'^l)7l(irmcv;5jn^^ 



135 



tl 



ca.ne known to the m.-.nufact.M-e.-, the best proofj 

 of its woitli. I.I 1»^'' tliey MOH.uiae.l to 8,000 ] 

 lie:, in 1*30, to 12,800; in 1837, to .7,o00 ; m 

 1838, «" 2.->.705 ; in 183i), to 34,5 3; and n. 1840, 

 to 34 224— more tlian qnadinpled m six yeaiB. 

 Since 183(J on., Livei-iiool In.nse alone . a. nn- 

 portH<i 25,000 bales, eqnal to three m.lbons ol 

 nonn.ls weifihl ; and the total nnports nito the 

 United KinL'.lon, are by experieneed pers.-ns se 

 down at six millions of ponnds, Nvlneh fealusc. 

 ■a 2.., uonld nmonnl to £600,000, w.lh every 

 lirospeel of an increase. 

 ' I, Mn,ost every tailor's shop .n the k,u^ 



alpaca wool linings pass for sdk H'^'f ' "^^^, f^ 

 for la.lios, spri-^-ed and Howere.l, are also mann- 

 foc.,n-ed from this wool, the silky S'^f "-- ' ' 

 which far excce.ls that of mohair. 1 he imil. - 

 onsofsilkarebean.ifnl. Yarn spun from a I- 

 ' wool is now shipped to France in consnl- 

 crable qnantiiies, at from 6s. to 12s. i>e i lb. 



Ln.«t year the quantity of biitler that reached 

 |„ Undson river by the way of the, Erie Canal 

 was upwards of IwciUj-lhrce mMwn pounds, yal- 

 ,,,.,1 at nearly two millions ot dollars. he 



,,„antity this vear, it is .snpposed will be one hall 

 less, in consequence of the droiight. 



P.cKLiNG^^I^^^I^^i^^^^^Qii^^i^^e^^ lien;! 



of the eahhase-, pnt the parts in a kei^YprmU e 

 on them a ^-ood quantity ol ^""' "'"' .^ ,.;'^, 

 remain five or six days. • To u gallon ot vinegai 

 n,u an ounce of mace, ami one ot pepi^n coins 

 ,,,,,1 cinnamon. Cloves and allspice may be ad- 

 ded, hut they darken the color o the cabba^e.- 

 Itea.ihe vinegar scaldin,' hot, add a hule alnm. 

 „,„| , urn it while hot on the cabbage, the .«alt le- 

 ,„Mi,int.'. It is necessary to turn the vine}:,, 

 from the eal)l)a-e several times, and scaldinj,' it, 

 return it a"ain while hot. This makes them ten- 

 thv. Pmple cabbafjes, the heads not larpe, but 

 line and lirm, are best fo r picklmg.-^ f6. tult. 



CoL. U. S. Randall's Merino Sheep.— Last 

 season we noticed the enormous clip of thelMe- 

 M o sheep of Col. Henry S. Randall, of tins yi - 

 I.,,,,. This season we, learn that Ins Panl.u 

 s'tock, inclndins two rams, averaged over six 

 nonnds of iKdi !Ms7i«i wool per bead . Athiee 

 v.'ar old ram sheared 131bs. 8oz., (ihe heavies 

 ilcKce we beli.we, ever taken Irom -^threc yen< 

 old Merino in the U. S.,) and a yf"'-^";?;^ .^'^-f 

 „i. Many of ihe ewes sheared 6, 7 and blt-s. 

 e'r 1 "d.aiHl one the nnparallcled weijiht ot 9 

 \\Z loz' Col. R. received the first premmm on 

 ,,,n,s, ami .he first and second on ewes at the 

 State Fair at Poufihkeepsie (1844,) and the go d 

 , irdal of lb<' Socieiv, for the best managed and 

 ,„os, profitable flock of sheep, at the =""''.";!;;';, 

 ,er meetiiu; <.f the Society m Albany. Coitland 

 atrainst the world \—Corllmxd Deni. 



Our friend Bieck, editor of the Now England 

 Farmer, is visiting from time to lime some of the 

 hest Massachusetts farms, ami presenting through 

 his invaluable paper the information obtained by 

 his observation and inquiries. Himself one ol 

 the best experiinentalisis in Agriculluie and 

 Uorliculmre, we regard him as a safe adviser.— 

 As the farm which may at this lime much inter- 

 est the readers of the Visitor, we select from the 

 Farmer of Aug. 27, 1845, his account of a 



Visit to the Farm of E. Phiiiney, Esq., Lex- 

 ington. 



