H, ^ 



162 



®l)c iTavmcr's iHontl)lij i^isitov. 



by the reinoval of ijlariters with llieir slave (iirai- 

 lles from the old lo the new Stales. There seems 

 to have been no idea eiileitained any where that 

 cotton and sn^ar could he jjrown by any thing 

 else than slave labor. If the nenly opened conji- 

 tries of the United Stales [irudiicing the great 

 staple so important lollie eoniniereial and niaiin- 

 facliulng world hnve eaused llicdifT'nsion, and by 

 conseijiience the inciease of .-laves in nmnbers, 

 we are not of lliose w ho can eoneeile that this in- 

 crease of the Iminan race, //er sc, has been the 

 cutise of niagnilying the ainoMnt ol' hnniaii mis- 

 er}', because oin- opinion is that in no part of the 

 world has the African lace been so niiieh exempt 

 from the snftiirings to which the ignorant and he- 

 nighled in all parts of the world are exposed as 

 tliat poition oi'lhe negro lace iji this country em- 

 ployed iii prodticiiig cotton and siigai'. It has 

 been really an act of hnmanily for the owners of 

 slaves upon Maryland, V'iiginia and Carolina 

 plantations, yielding a scanty snpport for the 

 slaves themselves, to remove with them npon the 

 rich, new lands « Inch, giving wealth to their 

 owners enable the;ij to treat well their depend- 

 ants. 



Magnified Iinportniiee of Iiidiau Corn. 



To tlie many thousand barrels of whealeu l]oin' 

 brought into New Hampsliire for the cnnsmnp- 

 tion of its inhabitants that have passed from the 

 railroad depots along th'e line from Nashua to 

 Concord the j)resent year, may be added many 

 thousand bags iind bushels of sonthern and west- 

 ern Indian coin. Ol' these we have seen them 

 selling at from tcl'~5 to S'2 the bag, each of two 

 bnsliels, loading ii|ion teams to be carried farther 

 into the interior. Now this piireliuse of flom-and 

 corn lor interior consmn|itioi) was miknown 

 within the recollection of many of the older in- 

 habitants: the Ijn'mers then were not oidy able 

 to raise their owij breadstnfis, but they weie rea- 

 lly lo produce a surplus for sale. 'J'he diflicnlty 

 then was there was no market. To carry corn, 

 or rye, or barley, or oats, or even wheat to the 

 market woidd cost the greater part of the price 

 in the transport. In the revolutionary war the 

 provisional government of New Hampshire made 

 shipments, as appears fioni the State records, of 

 carj(oes of corn raised in this State to supply the 

 wants of the people of Virginia and the SoiUh 

 while the enemy were overrunning that country 

 previous to the capitulation of Cornwallis at 

 Yorktown. 



In the first opening of the farms in the hill 

 towns of New Hampshire the several kinds of 

 grain were easily raised ami prodiicod. liye and 

 wheat grew liixmiantly after the burning of llie 

 fallen trees. The first growing of Indian corn 

 upon burnt ground in New Hampshire to any 

 considerable extent is said to have been in that 

 part of Dmdiarton (seven miles out of this vil- 

 lage;) upon whii-h the ancestor of the I'.igi; lamily 

 first made his [liteh : the rye or wheat crop on 

 some dozen acres had been omitted until too late 

 for the season. Indian corn was stuck in with 

 the point of a hoe, and, withiSiit further cultiva- 

 tion, a most luxuriant crop came ofl' in the Hdl. 

 The same laud at this time, lo produce corn, re- 

 qifnes not only careful ploughing and cultivation, 

 but the application of the best stimulating ma- 

 nures. 



Hard us it is to raise Indian corn in New Eng- 

 land, we are yet of thejopinion that while it will 

 bear a price within tweiiij'-fivc per cent, of the 

 present rates, ns a crop i^iiservntive of the soil, 

 it may be raised tojulvantagc. The higlicr soils, 

 under proper management, may become the bet- 



ter ground for the corn crop, tl^vill not do on 

 this light soil to take away crop*'after cro|i to the 

 exhaustion ol' the land : the crops may J.)e in a 

 course of rotation taken I'roiii this kind of land 

 every year leaving it more productive; .nul this 

 too with much le.«s expense than is supposed. A 

 lighter soil requires a qifieker rotation — Cite year 

 to grain with plaster and clover — one year to 

 corn — one again to gniin, followed by a grass 

 crop or pasturage either one or two years. The 

 stimulating vegetable mamn'cs applied to a corn 

 or potato crop, mixed well with the soil or cov- 

 ered, will give to this kind ol' land its whole 

 strength, and produce results in the shortest time. 

