174 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



Atwood's Planting Machine. 



Experiment with Lime on Potatoes. 



Nathaniel Holmics, Esq. of Sandbornton, this 

 year made an experiinenton a crop of potatoes with 

 slaked lime. He mi.ied one cask of tlie Thouns- 

 ton lime in about twenty bushels of loam. The 

 ground was a light loam inclining to sand, on the 

 Winnipisseogee branch of the Merrimack, and of 

 no extraordinary fertility : green stable manure was 

 applied at the rate of ten full ox-cart loads to the 

 acre. Only about one gill of lime was applied to 

 each hill ; and the product of potatoes in rows side 

 by side was an increase of at least one third, wherev- 

 er the lime was applied. The potatoes were of su- 

 perior quality : some of them may be seen at the 

 residence of Mr. Clement, the State Treasurer. 



[Fig. 42.] 



The editor of the Monthly Visitor has recently witnessed the operation of a planting Machine, of 

 which the above is a representation, invented during the present year by Mr. Moses Atwood, jnn. of 

 Hampstead, N. H. We do not know how this machine would operate in a rocky, rough field — it seems 

 to us in that case the regularity of furrowing, dropping and covering must be interrupted. We have 

 never been able to make a profitable use of an^' planting or sowing machine which drops and covers : 

 tlie uncertainty that the due quantity of seed is deposited i."i such as to induce us to forego this method 

 of committing the seed to the earth ; and we continue to drop our seed in the old way, by hand. 



We however yield the point that Mr. Atwood's machine is the greatest improvement of all the seed- 

 sowers that as yet has come to our knowledge : it drops corn very fairly at the appointed distance, four 

 or five kernels to a hill; and on a plain field of well pulverized soil, we do not d»ubt it will furrow, 

 drop and cover well at the same operation. 



It is described to us as "one of the most convenient and labor-saving implements ever introduced to 

 the notice of the practical farmer. It is simple in its construction, certain and regular in its operation, 

 and no way liable to get outof order. It is calculated for planting in hills or drills, corn, beans, Ac." 

 "The utility of this machine consists in its immense saving of time and labor. It opens the furrow, 

 drops the seed, covers it over and rolls it down ; and all this is easily done at one operation by the 

 power of a single horse." The price of the machine complete, with the right to use it, is about twenty 

 dollars. 



A good hit. 



The following from the Iowa Sun is deserving 

 the attention of every one of our readers ; the con- 

 cluding item is quite important, and rounds the pe- 

 riod well : — 



"/n/rrnn/ Intproreinciits/' — The system we plead 

 for, though attended witli much toil and expense, 

 will not require a State tax of a single cent, nor 

 much, if any legislation. It is pre-eminently a 

 ''democratic" system : it is to be begun by the peo- 

 ple, and will be for the exclusive benefit ofthe peo- 

 ple. 



It is only for every farmer to mend up his fenc- 

 es, till his ground well, have ii well prepared for 

 ])lanting, have the crops in seasonably, tend tiiem 

 well, keep down the weeds, see that his horses and 

 cattle are fed and treated so as to make them thrive, 

 keep his imple.nents in order and in their places ; 

 for every fatlier to rule his family well, govern his 

 children, form their minds and manners by good 

 instructions, train thera up in the habits of indus- 

 try, honesty, and sobriety, provide them with com- 

 fortable clothing, send them t^ school, paj' for their 

 tuition and have a care for the company they keep ; 

 for every husband to treat his wife as a bosom 

 companion — for every woman to love her husband, 

 and to prove a helpmate for him, to keep from gos- 

 siping, to spin more stocking than street yarn, to 

 keep the house tidy, and tlie family clothing clean 

 and well mended ; — for every damsel to keep all 

 grease spots from her clothes, darn the heels of iier 

 stockings, remove beau catchers from her head, and 

 novels from her library, to do much with needles, 

 and store her head with useful ideas ; for every 

 voung man to go decent, but to buy no better 

 clothes than he can honestly pay for, work hard, 

 behave courteously toothers, especially to old men, 

 to guard against self-importance and insolence, if 

 much in company with ladies, to black his shoes, 

 trim his hair, throw away his cigar and quid, attend 

 preaching regularly, and hold his tongue if he can- 

 not talk sensibly, and to get married when he is 

 twenty-five, if he can find any one to have him ; 

 for magistrates to execute the laws ; for tavern- 

 keepers to keep better food than brandy ; for towns 

 to have clean streets and good side-walks, to re- 

 move every nuisance, and every thing injurious to 

 health ; favor good morals ; for every district to 

 support good schools. In fine, for it is impossible 

 to enumerate all the objects embraced in our scheme, 

 for every body to cease to do evil, and learn to do 

 well, attend church on the Sabbath, mind his own 

 business, and take a newspaper. " 



A LARGE Hog. — We notice in several of our ex- 

 change papers an account of a very extraordinary 

 hog raised in Wallingfbrd, Vt., and sold for ttro 

 hundred dollars to a gentleman who designs to 

 transport him over the country as a show. He 

 weighs, it is saiti^sixteen hundred pounds and is three 

 OT four ijears old ! He is a monster indeed. We 

 several years since saw a hog that weighed 1350 

 lbs. and was thought to exceed every thing in the 

 hog line. There are, at this time in this town, sev- 

 eral very large hogs, one owned by Mr. Timothy 

 Rix, which is estimated to weigh eight or nine hun- 

 dred pounds, and is not vet, we believe, eighteen 

 months old. Should the creature be kept until he 

 reacliss the age of "three or four years," we doubt 

 very much whether the Wallingford hog would 

 have much to brag of when compared with the hog 

 of Mr. R. Mr. S. Bliss also has a very large hog, 

 which in the course of a year or two, could be made 

 to go ahead of either the others alluded to. He has 

 a iraine to build upon, and should be kept lor the 

 purpose of showing that some things can be done 

 in this section as well as in other parts. 



