^I)c lavmct's iilontl)hj bisitor. 



127 



tiiiiiiy of (lying giillaiitly, or extr'u'atiiii; ollL•^^t'lves 

 willi Ikiijoi-. 



ACter waiiiiif.' llie wliole of the l-'iili oC Ooto- 

 lier ill jiiixioMs I'xpcctiitioii of vvliiit it iiiighi |ii'0- 

 <liicc,aii(l 10 \\ lji(!li liiiii' it ^va^ icsnlvcd to eiKliii'f 

 ail vxiiniiitiu.s in iiiaiiitainiiii; oiir ltoiiikI a^'ainst 

 till," eniMiiy — no |)rn,s|i(?cl ol' iclicl' a|p|ii;aiin!.', ami 

 no rational ^'loiind of hope icniaiiiin^', it «as 

 tlioii'^jit (ii(i|pcr in iIk; pvi niiii; to take an pxart 

 accMiint ot' tlie provisions Ictt, wliicli aniotintcil 

 to no more ilian tliree ilays' short allowance. 



Ill this state of distress, a ooniiril of war was 

 cnllod, to whicli all the celierals, Held offii^ers, 

 mid coiiiinandin'r ollieers of corps were siiin- 

 inoned. when it was nnaiiinionsly aiireed, that in 

 the present ciri-iiiiistaiici,'s we could d<i no other 

 than treat with the enemy. 



Overtures were a<'coriliii^dy proposed to (ien. 

 Oatt'S, who h;irsldy r( jeeted them : leiniiidiii!; lis 

 ofoiir enervated state (rtnii a toilsome eainpaijxn, 

 diminished nnmhers, scanty sniisistence, and the 

 inipossihility oC a liesh supply. These reasons 

 were nri;i-d on the spur ol' the' moment; ininnte 

 considenition denieil, and a decisi\ e answer re- 

 quired. \Ve Celt tlieir liirce, lint compliaiiee was 

 never llio'i^rln ol"; it would too severely have 

 wounded the dignity of our military character. 



The refusal of our overtnri's uas mortifyiiiu in 

 the extreme, yet instead of dejircssiiiff, it raised 

 oiir lna^nanilllity. The interval of suspense in- 

 deed distnched onr repose; anxiety was awake 

 to conseipipiiees ; — still we adhered to our pur- 

 pose wilh manly tirmness. A stale of suspense 

 10 a rellectini; mind is worse lliaii death ; that 

 was onr state until the convention was linally 

 adjusted. • 



'1 he ohstaclea to the accomplishment of the 

 conveniionat first appeared insnrmountahle — for 

 Gen, Gates conceived that our complicated etn- 

 harrassineiits sutJiciemly justified him, according' 

 to the rides of war, in iiisistiiifr on an nncondi- 

 timial sm-reiider of the army. The terms were 

 <lis(hiinliilly rejected, and he was |>ercinptorily 

 iuloniied tliat,iii)twiihstandinL'- o r reilnceil luiin- 

 liers, if he still persisted, our final appeal sliiiiild 

 lie to the sword, as iheUiilish troops wo.idd rush 

 upon the enemy, iletermineil to ixive no cpiarter. 



Gen. Gates, ti-om having heeii once in our ser- 

 vice, was fully convinced of vvh.it exertions Bri- 

 tish troops were.capahle in any tiangerous emer- 

 ffciicy : he was, therefore, rpiickly sensihie of the 

 impidicy of coercion, and with L'reat prudence 

 dccli-ned h.izardina a fresh confiict with men 

 who preferred death to a di.i^^racefnl sulimission. 

 Awed 'ly our firmness, he retracted his demands, 

 and honoralile terms were irranted ; the particii- 

 lars as they are undouhtedly in the Gazette, I 

 pass over. To a reverse of fortune we yielded 

 with hecouiing dignity ; hut onr honor was safe, 

 and efpiaiiimity of temper inarked onr character 

 even in aihersity. . 



, Gen. Biir^oyne has done every lliinpj in this 

 convention lor the prood of the troops, consistent 

 «ith the service of his kinj; and country : all that 

 wisdom, valor, and a strict sense of honor could 

 sn<.'j;est. Confident no doiilit, of having exerted 

 himself with indefatii;ahle sniiii in their service, 

 he will despise popul.ir clanifir, truly seiisilde 

 that no (lerfect and imhiassed judge of actual 

 service can cnndenm him. 



Addison has somewhere observed — 



" *Tis not in mortals to command success ;"' 

 and as the (lopulace in this versatile aire, startle 

 at untoward events, so onr sieneral is lialile to he 

 expi'^ed to pulilic censure. Ample justice must 

 raise liini in the minil of every liheral man, who 

 will jiidije with caution, acipiii him with honor, 

 and take him to his lieart as the soldier's friend, 

 as a man of cool judgment, hut ardent for glory; 

 as coniatieoiis, hut nnforlimate. 



The Value of onr Mnuntniii Lands. 



