THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



79 



The Sugar Tree. 



Accoriiin^ to llic statciiiont made by Jonathan 

 K. Smith, "Esq, of the products of the town of 

 Dulilin, Clieshire County, in the Chtshlre Farmer, 

 there were maniiractured '-'1,:*()0 pounds of Mai)le 

 Sugar in that town in the spring of 1838, averag- 

 ing 107 pounds to each family, and being probably 

 suHicient for the annual consumption of the town. 

 By the census of 1830, the population of Dublin 

 was 1218. Tiio Grand Monadnoek mountain, prin- 

 cipally within the limits of Dublin, is in the south- 

 west corner of the town, the whole of which is on the 

 back bone ridge dividing the waters of the Merri- 

 mack and Connecticut rivers: the Dublin meeting 

 house stands on such an elevation that the rain 

 which falls on the west roof runs into the Con- 

 necticut, and that from the east roof into the Mer- 

 rimack. Rev. Edward Stiiague was ordained as 

 tiic congregational minister of that town in 1777, 

 and died in 181G. He left to tlio town as a fund 

 for supporting schools, $8,000; and .■g.">,000, the in- 

 terest of V. h:ch, paid quarterly, to be forever appli- 

 ed to the sujiport of an ordained congregational 

 minister who shall preach in the town. This gen- 

 tleman was noted for many eccentricities in his 

 time, which v. ere in the mouths of the people of his 

 own town and the towns of his vicinity, but which 

 will be forgotten by tlie succeeding generation. 

 The gentleman once took into his head that his 

 beans came out of the ground wrong end foremost, 

 and set seriously about righting tliem over. 



Dublin is in the natural region of the Sujar 

 Maple, which when most of our hill towns were 

 first settled furnished nearly the whole sugar con- 

 sumed. When tlie lands were cleared and the 

 large oaks, beech, birch, &c. either cut down or 

 killed by girdling, the stately maple was generally 

 left, from v.'liich was annually received copious 

 supplies of sap producing sugar. It was found 

 tliat those trees, when left by the friends which 

 surrounded them, soon fell victims to the winds ; 

 and it was looked upon as a matter of great regret 

 that the farmers were deprived of their means of 

 supplying themselves, at the cost of little more 

 thiui their time when other business did not require 

 their attention, with the r;ch swecten'ng so con- 

 venient and necessary for tlieir families. P'ew of 

 them, then ever so youuT, calculated that the. seeds 

 seattered in their grounds after clearing would in 

 their life time produce a new generation of maples 

 heiter calculated than the original growth to 

 witlistand the scveriiies of the wind and the weath- 

 er ; and of course little pains were taken to cherish 

 and protect their growth. Nature however has 

 dene her work in many places where man failed to 

 d<? \vs duty. In the fair pastures and fields the 

 young sug-r trees were generally cut down with 

 other trees and bushes in the way of cultivation ; 

 but in many a rocky glen and hollow, by the side 

 of old fences, or in tho corners of lots where the 

 indolence of the land owner suifi-red the growth to 

 spring up, the second growth maple has gained the 

 ascendency. This second growth is now what al- 

 most exclusively furnishes the sugar produced at 

 tiiis time. We presume in ll'.e town of Dublin, 

 where so much sugar is made, there are fev.' 

 sugar trees of the primeval forest. 



Wo believe the county of Coos will this year 

 make an amount of maple sugar at least equal to the 

 consumption of its inhabitants. Tlie northern 

 towns of Grafton and Strafford counties will do tiic 

 same. Probably in no year for the last fifty years 

 has there 1 eeii so much maple sugar made as in the 

 present spring. The quantity, we trust, will be in- 

 creased annually : some single trees have been 

 known to produce in a year from seventeen to 

 twenty pounds. The very ground that grows the 

 i:i-nple is at the same time growing the wood neces- 

 sr.ry fiir fuel to boii down the sap. Groves of ma- 

 ples in rocky spots near water courses, by the side 

 of roads and fences, may be made to bcautifj- the 

 grounds of the farmer, and do little injury to other 

 kinds of cultivation. A maple orch.nrd v.'ill spring 

 from the seed in twenty years s ) as t-j be fit for tap- 

 ping Thirty years would make a thousand trees 

 W"!'th at least, according to tlie present estimate of 

 money, a.s many thousand dollars. The farmer who 

 has tlie soil natural to the iinple in places where he 

 cannot use the plough easily, cannot do better than 

 to sow the seeds and nurse these trees as the most 

 valuable wood that can be grown. Those who 

 have the sugar maple, we are inclined to think, 

 will do better by tlieia than by present cultivation 

 of the sugar beet, at least until the sugar beet busi- 

 ness shall be here reduced to a system as it is in 

 France. 



rt^We have been promised for the next numb'*r 

 of the Visitor the Plates representing the construc- 

 tion and economy of Mr. Searlc's new method of 

 rearing and keeping Bees. 



