THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



W 



necessaries of life. It cannot be dispensed with 

 by tlie rich or by the poor. Within the last half 

 century, the consumption of sugar has greatly in- 

 creased. In 1791, it was estimated that the whole 

 amount of sugar manufactured for sale was about 

 480,000 tons. Li 1831, the amount was estimated 

 at 715,000 tons. And at the present time, the a- 

 mount probably exceeds 750,000 tons. The a- 

 mount of -sugar manufactured in Louisiana, is a- 

 bout 70,000,000 of pounds, or 35,000 tons annu- 

 ally, a very small part of our consumption. Su- 

 gar plantations have lately been established in 

 the Sandwich Islands ; and we see no reason 

 why all the islands in the Pacific, within the 

 tropics, may not be made to produce, by free la- 

 bor, large quantities of sugar. 



An attempt is now making to introduce the 

 culture of the beet root mto the United States. 

 The exiieriment is worth trying, and we hope 

 will prove successful. According to the state- 

 ment of Mr. Fleichnian, an acre of good cultiva- 

 ted land, will produce on an average 20 tons of 

 the beet root. One ton of which yields, when 

 treated after the new method, 180 pounds ot re- 

 fined sugar. The cost of manufacturing a ton 

 of beets into sugar, is estimated at $6 at the high- 

 est ; and ^80 pounds of refined beet sugar, 

 would sell for .f 11, or 6 1-10 cents per pound. 

 We also learn from the same authority, that the 

 existence of crystallizable sugar was first discov- 

 ered by the cliemist Markgraf, in 1747. — Boston 

 Evening Journal. 



We make an extract from a communication of 

 Hon. Levi Lincoln published in the tHh volume 

 of the New England Farmei-, in reply to inqui- 

 ries on that subject. 



Meadow Lands. 



Sir — Having noticed in your paper of the 21st 

 inst. several inquiries by your correspondents, 

 which I ha\'e it in my power to answer, I beg 

 leave to place the results of ni}' practical obser- 

 vations, at your disposal. 



Your correspondent, J. B. of Winthrop, (Maine) 

 asks " information respecting Hooding meadows, 

 where Foul Meadow, Blue Joint, and the coin- 

 uion Flat Grass and other kinds of uncultivated 

 grasses incline to grow." TJie two Ibrmer kinds 

 of grass are among the most valuable products 

 of om- liutiu'al njeadows, and their growth is best 

 promoted by winter flooding. Several years 

 since, 1 had on my farm a tract of waste, wet, and 

 unproductive swamp, over part of whicli was a 

 thick covering of perennial moss with scarcely 

 a blade of grass, and on another part, a growth of 

 bulrushes, flags and coarse water grass of un- 

 sightly appearance and no value. This swamp 

 was reclainied and is now made a beautiful and 

 rich meadow, giving abundant crops of foul 

 meadow and blue joint grasses, by the simple 

 operation of flooding. There were springs of 

 cold water in the land, and ditches were made to 

 draw them off, in the summer season, through a 

 natural outlet to the swamp. An embankment 

 across this outlet was constructed with a flume 

 and gate, by which the rains might be retained 

 and the meadow flowed, or the water let off, at 

 pleasure. The practice has been to shut down 

 the gate in the flume about the 10th or IStli of 

 November, and to raise it first in the spring, af- 

 ter the termination of severe frosts ; and occa- 

 sionally when there arc showers in tlie early part 

 of the summer to set the water again, for a few 

 hours, over the meadow. No grass seed has ev- 

 er been sown, nor has any expense been incurred, 

 except in the ditclies, dams, and flume, which 

 are cheaply done ;• — and no api)lication ha.s been 

 made to the land, other than the water. This, in 

 the winter, stands at the height of from one to 

 three feet over the surface of the ground. The 

 moss, and rushes and flags have now entirely 

 disappeared, and the product of grass may safely 

 be estimated at the averege rate of from two to 

 three tons to the acre, 



I have no personal experience of any husband- 

 i-y which has been more satisfactory. The land 

 from being loose, spongy, and niiiT, is made firm 

 from being compressed by the weight of the su- 

 perincumbent water through the wipter, and is 

 filled with the roots of the grass, which are thus 

 preserved from destruction by the frosts, and I 

 have little doubt, that in a few years this once 

 impassable morass, may be traveled over by cat- 

 tle and teams, at plenstu'e. 



