120 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



near the point of another large slide which had 

 crossed tlie road several rods below. Rev. Mr. 

 Willey, in a letter written to a friend at the time, 

 supposes tiiat when the slide came down wiiich 

 parted at the back of tlie liou.se, a part nf which 

 carried away the stable, Iie.iring t!ie crnsh tiie 

 family instantly and precipitately rushed from tiieir 

 dweUin£r, and attempted to flee in the opposite di- 

 rection ; but the thick darkness concealinir all 

 objects from their siglil. they were almost instant- 

 ly engulphed in the desolating torrent which pas- 

 sed below the house. 



We have gatliered many of the foregoing facts 

 of this disaster from ^n interesting account writ- 

 ten by Professor Upham of Brunswick College^. 

 and publislied in the tiiird volume of Collections of 

 the New-Ilampsliire Historical Society. 



Cooking Potatoes, 



^'-Fruitful in every good irorh."' There is a class 

 of people who exceed all others within our knowl- 

 edge in the application of means to ends, in the 

 method.s of giving to domestic life all its comforts, 

 in making and preserving evc.y thing useful, in 

 preparing their meat in due seai^on, and in furnish- 

 ing not expensivcl}', but in the best manner, such 

 food as is conducive to liealth. That class is the 

 people called Shakers. To describe a single fami- 

 ly of this singular community v.ouldbe to describe 

 all other families — so muuli arc they alike in their 

 manners and mode of living. 



Without wishing to be obtrusive, we never fail 

 to call upon them so often as we have an opportu- 

 nity, because we are riclily paid for every thing in 

 the information we receive. In concluding our late 

 perambulation which touclied jTour of the eigiit 

 counties of the State, we so timea as to invite our- 

 selves to tarry over night at Enfield, Avliere the als- 

 tef matrons who keep *'the oflice" seem always to 

 have received our visits with all that kindness and 

 sociability which could be desired. A good sup- 

 per or dinner is always soon ready after our arriv- 

 al ; and Friend Dyer consenting to take simple pay, 

 we have been emboldened to repeated calls. We 

 tarried with them on the night of the liTth July. 

 They had new potatoes on the taiile ; hut tUcir old 

 potatoes were better than their new. It was r. mat- 

 ter of general complaint tliat potatoes were not 

 good last year — they were. wet and soggy vvfhen 

 cooked ; and so disagreeable to the taste had they 

 become, that for some moutlis we had made our usu- 

 al meal generally without them. 



Whether they will be agreeable to .he taste or^ 

 not can generally be observed by their appearance 

 when brought to the table. The Enfield eisters 

 brought us some which, as they appeared, so they 

 proved to be, not less welcome to the taste than a- 

 ny we have ever eaten ; they were mellow and 

 mealy, and their flavor was all w0 could desir^;,as 

 an accompaniment of a preparation of mcatV^On 

 asking the method of preparation of potatoes for 

 the lablt? at a season nearly a month later than it 

 is common to make use of the last year's potatoes, 

 the sister having charge of the cookery discovered 

 the whole process. 



The preparation is begun by taking a sufficient 

 quantity of potatoes from the cellar, where they 

 should always be kept until this time, to last three 

 or four days or a week, sprouting and wnsliingthem' 

 clean. If the potatoes are to be cooked for the 

 morning they are then taken in tiie evening, and 

 if for dinner before breakfast in the morninn-, par- 

 ed, not entirely, but two tliirds .(«r three fourths of 

 the skin on the outside : they are then soaked sev- 

 eral hours in clean cotd water, which operation is 

 said to extract all those deleterious qualities which 

 are disagreeable both to the eye and to the taste. 

 Boiled in a kettle of water until about two thirds 

 cooked, a large portion uC the water is turned off, 

 leaving the remainder to evaporate in steam over 

 and through the potatoes. The result is, that even 

 those potatoes which are siiriyelied-ti'ith tlie late- 

 ness of the season will come out as mealy and fresh 

 as the best of potatoes when taken ripe from the- 

 ground. 



