THE PARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR 



9 



to break it. It will be found to keep three times 

 longer than the coniinon metliod of filling ice-iious- 

 es, and is more suitable for being received from tlic 

 ice-iiouse for use, as it will keep three times longer 

 when exposed to the air. I was induced to try the 

 above method, on account of our ice-house being 

 placed in a very exposed situation. Tiie sunshines 

 from rising to seltinaf on it, and it was found im- 

 possible, before adopting liiis plan, to keep ice a- 

 bove a year, and now it keeps three years, and the 

 last of it 13 as good as the first." 



A practical and useful writer. 



There are some writers from whom words of in- 

 struction and interest flow as steadily as the run- 

 ning stream which discharges its waters into tlie 

 ocean ; who think and reflect as if by mathematic- 

 al demonstration, and whose words and sentences 

 follow in regular order which exactly adapts itself to 

 the mind open to receive information. Such a writer 

 we believe will prove himself to be,if tlie fact be not 

 already denmnstrated to thousands who have read 

 the Genesee Farmer, Willis Gavlord,^ who is 

 hereafter to fill the editorial seat lately occupied 

 by the deceased Judge Buel in the Albany Culti- 

 vator. This gentleman resides at Otisco, in the 

 county of Onondaga, New York, one of the richest 

 agricultural districts of that richest agricultural 

 State; he lives there, seldom leaving his h<ime, 

 uniting in his own person the man of research and 

 study with the practical farmer, observant of the 

 actual process of nature in yielding her productions. 

 Th^ Publisher of the Farmer informed us when we 

 saw him at Rochester in 1838, that although Mr. 

 Gaylord liad been the principal contributor to his 

 interesting journal for several years, he had never 

 seen the man. 



Mr. Gaylord, having seen the notice of our 

 •'Brown Corn," — which by the way is everywhere 

 in tlie north sought for by farmers — wrote the edit- 

 or of the Visitor a few weeks since for the purpose 

 of procuring a quantity. With no intention of 

 furnishing an article for our press, he at once 

 broaches a subject interesting to the public, and 

 treats it in that able and convincing manner 

 which induces us to exhibit to the whole public 

 what was intended solely for our own perusal. He 

 Bays — 



" If there is any thing certain at this moment of 

 overturn and tumult, of commercial despondency 

 and monetary convulsions, it is this, that the sal- 

 vation of the country is depending -on the produc- 

 tions of the soil — the cotton of the south, end the 

 wheat of the north. Speculation can no fartlier 

 go. The further sale of State stocks abroad is im- 

 possible, and I rejoice at it, as it will at least retard 

 the consummation of our ruin, an event, that for 

 a few 3'ears past trom the facilities such sales of- 

 fered to tlie augmentation of our debts, seemed not 

 far distant. Nations, or States, are but aggregates 

 of individuals, and a course of proceeding that 

 would be the financial ruin of the last, will no less 

 surely produce the same consequences to the first. 

 For several years pat^t, the greater part of the States 

 seem to have been airiving to be foremost in the 

 race of indebtedness; and at last the sober truth is 

 forced upon them that tliey are deepi)', and some 

 of them irredeemably in debt, with their projected 

 works but half cmpleted, and the procurance of 

 further means impossible. We have imported im- 

 mense quantities of worthless wares from abroad, 

 witliout at all asking how we were to pay for them; 

 we have supported foreign manufactures in prefer- 

 ence to our own, because ours could not live on 

 'stocks,' and now, when our crertit is on the verge 

 of prostration, we find our home establishments 

 that we should have cherished and supported, over- 

 thrown and ruined. To sum up all in a word, we 

 have bouglit more than we had tlie means of paying 

 fur; and now, when Europe isjoalling for the mil- 

 lions sunk in our half finished canals and rail roads, 

 or unproductive bank and other stocks, we proless 

 to be astonished at the ja'ospect, as though it were 

 possible any other event could have been antici- 

 pated. 



*^ Of all the humbugs of the day, and it is futile 

 in magnificent ones, the very wildest and most im- 

 practicable, is the cotton combination, or the ef- 

 fort made to force some two millions of cotton on 

 Great Britain that they do not want, and at prices 

 they cannot aff*ord to pay. What would be thought 

 of tlio farmers of the north should they refuse at 

 this tiuie to sell a bushel of their graiq, unless tlicy 

 could get the iiigli prices of former 3'ear9 ? Would 

 it put bread in the mouths of t!ie poor in our cities? 

