1 i ir;;iaBJl iWi injWj i mj i ij « nil 



^{)c -farmer's iUoutl)li) Visitor. 



89 



to Hfii^'li two liundit'd hikI oiip pouiiils, tlic liea- 

 vi<!st on record ; luid ii o;iljliii;.'n Id wciyli (iirly-liiiir 

 pouiiils. J5y it I ;;ie\v wliuiit to weij;l] sixiy-lbur 

 poiiiKls, rvi' fixiy |M)iiii(l.-!, oais Ibrly-lbiir mid n 

 liidl' |Kiiinds. Wlicii !»[iri.'iif:i'l iii.-ide known liis 

 HNulysis, sliowini; dial elcvi'ii siilistanccs are tio- 

 cessHiy to all ijood .<oils, I Couiiil tliiit my oonipost 

 hy clianc(! had tlicin all, and twenty otiier enrich- 

 ing' ini;rcdienl?. 



Previous to lf-10, my orchards liore only every 

 oilier year. Sine<! then I make them hear every 

 year, and this year, (a had one lor IViiit,) liiimd my 

 inannred trees full, and lliose not ttianiired, hur- 

 ren. The drought of this year was fatal to fruit ; 

 Jet my manured trees had ahmidant moislnre and 

 were irniiful. I jireli'r the iiiaiiiiro of decaye<l 

 ve^etahle matter to ilie excrements of cattle, as 

 the material that maUi's and sn|iporis the animal 

 has been extracled, and the excrement is not so 

 rich on lliat acconnt. If the vejielahle m.-iuer lie 

 rolled and its aminoiiia fixed hy charcoal dust, 

 all the chemical sniislaiiccs are present. Thus 

 rotted, ve^'etahle mailer is more henelicial than 

 the dim;; of cutlle, qiianlily and quality alike. 



A most vahiahle niannre is the liquid remain- 

 ing afler the hoiliii^ of liones. It is very oflen- 

 eive unless disinfected. When hot it is not of- 

 fensive, hut hecomes so when cold. It is a jelly 

 when cold. By the a[iplicalion of charcoal dust 

 to the hot liquiij, the jelly w lieu cold is not ofi'en- 

 s-ive. Ill this state it may lie made into com|Kist 

 with oilier siilisiances. In that condiiion it is a 

 most vahiahle maiuiie. At present lar^e amoniits 

 of tiie liquid are ihrovv n iiilo rivers. 1 prevailed 

 upon a grinder of hones to save his liquid hy 

 charcoal, and he now sells what foniiei ly he hir- 

 ed carried away. I have used it wiifi gieat ad- 

 vanla;^e, hoth on arahleand meadow laud. 



Charcoal is one of the most vahiahle manures. 

 It is llie most powerful ahsorhent knouii. It 

 takes from the atmosphere oxy;ren, hyclroi;en, ni- 

 trogen, ammonia, &c., and holds them wliile llie 

 wealliiu- is dry. Durinj.' rain it ahsorbs eijriily per 

 ceiil. of water, and releases the gases to descend 

 to the earth to lirlilize it. When llie weather 

 becomes dry it fiarls with the water, anil ahsorhs 

 from the air the i:ases aiiaiii. This it continues 

 almost perpetually, and it is nearly iiidestructilile. 

 When applied to ilie earth, the trees, plants and 

 prassrs are found to have it adheriiif; to their 

 roots ready to impart jrases and nioisiure as waul- 

 ed. Tiees packed in it have remained f.neen for 

 eighty day-s while others without have died in 

 like circumstances. Hams and salt meals are 

 preserved perff-clly when packed in it. I pre- 

 served apples in perfect condition for one year 

 ill it. If spread over the compost heaps, fiarn 

 yards, stable fioors, in privies, il alisorhs the aiii- 

 moiiia. prevents offensive smells, and makes a 

 vahiahle compost. 



Asiies, appiiid to sandy soils, are valiKihle ; and 

 on some soils, leached are as iioofi as uuleached. 

 ] have known land too poor to grow eight bush- 

 els of corn, made to pioduee forty-five bushels, 

 hy ashes. On sandy soils in grass, lliey will pay 

 to apply to the acre OOhushils broadcast. 'J'liey 

 give to the soil silicate of potash, which is need- 

 ed to fiirni stems of grass and grain. Miicdi is 

 niude valuable by ashes, wlieii mixed in comport. 

 Tiiey destroy the acidity, autl lt;rinentation fol- 

 lows. 



