THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



71 



powers of wheat also. We wish, however, the ex- 

 periment every success, and are fully satisfied (hat 

 society greatly underrates improvements in agri- 

 culture, without which our present population could 

 not have been fed ; and generally speaking, every 

 person who makes experiments docs so at a loss to 

 themselves." 



Fruni the Kanner'a Mnnthly VisUor. '.. 



Mr. Hill, — Sir: — I have received fourften vis- 

 its from your very useful publication ; and it is one 

 of those kind of visitors that are sincere, fair ai>d 

 candid, therefore, must be welcome to every un- 

 prejudiced rnind. The Visitor has told very ma- 

 ny truths interesting and practicable to farmers, and 

 as you appear, Mr. Editor, disposed to answer in- 

 quiries ; for information, I have taken the liberty 

 to ask you respecting a marsh, which lias been 

 dyked about four years. Before it was dyked, the 

 tide water, which is brackish, sometimes' flowed o- 

 ver it — a creek run through it with several bran- 

 ches. 



The soil is a deep, black vegetable mould, very 

 antiseptic, apt to moss over, especially when wood 

 has been burned on it, and has evidently much sa- 

 line matter in its composition ; when it is turned 

 up by tlic plough or otherwise, the heat of the sun 

 brings out on the surface e.^posed a whitish sub- 

 stance which is to the taste much like alum. The 

 marsh before dyking, produced a kind of three 

 square grass, with some buckhorn (so called) in all, 

 say, about one-half a ton to the acre: — Since the 

 water has been stopped it has improved some in its 

 grass bearing, both in quantity and qualify: but I 

 think it may be greatly improved in both. 



Now 1 wish to know the best and cheapest way 

 to proceed with the land, to obtain the greatest 

 profit ; and thinking that you, or some of your nu- 

 merous correspondents may have similar marshes, 

 or know of such, will I hope be a sufficient excuse 

 for this communication 



FROM A FARMER. 



Woolwich, Blaine, March 1840. 



113= Will some of our scientific practical readers, 

 acquainted with soil exactly or nearly that describ- 

 ed, in a future number of the Visitor throw that 

 light upon the subject wliicli the editor is unable 

 to fix or define .' 



of brutal habits, and in that vacancy of mind which 

 such Jiabils create, it is in vain to attempt to re- 

 claim it by teacliing it reading and writing. You 

 may teach what you choose afterwards, but if you 

 have not prevented the formation of bad habits you 

 will teacli in vain. ' 



An infant is in a state of perpetual enjoyment 

 from the intensity of curiosity. There is no one 

 thinn- wliioh it does not learn sooner or better than 

 at any other period of life, and witliout any bur- 

 den to itself or the teacher. But learning is not 

 all, nor the principal consideration — moral habits 

 are ncquircd in these schools; and by their means 

 children are kept out of the nurseries of obscenity, 

 vulgarity, vice and blaspliemy. In the establish- 

 ment at Westminster, none but children between 

 three and five years of age are admitted, and there 

 they are kept out of the streets, and talven care of 

 by a parental, indulgent dame, while their motli- 

 ers are set at liberty 'to go out and work. Wheth- 

 er children learn loss or more is of little conse- 

 quence. The moral discipline is the great consid- 

 eration." — Lord Brougham. 



C'opif of the reptirt of the hoard of fourteen Generals 

 v:ho examined the ease of Major Jlndrc,and their 

 Jadtrmpnt upon the savic. 



The Board having considered the letter from his 

 Excellency General Washington, respecting Ma- 

 jor Andre, Adjutant General of the British army, 

 the confession of Major Andre, and tlie papers pro- 

 duced to them, report to his Excellency the Com- 

 mander in Chief the following facts, which appear 

 to them relative to Major Andre : 



First. That he came on sliore from the Vulture 

 sloop of war, in the night of the twenty-first of 

 September instant, on an interview with General 

 Arnold, in a private and secret manner. 



Secondly. That he changed his dress within our 

 lines, and under a feigned name, and in a disguis- 

 rd hahit, passed oiir worhs at Sloneij and Verplank 

 Points, the evening of the twenty second of Sep- 

 tember instant; and was taken the morning of the 

 twenty-third of September instant, at Tarrij Town, 

 in a disguised luiiit, being taken on his way to 

 New York, and when taken, he had in his posses- 

 sion, several papers which contained intelligence 

 for the enemy. 



The Board having maturely considered these 

 facts, do also report to liis Excellency General 

 Washington, that Major Andre, Adjutant General 

 of the British army, ought to be considered as a 

 spy from the ene.»ny, and that agreeable to the law 

 and usage of nations, it is their opinion that he 

 oud-ht to sufi'or death. 



