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 



