THE FARME R'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



toes in one case over six Hundred ; and of a quali- 

 ty superior to those grown in most portions of our 

 country. Rye does well on newly cleared land, 

 but is subject to blight on old ground. The Hack- 

 matack (Indian naine of spruce, among the former 

 tribes on the sea board, and those in the interior) 

 abounds here. The Tamarack (Indian name for 

 Larch) is frequent in low ground. Tlie Moose 

 Missie (Mountain Ash) in high hills and swampy 

 low lands, is not unfrequent. Its Indian name 

 was acquired by tlie tbndness of the Moose for the 

 bark and leaves of that tree. The mor t elegant 

 and lofty white pines abounded on our higliest al- 

 luvials. One shaft measured four feet in diameter 

 at the base, was perfectly straight and without 

 limbs ninety-eight feet, where it was twenty-two 

 inches in diameter. The inhabitants are yet sup- 

 plied with large quantities of sugar from the ma- 

 ple, which is abundant on the slopes of our hills. 

 The beautiful elm, with its sixty feet trunk, was 

 found almost every where on our low meadows, 

 before the axe had closed a war of extermination. 

 The other forest trees common to New England 

 are found here, except the Chestnut, Hickory, 

 Pitch and Norway Pines, and White Oak. Gran- 

 ite of the most beautiful texture is found, not in 

 large masses, but in detached blocks sprinkled 

 over most of our high land ; and if the distinguish- 

 ed industry and economy of our fathers shall be 

 continued through the next generation, their hou- 

 ses, bridges and fences will be composed of that 

 material. But few rocks of a secondary ioriuation 

 are found ; consequently our soil partakes largely 

 of the primitive character; covered by a deep, "rich 

 loam, of decomposed vegetable matter. Lime is 

 rare; but, as the various grasses flourish luxuri- 

 antly, animal manure is abundant for wheat and 

 other crops. 



About two miles southwest of the town's centre, 

 there is a large tract of alluvial land, called Martin 

 Meadow, from an early hunter whose name was 

 Martin. He caught immense numbers of beavers, 

 from Beaver-brook, which meanders through the 

 meadow. Beaver dams on and near this brook can 

 yet be traced, in one instance, about fifty rods ; 

 another is near five feet high, and others of less 

 extent and height; yet all exhibiting extraordinary 

 skill and ingenuity, superior to some bipeds, who 

 attempt the erection of dams. The banks of this 

 brook are perforated in hundreds of places, which 

 show the former residence of bank beaver; a kind 

 smaller than those wonderful architects, who build 

 dams, and erect houses several feet in diameter, 

 ■with a layer of poles through the middle, which 

 divides them into two stories ; in one of which 

 their food for winter, consisting of small poles, cut 

 about two feet in length, is deposited ; while the 

 others covered with leaves, is their resting place 

 during the inclement season. The entr'ince to 

 both kinds of habitation is always below low water 

 mark, from which they ascend through a subterra- 

 nean passage, often several rods long to their dark, 

 yet comfortable abode. 



Immediately south of this meadow three coni- 

 cal hills, called Martin Meadow. Hills, gradually 

 and beautifully rise several hundred feet, extend- 

 ing from Connecticut river in an easterly direc- 

 tion, two miles. On the sides of these hills reside 

 ten aged farmers, who settled in the same neigh- 

 borhood when young, and with little other piop- 

 erty than their axes, having worked by the month, 

 to pay tor thrir respective lots of one hundred 

 acres each. Most of them have become rich, and 

 all enjoy a green old age, being able to labur on 

 the same soil they occupied about fifty years ago. 

 Phmehas Hodgdon is more than eighty years of 

 age: Jonathan Twombly over seventy eight- 

 Walter Philbrook near seventy-five: William 

 Moore in his seventy-sixth year; John Mclntire in 

 his seventy-fifth : Edward Spaulding (a descen- 

 dant of the famous Mrs. Dustin) in his seventy- 

 fourth : John Wilder in hie seventy-eighth : Isaac 

 Darby in his seventy-third : Menassah Wilder in 

 his seventy-first: and Coffin Moore seventy-one. 

 The same blast of a horn, well tuned, would now 

 call them all to dinner; and although differing in 

 politics and religion, they are all attached to the be- 

 nign institutions of their beloved country. 



153 



On the south side of Martin Meadow-Hills, and 

 washing their base, is Martin Meadow-Pond, a fine 

 sheet of water, covering about four hundred acres. 

 Here the first settlers repaired, whonever their 

 stock of meat was exhausted, and their appetites 

 satiated with fish, to watch and ;;ill the noble ani- 

 mal, known by no other than its Indian name of 

 Moose, which, during the hot season, spent itseve- 

 nings in the pond to rid itself of myriads of flics, 

 and to feed on its favorite food, the roots of lihes. 