For llic Farmer's Mnlithly Visitor. 

 On eduaiting Parents ami the iBorkhig ptopic gin- 

 fialhj at a little cj-.pcrn'c. 

 Is education uselul to farmers and the working- 

 men generally.' If it is useful, why not the work- 

 ing men begin and learn for themselves and enjoy 

 the benefit of it ;, and not consent to let all the plea- 

 urc that is to be derived from education pass liy 

 to their children and neighbor's children : where- 

 as our possessing knowledge does not diminisli the 

 benefit of it with our children, but adds greatly to 

 their pleasures. 



It is no e.xcuse for us to refuse to learn school- 

 books ourselves, because we are thirty or forty 

 years of age, as I know by experience that we can 

 learn any branch in the sciences in a much shorter 

 time at that age, and labor six or eight hour.o daily, 

 than we could have learned at the age of twelve 

 or fourteen, and attend school constantly. 



When I was about thirty years of age I partly 

 learned the English grammar, but after that I suf- 

 fered a long time by ill health; and while on the 

 recovery from the complaint, I prr-ctised reading, 

 which probably has been the cause of my still suf- 

 fering with almost a constant pain in my head and 

 eyes for many years ; but have been more reliev- 

 ed from it for several months past; and being now 

 past sixty years of age, but not too old to learn, I 

 would willingly bear a share of the exiienso 

 with my friends and the inhabitants of the town in 

 supporting an evening school from September to 

 April, and hire a teacher qualified to teach in any 

 Academy, and who will go into five or six different 

 distriets'in the town to give lessons and teach the 

 English grammar, the sciences and higher branch- 

 es generally which arc required to be taught, one 

 evening weekly in each district, to people of all a- 

 ges v.'ho apply as scholars from twelve to seventy 

 years of age. 



I have already been well p.aid for the time, trou- 

 ble and expense of the little knowledge I have 

 gained from school books since I arrived at the age 

 of thirty, in the pleasure it aff'ords me daily in rea- 

 ding and in writing, and in the profit it has been in 

 enabling me to snpjiort a family v.'hile my health 

 was sucli, that had my eilucation remained the 

 same as at the age of thirty, 1 must liave how been 

 in a destitute condition as to the means of support- 

 ing myself and family. 



1 have often witnessed that where parents are 

 educated, their children are miich more likely to be 

 learned ; and if the inhabitants of my town should 

 happen to fall in v.ith tlie pl.an and establish a 

 school as herein proposed, I shall endeavor to be 

 one of the scholars in the Grammar lessons, and 

 perhaps some of the other branches of study. 



The project proposed may seem unpopular to 

 some ; but if we find by this scheme that eveiY 

 person in the town has an opportunity to become 

 well educated in what is useful at a trifling ex- 

 pense, and without spending any great portion of 

 their time which is otherwise wanted, then it will 

 be considered well worth our greatest exerticns to 

 put in practice. 



THE COMMUNITY'S FRIEND. 

 [I fOnr venerable correspondent is in the right. 

 No man is too old to learn ; and of all the pleasures 

 of this life, those from reading and study stand by 

 us longest. Many of the f;reatest and most emi- 

 nent scholars acquired their most important knowl- 

 edge not untd late in life. The mind of the aged 

 student 's a treasure house, furnishing abundance 

 for himself, and greater means of entertainment to 

 others. — Ed. Visitor. 



I had better than two bushels left at la.st. I gave 

 them the jelly and hay-tea three times a day. To 

 the boy w'ho "looked after them, 6d. (II cents) per 

 dav : the price of the linseed was 4s. (id. (say $1) 

 a bnsliel : the whole three years' feed X'J.os. (.^lO.) 

 My calves are kept in a good growaig state, and aro 

 much better at this time than my neighbors, that 

 aro reared by milk; they do not fall off so much 

 when they come to grass." 



We beg of our dairy folks, who are in the habit 

 of murdering their calves at tlicir birth, to save 

 milk, to try the above mode. Here were fifty-five 

 calves raised at an expense, in linseed jelly, of a- 

 bout 18 1-2 cents each, with hay-tea and attend- 

 ance, as cheap here as in England, without a par- 

 ticle of milk. If interest does not prevail, human- 

 ity should. 



As a cure for scouring in calves, mix a ball of 

 wheaten flour and chalk with gin, and give them,or 

 l-.y before them a lump of chalk, wh.ch they can 

 lick. 



To young calves, the food, be it sv/eet or skim- 

 med milk, hiy-tea or liniced-miik, as it is called, 

 should be given of a temperature similar to cow's 

 milk when first drawn ; as thc>y advance in age, the 

 heating may be gridually dispeii.sed with; and 

 wisps of hay should then be placed before them, in 

 order to induce them to eat. Barley, Indian corn 

 and oat-meal may be given in sin.all quantities in 

 their drink, and increased as they advance in growth. 

