" Tliose icho labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, ichnse breasts he has made his peculiar deposite for substantial and genuine rirtue."-3 ETTF-Rsos, 



VOLUME 1. 



CONCORD, N. [I., MARCH 15, 1839. 



NUMBER 3. 



THE VISITO 



Our paper is becoming, before we are conscious 

 of having deserved it, a favorite of that better part 

 of creation, the fair sex. We Iiad observed the 

 najnes of several intelligent ladies among the lists 

 of subscribers v*^hicli are continually flowing- in up- 

 on us. A recent mail brought us the following 

 prose and poetical communications, which we prize 

 as of the more value from being the production of n 

 female of no ordinary talent. The sixth stanza of 

 of the poetry we would commend as strikingly sub- 

 lime and beautiful. 



Plainficld, 4th March. 



Dear Sir ; — It is with a feeling of unniingled 

 deference and pleasure, that I take the liberty of 

 addressing you, on the subject of your newly es- 

 tablished journal. The Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 A well established periodical, devoted to agricul- 

 tural interests, possessing a clinracter wliich the 

 Visitor will unquestionably merit, and furnished at 

 a price which places it within the reach of every 

 individual, cannot fail of producing a most salutary 

 influence ; — an influence, wliioh will be felt, not 

 only in the establishment of the extensive and op- 

 ulent farmer, but in the humble garden of tlie me- 

 chanick ;— not ov.ly in the field, but at the fire-side. 



Would it afford you but a momentary gratifica- 

 tion, I sliould be happy to inform you, that not only 

 your patrons in this vicinity are highly gratified 

 with a perusal of the specimen numbers, but the 

 intelligent, and in many instances, well educated 

 females of their families are higlily interested with 

 the introduction of tliis new and interesting Visi- 

 tor and look forward with pleasing anticipations to 

 this welcome guest as a source of useful informa- 

 tion to themselves and their families. 



After oil, say what you will of the allurements of 

 wealth, the applause ofmen,orthe excitement of 

 competition, the most potent spell, operating on 

 the mind of man, and stimulating to good and no- 

 ble exertion, is a spell woven in the sanctuary of 

 home. Let a man go forth from a scene of domes- 

 tic disorder and discontent, though the sun shine 

 ever so brightly, or the dews of heaven fall ever so 

 grateful, the heart of that man will but ill accord 

 with the gladness of nature. He will be, if I may 

 so express it, "as one who labors without hope," 

 like the mariner, who finds himijelfon the broad 

 sea, with a leaky ill-conditioned craft, wlu.se time 

 and energies are consumed in vainly striving to 

 remedy vexatious disorders. But that man, whose 

 home is the theatre of order and usefulness, whose 

 Iiousehold motto is "judicious economy in expen- 

 diture" (the true-key-stone of the Farmer's wealth.) 

 whose bosom friend is the faithl'ul treasurer of Ills 

 purse, presents a striking and happy contrast to the 

 foregoing. Evor3' eff*ort within, will be a new in- 

 centive to action and energy without, and prosper- 

 ity the sure result of order, harmony and concert. 



Although I am well aware that a portion of your 

 paper must necessarily be devoted te subjects unin- 

 teresting to female readers, yet with the foregoing 

 view of the subject, permit me, sir, to express the 

 hope, that its pages may prove a source from 

 whence we can not only derive momentary amuse- 

 ment, but also, information from Iiigir sources of 

 knowledge, which shall be productive of sound and 

 practical vtilitij ; " the greatest happiness of the 

 greatest number." 



I would write mneh on tb/is interesting subject, 

 but having perluips, already intruded upon valuable 

 time, I remain, S r, your servant. 



Respectfully, E. D. 



Hon. Isaac Hlil, Concord, N. H. 



I find thee in the leafless wild. 



Beside the snow-wreath blossoming. 



As Winter, in his dotage wild, 



Did ape the lighter mood of Spring; 



Or the soft South, in wayward mood, 

 Whilst loitering by the rocky cleft. 



