THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



19 



eriy applied to any soil, luiless it will effervesce 

 with acids. 



Each of these earlhss answer a determinate and 

 specific purpose in the economy and growth of 

 plants ; and the perfection of soil lies in a mixture 

 of the whole. 



Vegetable matter. All vegetable substances fn 

 a, decaying or rotten state. 



Animal matter. All animal substances in a pu- 

 trifying state. 



Organic matter. A term applicable to both 

 animal and vegetable substances in a putrifying 

 state. 



Vegetable mould. Tlie earthly remains of vege- 

 table "substances which have either grown and de- 

 cayed on the soil, or have been conveyed thither in 

 the progress of cultivation. 



Loam is a combination of vegetable mould, with 

 the primitive earths. 



Marl is a substance consisting of lime with a 

 small portion of clay, .tiuI sometimes of peat, with 

 marine sand and animal remains. It is useful as 

 manure, and is distinguished by shell, clay, and 

 stone marl. 



New Hampshire Hoes. 



.intrim, .V. H., Feb. 3rf, 1840. 

 Hon. Isaac Hili.,— Dear S/r .—Feeling a desire 

 to ease and facilitate tlie labors of the worthy and 

 industrious Farmers of New Hampshire and vicin- 

 ity in their very, perhaps most important lal>ors, 

 that of rooting out the spontaneous and noxious 

 weed from auiong the necessary and useful grains, 

 plants, &c., we have been at considerable expense 

 in making and preparing machinery and effecting 

 improvenients for tlie purpose of manufarturing 

 HOES (a sample of which we send you to-day by 

 our very respcataldc citizen and farmer, Dea. Epps 

 Buruham, who is aliout establisliing himself in Con- 

 cord) ttiai »C believe are not inferior in point of 

 workmanship, utility am! d'.'.rability to any now 

 manuliictured in our country. Our hoes ..re made 

 of the best double refined cast-steel, of thicker 

 gaae than many cast-steel hoes have been made of 

 in latter years, and are tempered but about two 

 inches upon the edge. The remainder of the hoe 

 not being tempered, renders it much less likely to 

 crack or^be broken, wlierethe shank (as we term it) 

 is riveted on. The plate of the shank is larger, re- 

 quiring four rivets instead of three, as has been 

 usual "the hoe plate and shank both being counter- 

 sunk their thickness, and thoroughly riveted, makes 

 it very improbable that the hoe will ever failin that 

 part, unless it is done by some uncommon strainer 

 blow. We have spared no pains in procuring the 

 best article for handles that can be found ; all se- 

 lected from a large lot, paying price accordingly. 

 We make our ferrules wide of Russia iron, well 

 brazed, in preference to making them all of brass, 

 being much more durable ; and we key the hoe fast 

 to the handle. 



But, sir, this minute description of so simple an 

 article is perhaps entirely useless and unnecessary, 

 for when it falls under the observing eye of a thor- 

 ough-going and practical farmer, he will rc-adily ap- 

 preciate all its valuable qualities, and it is most 

 certain that he will readily observe the defects, 

 should there be any. If you deem the article wor- 

 thy of any notice in the most valuable Visitor of 

 visitor.^, you are at liberty to make any remarks 

 you please, or make such disposition of this com- 

 munication as you think may best promote the in- 

 terests of the farmer. 



Very respectfully yours, 



ISAAC BALDWIiN & Co. 



Value of Town Corporations. 



There are no corporations better managed than 

 the many little Republics existing in New England 

 called Towns. These since its fust settlement have 

 sustained the " lienor, safety and welfare" of our 

 citizens. Nine-tenths of our efl'ective government 

 are derived from the towns and their authorities. 

 When the first blood was spilled at Lexington, the 

 town authorities rallied to furnish the men and the 

 means for resistance : when the sword of the ene- 

 my or destitution thinned the ranks of the Ameri- 

 can army, the several towns filled them. Whatfur- 

 nishes now, and what has for many years furnish- 

 ed the mean.? of general instruction to our youth — 

 what makes and keeps in repair our excellent pub- 

 lic roads— what furnishes at the instant support for 

 the destitute, the sick and dying, but the govern- 

 ment of our tov.ms .'' 



These purely republican governments, speaking 

 always the direct will of the people, are the nurse- 

 ries where our best statesmen receive their qualifi- 

 cations. For when a man once thoroughly under- 

 stand.s the duty of head-servant in a town — when 

 he has faithfully stood for a season in the capacity 

 of one of the "fathers of the town," he will be qual- 

 ified for the higher employment of legislator or 

 mag!5trat3. 