NATH'L GREENE, M. Gen., President. 

 STIRLING, M. G. . 

 AR. ST. CLAIR, M. G. 

 R. HOWE, M. G. 

 STEUBEN, M. G. 

 SAM'I, H. PARSON, B. Gen. 

 JAMES CLINTON, B. Gen. 

 H. KNOX, Brig. Gen. Artillery. 

 JNO. GLOVER, B. Gen. 

 JOHN PATTERSON, B. Gen. 

 EDV.'ARD HAND, B. Gen. 

 J. HUNTINGTON, B. Gen. 

 JOHN STAPvK, B. Gen. 

 JOHN LAWRENCE, J. A. Gen. 

 (Judge Advocate Gen.) 



Early formation of coon habits. — "If a child 

 is neglected until six years of age, no subsequent 

 education can Tecover it. Ifto this age it is brought 

 up in dissipation and ignorance, in al! tile baseness 



The safe course. 



One'of tlic greatest pecuniary evils of the limes 

 is the fluctuation of prices — up one day to twice the 

 actual value of the commodities, and down tlie next 

 day as far the other way. This evil results mainly 

 from two causes — the very fluctuating state of the 

 medium which we allow to represent value, and 

 the operations of speculators upon the articles of 

 necessary consumption which have to be bought 

 and sold in the process of exchange between the 

 diflerent sections. 



This state of things always has been and proba- 

 bly always will be in some degree, and although it 

 calls for the wisest measures to check its prq.gress, 

 yet mt n in all branches of business must calculate 

 upon an ebb and flow in the prices of whatever 

 they may produce or purchase. 



Agriculturists suffer as much from these fluctua- 

 tions as any other ekass — not so much from actual 

 losses, for if half the time they sell their products 

 for twice their actual value and the other half for 

 as much less than their actual value, they sustain 

 no loss in the end ; but the great inconvenience is 

 in the uncertainty of prices which sets at defiance 

 all calculations as to profit and loss in tlie produc- 

 tion of the difli'erent crops. 



So long as things are thus, there is but one pru- 

 dent course of management, and that is to keep 

 straight along, and not run hither and thither to 

 make a fortune in a day, by forsaking all the old 

 and tried plans and adopting entirely some untried 

 and perhaps visionary scheme, that for the time 

 being promises greater profits. For instance, where 

 now is tlie farmer who has forsaken all former pro- 

 ductions and gone head and heels into the mulber- 

 ry busines.s ? It would have been well for that man 

 to have considered before so doing that next year 

 may not be as this year. 



Experiments may and should be tried, and im- 

 provements adopted, and new productions added, 

 and knowledge communicated freely and put to 

 practical account — but we may not part safely with 

 the boat already launched, which we know to be 

 safe, for one upon the shore, though it may seem 

 to be better. — Cheshire Farmer. 



From tlie Taiintoii .Mass. Democrat. 

 Silk Cultukk in Massachusetts. — The Agri- 

 ricultural Commissioner speaks with great confi- 

 dence of the success and value of the Silk Culture 

 as a branch of domestic industry. During the past 

 year he has devoted one month exclusively to this 

 subject, on which he proposes to report at large, 

 and exhibit the results of exact experiments and 

 personal observation which may be confidently re- 

 lied on. He has visited various establishments both 

 in this and other States where the business has been 

 successfully carried on to a greater or less extent 

 for several years, and the result has been, he says 

 in a letter to Gov. Everett, 'a perfect conviction, 

 that the 'production of silk is defined to become, 

 and may be immediately, a most valuable branch 

 of domestic industry, and a source of great profit ; 

 that especiallv it will furnish a source of profitdble 

 labor, of a strictly houseliold character, and adapt- 

 ed to give support and comfort to a class of per- 

 sons, particularly needing such a resource, the ag- 

 ed wholare incapable of severe toil; children, 

 whose labor ic is desirable to make available, and 

 whom it is important to keep at home ; the female^ 

 portion of our families, whom the establishment of 

 large woollen and cotton manufactories has put out 

 of employment at home; and many indigent and 

 infirm persons. To this description of persons, it 

 is sure, under good management, to give a coinfor- 

 tible and ample support. It has been a-;«ertaiued, 



likewise, that the best desofijition of trees can be 

 propagated here to advantage, and tliat our climate 

 is favorable to the health of the worm, and the pro- 

 duction of silk of the very best quality." 



Notes on Euroijean Agriculture; 



[Taken b^' a Southern traveller and published in 

 the Southern Cabinet, Charleston, S. C] 

 AanicuLTURAL Societies. — The benefits of So- 

 cieties for the promotion of Agriculture, in stimu- 

 lating industry and ambitioif, 1 saw c-emplified in 

 Scotland, England, and at the Fairs of Germany. 

