®l)c iTarmcr's itlontljly Visitor. 



153 



of tlie Grafloii biijjadc, to lie assembled here for 

 tlisei|)liiic uiiil diill accoriliiig lo law. The hali- 

 ils of that country, in its present intellife'eiit {;eii- 

 eration, are surh tiiat little noise or confusion 

 nccoinpanies u crowd. The most of onr old ac- 

 quaintance in Grafton, the faces we always knew 

 as pleasant to the recollection, have passed (iff 

 the stage : many of the new generations grow- 

 ing into men within tlie last tweiity years, are 

 strangers; hut the specimen as cxliiliitiil in the 

 one hundred and lil'ty military odiccrs collected, 

 attaiuiug the better knowledge of the school of 

 the soldier, <liil no discredit to either the fathers 

 or mothers of a later generation. Their better 

 and more ample o|)portunilies for itnprovemcnt 

 indicate, that in this part of the interior of the 

 Granite State the sons will not be behind their 

 fathers in every good word and work. 



Canaan is about forty miles in a line north from 

 Concord: the higher altitude of its village would 

 inake a difference of about three degrees in lati- 

 tude. Indian corn grows well there: from the 

 field of the lion. Caleb Bloilgelt we plucked and 

 brought away, on the 'Jth September, ears fully 

 ripe of the large Dulton corn, wliich was planted 

 and has grown since the 22d day of IMay last. 

 Wo engaged a bushel of the same field, to be ex- 

 changed as seed for the same kind of corn which 

 we already raise, having learne<l, from better ex 

 periencc, tliat the seed corn which grows at the 

 north is always earlier and quicker iu growth 

 than that which grows and ripens at the somh. 



On the whole, this jaunt overaboiit fifly miles 

 of the Northern- railroad was most (ileasant and 

 satisfactory, enabling us to anticipate how much 

 value easy access of comuiunication and trans- 

 port is ready to impai't to many things whose 

 value liiihcrto has been merely nominal, and how 

 strong are becoming the inducements for the 

 enterprising men and women, coming upon the 

 stage of action, to remain where all the elements 

 of wealth and domestic social enjoy mei:t may he 

 made immediately available. 



Onr first serious Apology. 



(tj^ A most unfortunate n^ansposiiion of mat- 

 ter having been made iu the last number of the 

 Visitor, iu our article upon the Norllurn Railroad, 

 we knew of no better way to repair damages 

 than by re-iiublishiug the article entire in the 

 present number, hojiing the printers will Jiot 

 make, in attemplijig the correction, any worse; 

 mistakes than they made iu the original inser- 

 tion. Not by our own act ue have been |ilaced 

 in an unfortunate position, temporarily, in rela- 

 tion 10 i!ie pid)licalion of the Visitor: the foi-ms 

 are arranged at one point, and the printing (often 

 taking place before the ibrms are properly cor- 

 rected) is done in another. There are other mat- 

 ters in relation to our publication wliicli we un- 

 derstand, and of which our kiiul friends have loo 

 great reason to complain. If the present health 

 of the editor shall continue, he will assure tlicni, 

 ;i(ter the first day of January next, the beginning 

 of the new year, that the Visitor shall appear in 

 a slia|;e and regularity which shall he wcjrlhy of 

 its origin. 



Memory of a J\lolher. — John Randolph, some 

 years since, addressed himself fo an intimate 

 friend in something like the following; 



■'I used to be called a Frenchman, because I 

 took French sides in politics; and though this 

 was unjust, yet the truth is, I should have been 

 a French atheist, if it hafi not been for one recol- 

 lection, and that was the memory of the Uini: 

 when iny departed mother used to take my Mule 

 hands in hers, and cause me on my knees to say, 

 " Otn- Father which art in Heaven." 



To Prepare Bones for Manure. 



As mills for grimling hones are very costly, " 

 is a great disiderulum for the farmer to know 

 how he can otherwise prepare them for his crops. 

 l$y the following .-limple imuhod he can rerluce 

 thc/n to a fine powder and increase their value 

 foiu' fold : 



Take oiu! hundred pounds of bones and place 

 them ill a kettle, or iu an old tub unlit for further 

 use, or even in a hollow scooped in the ground, 

 and made tight by lining with clay. Next take 

 from thirty to thirty-five pounds of oil of vitriol 

 (sulphuric acid,) mixed with one third to one 

 half its weight of water, and pour over the bones. 