 — would it pay our debts abroad or at home ? — would 

 it at all lighten the distresses of the country ? The 

 farmers have the wheat, and they are able to keep 

 it; but it would be a suicidal policy to do so, and 

 the great cotton interest of our country will find, 



I much fear, that they have been acting a part e- 

 qually impolitic, and absurd. The true course in 

 my opinion is for fanners at the north, or planters 

 at the south, to dispose of their crops as soon as pos- 

 sible, and go earnestly to work in producing more. 

 This is a true creation of wealth ; a conversion of 

 the materials furnished by a bountiful and provi- 

 dent nature, into gold and silver; and not as most 

 of our other operations, a mere change of one ar- 

 ticle for another or one kind of debt for another. 



" Many causes have doubtless contributed to 

 produce such results as we are now experiencing. 

 The failure of the crops abroad ; the fluctuating 

 and unsettled state of the currency at home ; the 

 extravagant projects and speculations into which 

 individuals and states have most unwarrantably en- 

 tered, have had their influence; but it is to our in- 

 debtedness that we may fairly attribute that bind- 

 ing of the feet and hands of our prosperity we now 

 feel. A knowledge of the disease should point out 

 the cure; a discovery of the source of an evil should 

 indicate the remedy. 



"Entertaining such views, yoa will not be sur- 

 prised that I look upon agriculture as the sheet an- 

 chor of our safety, and consider the man who con- 

 tributes to its actual advancement, as most useful 

 to the nation. The man, who, by his observation 

 of nature, by his investigation and following of 

 her laws, or by well conducted experiments, shall 

 develope the means of making two stalks of grass 

 or two ears of wheat or corn grow where but one 

 grew before, is, according to the opinion of Burke, 

 and the estimation of every intelligent man, a ben- 

 efactor to his country; for to that extent he doub- 

 les the means of wealth, subsistence, and popula- 

 tion. 



" It is idle for any one to deny that agriculture 

 has not within a few years made great advances 

 among us, and it is I think equally certain that this 

 advance is mainly owing to the diffusion of infor- 

 mation and the excitement of a spirit of inquiry 

 through the agency of agricultural periodicals. If 

 such papers have not done all the good that they 

 should, the amount already effected is immense, 

 and the encouragement for perseverance is most 

 ample. Science has become the handmaid of agri- 

 culture, and its professors vie with the pl:>ughman 

 in aiding the productiveness of our fielda. The 

 farmer is beginning to feel that he is not only the 

 bone and sinew of the nation, the base of the so- 

 cial superstructure, but that education, and the 

 power that springs from knowledge and intelli- 

 gence, may and should be his. With the increase of 

 useful knowledge and general informationin the 

 mass, will be a corresponding increase of self re- 

 spect and mutual confidence, directly calculated to 

 still further elevate and improve the cultivation of 

 the soil. Farming is found not to be the employ- 

 ment of mere brute force as it was once supposed 

 to be ; but that wisdom, science, and intellect find 

 here as profitable and honorable a field for their ex- 

 ercise, as in any other pursuit or profession in life, 

 is a truth admitted by every one whose situation in 

 life, or observation of cause and effect, has render- 

 ed him competent to the formation of a correct o- 

 pinion. 



"I am pleased to learn that the farmers of the 

 Granite State appear to properly appreciate the 

 value of your labors, and the worth of the Visitor. 

 I shall always be happy in making it known to 

 ni}' brother farmers, for so far as regards the circu- 

 lation of such papers I have alwaj'^s found the more 

 good ones were taken in any neighborliood, the 

 better for all, and the greater the desire for such 

 reading. I think there is not a county in this State 

 in which so many agricultural papers are circulated 

 as in this county, and probably no one that furnish 

 ea a greater amount of produce for market." 



Growth of Wood and Timber. 



We readily give place to tlie communication of 

 Mr. Emeky of Ivennebunk witli the letter of Gen- 

 Dearborn of Massachusetts. There is evidently 

 a want of attention to the growth of forest trees in 

 most of the New En^^land towns, the advantages 

 and value of which are not di\\y appreciated. 



For the houses, barns, and other buildings which 

 are necessary to be erected witliiu tlie distance 

 of twenty and thirty miles from the seaboard in 

 this State and in Massaciiusetts, the largest and 

 most valuable part of the lumber is either shipped 

 from the State of Maine, or brought down the riv- 

 ers from a biug distance in tiie interior. The ex- 

 pense of this Inmbcr is greatly euaancod by the 

 cost of transport i'rom the port to whicii it Jias 

 been shipped. Twenty, thirty, and even foity dol- 

 lars the thousand feet ibr inch boards is not an un- 

 common price; and of the really elegant and con- 

 venient wooden farm houses and barns which are 

 annually erected, a single building will in aoine ca- 



ses cost as much money as the price of a farm, buil- 

 dings included, fifty or an hundred miles furtlier in 

 the country. 



