THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



115 



friends and neighliors more acceptable than lie iias 

 left in old Gilinanton. 



PittsAeld and Darnstcad. 



From the ground near Page's farm we look down 

 south in tile valley of the Suncook, which winds 

 at first easterly and afterwards west of a sbutli 

 point. At a distance of seven miles may be faint- 

 ly descried a portion of the prosperous village of 

 Pittsfield, with some of the hundred feet barns and 

 farm houses on the north side of Catamount and 

 on other hills still nearer. To the northeast of 

 Pittsfield spreads the square town of Barnstcad ; 

 and quite near to us in th.at town we view poUions 

 of its beautiful hill farms, among which as more 

 peculiarly distinguislied for fertility and value is 

 the "Salter farm" formerly owned in Portsmouth, 

 but now the property of its occupant who has learnt 

 well the "art and trade" of making money. By 

 the way, it has been mentioned that there is prob- 

 ably no town of the State and perhaps not a town 

 in New England containing an equal number of 

 farmers, all of independent circumstances and con- 

 dition — so free from debt and so able to discharge 

 all pecuniary obligations — as Barnstcad in Straf- 

 ford county. 



Alton and M'olfeboroutth. Scenery about 



Winnipis.?eogee. TuHonborough and 



Houltonborough. 



It has not yet been our good fortune to come 

 within tile limits of Barnstcad, although in this 

 journey we wore quite near it. Our way was that 

 afternoon to surmount the successive ridges over 

 which the road passes between the Iron Works vil- 

 lage and Woltljborough. The recently increased 

 rateable polls of Alton had prcmonislied us"" that 

 this is among the gaining towns : more broken 

 than either of tlie towns we have just described, 

 the information will not be surprising that its farms 

 which came within our view v.'cre not of equal val- 

 ue or culture as those wc had passed. This town 

 is at the southeast point of the Lake Winnipissco- 

 gee, the beauty of wliose scenery may vie with 

 that of loch Lomond or any other body of water 

 consecrateu to posterity by the pen of the poet or 

 the historian. The town is indented to its centre 

 by a branch of the lake called Alton bay ; and the 

 point of this bay approaching nearest the seaboard 

 is the place where the land and water transporta- 

 tion at the east end of the lake is changed. From 

 the elevated grounds in almost every part of the 

 town, the lake with its many promontories and isl- 

 ands maybe seen. Large quantities of boards and 

 other manufactured lumber are brought into this 

 bay on the wa}' to Dover and Portsmouth. The 

 village at the bay bears the impress of increase and 

 pros[icrous business; and the snug dwellmgs adja- 

 cent to new cleared lands indicate attention to tlie 

 improvement of agriculture. The mountain 

 grounds are clearing to the very tops ; and the red 

 tinges of recently prostrated woodlands speak for 

 the diligence of the woodman's axe the present 

 3'ear. Indeed the profits of agriculture in al- 

 mostevcry direction induce every industrious man 

 to bring into cultivation all his spare forest lands 

 and grounds hitherta sulTered to nm to waste. 

 From the Iron \yorks village to Allon bay is six 

 miles over a hilly, but well made road. Fro.m Al- 

 ton bay, whoBC village is situated on quite a pretty 

 pine plain to the centre post oflice of Alton is five 

 miles ; and from thenco to Judge Rust's village or 

 South Wolfeborough is three miles further. All 

 the way from Alton bav to Judge Rust's is a con- 

 tinued succession of ridges runnimj down to the 

 lake, making the road one of almost unequllcd rise 

 and fall : the country is -so constructed that no 

 change of positlfui could very much improve the 

 present road, tiiat being generally hard and well 

 made. The vaile}'^ between the hills seem to come 

 at regular intervals, having l>een worn deeper and 

 deeper in the succession of many centuries. All 

 the way upon the cleared high grounds the view at 

 either side or to the other end of the lake is mag- 

 nificent : on the south side are the Gunstock moun- 

 tains in their full length overlooking Alton and 

 Gilford; on the north side, are 'V'V'olfeborough, 

 Tuftonborough, and Moultonborough, with Ossipee 

 mountain in their rear; and from the west end, in a 

 position to overlook the valley of the lake, includ- 

 ing the several villages of Centre Harbor and Mer- 

 edith on the south, and the whole of Sandwich 

 and Tamworth on the north, is the famed Red Hill, 

 which will well repay the curious traveller for its 

 ascent. Still farther west and not less prominent 

 from Red Hill than theWiiiuipisseogee is the Squam 

 lake, which like the former is thickly studded with 

 promontories and islands. 



