THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



Ten acres will sustain 6,400 trees We wil aver- 

 aw the cost of an acre of ground at twenty.five 

 dollars. At RPven per cent, compound mterest, it 

 will nearly double in ten years. Call the cost, then 

 at the expiration of the ten years, fifty dollars. A 

 thrifty locust tree, twelve years old, is worth, at a 

 Bhip yard, f.ve dolhrs. We will suppose it to net 

 three dollars— we shall then calculate as follows : 

 Interest on 10 acres of land, cost $25, for 



10 years, is $2^} per acre. 

 Labor of cultivating, by occasional manur- 

 ing, &c., $40 per year. 

 Seed, and two years in nursery, s!iy 



$250 



400 

 100 



$750 

 Deduct this from 6,400 trees, 12 years old, 



at $3 each, $'■''•'"" 



Net profit for ten years, $18,450 



Now, if you please, deduct one half, for 

 paper calculation, and you still have 

 left the enormous sum of $.1,^-0 



To what mere proBtable use can a farmer ap- 

 ply ten acres of ground, supposing he has enough 

 besides to cultivate for his yearly living and profit. 

 Contrast this statement with the profit on wheat. 

 The average crop is about twenty-five bushels per 

 acre, and the average price we will call one dollar. 

 About one half of the proceeds is consumed in in- 

 terest, expense and labor of cultivation. We then 

 have for ten years, nearly as follows : 

 Wheat for ten years, from ten acres, at 2o 



bushels, and $1 per bushel, ^fo-n 



Deduct one half for interest, expense,&c. l,.ioU 



Net profit for ten years, $1 i^uO 



Aside from ship building, every locust tree twelve 

 years old is worth at least one dollar, at the place 

 of its growth, for posts. According to the above 

 calculation, we should net, even for this purpose, 

 over $5,000." 



The oak, a tree which experience has shown to 

 be as easily cultivated as any other, with the ad- 

 vantage of being natural to our soil and climate, 

 may be raised with as much success as the locust : 

 besides it is a more valuable timber. 



It is said tliat the Hon. John Quincy Adams hr.s in 

 his garden at Quincy a large oak, which he raised 

 from the seed planted by himself Instead of thij 

 single acorn then perhaps sportively dropped, had 

 he have planted a thousand, how rich would have 

 "Been the reward? I am, in connection with the 

 experiment of Mr. Adams, induced to relate one 

 which partly came under my own observation, and 

 I shall give real names and places ; as 1 perceive 

 that in making observations upon agricultural im- 

 provements, you have not hesitated to particular- 

 ize those who have set us examples of superior hus- 

 bandry. 



Some years since, while on a visit to a relative, 

 Mr. Ebenezer Hobbs of Bei'.vick, my attention was 

 drawn to a small enclosure near his dwelling house, 

 containing probably about one eighth of an acre ot 

 land. Observing that some considerable pains h.id 

 been taken in its' cultivation, and ignorant of the 

 Bpecies of shrubbery which I saw growing witiiin 

 it, I asked him to inform rne what it was. "Oak ! 

 Oaks !" said he. "You see," (said he pointing in 

 the direction of a magnificent grove of oaks near 

 by) I knew them trees when they were not higher 

 than my head. Those you see growing in my nur- 

 sery are to take their places when necessity requires 



their use." . • . j 



Were such examples more generally imitated, 

 the extreme scarcity of timber would not, as it now 

 does,rendej our older parts of the country so unin- 

 vitin!' to the young adventurer who would make 

 agriculture his profession (?) and means of liveli- 

 hood. What farmer could better enrich his children 

 or leave them a more valuable inheritance, than a 

 portion of his lands devoted to such a purpose ? 

 Yours very respectfully, 



BENJA. F. EMERY. 

 Kennebunk,.Me. Dec. 28, 1830. 



rections, from the ground throughout all its branch- 

 es, and the other enters the new twigs and pass- 

 es down them in the pith. I should not, therefore, 

 attempt to cultivate them in this part of the coun- 

 try to a great extent ; but confine myself to other 

 kinds of our numerous magnificent forest trees. 



In your soil and climate, the white ash, rock-ma- 

 ple, elm, button-wood, or plataniis occidtntulis, 

 butternut or juglans catharlica, hickory, larch, 

 ' hacmatack or larii. Americann and white pine may 

 be selected ; the latter flourishes well in a sandy 

 soil. The elm, button-wood, rock-maple and white 

 ash areof rapid growth, and are easily raised from 

 the seeds, as X have cultivated many thousands of 

 ihcm, and all our New England oaks; and I re- 

 commend the latter as well worthy your attention. 

