178 



purchases for his family, but does not charge his own or that la- 

 bor in his family, for which he is not obliged to pay. It is ob- 

 vious that, in all such cases, the returns must depend upon the 

 size of the farm, the amount of capital employed, and the labor 

 expended, as well as the kind and disposition of the products. 



1. When Bernardston received its share of the surplus rev- 

 enue, amounting to $2000, it was agreed that it should be loan- 

 ed upon interest ; but no borrowers could be found. Much land 

 was in Bernardston, a few years since, devoted to the production 

 of rye for distillation : then a crop of rye was taken once in 

 four years ; and in the meantime the land was left untouched, 

 in order to recruit itself until another crop of rye should be taken. 

 This miserable husbandry, miserable in respect to the course of 

 cultivation and still more so in respect to the application of the 

 products, has been for a long time abandoned ; rye is now cul- 

 tivated solely for family use ; and the husbandry of the town is 

 fast improving.* 



2. Sunderland is represented as eminently prosperous, and 

 appearances confirm these statements. It for a long time lan- 

 guished under the annual visitation of a fatal fever, which baf- 

 fled the best medical sagacity and skill both as to its cause and 

 cure. It was generally supposed to be connected with the stag- 

 nant waters of a swamp in the rear of the village, which has been 

 carefully drained. The health of the town is now good, and 

 the cause of sobriety is triumphant. It is said that not a single 

 farmer in the whole of this beautiful village uses ardent spirits. 

 Temperance, united with industry and safe enterprize, are as 

 sure to be followed by all reasonable success and prosperity as 

 careful and skilful cultivation is by a certain and abundant har- 

 vest. These things are not quite so much matter of chance as 

 the idle and reckless and profligate would have us believe. 



3. RowE, in the north-western part of the county, formerly 

 had a whisky distillery which, in the time of the late war, yield- 

 ed large profits. The liquor was obtained from potatoes; and 

 potatoes sold for 20 and 25 cents per bushel, a bushel of potatoes 



* See Second Report for Agricultural Returns from Bernardston. 