 In a day or two, the lionea will dissolve into a 

 h(|uiil pa.'-te, to which there must be added, by 

 stirring in wood ashes or fine mould, until it is 

 of the consistency of thick mortar. I'ut the 

 mixture under cover out of the way of rain, and 

 ill a few weeks it will become a light dry powd(M-, 

 which may he applied by the hand or otherwise, 

 to any kind of laud that may require it. Iu pre- 

 paring this mixture, great care must be observc^l 

 to keep the oil of vitriol from touching the 

 clothes or skin, as it will burn ihem as badly as 

 fire. 



The oil of vitriol, for this mixture, musif be of 

 a first rate <piality, otherwise it would recpiire a 

 greater quantity than given above to disscdve one 

 hundred lbs. ot bones. The mixture answers 

 best for a turnip cro|) ; but is highly valuable for 

 other roots as well as for grass and grain. It 

 should be applied at the rate of twenty lo forty 

 bushels to the acre, sown broadcast on gr.-iss 

 land, in the spring, or on grain and turnip crops 

 after harrowing in the seed. For gardens or 

 field crops planted in rows or drills, as roots, 

 corn, beans, peas, &c, it may be applied in the 

 hills or rows at the time of sowing, or it may be 

 afterwards sprinkled around the plants at the 

 time of hoeing. — American Farmer. 



A more profitable use of bones as a manure, 

 where it is inconvenient to grind them directly 

 into powder in thidr crude state, we believe to be 

 the placing them directly under young fruit 

 trees, as apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, 

 iSic. when transplanted for permanent standing. 

 The effect of these on ground underlaid with 

 hard pan or rocks may not be so usefiil ; but n|)- 

 on sandy or clay loamy soils unproductive of 

 fruit sometimes we strongly incline to the opin- 

 ion that a few pounds of uuground bones will 

 not only give to tlie ground the absent quality 

 necessary to the bearing of the tree, but give to 

 it a life and vigor which \iill greatly improve 

 the fruit itselfl The bones may be placed eight- 

 een or twenty inches below the surface, covered 

 with loan, and the tree planted carefully over 

 the whole: the roots will assuredly find the de- 

 caying bones the best food for their nourishment. 



Bones, oyster-shells, decayed muscles, and all 

 articles of this kind are among the best of those 

 mineral manures which have the longest effect 

 upon the soil. We fear the method sugges- 

 ted by the intelligent editor of the American 

 Farmer for the prepanitioii of bone inanuri! 

 might lose them much of their usefid jiowers as 



operating upon the soil. — Et/. F. jM. Visitor. 



• 



Valuation of Land in Maryland. 



The Ibllowiug inlbrmalion, touching the valu- 

 ation of land in the several counties of this State, 

 is derived from the Report of the Cotnmitlee on 

 Ways and Means, made \\l the last session of the 

 Legislature : — • 



The average valuation per acre in St. i\lar\'s 

 county, is .*9'J1 ; in Charles county, it is 8.5.71 ; 

 in Prince George's, §18.42 ; in Culvert, sJiO.dJ ; 

 iu Anne Arundel, !?I3.22 ; in Howard District, 

 .*15.1(); iu Haltimore county, §19.94; in Freder- 

 ick, .S27.13 ; in Washington, ,4:29.14 ; in Mont- 

 gomery, .s9.1 7 ; in Carroll, .$17.89 ; iu llartfiird, 

 •SI 1.58; in Talbot, Sili.SO ; in Somerset, )f().97 ; 

 iu Cecil, 16.89 ; in Worcester, ^G.'M ; .-uid in 

 Caroline, §4.88. Neither Allegany, Kent, Queen 

 .Anne's, nor Dorchester, is meniioued in the re- 

 port, so that we are unable to give the valuation 

 j of land ill those couiilies.. 



Clover— its Value to the Farmer— Mode of Cul- 

 tivation, ici;. 



