THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



your work in this vicinity, botli because it will 

 give me pleasure to ssvve you in tliis matter, as 

 well as to aid in promoting the interests of agricul- 

 ture. One of my clerks will do the business, and 

 receive the per cent, which you propose to allow 

 as perquisite, which I allow him in all similar 

 cases. 



I do not know what can be done by the way of 

 subscription ; but if you will send me ten or a doz- 

 en copies of your prospectus, loy some trusty hand, 

 1 will soon see. It may not be in my power to 

 contribute much for your proposed publication ; 

 bill if it were, it would not need the stimulus of 

 mammon to induce me to do it. I may mention to 

 you now, however, while my hand is in, that I have 

 some reason to believe that Saltpetre is one of the 

 cheapest and best of manures. A neighbor of 

 mine, Oliver M. Whipple, Esq. a large powder 

 hianufacturer of this clly, mentioned to me a year 

 or two since, that he had for some time noticed 

 that tile vegetation was uncommonly rapid and 

 large about the old bags tlirown out upon tiie 

 ground to rot, in which the Saltpetre was import- 

 ed, which induced Iilm to try it as a manure, in 

 which he has met with complete success on botli 

 high and low lands. I have tried it with success 

 Upon my garden. I tliink a fair and full e.xperi- 

 ment is woithv tlie attention of such as are engag- 

 ed in agricultural pur.suit3. Tile article in its 

 crude state costs' about five or six dollars per hun- 

 dred weight. 



Yours rcspcctfuUv, 



E.L1PHALET CASE. 



Washington City., December 11, 1635. 



Dear Sir: — I beg to assure you with liowmucii 

 pleasure I learned that you was to undertake tlie 

 publication of an agricultural worlt, in which I wish 

 you tlie greatest succc^ss. It will give mo groat 

 pleasure to communicate from time to time, such 

 matter or facts as I may have, and such as you may 

 deem useful; I have recommended to Congress 

 the expediency of aiding the agriculture of the 

 country through tliis ollice, and hope the means 

 will be granted this session. 



Let me be considered as a subscriber. I will 

 ^*ith pleasure, aid so far as possible in increasing 

 the number of patrons. 



Accept for yourself the renewed assurance of the 

 highest respect and best wishes. 



Yours resoectfuUy, 



il. L. ELLSWORTH. 



Hon. Isaac Hill, Concord, N. H. 



The Dignity of the .*.gricuUural Occu- 

 pation. 



To elevate the character and calling of the prac- 

 tical farmer — to contribute to his Intellectual im- 

 provement — to induce him to cultivate the kindly 

 and social affections and to be content witli his oc- 

 cupation and calllug — and to inipart to him suoli in- 

 formation as will enable hhii to cultivate his ground 

 to the best advantage and the greatest profit, are 

 the main objects which have called us to embark 

 in the publication of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 



The Agricultural occupation is more dignified 

 than all others for the following reasons : 



It is the most anelent oectipation of the irorld. 

 The first disposition which the Almighty made of 

 man was to " put him into the garden of Eden, to 

 dress it and to keep it." The occupation of the 

 two sons of the first woman was to kee]) the sheep 

 and till the ground. Abraham retired to his tent in 

 the heat of the day from the labors of the firld, 

 where he gained great v.ealth ; Jacob served his 

 mother's brother in keeping his flocks ; and the roj'- 

 al David assisted his father .lease in the labors of 

 the field in the absence of Ills elder brnlhers while 

 warring against the Philistines. The oldest histo- 

 ries of the Chinese, the Egyptians, the Pheniclans 

 show this to have been the chief occupation of the 

 world in the olden times. Homer and Virgil have 

 sung its praises in immortal verse. 



It cmhraees wore nuvirrteal strength than all vtJier 

 occupations. Four fifths of the injiabitants of all 

 civilized countries are emb.aced in the class of far- 

 mers. Where this cLass most preponderates, there 

 will be found the most healthy moral condition of 

 the bodv politic — the least crime — the greatest con- 

 fidence between man and man — the highest stand- 

 ard of morals — and it were not hazarding too much 

 to say, the best intellectual cultivation and the most 

 independence of volition and action. 



