THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



157 



trained as sure of foot when rapidly descending 

 the steepest roads and patlnva;^3. Some of the 

 dwellings in taste equal the best of the city houses, 

 with the addition, which the city cannot furnish, of 

 ample yards of ornamental shrubbery and fruit 

 trees. We noticed one farm house erected simply 

 for the accommodation of one famil}', at one and 

 the same time, wliich extended, as we were told, 

 one iiundred by forty-eight feet on the ground, and 

 two stories besides the attick — all finished, and the 

 outside painted white. The barns and outhouses 

 beside this great dwelling appeared from a dis- 

 tance to be in good trim, and the lands productive. 

 It was located near the foot of the magnificent Mo- 

 iiadnock, on a stream which has its source near tiie 

 highest point of the mountain. 



Granite Roads and Bridges. 



Our journey for the first time through the towns 

 of Jafl^rey and Rindge was richly paid in the satis- 

 faction we took while witnessing the substantial 

 ■prosperity of the yeomanry of these towns. A 

 single improvement on the Jlindge turnpike, now 

 a free road, in the distance of a few rods, could not 

 have been made the present fall at an expense 

 much less than a thousand dollars. The roads in 

 this region are constructed on the true principle : 

 hills, over which the travel has passed ever since 

 the first settlement, are ingeniously avoided. That 

 most valuable of all kinds of rock, the Granite, 

 which is the foundation and superstructure of the 

 majestic mountain Monadnock, and which is as 

 easily rived as a log of oak or maple, is now exten- 

 sively used in the construction of bridges and 

 causeways. ArcJies over the Contoocook and oth- 

 er considerable streams are constructed of pure 

 split granite, which fixed on a foundation of the 

 same material will stand forever. The splendid 

 bridge erected two or three years ago liy the town 

 of Henniker which cost%bout $3300, and is actu- 

 ally worth much beyond that sum, has been al 

 ready noticed in the Visitor. Another granite ar- 

 ched bridge over a branch of tlie Contoocook run- 

 ning from the north, was erecting when we passed, 

 the expense of which paid in cash by the town was 

 from seven to eight hundred dollars. We are glad 

 that our fellow citizens of Henniker are abundant- 

 ly able to build and support these noble structures : 

 such a generous public spirit as tliey evince riclily 

 merits and is generally accmpanied by such pros- 

 perity as attends them. The town of Hillsborough, 

 in imitation of its sister on the river below, is also 

 completing the structure of a beautiful arched 

 granite bridge over the main river at the village 

 denominated Hillsborough Bridge. 



There is no stream of water in the State present- 

 ing more abundant water power than the Contoo- 

 cook : near its confluence with the Merrimack it 

 receives the Blnckwater, and at a short distance 

 farther the Warner river : on the way from tnence 

 to Hillsborougli it has several tributaries whose 

 sources are a few miles distant in the hills ; but 

 near the Hillsborough Bridge village, thirty miles 

 from its mouth, it unites the two main uppcrstems 

 coming from the north-west and south-west. The 

 southern stem at Peterborougii again unites two 

 other stems, on each of which are several factories 

 and villages. The northern branch again branches 

 otf in two or more directions, all having much wa- 

 ter power not yet used, and several saw, lumber 

 and grist mills already erected. A road construc- 

 ted from near the mouth oftiiis river to the Jatfrey 

 factory village might be made with little other rise 

 than the natural i'all 'of the river : it could probably 

 be constructed so that a carriage horse need hardly 

 to be interrupted in a trot all the way. Portions of 

 this road have already been made. In the course 

 of ten years the towns through which this stream 

 passe^, abundantly able to build and support such 

 a road, will find it to be their greatest interest to 

 have the whole distance completed. 



eth willingly with her hands. 

 coverings of tapestry : she 



She maketh herself 



The cnlture of Flax. 



Travelling throi^h our hill towns we are pleased 

 to observe that many farmers have turned their at- 

 tention to the raising of flax. This will be more 

 beneficial to them than the raising of multicaulis 

 or even the white mulberry. We should joy to 

 witness a return of the times when nearly every 

 family had one or more spinning wheels for wool 

 and likewise the hand-wheel for the drawing out 

 threads of fine linen : the sound of this instrument, 

 disagreeable though it may be to some, would re- 

 store many of the pleasant recollections of child- 

 hood. What daughter of New England tliat would 

 not be proud to present as a portion of her mar- 

 riage dowry counterpanes and sheets and pillows of 

 fine linen spun and wove by her own hand.' "She 

 layeth lier hands to the spindle, and her hands hold 

 tlie distaff. She seeketh wool and flax and work- 



maketh fine linen. 