 Drought with deep ploughing need not be much 

 more learcd than upon hard pan upland rocky 

 soil. One hall' the labor for the same numbei- of 

 a<M'es will suliice for the year's crop. Clean and 

 free of weedfe, with the aid of the eommou cul- 

 tivatoiyithe hand labor of the hoe is a mere trifle 

 upon this light land. 



All our efforts to raise Indian corn Tu New 

 England .seejn asa work of supererrogatioii when 

 we learn with what ease and to what amount 

 corn can be raised in the vast regions opening in 

 the great West. Upon the botljjins of some of 

 the rivers, the land is there so fertile as to have 

 produced crops of corn succeeding each other 

 many years, with no seenung approach to ex- 

 haustion. Vet eoidident we ape that without 

 deeper ploughing, or the a|>|)licatioM of some 

 (piality taken from the land, sooner or later, even 

 this rich land must become exhausted. Hut lor 

 many jears the ca()abilities of the'great valley of 

 the Mississippi are suflicient to supply all of 

 America and Europe with bread. 



In thai part of I'^urope most connected with the 

 eoimnerce of the United Slates, there has hereto- 

 fore been little or no demand for ojir Indian corn, 

 to be used as bread: the peoplii of Great Britain 

 and Ireland seem to have learned nothing of the 

 value ol' its use. But now that an entire ch.-mge 

 of policy in the British government opens to 

 America free access of trade, how important is 

 that providential event which has cut off almost 

 entirely the potato crop of the present year, and 

 forces the British nfinistry to the |)urcliase of the 

 supplies of liulian corn produced by the western 

 States of this Union in an abtiudani year. Nec- 

 essity alone would force the destitute Irish, 

 Scotch and English to the use of Indian corn for 

 bread ; and this necessity comes at the precise 

 time when every governmental obstruction to free 

 trade in American produce had been taken away. 

 Once inlroduced as food tor the labeling classes 

 ol' I'.urope, the pecidiar American grain will nev- 

 er be forgotten. 



In regard to the raising of corn in the western 

 States, the editor of the Visitor has several times 

 conversed with Henry L. I'^llsworth, Esq., late 

 Commissioner of Patents jit Washington, wlio.-ic 

 zeal for agricultural iuqirovcmcnt, s|ircading im- 

 portant inlbrmation in regard to productions and 

 crtqps through every part of the country Wy means 

 of his well-digested animal reports, has done 

 much for the cause of agriculture. This gentle- 

 man has carried into enict his original intent of 

 turning farmer and producer at the West by re- 

 signing the place now hlli?il by llic lion. Edmund 

 ISurke, r(;ceiitly a member of Congress ffoni ihls 

 Stato, Before he ba<l resigned, Mr. Ellsworth 

 had turned his attention partieidarly to the valu- 

 able lands ill the State of Iixliana upon the Wa- 

 bash river: on bis own account and for a compa- 

 ny he there made extensive purchases of the gov- 

 crument lands. Upon these new opeuiiig lands 



his crop jjf corn tyifo years ago was about tificen 

 tlioiisitnd bushels. 



The annnal reports from the I'atent oliice, mi- 

 3gr the superintendence of Mr. Ellswoiih, have 

 spread far'and wide iiifoiiiiiiiion of great vaha; lo 

 the firmer. The report of .Mr. Burke, made lo 

 Congress last winter, is a compact volume of 

 1184 pages: its whole matter is Jiighly interest- 

 iiig«-it seems to us of more value than all the 

 other published docinuenis nf Congress put lo- 

 gether. From this report we extract a portion of 

 the letter of Air. Ellsworth lo the present ('oin- 

 missiouer, relalive to the production of corn upon 

 the Wabash : 