The high inonntain lands of New Hampshire 

 and Vermont every year rise in v;ilue in the ap- 

 preciation of the hetter jndi.'e.s. The liest (iirm- 

 ers near the seahoard seek the inonntain pa.>lnres 

 as the preferred summer resort for their <;ro\ving 

 stock of young catlle, and for the heeves intend- 

 ed for slaughter. 



Seldom are lliese returned to them late in tlie 

 se.-i.-on vvheii they are not exceedingly lijt and 

 improved : the younger cattle sometimes seem to 

 have gained nearly iiall' their s\ze in a single 

 siiminer feeding. Especially do the growers of 



sheep, fine and coarse wooled, love to send them 

 away to the large and ample pastures upon the 

 moniitaiii sides, where the granile hoidders and 

 ledges are so thick as to clieat themselves into 

 the appearance of u flock of many hundreds of 

 these animals. 



IJut not only as pastures are these mountain 

 ranges useful : as fields liir raising hay and grain, 

 where the surfii^e is not loo rocky, tlil'y are more 

 sure of a crop ihan iierhaps almost "any other 

 land in the world. They |i;ive a feitilily amidst 

 the rocks that .seems to he almost incrcilihle ; in 

 many years the crop of grass, if not f(;d down 

 too close, will not to depreciate. 



Tliere arc many thousand acres left of these 

 lands ill this older country not yet denuded liy 

 the woodman's iixe. It does seem to he wrong 

 to see the large and tall maples, or heeches, in- 

 oaks, or elegant white piiie.s, lidleii down with no 

 other use than to he liurned into ashes to prepare 

 the gronnil for a more profiiahle cultivation. 

 Yet so liir is this timlier growth tiom the point 

 where it might hi: profitahly used, that after the 

 trees are cut down all siuts of iiiL'inions expe- 

 dients are made use of to get rid of ihe logs as 

 an ohstacle in the way. Some of them "hest 

 adapted are thrown into fence: soiik^ are lidleii 

 across to liiirii each oilier oft" at sniiahle lemrihs 

 to he thrown into a pile; while trees of the more 

 majestic growth are girdled to he killed in their 

 vegetable growth, lidling to rot upon the ground 

 on the recurrence of a liiw short seasons." 



These rellci tions have been sii:.'<;psleil by a 

 fi;w miiintes conversation with our friend Kx- 

 Oovernor Page of Haverhill, N. II. who called 

 on us not long since in a flying visit to Concord. 

 We are glad to find him more happy and con- 

 tented in the enjoyment ol" his farm work at 

 home than most of "the ambitious poliiieiaiis u ho 

 seek public office, and especially better satisfied 

 wilh his OH n vv<irk than we have ever i'etn 

 New Hamiishire men in or out of office at Wash- 

 ington. Our conversation was so hrief that we 

 had time to mention no other topic than firming: 

 poliiical matters were not only disn-g.-n-ded. lint 

 even the railroad ipiestion, now so interesting lo 

 all people in the country above, and v hiclTwe 

 have since learned was a part of I. is errand here, 

 was not mentioned. 



Besides his beaiilifid intervale firm on the 

 Connecticut river hank. Gov. Page has two or 

 niore finins near "the outer eastern edge of Ha- 

 verhill ill that town or in Benton in the vicinity 

 of and including a part of the Coventry mead- 

 ows ivliiidi lie along the Oliveiiaii vafh'V. Of 

 the forests of these (iirms extending up the 

 monnlaiii spurs of the noble Moosehiriock, he 

 ha.s, since we visiied the place six years aifo, 

 cleared about twenty acres annually." in some' 

 year before the last he had the trees fallen, hut 

 from the humiflily upon the monniain and the 

 wet season, hail no opportunity to get a burn the 

 first Slimmer or fjill. Knowing that the vegetable 

 growth would spring so as toprevimt a burn ihe 

 next summer, he watched the e;irly spring to set 

 the liilleii trees on fire. ,\ burn is" all in7portant 

 for the cleariiiu' of this land. The lenanl of the 

 firm ^vitll a liivmahle breeze touched the fire, 

 and just at the time he was finishim: his planting 

 upon the river, the owner of the land saw al 

 night about seven miles off the piece of cliop- 

 |)iiig on fire in all direction.s. To clear up and 

 burn what remained of the heavy growth was no 

 small job. The Governor himself and his firm- 

 er sons, gathering all the help in the vicinity that 

 could be spared l"or the job, proceeded' with 

 alacrity to the work. Some agreed to do the 

 work on rdiares ; and each gang hail its own al- 

 lotted portion. Some twenty hands in the 

 course of ten days cleared the "twenty acres and 

 secured it with ample fencing. On this hmiit 

 ground efll-ctiial h.iriowing is requisite fin- a 

 crop; but it was not imiil the end of the first 

 week in June th:U the seed llir a crop of wheat 

 was got ill. Left lo its liite :it this late season, 

 for himself in part, and for his neighhois, this 

 crop of wheat, when taken ofl^, turned out over 

 twenty bushels to the acre. 