 Many daughters have done virtuously ; but thou 

 excellest them all." 



Every farmer who has suitable ground may find 

 it his gain to have a plat of ground for flax. It is 

 easily produced on the same ground that wil. raise 

 a good crop of corn or oats. It should be prepared 

 so as to be free of the seeds of weeds and wild 

 grasses — before the seed is sown tlie ground sliould 

 be stirred and pulverized. The time of sowing is 

 the same as that of the earlier small grains. It 

 used to be the fashion for ladies to spend their iialf 

 a day or day in pulling flax, because they do their 

 work in a better manner than the other sex often 

 do : it should be so pulled as to preserve evenness 

 at the bottom or roots composing each bundle. It 

 is made to stand in the field in stocks until the 

 head containing the seed becomes sufficiently dry 

 for thrashing, when it is taken to the barn floor 

 and thrashed with the flail after tlie usual manner 

 of thrashing rye or wheat. The best method of 

 rotting is believed to be the spreading of the flax 

 in thin layers at a distance so as not to interfere 

 with each other on a common mown field in the 

 month of September: the flax before the cold sea- 

 son arrives will by the aid of alternate rains and 

 dews and sunshine become so rotted as to be bro- 

 ken out with ease. The breaking, which separates 

 the shive from tlie beautiful stran, used to be done 

 with the brake, a heavj- instrument which rises and 

 falls upon the stalk : it may be done either by hand 

 or by water or other moving power. Then follows 

 the swingle knife upon an up^jglit smooth board 

 which takes away what the brake has left. After 

 this the hatchel, in the handsof the lady spinster 

 who prepares the article for her wheel, com- 

 pletes the process, giving tlie hackle the softness 

 of silk, and leaving it ready for spinning. 



Many millions of dollars might be saved to the 

 country from the domestic culture of silk ; and so 

 might a few millions be saved by the cultivation of 

 flax. Tlie linseed often pays the fanner for his la- 

 bor. But the substitution of elegant domestic 

 linens for the foreign trash that is now used as lin- 

 ens would be such a benefit to the country as does 

 not occur every year. What reason exists why 

 linen cloths should not be produced in this coun- 

 try v.'ith the same facility as cotton cloths.' Let a 

 trial be made : it will be an experiment of no un- 

 certainty if entered upon with that spirit and de- 

 termination which usually characterise yankee 

 enterprise. 



The Black Rust 



Has this season been in most parts of New Eng- 

 land fatal to the potatoe crop. Great quantities of 

 this useful vegetable have been planted ; yet there 

 is a scarcity in this vicinity which increases the 

 price one third, if not one half. The rust also has 

 been generally injurious to beans — it has stricken 

 the sugar beet, the carrot and has been especially 

 injurious to onions in r'any places. It has been 

 more prevalent in low grounds and near ponds, 

 sluggish streams and fresh meadows, and on jilains 

 land, than upon the hardwood hills of hi>,'h eleva- 

 tion. On the high grounds between Merrimack 

 and Connecticut rivers, from the 2oth Sept. to the 

 first of October, we saw numerous potatoe fields 

 that were green and flourishing, and of course un- 

 aflTected by rust. 



The cause of the rust this season we believe to 

 be the extraordinary humidity, combined with a 

 peculiar state of the atmosphere, at some period of 

 the high heat of summer. It was remarked that 

 the rust struck universally on the same day of 

 August — on or about the 27th of the month. Ear- 

 ly planted potatoes were not so much injured by it 

 as the later crop. Last year, it will be remember- 

 ed, the severe drought in tliat part of the country 

 south of a line drawn due east and west at tiie dis- 

 tance of fifty to seventy miles nortli of Boston, 

 generally lessened the crop of potatoes, aflecting 

 those early and late planted in a similar manner 

 that tlie rust has this year Injured them. It was 

 too dry last summer, and the uncommon wetness 

 of the present summer has been alike injurious. 

 More than half the days in June, two thirds of the 

 days in July, and one third of August were rainy 

 days, as reported by Maj. Weeks at Lancaster. In 

 a season so uncommonly wet we could not but an- 

 ticipate quite as much injury to some crops as we 

 have suflered : the benefits to the grass crops and 

 the small grains iiave probably compensated for ev- 

 ery thing. 