HarerhiU, .'V. //. Republican. 



FRriT.— We were presented one day last week, 

 by J. Pineo, jr., of Hanover, in this county, with 

 fifteen specimens of the fruit which lie is endeavor- 

 ing to introduce into this region. The fine llavor 

 and noble size ofthe apples — six of which weigh- 

 ed o lbs. 'i oz. — go beyond that of any fruit which 

 we have before seen north of the valley ofthe Pis- 

 cataqua and the Merrimack near the sea-board. — 

 The prevailing opinion among our farmers that 

 choice fruit cannot as well be raised in this region 

 as on the coast explodes at once in the presence of 

 the Peannain, Pippin, Russet, Nodhead, Potash, 

 or Gilliflower ; and we hope the introduction ot* 

 ihein, by grafting, may he dui}' considered by those 

 who esteem good fruit as an edible at home or for 

 the market. — Haverhill., N. H. H'hifr. 



Beat this who can. — Thp News, a newspaper 

 printed at Chelsea, Orange county, Vermont, no- 

 tices a heifer Calf belonging to E. C. Rehington, 

 Esq. of that village, which, at the age of six months 

 and ten days, weighed 502 1-2 lbs. The luxuriant 

 hills of Orange county turn out some of the finest 

 beeves in the world ; and for the exuberance and 

 excellence of soil, we have never seen, even in 

 western New York, any tract of land superior to 

 the "hill town" of Randolph. We have not yet 

 had the pleasure of passing through that part of 

 the country where Chelsea is situated. 



Great crop of Wheat. 



Mr. Isaac Adams of Jafi"rey, N. H. raised on 

 ground measuring one acre and one fourth, fifty- 

 seren bushels of Black sea wheat the present year. 



Several farmers of this town (Concord) have this 

 year raised their hundred bushels each ofthe Black 

 sea wheat. On common high ground sward pre- 

 pared the previous year by ploughing only, as in 

 the preparation for rye, a greater crop of spring 

 wheat is produced than the usual crop of winter 

 rye, with much more certainty. Our neighbor 

 Colby, near whose premises stands the Bradley mon- 

 ument erected to perpetuate the remembrance of an 

 Indian massacre, a mile from the main street west, 

 has this year raised more than a hundred bushels of 

 excellent wheat, besides a fine crop of Indian corn 

 on ground which, in the presence of our river in- 

 tervales, had been considered too rough and poor 

 for cultivation. That portion of " Rum hill" em 

 braced in Mr. Colby's little farm, without the use 

 of "the creature," has been brought into a state e- 

 qually productive with the best part of the inter- 

 vales : the man who with his own unaided hands 

 brings as much productive ground into use as Mr. 

 Colby, deserves well of his country. The land 

 within two miles of the State house that has not 

 as yet been brought into cultivation is .nuch more 

 valuable than its old proprietors had generally sup- 

 posed. 



.Mcchanichs' Fair at Boston, October, 18.39. At 

 this exhibition 23 gold medals, ]2'J silver medals 

 and 233 diplomas were awarded by the Massachu- 

 setts Charitable Mechanicks' Association for im- 

 proved or newly invented articles exhibited. Al- 

 most every variety of elegant manufacture, of all 

 the different kinds of material, whether of wood 

 or metal, whether of animal or vegetable growth, 

 whether of articles to plea.^e the fancy or taste, 

 or calculated for use and necessity, is iiiclu- 

 ded in the list of premiums. The inventors and 

 owners include many incorporated companies and 

 individuals in all parts of New England. Looking 

 over this list we are surprised at the progress whTch 

 mechanical skill has made not only in the produc- 

 tion of all the elegancies of life which were for- 

 merly obtained in foreign countries alone, but in 

 improving every machine and implement that 

 comes into common use, and inventing many kinds 

 of labor-saving machineiy. Such exhibitions as 

 those held annually at Boston and New York, are 

 calculated to bring into actioi. the best efi'orts of 

 Y''ankee ingenuity. 



Great Fair of the .Imcricnti Iii.stitute, at .Xcw 

 York, Oct. lir3'J. At this Fair, which terminated 

 on the last day of October, some 1500 difterent ar- 

 ticles of American Industry were exhibited, pre- 

 senting a number even beyond the exhibition of 

 the Mechanicks' Fair at Boston. The spirit of 

 emulation, generated by this exhibition, which is 

 visited by many thousands, we hope, may have a " 

 tendency to check the passion for importing arti- 

 cles of mere fancy to pamper pride and profii^acy. 

 A Cashmere shawl at the price of a tliousand dol- 

 lars — a silk dress which shall cost enough to buy a 

 farm — the decorations of a parlor tiiat shall' be 

 bought with money that would support a dozen 

 persons comfortably through life— not one of which 

 items will add to the comfort of those who obtain 

 them — are better prized because they come from 

 abroad. A letter from a great city of the West 

 mentions that a brother of a young lady late of 

 this State had sent out to Europe to buy her a 

 wedding dress. How fallacious and false is the 

 pride that is gratified by indulgencies such as the.se! 

 How mortifying to that pride would be the reflec- 

 tion that it had been guilty of such folly, when real 

 necessity in after life should stare him in the face ! 

 The poor industrious man may enjoy a clear con- 

 science in the midst of privations, and smile at 

 want: ofthe poor eztraragant man, how just would 

 it be to " laugh at his calamity and mock when his 

 fear cometh!" If any portion of creatures with 



