f)2 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



but (lid we appreliond invasion from the Catiadas ? 

 He did not ai^ree with the Senator that our state 

 of preparation was so defective; for, with the ex- 

 ception nf one or two points on tlie Atlantic, where 

 some additional defence was wanted, no prepara- 

 tion was necessa^3^ Wlien gentlemen talked of 

 our want of preparation, he did not agree with 

 them. What I with fifteen or sixteen millions of 

 free people, with their unquestioned valor, their 

 love of country, combined with their means of 

 transportation, and their warlike resources, to say 

 that the country is unprepared ! We are, said Mr. 

 C. ten thousand times heller prepared for war to- 

 morrow With Great Britain — though not so much 

 so, in all respects, as he could wish — we are infin- 

 itely better prepared than we were at a former 

 period — on the ocean, as'on the land, on the lakes 

 as well as the bays ; and then we come out of the 

 contest with honor. The construction of the great 

 New York canal, our rail roads, our population 

 pressing- up against the boundary line — all these 

 are advantajjea which we did not possess in tiie last 

 war. No preparation ! Sir, we have the best pre- 

 parations that ever a country boasted of; we have 

 sixteen millions of freemen, with stout arms and 

 bold hearts, who stand ready to vindicate the rights 

 of their country. As to the preparations of Eng- 

 land in tlie Canadas, let her go on with them — let 

 her bring her troops over, whether to quell insur- 

 rections among her own people or to guard against 

 invasion from our side of the line — that would nev- 

 er, for a momebt, give him the slightest uneasi- 

 ness. Whenever the honor of the country, by an 

 injury inflicted on a single member of it, may re- 

 quire us to resort to a war, though the beginningof 

 it may be attended with a few disaster, he had no 

 apprehension b«t, after a few months, we may be 

 able to impress on England the temerity of forcing 

 us into this alternative." 



InTestments in a$;riculture not uniiro- 

 fitable. 



There are many persons of good estate, mer- 

 chants, mechanics, prrrfessional men, and men with 

 salaries in various public or private situations, who 

 have spare cash for investment. For the last ten 

 or fifteen years persons of this description have in- 

 vested th'eir money in various ways. Some have 

 invested in bank stock ; and where these institu- 

 tions have boon well managed, their capital ha-^ 

 been preserved, and a regular income has been de- 

 rived. Others have invested in manufacturing es- 

 tablishments ; and in a majority of the cases the 

 capital has been either sunk in whole or in part, 

 or at tiie best produced little income : still worse 

 has it been for those who have risqued besides the 

 capital they possessed an additional amount on 

 their naked credit. Others have hugged their mo- 

 ney to their bosoms, putting it out at u.^e only 

 where they were sure of abundant sucurity and 

 fin increase that should gain cent, per cent, in two, 

 three, or at farthest half a dozen years; while oth- 

 ers, not less avaricious but much less shrewd, have 

 lent out their money at usury, and lost the whole 

 from their eagerness to grasp more profits than safe 

 security would give them. 



All these have been the methods of various in- 

 vestments. If we could induce gentlemen ofthcse 

 classes to turn their attention to aimther mode of 

 investment, we really think we should do the conn- 

 try quite aa much service as does the man who 

 makes " two spears of grass and two blades of c rn 

 grow where but one grew before.'" We believe 

 there can he no more profitable method of invest- 

 ment, than the turning of cash into the jiurchase 

 and cultivation of the soil, provided the proper sys- 

 tem and method is pursued. To effect this object 

 the exliausting cultivation will not answer. No 

 pleasures of gain can be derived to any person trom 

 sucii a cultivation. But the renovating principle 

 applied either to worn out lands or lands possessing 

 the elements of fertility, but requiring artitieial 

 iflanngcment to bring their latent powera into use, 

 will be attended with results that siiall be gratify- 

 ing beyond measure to him who makes the exper- 

 iment. 



In m.aking investments in land good calculations 

 are wanting. What lias most discouraged prudent 

 calculators from making experiments is tiie expen- 

 sive manner in whicli Ihey have been carried on 

 without producing a corresponding profit. The 

 fault has been that tlie n.an of money usually se- 

 lects a beautiful farm or spot that has already been 

 highly cultivated, paying something for fancy be* 

 yondtbe real value of the land. He makes h'is ex- 

 periment in the most expensive manner : perhaps 

 he procures his seeds, his trees and plants from a 

 region not adapted to his soil or climate. He un- 

 dertakes to direct in some new course which he 

 hflp read of, without ascertaining tlie fact that thi^ 



course should be applied to ground of entirely a 

 different nature : ma}' be lie sows and plants at tlie 

 wrong season, or he applies his seed tor a crop in 

 a sandy soil that should be attempted only on a 

 claycy^or heavy soil. In these and in many other 

 ways he misapplies expense and labor; and the 

 upshot of tlie matter is, that, afYer expending much 

 tin?e, labor and money, he obtains so poor a return 

 that the growing productions of the earth become 

 to him an object of disgust. His eye revolts from 

 tlie sight as he looks on the growth of luxuriant 

 fields ; and he looks upon the pursuit of the farm- 

 er as unprofitable and degradi«g. 