Lime lias been used hy me to great advantage. 

 I preli-r oyster-shell lime, as it contains no luag- 

 liesia, vvbicli most stone lime doe.«. I |iut on bar- 

 ren, wori'-oiit laiiil, JiOO bushels of oyster-shrll 

 liine to the acre, and it grew wheat weighing (34 

 lbs. per bushel. Willi the wheat I soweil one 

 biisliel of clover and half a bushel of timothv 

 seed per acre, and the next year i-nt 2i Ions, and 

 the second year 3 tons of hay per acre. I have 

 found it of great advantage in potato culture. — 

 They are mealy and fine, and do not rot after 

 gathering, and have been liee of rot in the ground. 



Bone dust ] have used, and find it most valua- 

 ble ; for soils long cultivated, and destiiute of the 

 phosphate of lime, il is the most efficacious ma- 

 iime that can be used. There should be used 

 from 12 to 20 bushels to the acre. 



I liavc^ used guano successfully and unsuccess- 

 fully. Mixed with earth and applied to plants in 

 close contact, it was injurious ; applied in weak 

 solution to grass and green-house plants, its ef- 

 fect was wonderful. In composts 1 have found it 

 very efTective. 



Night-soil is one of the most valuable niamires. 



Ill ibis couniry, as well as in England, great pre- 

 judice prevails against ils use, in agricullure or 

 gaideniug. For ages, il has Ixjeii used in Asia, 

 anil particularly ill (^liina. In Fiance, in IJelglum, 

 lishemia. Saxony, all the GerniMii coiilederacy, 

 and Sweden, its deslruciion or waste is prohibit- 

 ed by law. As uiaiiure, six loads of it have been 

 found m produce (i-TO bushels of poiatoes lo the 

 acre, while on llie same <iround, 120 loads of 

 horse manure gave only 4irO bnsluls. 



In conclusion, I have to remirk that Ihe main- 

 stay of the farmer is his barii-yard uiauiiie. Yet 

 this varies iii quality, according to the material 

 of which it is made, and the manner of making. 

 Thus the droppings of cattle fed on straw and 

 turnips are flir less valuable than those of callle 

 fed on bay niid oil-cake ; and il is economy to 

 f<;ed liny and oil-cake, rather than straw and iiir- 

 iiips. So ill manuring; that which is leached hy 

 rains and volalilized by the sun, is less valuable 

 ibau the uuleached and imsiiuued. But ibis is 

 too extensive a subject to lake up now, anil is loo 

 well nuderstood by good fiiriiiers, to need fiirtlier 

 illustration. 



ITfli:tf¥iSII0l> 



CONCORD, N. H., JUNE 30, 1S46. 



A Rich Min« in a New WoodcH Discovery. 



The jams of mill and timber logs coming down 

 from llie Norlli, which have passed Sewall's IJills, 

 Turkey river and Garvin's falls within the limits 

 of the width of the town of Concord, in the last 

 fortnight, have attracted the attention of the cu- 

 rious. Logs and timber have been passing every 

 season, more or less, down the river. Thirty 

 years ago we well remember the statements often 

 repealed, that the limber good for any thing was 

 nearly or quite exhausted ; but ihe amount com- 

 ing down in rafts in no succeeding year seems lo 

 be lessened, and the cry is "still they come." 



We had seen monstrous rafts of limber upon 

 the series of lakes which eoinpo.se much of the 

 distance of the .St. Lawrence below Montreal, 

 where the rafts with their shanty residences float 

 slowly down — we had likewise marked large rafts 

 low down upon the Susquehanna and Delaware 

 rivers, taken irom the pine (uresis fiir back to- 

 wards their sources ; and we had witnessed upon 

 ihe broad Ohio and Mississippi rafis of many 

 acres coming down from the piney country at the 

 sources of the Allegany river; all these seemed 

 lu be diminished lo the size, in proporlion lo the 

 waters on which ihey floated, of a common Mer- 

 rimack river raft which our own river men at the 

 "Borough" slart off annually from the moiiili of 

 llie Coulnocook. Bui we never dreamed, with 

 the diiiiinished supply of pines up couniry, of 

 seeing a jam of tiuiber logs upon llie Merrimack 

 covering an extent of filieen to twenty acres 

 brought down fi-oiri the valleys and even fastness- 

 es of the uioiintaiiis to which lew of even the 

 trappers and hunters of former limes have had 

 access. 



