136 



i^\)t iTarmcr's iHontl)!]) Visitor. 



fare as a neiglibor of mine tliat mowed liis pota- 

 to tops, declaring tliey were iis ;,'oiid as liay ; 

 the result in liis case was, he had no (lotatoes to 

 dijr, and the cattle w«re not of his o|)iiiion in re- 

 lation to the lops. I sowed last spring on my 

 potato ground, salt, at the rale of five hushels 

 to the acre, and have not found a diseased pota- 

 to amongst my crop, while a lot within ten tisel 

 of my own were liadly damaged. I slioidd not 

 dare rest the assertion that salt is a sure prevent- 

 ative, for I fear it is not, although it may do good. 

 Ashes J believe placed around the tops, may pre- 

 serve them from the ravages of the fly. 1 con- 

 sider it is the duty of all to gather up what facts 

 thev are able and cornmunicalc them to the jjub- 

 lic.^ N. 

 Concord, .Sept., 184C. 



ailOMTHLY VISITOR 



CONCORD, N. H., SEPT. 30, 1846. 



The Editor of the Tisitor an Itinerant. 



SKCOND JOURNEY. 



A vveeU'sride of some one hmidred and fifty 

 miles solitaire in the direction of Massachusetts 

 and over a part of the track of the Cheshire 

 railroad contiguous to the Bay State, after an in- 

 terval of five days at home, was succeeded on 

 the 24tli of August by a detour northward, filling 

 up before our return full half a month. 



We have lost much in travels oi; business and 

 visiting friends by taking always the most direct 

 route, thus going over the same road many 

 times; and we have found, too late in life proba- 

 bly to make amends for our mistake, that there 

 is much to be gained by going over roads more 

 circuitous, even though they increased the dis- 

 tance for several miles. No inconsiderable por- 

 tion of the pleasiH'e of the visitation of friends 

 at a distance is derived from the passage on the 

 way with safe horses under our own guidance; 

 and in seasons of leisure the consumption of 

 additional time in accomplishing an additional 

 distance, with objects new, constantly opening 

 before us is always well compensated. The best 

 part of New England — we mean the best farms 

 and the most thriving farmers — is to he found 

 away from the roads at present most travelled. — 

 In a season of parched ilryness and dust, if we 

 consult ease and comfort, we will jiursne a wind- 

 ing way over the smooth high hills, where we 

 cannot fail to appreciate not only the view of 

 fine farm ImiUliiigs and luxuriant farm enclos- 

 ures succeeding each other, but often an opening 

 panorama of distant hills and valleys, mountains, 

 lakes and rivers, beautiful as the feet of those 

 who bring ns glad tidings. 



Upon the Merrimack valley, Concord has long 

 been as the smallest part of the gomd neck 

 opening at either end, above and below, through 

 which the larger |)art of the travel must pass. — 

 The railroad era is hut destined to make this route 

 more exclusive. Merriuj.ick valley tapping the 

 Connectii'ut valley, at two or more points north- 

 erly, brings us a matter of course, at a single fo- 

 cus seventy five miles from the seaboard, at least 

 one third of the wliolc laud business of the cir- 

 cle surrounding the metropolis of New England. 

 This valley will of the more distant travel and 

 trade to and from the "far west" claim at least 

 a moiety, if not the larger portion, when the two 

 succeeding years shall have completed the cen- 

 tral railroad in Vermont continued by the north- 

 ern road in New York from Lake Champlaiii 

 to Ontario, 



It is remarkable that as we approach the high- 

 er mountains towards the boundary division of 

 the United States north, the sources and valleys 

 of the rivers are more and more depressed. Of 

 the two roa<ls above uniting at the Concord 

 timnel — and two there must and v:ill he ii'ilh little 

 or no interference each with the other liul to add to 

 the business of loth — there will not be in all the 

 distance as much elevation and depression for 

 one hundred and thirty miles out of Boston to 

 their termini on the line of Vermont, as will be 

 found in repeated instances in the distance of 

 ten miles over both the Worcester and the Mas- 

 sachusetts Western railroad. For the greater 

 portion of the distances upon both the Merri- 

 mack valley roads, loaded cars will scarcely re- 

 quire as much motive power as empty cars 

 through any Massachusetts line. Shortening 

 the distance to the far west by a direct commun- 

 ication with the lakes Sitncoe and Huron when 

 the railroad from Canada West shall meet our 

 road upon the St. Lawrence, ns much as the 

 whole length of the lakes Ontario and Erie — a 

 length said to measure eight hundred miles — 

 who can calculate the magnitude and the anjount 

 of merchandise, the product of oiu- own and of 

 foreign lands, that is destined to pass either way 

 on double railroad tracks the whole distance 

 thro'tgh the Merrimack valley and the manufac- 

 turing cities succeeding each other at every 

 waterfall! 



