THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



131 



A mnn of undoubted coura^p, he was free to own 

 that he did not go into battle without "Tear and 

 trciiiblinir." We remember to Iiave heard him re- 

 mark, that although then an orderly sergeant, lie 

 acted as ensig'n and carried the standard of his re- 

 giment at tiie battle of Monmouth. To be engag- 

 ed in tlie ardi-nt iiglit side by side with his com- 

 rades lie w.ould have considered agreater reliefthan 

 to bo ontirelv freed from the dangers of the battle. 

 While he felt all the while an indescribable some- 

 thing wliich some might call fear and others would 

 consider being "under concern," he maintained 

 his post like a hero, liis colors pierced with many 

 )iolea,and himself of course all the time a mark for 

 the bullets of tiie enemy. He came out of the tight 

 nu this occasion without a wound or scratch. Lieut. 

 Wilkins, at the time of the visit of La Fayette in 

 this town in June 1825, when hundreds of revolu- 

 tionary oihcers and soldiers congregated to bid him 

 welcome as tlie "Nation's Guest," was one of the 

 only twn persons of the whole number recognized 

 and recollected by that veteran friend oi America 

 after an absence of many years. He was not on- 

 ly remembered, hut the illustrious foreigner was 

 free to relate many anecdotes which did credit to 

 the manly bearing of a comrade in arms whom he 

 familiarly addressed as liis old friend '■'■Ijoh IVUkcs.'' 



A correspondent has furnished tlie following for 

 the V^isitnr, of whicli we have no remembrance of 

 having before heard : 



Anecdote of late L'tcvt. R. B. Wllhhts. 



When the New Hampsliire regiments, (the 1st 

 and part of the 2d, all under command of Col. 

 Stark,) after having passed Charlestown neck un- 

 der a heavy fire, were repairing to the position as- 

 signed them, to take part in the battle then about 

 to commence (since calUd Bnnker's Hill, though 

 fought upon Breed's Hill) the town of Charles- 

 town was in flames, having been set on fire by a car- 

 case (a shell prepared with combustibles to set 

 buildings on fire*) thrown by order of Gen Bur- 

 gnyne from Copp's Hill in Boston. 



A woman came to tlie captain of one of tlie com- 

 panips, and requested him to idlow one of his men 

 to assist in removing her valuables from h house, 

 which was expected soon to take fire The Cap- 

 tain told Wilkins, then a youth of 16 or 17 years, 

 that he might go if he pleased. His answer was, 

 that he preferred standing by his Captain in the 

 coming fight. A stout man, however, standing 

 from the ranks, volunteered to assist the lady ; 

 and was by the Captain permitted to go. 



The next day after the battle, Wjlkins met him, 

 and was shown a handsome watch, which had been 

 his recompense for the assistance afforded — with 

 the reuiark, "You see, bov, what I got for helping 

 the woman take care of her furniture." "And you 

 see, (replied Wilkins, pointing to his arm in a 

 sling,) what I gut by fighting for my country. I 

 would not give my lame arm for twenty watches." 

 It proved to be worth viure than twenty such 

 watches ; for it gained him a promotion and after- 

 wards a pension. 



This story was related by an old soldier some 

 years since. V. 



*P-iirL'<>ync's account of ihe adion as seen from Boston, and 

 pitiiliulied some yeara ago. 



er poems of his under the title of "American 

 Sketches." 



Previous to LovewcITs march, the Legislature 

 of Massachusetts voted that £100 should be paid 

 for every Indian scalp taken. V. 



For the Farmer'.> Monthly Vieitor. 



Deau Sir :— I have read with much interest 

 your account of Lovewoll's fights with the Indians. 

 In regard to the ten that were killed in the first af- 

 fair, 1 will state the following circumstances, which 

 will I think be supported by Belknap's history: — 



The Indians were encumped upon an island in 

 Lovewell's Pond (named from Capt. L.) on an 

 island in a frozen pond in the town of Wakefield. 

 It was in January 1725. The Indians were sur- 

 prised in their camp asleep around their fire just 

 befnre daylight. Lovewell discharged tlie first 

 musket. Eight of the others of his party each 

 picked out his mark and every shot told, the re- 

 mainder reserving their fires. Seven were killed 

 and two dangerously wounded, who were immedi- 

 ately dispatched. The tenth attempted to escape, 

 and was caught by a blood hoUnd belonging to 

 Lovewell's party. He begged for mercy, but was 

 knocked in the "head, and his scalp with those of 

 tlie others taken — a hole cut in the ice, and all of 

 them thrown into the pond. 



I resided in Wakefield at school from Maj' 1S16, 

 to I\Iay Iblit, and the foregoing was the tradition- 

 ary story told me by many of tlie old inhabitants. 