Amid its dreaming solitude. 



This frail and' sweet memorial left ; 



No warbler of the glades is near 

 No scented shrub, or flow'ret fair. 



But glittering flake, and ice-pearl clear, 

 Thy chill and mute companions arc. 



But the same Power ordained thy birth, 

 And ting'd the soft cerulean eye, 



That pois'd in space this mighty earth. 

 And hung its quenchless lamps on high. 



And in each soft and tinted grace. 

 Each hue, thy mossy stem uprears, 



The moulding of that Hand, I trace. 



That fashion'd, in their pride, the splieres. 



Yet, art thou frail ! thy transient hour 

 Of bloom and beauty will be o'er 



Ere Spring shall dress the green-wood bower, 

 And spread his bright voluptuous store. 



Ev'n now, thy hues are in their wane, 

 Thou first-born of tlie race of flowers ! 



Go ! thou shall bloom on earth again, 

 Unlike the lov'd and lost of ours. E. D. 



For the Farmer'g Monthly Visitor. 



The First Flower. 



Ere melt the dews in liquid showers, 

 Or trees their vernal robes renew, 



The first-born of the race of Flowers 

 Spreads to the skies its answering blue. 



Born of the sun's first genial kiss. 



That woos to love, the chaste cold earth- 

 Sweet gem of Hope ! a nameless bhss. 

 Thrills tile warm heart, to hail thy birth 



A Pattern Farming Town. 



TJntil witjiin a few days the editor had never 

 visited the town of Rye in the county of Rock- 

 ingham. This town is situated next southwest 

 from Portsmouth, stretching on the sea-shore six 

 miles, and is of an average width of two miles, be- 

 ing one third the size of a common six miles square 

 township. A considerable portion of its superfices 

 is the sand beach of the sea. Its soil now in culti- 

 vation v.'as originally hard beyond that of the rocky 

 soil of the interior, with a pan approaching near 

 the surface like the face of rock itself, or else it 

 was swamp and morass. Thirty and forty years 

 ago the inhabitants pursued fishing as their princi- 

 p:il occnpntion; and the larger portion of them were 

 poor: it is .also said that many of the fishermen, be- 

 ing intemperate, left their families almost in a state 

 of destitution. The change that has since gone 

 over them is wonderful. There is not now proba- 

 bly in the State a more industrious and moral com- 

 munity than the twelve to fifteen hundred inhabit- 

 ants of Rye; and although there is no community 

 of farmers in the country more frugal and econom- 

 ical, scarcely an individual among them being wil- 

 ling to part with a fourpencc-ha'pennj' without the 

 assurance that it will bring back a nine-pence, yet 

 the examples of generous charity among them are 

 such as are worthy of imitation from those who 

 part v.'itl^ their money with much less reluctance. 

 Most of the owners of farms with their sons do the 

 worli upon their farms : if one of them is taken 

 sick and unable to do his work in a busy season, 

 enough of his neighbors leave their own work for 

 one or more days to assist him, and his haying or 

 his hoeing is performed at the proper season "with- 

 out money and without price." 



The supe^abund^nt rocks in this little township 

 have for the most part been converted into excel- 

 lent, permanent walls, partitioning out the grounds 

 into convenient fields of from two to twelve acres. 

 Wo met in the town the three selectmen or " fa- 

 thers of the town,'' who were in session to close up 

 the business of the year. These gentlemen were 

 a true specimen of the hard hands and intelligent, 

 honest faces that are characteristic of the tillers of 

 our soil. With them and the excellent friend to 

 whose kindness we were indebted for this visit, we 

 ascended the steeple of the large congregational 

 church which has been erected more than one iiun- 

 dred years, and from the top had a view of the al- 

 most countless stone wall partitions, and of fields 

 upon which piles of manure in preparation for the 

 coming season had already been placed. The sea, 

 the Isles of Shoals, on ono of which is the White 



Mand light, the Whale's Back and the New Cas- 

 io lights, further on tlic steeples of Portsmouth, 

 ind in a transverse direction, the harbor of Rye, 

 being a bay formed as the estuary or mouth of a 

 -juiall creek running through tlic town, were visi- 

 ble to the naked eye. 