Tile acres of logs now passing over llie main 

 falls upon the Merrimack compose only the first 

 division of an immensity which has been logged 

 the two past winters (mainly the last,) near the 

 sources of the Pemigewasselt or northern branch 

 of the Merrimack. The land of ihe mountains 

 of New Hampshire not embraced in any located 

 township, is not all rocks and ledges. Passing 

 from Plymouth through the Fraiiconia notch by 

 the "Old Man of the Jlouulain" in the town of 

 Woodstock we leave the main branch of the 

 Pemigewasselt which lakes ils course further 

 eastward. Mr. Crawford, the veteran legislator 



of the While Monnlain nolch, who has personal- 

 ly explored the mouuiaius wiih their valleys and 

 fastnesses, informs us llmt Carrigaiu's map laid 

 down mostly from acliial survey s made about for- 

 ty years ago, presenls rpiiie an accurate \ iew of 

 the course of the upper streams in the mountains. 

 By this map it will be seen that ilie upper main 

 stem of the Pemigewasselt or Merrimack runs 

 sevpial miles to the nortlnvesi by Sawyer's river, 

 which is a southerly branch of iln' Saco nearlv 

 or quite as large as the main stream coining down 

 directly through the nolch. The cour.se of tlio 

 Pemigewasselt after leaving Woodblock is some 

 tliirly miles — it has n stem coming in from the 

 southenst, the head of which is at ihe source of 

 Swift river, ranniug a long distance in the town 

 of Albany,and iiniiiug with the Saco lower tlowu 

 in Ihe town of Conway. The logs which are 

 coming down in such iuiniense quantities come 

 from the great forest in the upper valley of the 

 Pemigewasselt : Mr. Crawford says some of them 

 are cut not over eight miles from his own resi- 

 dence, which is on the main branch of the Saco 

 itscdf running through Jlan's Location. It i^ (he 

 informs us) only about two miles from the Willey 

 house in the notch to a pond, one of the sources 

 of the main stem of ihe Peuiigewasselt: further 

 west, and only a short distance over the ridge 

 south of Thomas J, Crawfiird'.s place, directly lit 

 ihe notch coinmenees the main stem itself. 



A few years ago Messrs, Fisk and Norcross of 

 Maine, purchased from a gentleman in Thornton 

 sixly-lhree tlioiisaiKi acres of these solitary n.ouii- 

 laius : the [line and spruce timlier growing there 

 was thought to be of little value, because almost 

 every body supposed il could never be brought 

 down. Mr. Norcross has, since he made the pur- 

 chase, been personally at work, as well in dam- 

 ming and blowing rocks out of the river, as in 

 felling trees and drawiugihem In it. Diving info 

 the mountain forest, he has prepared in iwo sea- 

 sons some eight millions feel of lumber. The 

 upper Pemigewasselt has been so improved that 

 in high water the heaviest logs and longest trees 

 are driven down wiili no iiisu|ieiable difBculty. 

 The river is all the way rapid, bin ihe fall is in no 

 part of the dislaiice so abrupt as at Garvin's or 

 Hooksell. The worst fall in the whole course 

 down is said lo be the Liverinore fidls at Camp- 

 ion, just above Plymouth. The cost of driving 

 the first division all the way liom ihe confluence 

 of the several sireams at Woodstock down lo 

 iMalicbesler .Mr. Norcross believes will not he so 

 great as the expense of rafting from this town lo 

 .Manirbester, which is considered and calltid one 

 dollar and a half a thousand. 



Messr.s. Fisk and Norcross have already made 

 other purchases of the monnlain lands in these up- 

 per valleys : these geutleuieu calculate on still fur- 

 ther improvemenl, not only of the stem branches 

 above, but of the larL'er falls of the Merrimack 

 below. Their men, while the twenty acre jatn 

 was reposing over Turkey fills, look their own 

 logs into the old saw mill below at Garvin's falls, 

 sawed them into plank, and prepared in an in- 

 credibly short space of lime ,i dam half way over 

 the river below the main dam dlrecily at the head 

 of the falls: they blowed off the cap of a main 

 rock in ihe falls, and formed a channel in the riv- 

 er over the falls, down which the whole mass of 

 lumber has been precipitated. The gentlemen 

 in the red shirts in iheir light boat canoes skip 

 about and over the large ripples of the falls as 

 if there was no more danger than in smooth wa- 

 ter. Logs throwing themselves upon the rocks 

 surrounded hy the foaming waters are extricated 