 An early settler, by the name of Dennis Stanley, a 

 man of strong mind and perfect veracity, informed 



the writer of this article, that being "out of meat" 

 and wanting a moose skin, to buy a certain luxu- 

 ry, then much usee, and too often at the prtsunt day, 

 went alone to Cherry Pond for a supply, cirrying 

 his old gun, so much used that by turning powde'r 

 into the barrel it would prime itself He had 

 scarcely struck fire in his camp, when he heard 

 several moose wading from the shallow side of the 

 pond toward deep water. He then uncorked his 

 powder horn, put several bullets into his mouth, 

 and waited until the moose in front w.as nearlj' im- 

 mersed in water. He waded in where the water 

 WHS about one foot in depth, and took his position, 

 not in rear of the moose, lest they should swim over 

 the pond, but at a right angle w'ith their track, and 

 an easy musket shot from it. On his appearance, 

 the four moose, as he had anticipated, chose rather 

 to wade back than swim over, and commenced their 

 retreat in the same order they had entered the 

 pond ; that was, one behind the other at some dis- 

 tance. In a moment lhenjoo.se which had been in 

 the rear, was now in front in the retreat; and, 

 coming within reach, he was shot at. The powder 

 horn was then applied to the muzzle of the gun, a 

 bullet followed from his mouth, with the celerity 

 which hunters only know. The second moose 

 was fired at, the third, and fourth in rapid succes- 

 sion, when Lt. Stanley found time to give a fifth 

 discharge to the moose then in the rear. Three 

 fell at the water's edge, the other staggered to the 

 top of the bank, where he fell dead. But the 

 greatest destruction of the moose occurred in 

 March, when the snow was deep and stiffi-ned af- 

 ter a thaw. 'Ihey were then destroyed without 

 mercy by professional hunters who used only the 

 skin, tallow, and nose ; which last, and a beaver's 

 tail, is probably more acceptable to the epicure than 

 all the refinements of Roman luxury. One hun- 

 ter, by name Nathan Caswell, killed in one season 

 ninety-nine moose, most of them wantonlv, not 

 saving even the tallow or all of the skins. '' This 

 brought him into disrepute among the settlers, who 

 sometimes refused him their houses. The settlers 

 however were more provident, always observinir 

 the injunction to Peter, with a slight modification" 

 "Arise, slay," only "to eat." A moose of the 

 largest class is about eight feet high and will 

 weigh over nine hundred pounds. Deer and 

 wolves were unknown till long after the first set- 

 tlement, as ivere also eels, till the otter were exter- 

 minated. 



From the village in Lancaster the roads divero-e 

 in four directions towards the sea board ; in one 

 toward Canada, and in another westward. This 

 central location gives the town most of the busi- 

 ness mercantile and professional in the counties 

 of Essex and Coos, performed by five store keep- 

 ers, seven lawyers, four physicians, one bank with 

 a capital of fifty thousand dollars, and one Fire In- 

 surance Company, to which may be added a flour 

 mill with three sets of stones, four saw mills 

 three clapboard and three shingle machines, one' 

 extensive clothier's mill, a tannery, machinery for 

 carrhage making, blacksmith work, coopering and 

 many other mechanical operations. Our relTgious 

 establishmenis are very respectable, consisting of 

 a Congregational Church, Methodist Episcopal 

 Society, three meeting houses, many baptists, uni- 

 tarians, freewill baptists, some quakers, christians, 

 restorationists, and no mormons. We have also 

 an Academy in successful operation, and a very 

 convenient brick Court House, and Jail often with- 

 out tenants. There is also a Printing Press in 

 town, from which issues a weekly newspaper enti- 

 tled the Coos County Democrat. Its politics is 

 indicated by its title. The town contrins three luin- 

 dred voters, and proba'uly about fifteen hundred in- 

 habitants. 



One of the most magnificent spectacles I have 

 ever witnessed, common in early times, now rare 

 was tracts of twenty, thirty, and sometimes fifty 

 acres of heavily timbered land, a lariie proportion 

 of which was evergreen, mixed with deciduous 

 trees, cut down one . r two years, .and iu a dry 

 season, witli lire altached to the windward side of 

 the lot, the flame ascending with fearful velocity, 

 far above the tallest of the trees (for it was a rule 

 m those days, if the trees were felled by the job, to 

 leave four of the largest on each acre standino-) 

 and the vast columns of dense and rapid sihoke,. 

 obscuring the sun's brilliant light, nearly and per- 

 haps quite equalling Napoleon's description of the 

 burning of Moscow. 