But in this calculation we are casting bi'yond 

 and losing sight of the second trip in August 

 which gave us so much delight, and which 

 would have been better enjoyed had not the 

 extreme heat of each succeeding day in the 

 whole torn' and the im|)alpable dust of the Con- 

 necticut river region which so much contributes 

 to the fertility of that green valley in its whole 

 distance — the detritus of liujestone ajid other 

 rocks much more recent than our own granite ; — 

 had not these before the end of the first week, 

 despite of lobelia and saltpetre, thrown us into 

 almost utter asthmatic helplessness, rendering a 

 h.'isty return home by easier stages necessary, 

 and (tuning ofi' at least one half of the distance 

 north aboat by the Canada Townships, through 

 the westerly line of oin- whole State from the 

 sources of the Connecticut above the Indian 

 slreani, the entire way down to the point where 

 the river is to be crossed by the Cheshire rail- 

 road. 



Across the Concord intervale on the west side, 

 the Montreal road, diverging directly from the 

 Northern railroad at the present depot, is laid 

 out over ground piu'chased of the proprietors of 

 the laud at a rate exceeding in no case two hun 

 drcd dollars the acre. As an earnest that an in- 

 dependent route is to be pursued all the way, 

 we found the preparations making for the stone 

 abutments of the railroad bridge, which is here 

 to cross the Merrimack in close contact with 

 the old Federal bridge. Advantage of the pres- 

 ent projiitious season of exneme Joy/ water has 

 been taken for laying the foundation of this bridge. 

 l''rom the east village in Concord alter crossing, 

 the road gradually gains the .elevation of the 

 second level upon the Merrimack, remarkable 

 between the several falls ps preserving an even 

 horizontal position upon both sides of the river 

 antl preserving also a viiry near level with valleys- 

 running ni'arly parallel, but receiliug from Ihe 

 river as we go northwardly. One of these val- 

 leys is that which cuts ofl' the distance of full 

 three miles as between Concord and Sandborn- 

 lon bridge, lenviug omuch easier route for build- 



ing the road than the bank of ihc river itself 

 through this valley at some distant pointof time 

 before the rocks were broken over in a longer 

 ciiciut, the waters of Winnrpisseogee lake for- 

 merly flowed. Pursuing the whole length of 

 Canterbury and Norlldield through the easy 

 course of these natural valley.«, the railway 

 crosses the Wiiinepisseogee branch winding 

 round the hill upon which stands the fine brick 

 structure recently erected l>y the Methodists to 

 accommodate that denomination with an aca- 

 demic school of the higher order. Having gain- 

 ed this river at a level above its most abrupt 

 falls, the course of the road fpr ten miles to Mer- 

 edith bridge is along the bank of the river and 

 the Sandbornton bays with which and the waters 

 of Winnepisseogee river it unites to the lake it- 

 seKJ opening the line range of townships sur- 

 rounding that elegant sheet of water to ready 

 access with the seaboanl. 



To Sandbornton bridge, the first twenty tniles 

 of this road, the wealthy farmers of Concord up- 

 on the east side and Ihe two towns of Canter- 

 bury and Northfield, without inrludiug the Shak- 

 ers who arc anxious to patronize the building of 

 railroads, but reluctant to engage in coj\()oratc 

 enterprises beyond their own peculiar family 

 connections, are abundantly able, of their own 

 sur|)lns capital, to construct this road, which-they 

 are now convinced will be a safe investment. — 

 They have taken the business in haivd ; and 

 probably the close of the year 1847 will see the 

 road completed in the whole distance of the 

 first twenty-one miles. 



Entering SandI)ornton at tlie Bridge village , a 

 portion of which belongs to Northfield, our 

 course traversed the whole length of that town 

 which, saving the southwest corner taken oft' to 

 supply a i)art of the territory of the new town 

 of Franklin, is a peninsula surrounded by the 

 water of the Pemigewassett on the west, the 

 Winnepisseogee river on the south and the groat 

 Bay on the east, nearly cutting it o(f lioin the 

 line of Meredith, which touches it for a short 

 distance with a neck of New Hampton over the 

 Salmon full mountain at llic north end oi' the 

 town. 



Sandbornton seems not to have much changed 

 nr materially improved in the last twenty years: 

 in that time nearly all the soldiers of the revolu- 

 tion, who returning from the wars gave the first 

 impetus to the risijig growth of New Ham|>shire, 

 have jiaid the debt of nature. Their sons and 

 daughters, ])erhaps eqiud in mmdiers to the 

 present po|)ulation, have gone forth to oilier new 

 settlements and newer stales, contributing their 

 share to the enter|iise and industry which have 

 built up the republic to its present eminence. — 

 The old territory of this jieninsula remains lo 

 bo improved in a betlei- advancemeiit for the 

 next than in the last twenty years. AVhen the 

 farmers of the interior shall discover, as they 

 must, that at least half the agricultural labor of 

 the Stale is thrown away — in other words, that 

 the same labor, with a better caliidntion may cd)- 

 tain a belter present ci(ij) and do hall' the work 

 of obtaining a belter (inure crop — wo shall see 

 ns the result the cidtivalcd hills of the Granite 

 State increased in value four fold. An open 

 market of easy access, upon the com|)lelion of 

 the coulcmplated railroads, will soon leinpt the 

 agricullural population to the highest efforts. 



The"S(piaro" upon elevalcd ground, central 

 to the town of Sandbornton was formerly the 

 great place of trade lor the snrroimding country 

 on either band : the enterpri«in°; men of years 