I have frequently visited the island which tradi- 

 tion points out as the scenq of action. It is one 

 of the most romantic spots in the north country. 



Some beautiful lines upon Lovewell's fight at 

 Pequawket were written by Rev. Thomas C. Up- 

 ham (brother of the Judge) and publifiUed with oth- 



South Eerwiclc in Maine. Its principal 

 Farmer. 



To all such as, for any reason, would send their 

 sons and daughters from home either to finish a 

 common English education, or to prepare fur more 

 thorough classical studies, we would recommend 

 the delightful village of South Berwick near the 

 line of Now Hampshire in tiie State of Maine. 

 The Academy at that place is the oldest institution 

 of the kind in tliat State — it has considerable 

 funds ; and it has a board of trustees v/ho manage 

 the institution with a generous and enlig-htened lib- 

 erality, witli that prudence and discretion, which 

 it might be well for other trustees of otiier literary 

 .seminaries to imitate. Mr. Bkrkv, the principal 

 instructor of this academy, is a native nf New 

 Hampshire, and has provi-d himself to be that apt 

 and thorough teacher wlio disappoints not even the 

 raised expectations of parents and guardians who 

 commit scholars to his ciiarge. 



Not less than the excellent management and in- 

 struction at the Academy do the manners and so- 

 cial and moral character of the people of the vil- 

 lage recommend this place as suitable for the resi- 

 dence of those whom we would teach in every 

 good word and work. 



The village of South Berv/ick, in view of that 

 of Great Falls some four miles distant in the north, 

 and still nearer in sight of that of Salmon Falls, 

 both manufacturing places within the town of Soni- 

 ersworth — is situated four and a half miles from 

 Dover. The Academy immediately peers in sight 

 upon leaving Dover, which is the second town of 

 our State in population. It is a handsome edifice 

 of wood erected on the declivity of an eminence, 

 i'rom which in clear weather may be descried the 

 whole range of mountains and hills westerly of 

 the Merrimack in the soutiierly half of New Hamp- 

 shire to the centre of Mass*'chusetts, including the 

 Monadnock and Wachnselt. Still furtlier south 

 may be descried the Blue Hillbe3-ond Boston; and 

 to the northwest the high range in Sandwich and 

 tiie taller cliffs of Mount Washington. 



Our object here is not so much to commend the 

 Academy or its management, as to introduce again 

 to our readers the farm of our friend, the Hon. Wil- 

 liam A. Hayes. It is true Judge H. is President 

 of the Board of Trustees of the Academy, as he 

 has a right to be; for it is believed there is no oth- 

 er man of the village wlio, of his own household, 

 ever has or can furnish so many students for the in- 

 stitution — all talented and promising j'oung ladies 

 and gentlemen, of any one of whom a parent might 

 be proud. 



As Judge Hayes is at the head of almost every 

 thing in the village, it is but a matter in course to say 

 that he carries on the business of farming a little 

 better than the best of his neighbors. His home 

 farm, situated upon the same eminence with the 

 Academy and extending on botii sides of the iiill, 

 consi.sts of one hundred and eiglity acres. Plis man- 

 sion house is about one fourth of a mile southeast 

 from the village nearly on aline with the Academy 

 building frontmg a branch road leading to Elliot 

 and York. In the front yard are successive flights 

 of granite steps, leading over plats of cultivated 

 shrubs and flowers on either side. In the rear of 

 tlie house, after leaving ample space for a yard and 

 rising another flight of granite steps, is the kltclien 

 garden teeming with < very kind of useful culinary 

 vegetable adapted to the cliniale ; and still furtlier 

 in the rear, ascending yet another flight of steps, 

 is a flourishing orciiard bearing many kinds of 

 clioice apples. From tlie rear of the house reser- 

 voirs and conduits aie so constructed as to carry 

 the wash from the kitchen and every thing offen- 

 sive directly to a swine house, where the industri- 

 ous animals are constantly employed in the manu- 

 facture of manure, tlie materials for which are sup- 

 plied as welHrom the house as from amuck swamp 

 at a further distance. 



Judge Hayes, believing the hog to be not only 

 useful as a maker of manure, but among the most 

 profitable animals for meat for the amount of its 

 sustenance, is trying the experiment of feeding his 

 swine upon root crops. Thus far he has been em- 

 inently successful. He has two acres of rutabaga 

 sown early in the month of May, which are quite 

 flourishing. They were planted very thick, so that 

 it has become necessary to thin the growth. The 

 roots pulled out are boiled every other day for the 

 swine. Seventeen of tiiese, large and small, are 

 daily fed upon boiled ruta baga three times with 

 the mixing in aieach feeding of simply two quarts 



of Indian meal. Under this keeping the laro-est 

 hogs were equal in size and fatness to almost any 

 other hogs we had seen ; and the younger pitrs liad 

 attained for their age all desirable growth. 



