114 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



space of two miles, beyond w'lioh tlio shower was 

 hardly any thing but asfirinkliiig. 



Farms in Iiomlou aJtd Gilniaiitosi. 



' 3uly IG. Oursecond day's ride brought to our 

 acquaiiitanro'not'so many now fncCF as new objects 

 of approbalioii in Ihe fine finnis and villages which 

 are interspersed between Concord and Wolfebo- 

 rougli in Strafford county. The men of our ad- 

 joining town of Loudon have done themselves and 

 the State credit by the independence and coniue- 

 tence which their own hands have produced. The 

 people of our vi'lage have often participated in the 

 products of their labors. Butter and cheese ofthc 

 very first quality, pork and beef, corn, rye, hay 

 and oats, and even wheat, have been spared to us 

 from that tov,-n much for our comfort and conven- 

 ience. The best farms in Loudon are on those 

 lar^e swells of land so common in the rough inte- 

 rior of New England. The general condition of 

 these farms is that of gradual, and in scrne cases 

 rapid improvement. Much of the soil, when v.'cll 

 treated, grows better the longer it is tilled. The 

 old fields that have been cultivated, some of tliem 

 half a century, become llgliter and richer as they 

 are repeatedly turned up and ploughed deeper. A 

 due regard is paid by the liirmers to what is called 

 "natural mowing," tliat is, Innd v.'hich produces 

 annually hay without dimin'ution by being washed 

 with overflowing water in the fall and spring. We 

 were pleased here to see the farmers making ofForts 

 from dcposites in swamps and by the road side to 

 increase the quantity of their manures. Haying, 

 which is backward this over common years of full 

 a fortnight, had not yet commenced ; hut from 

 the erection of new and elegant barns in some cas- 

 es and from the additions to barns which were 

 making in others — from the reparation.or construc- 

 tion of hay carts and othiiiE evident preparations, 

 it was apparent that tlie wferk was soon to com- 

 mence. During the cold month of June the In- 

 dian corn upon the swelled highlands, and even 

 upon the drier pine lands, had remained almost at 

 a dead stand ; many corn and petatoe fields, near- 

 ly drowned by the constant wetjUere clothed with 

 weeds which it had been- imjMSsible to eradicate : 

 but the farmers were hcein^ their corn in most in- 

 stances for the second time at a period v.'lien inthc- 

 common seasons a third hoeing Imd been complet- 

 ed — they had taken fresh courage from the v."arm 

 days of the last fortnight, which had brought for- 

 ward the growing corn with a rapidity almost un- 

 paralleled : its color had iii most cases clianged 

 from a sickly yellow to a blai?k healthy green. The 

 fields to which manure had done full justice are 

 easily designated, for, whether the. ground be nat- 

 urally heavy and wet or wiiether it be dry and ap- 

 parently barren, unless repeated rains shall make 

 mud of the one, or the scorching sun shall make 

 powder of the other, a proper application of the 

 right kind of manure v.'ill always compel Indian 

 corn to grow Twenty-five loads of ricli manure 

 to any retentive soil will double the value of any 

 acre to the owner if aiiplied to the corn- crop. — 

 Full pay, at the present price of corn, will be re- 

 ceived in the first year's crop ; and wlicn in sub- 

 aequent seasons tlie ground shall be put into wheat 

 preparatory to being stocked down, pay fertile full 

 value of the manure will be likely to come in each 

 of several succeeding years. Land in anv eligi- 

 ble position that is full}- mo-nured is wor^h double 

 that where little minure is applied, and the 

 strength of that little almost entirely taken out in 

 a single crop. 'We have known improved inter- 

 vale land on the Merrimack river to sell at auction 

 witlrin the last year for oultlvation at tlie rate of 

 one hundred and fifty dollars the acre, wliilc land 

 of the same quality along side of it, wanting onlv 

 deep ploughing and twenty-five loads of manure to 

 make it in every respect as good, was appraised in 

 an unimproved state at si.xty dollars the acre. But 

 ..he farmers of Loudon, who are not behind the 

 farmers of any other town in Merrimack ccuntv, 

 need not our instruction : their own experience i"3 

 their best school master. It is from their experi- 

 mental knowledge, it is from men like them, that 

 we gather whatever is useful in relation to suc- 

 cessful practical farming as in a focus to be thrown 

 abroad through the circulation of our. monthly 

 journal. 



