THLY VISIT 



Conducted by ISAAC HILL. 



Published by WM. P. FOSTER. 



" Tliosn who labor in the earth are the chosen peopi e of God, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposits for substantial and genuine rirtuc'-jEFFERSoK. 



VOLUME 1. 



CONCORD, N. H., OCT. 20, 1839. 



NUMBER 10. 



THE VISITOR. 



Calais, Sept. I6th, 1839. 



Mr. Foster, — Sir: — I prnfpss to belong to that 

 class of men commonly called Farmers — and, sir, 

 1 am happy to learn that the profession is being 

 raised in character, and am willing to contribute 

 my mite in favor. 



I here send you some lines : if you think worthy, 

 please give them a place in the 'Visitor,' and oblige 

 a Subscriber : 



"The Farmer's Song." 



As sung by J. M. Dana, before the associated Free 

 Men of Calais, Vt., Sept. 3d, 1630. 



',et blockheads sing of regal state, 

 Of lords and ladies fair. 

 Who on some haughty monarch wait. 

 And homage to liim swear : 



Their pomp and pride we all deride. 



We'll never bend the knee 



To mortal king, but ever sing 



We're Farmers and we're free 1 



'Tis true we labor for our bread. 

 And so did Adam too ; 

 A little toil we'll never dread 

 While we're so well to do: 



Then raise the sonj throughout the throng, 



We'll never bend the knee. 



To mortal king or corporate thing. 



We're Farmers and we're free. 



'Tis labor nerves the man to fight 

 In freedom's glorious cause ; 

 And freedom is the Farmer's right 

 By his Creator's laws : 



This right we'll keep or in death sleep. 



We'll never bend the knee 



To mortal king, but joyf.il sing 



We're Farmers and we're free ! 



Who lead our Fathers on to reap 



Their harvest of renown, 



Wlien Briton's w.ir-dogs crossed the deep 



To Iiunt our blrth-riglits down .•' 



A Farmer : yes, he taught me this— 

 To never bend the knee 

 To mortal king, but boldly sing 

 We're Farmers and we're free ! 



Who led out Free-men in the war 

 Down by old Cypress sv.-amp. 

 Where Packeuliam lie waiting for , 



Tlie "booty" of our camp ? 



A Farmer : yes, he taught me this — 



To never bend the knee 



To Briton's king, but stand and fling 



Cold lead at tlieni as free. 



The half fledged scholar well may say 

 On earth there's naught but care. 

 For would he throw his books away 

 And breathe the morning air 



BehiTid the plough, 'twould smooth his brow, 



Like us he'd happier be, 



Than mightiest king, and witli us .■sing 



We're Farmers and we're free ! 



The Farmers talk not of life's ills. 



Except when wool is low. 



Or when by chance we get bad bills. 



This ve.xes us, you know : 



But yet we will re-eclio still 

 We'll never bend the knee 

 To monied king or corporate thing, 

 We're Farmers and we're free ! ! 



When wintry storms rage long and loud 



The Farmer, at his fire, 



While sons and daughters round him crowd. 



Feels joys that never tire : 



With such a band join heart and hand. 

 And never bend the knee 

 To any king or corporate thing, 

 We're Tarmers and we're free. 



But ye who say there's naught in life 



That's worth the living for. 



Behold the Farmer's cheerful wife I 



And own what fools ye are. 



Come join us now just from the plough, 

 We will not bend the knee 

 To mortal king, but ever sing 

 We're Farmers and we're free. 



Come all who love onr country's weal, 

 Come all who hate dull play, 

 And see what pleasure Farmers feel 

 On this the Free-Men's day ; 



And sing again the joyous strain 



We'll never bend the knee 



To any king, but gaily sing 



We're Farmers and we're free. 



But there is one to whom we'll bow 

 With adoration due ;. 

 O ! may his blessing crown us now 

 And follow us life through ; 



To Him we'll raise the song of praise. 



To Him we'll bend the knee; 



He is our king — to him we'll sing, 



'Tis He who made us Free 1 



Fertile Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Thistles and Peas for Swine ! 



Mr. Editor :— Last August while passing thro' 

 the eastern part of this State, I observed a field in 

 which v.'ere growing peas and Canada thistles in 

 about equal proportions. A man had been mowing 

 and was carrying out some of tiiem. I inquired 

 what he did with them, to which he replied, that he 

 had for several weeks fed si.\- swine on them and he 

 never had hogs do better. He said in the spring 

 the piece of ground was so entirely covered with 

 thistles that hewave up all hopes of getting a crop 

 from it, and coRcluded to turn it out for a hog pas- 

 ture ; but seeing it recommended in the Farmer to 

 sow peas for hogs, he concluded to make an e-\ ler 

 iment with this field. He procured the small ;\ar- 

 ly peas and sowed them upon the furrow and har- 

 rowed them once over. The thistles grew luxuri- 

 antly and answered a much bet^tr, purpose than 

 oats or barley to support the vines. As soon as tlie 

 peas began to get full, he began to mow them and 

 feed them to his hogs, considering this better econ- 

 omy tlian to turn the hogs into them ; for they 

 were every day growing and becoming better. He 

 says the hogs eat the thistles with greater avidity 

 than tliey do the pea vines, and he thinks they are 

 equally nutritious. This is certainly a useful way 

 of managing a thistle patch, inasmuch as you not 

 only turn them to use and profit, but get them en- 

 tirely out of the way before the seed ripens so as 

 to produce a new crop the next year. S. 



over one hundred bushels of fine roots. Many of 

 my neighbors will not have forty bushels from a 

 piece as large as mine, and they have expended 

 five times the labor to procure them that I have to 

 get a crop of probably over two hundred bushels. 

