116 



THE FARMER\S MONTHLY VISiTOPt. 



part of t)ic time in «liicli the siuaitcst man can 

 I'tt it to the mow ^^ilh a pitch Ibili. 



THE GREAT WATElil.NO TKOUlill. 



As ;i curiosily, in the barn vuni i.i un ininieiisc 

 trough, into wliich tlic wiitei- is broiiylit hiilf a 

 mile by means of iron ]'i|ifs, for a portion of tlie 

 distance, procured lioiii tiic city of Pliiladelphia. 

 Thin troudi, whicli is thirty-leet in lengtli and 

 (bur lect in diameter, is cut out of a wliite pine 

 log. It has been in use for its present puriiose 

 more than tliirty years. 



DtTvHAM CATTLE. 



The first fan;ily have a fmc Durham bull 

 brougiit from the State of New York, when a 

 .voungcali; called Duke Leo, wliicli girted on the 

 tirst of Ai)rjl lust, when the town inventory was 

 taken, at the age of tweuly-oue months, seven 

 ieet and one indi, and weiglied when two vears 

 old, in the montli of June 14-10 jiounds. A i-alf 

 almost the exact picture of tlii.s hull, live weeks 

 old was the largest and handsomest animal of 

 the cattle kind that we have ever seen of his a<'e • 

 his length of body ■i^■asas great as that of a yciir- 

 hng, and he wonhl probably weigh at the aire- i-f 

 tive weeks vcr} near three'huudred pounds.'^ 



THE MAKER OF GRA.MTE WALKS. 



and lull of rocks, aa was originally nearly every 

 rod ol the several Ihouiaiid 'acrcB owned by the 

 three Canterbury liunilirs. The orchard ii<c!f 

 seemed to be but a mass of rocks. At this place 

 'solitary and alone," excepting one stout, liiith- 

 lul yoke oi o.\eu us his assistcrita, Peter Ajcr 

 had worked among the lucky l\\o entire seasons 

 taking up the old ajid crooked stone ivalls and 

 laying over new walls in a diiect line, dig- 

 ging out and piling up imnirnse masses ol' .-'tones 

 ni piles of the size of a rommoi] hax.tack. The 

 Joundation .stones dug out ;jul h.id into the walls 

 by the vclermi alone wonhl Heidi, indying by the 

 eye, many oftheni two tons each : 'hov,- one man, 

 with the assistance even of the uujst docile 

 beasis, ever could have moved them into place 

 seemed to us a wouder : of the immense jiilcsof 



A great convenience about the dwellings of 

 the first family is their stone walks by whicirthey 

 pass high and dry from house to hou.se in rainy 

 weather, and when the mud or snow is deep 

 These walk.s are made of large rocks with a liyt 

 and smoothed surface. A venerable shaker, 

 iMiciiAEL Tucker, aged sevcntv-six years, pre- 

 Iiares and lays down these stone walks alone • 

 he goes to a distant field, splits and hews the 

 rough granite, takes a voke of oxen, and alone 

 loads, brings them home and lavs them down in 

 their proper place. They arc so" adjusted to the 

 ground that the frost has no unfavorable cfll-ct ; 

 and under tlie operation of the old man's liam- 

 nierand chisel they are made a walk three and a 

 half to five feet wide smoother than the common 

 brick side \va!ks of the cities. Michael Tucker 

 was for many years an elder in th.c lir.st societv 

 he was a joiner and carpenter by trade, and 

 \vorked at his trade ^yhile an elder, for the 

 head men and ruh-rs of that Church set on exam- 

 ple worthy to be tbllowod by their inferiors. In 

 the Winter, when he is now no longer engaged in 

 the field where rough stones are hewed,1ie is 

 employed in the manufacture of m indow ...ashes 

 and other carpenter's work iii a close comforta- 

 ble shop where that business is done. 



THE AMBITION OF AGE. 



Our attemion was called to a jilat of around 

 of about one fiiurth of an acre near the mill 

 stream on which an old gentleman was busily at 

 work: this was Jonathan Lolgee, «ieventy- 

 nine years of age, who had been a Shaker ever 

 since the year 1782. The present year he had 

 undertaken to cultivate one of the inost rou^h 

 forbidding spots on the whole premises, a trrav- 

 ?lly and rocky knoll from nhich materials had 

 been dug to assist in forming the dams. He had 

 succeeded admirably, as the spot had already 

 yielded a superabundance of cucumbers: melons 

 were also growing on the same ground— corn 

 and potatoes also were Ih.erc flourishing. By the 

 side and at no great distance iVom the old gentle- 

 man s cultivated spot was a smaller iilat which 

 he had taught one of the oriihan boys half a do- 

 zen years old to lay out, i.lant and c"ultivate. Of 

 such helpless orphans as these ba\e the Shakers 

 educated and made the men who are practical- 

 ly better qualified than the best educated of the 

 world s iieople fiw almost every useftil business. 



