THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



at suitable distances at right angles— none of them 

 are hirn-e, and tliey arc cxp^^-'ieJ to continue as 

 bearcrllHit n few ve.irs. This crop always Hnds 

 a ready demand nn'd saleathiifh prices in thec.t.cs 

 of JS'ew York and PhHadelphia. 



M'lch of the poor soil on this Jersey flat extend- 

 incrdowna luindred miles from New Brunswick 

 tolCape Mav, is occnp'.ed in the growth of wood. 

 The numerous salt creeks from the sea up and 

 down wliich the tide regularly ebbs and flows, en- 

 able lio-hters and sloops to run into the very heart 

 of the°land to cnrry off the wood, purcliased for 

 the market. On the poorest soil the ffrowlh of wood 

 fit for the axe is renewed in from eighteen to twen- 

 ty-four years. The practice of the owners of ex- 

 tensive tracts is to cut down all clean as they go, 

 leaving the stumps,from which immediately sprouts 

 a new'growth. The wood, whether it be soft or liard, 

 is worUi from twolo three dollars the cord stan- 

 ding ; and the yield is from fifteen to twenty cords 

 to the acre. Here is a gain, which demonstrates 

 the value of (mr very poorest hind in every direc- 

 tion whenever the country becomes thickly settled. 



On the whole, when ue consider the underlay 

 which pervades tlie entire seacoast level of New- 

 Jersey of calcareous material for renovating the 

 soil— that even the p.irt which is suffered to remain 

 in a state of nature grows a constant profit into 

 the owner's pocket of at Icasttwenty per cent, an- 

 nually upon the estimated price of the land— we 

 arrive at the conclusion that the barrens of New- 

 Jersey, covered with scrub oaks and chinquipins, 

 are de.-itined in future times, located betweeiv the 

 two great eominercial marts of the Union, to be- 

 come one of the most valuable agricultural districts 

 of the United States. 



Change in the course of rivers. 



Traversing the country up or down some ol^ our 

 rivers, the difference of the constituents of soil on 

 the two sides is often remarkable : the difference 

 on the same side of the alluvial deposites is too pe- 

 culiar to escape observation. These phenomena 

 occur frequently on the Merrimack where we re- 

 side and in sight of which we are now writing. 

 The liigh water freshets of the present spring liave 

 made sad inroads upon our own fine alluvion situ- 

 ated on both sides of tlie river the present spring. 

 It pains us to see several feet of beautiful grass 

 fiound caving off every season, although our 

 neigtilior on the other side is a gainer of an equal 

 amount of land to that of our own loss. For sev- 

 eral recent centuries the bed of the river in the ex- 

 tended intervale grounds of Concord has traversed 

 from one to the other side of the basin which, un- 

 til the deposite had been brought from the moun- 

 tains above, was evidently a lake. In some places 

 the excavation is a deep rich black vegetable mould 

 overlaying logs of wood perfectly sound. In oth- 

 er places It is yellow mould of lighter consistence. 

 In others, it is mere gravel or sand. Under this, 

 at the depth of some ten or twelve feet the bottom 

 is a perfect quick sand; "and here at the bottom of 

 the river the water commences the work of under- 

 mining, which terminates in the destruction of the 

 surface above, gradually changing the course of 

 the river. The width of the river through our in- 

 tervale at low water is Some twenty-five or thirty 

 rods ; and within our recollection of thirty years 

 the bed of the river has changed at least its entire 

 width. 



Above the level of the lower alluvion is the lev- 

 el and ancient subsidence of some thousand years 

 a^o — the level of pine pl.nins, which have been so 

 long exposed as to have lost their original virgin 

 fertility. This level is very near a hundred feet 

 in its elevation above the bed of the river. Where- 

 ever the river touches this high bank it cuts down 

 ■with rigid impartiality the same quantity of surface 

 as in tlie lower grounds. Opposite to us about a 

 mile distant the river is performing the grand ope- 

 ration for the space of about one hundred rods ; 

 and in this distance is a remarkable metallic mate- 

 rial (probably iron) of the color nearly nf red ochre 

 — extending in width some twenty rods, from the 

 surface of the plain above to the depth of the 

 whole high bank. This red soil may be traced 

 nearly a mile in a belt of equal width passing 

 througfi and across a precipitous valley or gorge 

 which has existed, as cutout by the flowing^of tlie 

 waters, for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years : 

 on both sides of the belt the soil is the same, sili- 

 cious and ligbt. The red soil, participating some- 

 what oiclay in the composition, becomes more fer- 

 tile the more it is cultivated :^-when first turned 

 up it seems to be greasy, and it cakes on p?posure 

 to the sun. 



The t«-o sides of tlie Delaware. 