HAND CULTIVATOR. 



(Fig. 20.) 

 This is a very useful article for going between 

 vegetables, in order to keep down the weeds. A 

 man, with one of these machines, will do more 

 work than four or five with the hoe. 



For Farmer's Wives and Daughters. — 

 There is a great deal of excellent good sense 

 in the tbilowing passage, which we take from an 

 address delivered a short time since before the 

 Essex County Agricultural Society, by Allen 

 Putnam, Esq. of Dajivers, one of the Represen- 

 tatives of that town. 



" I have a lew words for the farmers' wives. 

 However skilful, industrious, and prudent your 

 husbands may be, their success in money making 

 depends as much upon you as U]jon them. Econ- 

 omy and skill on your part, in turning eveiy thing 

 to the best account, are essential to profitable 

 husbandry. Perhaps there is scope tor study, 

 experiments, and improvement in your depart- 

 ments. Ail are not equally successful in the 

 management of the dairy. Poor pastures, poor 

 cows, poor cellars, are the alleged reasons for 

 the difference in results. These things undoubt- 

 edly are oflen the causes of failure to obtain but- 

 ter in large quantities and of good quality. But 

 may not the fault sometimes lie with the daiiy ivo- 

 man '? Is her business so simple as to be always 

 understood ? You begin to suspect that I doubt 

 VI hether some of you perfectly mastered the art 

 of butter making. — It may be an ungallant doubt, 

 but listen to the particulars of one case in point, 

 and then judge whether I cap help doubting. As 

 stated to me, the facts are these. One of our far- 

 mers, the summer before last, employed success- 

 sively and for short terms each tliree dairy women. 

 Here the cows, the pasture, the cellar, and all the 

 dairy apparatus were tlie same ; and how was the 

 result? One obtained seventeen pounds of butter 

 per week, the second twenty three, and the third 

 twenty seven. Sucli acts should induce many of 

 you to vary your processes and note the results. 



Philanthroi)y, looking forward, sighs at conse- 

 quences which nuist follow from changes that are 

 taking place in the habits and employments of 

 yoiu- daughters. Circumstances beyond your 

 control have thrown the healthful spinning w"lieel 

 and loom upon the pile of rubbish in the garret. 

 Housewflrk and the dairy do not furnish sufficient 

 i;mployment for the females. — Either mothers or 

 daui;hters must resort to something else by which 

 to contribute a share in the support of the family. 

 It is too commonly the case that the daughters 

 resort to some occupation that is not sufficiently 

 active and invigorating. The needle is taking 

 the bloom from many of their cheeks and vigor 

 from their frames. The evil i^ augmented by 

 that mode of dress (I ought to use a harsher term) 

 which obstructs tlie nattu-al and healthy de\el- 

 opement of huigs and chests ; also by avoiding 

 exposure to the weather ; and a too efteminate 

 reliance upon the liorse, for seivices which 

 heaven intended slioidd be rendered by their own 

 limbs! The lamentable consequences will not 

 be confined to them : childi-en will inherit the 

 feebleness of their mothers, afid a sickly race will 

 come after us. 



Useful as the needle is, and beautiful as are its 

 ccntributions to our show, I appeal to the mothers, 

 to forbid its excessive, its cousttint use by their 

 daughters. I entreat them as they value the well 

 being of their children, to give to daughters daily 

 and thorough training in the care and labor of the 

 dairy and of all household affairs. — It were well 

 — well fpr them and a future race, that they r^hould 



revive the acquaintance which their mothers had 

 with the milking stool, the garden, and to sonic 

 extent the field ; for then bloom would flow in 

 fuller tides through all their veins ; they would 

 acquire vigor of body and soundness of mind, 

 that will contribute to their usetiilness and enjoy- 

 ments when time shall bring them to the places 

 which you now hold— shall make them the wives 

 of farmers, and mothers of the rising generation." 