It is not secondary or inferior to tkcpnrsvit of the 

 learned professions or if eovimercc. The farmer 

 on his little domain is dependent only Upon a be- 

 neficent Providence and his own industry for the 

 substantial comforts of life. He sees the contests 

 r.n-l wranglingB of the world at a distance, and re- 



tires to his sleep with the consciousness that the 

 worst efforts of human passion can hardly reach 

 him. The man of traffic or the professions looks 

 forward to future wants in purse or reputation with 

 an anxietv that the fanner has no occasion to 

 feel : he looks to obtain some advantage which may 

 injure his neighbor — he looks for gain, not from his 

 own labor, but from the labor of others; and if he 

 sometimes procures a greater fortune, so all the 

 wealth he possesses is subject to much greater vi- 

 cissitude. He is not equ.ally respectable with the 

 farmer, because his life, " the means whereby he 

 lives," is more the subject of otlier men'.s doings, 

 the sport of fickle fortune : while the farmer wlio 

 Is blessed by that Being who sends him rain and 

 sunshine, can look upon the Heavens lighted up 

 with his Maker's magnificence, and the earth deck- 

 ed in the gorgeous vestments of its teeming pro- 

 ducts, and reflect that the abundance which is pour- 

 ed upon him is the sure evidence that his calling is 

 approved of God. 



It is more useful than any or all other occvpations. 

 If Agriculture were to cease its operations, all other 

 occupations must cease. fJot the mere "gentleman 

 farmer," the amateur who with strength to labor 

 stands and looks on while the persons he employs 

 do the work, is the most useful farmer. Those 

 who do not actually themselves produce from their 

 own labors are not to be accounted as wortiiy as 

 those who do produce. The husbandman furnishes 

 the food which sustains the thousands of traffickers, 

 tlie wortiiless gambler and speculator, as well as the 

 worthy artisan, or mcciiauic, or merchant of our 

 cities. Is he not, of consequence, more useful 

 than those who depend on him for support.' 



It is less liable than any other calling to the luxury 

 lehieh eneri^ates, and the corruption wliieli eorrodfs a 

 comniunilt/. In this free country there is no law 

 of prim-igeniture entailing property upon an elder 

 sou, and creating a monopoly of the soil. Our 

 blessing is in a comjiaratively equal distribution of 

 property among farmers, which leaver, tlie necessi- 

 ty of economv at all times apparent. It is the bles- 

 sing of the farmer that his means do not come so 

 easy as to present an inducement to waste them in 

 luxury or riot ; and that he is enabled direct!)' to 

 see as if they v/ere felt, the immediate consequen- 

 ces of indolence or dissipation. Industry, frugali- 

 ty and temperance, as they are essential to the far- 

 mer, best thrive with men of that occupation. Pa- 

 tience and perseverance are amostessentlal charac- 

 teristic of the farmer ; we Instinctively honor every 

 man who in an}' commendable cause perseveres to 

 the end. 



It dcvelopes the bodily powers and contributes to 

 health and long life. '\Vhat man lives longer, or 

 better enjoys the "sere and yellow leaf" of time, 

 than he who from early youth has grown up with 

 the exercise of his limbs in the use of the hoe and 

 the spade, the axe, the plough and the flail ? His 

 joints are knit with vigor — he may glory in his 

 agility and strength ; and with the full, although 

 not too free exercise of his physical pow-ers, he 

 stands late in life with the steadiness and stability 

 of the stately oak against which the tempest rages 

 in vain. 



It presents antple opportunity for moral and men- 

 tal culture. Every farmer laboring with his hands 

 may, without loss of time sufiicientto affect injuri- 

 ously his business, devote at least one hour dally to 

 reading and study ; when not particularly hurried, 

 he can give to study more tlian one hour each day. 

 But his best time for mental culture is in the field : 

 here the ample book of nature is ever open to him. 

 Here he may avail himself of all the benefits of 

 readino' and study within doors ; here he has op- 

 portunity to apply much of the knowledge derived 

 from others cilher from bo'.ks or conversation. 

 In our mother earth, from which he sprang and in 

 whose bosom he must repose, will be found many of 

 the elements which the superior intellect of man 

 alone is able to comprehend. There is besides a 

 wonderful affinity between the mind and the body, 

 wliieh sfives a decided advantage to the practical 

 man over tlie mere theorist. The farmer is the true 

 philosopher, because lie reasons, not from fancy, 

 but from fact. Better logic is often found by the 

 farmer's fireside than in the mouth of tlie preacher 

 or the lawyer — the one deals only in matters of 

 consequence, while the other splits hairs about 

 subtle points. 