Gilmanton : here we come into the town of the 

 largest limits in the county of the o-reatest terri- 

 tory in the State. This is truly a noble town for 

 farmers: its magnificent swells of land are on a 

 scale commensurate with its extended farms. 'We 

 liad passed through parts of Gilmanton before, but 

 never had we travelled in that town in this direc- 

 tion. Our old acquaintance and friend of twenty 



years ago, Capt. R. P h, did not know us when 



we stopped impertinently to enquire about his 



Tntnle of farming. We knew he had obtained pre- 

 miums for something like one hundred and thirty 

 bushels of corn to the acre, and we were anxious 

 not only to see where it was raised, but to know 

 how it was done. Our tastes arc but too often di- 

 rected by whim. When a b.-y, living among the 

 rocks and liills, hoeing and slulibing our toes a- 

 gainst the one and laboring liurd to climb the oth- 

 er, we used most to desire level land entirely free 

 from rocks. The best Gilmanton farms are the 

 rocky and hillv farms : the land here is strongest, 

 and will wear the longest — it is most free from the 

 etfects of early frost, and it is most certain of a 

 croji. How v;ould the people of the Great 'West, 

 tliat level or gently rolling country u'liich presents 

 not a stone and sometimes not a tree for many* 

 miles ; how would they be delighted if their whole 

 region could at once be interspersed with a portion 

 of the rocky swells and mountains \\'liich ornament 

 tiie Granite State ! Our first rate Gilmant&n farm- 

 er has not, as he tnld us, a son to inherit or talie 

 care of his noble farm, which he thinks too rocky 

 atid hard for him : ho would sell and retire from it 

 if he could conveniently do it. Stripped and at 

 work in a light farmer's dress upon a dny when 

 the thermometer stocd at ?0 degrees, we may be- 

 lieve such a man sincere when he says he would 

 be glad to retire from :t!l farinin.g work; but we fear 

 in such retirement one who has j^tirsned so active 

 and so laborious a life would never find that en- 

 jovinciit in inactivity and an entire cliangc of hair- 

 it, that he has found in making improvements 

 which have been an ex.-^niple to. all around him. 

 We saw the heal!hy:grewing wheat in f'ne spot, 

 and the grass at tlic rate of three t'TUis to the acre 

 on ground where the great crrn had been raised : 

 it was land with a slope facing-the south by the side 

 of the road, and was enclosed by-that best and must 

 permanent of fence, stone wall, tiint was neither 

 cheaply laid or laid by the job. At a distance 

 which \ye did not travel over, but in full view, v.-as 

 his principal corn field. Its size and color were 

 such ns tp indicate that he might yet moke it a pre- 

 mium c'brn field in old Straifprd tlie present year. 

 Purely to' save this a perfect field, a great part ot 

 which had been recently cleared of numerous 

 rocks, the owner had turjied the travelled track tr 

 his more distant grounds by making a perfect turn- 

 piked road over still more uneven and rocky ground 

 on the outside of this walled field. The farm ot 

 Capt. P. is in full view for a good distance 'from 

 the road fronting his house. 



Such is the present e-vtent.of Gilmanton, from 

 which the large and flourishing town of Gilford v.-n? 

 disannexeil in 1812, that there are. three cchsidern- 

 ble stage and mail roads leading to and thrnngh the 

 town from Concord. The westerly or upper road, 

 by the beautiful Shaker village at Canterbury, 

 leads to Upper Gilmanton by the v.illage of Fellows' 

 'I\:Illl3 and in sight of the exicnsive farm and pre.ni- 

 ises of Gov. Badger, to Meredith -IJrldge awd the up- 

 per end of the Lake Wlnnlpisseogce ; the centre 

 road leads to the Academy Corner at wltich the 

 llonrlshlng Theological Seminary is situated, near 

 wh.ieh a portion of the courts in Strafford liavr 

 been held for manv years: and the easterly road 

 leads by the pest office at Lower Gilmanton to the 

 Iron Vv'orks Village, at the southrn?t corner of the 

 tov.'n, near the line of Barnstead oji the south and 

 of Alton on the east. The first road touches upon 

 Loudon and Canterbury : the' tv.'O easterly roods 

 cover the whrde length cf l.*oudon, wliich is an ob- 

 long square running nortlieast and southwest. The 

 Gunstock mounta'uis on the north mqjte the boun- 

 dary between Gilmanton and Gilford ; the north 

 side of this range discharging its waters into Win- 

 nlplsseogee makes the town of Gilford — the south 

 side, within the limits of Gilmanton, are the sour- 

 ces of the Soucook river eirfptving into the Merri- 

 mack between Con'cord and Pembroke, and of the 

 Snncook empty-ing between Pembrolve and .Miens- 

 town. The Ircn Works Village of Gilmanton has 

 numerous mill privileges, being very near the head 

 of Suncook river whose water is furnished- in a 

 constr.nt and safe supply from three ponds or lakes, 

 the two smaller running into the larger, and all 

 forming the base of an amphitheatre, the lower or 

 plain part of which is covered with pine timber and 

 is of an easy, fruitful soil. The easterly oblong- 

 end of the Gunstock o\-erlooks the valley or am- 

 phitheatre in whi.ch there arc several fine farms, as 

 there are on the hills which surround both this and 

 the valley southwest and cential in the town, from 

 which run the waters of the Soucook. The Gun- 

 stock mountains have recently been brought into 

 extensive and profitable use as pasture grounds. 

