Coiidiicted by ISAAC IIIIiI>. 



Published by WM. P. FOSTER. 



■ Those loho labor in the earth are the chosen people of. God, tchose breasts he has made his pecuHar deposilefnr substantia! and genuine uJrtMe."-jEFFERSOK. 



VOLUME 1. 



CONCORD, N. H., SEPT. 20, 1839. 



NUMBER 9. 



THE VISITOR. 



The Wheat Crop for 1839. 



There arc, exclusive of a few minor gores and 

 locations, two liundred and twenty townships in 

 New Hampshire : the population of this State in 

 1775 was H2, 200 ; in 17110, 141,885; in 1800, 183,- 

 858; in 1810, 214,460; in 1820, 244,l(il ; in ISISO, 

 269,633. In 1840, it will probably be 310,000, or 

 an average of about 1400 souls to a township. 

 From observation in various partt of tlie State 

 through which we have travelled, we calculate that 

 the crop of wheat in New Hampshire will come up 

 very near to half a million of bushels, being more 

 than one and a half bushels to each man, woman 

 and child in the State, and equal to one hundred 

 thousand barrels of flour. We may be beyond the 

 mark in our calculation ; but we ask our readers to 

 look about them and count up the quantity of wheat 

 raised in their own neighborhood, and to compare 

 that with the whole State. Perhaps the small 

 townships near the seaboard will not e.\hibit their 

 relative proportion; but the townships of diminish- 

 ed and exii-nded territory in all the elevated region, 

 especially in the whole northern half of the State, 

 will, wo think, exceed the proportion we hare 

 named. 



Wheat, in the season of good crops of corn, rye 

 and barley, does not generally constitute more than 

 one half of the material for bread cop.sumei; in this 

 State : one bushel and a half to each individual per 

 annum must make a suthcient quantity for con- 

 sumption of the finer bread and pastry. Our large 

 manufacturing towns and villages will for the sake 

 of the fashion continue to use a portion of the Gen- 

 esee flour ; but the great body of the farmers will 

 do without it, and consume only the bread produc- 

 ed upon thrir own land. 



The crop of wheat of this year will, we think, 

 turn out to be excellent every where. The few 

 specimens that we have examined minutely exhib- 

 it a large and plump kernel, exceeding any thing 

 we have before seen. The early sown wheat lias 

 not sonerally suffered from the weavil or grain 

 worn"i : it is a ratlier better crop than the late sown 

 wheat. May it not turn out, that the weavil and 

 grain worm are passing oft', so that they will no 

 longer injure the crops for a series of years? Ex-_ 

 perience has taught us that the prevalence of 

 destructive worms and insects is periodicial. It 

 is within the recollection of most of our farmers 

 that grasshoppers and canker worms appear in con- 

 siderable myriads one year, and disappear in the 

 next. 



More than forty years ago, when a child, living 

 near the seaboard in the region of barberry bushes, 

 we remember the idea among farmers had become 

 prevalent that neither wheat nor rye could be lliere 

 produced-, the wicked barberry, which was more 

 difficult to eradicate than even the Canada thistle, 

 was charged as the author of blast and mildew to 

 the.se crops. At that time, very few fanners at- 

 tempted to raise wheat or rye in the region within 

 twelve or fifteen miles of i5oaton. We think the 

 barberry was wrongfully accused ; for some of as 

 fine fields of wheat as we have seen the present 

 season, ready for the sickle, were lately growing in 

 Elliot and kittery in Maine, and in Tortsmouth, 

 Rye and North Hampton in this State, in the 

 very midst of the barberry bushes '. 



In all newly cleared ground of our Slate spring 

 wheat will be found to be a more certain crop tlian 

 winter rye. It is not as safti on grounds that have 

 been made very rich by manure, especially on the 

 enriched alluvfal ground upon the rivers. The well 

 cultivated fields upon the high grounds that have 

 been previously cultivated in Indian corner rr.aize, 

 will produce good wheat ; it is believed the crop will 

 be more certain if lime shall have been previously 

 used in manuring the soil. A bushel or two of fine 

 slaked lime upon the acre, thrown broadcast at the 

 time of sowing the wheat, will richly repay the 

 farmer for the expense and trouble. 