On this subject we may notice, from the fact that 

 the hardwood highlands — the swells of the greatest 

 altitude — have been almost entirely exemjited from 

 the rust on vegetables prevailing elsewliere, the 

 superiority of air and atmosphere in those higher 



elevations. Is the long life of the farmer and farm- 

 er's wives inhabiting our high liiUs less to be at- 

 tributed to a healthy atmos]ihere than the exenipl- 

 ion of the vegetable growth from sickly rust and 

 mildew.' Such an atmosphere must be the most 

 healthy and desirable in the world. Here is no 

 miasma giuierating bilious fevers, cold agues or the 

 plague. It will be remembcied that the cholera of 

 1832, which traversed all other parts of the coun- 

 try, touched not the hills of New England : it pas- 

 sed around us from the valley of the St. Lawrence 

 on the north to Mexico in the southwest. Of all 

 temporal blessings, the enjoyment of health is the 

 greatest — without it, life is almost an insupporta- 

 ble burthen. The high hills of New England are 

 calculated beyond every other part of the country 

 to prevent blasts and mildew and to preserve the 

 health to a good old age of those who labor in the 

 earth. 



For tlie Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 



Education of Farmers. — No. 6. 



MEAN'S AND MEASUKES. 



I have already, more than once, adverted to some 

 of the means to be used, and measures to be adopt- 

 ed, to promote the education, and to protect the 

 rights of farmers. I will close these short essays, 

 by throwing out a few hints, and making a iew 

 suggestions of a more definite character on the same 

 subject. 



I would first suggest the propriety of farmers 

 taking their own education and their own legisla- 

 tion into their own hands. The me;;ns of educa- 

 tion within their own reach are too ample to be un- 

 der the necessity of resorting to colleges or high 

 schools for procuring either an education or instruc- 

 tors for their children. If their means of educa- 

 tion were not ample, if they were entirely insufii- 

 cient, colleges and high schools could not help 

 them. They have spoiled ten farmers where they 

 have made one. 



Nor can they depend upon books, though every 

 farmer ought to be, as he certainly may be, a man 

 of reading, and of extensive reading. But all this 

 reading should be put to the test of his own expe- 

 rience and observation. He ought to adopt no 

 man's opinion, either in religion, politics or busi 

 ness, without putting it to the test of his own judg- 

 ment, and judgment founded on experience and ob- 

 servation. VVitii his own judgmentat the helm he 

 can hardly read too much ; witiinut that, he can 

 hardly read too little. For maturing a judgment 

 founded on large experience, no school, and no op- 

 portunities can be better than those afforded by his 

 farm, his business operations, and his intercourse 

 with society. 



For aiding his experiments and directing his op- 

 erations, every farmer ought to be familiar with all 

 the fundamental principles of n,atural science. — 

 This is the more important, as those principles arc 

 comparatively few, and exceedingly simple ; so 

 much so as to be, to a great extent, within tlie com- 

 prehension, and the highest delight of children, 

 long before they can comprehend anything from 

 books. These simple, elementary principles of sci 

 ence, which all children are so eager to acquire, are 

 of the utmost importance for aiding them to under 

 stand and to relish the contents of books, even the 

 very first books put into their hands. 



Under these views, one important step to be tak- 

 en by farmers for the education of their children, 

 and the improvement of themselves, is to procure, 

 or to aid and encourage their children in procuring 

 'Family Cabinets,' or collections of minerals, 

 plants, shells, insects, drawings, prints, &,c., with 

 a few simple articles of apparatus for performing 

 experiments, to illustrate some of the fundamental 

 princijiles of nature. 



With these as a starting point, and slates and 

 pencils, succeeded by paper and lead pencils, and 

 a few books in the same spirit, children will literal- 

 ly learn tlicinselvcs the art of writing, reading, spel- 

 ling and speaking correctly, almost without time, 

 certainly of a character far superior, to what they 

 ever do, or even can acquire, bj- the bla, ble, bio 

 system. 



.\notlier important measure, which farmers may- 

 adopt for their own education, is the forming of 

 'Social Lvceums' or weekly meetings of a Yew 

 neighbors for conversation, reading, examining 

 specimens, trying experiments, and above all for 

 preparing specimens for 'scientific exchanges,' 

 by which their own collections will be greatly in- 

 creased, and greatly increased interest given to 

 their meetings. Such meetings and such exercises 

 are particularly interesting to the females and the 

 younger members of families. 



For the special benefit of the business of farmers 

 lliey have often formed Social Lyceums, confined 

 to themselves, which are particularly appropriate 