We bnlieve this method of preparation to be of 

 such value that thousands of those who have felt 

 obliged to eat bad potatoes wjU thank the S! 

 sister who has enabled us to give this informatibh 

 to the readers of the Visitor. 



advanced, seemed to be touched with the blight 

 from top to bottom. We have since viewed other 

 pieces of transplanted onions, (one of them in Dea. 

 Gault's garden of tliis town is passed daily) and 

 we find them all more or less touched, with blight 

 ere the seeds have come to maturity. The large 

 field of the First Family at Canterbury on Satur- 

 day, August 3, seemed to be partially affected with 

 the blight, although tlie greater portion of the 

 transplanted onions was so far anvanced as to af- 

 ford the prospect tliat tlie seeds might be forward- 

 ed to the size of germination. 



Tlie Enfield onions are on a plat of alluvial 

 ground near Masconi}' pond ; and it might be plau- 

 sibly conjectured that the early blast was caused by 

 the morninij fogormist which rises from that body 

 of water and is lodged on the surrounding vegeta- 

 tion. But why did not the same fogblasttiie wheat, 

 which was in its head, and the numerous other gar- 

 den vegetables, cither transplanted of last year's 

 growth or raised from seed of the present year ? 

 Seed onions had in former years partially blighted 

 on this spot as in other places ; and the vigilant 

 superintendents of the Family had been at the 

 trouble and expense to bring their seed onions to 

 be transplanted from Connecticut river instead of 

 using those of their own raising. So great was 

 their disappointment at their loss both in seed and 

 sown onions, that they stated a remedy for the 

 blight would be worth a thousand dollars to their so- 

 cieties alone. 



The blight in the transplanted onions soon turns 

 the body of the stalk yellow, and the young onions 

 are knov/n to be stricken first by a deadened paler 

 aspect of the green stalk and the tips becoming en- 

 tirely dead. 



The onion field on our premises has much the 

 same morning fog from Merrimack river as that of 

 the Shakers at Enfield. Being on new ground, 

 there were portions of our field which took the seed 

 remarkably well and grew in the long spell of wet 

 weatiier with great strength : other portions either 

 did not come up so well, or were destroyed by the 

 fly, and the remaining stalks were in some instan- 

 ces destroyed, and in others the growth retarded by 

 the common cut worm. In a few cases a smaller 

 wliite worm worked upon the body of tlie young 

 onion, killing some and stopping the healthy 

 growth of the others. To make the field equal was 

 an object : and at the suggestion of Mr. Wiiitne3% 

 who has the sole care and charge of the field, a 

 bag of fine salt was procured, and distributed at 

 mid-day when the field was perfectly dry, on that 

 portion of the onions which was least promising. 

 Afterwards, say four weeks and about the mid- 

 dle of July, about six bushels of house ash- 

 es were used on the field ; some were put alone on 

 the onions — some mixed with plaster; but neither 

 ashes nor plaster" was put upon the most flourisiiiiig 

 onions, which up to that time were far in advance 

 of any other onions in the vicinity. Returning 

 from Enfield on the 27th of July, we were anxious 

 to ascertain wliether our field was to be blasted or 

 not. We found that the most flourishing and most 

 advanced part of the field, where neither salt, ash- 

 es nor plaster had been applied, was touched with 

 blight and the tops of the stalk were decaying. 

 Bat tht/i and to r/i/^ ^f'i/i «^/ f^^at portion uf the 

 oiiid-ti bed on ichicli ^tne application zcas made -pre- 

 serves its healthy vigor and greenness. Sometlimg 

 is undoubtedly due to tlie advanced state of what 

 we had considered the best onions : there were two 

 kinds of seed, the one consideraljly-eiirlier than tiie 

 other. Gufrthe unpromising onions which were 

 nursed will certainly be larger than those wliicli 

 were considered as not needing any physician. 



Salt and lime, judiciously applied, we consider to 

 be most excellent ingredients in preparing an on- 

 ion bed : ashes and plaster, at all seasons previous 

 to or during the growth of almost every vefjetable, 

 are of use both in preventing the work of insects 

 and in preserving its liealth and vigor. Whether 

 either or all of these v>'ill prevent the blasting of 

 onions, we leave the reader to judge from the facts 

 here stated. 



Blasted Onions. 