Rust's village, near the south line of Wolfebo- 

 rough has grown up almost entirely within a few 



3'ears : it has many mills for preparing lumber and 

 for other purposes on a small stream v/hich runs 

 from Rust's pond : the length of the stream is 

 scarcely a mile, and the pond is considerably les.y 

 than a mile in diameter — it nevertheless, with a 

 fall of about seventy feet to the lakej furnishes a- 

 bundant water power i'or all the present purposes. 

 There are four other similar ponds within the lim- 

 its of Wolfeborough, connecting in a like manner 

 with the larger lake below. The largest of these 

 is Smith's pond, on and near to the stream uniting 

 to which with lake Winnipisseogee isthe fine vil- 

 lage of Smith's Bridge. A beautiful bay makes up 

 to very near where this bridge passes. Smith's 

 pond in one direction has an extent eastward of the 

 lake of more than s'tx miles. Near it is the site of 

 the mansion erected previous to tlie revolution by 

 Gov. Wentworth as his summer residence, which 

 was accidentally burnt some twenty-five years ago. 

 The tract of land known as the Governor's farm, 

 now constituting several farms, is said to be of ex- 

 cellent quality. Wolfeborough is famed for its 

 great crops of corn. The soil of this town and of 

 Tuftonborough and Moultonborough all along the 

 north shore of the lake is much more fertile than 

 that of Alton, and less rough and uneven than that 

 of Loudon and Gilmanton. We should think it 

 better adapted to the production of Indian corn 

 than any other land within the limits of the State 

 which we have yet observed. Several of the isl- 

 ands belonging to the towns on either side of the 

 lake are represented to be very fertile ; wo know 

 some thriving farmers inhabiting these islands. Mr. 

 Bro%vn, who has brought to perfection the kind of 

 Indian corn which bears his name, and which it is 

 our present belief surpasses every other kind of 

 corn for this latitude, resides upon Long Island 

 within the limits of Moultonborough. 



A sugge&tion relative to keepin? a very 

 useful animal. 



Passing the towns along the even and smooth 

 road between the lake on the one hand and the Os- 

 sipee mountain on the other, with the first often in 

 view and the latter seldom out of sight, we were 

 stcjick with a practice which seems to prevail on 

 that shore of the many swine suffered to run at large 

 in the streets. By this practice the door yards and 

 grounds near the houses are much disfigured; the 

 uprooted house banking is turned into a dung pile, 

 and vegetation all around is made unclean. The 

 pigs indeed, which seemed all the way to be of one 

 easy, long eared breed, prone to health and to the 

 accumulation of fat, were an exceedingly clever 

 race of hi.'gs : the poorest houses generally exhib- 

 ited one or more of them sucli as would do credit 

 to those in the richer man's pen. There is proba- 

 bly an advantage to short fed swine to run in a pas- 

 ture or even in the highways, as hogs, like cattle, 

 may bo made to live on grass feed ; but it is ques- 

 tionable whether the loss in manure which the real 

 working hog may be made to jnoduce in a well 

 constructed yard and pen, be not greater than the 

 gain to the animal. from the feed of the most jn'olif- 

 ic road-side, or the offal which shall fall into the 

 the street from the refuse of the careless house- 

 wife's kitchen. 



A new day, but no change of subject. 



July 17. Up to twelve o'clock, noon, our journey 

 ■around the lake has been noticed. The extreme 

 heat and delay in our progress prevented a call up- 

 on Doct. Sliannon, the worthy representative of 

 Moultonborough, who inherits the house and an- 

 cient p^emi^Jes of his deceased father, the late 

 Judge Sliannon. That and several adjacent farms 

 running to the base and up the sides of-the Ossi- 

 pee, presented not only good soil, but e.xcellcnt 

 husbandry, demonstrating that the farmers in that 

 region know the true thrift to consist in feeding 

 well the soil, which enables it to yield abundance 

 for man and beast. Moultonborough is by no means 

 behind her sisters Tuftonborough (said to be the 

 very best soil of old Strafford) and Wolfeborough 

 (which was the early favorite of the royal Goverur 

 or of New Hampshire, who it is said always saved 

 for himself the best slice of land whanevcr he issu- 

 ed letters patent for the grant of a township.) — 

 Wolfeborough, for the youthful hero of Quebec, 

 and Tuftonborough for one of his council, were 

 named by the representative of the British mon- 

 arch ; but Moultonborough derived its name from 

 a patriot of the resolution, who was its first grantee 

 and settler, and whose descendants to the third and 

 fourth generation continue occupants of the same 

 vicinity. 



A new amphitheatre and new mountain 

 scenery. 



