THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



11 



Not made with hands— shall be of vows 

 Rcdeera'd in faith and truth and love. 



Shepherd of Israel ! We thy sheep 

 In pastures green would e'er abide, 



Safe in Thy charge — whom neither sleep, 

 Nor slumber loses from Tliy side. 



Farming in New England. 



In New Hampshire we have few farmers with as 

 numerous herds of cattle, as many acres under 

 cultivation, and as large quantities of any given 

 crop, as are found in other countries, or as in other 

 parts of this country. Farms of 500, 1,000,2,000 

 and even 10,000 acres are common in the island of 

 Great Britain; plantations in the southern States 

 are frequently of as large extent; and farms of five 

 hundred and one thousand acres are common in the 

 prairie lands of the west. Kz-ra Meecii, who re- 

 sides on the shore of Lake Champlain above Bur- 

 lington, and William Jaii\ts of Weathersfield, 

 opposite Clareinont in this State, on Connecticut 

 river, are the two largest farmers of whom we have 

 had particular notice in the State of Vermont. 

 The first gentleman sometimes has his five and 

 eight hundred acres of wheat in a season; and the 

 latter his hundreds of improved cattle and his ma- 

 ny hundred sheep on one of the most beantiful al- 

 luvial tracts upon tlie fertile valley of the Connec- 

 ticut. Judge Meech, a man of giant stature, a- 

 shrewd in calculation as he is enterprising in busi- 

 ness, was the artificer of his own fortune: he has 

 made his wealth, it is said, exclusively by farming. 

 He commenced with the first settlement in Ver- 

 mont; and, as he once informed us, while clearing 

 his lands for a crop, he continued to go ahead by 

 hunting furs up the Onion and Otter rivers in sea- 

 sons when he could not conveniently work his 

 lands. Consul Jarvis is a native of Boston — re- 

 ceived the honors of Harvard College — was educa- 

 ted perhaps to the bar or as a merchant — resided 

 several years at Lisbon in the kingdom of Portu- 

 gal as consul and agent for the United States, and 

 while there introduced many of the fine wooled 

 merino sheep into tliis country, the exportation ol 

 which had been sedulously prohibited by the gov- 

 ernments of Sp.iin and Portugal. Some time after 

 his return he purchased the estates now composing 

 his ample domain; and for the last twenty years 

 has steadily pursued the occupation of a farmer on 

 the banks of Connecticut. 



Near the latter gentleman on the New Hamp- 

 shire side resides his kinsman, Doct. Leonard 

 Jarvis, one of the most extensive farmers of this 

 State, who has for several years been engageiTin 

 the fortunate pursuit of wool growing, and who at 

 a single sale has taken as much money for fine wool 

 of his own clip as would purchase the price of one 

 of the largest farms of the State. 



The farmers on Connecticut river, for some 

 cause, have been more fortunate than in other parts 

 of the State in gaining wealth. Many there real- 

 ized the gain of handsome estates before most of 

 the farmers on the less fertile and more rough parts 

 were able to dispose of any surplus produce they 

 might have at a sure profit. Twenty and thirty 

 years ago farmers living beyond fifty miles from 

 the sea board were discouraged from laising grains 

 and other articles of provision, because they conld 

 not dispose of them for ready pay in the interior, 

 and the price at the market towns was so low and 

 uncertain that they could not with safety encoun- 

 ter the risque and expense of traiisporting them. 

 Better roads and more numerous mouths to con- 

 sume them have since greatly changed the aspect 

 of things. 



Prices are sometimes depressed ; hut it rarely 

 occurs that the farmer is obliged to waste or lose 

 any kind of produce that costs him labor. Of late 

 years the numerous manufacturing and mechanical 

 establishments growing up in almost every direc- 

 tion., giving employment to liundretls and thousands 

 of consumers, increase the demand for most kinds 

 of agricultural production. What farmer feels any 

 uncertainty at the commencement of the year that 

 his dairy will not pay him for all the labor bestowed 

 upon it.' that good butter and cheese will not bear 

 a good price .' that his beef and pork, even though 

 it may not always command the highest price, will 

 perish on his hands.' that labor will be thrown a- 

 way in cultivating his Indian corn, rye and wheat 

 not necessary for his family consumption, and in 

 curing the hay to be laid up in his barns ' 