The swine house and place of feeding of Judge 

 H. is arranged on a plan similar to that of the First 

 Family at Canterbury, N. H. only his yard is per- 

 haps better adapted than theirs for the making and 

 saving of manure. Tlie large kettle for boiling 

 roots is set in a chimney witliin tiie swine house. 

 To this place the wash and ^dops of tiie house are 

 carried; and it is the business of one hired man 

 every other morning before breakfast to fill the ket- 

 tle, boil and prepare sulncient ruta baga or other 

 roots to feed the herd of swine for that and the suc- 

 ceeding days. The swine house is of two stories 

 and is a building of respectable dimensions. The 

 owner intends to double the size of this building 

 on the ground, and at least double the number of 

 swine which he is now keeping. 



On his farm he keeps about one hundred fine- 

 wooled Sa.xony sheep, the fleeces of which he sold 

 the present year to the manufacturers in his own 

 neighborhood at seventy cents the pound. He 

 thinks ft good economy in a family large as is his 

 own to slaughter a fat wether or Iamb during tiie 

 summer and fall once a week, rather than sell and 

 purchase from the butcher's cart. And he says, if 

 he can succeed according to his expectations in the 

 raising of swine, he may kill a fat hog every fort- 

 night or at least every month in the year for fam- 

 ily use. 



His principal barn is one hundred and five feet 

 in length by forty-eight feet in width, and, if we do 

 not mistake, twenty feet post. ■ Situated on the 

 side hill, the cattle stalls are considerably below 

 the main floor Vv'hich extends the whole length of 

 the barn. On the ono side are ample bays; andon 

 tiie other over the stalls the scaffolding comes 

 down within a few feet of the floor. In the roof of 

 about one lialf of the barn is a well finished granary 

 to which the ascent is by a fliglit of stairs. At the 

 eastern extremity of tiie barn directly under the 

 floor is an extensive cellar capable of holding sev- 

 eral thousand bushels of roots, which is perfectly 

 light, secure from frost and of ready and conven- 

 ient access. At the northwest corner of the main 

 barn is another about forty feet square set upon a 

 wall in the side hill and covering as ashed or sliel- 

 ter that portion of the barn yard where water is 

 drawn from a well. The 3'ard extending all around 

 the main barn is of ample dimensions, and altliough 

 upon the side hill is made convex so as to retain 

 every liquid particle tliat may be useful for ma- 

 nure. 



The hill on which this farm is situated is not por- 

 OUR sand, but a light soil of that adhesive quality to 

 retain the virtue of the manure placed upon it. 

 This soil cannot be said to be rich as the river allu- 

 vion ; but the proprietor lias been industrious tore- 

 claim and improve it. His crops of grass, of corn, 

 grain and roots are equal to alraoat any other : hia 

 field of ruta baga is better than any we have seen 

 the present 3*ear. 



But v.'liat most deserves public attention is the 

 meadow of more than thirty acres, from which he 

 will obtain the present year more than sixty tons 

 of good Englisii hay. This meadow before he pur- 

 chased it, like many acres which now lie beside it, 

 was a cold swamp producing a little fine-wired hay 

 so indigestible as to afford small sustenance to the 

 cattle eating it. His metiiod of renovating it has 

 been to cut two main ditches tlirough its whole ex- 

 tent at right angles each with the other. P^rom one 

 of these ditches Iran.'^verse ditches three feet wide 

 and two t'ect deep at the distance of about two rods 

 from each other are dug out, and the vegetable 

 mould which they contain is spread in equal quan- 

 tities over the whole surface. To this mould in the 

 lower places sand and grave! of a few inclies thick- 

 ness are added. Barn yard or compost manure to 

 the amount of about eight loads to the acre is 

 spread over the whole surface. Late in tlie fall 

 herds grass, red top and clover are sowed — the 

 ground is harrowed until the vegetable mould, the 

 sand or gravel and the compost are properly mixed, 

 and pulverized, and afterwards the whole ie smooth- 

 ed over with the brush. W^e saw excellent herds 

 grass and red top growing at the rate of between 

 two and three tons to the acre on ground that was 

 prepared in this way late last fall. If the vegeta- 

 ble mould or peat be deep in any swamp, there can- 

 not be a doubt that draining and a preparation of 

 stimulants will change the character of the growth 

 from wild grass of little value to the best of Eng- 

 lish hay, and that in increased quantities. Judge 

 Hayes is o fopinion tliat his meadow will not wear 

 out during his life; and that the annual growth 

 may be kept up by once in a few years clearing and 

 cutting out th» ditches and spreading over a drese- 



