^I)e Jcinncr's illontl)l|) bisitor. 



51 



uilvaiitujte tn u lUiriiei', ns it is to a meichant, or 

 to 11 iiiecliuniL', to estiililislj atid !*ii|>|]oit a repii- 

 taliie iiiiil {i;oo(l cliiir.u!t(M-. 15iir, tiiat ;;uo(l cvdiM- 

 ii):iy 111' iiinie oomiiioii, and lliat liioso liiiiiiers 

 wlio liavo orclKirds iii.iy lie lieiiclilcd l)y lliis piil)- 

 licaliiiri, li't llicin iittL'iid to the lullowintr diri'c- 

 tioiis, coninuiiiicMted l)y a i'es|i(.'i'.lalile Ceiitlo- 

 iiiai) : and who, lor a luindii'r of past ji'ars Ijas 

 e.\|ierionced the utility of ihiiii. 



•• Let the liirriicr, vviio wi.'ihes to have the clear- 

 est, sweetest and hest of'eyder, see thai his apples 

 are fully ripe, and perli'olly somid htfore they 

 lire frroiind. And two or three days id'ter the cy- 

 der has lieeii well Miadi; in the cciiiimiuii way, and 

 hefore it liegins to rennciit, let liitii taiie out the 

 liead o(° a cask which will contain one hiMidred 

 f;:dlons, and set it npri;;lit, wiili a liineet or ping 

 placed in it near the hotloni. Tlieii let him 

 empty his harrels into it, and gralo one qnarter 

 ot' a pound of chalk into the li(pior: let it he 

 stirred willi a stick, liie end oC which has heeii 

 hroomed, until it hciiins to Cerinent. Tlien let 

 it stand for two, or three days, accordin;; as tlie 

 uealher may he, wlien all the potnace will^^rise 

 and float on ilie top of the liqnor. Then let it 

 he ilrawe<l off into casks prefectly sweet and new, 

 for bad casks will spoil the best cyder if put in- 

 to them, ami let it stand without giving it vent, 

 'till the beginning of Fehrnary following, when 

 it must be racked oil". Cyder, naturally good and 

 managed in this way, is erpnd, in the opinion of 

 many gentlemen, to small wines ; and will al- 

 ways fetch a generous price in the market. If 

 it should not be perfectly clear in the spring, af- 

 ter it is racked oft", take a pound o( good coarse 

 sugar, with two or three eggs, break them ijito 

 the sugar, shells and all, and add to them lialf a 

 pint of tine saud ; heat tliein well together; put 

 them into the barrel of cyder ; stir tlie liijuor with 

 a broomed stick, until it shall be lound to fer- 

 ment powerfully ; and within ten or twelve days 

 after this operation, it will he fit to he bottled." 



I shall close this paper by observing, that there 

 may he a veiy great advantage derived from graft- 

 ing fruit of the apiile kind, even when the or- 

 chard is intended for cyder only ; provided a 

 immber of trees be set with one kind of fruit, 

 and a number another kind, anil soon: for all 

 these diftereiii kinds will have their several pe- 

 riods of perfection ; and may be made into cyder 

 as they become ripe. This is not the case with 

 nngrafted apples : in their natural state, and ta- 

 ken promiscuously as is common, some will he 

 cru<le, or not ripe, some in per(i;ction, and some 

 rotten ripe ; and from such a collection good cy- 

 der cannot reasonably be expected. 



To give a fine andier, or curious color to cyder, 

 not naturally so, let it lay in the pomace fifteen or 

 twenty lioms, before it is put into the vat or 

 cheese to he jjressed, and lake care that no wa- 

 ter comes near it. 



Ninety Years Ago. 

