who have preceded them, as well as of their contemporaries ; me- chanics and artists have their books, furnishing all the current improvements in their respective occupations; and why should not farmers, who furnish subsistence for the whole of them, have their books too ? Go aliead, tell lis all about horticulture and domestic economy, and the principles which govern them, and though some of us perhaps may be conceited or ignorant enough to suppose we want no further instruction, yet I am sure your labours will not be lost on a people who are daily increasing in intelligence, and are annually adding to their wealth. B. F. Bucks County, Nov. 1840. Sheep. — A correspondent wishes us to caution the farmers of that section, against selling their sheep to the butchers at alow rate, in the expect- ation thai they will be able another season to re- plenish their flocks at a similarly low price. He says wool is advancing, and that the demand for woolen goods is increasing. — ^ilb. Cultivator. Abel Bbker, Esq. of this town lalely slaugh- tered a hog which was bought July 95th, weigh- ing 145 lbs. and was killed Nov. yOth, weighing alive, 420 ; having gained in 117 days, 275 lbs. or nearly 2 lbs. 55 oz. per day. Hon. Warbe.n Lovell, writing from Meredith siiys: — "I slaughtered a hog yesterday (Dec. 16) eighten months old, which weighed six hundred and sixty pounds." This we believe is the larg- est hog we have heard of this season. From the Farmers' Cabinet. manure. ENRICH THE SOIL ANb PROSPERITY FOLLOWS. Mr. Editor, — .Manure is the capital ofthe farmer, and without it little can be done in the farming line to profit. Kvery one ought, therefore, to be on the .alert to increase the quantity .'by every means in his power, for there is nothing that compounds interest like manure. If anv one disputes this, let him make a fair experiment and_ see if the result don't prove its truth. Take an acre of ground and give it a good dose, and compare it with an adjoining acre, previously in a similar i-n.>dit,oi., nnJ then there will be no mistake. Put in the bottom of the dung- yard some absorbent material to take up the fluids, occa- sionally spread over the whole surface a layer of earth, sods from the road-side or a ditch bank, .and bring in all the weeds, potato stalks, leaves, spent ashes, the manure from the poultry roost, and every other oflal material, either animal or vegetable, that can be collected togeth- er. Every little helps, anil of little things great ones are composed. The manure-heap is the fonfidation of all good farming, and those who do not attend to this most essential matter, will fail in proportion to their neglect in all the operations of the farm. It is no small matter to raise 40 to 60 bushels of corn to the acre, instead of 20 or Sii, or othercrops in the same proportion, the labour being the same. I have long noticed thai thriving farmers go on progressively increasing the quantity of manure annu- ally, and those who are going down hill, are generally ]ireceded in their downward progress by a gradual collapse of the dung-hill. Keep up your manure heap, and, as if bv sympathetic action, your purse will swell amazingly. Manure begets grain and grass, and grain and grass beget more manure ; and so on to the end of the chapter of prosperity. No manure, but little grain or grass, and little grain and grass tends to les.s and less, tdl the county poor-house seems as if it had seated itself next neighbour Ui our bare field3. O. Montgomery County, Nov. 'iO, lUlO. Advantages of Planting. — " I knew a certain old military officer who, during his early years, was a captain in a militia regiment ; his brother officers were a gay set of fallows and were continually drawing on their private in- comes, often coming to him to borrow money ; but he made it a rule never to spend more than his own pay, and as to money he had none to lend. He went down to his estate every spring and autumn, and planted as many acres of trees .is his rental would allow him, his planting giving him a perpetual plea of poVerty. .\t a certain period, he retired on his half-pay ; a large family wis growing up around him, but his woods were growing too. Many a time have I seen him, mounted on an old brood mare, with a sort of capacious game-bag across her loins^ with his gun slung at his shoulder, his saws and pruning knives strapped behind his saddle, going aw.ay into his woods ; and I can imagine the profound satisfaction which the old gentleman, through a long course of years must have felt in the depths of his forest solitudes ! He is still living at an advanced age ; his family is large, and has been expen- sive, but his woods are large also, iiiid no doubt their thin- nings have proved very grateful thinnings of his family charges." — I/owitt. THE MARKETS. A Horseman's Secret. — We yesterday saw a horse that refused to draw, started off without difficulty, by tj ing a string tightly round his ear closely to his head. A pig raised and slaughtered by F. J. White of Candia, nine months and one week old, Weigh- ed after being dressed, 305 lbs. BOSTOJN MARKET, DEC. 22. COTTON — The accounts per Acadia have caused no alteration whatever either in prices or demand. The mar- ket is quiet with no sales of consequence making. FLOl'R — The demand is limited, with small sales at last week's prices ; 200bbls Philadelphia sold at 5 37 per bbi.eodays. GR.\IN — Prices of Corn are more firm, owing to small arrivals. Sales of white at 5Gc, yellow 58c, Delewire Oats, 34c. MOLASSES— Sales of 3 a 400 hhds Cuba distilling at 19.Jc,and 200 do. sweet for retailing, 21c per gall. SUG.ARS — -\re in good demand, and prices well sus- tained. NEW YORK MARKET— Dec. 19. ASHES— Botli sorts are steady at g5 13 per 100 lbs. with but a moderate demand. COTTON — The market has been firm, but on tlie last days very quiet. The sales are — 950 bales Upland and Florida, at 9 alOJc. 450 do Mobile, at 9ialll 400 do New Orleans, at 9jallJ Fair Upland is lO^alO^e lb. COFFEE— Sales of 1500 bags Rio Janeiro, at lO^alUc ; 300 do Gov. Java, at lajc ; 1000 St. Domingo, chiefly Tor exportation, at 9a9Jc lb, cash ; 450 Laguayra, at lOallc, and 150 bag? Cuba, at lOallc. FISH — 'fhere have been no arrivals and there is but little demand. 66 casks damaged Cod sold at about ^'2 62^ ; Mackerel are extremely scarce, and pickled Cod, Scale Fish and Herring, very plenty ; and although sales are constantly making, prices rather droop. MOL.\SSES — There was no sales of importance. OILS — Whale is scarce at 31 cts ; .\m. Linseed is sel- ling, as wanted, at 70 cts. cash ; Sperms arc steady in price. S-\LT — A cargo of Turks Island was sold on Saturday at about 32c bush.; 2000 bags common Liverpool at 145c each. SEEDS^Fla.\se