It is much to the credit of most of our country 

 towns that they have supported their great annual 

 expenses gcnemlly without incurring debts whose 

 annual interest is a continual burden upon them. 

 Some of tliem are obliged to lay out large extra a- 

 mounts of money in the construction of roads and 

 bridges : if this is not all collected and paid at once, 

 the whole amount is usually discharged in a few 

 years. 



We remember no where to have heard of a more 

 enterprising sjiirit than that displayed by the little 

 town of Campton, situated almost among the moun- 

 tains, oil the main spindle of the Merrimack. The 

 toll-bridge in that town was carried away in the 

 freshet of last winter : its proprietors, interested in 

 iiaVir.-^ltliough notin rebuilding the bridge,forced 

 '^ ' „ , .. (irion the town. As 



and at the 



With the foregoing letter we received two oftlio 

 within described hoes well set in their handles, 

 bright and templing enough to any n.an who ever 

 handled tlie hoe to commence at once the work. — 

 In easv ground, no man could be excused for being 

 lazy W'ith such a hoe, which is quite as convenient 

 for cutting up, as it could be lor covering up, grass 

 and weeds 



We are glad to be informed, that Mr. Baldwin, 

 who is among the most ingenious and substantial 

 mechanics of°the State, has made arrangements lor 

 the manufacture of these hoes upon an extended 

 scale, being able to furnisli them to the traders by 

 the dozen or the hundred, lie has heretofore well 

 succeeded in making the article : as he now makes 

 them, his hoes are better than they ever have been 

 before. The machinery for the manufacture is car- 

 ried by water-power on a stream running into the 

 Contoocook at the village near the south line ol 

 Antrim In the county of Hillsborough. 



At the season of hoeing, after we shall have tri- 

 ed them, occasion may be taken again ^to notice 

 these hoes in the columns of the Visitor, 



its construction as a iici^.'.r:L 

 one man the wh'de town undertook it 

 expense of eight thousand dollars they have erec- 

 ted two beautiful bridges across this stream within 

 the town limits. To do this an extra tax as high 

 as five doll.ars on each rateable poll was necessary , 

 but the men who could work had the advantage, 

 every one havin<r the privilege of working out his 

 tax with his own hands. This the farmers found 

 the time to do besides performing the necessary la- 

 bor upon their own grounds. Only 'two men out 

 of town were employed upon the bridges ; and one 

 of these because he v;as better qualified as architect 

 and master workman. 



The energy and enterprise of New England far- 

 mers may be read in the great "internal improve- 

 ment" exhibited in the two Campton bridges ; one 

 of which, at an expense of five lliousand dollars, 

 stands on elegant granite piers. Had such an im- 

 provement been made in the District of Columbia, 

 the money— and ten times as much— would have 

 been required from the national treasury '. 



Among the improved comforts mid convenien- 

 ces of some of our town corporations within the 

 last thirty years has been the purchase and occu- 

 pancy of farms for the poor. In almost every case 

 these poor farms are self-supporting institutions, 

 some of them supporting all tlie paupers of the 

 town, and p,aying the salary of their superintend- 

 ent. ,11 



There are towns in New Hampshire which have 

 not only realized the benefit from their poor farms 

 of present support to the paupers, but .where their 

 value has been much increased by improved culti- 

 in some cases the farm"; will now sell for 



many families in all our considerable cities and 

 villages. 



EitracI from the Speech o/Dr. C. T. Jacksom, 

 Gcolnfficnl Siirrcyor of Maine, Ji'cia Hampshire cnid 

 Rhode Island, at the Second and Third Agricul- 

 tural Mrstinss, nt the State House in Massachu- 

 setts, Januanj lfr40. 



Dr. Jackson began by expressing the pleasure he 

 had in these meetings for mutual information and 

 improvement; and he augured the most beneficial 

 results from the active spirit of inquiry which was 

 now so generally awakened. 



Agriculture is yet to derive immense advantages 

 from scientific cultivation. The first element in 

 agriculture is the soils, which constitute the seat 

 of its operations. The soils which the earth pre- 

 sents, and which in different localities are found 

 very differently constituted, although the same sim- 

 ple elements enter, to a certain extent, into the 

 combination of all of them, are among the most im- 

 portant objects of inquiry and examination to the 

 intelligent farmer. 