The keeping of milch cows has always been a 

 good business in the hill towns of New Hampshire; 

 it is necessarily connected with the raising of cat- 

 tle. A farmer who keeps a stock of twenty, tliir- 

 ty, or forty head of cattle has frequently found the 

 road towealtli to be sure. Wealth is a compara- 

 tive term : John Jacob Aator of Mew York, who 



with accumulated millions is not half as independ- 

 ent as many a farmer worth from two to ten thou- 

 sand dollars, would not admit a man to be rich who 

 was worth short of half a million of dollars. There 

 are many farmers who may be considered well oif 

 in a pecuniary point of view who raise less than 

 their hundred bushels of grain and keep less than 

 a dozen head of cattle. These do all their work 

 without hiring, and are able to purchase and pay 

 for every thing to make themselves and families 

 comfortable. Such a man may be more independ- 

 ent than a king, and in his own way contribute to 

 the general improvement. He may do his full 

 share in the advance of his country to the highest 

 state of prosperity, and well deserve equal applause 

 to those who with more extended means accomplish 

 more. 



Extraordinary mortality of Cattle. 



An old acquaintance, Oliver Whiting, Esq..of 

 Wilton, whose farm is situated near the mountain 

 ridge that divides Temple from Peterborough, 

 whose dairy of forty or tifty cows had been des- 

 cribed to us, and whose reputation we had known 

 for many years as one of the most thriving farmers 

 of the State, was the object of inquiry of the friend 

 who had collected and brought us gome forty sub- 

 scribers for the V'isitor in that town. We were 

 pained with the information that his dairy existed 

 no more ; and that for the last year his only stock 

 of cattle kind consisted simply of two indiiferent 

 cows. A '* grievous murrain" or something of the 

 kind, had attacked his flock of oxen and cows and 

 carried them off with a rapidity truly appaling. His 

 oxen faltered while in excellent flesh they were 

 working in the field, and soon died : his cows were 

 taken off in a manner no less sudden. On exam- 

 ination of the bodies of the creatures, the melt was 

 found to be distended, and the Mood and flesh dis- 

 covered symptoms of early putrefaction. It was 

 remarkable that while Mr Whiting's flock were 

 thus aftected — one dying after another, almost at 

 the moment they seemed to be in perfect health — 

 none of the cattle of the neighborhood sufl"ered in 

 the same manner. Alarmed at their condition, Mr. 

 W. caused those remaining in health — and as we 

 understood all died that were attacked — to be driv- 

 en away and disposed of. None of the cattle after 

 they left his premises were understood to have died 

 or to have been afl'ected with tlie same disorder. 



We have heard of isolated cases of diseased cat- 

 tle during the past few months ; some dying of 

 what was supposed to be the horn-ail, and others of 

 what was called murrain, which is described by 

 veterinary authors as havinga variety of symptoms 

 and being too indefinite to be identified. The dis- 

 order of Mr. Whitney's cattle differs from every 

 case of which we have heard, or t'rom any descrip- 

 tion we find of diseased cattle in any book. The 

 nearest description found is in, an interesting work 

 on cattle, recently published in Kngland, and 

 written-by Youatt, which v.-e extract below; — 



"The Journal dcs Sacayis for 1682 (more than a 

 century and a half ago) contains an account of an 

 epidemic which destroyed a great number of cattle 

 in most of the provinces of France. The history 

 of its symptoms shows how little was then known 

 of the diseases of cattle, or how useless were the 

 examinations that were made by scientific men, and 

 for the purpose of enlightening the public. The 

 animals ate and worked as usual until they fell 

 dead in a moment. [Here is a similarity to the case 

 of the cattle of Mr. Whiting.] The explanation of 

 this is a little marvellous, and docs jiot quite agree 

 with the previous story. ' A violet colored vesi- 

 cle is found under the tongue, on which an eschar 

 or scab forms in five or six hours, and on the falling 

 of the eschar, the animal dies; and when he was 

 opened, the intestines were in a state of gangrene, 

 and so was the tongue, for it often fell to pieces.' 

