S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



CONDUCTED RY ISAAC HILL. 



Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breaats he has made his peculiar deposits for substantial and ganuine virttte.'' — Jefferson. 



VOLUME 2. 



CONCORD, N. H. OCT. 31, 1840. 



NUMBER 10. 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, 



A MONTHLY NEWSPAPER. I.S PUBI.l.SHEP BY 



JOHN M. HILL, 

 HiWs Brick Block, Concord, JV. H. 



GENERAL AGENTS, 



B. COOKE. Keene, N. II. 



TH. R. H.X.MPTOlV. Washington City, D. C. 



JOHN MAKSH, Hashinglon St. Ilostmi. 



The Visitor will he issued on "tlic last day of each month. 



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The twelve numbers embracing the year 1839. or the 

 first volume of the Visitor,' are . 'offered as a premium for 

 every ten new subscribers obtained and paid for by one 

 person. 



.Subscribers may commence at their election, either with 

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Good Sense from a Practical Man. 



It gives us gveiit pleasure to present the reatl- 

 cr.s of the FannerV Monthly Visitor ^vith the fol- 

 lowing Address from a practieal Fanner of Old 

 Cheshire ; and that it was, in oliedieuce to a res- 

 olution of the Cheshire County Agricultural As- 

 sociation, first coniniiiuicated to us for publica- 

 tion. The author in'orins us that this address 

 was Iiy him hastily prepared after it was asrer- 

 taiuLHl that the distinguished gentlemen at first 

 appointed would not attend ; and that the work 

 was done while he " \vas engaged in dail}' labor 

 of such a nature that he coidd revolve in his mind 

 the subjects connected witli Agriculture, so as to 

 he able to take them down in tlie evening of each 

 d.'iy." The performance requires no apology for 

 deficiency or impropriety of either matter or 

 manner, which the modesty of the author im- 

 pels him to make. It is one of the best address- 

 es we have seen; and it will be read with tlic 

 more interest as it comes from one who knows 

 how to digest his thoughls while engaged in the 

 labors of the field and to put those thoughts up- 

 on paper when he retires to the closet. 



Address Delivered before the Cheshire County 

 Agricultural Association, .Sept. 39, 1840. By 

 JONATHAN K.SMITH, Esq. of Dublin. 



BnoTHETi Farmers : — 



The office of speaker on this occasion is not 

 one of my own choosing. After the annuncia- 

 tion that so distinguished a pen as that of the 

 Agricultural Commissioner of Slassacluisetts was 

 to minister to the gratification and instruction of 

 this respectable audience, I cannot divest myself 

 of the feeling tliat you will be bitterly disappoint- 

 ed. With a classical education, great informa- 

 tion and experience, and intellectual powers of 

 the fust order, that distinguished individual would 

 have appeared among us " as one having author- 

 ity" in agricnltural matters. Highly favored 

 should I have deemed myself, had it been my for- 

 tune to have listened to him, rather than to have 

 occupied his place. But since sickness has pro- 

 vented his attendance, I must bespeak your can- 

 dor towards such suggestions as the short notice 

 1 have had, has enabled me to make. If ardent 

 desires to advance the cause of Agriculture could 

 supply the place of ability, I should not be with- 

 out a hope of edifying my hearers. 



In every civilized counti-y agricuhure must be 

 the paraniount interest, — the parent art, whence 

 the others drew their nourishment and support— 



the great wheel which moves the machinery of 

 the comnnmity. And, generally, in proportion as 

 this languishes, or is prosperous, will a nation 

 retrograde or advance in comfort, wealth, and 

 virtue. Commerce or manufactures may in some 

 localities, and for a limited time, give consequence 

 and wealth to a comnnmity ; but it is only when 

 they are well sustained by agriculture, that they 

 can be considered as fixed on a firm basis. It 

 follows, then, that not agricidturists merely, but 

 every member of Society has a deep interest in 

 promoting it. Would that all might feel this in- 

 terest and be induced to make an effort for its 

 improvement. That it is abundantly susceptible 

 of improvement is too plain a case for argiunent. 

 The following plain statement of facts by Dr. 

 Humphreys, in relation to the agriculture of Great 

 Brit'iin will set the matter at rest especially when 

 it is considered that in that country agricultural 

 improvements are far in advance of those in the 

 United States. 



"It is the opinion of competent judges," says 

 Dr. Humphi-eys, "th.it the advances made in the 

 agricul'me of Great Britain, during the last sev- 

 enty or eighty years, are scarcely exceeded by 

 the improvement and exertion of its manufac- 

 tm-es, w ithin the same period ; and that to these 

 advances, no other old settled country fiirnishes 

 any parallel. That they have been very rapid in- 

 deed, the following figures and comparisons n- 

 bundantly show. In \7C>0, the total growth of all 

 kinds of grain in the island of Great Britain, in- 

 cluding England, Scotland and Wales, was es- 

 timated at 170 millions of bushels. In 1835. the 

 quaniity could not have been less than 340 mil- 

 lions of bushels. In 175.5, the popidation of the 

 whole island did not exceed 7,600 000. It now 

 (1838) i)robably is between 17 and 18 millions, 

 being an increase of 10 millions or more than 

 l.'^O per cent. Now the improvements in agri- 

 cultm-e have more than kejit iiace with this pro- 

 digious increase of demand for its various pro- 

 ductions, for it is agreed on all hands that the 

 population now is much fuller fed, and on i)ro- 

 visions of a much better tpiality, than that of 

 17.5.5. Nor is Great Britain indebted at all at pres- 

 ent to foreign markets for her supplies. Since 

 lft32, she lii'.s imported no grain worth mention- 

 ing; and till witliin the last six months prices 

 have been so depressed as to call fbrlh loud com- 

 plaints from the whole agricultural interest of the 

 country. England is at this moment, (1837) so 

 far fi-oi'u wanting any of our bread stufis if we 

 had them to export, "that she has been supplying 

 us liberally, all winter, from her own granaries. 

