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','<n- tempts the bee, 



Its blushing sweets to pry. 

 And m tall rank.-i, the glossy maize 



Voints upward to the sky. 



No tyrant hruUord wrings our toil, 



Or rends its fruit away ; — 

 The flocks upon our own green hills 



Secure from plunder stray : — 

 No bigot's scourge, or martyr's fires, 



A barb'rous creed fullil, 

 For the spirit of our stern old sires. 



Is with their children still. 

 And pure to Heaven our altars rise 



Upon a bloodless sod, " 

 Where man with free unfetter'd faith 



Bows down and worships God. 



No midnight revel wastes our strength, 

 Or prints our brows with care ; 



We shun the noisy wassail — 



The serpen's coiling there ; 

 But cjiildhnod's ringing tones of mirth. 



And love's refined caress. 

 With the pure page of knowledge, 



Our peaceful evening.? bless. 

 And underneath our pillow. 



There's a spcdl for slumber's hour, 

 And for the sous of toil alone. 



That magic spell hath power. 



Our homes — our dear New England homes — 



Wliere sweet aff*ectioiis meet ; — 

 Wlicre the cool poplar spread.^ its shade, 



,\nd tlowers our senses greet : — 

 The lily rears her polish'd cup — 



The rose as fjcshly springs, 

 And to the sky looks gaily up. 



As in the country of kings. 

 And the vine that climbs tlie window, 



Hangs drooping from above. 

 And sends its grateful odours in, 



AVith iiiossages of love. 



Then hail I to thee New England ! 



Thou cherished land of ours : 

 Our sons are like the granite rocks — 



Our daugliters like the flowers. 

 We quail to none — of none we crave, — 



Or bend the servile knee. 

 The life-blood that our fathers gave 



Still warms the firm and free — 

 Free as our eagle spreads his wings, 



We own no tyrant's rod. 

 No sovereign, but the King of Kings, 



No monarch, but our God. E. D. 



Fur ttl8 Fiinner's Montlily Visitor. 

 Agriculture. 

 Agriculture is the first of all employments ; and 

 I rejoice to see t.hat it is beginning to receive that 

 degree of attention, which its merits obviously de- 

 mand. It is an employment in which tlie wisest 

 and greatest of men raaj' v.-ell be proud to partici- 

 pate. It is, emphatically, the source whence all 

 earthly blessings flow. And yet, how many are 

 there, who neglect this noble occupation to engage 



in nothing? Now if farmers can, by means 



in their power, double, or treble the products of 

 their farms, is it not a desideratum anxiously to be 

 sought for.' As yet, comparatively little has been 

 done, by those iiiost immediately concerned, the 

 farmers themselves, towards enlightening their 

 minds, and cultivating the soil in a Bsienfific man- 

 ner ; but a spirit seems waking up, wiiich promises 

 well for the firming interests, and the preservation 

 of our free institutions. I look to the information 

 diffused through periodicals, as one means by 

 which a mighty i-jvolution is to be brnught about, 

 in the cultivation of the soil. It is a trite maxim 

 tliat "necessity is the mother of invention," but 

 not less true than trite. When the country was 

 new, the soil being productive, yielded abundant 

 crops without manure ; but this was not always to 

 continue : We have practised on the exhausting 

 system too long — our farms, many of them, have be- 

 come what we call worn out. Is there any need 

 of this ? Not at all : use the means in our power — 

 replenish where we exact, and there will then be 

 no necessity for the cry ^'■hard times,'' ^'■initst go to 

 the west." Can it be supposed that mother earth 

 will continue to give us our "d;i.ily bread," without 

 some exertion on our part.' Slie must be reward- 

 ed for it. I have seen lands, which with good cul- 

 tivation, might be made to yield twenty-five or 

 thirty bushels of w-heat, or a hundred of corn, to 

 the acre, so exhausted, that they would scarcely 

 produce sufficient litiy on an acre, to winter one 

 sheep, provided she had as many turnips as she 

 would cat ! 



But it may be said we have not the means — we 

 cannot bring our farms into a high state of cultiva- 

 tion by anv resources in our powder — what w'e have 

 is re!|uired to enrich a few acres, on which w-e raise 

 corn, potatoes, &.C. It seems to ine, that they have 

 means within their reach, which might be profita- 

 bly employed to gradually enrich their farms and 

 bring them into a better condition. The making and 

 preservation of manure is of the first imjiortance. 

 Vjvery farmer ought to make as much as he possi- 

 bly can ; not suffering it to lose its strength by 

 washing in the yard, or by letting it remain over 

 summer to ferment and lose two-thirds of its good- 

 ness before it is applied to the land. Manure, to 

 secure the whole of it, should he applied in the 

 spring, broad cast, generally, leaving it to ferment 

 in the earth, which will cause warmth, producing 

 vegetation sooner; if the land be cold and moist, 

 the manure being under the soil, will have a ten- 

 dency to carry oiT the moisture and leave the soil 

 drier and lighter liian before. 