Now there is a possibility, a probability — nay, 

 we believe an absolute certainty, to every man of 

 sense who wishes to apply five hundred, one thou- 

 sand, or ten thousand dollars to the business of 

 farming, that his success may be equal to liis best 

 anticipations and wishes. Instead of buying at a 

 great expense premises that have already been 

 brought to their best production, let him follow 

 such an example as that of Judge Bud on the Al- 

 bany barrens : let kim begin his work of renova- 

 tion aright; and good calculations will enable him 

 to pay all expense as he goes along, and in the 

 course of eight, ten, or adozen revolving seasons, 

 increase the value of his premises double, treble, 

 and fourfold. We are quite confident this may be 

 accomplished even where the outlay is all cash, and 

 all the work upon tJie land is hired, when tlie pri- 

 ces of agricultmal produce shall be as mucii de- 

 pressed as they are at the present lime. But to 

 ensure such a result t'lere must he good calcula- 

 tions and good management throughout. 



We were pleased casually to learn a few days 

 since that the Hon. Icijabod Bartiett, a great 

 portion of whose time is now, and has lor years 

 been taken up in a most laborious practice as an 

 advocate at the bar, and who, as yet, has no ^* bet- 

 ter half to share with him either the pains or plea- 

 sures of a life of vicissitude and care, lias under- 

 taken the experiment of improving the soil and re- 

 alizing how ** good and how pleasant it is," under 

 his own direction and with his own means, to see 

 the barren waste becoming a iVuitful field. In no 

 part of the interior country is tlie business of pro- 

 fitable tarming better understood than it is in the 

 towns in the near vicinity of Portsmouth ; and Mr. 

 Bartiett has living examples about him in the pro- 

 ductions of the Pierce and March farms in Green- 

 land, and in some choice farms and fields nearer to 

 him in Portsmouth, teaching him tliat he will not 

 encounter as great risque of losing the capital in- 

 vested in and upon the soil as he might encounter 

 in a factory company at Great Falls with a capital 

 of a million of dollars ! 



The operations of Mr. Bartiett, we understand, 

 are at present upon a spot of cold swamp meadow 

 land that has hitherto produced but little, and that 

 little an inferior species of ha}'. There are hund- 

 reds and thousands of acres of similar cold mead- 

 ows in New England, from which *' meadow hay" 

 as it is called, is annually taken. Withont im- 

 provement for fifty and a hundred years, much of 

 tiiis land has annually produced less and less of a 

 continually growing inferior kind of hay fur cattle. 

 A greatdeal of this hay is wortli little but for litter in 

 stables and yards to catcli the droppings of cattle 

 and make manure: some ol it has become of so 

 little value as to be abandoned in the field by the 

 farmer. Mr B. has commenced tl^e v.'orkon his se- 

 lected spot b}- ditching and draining; and to thi.s 

 lie is adding the use of a sub-soil plough of his own 

 invention. A first team turns over the surface 

 mould, and a second team fellows with the aub-soil 

 plough, loosening and stirring the pan without 

 bringing it to the surface. The next furrow of 

 surface mould is turned upon the loosened pan of 

 the preceding, and ihu?^ a space is left for an entire 

 drainage of the water f;:Iling and standing upon the 

 surface. This is an operation whicli has been 

 found in Europe to increase the crops upon the 

 land more than equal to the application of the great- 

 est quantity of forcing stimulant manures of itself 

 But another operation of Mr. B. which com- 

 mends itself to the attention of all farmers who 

 know how to appreciate the value of manures, liv- 

 ing in the vicinity of cities and villages, is tlie me- 

 thod he pursues for obtaining the requisite quanti- 

 ty of stimulant to be applied to his cold meadow 

 after it has undergone the improvement which has 

 just been described. He has employed persons 

 and teams during the last winter to clear the vaults 

 of privies, and has obtained more than fifty cart- 

 bucks of material, every load of wliich undoubt- 

 edly will be worth five loads of such manure as is 

 commonly purchased from the stables. The busi- 

 ness of clearing these privies is not, after all, so 

 "dirty work" as many genteel persons who would 

 think the ordinary work of the farmer degradin*'-. 



are sometimes engaged in. In crowded cities the 

 cleaning out and taking away the contents of pri- 

 vies and the filth that otherwise collects about 

 compact habitations, is a work of necessity. With- 

 out it, a malaria would be produced, causing pre- 

 m,aturc death to the inhabitants. 



