184 



®l)e JTarincr's iilontl)l|) iDisitor. 



laffbr fiimily use, is at hand, tlie inoJe of curing 

 bet'lj pork and liaius, is iin|>oi'Iuiit to every housu- 

 keejier. J take it lijr j;raiiteil nvery one knows 

 tliat in rurin^' i)ork, tlic jiinin point is to ])Ut in a 

 a f;reat abiimiunci'. of fjood salt. There need he 

 no fear of applying too njuch. If not requircil 

 in curing the meat, it will rrniaiii in the cask, and 

 is as good as ever to he applied again. In ctiring 

 l)ecf, salt shoidd lie used more sparingly. Six 

 Ihs. of fine salt, foin' ounces of saltpetre, one and 

 a quarter ll>s. of brown sugar, make a portion of 

 ingredients for 100 Ihs. of beef. In twenty-four 

 bonrs a pickle that will bear an egg end-wise, 

 shoidd he ap|died. Drying lieef should remain 

 in the pickle about ten days. To cure h^ims tlio- 

 roiighly, so as to have tlieni sufficiently salt to 

 keep, and yet not too salt, and to give them a 

 real Jerse}/ flavor, is a nioie dolii-ato operation, 

 and rcrpiires a nice hand. The following recipe 

 is a good one, and may he relied on for making a 

 first rate hajii. To 80 Ihs. of Jiams, take ibtu- 

 onnces of hroivn sugar, three ounces of saltpe- 

 tre, and one pint of tine salt; pidverize and mix 

 them thorouglily; rid) the liatns well all over, 

 pariicuhu-ly on tlie fie.sh side, and lay ihein on 

 board.s for 36 or 48 iioiirs, and then pack them in 

 casks, ailding two (piarts of fine salt to every 80 

 lbs. ot' hams. In fifteen or ei;!hteen days, they 

 may he l)ung up to smoke. — Philn. Farmer^s Cab- 

 inet. 



CONCORD, N. H., DEC. 31, 1846. 



To the Patrons of the Monthly Visitor. 



Witii the present number closes the eighth 

 volume of the Visitor ; and before commencing 

 n new year we sball take this occasion to address 

 a few words to its fi lends and patrons, first thank- 

 ing them for their kimi luitronagc and trusting 

 that we shall be permitted to continue their 

 names on our list for the year 1847. 



The present ntimberof the Visitor's subscrip- 

 tion list is about 3400, about 100 less than it was 

 last year, and not more than half what it was for 

 the <(tio yiJ's/ years after its estahlishtnent, when 

 the subscription price was 7.5 instead of 50 cents 

 per annum. And here we may I)e permitted to 

 repeat what we stated in our prospectus for 1840, 

 that twenty-four hundred subscribers, while they 

 will afl'ord a fair (iiofit for puhllshiiig merely, will 

 not fiu'iiish a sufficient recompense (or the editor's 

 services also. In reducing the price of subscri])- 

 tion, four years since, from 75 to 50 cents, we 

 did 80 with the idea that we might double, or at 

 least greatly enlarge, our list, which was then 

 5000. But we have been disappointed in this 

 expectation, and many of om- present patrons 

 have freriuently told us that the original price 

 was " low enough," and that we made a grt;al 

 mistake for our own pecuniary interest in reduc- 

 ing it. However this may be, it iti not our pres- 

 etit intention to raise it ; and we only name the 

 matter at all with .a view to reirfuid the agricul- 

 tural public that the course we had supjiosed 

 was to beuifit both iIkmu and us has resulted 

 wholly to MeiVadvjintuge and not at all to ours. 



We regret that oiu" eiibscription list has not 

 incrcfiscd during the ' past year, inasmuch as it 

 precludes lis from carrying out a plan we had 

 conceived to procure new type for, and otlier- 

 wise materially improve, the next volume. As 

 the matter staixls, wo are rehictanlly compelled 

 to forego this anungeinent, at least for the pres- 

 ent. But if our present subscribers slmll 

 jn'omptly remit their subscnjitions for the next 

 yrnr, lyid w ill (iirther make such nn effort as will 



ensure us a few hundred new patrons, we intend 

 to make these iiii|>rovemenls in the course ot a 

 few months. The cash in advance for eight 

 hundred new subscribers will about pay the ex- 

 pense of a new and elegant assortment of type, 

 and if each third one, only, of oiu' present patrons 

 will but take the trouble to seiul us an additional 

 name, oin- plan will be accomplished. Shall it 

 not be done.' Will the farmers of New Hamp- 

 shire not make an effort to support at least one 

 paper in their State, exclusively devoted to the 

 great cause of Agriculture, and give it sufficient 

 [)atroiMige to ni;ike it what it should he? 



The attention of the agricultural public is res- 

 pectfully invited to the (ollowing exceedingly 

 low rates of subscrijition fi)r the Visitor, which, 

 considering its size, frequency of publication, 

 and quantity of matter, fiill far below those cf 

 any other weekly or monthly paper pid)lished in 

 the United States: — 



TERMS. — To single std)scrjhers, 50 cents |icr 

 annum. Ten per cent, will be allovved to any 

 person who shall send us more than one sub- 

 scriber. 



^^^ To clubs, or individuals, forwarding us $4, 

 po.flrige paid, twelve copies will be sent for 

 o.NK YEAf;. Any addiiional nundjer of copies 

 w ill be liuuished at the same rate. The pay- 

 ment in every case must be made in advance. 



To Delinquents. 



