8 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



housewifery which has ever distinguished the lair 

 women of onr county. Ciieese, altliough not reck- 

 oned among the solids neccssury to the sustenance 

 of life, has ever taken a high rank among those 

 productions considered as luxuries. Our county 

 has never been noted as remarkable in the produc- 

 tion of good ciieese ; but few comparatively give 

 that attention to its manufacture which its impor- 

 tance demands. There are however some honora- 

 ble exceptions, of which tJie specimens exhibited 

 this day give ample testimony. Age is important 

 to the improvement of this article. The best Eng- 

 lish cheese is not considered marketable and ripe 

 until it is two years old. The general rule ofYan- 

 kee thrift is, we believe, to "turn the penny quick," 

 and to sell what you have to sell whenever there 

 are found ready purchasers. This rule is likely to 

 produce the most money, but perhaps is not as like- 

 ly to produce tlie best cheese. Neatness in the man- 

 ufacture of this article is as essential as in butler. 



Your committee have much pleasure in stating 

 that many of the dairies, as far as their observation 

 has extended, are most exemplary in respect to 

 neatness; and in this matter present beautiful 

 models of domestic management. There arc ex- 

 ceptions, however, to this commendation : in some 

 instances there is reason to believe there is any 

 thing but neatness. The sink and the pig-stye, 

 with all their offensive exhalations, are in much 

 too intimate proximity with the dairy room ; and in 

 some extreme cases, where if tlic pigs should per- 

 chance mistake their own apartment and go into 

 the next door, they would never mistake their er- 

 ror, unless the}'^ were ordered out. But as these 

 instances are few and far between, and are not in- 

 cluded in the numl)er of those who are connected 

 with our Society, your committee will forbear fur- 

 ther remark, and proceed to declare the result of 

 their best judgment in the award : 



To No. 4 Cheese, owned by \Vm. H. Gage of 

 Boscawen, they award the first premium of three 

 dollars. 



To No. 5, owned by Josenh S. Gerrish, the 2d 

 premium of two dollars and fifty cents. 



To No. 2, owned by Benjamin Whipple, two dol- 

 lars. 



To No. 3, by Thomas Ames, one dollar and fifty 

 cents. 



To No. 6, by Henrv L. Dodge, one dollar. 



WM.KENT, for the Comnvittee. 



Articles of Special Improvement. 



The small sum to which the committee on Arti- 

 cles of Special Improvement was limitcdcan beex- 

 cused onlj' by the consideration that the Merrimack 

 Agricultural Society has extended to this subject 

 the full amount iis funds will admit. If the Trus- 

 tees of the Society had appropriated more, the com- 

 mittee would with great pleasure have awarded 

 more. 



Articles of Special Improvement, if duly pat- 

 ronized, might make up an interesting portion of 

 the Society's annual exhibilii>n, and present new 

 attractions inducing the attendance of additional 

 hundreds to our agricultural fairs. The ingenuity 

 of our countrymen is contmually devising some 

 substitutp for the most curious and intricate mech- 

 anism of other countries ; and tlie various articles 

 which are substituted by American manufacture 

 Boon discover tliat^rait in the Yankee character, to 

 improve on every thing which passes through thuir 

 hands. Of the great improvements of the present 

 century Americans can claim their- full share. — 

 Fulton first gave the strongest impetus to the steam 

 engine as a means of transport, w hicli bids defiance 

 to the winds and the waves, and which carries 

 thousands of tons over land with the celerity of a 

 winded messenger. Whitney's cotton gin was the 

 first oT a series of inventions lessening hand labor 

 ten for one in the manufacture of articles of cloth- 

 ing. For the greatest improvements in cotton and 

 woollen manufactures, the world has been indebt- 

 ed to American artisans; and what comes to us 

 from Europe as best, is soon made better under a 

 second application by American hands. The true 

 policy is the encouragement of all improvements, 

 hot only by gratuities and prcmiun}s, but by giv- 

 ing them all the notoriety possible; and the com- 

 mittee will be pleased hereafter to witness at our 

 agricultural exhibitions every thing curious and 

 useful that may come under the head of special 

 improvement!^. Those submitted at this time to the 

 committee will be noticed seriatim. 



No. 1. A patent Scythe Sneath, by Edward H. 

 Barrett of Warner. The improvement of this in- 

 strument is, so adapting the handles or nibs that it 

 may be worked by arms longer or shorter, and al- 

 tering the hang of the instrument so as to mow ei- 

 ther smooth or uneven ground : another improve- 

 ^aeiii is the filing the scythe to the sneath witliout 



the necessity of a wedge or other fastening. Mr. 