Although the value of clover is in some inens- 

 nre appreciateil,auil its cultivation somewhat ex- 

 tensive, yet they are liir less so than its impor- 

 tance demands. It is valuable to the fiirmer for 

 three important purposes — to fi/ed his stock, (i;r- 

 tilize his land, and to fill his purse. His cattle 

 thrive upon it when green, as a pasture in the 

 summer, aud iu the titall, when fed with the bay 

 in the winter; his wheat and corn thrives upon 

 it wMeii buried and decomposing in the soil, and 

 his purse increases, wiib ilie increa.se of his cat- 

 tle and his crops. It is the very basis of good 

 liuiiiiug on lands succeplihlo of alternate hus- 

 bandry. A gOod clover lay, as esliinaled by ex- 

 perienced agriculturists, is said to be worth as 

 much as five tons of barn-yard manure to the 

 acre. Why, then, it is not more cultivated es- 

 pecially oil our sand and gravelly openings, 

 (which of all lauds are best adapted to, and most 

 need its use,) is to me a wonder, unless it is be- 

 cause its value is not properly appreciated, or 

 known. 



Boiauists enumerate a great variety of kinds, 

 hut those most common in use are usually de- 

 nominated as three kinds— the large, middle and 

 small, or early June red clover. Of these kinds, 

 I prefer the middle kind, fi)r the fidlowiiig rea- 

 sons ; that it affords a better quality of hay, the 

 stems not being so large, with more leaves to the 

 same bulk, yet wilh sufficient growth to afford a 

 good burthen to the acre ; being au earlier varie- 

 ty, it admits of taking a crop of hay aud a crop 

 of seed the same season, which is not a sm.-ill^ 

 item in its favor — the crop of seed at present 

 prices, varying in value from §15 to §30 per 

 acre. 



There are three errors in the management of 

 clover, which I design briefly to notice. 



1st. In seeding, loo little seed is used. The ob- 

 ject is to procure cheap food lor animals and 

 plants. No crop surjiasses it in the quantity 

 which it affords of these, with the same exhaust- 

 ion of the fertility of the soil. One fiirmer sows 

 four or six p(ninds of seed to the acre, and acts 

 in reluriis, a thin and coarse crop of grass, while 

 the vacancies are to be filled u|i with sorrel (u- 

 other noxious weed. Another sows ten or fif- 

 teen pounds, and obtains double the crop of the 

 other, at a trlfiiiig addiiinnal expense of not to ex- 

 ceed a dollar per acre for seed, while his l.'uid is 

 doubly benefitted. From ten to fifteen pouiida 

 of seed to the acre should be sown, whether 

 the object he fi)r hay or |)asture, or to be turned 

 in for the benefit of the soil. 'I'hc produce will, 

 in some measure be iu ratio to the aniounl of 

 seed sown, and the advaulage of heavy stocking, 

 both ill the hay and lo the soil, will (iir exceed 

 the cost of the extra seed, of which every farmer 

 ought to raise a supply at least for his own ii.<e. 



The best time to seed with crops of small 

 grain is in the spring. The .«eed on light, (!;y, 

 warm laiul should he sown before the second 

 time harrowed, and cro.-.'M t^arrowed after being 

 sown, with a light harrow, and then rolled down 

 with a roller. This method, in some measiue, 

 obviates the danger of the young and tender 

 plant being scorched to death by our hot sum- 

 mer suns, which is the chief difficulty of obtain- 

 ing a good stock with clover, on light sandy soils. 

 The practice of some is, to sow wiih wheat in 

 the fall; but iu this method, there is ihuiger of its 

 being winter-killed. Olliers sow it in the spring, 

 on the « heal ; hut this melhod on the kind of 

 soil above ^neiitioned, is au uncertain way, or 

 rather it is a ccniain way of losing the seed, as it 

 will not obtain depth of root sufficient to stand 

 the hot suns and drought of June and July, in or- 

 dinary seasons. Another way, which 1 have 

 never tried, but which of late is highly rccoin- 

 niended by some, is to .seed with corn alter the 

 last time of dressing, the system of level culture 

 being adopted, (the only right way,) and covering 

 by the cul'ivator or coin hanqw. This melhod, 

 I am inclined to think, is perhaps the surest 

 mode of stO(d<ing, as the corn atiiinis a protec- 

 tion from the sun, and usually llie driest and hot- 

 test weather of the season is past before the clo- 

 ver is ailvanced enough lo he injured fiy it ; « bile 

 at th(! same time, it will obtain hardness enough 

 to withstand the winter frost. To succeed well 

 wilh clover, gyjisuin should be sixwn each year, 

 from one to two bushels per acre. 



2ud. Clover lays are permilled to remain too loni; 