THE GREAT HU.NTER AKD MIGHTV .MAN FOR 

 "ORK. 



The morning of the second day introduced us 

 to a most extraordinay man in the person of Pe- 

 ter Aver, in the eigluieth year of his age, who 

 had been si.xty years a Shaker. "His eve Wa" 

 not dim, nor was his natural force abated " He 

 came at our request with his stafl' to lead us to 

 an exhihition ot his farm. It was a mile olf^^m 

 the road, and conlamed a hundred acres, being a 

 purchase made by tiie first family .some twenty 

 years ago, and upon i, had been a house and ha,- ^ 

 the last of which is still standing in the mids 

 of a beautiful apple orchard ot'seveal ac^s 

 containmg more than one thousand beaiin' 

 trees. The (ace of this hundred acres was I ird 



stones gathered from this ground it wus'mattei 

 of astomshent tliat any man could raise them 

 ugh abo\-e his head. Here was the work of a 

 lone inan m removing rocks upon an isolated 

 spot ol ground for two summers, v.hich will re- 

 niain as u monument of his herculean labor dur- 

 ing the life of the present generation. Besides 

 doing this labor, Peter took upon himself the 

 task of attending the large flock of cattle and 

 .sheep which range in the pastures surround- 

 ing the crchard : the farm itself is called Peter's 

 farm, aiu! will i)robably as long go by that name 

 as the rocky piles shall remain in ilieir places 

 1 eter Ayer has been a iiii-!ity hunter hi his dav : 

 hel;as pursued, waylaid or overtaken many" a 

 bear and fox, travelling in his snow shoes oiten 

 thirty and forty miles a duy. He is not yet so 

 old as^ to give over the tliasc— a trained bicod 

 bound is yet with him when he goes to the field, 

 scenlingotii die game and brineine to his mister 

 the mtelbgence. Peter has his Sv n fitted \ip 

 room in an outer building where he feeds and 

 caresses ins <]og and eat. He li.-u! thks \ear do- 

 mesticated and tamed a yoims gionnd sqiiirrel or 

 >voodcliuck, which came at his call and fondled 

 around huii like a tamed kitten. It is said of 

 1 eter that they have never kiiosvn the second 

 person «ho in early sjiruig would save the lives 

 and rear up so many young hmhs as he, watch- 

 ing them and attending all their -wants both by 

 night and by da>-. Deac. Winkle^- says that not- 

 withstanding all the amusements of Peter, he 

 knows not the man livine in the world who has 

 perfoi-med so much hard labor and accomplished 

 with his own hands so mucli as be. Health and 

 contentmem are still prominently marked ujion his 

 countenance : at the age of eigijtv years iic will 

 outtravel the majority of mankind iit forty \r 

 work 111 the field Peter proved to us he had not 

 been alone-he h,-ul daily and hourly communed 

 ^\ ifli bis Goil : (or there was no scriptuie he could 

 not quote in defence of his belief;— and the only 

 objection that could be raised to that belief vvas 

 the idea which he firmly maintained that the o- 

 mi.ssion of all outward sinful acts constituted the 

 perfect man of this life. 



TREATME.NT OF MOWING eRO'JNDS. 



In several large fields near the village the first 

 family have mowing grounds which have never 

 been turned up with the plough lor forty years 

 -Ihey liave made use of comjfost manure "ur.on 

 these once in every four or five years, spre.-.din" 

 It uiioii the surface— sometimes" makin- use of 

 the roller with forked teeth cuttinginto the 

 ground. An elegant field of twelve acics lies di- 

 rectly back of the great barn. This field prochi- 

 c_es two to tliree tons of the best Enclish hay to 

 tlie acre. \\ hen haying tin.e arrives ' all tic I'reii 

 who arc able generally leave tlieir workshops and 

 other employments to unite in the busine=s of 

 making hay. _ The brethren have been known 

 to mow this held of twche acres ^vheu it turned 

 out upwards of thirty tons of hay before break- 

 fast of a morning. The best Endish, hay ground 

 o the Canterbury fiimilies is too wet for sure 

 tillage laud, and they find it to be for their best in- 

 terest not to stir it with the )>lounh. 



BETTER F.VRSIl.Va ANTICIPATED. 



Having turned their attention successfully to 

 \arious manufactures— to the production of p"ails 

 and mcasuro.s boxes, brooms and brushes, screws 

 of both wood and metal, and other kinds of im- 

 plements—to all the difti?rent kinds of gai-den 

 seeds— to the manufacturo of trusses and surgi- 

 cal instruments— to botanical and vegetable picu- 

 arations— to household manufactory of flannels 

 &c. &c,— it uill not he wondered if' the proper 



ianmng establishments at Canterbury should not 

 .so far ex(;eed others as tlicse peojiledo in almost 

 every thing else. Some of the Brethren are of 

 the opmioii that they have not advanced in their 

 common farming ojicrations as thev ouj;hl ; and 

 we are of the belief that the same iai.ds are not 

 now made much more productive than ihey were 

 twenty years ago. 