 But vie have strayed from our journey through 

 the Jerseys in the purpose of introducing the fact 



of the remarkable difference of soil between the 

 Jersey and the Pennsylvania sides of the Delaware 

 river from Trenton' down to the Brandy wine 

 hciirlUs at the north-easterly point of the little State 

 of Delaware. All the way down there is an ori- 

 ginally rich and heavy black soil on the westerly 

 side, and a light, silicious nn 1 apparently sterile 

 original surface on the north-easterly side of this 

 river. Below Philadelphia some dozen miles is the 

 ground celebrated for a gallant feat of the prowess 

 of the JVinerican soldiery in the time of the war 

 of the American revolution, the unexpected defeat 

 and capture of a body of British Hessian merce- 

 naries. — Mud Fort on the Pennsylvania side, and 

 Red Bank on the Jersey side of the Delaware: the 

 first is located on the low black ground on the one 

 hand, and the latter takes its name from the inroad 

 made in a higher hank on the other side of the 

 river exposing the strata of sand and clay tinged 

 with red. 



Formerly the Pennsylvania land was esteemed 

 much the most valuable on account of its superior 

 strength and supposed capacity for greater produc- 

 tions. But the Jersey land has been for years 

 ^gaining ground of its competitor. Both are so 

 near to th; great city of Philadelphia as to be cul- 

 tivated for ma'-ket vegetables. The Jersey lands 

 always have the advantage of coming with the 

 most early productions into the market. And the 

 important fact begins to be developed that, in the 

 new and renovating system of husbandry, without 

 expensive drainage and sub-soil ploughing, the 

 lighter soil is more ruhuihle tUantltis hcartj soil. On 

 this principle the Jerseymen are fast advancing on 

 their neighbers, till the Pennsylvanians reluctant- 

 ly acknowedge that the arable grounds of the for- 

 mer for long use are preferable to their own 

 grounds. 



A King in America. 



At Bordentown, on the Jersey side of the Dela- 

 ware, is the seat of Joseph Bonaparte, on which he 

 has resided a greater part of the time for the last 

 twenty-five years, an unostentatious, amiable and 

 peaceable citizen, adapting himself strictly to the 

 manners and usages of our Republic, and endear- 

 ing himself to the whole community in which he 

 lives, by dueds of philanthrophy and generosity. 

 When he was compelled, by the universal rising 

 of Spain, aided by the power of Britain, to resign 

 the crown of Spain, which had been forced upiin 

 him by his more ambitious and more talented bro- 

 ther, the late Emperor Napoleon, he contrived to 

 send to this country wealth sufficient for all his 

 purposes ; the property is generally supposed to 

 have been brought to this country through the a- 

 gency of the celebrated Stephen Girard, and con- 

 stituted a portion of the immense means which 

 that inilividual wielded for many years to the mul- 

 tiplication and increase of a greater fortune than 

 any other person in this country ever gained. 



The premises of the late king Joseph, although 

 he has been absent in Europe for the lastfew years, 

 continue to increase in exterior beauty, as the 

 cr.-ouuds in useful cultivation must gain in annual 

 production. The same buildings, whether of brick 

 or wood, that were so trim and bright twenty years 

 a<T0, are suffered to lose none of their beauty or 

 lustre. For more than a mile in distance running 

 along side the old stage road and in sight of the 

 present rail road, is the high picketed fence, 

 through which is seen the margin of trees and 

 shrubbery extending as a bank around the premi- 

 ses, and througli that are descried the cultivated 

 grounds. In one inclosuro the deer are seen sport- 

 ing among the trees — in anotner is ground under 

 cultivation of the plough — in a third is waving 

 wheat or other grain or grass. Barns and other 

 buildings are erected at suitable distances. The 

 whole premises are laid out either fiir ornament or 

 use of some sort. No jiart of them seems to be 

 neglected ; hut every part is improved to some pur- 

 pose, although generally in a diiferent manner from 

 that arrangement which we have derived from our 

 English, Scotch or Irish forefathers. There is a 

 peculiarity which we have often observed in the 

 French character, of making more than our own 

 people out of every adventitious circumstance or 

 privilege that surrounds them, turning every thing 

 to good advantage. Although in the case of the 

 sint of Joseph Bonaparte no particular necessity 

 may be supposed to exist for rigid economy of 

 management, yet that beautiful position by no 

 means discredits in this respect the Frei.ch char- 

 acter. 



Two elegant villages. 