 I should, at all events, make an experiment with 

 the locust, as it is possible the insect I have nam- 

 ed may not appear in your region. Seeds, I pre- 

 sume, can be obtained either in Boston, New York, 

 or Philadelphia. The locust is extensively culti- 

 vated in the States of Indiana and Illinois, on the 

 prairies, and with great success. Hedges are form- 

 ed of it for enclosing farms. 



Y'ou will find articles which I wrote on the culti- 

 vation of forest trees, in the 5th vol. of the New 

 Enirland Farmer of ia26and 1827,atpagc36o,193, 

 201° and 209; and in the 4th number vol. 2, from 

 page 132 to 137 of the Horticultural Register pub- 

 lished in Boston. 



A work on the culture of forest trees has been 

 published by Crookshank, a Scotchman, which I 

 consider one of the best. It came out within five 

 or six years. The best work, however, is an edi- 

 tion of the celebrated Evelyn, by Doctor Hunter, 

 which was published in 1812, in two vols. 4 to. 

 There is a very good work by Marshall, printed in 

 17S)6, in two vels. 8 vo. on Planting and Rural Or- 

 nament ; but the first named publication of Crook- 

 shank, if itcan he obtainedin this country, I recom- 

 mend from its modern character and the practical 

 experience and skill of tlie author, as well as the 

 new mode he has practised in raising oaks,by inter- 

 mingling them with pines, firs and larches, to pro- 

 tect them in their early growth. 



I am happy to learn that you are determined to 

 devote a portion of your land and time to the cul- 

 ture of trees, fftr it is not only a highly valua- 

 ble and interesting employment to the proprietor, 

 but of great importance to the country, both in its 

 immediate effect of inducing others to follow the 

 example, and the future advantages to be derived 

 therefrom by other generations. 



With sincere wishes for your success, I am, with 

 great respect, 



Y'our most obedient servant, 



H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



The most entertaining, if not the most valuable 

 report of the following groupe, is that on Butter, 

 written by a gentleman who would hardly be wil- 

 ling to acknowledge himself in the "«ere and yel- 

 low leaf," beyond the age of three-score and ten 

 years, and the elasticity of whose mind would 

 scarcely indicate that he was the father of grey 

 heads, the youngest of whom was among the dig- 

 nitaries of the land. There is a wit that is natural, 

 which is found in our intercourse and conversation 

 with men and women, both in liumble and in the 

 higher walks of life : this flows as readily as the 

 tongue of the child who has learned the pronuncia- 

 tion and meaning of words. There is also a wit 

 which is acquired, and comes only from the strug- 

 gles of the labor of thought — it is forced and pre- 

 cise, hesitating and stumbling — as the sentence we 

 are now constructing. There is likewise a mother 

 witjdiflTerlng in degree from both, which has a tact 

 for every work it undertakes, which makes no awk- 

 ward ado if things sometimes come about winch 

 are not easily fathomed, and which loses not itu 

 balance even when dame fortune seems disposed to 

 trip its heels. Fortunate is that man, approacl'ing 

 to the a<;e of the octogenarian, who was not only 

 born with the first and last, but, with few scholastic 

 advantages, has even attained all that can he gain- 

 ed by the discipline of mind and thought. Some- 

 thing of the semblance and shape of such a mind, 

 we think, may be discovered in the composition of 

 the report to which we have last alluded. If the 

 ordinary readers of the Visitor can find no enter- 

 tainment in that and some of the other reports, 

 they will not by them be read in the same mould of 

 mind as that ;n which we have perused them. 



Merrimack County Agricultural Society. 



.q /rood matter comes better late than not at all. 



Gen. Dearborn's Lett^-r. 



Hawthorn Cottage, Roxhury, Dec. 12, 1839. 



Dear Sir .-—It has not, to my regret, been in my 

 power to reply to your letter of the 15th ult., at an 

 earlier period. 



The locust maybe considered oiaeofour most 

 Taluable timber trees ; but its size depends upon 

 the character of the soil, as in Virginia, Kentucky, 

 and otlier western States, where the soil is rich, the 

 trees sometimes exceed four feet in diameter, and 

 rise to tlie height of seventy of eiglity feet. The 

 growth is rapid, but in this vicinity tv/o species of 

 insects have attacked the trees, in their larva or 

 boring state, and nearly exterminated that superb 

 »nd precioua tree. One bores the trunk in all di- 



Slnce the last publication of the Monthly Visitor 

 the Secretary of our Agricultural Society has fur- 

 nished copies of the several reports of C.immittees 

 made at their Fair, holden on Corscr Hill in Bos- 

 cawen last October, which has certainly not been 

 surpassed either in the numbers and interest ol 

 those attending ov in the animals and articles ex- 

 hibited by any previous fair in the county. 