Soils are, properly speaking, only the detritus or 

 broken substance of' decomposed rocks, intermixed 

 in various degrees with organic matter in a, state 

 of dissolution and diff'uslon. The breaking down 

 and the comininutlon of the rocks, so as to form the 

 fine particles of the earth, have been the progres- 

 sive results of the influence of air, moisture and 

 frost, exerted through m 'ny ages which have pass- 

 ed, and still in constant and active operation. That 

 the earths were derived from the disintegration of 

 rocks, he deemed conclusively established by Ihe 

 fact, that by the chemical and indeed microscopic 

 examination of soils, they are found to consist of 

 the same elements v/hich enter into the formation 

 ol the rocks. In soils derived from granite were 

 found quartz, feldspar, and mica; and the decom 

 position of slate rocks produces clay. The pres- 

 ence of limestones and porphyry serves in each 

 case to produce a peculiar soil. 



All the various mineral bases have' art influence 

 upon the character of a soil. Some of these mine- 

 rals undergo a decomposition and enter directly in- 

 to plants; sllex, alumine, magnesia, all enter into 

 plants ; and sllex, as is well kno- 



vati - , --- 



double the cost of the original purchase 



Tlie system of supporting paupers upon a farn 

 is perhaps better than any other that could be de- 

 vised. All paupers who have health and strength 

 should be made to work ; and those who do not 

 choose to labor upon the town farm may avoid itby 

 lahorinir elsewhere. The dread of Kaboring upon 

 the farm undoubtedly cures much of the indolence 

 which would otherw'ise make them paupers. The 

 sick and helpless either from age or infirmity will 

 not be required to work. Intemperance makes ma- 

 ay paupers : under the vigilant eye of the superin- 

 tendant of the town farm the drunkard will have 

 no opportunity to make of himself habitually a 

 beast. And it will be no unjustifiable stretch ot 

 power to compel such as in their full strength 

 choose, while left to themselves, to become disabled 

 for the discharge of any duty, to labor daily in the 

 soil. This is done in iiiany towns to good effect. 

 At these town farms the poor enjoy comforts and 

 privileires Utile behind those of many families of 

 the same towns, and far greater than those of 



forms tlje coat 

 skeleton of all graminaceous plants, or otherwise 

 of plants belonging to the family of the grasses. 

 These elements have much to do with the fertility 



of a soil. J , vr 



The enriching mineral substance found in J>ew 

 Jersey, alluded to in a former discussion, is what is 

 called a freen sand, composed of silex, potash, and 

 iron. It^yields potash, and thus neutralizes any 

 acid substances which may exist in the soils, to 

 which it is applied. 



Every observing traveller in passing tlirough dit- 

 ferent countries, perceives that the soils of different - 

 countries possess properties peculiar to themselves. 

 Thus limestone soils seem most congenial to the 

 production of wheat; and granitic soils to that of 

 grass. Each rock may be traced by its peculiar 

 vegetation. The soils on the trap-rock formation 

 in this Slate are distinctly marked. ■ 



A great part of the State is of what is called the 

 diluvial formation. In this case there is an evi- 

 dent removal of the earth's surface or soils by some 

 violent convulsion in a sort of wave, from the north 

 to the south. The proofs of this deluge in its ad- 

 vances south may be distinctly traced. Thus in a 

 diluvial formation the soils will be found to be com- 

 posed of the same elements as the rocks some miles 

 distant to the northward of that place ; and maybe 

 very different from the soil, which might be said to 

 belon-T to the place, where they are found. As ev- 

 idence of this movement south, the rocks in the vi- 

 cinity of Providence are evidently formed from the 

 disintegration of rocks of the grey wacke formation 

 some distance to the northward. The greywacke 

 rocks are those composed of other rocks of various 

 descriptions collected together In a miscellaneous 

 combination, and cemented by a kind of argillace- 

 ous paste. In Maine there are abundant proofs that 

 the whole soil of the country has, in many places, 

 been removed southwardly. In Thomaston the soil 

 is evidently of diluvial formation. Portland rests 

 upon a tbrm.atlon of mica and lalcose slate ; but the 

 soil is granitic and evidently transported from the 

 vicinity of Brunswick. 



The diluvial soils were transported by some ex- 

 traordinary change in the earth's surface produced, 

 it may be, by a deluge or some similar catastrophe, 

 uvial soils are formed from the washing of high 



All 



places into those which are lower, by rams or fresh- 

 ets, and take place by a gradual deposit ot earths 

 or sand from water thus rendered turbid. 1 lie di- 

 luvial soils have a higher antiquity than the alluvial. 

 The fertility of alluvial soils is owing, in a consid- 

 erable measure, to the fine comminution of the par- 