Finally, we may conclude that the dignity of the 

 acrrlcnltnral occupation is second to none other ; 

 alid we claim for the independent and intelligent 

 Farmers of our Country the riout to fill any and 

 every station and place in society and government 

 for which they may be qualified. If all of them 

 are not qnalified for high ilebate in our assemblies, 

 for unravelling and exposing casuistry and false 

 reasoniufy, for *-*jiiaking the worse appear the better 



cause," the most of them may qualify themselves 

 to be our best practical law makers, the soundest 

 judges of right and wrong as between man and 

 man, and the safest depositories of power, whorev- 

 er power shall be delegated by the people. Above 

 all, we claim for this occupation the best and the 

 first right to the title of kind and generous hus- 

 bands, fathers, sons and brothers, and the appella- 

 tion of "good men and true" in all the relations of 

 life. 



Value of our Granite mountains. 



Whoever has traveled extensively in the States 

 of New Hampshire and Vermont, the region 

 of the ll'hite and Green Mountains, will have 

 marked the striking difference whlcli the high hills 

 and mountains of each present The elder State 

 is of a granite or first formation — our younger sis- 

 ter, although even more mountainous, is composed 

 of rocks and soil of the secondary formation. Our 

 soil, especially that of the hills, is of a much more 

 rough exterior — our mountains at a distance ap- 

 pear as if they were either solid ledge, or so thick- 

 ly studded with rocks as scarcely to find room for 

 trees or other vegetables to grow. The hills of 

 Vermont, wherever they are cleared, present a 

 smooth surface, covered witii spontaneous veget- 

 ation, affording abundance of grass and other food 

 for man and beast. 



Until quite recently we had considered the dis- 

 parity between the soil of the two State;; so great 

 as forever to place New Hampshire inferior to her 

 adjacent sister in agricultural prospects and pro- 

 duets. The difference twenty years hence will 

 not be so great as might be imogined. The two 

 States, smaller than most of the others in territo- 

 ry, have each probably about the same number of 

 acres that may be cultivated. 



Our Kiountains, barren and ragged as they ap- 

 pear, have been little cultivated or cleared until 

 within a few years. It has recently been found, 

 where not more than half covered with rocks, that 

 the mountain sides make the very best and surest 

 pasturage for cattle and sheep. No matter v-fheth- 

 er the season bo dry or wet, the creatures turned 

 upon the mountain pastures, when the ground is 

 not overstocked, invariably are taken from them 

 m a highly improved condition. The owners of 

 these pastures say, the thicker the rocks the sweet- 

 er the feed ; and they consider that pasture much 

 more valuable whose surface is half covered with 

 stones than one nearly destitute of them. 



Traveling through the Merrimack river valley 

 for many miles, the lofty Kearsarge peers up to 

 the view. A few miles to (he north of it, between 

 the towns of Andover and Hill, is the Ragged 

 Mountain of still rougher aspect; and northw.nrd 

 still is the lofty Cardigan, whose elephant back 

 distinguishes it from the hundred other mountains 

 laying around it within the distance of fifty miles. 

 We had heard of the excellence of these moun- 

 tain pastures, and how some shrewd capitalists in 

 Strafford were, since the rage for Eastern lands 

 had subsided, buying up the Gunstock and other 

 mountain lands surrounding the beautiful lake 

 Winnipisseogee ; and on the advertisement of a 

 public sale of several hundred acres of uncleared 

 lands upon Kearsarge mountain, we determined to 

 look at them. Going to and upon the .south-east side 

 of this mountain towards its top, we were surpris- 

 ed to find that to be the best pasture which, from 

 its white appearance at a distance, seemed only to 

 be a continued barren ledge. Upon the very top 

 of the bald mountain in the month of October we 

 found the sheep nibbling the green feed among the 

 rocks, when frost had destroyed vegetation along 

 the Blackwater river which ranged at the foot of 

 the mountain below. It suffices to say, that we 

 found some of the most extensive and best pas- 

 tures of the State on the sides of Old Kearsarge ; 

 and we did not hesitate to bid in one lot of an hun- 

 dred acres, which if our prosperity shall be equal 

 to our determined perseverance we intend shall be 

 cleared within the next three years of its huge 

 trees, and converted into a pasture, which will be 

 situated only a single day's drive for cattle from 

 our domicile in Concord. 'We was asked why, if we 

 desired a mountain pasture, we did not purchase 

 one already cleared, which might be had at ten to 

 twelve dollars the acre. We preferred the unclear- 

 ed land, because if w-e are unable to farm to so good 

 advantage as those of more personal strength w-ho 

 have been farmers all their lives, our disadvantage 

 is made up by the consideration that when our ef- 

 forts do not produce a present jirofit, wc are making 

 that ground productive ichieh yielded little or noth- 

 ing before ?ce began upon it. So that if our pur- 

 chase of one hundred acres of mountain forest at 

 one hundred and sixty dollars can be converted into 

 a pasture v.orth one thousand dollars, and the first 