All kinds of spring wheat the present season 

 hnve done well we believe throughout New Eng- 

 land. There has been but little wmter wheat sown, 

 that kind -beins- considered at greater risque from I and expense 



the severity of our northern winters. Much of 

 the wheat raised is the old fashioned bearded wheat. 

 The kind called Tea wheat, not many years since 

 introduced into this region, is quite common. Oi 

 the Black sea wheat there are two kinds ; the one 

 is a kind introduced from Massachusetts, such as 

 several years since produced on the farm of Pay- 

 son Williams, Esq. of Fitchburg, more than forty 

 bushels to the acre : the other is a kind first raised 

 in this vicinity by Mr. Moore of Loudon, being in- 

 troduced in some article of forei-gu merchandize, 

 which he purchased. The Tea wheat iu some cas- 

 es has yielded more than the Loudon Black sea 

 wheat — it grows taller and the heads are larger ; 

 but it is believed to be more liable to suffer from 

 blight and rust, and is much more easy to be brok- 

 en down and lodged by wind and rain. The Lou- 

 don Black sea wheat, in a clear field, is indeed 

 very beautiful from the time the heads appear 

 until it is fit for the sickle. At first of a deep rich 

 green, it gradually chan.ges to that golden hue 

 which gives to an extensive field the most pplendid 

 aspect. The advantage which this Black sea wheat 

 has over most, if not all other kinds is, that it may 

 be sown as late as the 20th May to the Ist of June 

 on all elevated grounds duly prepared with little 

 more danger from blight than if sown a month pre- 

 vious, and thus with certainty avoid the weavil. 



The crop of wheat this year in New England will 

 average fifteen to twenty bushels to the acre — more 

 in quantity than tliecroj) of rye of two tliirds the val- 

 ue per bushel raised upon the same ground of equal 

 fertility. This crop of wheat is worth to the State 

 of New Hampshire more than half a million of dol- 

 lars ; and by this full amount will the State be bet-_ 

 ter off' for the products of this year over those of 

 some past years. We have paid in the interior as 

 high as ten, twelve and often fourteen dollars the 

 barrel for flour raised in the State of New York. 

 One fourth, if not one third of this price has been 

 the gain or monopolizers and speculators, who 

 have combined to keep it up. Our land in those 

 years did not produce bread ; and of conseipicnce, 

 farmers themselves, as well as mechanics and man- 

 ufacturers, have been forced to raise the means in 

 the best way they could to buy it. The prospect 

 of plenty has already reduced the price of flour 

 one half: we can purchase the first brands of Gen- 

 esee now for seven and a half dollars, which two 

 years since cost us fifteen dollars the barrel. At 

 the reduced price the crop of wheat this year rais- 

 ed will be worth half a million of dollars to the 

 State : this amount of money difl\ised among the 

 people of the Granite State will essentially change 

 the prospects of every laboring man and woman — 

 this amount added to our circulation enables the 

 whole community to increase the capital of future 

 comforts. 



The experiment of the prcsentyear will convince 

 the people of New England that they may produce 

 both their own fine and coarse bread-stntTs. Not 

 much more uncertain hereafter will be considered 

 a wheat crop in any of the New England States 

 than in the wlieat region of New York. If a crop 

 of wheat from ten to'twenty and thirty bushels to 

 the acre can be considered pretty sure, liow impor- 

 tant must it be for every farmer annually to pre- 

 pare a spot of land for its production .' As we can- 

 not expect to make flour for exportation, so the 

 farmer of New England cannot discreetly risque 

 too much in the production of wheat; he will not 

 expect to raise all wheat to the exclusion of other 

 crops. To those who can afford to run the risque 

 and who calculated on raising grain to sell, a field 

 of five or ten acres, or on newly cleared ground 

 of twenty and thirty acres, may not be too much : 