 Barrett has discovered enterprise and lalunt as a 

 mechanic exceeded perhaps by no other man in the 

 county. Although his extensive buildings, ma- 

 chinery and materials were not long since swept 

 off* by fire without adequate insurance, he was not 

 discouraged : new buildings upon the same ground 

 have soon succeeded the conflagration, and Mr. 

 Barrett gujjpllL^s manufactured articles which are 

 extensively used througiiout New England. Of 

 ihese articles the improved scytlie sncatlis have 

 during the last year been furnished by hundreds 

 and thousands. 



Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and G, arc articles of silk manu- 

 facture irom the persevering hand of Mrs. Na- 

 thaniel Kimball of Hopkinton, to wit : three silk 

 handkcrciiiefs, a pair of silk gloves, a silk vest, a 

 silk apron and a silk bag. At each annual return 

 of the last four shows in this county this lady has 

 continued to improve in the manufacture of silk. 

 By means of an invention of her own, she spins on 

 the common wool wheel silk from the cocoons 

 with as ^reat facility as the best of spi'isters would 

 tow or linen. She superintends every thing per- 

 sonally — liatches the eggs — provides the food for 

 tlie worms — winds the cocoons, doubles and spins 

 the thread, warps and weaves it into cloth, and fi- 

 nally converts it into the precise article to be used. 

 Mrs. K. this year well succeeded in perfecting the 

 cocoons of fifteen thousand worms, which all did re- 

 markably well, and she exhibited raw silk as their 

 product partially prep.^red for the manufacture of 

 about thirty yards of cloth. For her commenda- 

 ble efforts, for her great ingenuity and industry, 

 she deserves a higher premium than the funds of 

 the Society will permit them to award. 



No. 7. A pair of Linen Hose by Laban M. Chad- 

 wick, deserving a premium not only for their beau- 

 tiful fineness and texture, but for the "special im- 

 provement" which introduces flax into fashion and 

 use as an article of manufacture. 



No. 9. Bee House, Bee Ilives and rich speci- 

 mens of Honey, by John Searle of Franklin. Mr. 

 Searle deserves the commendation and praise of 

 the friends of humanity and industry for inventing 

 a perfect system of procuring abundance of honey 

 and at the same time preserving tlie life of the use- 

 ful winged insect which produces it. His apiary 

 is an invention curious and interesting — safe for 

 the "patterns of industry'," and will induce hun- 

 dreds to procure and keep bees who without it 

 would never have attempted it. The specimens of 

 honey as they were placed originally in glass jars 

 by the bees themselves were a great curiosity. 



No. 11. A Ladies' Linen Cap, manufactured 

 from the flax by Mrs. Brown of Dunbarton — an el- 

 egant article. 



No. 12. Two Ploughs; the one manufactured by 

 Messrs. Frouty and Mears of Boston, and the oth- 

 er by Messrs. Moors and Mason of Barnet, Ver- 

 mont. These ploughs are of high reputation in the 

 districts where both have been extensively used. — 

 The Vermont plough is said to be well adapted to 

 heavy soils : it lays one furrow half upon the oth- 

 er, the edge forming an angle of forty-five degrees 

 from the surface. This forms little furrows upon 

 the top into which the grain falls when sown : in 

 these tlie grain lays upon the edge of the turf, and 

 is covered by the harrow two or three inches deep. 

 In this position the grain takes quick and firm root 

 in the edge of the decomposing grass and fibrous 

 roots, and follows down this richest and fermenting 

 part of the soil to the bottom of the furrow. The 

 Boston plough turns a broader furrow, aiid may be 

 better adapted to light dry soil. Both of Iheploug^is 

 are Undoubtedly excellent of their kind. Neitherof 

 thes? plonglis was entered for premium. 



No. 13. Four Bottles of Writing Ink or Fluid by 

 Currier and Hall of Concord. This article ha"s 

 been universally approved wherever it has been 

 used. Running freely from the pen, it gradually 

 changes to a beautiful blnck, which improves and 

 grows brighter by age. The ink was not entered 

 on the Secretary's books for premium. 



^The committee recommends the following a- 

 wards, viz : 



No. 1. ToEdward II. Barrett, Warner,forScythe 

 Sneath, ^i 00 



No. 2 to G. To Mrs. Natlianiel Kimball, 

 Hopkinton, for various Silk Arti- 

 cles 3 00 



No. 8. To Laban M. Chadwick, Bos- 

 cawen, for Linen Hose, TOO 



No. 9. To John Searle, Franklin, for 



Bee House and Apparatus, 2 00 



No. 10. To Miss Jane Rolfe, Concord, 



for Wrought Shawl, 50 



No. 11. To Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, Dun- 

 barton, for Linen I.ace Cap, 50 

 ISAAC HILL, for the Committ«». 