 During the short intervals of going abroad the 

 past winter at Washington, the editor of the Vis- 

 itor amused his curiosity in the Library of Con- 

 gress. There is no heller history of the times 

 than the newspapers. Mr. Jefferson's Library 

 lias furnished files of these e.vtending beyond the 

 era of the revolution. Especially was our inter- 

 est excited by the sanguinary events wliich pre- 

 ceded the contjuest of the Canadas from the 

 French twenty years prior to the war of the Rev- 

 olution, in a file of " The Virginia Gazette" from 

 17.i5 to 17G2. The battles of that war in the vi- 

 cinity of Lake George and near Quebec were 

 more bloody than tliose of the revolution : larger 

 armies then encountered each other. But the 

 British at that time must have fiiiled of success 

 if they ha<l been dcpjivcd of the aid of tlie 

 " Rangers" raised in several successive years in 

 New Euglatid, the elite of which were from the 

 towns of New Hampshire bordering upon Mer- 

 rimack river. The hero of that service, and lie 

 who deserved more credit in that war for personal 

 conduct and bravery than either Generals Am- 

 herst, Peppered or Wolfe, was Robert Rogers, 

 a self-taught warrior, born some seven miles out of 



Concord on the hills of Bow. The elder of John 

 Stark, Robert Rogers was his companion and 

 teacher: the pupil midonhtedly owes much, if 

 not every thing, to his instructor. Roger.s, from 

 ".").j to 17l)0, wasat the head of the Ranger aerviee. 

 His brolher James also commanded a compa- 

 ny of the Rangers: at the same time the broth- 

 ers John and William Stark likewise command- 

 ed companies. Four men of better courage and 

 more adroit in successful jiartisan warfare proba- 

 bly never lived. Both the Rogers and William 

 Stark conlinued in the British service, being 

 found in it at the cotiimenceinent of our revolu- 

 tion: John Stark, alone of the four, instantly 

 espoused the American side, and was in the field 

 the day after llie battle of Lexington, and at the 

 head of his regiment six weeks afterwards ef- 

 fectually did the business for the British under 

 his own independent command upon the side 

 of Bunker Hill. The four eminent "ranger" 

 captains were natives of the same neighborhood, 

 first initiating themselves as partisan warriors as 

 huntsmen and fur catchers between the outer 

 seltleitients in New England and the French set- 

 tlements in Canada. 



Samuel Rogers, an elder brolher of Roberti 

 lived and died ttj)on the farm in Bow about two 

 miles south of the Liberty Pole: the father of 

 this family, as we are informed liy Colonel John 

 Carter, was accidentally killed from shot of a 

 musket by a neighbor, being mistaken in the 

 woods for a bear. Robert Rogers, an elder son, 

 more attached to the forest than the farm, when 

 first grown to tnanhood, used to leave home alone 

 and spend weeks and even months upon the 

 rivers and streams north of this — sometimes as- 

 sociating himself with the Indians in his favorite 

 occupation of a hunter. John Stark, it will be 

 recollected, was once taken and carried prisoner 

 to Canada after his companion hunters had been 

 killed by them upon the Baker river, one of the 

 sources of the Merrimack. William Stark came 

 to his death in a singular manner. After he had 

 joined the British at New York as an officer, he 

 was riding horseback, when a hog running across 

 the road terrified the animal hearing him, threw 

 him off and killed him. John Stark, when he 

 heard the news, remarked of liis brother that it 

 was the best feat he had ever performed in bis 

 life. 



The year 1755 was signalized by the defeat of 

 Gen. Braddock in the Alleghany iriountains near 

 Fort Du Uuesne, now Pittsburg ; and by the bat- 

 tle near Lid<e George between the Provincial 

 troops under Sir William Johnson and the French 

 and Indians under Baron Dieskau. War was nol 

 declared against France until 1756; but the 

 whole frontier before this was kept in constant 

 alarm by the incursions and depredations of the 

 French and Indians. Col. Jose|)li Blanchard, 

 wlio was a mandamus Counsellor in the govern- 

 ment of New Hampshire from 1740 to 1758 and 

 who resided in Dunstable, commanded a regi- 

 ment of 500 tnen from New Hampshire in '55. 

 He was stationed at Baker's town (now Salisbu- 

 ry) where his men first began to gather timber 

 for the building of batteaux. By Gov. Shirley's 

 advice, this force marched to Albany by way of 

 No. 4 (now Charlestown) through the wilderness 

 of Vermont, and at the time of the battle with 

 Dieskau, near the fort afterwards built and named 

 William Henry, was stationed at Fort Edward. 