To pass from the capital of the State throug'i the 

 length of Strafford county, a circular cjurae e ther 



at the west or east end of Winnipisseogee lake and 

 by the heads of the oblong mountains on the north 

 and south miut be taken. When at Wolfeborough 

 the Ossipee mountain obstructs the way, and to 

 reach Conway the distance is about the same either 

 through Ossipee on the east or Moultonborough 

 and Sandwich on the west. Our course was on 

 the westerly end. On the rise of land constitut- 

 ing the westerly point of the Ossipee mountain we 

 look not only tiu'ough the valley wliich we have just 

 left, but through an amphitheatr'" containing the 

 towns of Sandwich and Tamworth, and further 

 distant portions of Eaton, Freedom and EtTinn'ham. 

 The White face and other high mountains to the 

 north of Sandwich and the Chocorua Peak in Bur- 

 ton, (now Albany) whicli is a prominent object al- 

 ways to 'be distinguished on high grounds at a 

 great distance, are in full view : the Sandwich 

 mountains shut out the view of the larger White 

 mountains which in a direct line are only some 

 twenty miles north of them, but they present the 

 north rim ofa most magnificent amphitlieatre some 

 ten to fifteen miles oyer in each direction. Within 

 this amphitheatri; are the two villages of Sandwich 

 supported almost exclusively by the trade and bu- 

 siness of that town, and on these mountains orig- 

 inate the streams which form the Bear Camp river 

 running easteily and along the base of Ossipee 

 mountain through the Ossipee lake, and constitut- 

 ing an iniportant branch of Saco river with which 

 it unites within the limits of the State of Maine. 

 The Sandwich cattle are hardly less famous in New 

 Hampshire than those of the same name in Eng- 

 land. The soil of the high grounds in this town, 

 when first cleared, is abundant in fertility, and 

 there are quite extensive tracts of e.\ccllcnt bottom 

 lands on the streams from the mountains after they 

 have fallen to their level. The track of an exten- 

 sive slide o;i the Whiteface mouMtain which took 

 place some years previous to the great slides of 

 the White Mountains in tile fall of 1826, is visible 

 for many miles: this great slide tore up large for- 

 est trees from their foundations and with them 

 brought down huge rocks and great quantities of 

 earth, forming new and deep channels and over- 

 whelming many acres of intervale below. Near 

 the scene of this disaster, as well as along the 

 base of the other Sandwich mountains, reside some 

 of the most opulent farmers of the town. Indeed no 

 farm can be more desirable than that which pre- 

 sents land feasible to the plough at the base, and 

 pasture groimds extending even far up the moun- 

 tains in the rear. Nearness to the mountain gives 

 assurance of the best soil. No men better under- 

 stand the advantages of their position and make a 

 better use of the lot which has fallen to them "in 

 pleasant places," than do some of the Sandwich 

 farmers of our acquaintance. 



Farms in the Mountains. 



The hills of Tamworth to the east of Sandwich, 

 are much of the same character with those ofSand- 

 wich, but probably the quantity' of easy land bears 

 a less proportion to the rougher land. The Bear 

 Canvp river runs through the town of Tamworth, 

 and expends along the Ossipee mountain, appar- 

 ently at its very base : by the side of this river the 

 travelled road to Portland, and another branching 

 to Conway and Fryel-.urg, Me. extends for some 

 eight or ten miles. We had passed the road sev- 

 eral times, hut had taken no particular notice ofa 

 stream which comes, tumbling from the mountain 

 in a continuous roar at the South Tamworth Po.it- 

 Office, oyer which a saw mill had been recently 

 erected. Near this mill in a narrow gorge we ob- 

 served the track of a road worn by travel, and 

 stopped to inquire what it meant. The answer 

 was, that the road conducted to some twelve or 

 fifteen flourishing farms in the valley of this 

 stream in the mountain which had been cleared 

 within a few years, and whose products were 

 abundant. The Ossipee mountain is an oblong, 

 and so well ar<.-' the aides of this amphitheatre of 

 farms shut in, that the v.acuum which they create 

 is scarcely detected ; and jiot one in a hundred of 

 the travellers to the White Mountains who pass over 

 the stage road v/ithin a mile of this settlement ev- 

 er dreamed that farms and inhabitants were there. 



We have passed, since we left Wolfeborough to 

 get around the west spur of the Ossipee mountain 

 the whole length of that town, of Tuftonborough, 

 Moultonborough, andgone the length of Sandwich 

 and Tamworth, to come to the northwest corner of 

 Ossipee, whose southeasterly line is on the same 

 base as the southeasterly line of the town we at 

 first left : yet it is said there is little difference in 

 the distance between the road running round the 

 east, from that on the lake shore and west end of 

 Ossipee mountain. The distance of the travelled 

 road round the Gunstock mountains on the south 

 shore of Winnipisseogee lake, is about fifty miles — 