It has been onr pleasure to make repeated vis- 

 its to this well cultivated farm, and we have nev 

 er returned from it, after a few fionrs conversa- 

 tion and ramble over it with the intelligent and 

 communicative proprietor, without feeling that 

 some addition had been made to our scanty 

 stock of agricnitnral knowledge. The rule from 

 our residence in Brighton, a distance ol alioiii 

 nine miles, is through a part of the country .li- 

 verse in its character: a portion of the way is 

 through a section of hard, rocky and broken 

 land, on which are exhibited the results oi New 

 England indiistry and energy, in converting a 

 inoSt unpromising and nnproductivesoil into fer- 

 tile and profitable fields and girdens. The ap- 

 pearance of the farm-houses, orchards and gar- 

 dens which are thickly scattered among the hills, 

 indicates nii enviable independence in the happy 



owners, who, if they have toiled hard early and 

 late, in the heat and in the cold, are >;on.« ^c 

 worse in body or mind for tins severe discipline. 

 No wonder that a yonng Yankee who has been 

 trained on a hard New Fngland larin, possesses 

 sod, anunconqnerable go-ahead spirit: having 

 iu-cn lamiliar from his youth with the process of^_ 

 overcoming the natural obstach'S in the way ol 

 the successful cultivation of the soil, he is pre- 

 pared to go out in the world aii.l overcome the 

 Ivreater difiiculties that 'vay beset Ins path. I5nt 

 'we started fi.r Mr. Phinney's farm, and notwith- 

 standing we got off the track a litlle, (as we have 

 now,) and wandered a short time, in a very ob- 

 scure road, we soon found omself in the vicinity 

 of Mr. Phinney's place, which is siiuaied on 

 Concord turnpike, about 12 miles Irom Boston. 

 The barns and outbuildings, and the general ap- 

 pearance of the larm, indicate to the stranger 

 ihat the proprietor is not an ordinary larmer.— 

 The d«ellin!. house and other bnddings are sit- 

 uated 50 or GO rods to the east of the turnpike, 

 on a small cross-roa.l, which is lined to the house 

 with vigorous Rock Maple and other shade trees. 

 The house stands in a secluded, retired spot, and 

 is a venerable relic of ancient times, and tliough 

 parts of it are a century and a halt old its heavy 

 oak beams and sills are still sound, and will con- 



liime to do good service, when s c ot tlie joist 



beamed and silled hon.^es which now almost 

 SI, rill"- up in a night, will have gone to decay.— 

 The house is surrounded with trees, but they are 

 not planted so near as to prevent a free circula- 

 tion of air about the ,lwelling-a precaution not 

 always observed in planting trees. The nortli 

 and east sides are prelected by rising ground and 

 woodland. There is no need here ot artificial 

 rock-worU as an appendage to the garden, for 

 rocks are piled up in the natural way, wherever 

 thev have not been disturbed by the hand of ini- 

 nrovement. Looking out to the south from the 

 house, the vision is intercepted by a rocky ledge, 

 ornamented with trees of various sorts, and the 

 summit crowned with a look-out or summer- 

 house. From this point there is a good view ot 

 a .n-eater part of the farm and many contiguous 

 e.smtes, and in the distance may be discerned tlie 

 hliie iieak of the Monadnock mountain. 



The farm contains about 160 acres, most of it 

 naturally verv rocky and rough. We imagine 

 that at the otitset, Mr. Phinney must have been 

 liamited with the question— » /mi shall I do with 

 the stones'? According to an estimate, every six 

 i-eet square of his farm contained a ton ol s ones 

 —the immoveable ones not considered. 1 his is 

 more than a thousand tons to the acre. Upon 

 looking over the smooth grass fields, the visitor 

 is led to inquire. What has become ol the 

 stones' In one direction he is pointed to 

 what appears to be a long trellis, covered with 

 .rrape-vines. but which, upon near a|q,roach, he 

 tinds to be a stone wall, 10 or 11 feet thick, and 

 7 feet lii"h. In every direction, massive, double 

 stone- walls are shown to him, consirncted of 

 stones taken from the fields ; thousands ol loads 

 also have been n.sed in filling sunken places in 

 the road and on the farm, and to fill extensive 

 ditches for draining. In these iepositorit;s, are 

 a part of the stones: they have disappeared Irom 

 the fields, excepting some old seitlers, that raise 

 their heads here and there, in defiance of every 

 thing but gunpowder. 



Our first reconnoitre was of an elevated sec- 

 lion of the farm, (sai.f to he the highest V^'"\°* 

 land between the Charles, Concord and Mystic 

 rivers,) which, in a jncvious visit, we had noticert 

 as a pasture for hogs-the soil of the hardest 

 character, being rocky, stony, and bushy, with a 

 plenty of shrub oaks,-a most unpromising f^e 

 for improvement. But, since tlien, a revolution 

 had been effected : there had been a severe onset 

 upon the bushes and rocks, and a complete ovei- 

 turn of the soil in the autumn of last year. The Inst 

 spring, it was set out with apide and peach tiees , 

 the apple trees 40 feet distant rom each otl ei, 

 withlwo rows of peach trees '"^'vyeen. Stones 

 and the roots of bushes had been laid ^nnd he 

 young trees, as protection from ihf. '"'"''g'' '^';"^ 

 trees were making vigorous growth. The.c was 

 a fine looking crop of potatoes on he g.ount^, 

 and very vigorous melon vines, with an abtni- 

 dance of fruit of large size, from seed of varie- 

 ties from the Mediterranean, ^^'f .«»'•" I'' ^''■ 

 ed for fodder on a ledgy portion of this field, was 

 I 3'iffering severely from drought. 