 The battle was fought live hours, and was for a 

 long time in suspense. Both commanders were 

 wounded — Dieskau never recovered. Col. Wil- 

 liams with 50 of ids regiment, and Col. Titconib 



with 37 of his regiment, (liolli Provincial offi- 

 cers) were wounded or killed. The route was 

 strewed with dead bodies for three miles. The 

 defeat was made complete on the retreat by a 

 delachiuent from Blanchard's regiment of 80 

 New Hampshire men under Capt. (afterwards 

 General) Nathaniel Folsoni, who attacked and 

 captureil the rear guard with the baggage. This 

 afterwards veteran ofllcer of the revolution post- 

 e<l his men in trees and kept up a well directed 

 fire till night: the enemy retired with great loss, 

 and he made his way to the cainp carrying his 

 own wounded, several French jirisoners and 

 many enemy's packs. Besides Col. Blanchard's 

 force, a division of 300 more troops was the same 

 year marched to the frontier under Col. Peter 

 Gilman. 



"The soldiers of New Hampshire," says Bel- 

 knap, " were so expert in every service which 

 required agility, and so habituated to fatigue and 

 danger, that, by the express desire of Lord Lou- 

 don (then British commander-in-chiet',) three 

 ranging companies were formed of then), who 

 corttinued in the service as well in the winter as 

 in the summer. The command of these compa- 

 nies was given to Robert Rogers, John Stark and 

 William Staik." They were kept in service 

 during the war. Among the men of that service 

 was the late John Shute, Nathaniel Eastman, 

 .senior, and several others of the town of Con- 

 cord. 



We copy from the ancient file the following 

 interesting letter froin Col. Blanchard to Major 

 Rogers, and thus rescue it from the probable 

 oblivion to which it would otherwise be con- 

 signed : — 



From the Virginia Gazette, April 21, 1758. 

 A teller from Col. J. Blanchard to Major R. Rogers, 

 in tlie Crown Point Expedition, dated Dunstable, 

 in J\~ew England, March 10, 1758. 



Sir: — I hear your health is recovered, for 

 which I rejoice, as well as for the signal honor 

 you have acquired by yom- martial attempts and 

 success in defence of your country: May you 

 live, and that spirit not depart from you, so long 

 as a Frenchman in this land dare own himself 

 an enemy. 



The enterprising youth from our frontiers, 

 who have and are joining you for the ranging 

 service, are not the gleanings, but the first fi'uits, 

 of North America. By their loyalty, courage 

 and activity, it seems by instinct, as well as prin- 

 ciple, [they] are fitted to be taught to rob a bear 

 of her whelps, or enter those effeminate unmo- 

 lested dens, in your neighborhood, which have, 

 to our dishonor, stood too long in our waj'. 



Had we been seasonably provided, and proper- 

 ly equipt, the first summer, my regiment (tlie 

 sires of your present corps-de-guard) bad cer- 

 tainly imroosted those unclean birds at Crown- 

 Point. Alas! how much money, how many good 

 subjects, since thrown away I Are our circum- 

 stances on any account mended ? 



1 heartily wish you a favorable opportunity and 

 siiccessfnl attack against those mongrel disturb- 

 ers of the public peace, and a full reprisal in 

 honor, profits and revenge, for all their perfidious 

 treatment. Let it not be the employment of any 

 more to write our misfortunes, garrison after 

 garrison taken, armies, cotripanies and privates 

 killed, taken and stript; the enei7)y's country 

 filled with scalp*, captives, money, private plun- 

 der, warlike stores, and provisions. We have 

 only served like beasts of burthen to convey these 

 treasures for their convenience, and for our re- 

 ward, loss of life, or wretched captivity. For a 

 New England man to reflect on the past horrid 

 scenes of devastations and murders perpetrated 

 by those tawny cloven-footed tribes, hurried on 

 by these satanical French invaders, when pre- 

 tending to he at peace, lime out of mind, is too 

 formidable an history now to relate. It is but 

 of late the Continent soulh-west of New Eng- 

 land has shared in their barbarities, or charged 

 in their defence, though now they feel the fatal 

 effects. 