Below Bordentown, we first strike the vil- 

 lage of Bristol on the Pennsylvania side sit- 

 uated along the margin of the Delaware. The 

 bank of the river on which the main street of 



the village is situated, is apparently about twentf- 

 five feet above low water mark : — its angle is about 

 forty-five degree,-;. Some of the most beautiful 

 seats front tlie river, from which they are ascend- 

 ed to by a fli.ght of steps; the space between the 

 buildings and the river is decorated with fruit 

 trres, sbrubberv imd flowers. These were leaved 

 out and some of them in full bloom : the perfume 

 of the flowers was plainly distino-uished on board 

 the steam-boat as it passed near the wharf. An 

 extensive commerce in Lehigh co.al and plaister, 

 brought through a canal connecting with the Del- 

 aware river above Trenton, is carried on through 

 Bristol : these articles are tnken from the flat boats 

 at this point into sloo])s and other coasting vessels 

 and carried to all parts of the Atlantic sea-coast 

 where the coal is used. 



A short distance below Bristol is the city of Bur- 

 ligton on the Jersey side of the Delaware : in the 

 season of vegetation this is one of the most beati- 

 tiful spots in nature. During the heat of the sutn- 

 mer and fall the steamboats always carry more or 

 less passengers: sometimes whole families, from the 

 infant "mewling and puking in its nurse's arms," 

 through the school boy up to the childish great- 

 grand father leaning upon his staff, with the ac- 

 companying females corresponding in age, IcJive 

 the city for a few day's residence in the country. 

 Bristol and Burlington, for this purpose, are places 

 of cheap and of elegant resort from the suffocat- 

 ing, unhealthy air of Philadelphia, in the most op- 

 pressive season of .the year. 



An odious monopoly'. 



Our calculation had been a day-ride from New 

 York to Baltimore, on the steamboat line to Phila- 

 delphia, and from that to Baltimore by rail road — a 

 distance of about two hundred miles, in twelve 

 hours. The monopoly which enables a single set 

 of individuals to engross the whole transport of 

 passengers and freight between the two cities, 

 whether by water or land, leaves hut a miserable 

 and mean accommodation for a very high price. 

 Tiie practice of the monopolizers has been to run 

 down all opposition by reducing the price to mere- 

 ly nothing, while opposition was continued, and to 

 crowd boats and rail road cars with such a mass of 

 population, including pickpockets as well as honest 

 people, as to make every man, woman and child, 

 undertake a journey between the cities, at the im- 

 minent risque of their property and their lives. 

 Little less is the risque and little better the comfort 

 when the monopolizers have the whole business in 

 their hands and command the most enormous pri- 

 ces. Three hundred passengers with the accom- 

 panying baggage escaped any very serious calami- 

 tj' until they arrived within ten miles of the city 

 of Philadelphia, about one o'clock in the afternoon. 

 All were freighted upon a very old boat called the 

 A'cw Philadelphia, when, in a moment of easy and 

 no very forcible or rapid progress, an alarm of all 

 hands on bgard was sounded and a sudden stop- 

 page of the engine immediately took place. For 

 a moment a tremor seized the passengers, who were 

 in the grand uncertainty whether they were to en- 

 counter speedy dealli by scalding, burning, or 

 drowning, or whether they would live to encoun- 

 ter asimilar danger when they should again travel 

 the same route. It was soon discovered that the 

 shaft of the main engine, a piece of cast iron more 

 than a foot in diameter, before cracked half way, 

 had now broken entirely off. Here the passengers 

 remained in their still position full six hours; and 

 so miserable were the regulations that (fearing the 

 additional expense to the monopolizers that might 

 be prevented by some chnnce boat going down thc^ 

 river) more than two hours intervened before a 

 boat was set on shore to dispatch a messenger to 

 Philadelphia for another boat to take us olf. About 

 six o'clock a small ferry steamboat came to our aid; 

 and before eight o'clock in tlii? evening, just as the 

 twilltrht was setting in, we landed from the boat 

 amidst the crowding oi some hundred or tvyp of 

 porteTs and others rushing on board from the wharf: 

 I he greatest loss on the occasion was encounteivd 

 by an elderly gentleman of Maine, .who had- Ijis 

 pocket robbed of a wallet containing between two 

 and three hundred dollars. The old boat JYiw 

 Philadelphia was again put under way ; and in a- 

 bout ten days afterwards, before cur return to the 

 north, in a liigli north-west wind, she was driven in 

 contact with a sloop and sunk almost instantaoa- 

 ously near the wharf at Philadelphia, the passen- 

 gers barely escaping with their lives. If the mo- 

 nopolizers could raise her from her watery bed, we 

 can hardly doubt that next year at this time pas- 

 sengers from the north to the south will find her 

 again con. eying thi in bitwi rn the two cities. 



Late at night on Saturday, we took the mail cars 

 at Philadelphia for Baltimore and Washington. 

 The first three miles through the city horsso wer» 