The Boston Weekly Magazine publishes the 

 following beautiful lines from the pen of the late 

 B. B. Thatcher. They were written some 

 years ago— but were corrected and prepared lor 

 the press only the day previous to his death- 

 being his last literary effort i-'ucn. Journal. 

 TWILIGHT MUSIWGS. 

 Beautiful evening ! my bewildered brain 

 And aching bosom, with fond orisons, bless 

 The coming of thy shadows — faint with pain 

 And yeaniiiig for the hours of quietness 

 That follow in the twilight. The fair mom 



Unfurls o'er eastern hills her dolphin dyes 



But O ! majestic Eve ! to thee 1 turn 



With heart enchanted, and und^izzled eyes. 



Give me to breathe thy fragrance. When the dews 



CKisp with their delicate arms the violet bell, 



Give me to wander where .the stream doth choose 



Us murmuring journey down the dim green dell 



With chary daintiness. Then would I bow 



t^nto thy silver glories, as before 



The Persian worshipped — With a better vow, 



And a diviner spirit than of ycre. 



Then grant me thy communion. .Swell my t-.oul 



With the sweet awe of silence. Look on nie, 



With the bright stars of the resplendent pole — 



And let me learn their teachings. 1 sliali be 



A worshipper of Heaven. 1 shall dream 



Of the high land 1 long for. 1 shall see 



The stirring of the myriad palm-boughs, and 



Of seraph's pinions, from the boundless throng 



Of the unnumbered holy, I shall hear 



I''aintly the choral anthem. — So the song 



Of ocean's surges fails upon the ear 



Of slumbering mariner — and so the bird 



That loves the sombre night, o'er the far wave is heard. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Stumps, and Stump Fence. 



Josiah Calef, Esq. of Saco, contracted with 

 the owner of a Stump Machine in his neighbor- 

 hood, last year, to build him about one hundred 

 rods of first rate stump fiance — the stimips to be 

 taken from a piece of groiuid which Mr. C. wish- 

 ed to clear and prepare for the plough. The 

 stumps were mosdy white and yellow pine ; many 

 of them very large and deep in the gromid. 

 They were taken out with the stump machine, 

 removed considerable, and a first rate fence built 

 of them, for three shillings and ninepeuce a rod, 

 by contract, and the owner of the machine well 

 satisfied with his job. This fence will last one 

 or two centuries, or perhaps longer, and it is the 

 most valuable fence in the world against horses, 

 cattle and sheep. The farm is improved— the 

 land cleared for cultivation. Capt. Thomas Lord 

 of this town has now the same machine at work 

 on his fijrm, taking out stumps. He pays two 

 dollars a day for the use of the machine. The 

 wood was cleared off from a portion of his land 

 last winter, and the stumps are mostly green pine, 

 oak, and « liite maple. The ground rough. Of 

 these large green stumps he gets out fiom seven- 

 ty to one hundred a day. He has three yoke of 

 oxen employed — one at the rope and two to haul 

 the machine — and four hands attend. The pro- 

 gress is more rajiid with old stumps in pastures, 

 or even in rough uncleared lands. They do not 

 take up so much earth with them and are more 

 easily cleaned. It is the intention of Ca])t. Lord 

 to convert his jjine stumps into fence. Mr. Bar- 

 nabas Palmer has also extracted nearly one tliou- 

 sand stumps from his lands this season, mostly 

 pine, some oak and maple — many of them largo 

 and nearly green. 



Kennebunk, Aug. 20, 1840. 



TojiATo. — The following is extracted from the 

 Baltimore Morning Sun. 



"But we were discoursing on the nutritive 

 qualities of the tomato. This is a vegetable 

 which deserves a far more general use. We 

 know of no article which grows in our region 

 of country that is more healthful. It is well 

 known that this fact has procured for the plant 

 a medical standard. We doubt this has not been 

 entirely overrated. The idea started by a certain 

 jnedical gentleman several years since, of substi- 

 tuting the vjrtues of the tomato for calomel, was 

 a proof of this, and very likely grew out of the 



