THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



ities, and, used judiciously, are scarcely less valua- 

 ble than corn or other more expensive grains. Po- 

 tatoes kept until summer, fed in a raw state, are 

 found to be very valuable for store hogs. Both 

 hogs and cattle, fed on them, should always he 

 well supplied with salt, which keeps up the appe- 

 tite, and regulates the diet. In the case of swine, 

 the mixing a portion of brimstone sulphur in the 

 common food, alternately throwing into the troughs 

 a small quantity of charcoal as often as once a 

 week, will keep them healthy and promote the 

 sure growth of the animal to the full amount of 

 the feeding. 



The Mount Vernon Farmer. 



The fame of Gen. Washington as a soldier and 

 statesman is universally known and highly admir- 

 ed by all who appreciate talents, worth and love of 

 country ; but his character as a fiirmer was less 

 known in his day, and his memory in this respect 

 is not venerated according to its desert. Posses- 

 sing ample means and the most ardent love of ru- 

 ral life, he was one of the first e.xperimenlnl and 

 practical farmers in Virginia. J lis estate at Mount 

 Vernon consisted of 10,000 acres of land in one boily 

 equal to about fifteen miles square. It was divided 

 into farms of convenient size, at the distance of 

 two, three, four, and five miles from his mansion 

 house. These farms he visited every day in ple.is- 

 ant weather, and was constantly engaged in mak- 

 ing experiments for the improvement of agricul- 

 ture. 



Some idea of the extent of his farming opera- 

 tions may be formed from the following facts : ih 

 1782 lie had 500 acres in grass — sowed 600 bushels 

 of oats — 700 acres with wheat, and pi'epared as 

 much for corn, barley, potntoes, beans and peas,&c., 

 and 150 with turnips. His slock consisted of 140 

 horses, 112 cows, 285 working oxen, heifers and 

 steers, and 500 sheep. He constantly employed 

 250 hands, and kept 24 ploughs going during the 

 whole year, when the earth and the state of the 

 weather would permit. In 178G, he slaughtered 

 150 hogs, weighing 1S,5G0 lbs. for the use of his 

 family, besid'id provisions for his neg''oes. 



auk CaliurUt. 



Analysis of Roils, 



Six years ago in returning from Washington 

 city to New Hafupsliire, the editor came up the 

 valley of the Susquehann.ili, passing by> 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 