Cultivation of Pkairif. Land.— The vast 

 aiiiomU of (irairie laud owned bv the United 

 States, alllioMgh rich and feilile, re'nains still iiii- 

 culiivated, :mil will continue so until the expense 

 of feiiriug is reduced. Some persons that have 

 entered lliis kind of land already meet great ein- 

 liarrassments ; while others, that have adopted 

 the modern impiovemciits, rejoice thai they have 

 escaped the toil and expense of clearing otiiim- 

 ber, when the land was covered with wood. In 

 my former repoi ts, as Commissiouer of Patents, 

 1 have frequently alluded lo il.is aubjecl, and of- 

 Icred many siiggestions for the consideration of 

 others. Since leaving the Patent Oliice, I have 

 been enabled to reduce my thcoiy lo pr.ii lice, 

 ;uid will give you a detail of oper.ilioiis which. 

 have proved successful, lu hrealung up the prai- 

 rh\ livi; good yoke of cattle are necessary, il' llie 

 large breaking-plough is u.sed. U'liis leam may be 

 conqiosed of two yoke of old well-broken cattle, 

 am! three yoke of unbroken steers, and vt ill break 

 from l-i to 3) acres per day, according lo the 

 'Hve;illicr. It may seem surprit-ing that only one 

 man or boy is i.'ecesstiry, viz: a (biver for each • 

 team. No person holds the plough. 1 have had 

 seven ploughs at work during much of the stlin- 

 luei', and the plough, as is said, •' liohls iuself" 

 This novel sight attracteil the attention of travel- 

 lers, who often alighted lb see how the work was 

 perl'ormed. The arrangiiieiit lo effect ihis was 

 simple. Two small v\ heels, made of plank, w nil 

 a shoit axle, v\ere placed in front at the extremi- 

 ty of the beam, which was fastened so as to keep 

 the plough erect, to govern the deplh of the liir- 

 row, as well as the width of the same. Some- 

 times both w heels are made to run upon the turf; 

 il is heller, howevei, to make the wheel of the 

 furro>v about eight inches in diameier, the larg- 

 e>t ; (this will keep the axle sulliciently. level.) 

 The seven teams, which were driven by youths 

 14 to 16 years old, reipiired one jiidicicus man to 

 keep the ploughs in order, for somclinies they 

 would come in contact with stones, and roots, al- 

 most as hail : and, in all cases, the ploughs often 

 need sharpening, w liich is done by either hain- 

 iiieriug or filing the share. The usual price for 

 breaking up prairie land, near my re>ideiice, is 

 sl'.'iO per acre. This work can lie done imicli 

 cheaper, however, by hiring a man at $18 per 

 mouth, or It), he bnariliug himself; since the team 

 is snppiirtiMl on the praiiie. and there is little ex- 

 tra e.\|iense, except the repairing ol' the plough. 

 .Vnother mode has lately been adopted in break- 

 ini;' up the prairie, viz : wilh a simile span of hoi- 

 ses. 'I'd ;iccouiplish this, a ciiuliir, wilh a >hare 

 six to eight inches wide, is first pa.-^sed ihroiigh 

 the sod; this, it is perceived, must cut vertically, 

 and also hoiizoutally, as far as is iieces>ary, it 

 hciiig desirable not lo cut the whole distance of 

 the fnnow, since the remaining operation rcipiires 

 a part of the sod ne.ucsl the furrow lo remain 

 solid. The seconil operation is the running of a 

 eommou plough, with a sharp share, (wilh or 

 without a coulter,) in the same track. 'J'he only 

 obslacle to its ea.*y passage is the outer edjrc of 

 the furrow of a few inches; this is enl or IikiK- 

 en, and the furrow easil) tmiied over. This 

 pl(iu;j,h will enable a .settler, if the land is plough- 

 ed in the spring, being then much less compact, 

 to break op, wilh his span of horse.-', l-i acre per 



There has been much divej-sity ol opinion as 

 to ihe ilcpth of the furrow, and the proper tiiiio 

 of breakini' up. Fiom three ;ind a half to lour 

 inches is STlfficielltly deep: the turf ,«ooner ile- 

 eomposos if it is cut shallow rather than deep; 

 then the lower roots decay rapidly, and in a few 



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