Perliups few men have thought upon or calcula- 

 ted the rapid growth of the trees of our forests. 

 That land which is most rough and most stenl of 

 the common agricultural products seems to be the 

 most natural and most rapid in the growth of forest 

 trees. The white and pitch pines, wliich are the 

 most useful as buildiug timber, grow on what is 

 considered the poorest land. There are many se- 

 cond growtii white pines in the valley of the Merri- 

 mack not yet fifty years old that are large enough 

 to be sawed into sume of the best of finishing boards 

 for the interior of dwellings. In years gone by 

 the young pines springing up in the pastures and 

 fields were cut down at once as unwelcome intru- 

 ders. He was considered a slovenly farmer who 

 spared them ; but where they have been spared in 

 worn out pastures and fields, the value of the poor 

 ground has been increased by their growth be- 

 yond calculation 



We had much rather base our calculations on what 

 actually transpires than to suppose gains on paper 

 from what may take place. The idea of making 

 eighteen thousand dollars oreven half thatsum from 

 ten acres of land in ten years, cultivated in growing 

 locust timber, is too extravagant to induce the farmer 

 to undertake the business in earnest. Jt savors too 

 much of those pictures upon paper which have led 

 hundreds and thousands into ruinous speculations. 

 A more moderate profit ought to satisfy, and a 

 much less profit will satisfy. If great gains were 

 practicable and certain in all cases, large gains 

 would only answer the purpose of small ones. A 

 small thrift, the product of actual labor, is of more 

 value in the end than ten times the amount gained, 

 in a lottery or by any otlier gambling process. 



Well, if we may not gain one or two tljousand 

 dollars an acre from the cultivation of locusl tim- 

 ber, we will show how much has been gained by a 

 small investment without labor. There are exten- 

 sive plains and other tracts of land near the rivers 

 and their sources in New England which have 

 hitherto been esteemed of little value for oultiva- 

 tion. There has been a mistalce in this estimate ; 

 for it is our belief founded on successful experiment 

 that much of the plains will hereafter be found 

 most profitable for, cultivation solely. Of these 

 plains there are several thousand acres within the 

 limits of the town of Concord ; a large tract liea 

 over the river against this village at the distarice of 

 from one to five rniles. Until within a few years 

 the land was considered valuable only for tiie 

 growth that was upon it. The wood and timber 

 taken off, the price was merely nominal. Any one 

 who has passed over the lower bridge from this 

 place to Pembroke will have seen a beautiful pitch 

 pine growth of trees of the size of a man's body 

 and upwards. The growth upon the ground, cut 

 down to day, is worth a dollar a cord, and will pro- 

 duce from twenty to thirty dollars to the acre. — 

 That land was bought at auction about twelve years 

 ago for from seventy-five cents to a dollar and fifty 

 cents the acre. It is now worth at least thirty dol- 

 lars, giving to the purchaser and owner, after pay- 

 ing taxes, whicn has been the whole expense, a 

 gain of more than one hundred per cent annually 

 in the growth of wood upon the ground, independ- 

 ent of the rise in the valae of the land itself. Here 

 has been no*' cultivation," no "occasional manur- 

 ing," no expense for seed or nursery : nature has 

 done all the work. On the plains nature needs no 

 assistance from man : if he will desist from spread- 

 ing wide conflagration with wicked intent, a profit 

 will accrue from these naked lands at the price of 

 ten dollars the acre in the growth aloiie of from 

 twelve to twenty per cent, and a further advance 

 of at least si.\ per cent, will annually be gained 

 upon the rise in value of the soil itself. 



We have forty acres of similar land, which cost 

 seven years ago five dollars the acre,$;200. The 

 wood and timber had been so much taken off that 

 wliat was left was considered of little value. Our 

 first operation was to take from the piece indiscrim- 

 inately logs sufticieut for thirty-five thousand feet 

 of boards mill measure, worth, after paying all ex- 

 pense of cutting, hauling to the mill, sawing and 

 bringing home, six dollars the thousand, and pay- 

 ing tor the price of the land. Since that time, on 

 clearing less than half of the Und, as many more 

 mill logs and about three hundred cords of wood 

 worth one dollar the cord, have been taken off. 

 Tlie value taken from the purchase of ."iSSOO is at 

 least equal to $700 ; and on fifteen acres of the 

 forty there are sown eigliteen bushels of rye from 

 which, if there bean ordinary crop, we will obtain 

 two hundred bushels, worth double the cost qf 

 clearing, burning, plougliing and sowing. The 

 land ailerv/ards will be worth twenty-five dollars 

 the acre for almost any kind of cultivation- 