Laborers who engage in the apparently unpleas- 

 ant business of taking away the filth of cities, and 

 persons annoyed with receptacles of filth constant- 

 ly near their dwellings, will find that the frequent 

 use of quick lime will so entirely neutralize its ef- 

 fects as to do away all unpleasant odur, and the 

 matter may becarriecito any distance in close wag- 

 ons or carts, with very little inconvenience. In 

 that state wiiich the matter is left by the operation 

 of the quick lime it will become a most valuable 

 manure. 



For the last two years there has been in opera- 

 tion in the city of New York, an extensive estab- 

 lishment similar to those which have existed longer 

 in the cities of Loudon and Paris, by which im- 

 mense masses of offensive matter are converted in- 

 to stimulating manures. These manures are made 

 portable, so as to be readily conveyed in boxes or 

 barrels to any distance. They are condensed into 

 such power that a single tea spoonful of the mat- 

 ter will have a greater effect on almost any grow- 

 ing crop than a full barn shovel full of the common 

 manures. In their manufactured state these ma- 

 nures are entirely innoxious, and may be transpor- 

 ted with even less danger and risque than a casit 

 of lime. The solid mauuracture furnished in New 

 York is called Psudrctte^ and the liquid matter U- 

 ratc^ deriving their names probably from the French 

 who first invented the articles, and who are emi- 

 nent for bringing into use wliat other nations throw 

 away. 



The establisliments for manufacturing Poudrctie 

 and Urate will be of great value as well in effectu- 

 ally cleansing crowded cities as in furnishing the 

 means for increasing the agricultural products of 

 tlie farming districts near them. Thousands of 

 tons of the filth which is discharged into the rivers 

 and waters adjacent to the cities through common 

 sewers, as well as the vast quantities exposed in the 

 neighborhood of living human beings until it has 

 passed through the several processes of decay, 

 will hereafter with little inconvenience be convert- 

 ed into means for fructifying our motiier earth. — 

 Let it not be said that every new generation fails 

 to grow wiser tlian that which has preceded it. 



Variety of Ploughs, Try them! 



St. Johnsbury, It. M irck 20, 15-iO. 

 Hon. Isaac Hill, — Sir — We take the liberty to 

 send you one of our breaking up ploughs with 

 wheel and coulter ; and request that you will al- 

 low it to be used upon your farm, or cause it t6 be 

 used by some of your best farmers the present 

 Spring The interest you have taken in the agri- 

 cultural cause is our apology for troubling you with 

 this instrument. We liave for many years been 

 engaged in the manufacture of ploughs, somewhat 

 extensivel}', and the modification sent you has giv- 

 en very general satisfaction. Should you, sir, find 

 it superior to those kinds heretofore used in your 

 vicinity, as it probably will bo at least in strength 

 and DUKABiJ.iTV, we shall be happy to supply any 

 orders which it may be fV-r the interest of your far- 

 mers to make. You will please, sir, accept this 

 plough for your own use, when it shall have been 

 tested by those whom you choose to let try it, and 

 we will thank you at some future time to inform 

 us of your own and tlieir opinions of its merits. 



It may be proper to remark that this is but a fair 

 sample of the quality of our ploughs, which are on 

 sale, and not made specially for exhibition. 

 We are, sir, with much regard, 



Your obedient servants, 

 E. & T. FAIRBANKS, & Co. 



O" With the above letter came a beautiful sward 

 plough, which we intend to try in the same field 

 with the old breakingr up plough that we have had 

 in use for five years, manufactured by Mr. Badger 

 of this town, which cost ^~ti, and with one or both 

 of the sward ploughs presented to us by Messrs. 

 Prouty- and Co. of Boston. And we hereby in- 

 vite Q.ny of our farming friends who can find con- - 

 venient access to us to try and compare these 

 ploughs in a fair field or either of them, which 

 they can do at any time we are not using them 

 elsewhere. 



Tlie reputation of Messrs. Fairbanks' St. Johns- 

 bury Plough stands very high, we find on inquiry, 

 wherever they have been used. The appearance 

 of the plough they have sent us indicates that this 

 will do superior work. 



Another Present. — Messrs. Reuben Martin 

 & Co. of the Iron Foundry have just presented us 

 a fine Seed Ploigh, the pattern of which was 