Gov. Page informed us that in other seasons 

 where the sowing was earlier, the crop had been 

 on an average over tweiit\-five bushels of wheat 

 to the acre on this mountain land. An excellent 

 crop of wheat the present season upon the usu- 

 al new clearing was under t.'ie sickle while he 

 was here in the last week of August. 



U hen the liiet is known that many thousand 

 acres ol first rate forest lands in New "Haiiipshire 

 may be purchased as low as a dollar an acre 

 and that the first crop will moro than pay lor 

 clearing, leaving the lan.l f,„- pasture wori'l, at 

 least ten d, dials the acre, why should young men 

 take their money to purch„se lands 'at the liir 

 west vvhich will notyield greater crops or more 

 profit .' 



Topping Indian Corn. 



On the a9lh August, on the intervale below 

 tliistowniiiBow,iMr. William H.diinson was lop- 

 ping his field of corn which had liecorne already 

 a lillle changed beyond iis niilk\ stale. He staled 

 his belief that the corn will he better to top as 

 soon as the flowering has ceased lo fgjll finm llie 

 top. In his early recollection of the Knox liimi- 

 ly at Pembioke, he had heard them say that 

 about the lime of ils first selllement, when In- 

 dians were plenty, ihey iroidih.l ihe corn-fields 

 one year by entering them under cover and 

 making worse ravages than the bears; and that 

 to expose the fields lo the view of iiieir owners 

 against further ilepredaliims, lhi\ early set about 

 cutting the top stalks, and that I'hiy vCen; disap- 

 pointed in the greater crop obtaiiie.l from corn 

 topped in the milk. 



Mr. Robinson is now sixty-nine years of nge : 

 forty yeais airo he assisted in" the ereclioii of the 

 first mill at Indian Old Town, on ihe Pe'iiobscot 

 river, in Maine. Me then recollects that the IV- 

 noliscot Indians, who have since alwins retained 

 possession of the hi-hly fi'nile hotio'iii land.-, of 

 that river, tlieu had l.irge corn-fields. At ilie 

 time the corn was in the milk llie\ did not top 

 the stalks, but they went Ihmiigh Ih".' fields lieiid- 

 ing anil_ breaking them each way just above the 

 ear, before the corn was ripe. These children of 

 the forest have taught ns ihe l( ssmi from naiuie 

 that as soon as the farina falls from the corn-top, 

 the crop of corn ilsf-lf will be best fiiciliiated by 

 preventing the ascent of the juices to llie stal'k 

 above the ear. The Indian corn, or maize, is in- 

 digenous to Ai7ierica ; and the descendants of 

 European emigrants will not probably mislake to 

 follow the practice of the native sons of the for- 

 est. 



A FIG FOR von!— On llie 20lh August, Gen. 

 Isaac Eastman presented ns, taken from his any- 

 den ill this town, a f"nll\ matim-d ripe Fii: weildi- 

 iiii; tvyo ounces, and ineasnring in girih five and 

 a half inches. The same tree contained about 

 two him.lred figs, not all yet ripe. It is sin lo 

 eight years ohi, and is renioveii to be kept out 

 of fieezing in the winter. The present growth 

 of figs has been entirely in the open air. 



Gen. Ea.stmaii has been Vfry successful in 

 raising a most valuable kind of poi.ato, which he 

 calls the Carter potato, being the same kind, we 

 believe, called by others the Noiih llaniploii' po- 

 tato, and by ns denominated the Wright potalo 

 from the circninstance that Mr. Wright, lale of 

 Nortliampton (a brother printer,) obtained the 

 seerl from planting the halls. The potalo i-, not 

 early— it is of a liell-necked irregular shape, fiilj 

 of indentaiions like ihe Rohan potalo: its vines 

 lung remain green and stand out against hlii;|it 

 and rust while almost every other kiiiil is fidliii"- 

 around them. Its siipeiioriiy is proved bv the 

 circum.-tance that the i-ook cai'elidly selects "these 

 in a mixed pile, leaving all others. " They are al- 

 ways mealy and whole hearted. 



Spiral Spring Tooth Horse Kake. 



We saw one of these instruments in operation, 

 while riding by a rough field, mie day last wei k' 

 and it appeared to do a first rale hnsniess. The 

 field was so full of stones and sluhs that a revolv- 

 in;; horse rake could not be used there. I'm ihis 

 seemed to go along very easily and to ndie clean. 

 We learned the above 'vas ihe name of the im- 

 plement, hilt by whom invented, by whom mad,., 

 or where they can be had. or what ihe cost ol dne 

 of them is, we " tcot not.''' — SiUinc Farmer. 



Towards the close of Ihe lale haying season 

 we have been made acipiainled witli t)ie Spiral 

 Sjiring Tooth Horse Rake, and cannot omit the 

 opporlimity to commend il to every fiirmer, and 

 especially to those whocidlivale the rmjged hill.s. 



One alieinoon in the miiiiih of August, Horace 

 Diincan, Esq., of Lymaii, N. II., came into <mr 

 licld wilh the Spiral Horse Rake; and liom wit- 

 nessing its operation we are able lo present fur- 