Our inhabitants begin to be aware, that one hun- 

 dred years since, a smattering of Greek and Latin 

 was a passport to honor and wealth, the learned 

 profession then being scantily filled, which has 

 led many parents and more voung persons, 

 at n time, when our professorsiiips were over- 

 flowing, to identify a collegiate education with 



ease, honor and wealth, and agricultural pursuits, 

 with a life of meanness, of toil, and of no profit! 

 Hence the rush of young men to Colleges, Acade- 

 mies, the yard stick, speculation, and even idle- 

 ness, to avoid the low, groveling pursuit of farming, 

 as if agriculture did not require learning, and will 

 not produce wealth and happiness preeminently 

 over every other profession. The recent importa- 

 tation of bread stuff from Europe has, with its dis- 

 grace and pecuniary loss, produced one good eff"ect. 

 It has excited the attention of legislatures and 

 scientific men to the " Art of all "Arts:" it has 

 convinced many that with a moderate share of in- 

 dustry, and the present enormous prices of the 

 products of our northern region, they can become 

 independent and happy, far, very far, beyond the 

 care-worn speculator, the blasted hopes of those 

 who dejiend on their diplomas, or even him who is 

 a slave to his millions. 



The character of our inhabitants is, in some re- 

 spects, dissimilar to that of many other country 

 towns, uniting the warm sensibilities of the heart, 

 with the more profound researches of the under- 

 standing ; enterprising, perhaps in the extreme; 

 depending, however, more on individual effortjthan 

 on combined exertion : hospitable, yet economical ; 

 aspiring, yet restrained within the bounds of pro- 

 priety ; independent in principle, even to a fault, if 

 fault it can be ; patriotic, only in accordance with 

 their own perceptions of right; equally regardless 

 of all dictums, unless clearly announced lo their 

 comprehension ; patient and persevering, when 

 cheered on by hope, yet possibly restless, when that 

 "anchor to the soul" is " deferred." Lancaster 

 "with all thy faults, I love thee still." ' 



August 4th, 1831). 



Use of Lime. 



BrookUnr,.\. H.,Oct. 1, 1839. 

 To the Eilitorof llie Visitor. 

 Dear Sir :— The inquiry is made by some of our 

 farmers respecting the process of preparing mud 

 with lime— the proportions and the process of pre 

 paring. If you will furnish this information, you 

 will much oblige the readers of the Visitor. 



Yours, D. HARRIS. 



UTWe have made use of some twenty-five casks 

 of Thomaston lime as manure derin^ the last two 

 seasons. The cask has been broken°and the un- 

 slaked lime disposed in layers between the loads of 

 mud. As this compost has been spread on the field 

 with alternate piles of stable and barnyard manure 

 where corn, potatoes, ruta baga, &c. h.xve been 

 planted, we are unable to state what has been the 

 value of the lime. Independent of its effects on 

 the soil we think lime very beneficial in prcparino- 

 a heap of compost of which mud or meadow peat 

 or the sods and vegetable mould taken from the 

 sides of the road shall be a principal constituent. 

 At first mixed with either of these in the propor- 

 tion to a bushel of swelled slaked lime to an ox- 

 cart load, let It hay a kw months— from thence be 

 transported to the cow yard or hog pen to be there 

 mingled with straw or refuse hay, and the whole 

 mass saturated with the droppings of cattle and 

 swine : we are of opinion that lime will be a cheap 

 manure at the rate of a dollar and a half for the di- 

 minutive Thomaston cask, which when slaked will 

 measure from six to eight bushels. Lime is an ex- 

 cellent ingredient to be thrown into privies and at 

 the foot of kitchen sinks and drains at all tunes ■ 

 It not only neutralizes and destroys every thing of- 

 fensive, but greatly improves the manure and im- 

 mediately adapts It to the ground ;.nd the crop 

 whieli ,t is intended to benefit. Slaked lime sown 

 upon the wheat crop once or twice in a season has 

 been found tobe.of eminent service. 



We are inclined to believe that lime mixed with 

 warm horse manure, adding to its heat, may assist 

 m the burning process which sometimes destrovs 

 much of the stamina of that kind of manure ■ we 

 should not mix it directly with simple horse or cat- 

 tle or sheep manure, but in the manner with mud 

 or vegetable substances which we have iust do 

 scribed. ■' 



Lime, when pulverized and decomposed, we be- 

 leve, will be more felt on heavy and wet than on 

 l.gh and dry soils. As an assistant in the decom- 

 position of decaying roots and fibres of veo-etables 

 in new grounds, it will be highly valuable. Where 

 it can be procured at a low price, as ,t may be in 

 chose parts of the country where limestone abounds. 

 It may be made a most imporlant item in contribut- 

 ing to the abundant production of our soil 



Mr Samue W Bickford raised this year on land 

 o Col. Daniel C.lley of Epsom, from twenty quarts 

 oJ seed sown, twenty-three bushels of winter rye 