It is well known that linie is one of the elemen- 

 tary principles of wheat, and that no soil that does 

 not contain lime will produce wheat. I iiave 

 seen old land which was very rich, covered with 

 an abundance of straw, but scarcely any ichcat. 

 This land, plainly, did not contain lime, which 

 ought to have been supplied. 



The raising of roots for the feeding of stock is 

 an excellent br.inch of farm management. It is 

 surprising to me, that farmers do not cultivate these 

 more extensively. An acre, planted with ruta ba- 

 ga, will go further towards wintering a stock of 

 i-attle and sheep, than many acres of the best hay. 

 .\nimals require something juicy and succulent 

 with their dry food. A. 



The following communication is from n praetical 

 farmer of the adjacent town of Canterbury. If we 

 do not mistake, the discovery and remedy he has 

 here developed in relation to the tcci^ii or grain 

 worm, so destructive to the wheat grower's pros- 

 ]iects, will be of more value to the public than all 

 the combined discoveries and efforts which have 

 been exhibited in the essaj's of the best scientific 

 writers of the country. 



For (tie Farmer's rilontlily Visiter. 

 On the J^'ulfuve of Wheat. Important Dis- 

 covery and Remedy for Wevil. 

 In order to prepare the soil for a good crop of 

 v/heat, very much is depending on ploughing, as 

 well as manuring the ground. A few years since, 

 I made the experiment by ploughing a small piece of 

 ground four or five times, before I sowed on it one 

 peck of red bearded wheat, and when the wheat 

 ivas grown about f jur or five inches high, I sowed 

 half a bushel of slaked lime and plaster well mixed 

 upon the v^jheat, early in the morning, while the 

 dew was on, which gave it a white appearance for 

 a few following daj's. It soon changed to a dark 

 lively green, and grew freely and filled well, so 

 that it produced seven bushels of good wheat, clean 

 from smut and almost every thing else but wheat, 

 and that of an excellent quality. But on three 

 bushels sowing in the ordina.ry way of ploughing but 

 once in the spring, and sowing no plaster nor lime, 

 I got but about twelve bushels to one bushel sow- 

 ing. 



The last Spring (1S38) I sowetTten bushels lack- 

 ing four quarts ot wheat, of w-ltich one bushel and 

 twelve quarts was what is called Tea wheat, half a 

 bushel was the old red bearded wheat, and all the 

 residue of the seed was what goes by the name of 

 Black Sea v/heat. About three acres of ground 

 was pasture land, the rest was tillage, which the 

 year before was well manured, and produced corn 

 and potatoes, except the pasture land, of which a 

 pirt Vv'as planted with corn and part with potatoes, 

 and bad no manure at all, and was badly hoed on 

 account of being very hard and rocky ; but was 

 ploughed in the fall and three times in the spring be- 

 fore sowing. The other old ground was ploughed 

 twice in the spring before sowing. The wheat was 

 all washed clean and drained of the -vvater. Then 

 1 added an equal quantity of lime and plaster, as 

 much as would stick to it, and sowed four bushels 

 and a half of clean seed, (meaning before prepared 

 in lime and plaster,) upon three acres of pasture 

 land of Black sea wheat ; and I sowed three bush- 

 els and a half of Black sea wheat, prepared in the 

 above mentioned v/ay, upon about one acre and 

 five-eighths of ground ; and the one bushel and 

 twelve quarts of Tea wheat I prepared and sowed 

 as above, upon about one acre and one eighth of an 

 acre of land; and the half bushel of red bearded 

 wheat was prepared and sowed as above, on about 

 one quarter of an acre of land. The Tea wheat 

 and Black sea wheat ujion the old ground were sow- 

 ed on the thirteenth and fourteenth days of April ; 

 the half bushel of red bearded wheat was sowed a- 

 bout the middle of May; the four and a half bush- 

 els upon the pasture land, on the thirtieth day of 

 SiUiy ; and upon this piece of pasture land I sowed 

 nii.^ed lime and piaster about four bushels, when 

 tiie wheat was about one foot high. 



On the first day of July, I discovered a few of 

 the yellowish flies, or what are called wevils, at or a 

 little before sunset; and finding them to be very 

 active, I felt desirous to find out how the}' perform- 

 ed so much mischief. So I put on my glasses and 

 saw them climb up the head of wheat, and when 

 at the upper part of the liull wiiich covers the ker- 

 nel when grown would make a small stay, putting 

 their tail or sting under the upper edge of the hull, 

 while to appearance the fly would push back, and 

 that instant fluttering the wings, making a stop of 

 but a few seconds, and then hastening towards the 

 top of the head, making his short intervals at the 

 upper part of each hull as he passed upward. Up- 

 on the second day there was a considerable increase 

 of these flics upon the vheat heads early in the 