We have on our books the names of <|iiite a 

 Lumber of siibscribeis who have not yet paid for 

 the last volume, and a few who owe us for two 

 or three years back. Many who have taken tfie 

 Visitor for the past year, did not forward their 

 subscriptions, because it was inconvenient to send 

 half a doll.ir in a letter. They can now remit us 

 a good current one dollar bill in payment for ar- 

 rearages and the next volume. We trust that our 

 friends will remember us with the commence- 

 ment of the new year. May it be a happy one to 

 all. , 



05^ The next nundier of the Visitor will he 

 issued on the alst of January. The names of all 

 new suliscribers shoidd bo forwarded to ns as 

 soon as the20ih. 



Hemp in the Western States. 



Of the many staple articles for which the Uni- 

 ted States of North America have been depend- 

 ent on foreign countries, it is remarkal.'le that the 

 climate and soil of some portions of our own 

 country prove to ho well adapted to their produc- 

 tion. In most of the tropical articles iVoiri the 

 West Indies, the acqtusiliou to this country of 

 Louisiana, Texas and Florida, embracing much 

 ol the shores of the Mexican gulf, opetis a field 

 to American enterprise vvhi<di will by-aiid-bye 

 cast into the shade the whole liueigu proihicl. 

 Fifty years ago, tin- the little cotton consumed in 

 tills country we \\ere indebted either to the liir- 

 ther India or to the West India Islands : in its 

 crude slate, the only niiiiiuliictui'e of cotton was 

 by hand labor; the seeds came along with the 

 cotton. Cotton was manufactured by the hands 

 of fi.'niales generally as the filling of a war(i of 

 linen. The work of picking out the seeils alone 

 was greater than all the present expense of ma- 

 king the cloth and preparing it lor garments.— 

 The better kind of cotton was then all ofthei^eu- 

 Island or West India growth. The first Carolina 

 and Georgia cotton was an inferior article of little 

 value, as was the same article imported fioin be- 

 yond the Cape of Good Hope. An eminent mer- 

 chant of ISuston is now living who laid the found- 

 ation of the fi)rlune of a inillioji first in the small 

 biginnings of importing common cotton cloths 



from Calcutta. This cotton was then much in 

 common use in the liimilies unable to manufiictiiie 

 their own cloth. The coarse India cotton cloths 

 were hardly stronger than common stout brown 

 paper. With the invention of Whitney's gin for 

 cleansing cotton, the production of this article in 

 the old .Vtlanlic Soiitiieni Slates rapidly increased. 

 After the acquisilion of Louisiana, the new Slate 

 of Alabama first, and afterwards Mis.sissippi, 

 Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, &c. came in as 

 cotton growing Stales, until at lengih this grand 

 article has become of equal if not greater value 

 than all the other articles of export together. So 

 also the article of sugar in Louisiana alone has 

 become already nearly equal to the whole West 

 India imjiorts; and lof this production the de- 

 mand growing up in the new countries coming 

 down the valley for their trade to New Orleans 

 must for n)any years equal the supply. It is wor- 

 thy of notice that notwithstanding the reduction 

 of one half the duty on foreign sugars by the ta- 

 riff of J84C, still the price of sugar is iiiaiiilain- 

 ed, showing clearly that the domestic sugar re- 

 ceived no protection from higher taxation ofnhe 

 tariff'. 



In the Monthly Visitor four yeais ago, we no- 

 ticed the efforts of David iMyerle, Esq. of Mis- 

 souri, in the inuodiiction of Henii>as a staple ar- 

 ticle for which much of ilie soil of the Mississip- 

 pi valley was well adapted. We jire not now in 

 a (losition to turn to the articles then published, 

 and cannot from memory st.ite all the particulars; 

 hut a recent interview with Mr. .Myeile induced 

 us to make the inquiry relative to the progress 

 of the hemp culti.valio;i and the success attend- 

 ing it. 



Mr. Myeile informs us that since the year 1841, 

 the [>roiluction of hemp has risen in the Missis- 

 sippi valley, mainly in Kentucky, Ohio. Indiana, 

 Illinois, I\!i.=sonri and Tennessee, lioin 4000 tons 

 to L?0,000 tons ; and that in Missouri alone in that 

 lime the production has been raised from 400 

 tons to 15,000. This increase in the produrtioii 

 of hemp has retained in the country between two 

 and three millions of dollars annually sent to Rus- 

 sia and the north of Europe. The government 

 l«is directed that its whole manufaciuio of cord- 

 age shall bo of .American hemp. So great has 

 L)een itssubslitulion for the piiipose of il'fip-biiild- 

 ing in New England and other objects, that forty 

 sail of vessels (iom Salem and other Massachu- 

 setts ports have been ohiigeil to change their oc- 

 cupation from that of importing hemp ami cord- 

 age from the north of Europe. 



The imporlalion of American hemp has alrea- 

 dy become of imporlance. Diindeu in ScotlamI, 

 famous for its fine linen fabrics, is substituting 

 .\niiii<Mii hemp for the flax heielofoie used to a 

 very cotisiderable extent. For the introduction 

 of hemp, (ireat Hiilain only requires a small im- 

 port duty, so that the article mtiy bo considered 

 as free for that country. It is there whitened and 

 prepared by a chemical proct-ss, so as to be lin- 

 meiliatoly used. From the iiKinuliiciure of linen 

 alone, Helljist, in the lunlli of Ireland, has in- 

 creased in wealth and population within ihe past 

 tive years, equal to the growth of the most pros- 

 perous inanufuctnrina towns of New I'^iiglaiid. 

 Dundee and its vicinity in ScotlamI, adjacent to 

 (he north of Ireland, may be included us in the 

 .-ame prosjieroiis conditimi, mainly from the linen 

 proiliiclion. fliay it ho reganled as impiobablc, 

 that this great manufaclinlng district of the linen 

 prodiiftion will look to America for its raw ma- 

 terial as .Manchesier in England looks to New 

 Orleans for its cotton ? 