 but the snug, small" farmer who does all his work 

 with his own hands or by his family of sons, will 

 find one or two acres of suitable ground well and 

 carefully prepared, to be sufficient for all his pur- 

 poses. If the small farmer, who h^as abundance of 

 land for easy cultivation, will take acre after acre 

 of his land, preparing it first by one or more years 

 of clean cultivation of Indian corn and potatoes, 

 say with twenty ox loads of good manure to the 

 acre,ifsomuchcanbe conveniently spared,stockino 

 down to grass with the crop of wheat; he may ex- 

 pect the first year a full remuneration for his laboi 

 for the second year 



planted and hoed, or stocked down, with .the same 

 labor, his crop will be increased for the good culti- 

 vation and manuring at least fifty per cent, and for 

 five years afterward.-^ he will be very likely to real- 

 ize, in the additional crop of hay, nearly the full 

 sum of the original worth of the manure. 'Piie 

 difference between the clean cultivation and the 

 generous application of manure, and ilie careless 

 cultivation without manure or even decent plough- 

 in^"and hoeing with that scanty quantity of ma- 

 nure which is all swallowed by the present crop, ia 

 so great and so striking, that we almost wonder to 

 see experienced fanners year after 3'ear going over 

 ground v.-hich year after year becomes less and less 

 productive. 



vhether it be 



Weeds! Weeds! ! 



In many places it has been coiisidered ncxttoim- 

 possible to eradicate the weeds g;rowing in our 

 fields. Passing through the interior, the most of 

 tlie cultivated fields exhibit hut discouraging spe- 

 ciniens of foul vegebation. Abundance of seeds of 

 Ilonian wormwood, hog Vi'eeds, barn grass, &c. 

 will be produced — enough to usurp the place of 

 much uscf'ul grains sown upon the same ground 

 next year, or to produce much increased labor for 

 their eradication where the ground shall be again 

 planted and hoed. A major part of the potatoe 

 fields in the interior show a'most exuberant growth 

 of weeds : in some fields the article planted has 

 been for weeks concealed. Most of the corn fields 

 partially hide the weeds ; but we saw several fields 

 in July where the growth of grass and weeds was 

 taller than the corn, which could be traced in the 

 rows by the vellow tinge, different from the sur- 

 rounding vegetation, of its stalks and leaves. 



For the en°ormous growth of weeds almost every 

 man finds an apology in the continued rains and 

 wet of the months of June and July : there is in- 

 deed much ground where the water stood so as to 

 render it next to impossible to keep down the weeds 

 without eradicating every thing else^some, where 

 neither plough nor hoe could be used. We had pre- 

 pared two or more .acres for potatoes — rich inter- 

 vale ground on which abundance of manure was 

 soread. Ae the i;round was low, the potatoes were 

 planted on ground carefully ridged, covering up 

 every broken sod, and makin-v the preparation pre- 

 vious to planting equal to a fi.-st hoeing. The po- 

 tatoes came up finely, and as soon as they were out 

 of the ground were' well hoed the first time— they 

 grew luxuriantly until we were nearly prepared to 

 hoe a second time, v.'hen the wet came on — rain 

 followed rain inundating a portion of the ground 

 so as to kill the potatoes (not the gra.3s .and weeds) 

 outright. Where the rain did not kill, the potatoes 

 grew so luxuriantly that befole the field at any 

 one time v.'as Euliicieutly dry to be hoed, the tops 

 covered the groniid ; and when such time arrived 

 as to be able to get into the field, every one seeing 

 the ground expressed the opinion that the crop 

 would be more injured than benefitted by hoeing. 

 Soon came up the crop of giant weeds— wormwood 

 spreading its branches like small trees, and mag- 

 nificent pig weeds six feet tall, with stalks of the 

 si-ze of the wrist. The potatoe vines equally 

 large in proportion with the weeds; but it really 

 pains us to bok upon the field. Passing through it 

 iu our aversion to the weeds we have sometimes 

 laid hold of a large one to pull it from the ground, 

 when up with it comes a fine hill of growing pota- 

 toes which cannot, even be so conveniently replac- 

 ed and transplanted as the weed., themselves. 



Never have we known such a year for the growth 

 of weeds ; and probably lor a generation may not 

 another such season again occur. The apology of an 

 uncommonly wet season which almost every farm- 

 er will offer for the prevalence of weeds will an- 

 sv.-er for some fields — for others, it is insufficient. 



The fashion of carelessly hoeing our crops, pota- 

 tr.es only once and Indian corn twice, is not the 

 true economy. Every farmer will gain by careful- 

 ly hoeing his potatoes at least twice and corn three 

 times. Much of the common hoeing is done in an 

 extremely careless manner. At the first hoeing of 

 Indian corn if a weed be left in the hill, it will gain 

 a good head-way by the time of the second hoeing ; 

 passed over a second and third time, this single 

 weed will be likely to take more sustenance hoia 