From observation as well as from information, 

 we do not doubt thfit this little town of Rye turns 

 uit more value in the production and growth of the 

 iuH than any other town of the State. The farm- 

 ^■rs here seem to liave studied in their own school 

 •^f experience, which has taught them the best me- 

 I hod of cultivating their ground. Hundreds and 

 .Hometimes thousands of ox-loads of green seaweed 

 ■ire annually thrown upon the beach ; every storm 

 with the wind blowing directly upon the coast 

 brings this along ; and there is competition among 

 them which shall secure the mostof this article. It 

 .s of itself the very first rate of manure, and is ei- 

 ther spread upon the surface before ploughing, or 

 else upon the sward where grass is to be mowed. 

 In addition to this sea weed or kelp, the farmers of 

 this town within the last few years, having com- 

 menced the ditching and cultivation of swamps 

 containing a deep vegetable mould, drawing out the 

 matter taken from these ditches in the fall or win- 

 ter to be spread over the ground along with the sea 

 weed. Tills rich black mould is thrown in heaps 

 a.t convenient distances, in some instances at the 

 rate of a hundred stout cart loads to the acre : the 

 vegetable mould under the operation of severe 

 frost, swells and pulverizes like slacked lime. With 

 ihis and the vegetable weed from the sea, and in 

 some instances on low ground with heaps of com- 

 mon stone gravel such as hard roads are made of, 

 the largest crops are obtained. The corn is larger 

 than that raised in the interior on the best grounds: 

 great oats follow as a succeeding crop to the corn. 

 But jiotatoes for shipping are the great staple : these 

 the last 3'ear carted directly from the field sold at 

 forty cents the bushel. In a good season three 

 and four hundred bushels are yielded to the acre. 

 Some of the farmers raise three and four thousand 

 bush. each. Most of the farms are very small in com- 

 pass : thirty acres would be deemed a large farm ; 

 and it has been common for a farm of thirty acres 

 to be divided among two or more sons of the same 

 tamlly, and all of them soon increase their products 

 so that each partition will yield more than all of 

 them did together. 



In the country we have seen no such cattle as 

 we saw at Rye and the adjoining town of Hamp- 

 ton. Real working oxen yoked in the teams seem- 

 ed to be fatter than the fattest of those we arc wont 

 to see driven through Concord from the north and 

 west part of this State and from Vermont for the 

 Brighton market. The farmers of Rye are certain- 

 ly more industrious than many of the farmers far- 

 ther interior. Tliey are working their teams con- 

 stantly in the winter, preparing as well their 

 grounds for cultivation by carting manure, as pro- 

 curing their annual stock of fuel. In the article of 

 wood and timber the people on the seaboard are 

 much better supplied than they were fifty years 

 ago. The white pine is more usually than any 

 other wood used as fuel ; this is of the second 

 growth, the trees having attained almost the size of 

 some of the original pines in the space of a few 

 years. The but logs up to the knotty parts are saved 

 to be sawed into boards and plank, or for hewn tim- 

 ber, and the limbs above are cut and split, making 

 good fire-wood for the stove when they become 

 seasoned. The pines are preserved with all the 

 care of a garden-orchard, as are the hard-wood 

 trees in uncultivated swamps : the growth of these 

 will yield a great annual profit on a high price paid 

 for the land. 



The farmers with a small amount of land usually 

 keep at least two yokes of cxen, and turn 

 them off' very fat at the season when good beef 

 for the market will bring'the best price, supplying 

 their place oftener with other o.xen furnished by the 

 country than by young cattle of their own raising. 

 Considerable pasturage for cattle is either owned or 

 hired out of town, the land being taken up with 

 more profitable cultivation. 



The cultivated lands in this town sell from one 

 to two hundred dollars the acre, and sometimes ev- 

 en beyond tha.t price. The inhabitant* of the towa 