Reports on Carpets aud Carpetiug. 



The committee on Carpeting reports, that only 

 three specimens were exhibited. 1'liey regret that 

 no more of the Ladies of Merrimack, hundreds of 

 whose parlors are covered with the work of tlieir 

 own hands, should come up to the I^air with their 

 samples, and induce to greater competition. No. 

 1 was a beautiful sample of work, even, fine and 

 well wrought ; and to Mrs. Martha L. Pillsbury of 

 Boscawen is awarded the first premium of three 

 dollars. No. 2 was an excellent piece of goods, 

 but would not compare with No. 1, except in the 

 delicacy and beauty of its colors, in which it excel- 

 led. To Miss E. C. Badger of Warner, is awarded 

 the second premium of two dollars. To Mrs. Thom- 

 as Little of Boccawen for a piece of stainif arpet» 

 ing the committee recommend the award of the 

 third premium of one dollar. 



To Miss Sally Eaton, for the only Counterpane 

 exhibited, as there was no competition, the com- 

 mittee recommend the award of fifty cents. 



ISAAC HILL, for the Committee. 



An incident of a severe storm. Preserv- 

 ing Ice, 



During the late severe storm which commenced 



in the evening of the last Friday in December, and 

 which on the prevailing notion that the last Friday 

 gives character to the weather of the following 

 month, would indicate the terrible termination of 

 this present montii of January ; — during that storm 

 which blowed more fierce sixty miles in the interi- 

 or than any easterly storm we before remember, 

 and in which was showered down rain only at Bos- 

 ton, leaving bare ground, but nearly tv^'o feet of 

 snow upon the highlands fortj" and fifty miles out of ^ 

 Boston — a large and beautiful and strong ship, the 

 Columbiana, which was moored in Charles river, 

 under the lee of the peninsula of Boston, broke a- 

 drift about three o'clock in the morning, and, urg- 

 ed by wind and tide, was driven stern on against 

 the old Charlestown bridge with such violence as 

 to carry away two piers, and dushed cntirchj through 

 the bridge, as if no obstruction had been in the way. 

 She was next brought up against the newer War- 

 ren or free Bridge, which withstood the shock, but 

 not witiiout injury : her stern then swung round 

 and struck against the wharf near the draw, with 

 such violence as to shatter and demolish a dwelling 

 house one and a half story high, which had been 

 erected on the bridge, and was occupied by the fam- 

 ily of the man who kept the draw. Of six or sev- 

 en persons in this house, all escaped with their 

 lives : one was tliroVi'n into the rirer, but was for- 

 tunately rescued. 



The thip was new and strong, and suffered little 

 injury : she was of the line of New Orleans pack- 

 ets, and was loading with ice procured from the 

 ponds some five or ten miles out of Boston. As 

 thiciicr ice than any tliat had been made in No- 

 vember and December was loading on board this 

 ship, some one inquired how and where the ice wag 

 procured.^ The answer was, that it was old ice 

 wiiich had been taken from the ponds a year before 

 and secured in the commodious ice-houses erected 

 on their margin. 



To those persons who like ourselves have been 

 so unfortunate as to be unable to keep ice from 

 melting away as earl}- as the last of July, it may be 

 important to be instructed how to do it. We find 

 in the last Philadelplila Farmers Cabinet, copied 

 from the British Gardener's Magazine, the follow- 

 ing method of housing and preserving ice, as prac- 

 tised by Mr. James Young, a British gardener : 



"In the month of December or January, when 

 the water pools are frozen to a sufficient thickness, 

 say one or two inches, proceed to break tho ice in 

 pieces, and draw it oft' the water with iron hooks, 

 conveying it to the ice-house in carty, as quick a3 

 possible. Before throwing it into the house, three 

 or four men should be employed to break it in small 

 pieces, about the size of common road metal. Then 

 carry it into the house, where two men should be 

 again employed in pounding it alnio;t to powder. 

 Lay the bottom and the sides of the house with a 

 layer of wheat straw three or four inches thick. — 

 After there are about two feet of ice thus pounded, 

 take ten pounds of salt, and dissolve it in ten gal- 

 lons of boiling water. W^hen the salt is sufficient- 

 ly dissolved, pour it on the ice through a common 

 garden watering-pot ; thus going on regularly eve- 

 ry two feet, watering, and laying the sides with 

 strav; till the house is filled, finishing with o. double 

 quantity of salt water. After it has bren in eight 

 days, and when it has subsided, fill up closely with 

 small bundles of straw, to exclude all air as far as 

 possible. 



"An ice-liouse filled in this manner will be found, 

 when opened in summer, to be as firm as a rock, 

 and to require o.t all times the forc« of a pick-ajtd 