 I would therefore suggest wliether neglecting to 

 weed turnip plants until the SOth or 25th of July, 

 will not prove an effectual safeguard against tho 

 depredations of those insect intruders. 



CYRUS SLACK. 



For the Fariner\s Monllily Visitor. 

 Ruta Baga and the Garden Flea. 



Mr. Editor : — I believe it is a principle at com- 

 mon law that no man shall profit by his own mis- 

 doings ; but laws are not always just, and there are 

 few principles which do not admit of exceptions. 



Last spring I planted about half an acre of Ruta 

 Baga on land that was manured with long manure 

 from the barn yard, and before the plants got fairly 

 started the weeds got ahead of them, and being 

 busy about other matters, 1 neglected to hoe 

 them until they ^vere completely over-run with 

 weeds, and seeing my neighbors' plants entirely de- 

 voured with the garden flea, I felt but little dispo- 

 sition to neglect other work to weed them, from the 

 impression they would meet tho some fate. Not 

 inclining to hoe out the weeds for the benefit of 

 those depredators, I concluded if they did take 

 them they should hunt them out from among the 

 weeds for themselves. And thus I neglected to be- 

 stow any care upon them until my other work was 

 out of the way. One day I discovered a few strag- 

 gling plants making their way through a thin spot 

 of weeds whicli induced me to examine the piece. 

 1 found tlie plants to be perfect and entire, not one 

 having been molested by an insect of any descrip- 

 tion. I hoed and thinned them out, and in ten 

 (bays I had the handsomest and forwardest yard of 

 turnips in the town, and I have no doubt that by 

 my negligence in not hoeing them, I have gained 



For the F.jrnier's Monthly Visitor. 

 Cruelty to Animals. 



Mr. Editor :— It is gratifying to observe that 

 you have improved the advantageous position you 

 occupy as the conductor of a public paper, exten- 

 sively read among the moral people of New Eng- 

 land, in administering seasonable advice regarding 

 the wanton destruction of useful birds ; and the 

 same feeling will doubtless prompt you, in good 

 time, to add remarks against cruelty to animals in 

 general. This sin, so utterly revolting to the feel- 

 ings of the benevolent mind, and, moreover, so 

 completely calculated to make mt<n ashamed of 

 some of their species, will doubtless be practised 

 so long as our race cover the face of the earth; and 

 hence the necessity that all whose conspicuous 

 stations in life give importance to their advice and 

 personal example, should constantly strive to in- 

 culcate the humane usage of all tliose creatures 

 which a beneficent Providence has placed in the 

 keeping of man, for his convenience and support. 



I did not, however, take my pen for the purpose 

 of writing an essay upon this subject ; for kindness 

 to animals is a duty which needs no argument to 

 commend itself to every rational being. The mass 

 of mankind, sensible th.at for wise purposes, the 

 "beasts of the field and tlie fowls of the air" are 

 committed to tlieir guardianship, feel no other than 

 Isindly emotions in all their usage of them. Most 

 descriptions of cruelty, too, wherever it comes un- 

 der observation, is the result of sheer barbarity — 

 the evidence of unmerciful feelings on the part of 

 those, who inflict it : but we have reached a season 

 of tA year when a kind of cruelty is practised, 

 which, although very common, is rather the result 

 of custom than of a wish improperly to use the 

 lesser order of created things ; and therefore can 

 more easily be brought into disuse. I allude to the 

 practice of exposing the various feathered tribes to 

 the ball of the "sportsman," and permitting them 

 to be fired at for given sums per shot ; a practice in- 

 volving the sin of gambling, and evincing coward- 

 ly and barbarous conduct too on the part of those 

 who engage in it. It is as old, perhaps, as New 

 England thanksgivings ; but old as it is, it would 

 be infinitely "more honored in the breach than in 

 the observance ;■' and it is to be devoutly hoped 

 will soon be laid aside, and considered as disrepu- 

 table as racing, gambling and cock-fighting. 



I imagine, Mr. Editor, that the way to overcome 

 all kinds of unnecessary destruction of innoxious 

 birds, as well as a propensity to inflict cruelty upon 

 domestic animals, is to enact no laws upon the sub- 

 ject ; but to spread abroad a salutary influence in 

 community b}' persuasi\e means. Parents should 

 inculcate upon their children principles of benevo- 

 lence, and visit with tlii^ severest displeasure, any 

 breach of their known u ishes upon this subject. — 

 They should teach their offspring that an Almigh- 

 ty Power, without whose knowledge "not a spar- 

 row falleth to the ground," for wise purposes, filled 

 the earth with animals to minister to their conven- 

 ience : and that to give them unnecessary pain, and 

 for no useful purpose, is exerting a power which 

 will mar tlieir happiness, and which they have no 

 right to exert. 



The writer has reason to believe that the follow- 

 lowing anecdote, read to one of his children, will 

 not soon be effaced from the mind of the child, or 

 cease to exert thereon a correct influence : 



"An idle youth, living upon the banks of the 

 Loire, rowed his boat to tlie centre of the river, and 

 then, for the purpose of drowning him, plunged 

 therein his Newfoundland dog. The animal, upon 

 every attempt to regain the boat, had his head 

 borne beneath the waves by a paddle in the hands 

 of his destroyer ; but by reason of the strength for 

 which that species of the canine race are so cele- 