 And yet it is the opinion of practical men of the 

 first I'espectahility in England, that the raw pro- 

 duce of the island might he well ingh doubled 

 ivitliout being dependant on foreign countries tor 

 a supply. That is to say, 35 millions of people 

 miultt draw their subsistence from that one lit- 

 tle speck in the ocean ! Now we have a terri- 

 tory more than fifteen times as large as the is- 

 land of Great Britain. And what should hinder 

 it, when it comes to be brought under no higher 

 cultivation than some parts of I^ng-laud and Scot- 

 land from sustaining a popidation of five or six 

 hundred millions of p<»pple ? This woidd give 

 to Virginia, Illinois, andMissouri something like 

 thirty millions ; to New York near twenty-five 

 millions, and so on in proportion to the other 

 States." '•! am aware," continues Dr. Humphreys, 

 "that this estimate will be regarded as extremely 

 visionary and incredible by many of your read- 

 ers, but "not more so than it would have been 

 thought in the middle of the last century that 

 England, Scotland and Wales could ever lie made 

 to sustain thirty-five or even thirty millions." 



But without "speculating fiu'ther, let us come to 

 facts which bring the sidjjeet near home. To bo 

 as populous ns' England is, New Hampshire 

 would contain nearFy eight times as many in- 

 liabitants as she now does, and a town of six 

 miler. square aliout ei^ht thnu=Jand people. With 



our present mode of cultivation, how could such 

 a mass of ])opulation be sustained if no gruiu 

 was procm-ed abroad ? If Keene had twenty-four 

 thousand and the other towns around from five 

 to fifteen thousand each, where w ould they find 

 sustenance ? Yet England hn3 done it, and talks 

 of doubling her population. By nature her soil 

 is not superior to ours. A skillful and systemat- 

 ic agriculture has given her this proud pre-emi- 

 nence. Shall not we imitate the example ? 



I have spoken of England, but my remarks 

 will apply to some other districts in Europe with 

 equal force. " The soil in Flanders is generally 

 light and moist, and much of it was absolutely 

 incapable of growing farm crops in its natural 

 state. Yet the skill and industry of the Flemings 

 have rendered.it the most productive agricidtur 

 al district in Europe, and its fertility is still in- 

 creasing." 



Indeed we frequently find the actual in'oduction 

 of the soil in an inverse proportion to its natural 

 fertility. " Necessity is the mother," not only " of 

 invention " but of industry, and hence in poor 

 districts where nature has done least, we find 

 men doing most; and hence, also, rich lands are 

 suftered to deteriorate while art and industry are 

 augmenting the fertility of poor ones. The ag- 

 riculture of the United States, as a whole, will 

 not compare with that of several countries of Eu 

 rope. Various causes have operated to produce 

 the difference. Among the most prominent of 

 these may he mentioned the low price and great 

 abundance of new lands. By tliis cause the far- 

 mer is tempted to crop his lands to the utmost 

 without due care to replenish them, and when 

 they become exhausted, to sell them for what he 

 can, and purcha.se a new farm, on which to in- 

 flict the same exhausting process. Until the great 

 West is filled iqi, this cause must operate to re- 

 tard, in some measure, llic improvement of ag- 

 ricultui-'?. The same season also stimulates to 

 the cultivation (or radicr the carrying on, as it is 

 called,) of too large farms. By a seemingly tri- 

 fling difference in the mode of cultivation, one 

 acre may be made to pay the annual interest of an 

 hundred dollars, or it may produce less than suf- 

 ficient to pay the expense of cultivation, But 

 notwithstanding the operation of this and other 

 causes, agriculture in the Northern and 31iddle 

 States is advancing. Some districts are highly 

 cultivated. 



The county of Duchess, in New York, ranks 

 among the best cultivated districts in the coun- 

 try. " Entire ftu'ms in that country have netted 

 the owners an anual profit of filYeen and seven- 

 teen dollars an acre. And forty years ago some 

 of these very farms ivere mostly old fields, e.\ 

 hausted of fertility and lying in commons." The 

 late Judge Buel says of his own farm lying west 

 of Albany : " It was considered a barren sand, 

 and I became the butt of ridicule to some of my 

 acquaintance, for attempting to bring it under 

 profitable cultiu'e. It was a lean sand aboun- 

 ding in springs, swamjis, and low wet grounds. 

 In twenty years, however, it has assumed (|uito a 

 different appearance. It is now worth S'^OO an 

 acre for farming purposes, that is, it netts me 

 more than the interest of $200 per acre. My 

 average acreable crop in corn is 80 bushels, in 

 grass nearly or quite three tons, in potatoes in fa- 

 vorable seasons 300 bushels, and my other crops 

 are in proportion. These improvements, it is 

 true, have required a considerable outlay of capi- 

 tal in draining, clearing, manming, &c. in some 

 portions to the extent probably of fifty dollars to 

 the acre. Without the outlay, these reclaimed 

 lands were valueless : with it they are highly pro- 

 ductive, and give me a liberal per cent, on the 

 money expended, and I have no doubt I could 

 readily sell lor cost and charges." 



These instances shov,- what can be done in this 

 country, by an enlightened and scientific people 

 in applying capital to the cultivation of their fields. 

 But hn"w fe>v. alas, tlyc. number that can apply so 