 This was the gloss-anthrax or blain, which has 

 already been described, but of a verv maUgnant 

 character, and associated with murrain, as 

 sometimes found to be." 



Virgil, la his Georgics, by very far tlie most beau- 

 tiful of his poems, and containing many gcod ag- 

 ricultural precepts which modern improvements 

 have not rendered obsolete, gives a history of the 

 murrain as it devastated some of the Roman farms 

 before the Christian era. We pre:;ent the transla- 

 tion from the Latin by Dryden: 

 " Here from the vicious air and sickly skies, 

 A plague did on the dumb creation rise ; 

 During th' autumnal heats th' infection grew. 

 Tame cattle and the beasts of Nature slew, 

 Pois'ning the standing lakes and pools impure; 

 Nor w'as the toodi'ul grass in fields secure. 

 Strange death ! for, when the thirsty fire had drunk 

 Their°vital blood, and the dry nerves were shrunk. 

 When the contracted limbs were oranip'd even then 



A wat'rish humor gwell'd and ooz'd again, 

 Converting into bane the kindly juice. 

 Ordained by Nature for abetter use. 

 The victim ox, that was for altars )>rest, 

 Trim'd with white ribbons and with garlands drest. 

 Sunk of himself, without the god's command. 

 Preventing the slow sacrificer's hand. 

 Or by thu noly butcher if he fell, 

 Th' inspected entrails could no fates foretell; 

 Nor laid on altars, did pure flames arise ; 

 But clouds of smould'ring smoke forbade the sacri- 

 fice. 

 Scarcely the knife wa» rcdden'd with his gore, 



Or the black poison stain'd the sandy floor. 



* « w * 



The steer who to the yoke was bred to bow, 

 (Studious of tillage and the crooked plough) 

 Falls down and dies; and, dying 'voids a flood 

 Of foamy madness, inix'd with clotted blood. 



The pining steer, nor shades »f lofty woods. 

 Nor tlow'ry nieatls, can ease, nor crystal floods 

 Roll'd t'rom the rock : his tlabi>y flanks decrease ; 

 His eyes are settled in a stupid peace; 

 His back too weighty for his thighs is grown. 

 And his unwieldy neck hangs drooping down." 



No remedy for murrain, after it has seized on its 

 victim, is given as effectual. The disease of trua 

 murrain is said to be highly contagious — and it 

 finds a powerful auxiliary in some peculiar states 

 of the atmosphere — probably like the yellow fever 

 and other disorders of man. 



The better way to treat diseases in the first in- 

 stance is to avoid them by every possible expedi- 

 ent. More can be done by man to avoid sickness 

 by exercise and diet than is generally supposed. 

 The prescriptions of the physician may be avoided 

 in four cases out of five by taking previous care of 

 the stomach in omitting to overload it, and of the 

 circulation by healthy and vigorous exercise. So 

 most domestic animals can be kept in health by 

 omitting to feed them, or by preventing their eating 

 what is injurious, and by keeping their bowels open 

 and free of passage. The best remedy for murrain 

 in cattle or swine is said to be the administration of 

 physic as to a human person. Salt and charcoal 

 are good for hogs at all seasons : salt mixed with a 

 little salt petre should be given to cattle, sheep and 

 horses in both winter and summer. Sometimes a 

 more pungent cathartic may be administered to 

 these animals of the brute creation with equal ben 

 efitas to the man who suffers from too high li»iaj» 

 and too little exercise. 



Horse Kake. 



The accompanying descriptions and wood cuts 

 will enable any common carpenter readily to con 

 struct a Horse Rake either of the common or re 

 volvingkind. 



The common Horse Rahe. 



Fig.l. 

 This is made of a piece of strong scantling, three 

 inches square and ten feet long, into which about fif 

 teen teeth are inserted horizontally, and of strong 

 white ash or other tough wood. The teeth should 

 be about 22 inches long, and one inch by one and 

 three quarters at the place of insertion, and taper- 

 ing on the under side, so as to give them a slight 

 turn upwards at the point, toprevent their running 

 into the ground while using. The draft ropes are 

 attached to the end of two projecting pieces of 