From this field wo passed to tlie peach or- 

 chard, situated on a slope descending to the 

 south. The trees were bending to the groutid 

 and breaking under their heavy burden of fruit, 

 where it had not been properly thinned. We 

 passed through the upper side of the orcliard on 

 a broad avenue, perfectly clean and hard : on the 

 ri'dit there was a double row of trees, backed by 

 auellisSO rods in length, covered with Isabella 

 grape-vines, bearing a crop of grapes, estimated 

 at more than a ton ; on the left, the orchard ex- 

 tends to the kitchen garden at the foot of the hill. 

 All the hest varieties of peaches in cultivation 

 were pointed out to us. The ground under the 

 trees is kept in constant cultivation. W e saw a 

 few trees that were aftected with that mysteri- 

 ous and fatal disease, the" i/eHoics." This disease 

 is sure to destroy the tree which it attacks : tlie 

 leaves turn yellow; the fiuit is prematurely ri- 

 pened, and the tree dies. 



Mr. Phinney has a large vegetable garden con- 

 nected with the peach orehard, tliesnr(dusof the 

 i.roducts of which, after supplying his own ta- 

 l.le, is sent to market. Pear an.l Plum trees are 

 interspersed in different parts of it: oiie Ijroad 

 walk was lined with Quince hushes in fu l)ear- 

 ioT Pears do not appear to succeed well gene- 

 raUy on his grounds, yet there were some excep- 

 tions where the trees were vigorous and loaded 

 wiih fruit. The standard plum trees had been 

 so badly aftected with the black warty e.xcresen- 

 ces, that Mr. Phinney had almost despaired ot 

 ever getting another crop from them ; but by 

 way of exi.erimeiit, he had them all beaded down 

 last spring, burning the dise.ised limbs, liopinj? 

 the new top would be free liom disease. Ihey 

 are now making new wood, and there is a chance 

 for success. Of small fruits, the garden is well 

 stocked, and we noticed many of the Champagne, 

 Red and White Dutch Curratit bushes still laden 



with fruit. . „ , 



'The poultry yard contains an acre ol ground, 

 and this was partly devoted to a nursery of fruit 

 trees The stocks of the young plum trees vyere 

 raised from the Canada plum, which is very har- 

 dv and vigorous, and make excellent trees. 1 here 

 was a great number of very thrifty trees of the 

 choicest varieties, two years old from the bud, 

 that will be ready for sale this autumn. 



The apple orchards are very extensive, and 

 may be considered the lions of Mr. Phinney's 

 place These have been most successfully and 

 profitably managed. A description of them has 

 been eiven in former notices of this farm. 1 he 

 Baldwin apple is most extensively cultivated, al- 

 so the Greening and Porter, with all the choice 

 lidl and winter sorts that are saleable in our mar- 

 ket It is not the bearing year with his Baldwins 

 generally, and the little fruit upon these trees, 

 was very wormy and knnrly-a cireumstance al- 

 ways noted after an abundant crop the previous 

 vear On some trees that had been altered, by 

 -rafting, from R. Russet to Baldwin, there were 

 hmnense crops of fruit, and very flur : the bear- 

 ing year had been changed by the process of 



^' Mr Phinney's mode of grafting over large treee, 

 is different from the general practice. Instead ol 

 leaviu" part of the branches on, the hrst year, 

 he makes a clean sweep of the whole to begin 

 with: by so doing, he is enabled to give such a 

 form to the head as he pleases. We saw many 

 full bearing trees that had thus been grafted over: 

 thev had handsome heads and were very healthy. 

 Potash wash has been effectual in destroyiiig or 

 preventing borers. Trees planted on reclaimed 

 peaty laud, have entirely failed after a few years. 

 Mr Phinney informed us that there were 4000 

 trees on the place, which liad been nnder his su- 

 pervision and pruned and trained with his ovvn 

 hands. Most of his time is occupied in the du- 

 ties of his office, (Clerk of t'leCotinty Courts.) 

 His place of business is 9 or 10 miles from the 

 farm, to which he goes and returns every day 

 but one in the week, and when court is in ses- 

 sion he is engaged in his official duties every day , 

 but he has such an insatiate love for ruial pui- 

 suits, that he contrives by early "S'n|| V* °°^ 

 over his farm every morning arid see that all is 

 ri J^^n, and at night, by light of lantern, he v sits 

 all his creature! He is blessed vvith a son who 

 seems to enter iuto, and he animated by, his ta 

 iher's spirit, and who, in the absence of the fathei, 

 attends to the minutia; of the farm. 



MrPhinncy has experimented with guano on 