 We were informed that .leremiah Wilson, Esq. has 

 pasturing ground upon this mountain exceeding 

 eleven hundred acres. About three hundred acres 

 of this was cleared in one year simply by runnin^r 



a fire over it without chopping, grass seed being 

 sowed upon it. The present year Mr. Wilson has 

 forty acres of corn upon the mountain stuck Into 

 the burnt ground : this kind of cultivation of In- 

 dian corn in new ground generally succeeds well 

 even without the application of the hoe. Thom.as 

 Durell, Esq. a representative in the Legislature 

 from Glliiianton, also has a pasture upon the Gun- 

 stock which yields him a clear annual profit of 

 something like five hundred dcdlars. The price of 

 real estate in Gilmanton, although some of its en- 

 terprising farmers in easy circumstances have been 

 tempted' to the far West, has risen considerably 

 within the last few years — a fact which nrovesthat 

 the town is not depreciating. Much woodland ofthc 

 town is clearing to make new farms or add to the 

 income of old ones. A good farm for sale now 

 finds no want of a purchaser ; and this shows that 

 e.xten^lve emigration has not and cannot mar the 

 prospects or prosperity of IVew Hampshire. 



Tlie first settlement of Gilmanton was made a- 

 bout the yeurl760; and Gen. Joseph Badger, sen- 

 ior, grandliither of ex-governor Badger, was the 

 first magistrate in the town. The farm on which 

 he pitched,, now constituting the farms of Pearson 

 and Thomas Cogswell, Esquires, is situated about 

 a mile and ahalf westerly of the Iron Works village 

 upon one of those large swells of land common in 

 tlie town and in view of an extended prospect. 

 On this spot the first framed house was erected : it 

 was long the residence of the Hen. Thomas Cogs- 

 well, an oflicer of the revolution, whose widow at 

 '.he aweof eighty-nine years yet well represents 

 the manners of the first class of females in New- 

 England seventy' years ago ; in the room where this 

 venerable lady was introduced, was suspended the 

 sword worn by her husband at the head of his re- 

 giment in.the war of the revolution. Excellent 

 v.lieat was growing on land of this farm which had 

 'eeen cultivated more than seventy years; and al- 

 though a poftion was somewhat depreciated by the 

 necissary. absence of one proprietor, the other pre- 

 sented all the exuberance of the well cultivated 

 field, and evinced tliat the pioneer settlers of old 

 Gilmanton made no mistake in the soil at the first 

 pitch. 



A Temperance Farmer and a Temperance 

 Recipe. 



We spent a i'cw hours lliis day for the grst time 

 at his house, witli an old fr end whose face as a mail 

 currh'T and carrier of newspapers had g.rected us 

 for many years, who has worthily filled the place 

 of represctitative fcrhis town and now fills that of 

 a magistrate, and who by a life of industry has giv- 

 en himself ccmpetence : this gentliunau'lias made 

 for himself a very good farm at home and purchas- 

 ed t!ie foundation for another for Ills only son not 

 far distant. As'some editor of that class which 

 ".^trains at a gnat" has reproached the editor of the 

 Visiter with countenancing intemperance because 

 he approved 6f the industry and enterprise of the 

 iNIilford hO]>.gro^vers, we will say that our old friend 

 the mail -carrier treated our palate in a warm day 

 with a beverage which we very much admired. 

 He is practically a tcinperr.nce man, and he stated 

 that-.neither himself nor his workmen ever made 

 use of stronger drmk than lliat which he presented 

 us It was excellent simple hop beerj made by the 

 following process . 



Take si.x ounces of hops and I'.eat tliern in a few 

 quarts of v.ater until their sti'cngth shall be ex- 

 iracted. With a little yeast and a single gallon of 

 West India molasses, turn the hquor in v. Irch the 

 strength-of the hops has be'en gathered into a clean 

 barrel pf thirty-two galleus. Let the vessel have 

 vent as feTinentation shall require : nflerwards let 

 It be closed from the air. The ]irncefs, with these 

 ijiinple materials, will make a full barrel of the best 

 of drink, from which no danger of intoxication 

 need be apprehended, ant! which will have a suffi- 

 ciency of stimulant to make cheerful the moderate 

 drinker without producing liie enervation and de- 

 sire for more drink whicli accompany the use of 

 mere water sweetened. 



The farm left by a Avestern emigrant. 



Leaving our friend and the clatter of the mill- 

 going village at the Iron Works, we mounted a 

 road at an angle in some points seemingly of forty- 

 five degrees to the farm lately left by Friend John 

 Page, who has chosen, if not a better, doubtless a 

 much smoother, part in the State of Illinois. Al- 

 though this farm has passed out of his hands, it has 

 not gone from the family name, for a brother owns 

 and occupies it. From the size and style of the 

 house and barns, not less than from the grounds a- 

 bout it, we know Friend Page was well off in New 

 Hampshire : lie may find more comfort and case in 

 his declining years on the fertile prairies of north- 

 ern Illinois — it will be impossible he shall find 