 Beets, shredded fine, are said to be excellent f' r 

 calves, when they get four or five weeks old. 



.'l!l/an:j Cultivator. 



Rearing Calves without I>Iilk. 



We have several inquiries as to the most eco- 

 nomical mode of rearing calves. The practice of 

 manv, and we are included in the number, is to take 

 the calf from the cow at three days old, and to give 

 it sweet milk ten or fifteen days, and afterwards 

 skimmed mUk, with a gill of flour or Indian 

 meal, till it is fit to wean, at twelve weeks old. 

 This is the common mode. The following, from 

 the Bath Society papers, is p.-rhaps a better, if not 

 a cheaper mode. 



"The following is as near a calculation of (lie ex- 

 pense of rearing my calves, without milk, as I can 

 at present assert. In the year 1787, I weaned sev- 

 enteen calves — in 1788, twenty-three, and in 1780, 

 fifteen. I bought, in 1787, three sacks — [three 

 bushels each] of linseed ; I put one quart of the 

 seed to six quarts of water, which by boiling ten 

 minutes, became a gaod jelly ; this jelly is mi.xed 

 with a small quantity of tea of the best hay, steep- 

 ed in boiling water. 



"Having my calves to drop at different times, I 

 did not make an exact calculation of the expense 

 of this hay-tea; butoutof my three sacks of seed. 



From the I.onilcli iriinduy 'I'iliie?. 



British Colonial Tosscssions. 



At a period when the country is tiireatencd v.ith 

 hostilities by more than one of the Continental 

 powers, the following statistical account of our 

 colonial possessions cannot fail to possess some in- 

 terest. 



'I'he Colonial Office in Downing street, at the 

 head of which is Lord Glenelg, (who, notwith- 

 standing the drowsy qualities which he is reported 

 to possess, ought to be "wide awake" with the 

 weight of so important a cliarge upon his hands,) 

 possesses the entire superintendence, manage- 

 ment, and control of the following of oui posses- 

 sions ; — 



In North America. — Upper and Lower Canada, 

 New Brunswick, Novia Scotia, Prince Edward's 

 Ibland, Cape Breton, and Newfoundland, contain- 

 ing an area of 4.55,000 square miles, or 270,400,000 

 acres, with a population of 1,.500,000 of white in- 

 habitants. 



In South .\merica. — Denierara, Essequibo, Ber- 

 bice, Honduras, and the Falkland Islands ; contain- 

 ing an area of l(i.">,00(l square miles, or 105,600,000 

 acres, with a population of 120,000. 



In the West Indies.— .Tamaica, Trinidad, Toba- 

 go, Grenada, St. Vincent, Barbadocs, Montserrat, 

 Nevis, St. Kitts, Arguilla, Tortola, and the Virgin 

 Isles, New Providence, and the Bahama Islands, 

 and St. George's, and the Bermuda Islands ; con- 

 taining an area of 13,000 square miles, or 7,720,000 

 acres, with a population of^ 1,900,000. 



In Africa. — The Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, 

 Malie, and the Seychelle Islands, St. Helena, As- 

 cension, Sierra Ijcone, the Gambia, Accra, Cape 

 Coast, &c.; containing an area of 850,000 square 

 miles, or 160,000,000 acres, with a population of 

 350,000. 



In Australasia. — New South Wales, Van Die- 

 man's Land, Swan Piiver, King George's Sound, 

 South .\ustralasia, Norfolk Irdand, &c.; containing 

 an area of 5aO,OCO square miles, or 320,000,000 a- 

 cres, with a population of 120,000. 



In Asia. — Ceylon, containing an area of J4,()44 

 square miles, or 11,771,160 acres, v.itha population 

 of 1,000,000. 



In Europe. Gibralter, Malta, Gozo, Corfu, Ce- 

 phalonia, Zante, Santa M iria, ItlMca, Paxo, Ccri- 

 co, Ac, and Heligoland, containing an area of 

 1,500 squ,ire miles, or 1,000,000 acres with a popu- 

 lation of 400,000. 



Total: 1,750,000 square miles, or 1,120,000,000 

 acres, with a population of 4,400,000 of " British 

 subjects." 



Independently of the foregoing, we have to add 

 the following territories, which are " under the 

 management and influenced by the government of 

 the East India Company and the Board of Control 

 in Cannon-row." 



British territories jin Hindostan — containing an 

 area of 432,483 miles, with a population of 80,- 

 636,371. 



Tributary territories in Hindostan. — Containing 

 an area of 363,610 square miles, with a population 

 of 54,271,002. 



British territories beyond Hindostan. Contain- 



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