Some of the reports were made verbally; these 

 of course we cannot recapitulate. It was a matter 

 of re.vret that Gen. Coi.bv of Now London, Chair- 

 man of the Committee on Farms, had not found 

 time to present his n-port on paper. That gentle- 

 man, than whom in this county no farmer, or mer- 

 chant, or manufacturer (for he docs business in a 1 

 these capacities) is more enterprising or useful, 

 mi^ht from the stock of his own knowledge and 

 experience have told a story to the farmers worth 

 their reading. His verbal report was well receiv- 

 ed by those who v/ere present. 



Commenting upon the reports published below, 

 we invite attention to those drawn up by Messrs. 

 Thompson and Little ; these are gentlemen ol 

 different political denominations each representing 

 his town in the Legislature— they are both farmers, 

 Bursuintr that only as tlieir occupation. Ihe re- 

 ports ar? presented as proof that farmers not only 

 reflect, bui that thoy also rf ad. Many men of re- 

 search who had spent their lives in study might be 

 put to the blush by the "huge paws ol the Ando- 

 ver and Boscawcn farmers communicating tlie re- 

 sults of their reading and observation from the pen. 

 The experience which any man who has tilled the 

 earth tvventy and thirty years has gained, is to him 

 and to those around him of much more benefit 

 than the same lime spent inreading all the scien- 

 tific authors who ever wrote : such men are the 

 best judges of every thing pertaining to the com- 

 mon affairs and economy of life. 



Report on Mares and Colts. 



The committee on the best breeding Mares with 

 their Colts, and best Colts, report ; 



Although the native country of that noble ani- 

 mal, the Horse, cannot with certainty be traced, it 

 seems most probable that he was first domesticated 

 in Egypt ; but the precise period it is difiTicult to set- 

 tle. "Nineteen hundred and twenty years before 

 the birth of Cl.-rist, in the account of the present 

 which Pharoah made to Abraham, sheep, oxen, ass- 

 es and camels are enumerated, but the horse is not 

 mentioned. Two hundred and twenty years after 

 this, they appear to have been brought into use in 

 Egypt. The sacred volume seems therefore to de-_ 

 clde the important point, that tlie domestication of 

 the horse was in Egypt. Anotlier point it decides, 

 that Arabia, by whose breed of horses those of oth- 

 er countries have been so much improved, was not 

 tiie native place of the horse ;— for six hundred and 

 sixty years after the time above mentioned, Arabia 

 had no horses— for Solomon imported gold and sil- 

 ver from Arabia; but all the horses for his chariots 

 and cavalry he procured from Egypt ; and in such 

 high estimation was that animal held at that early 

 day that he cost in Egypt one hundred and fifty 

 shekels of silver. 



From that period the horse seems to have con- 

 tinued in use, and the first mention that is made of 

 him in Great Britain was in the invasion of Julius 

 Casar. 



In Anno Domini one thousand, the horse was 

 held in such high estimation in England, that it was 

 decreed that if ahorse was destroyed or negligently 

 lost,the compensation was fixed at thirty shillings: 

 thG ox at but thirty pence ; and strange as it may 

 appear, if a man was lost under similar circum- 

 stances, the compensation was only twenty shil- 



Aboutthe time of Oliver Cromwell, a southeast- 

 ern horse was imported into England, called the 

 White Turk, and shortly after the Duke of Buck- 

 Intrham introduced the Hemsley Turk. These 

 houses effected a material change in the character 

 of the English horse. 



After the Restoration a new impulse was given 

 to the rearing of fine horses ; and to such an extent 

 wat It carried, that when Col. Coke brought to 

 Enu-land the Godolphin Arabian, the then Prime 

 Minister of England offered for that horse a blank 

 check on the Bank of England which he (Coke) 

 mi<rhtfill witli any sum he pleased. This offer 

 Coke refused— reserving said horse for still higher 

 purposes— the pardon of high misdemeanors and a 

 restoration to his former rank and family, which he 

 effected ; and to this very horse the United States 

 ore indebted for their celebrated American horse 



Eclipse. ■-. J ■ ,1 



Vour committee were much gratified in the ex- 

 aminatiou of a Mare and Colt presented by Mr. 

 Durrell of Bradford. The mare is of a hirge size, 

 well proportioned, fine appearance, and a fine trav- 

 ellno- animal. The Colt is a very superior animal, 

 andlsabouteightydaysold. Your committee are 

 inforrued that one hundred dollars would be refus- 