At Enfield we were informed of the blin;ht of 

 their onions, especially of those which liad lieen 

 transplanted. On visiting tlie yard of the Centre 

 Family of Shakers, their anijjle and beautiful field 

 of transplanted onions presented a spectacle ©f dis- 

 appointed hopes ; and the best grown and most 

 uniform field of sown onions, although not so far 



A volume was presented to Gen. Washington in 



ker i 1707, by Lord Erskine, on a blank page of which, 



he wrote trhe^fcllowingnolo, containing perliaps the 



happiest eulogium of the many bestowed upon that 



wonderful man : 



"Sir— I have taken the libertvto inlroduce your 

 august and immortal name, in a short sentence, 

 which is to be found in the book I send you. I 

 have a large acquaintance ainono; the most valuable 

 and exalted classes of men, bi3t you are t/ie only 

 hn-iiian beinir^ for whom I over felt an awful rev- 

 erence. 1 Sincerely pray God to grant a long and 

 serene evening to a life bo gloriously devoted to the 

 happiness of the world" 



Self acting Cheese Press. 



Our friend Caleb Dver of Enfield, lias furnish- 

 ed, at almost at the moment of this number going 

 to the press, the above model of the self-acting 

 Cheese Press. The principle of this press was sug- 

 gested by a mechanic of Lebanon, N.H. and applied 

 to this use by the tact which has always existed a- 

 mong the ingenious artists who do the mechanical 

 work of the Shakers. 



This press (says the Maine Farmer) "is con- 

 structed on the principle of the knuehle or fogle — 

 a species of compound power. The cheese itself 

 is the pressing power." 



As far as this press has become known it is uni- 

 versally preferred to any other: the demand for 

 it ?t the First Canterbury Famil}' has been great- 

 er than could at the time be supplied. Its cheap- 

 nes.'?, from three to six dollars, if it be equally 

 good, will cause it to be preferred to tlie more ex- 

 pensive cheese presses. The Shakers had been in 

 the iiabit of using iron screw presses that cost twen- 

 ty dollars and more. We saw one of tlio self-act- 

 ing presses at the dairy of the First Family in Can- 

 terbury a few days since. The sisters say this press 

 is far better than any within their knowledge 

 that have gone before it. They exhibited ciieeses 

 w"eighing from twenty to forty and fifty pounds 

 each, which had been consolidated from the curd 

 in one of these presses, which was ample for cheeses 

 of almost any size. We wonder how dairy own- 

 era should have so long been worried with presses 

 much more complicated — the screw, the lever, the 

 wheel, the axle, inclined plane and wedge — drop- 

 ping one and substituting another — when an inven- 

 tion so exceedingly simple as this should be a bet- 

 ter svibstitute. 



By the wav» in managing tlie dairy, as in every 

 thing else, the Shakers go ahead of all others. — 

 Tlie neatness of their establishment is first worthy 

 of riotice, tiiere being no srent about it such as is 

 very common e ^en in the well managed dairies of 

 other extensive farmers, consequent upon the whey 

 and the buttermilk or thp vessels used. There is 

 the same neatness here, whether upon the floor or 

 shelf, ns is to be met in all the apartments of that 

 people. 



After the curd furms, tJie Shakers have a ma- 

 chine for breaking it up to its requisite fineness, a 

 mill on the principle of that commonly ueed for 

 grinding cofli-e : this saves much hard labor which 

 is done by the hand of the common dairy woman. 



The turning of the cheese in tlie hoop, which is 

 so straining in the UKual process and requires much 

 strength, is done by a simple invention, requiring 

 no more power than the mere lifting the weight of 

 the cheese. 



The Sliakers at Canterbury and Enfield, having 

 more engagements as mechanics and gardeners 

 than as farmers, of late make but little butter or 

 cheese for sale. Wliat they do make is of the very 

 first qt'iality ; and they show their good sense and 

 their independence by keeping their best articles 

 for their own consumption. 



Their labor-saving inventions very much con- 

 tribute to thejr ease and comfort. In the midst of 

 the Iiaj' season they do every thing easy Their 

 horse rake enables a man and boy with one horse, 

 to do the work of ten men with the hand rake in 

 gathering the hay into the cocks. VVhen loaded 