 The Highland Society of Scotland has existed si.x- 

 ty-one j'cars, and from one of the hleakest.-and most 

 sterile countries of Europe, Scotland has, with all 

 its disadvantages, risen to a state of agricultural 

 prosperity, far beyond any thing whicli could have 

 been expected from such a soil and climate ; and 

 some of the counties, especially the Lothians, are 

 not inferior, in point of cultivation and product, to 

 the richest in England. At a meeting of that So- 

 ciety, held a few weeks previous to my arrival, 177 

 members were added at one time, paying three 

 guineas entrance, and one guinea anniially, and 

 these included the names of the most respectable 

 men in the country. At this meetiijg, .there vras 

 an additional sum of £I,SOO (,$7,000) subscribed, to 

 promote the interests of ffie...i-:Society. Every ag- 

 ricultural county makes an annual report, and thus 

 thirty-three reports, embracing every object of ag- 

 ricultural interest, are annually submitted to the 

 Societ}'. English Agricultural Societies, although 

 with less uniformity, are iSsdulously engaged in the 

 same cause, and the result has been the general dif- 

 fusion of agricultaral knowledge. The different 

 soils have been analyzed — the kinds of manures and 

 modes of cultivation adapted to each, have been 

 pointed out. The steam engine has beeri introduc- 

 ed in thrashing and fur other agricultural purposes, 

 and Great Britain, (including Ireland and Scot- 

 land) which formerly averaged only nine bushels 

 of wheat to the' acre, lasit year produced in the ag- 

 ffreg-ate, 19 l-'l bushels ; and three of the counties 

 of Scotland, and several of England, averaged 51 

 bushels to the acre. 



Tt-.uE HF.THOD OF FARMING. — A farmer by the 

 name of Thomas Oliver,' residing five oV si.r miles 

 from Edinburgh, leased a farm for the last twenty 

 years, of 1.50 acres, paying annually a rent of 10 

 guineas per acre, ($7,800) on which he raised grain, 

 hay and vegetables for the market of Edinburgh. 

 This lease he has recently reneweed for nineteen 

 vears, (the usual time to whicli leases run) on the 

 same terms, and from a poor man he has become 

 independent in his circumstances, and now rides 

 in his carriage. What American Farmer could 

 make a profit that would enable him to pay such au 

 enormous rent.-' All may be accounted for on the 

 principlcs-ofjudicious manuring and careful indus- 

 trious cultiviition. 



AoKicui.TiR.iL Fairs ix Germanv. — On the 

 continent, especially in Germany, their annua! 

 fairs bring together tlie farmers and .peasants of all 

 the surrounding countr}^, where their ambition and 

 industry are stimulated by a variety of fetes, and 

 the distribution of prizes to successful competitors, 

 and whilst Princes, Dukes and Barons are engag- 

 ed in awarding prizes to those who have been-mqst 

 successful in tlie cultivation of grains and cattle, 

 their lovely wives are occupied in a humbler, but 

 much more lively scene, in complimenting and dis- 

 tributing premiums to the industrious housewife, 

 for her fine spoci.mens of fruit — her butter and 

 cheese — her linen cloths, weaving, knitting, and 

 other manufactures. 1 have no doubt I shall be 

 ridiculed for my want of taste, when 1 state that to 

 me,. the Grand Duchess of Baden, presenting a sil- 

 ver cup to a peasant girl, before an assembled crowd 

 of fanners and nobility, for tlie finest specimen of 

 manufactured gloves, was a more interesting sight 

 than that of the gay Queen Victoria, racing through 

 St. James Park, with fifty fools at her heels, striv- 

 infT not to be distanced by their lovely mistress. 



UxADfLTERATED Seeds. — lu the preservation 

 of seeds, of grain and vegetables, infinitely more 

 pains are taken to preserve the varieties distinct 

 and unadulterated than with us. In the mountains 

 of Scotland, there are certain districts appropriat- 

 ed solely to the cultivation of Garden seeds — and, 

 no two varieties, that are in danger of becoming aj 

 dulterated by being placed near each other, are al- 

 lowed to he cultivated in the same district. I no- 

 ticed, at Edinburgh, in the collection of Lawson <fe 

 Son, Seedsmen and Nurserymen to the Highland 

 and Agricultural Society of Scotland— 83 varieties 

 of wheat, 62 of peas, 51 of turnips, 146 of pota- 

 toes, and an immense number of species and varie- 

 ties of Grass seeds, some of which may probably 

 be adapted to our Southern country. In a sub;e- 