GROUNDS IN USE AND UNDER CULTIVATION. 



In 18:38, the report of the Firs; Family was 35 

 to .JO acres of tillage ; 100 Fnilish mowing and 

 40 acres wet meadow ; 500 acres pasture : 30 

 orchard, and 500 of wood. Since that time this 

 iaimly have luirchased two or three additional 

 tarm.s. i heir live stock theu was 10 horses, 10 

 o.ven, 40 cows, 300 sheep, 40 swine, and 10 voung 

 neat stock. Li the same family the amount of 

 ,vy.,'^\'V" ^f^^a, was 140 tons— in 1830, 22tl— in 

 I bJ7, ia.3 tons. They plant but little Indian corn, 

 and raise neither wheat or other grain sufficient 



%mT%nnT'';'^'f'"''- *^'' b-ot^toes they raise 

 -000 to '2,jOO bushels amiuall}-. 



THE DAIRIES. 



Their butter and cheese are of the very best 

 quality : this they consume almost exchisivelv in 

 their own household. Their cheese which has 

 been kejit over a year is better than almost any 

 made in the country. In the making of butter 

 and cheese they are very nice and jiarticular— 

 iione ol mlerior quality passes from their hands, 

 the butter made in the first family for twelve 

 yeai-s |iast has amounted to an average of about 

 ^5C0 pounds yearly, and their best cheese to 

 about. 3300 ]jounds. 'j'hc second and third liim- 

 ihescach keep about half the number of cows of 

 iiie first ianiily: their biutcr and cheese are 

 equally good, and in qua:;titv not less for the 

 number of cows. 



Going into their d.-iirics ne appro.ich nothin°- 

 oftensive in smell : evei-j- part of the iireniises i'^s 

 as neat as a wa.shed face. We counted ninety 

 large cheeses in the room of the first fiunily 

 weighing ciich probably not much short of fifty 

 p'ound.s The extreme drought up to the first 

 week of August had the eftcict to reduce the 

 quantity of milk two thirds. The pastures where 

 the co^^■s ranged arc some of the best lo stand 

 drought m the countiy. Dea. Winkiey was of 

 opinion this drought was about breaking up, as 

 t.icre was a fine rain oii the first afternoon of our 

 visit: he remenibered the reviy;.) of yefetation 

 ike a second .sp,-nig after a severe drought in 

 Jbvb, and he thought it v.ould be the same in tho 

 hitler part of oin- present summer. 



SWINE FATTEiNED A.ND SLAUGitTERED. 



The first family slaughter annually about twen- 

 ty hogs ; and lliese lisuaily average nearly 500 

 pounds each, in .some seasons they ha^e "made 

 a proljlable use of appk s boiled, in ieediim- iheir 

 liogs : pomtoes and pumpkins, with the addirion 

 of a .sinall quantity of Indian meal, are inoro 

 generally used. They ha^•e sometimes used 

 swelled Indian corn, prepared b^• boiling Mater 

 poured upon it, instead of corn in its new state 

 Ibey make much use of saw dust as Htter for 

 hogs, horses, cow.s, &c. This is very fine for 

 horse beddmg; half a bushel thrown at ni-ht un- 

 der a horse will give him .-.n easy ijcd,and leave 

 him in the n.ornmgto be cl.-aned v.-ith very little 

 trouble. The sa\v dust is an evccllenl founda- 

 tion for compost manure. 



LAEOU SAVING .lIACHINERr FOR HAVING AND 

 THRr.SiiiNo. 



In getting their hay, much of tiair hand labor 

 IS saved by the revolving horse r.nke, v.hich is in 

 part a Sliaker invention. 'i'{.e greater part of 

 haying by them is treatrU as pasiime ; the ever- 

 tion of much hard hlthig is siqierseded by the 

 machine (or pnchingtlie hay from the load lb (ho 

 mow. 



Their threshing machine which is carried by 

 water is an old invention, saving them much la- 

 bor : twenty years ago they used this machine 

 wfiicb has been since that time a malt, r of pa- 

 tent to many inventors. They thresh, winnow 

 and clean at the same operation, from 100 to 150 

 bushels of grain per day. 



They raise annually iioi:] SCO to ICOO bushels 

 of oats, which are used in tlieir own fiunily.— 

 Ihese tlirov.n iu quantity into a large close "bin, 

 they .s|)rinklo with fine salt : this prevents their 

 heathig, and otherwise preserves them. The 

 horses eat them wiih a beiter appetite, .so that the 



