400 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



sinds. It is on this same principle that Iain get- 

 ting to be skeptical as to the possibility of its rain- 

 ing any more on our parched and blistered Melds. 

 A? any rate, I should like to see it try, even 

 though the result should prove the destruction of 

 my theory of Natural Philosophy. 



I rode off yesterday with a friend into some of 

 the neighboring towns, but the dust both followed 

 us and went before. Whatever else may be said 

 of nature, it is certain we could nof'sce anything 

 green' 1 '' in her. The cry came up to us from all 

 sides, like a Round, — 



"Fire ! fire ! ponr on water." 



Kensington, one of the best farming towns in 

 the State, looked like the old yEtna-scorched Em- 

 pedocles, "all blossomed out with blisters,'''' as 

 Menippus hath it. The hills were all "done 

 brown," and the valleys were sizzlingWke a mack- 

 erel on a gridiron or the eye of old Polyphemus 

 with the hot stake in it. The cattle were hunting 

 for grass with doubtful success in frog-forsaken 

 marshes and in the channels of defunct rivers. — 

 We noticed a Devon bull, gnawing a hassock in a 

 swamp, whose bright red color was bleached out 

 by the sun into a dirty yellow; and not far off an 

 old mare, standing in the shade of a great rock, 

 whose original glossy black had in the glaring 

 light faded into a kind of dingy olive brown. 



The apple trees, however, are an exception to 

 the general rule of desolation and barrenness. — 

 Baldwins are abundant, and Rhode Island Green- 

 ings are by no means "slow." The extensive nur- 

 sery of Mr. Willi-im Hall, one of the most intelli- 

 gent and gentlemanly nurserymen in New Eng- 

 land, has been sending out into all this region for 

 quite a number of years great quantities of the 

 choicest fruit-trees of every kind and variety ; and 

 they are now speaking well both for their origin 

 and their cultivation. Mr. Hall himself has an 

 acre of land which he purchased some eleven years 

 ago for $75. One-half of this acre is covered with 

 an orchard, which lie set out and grafted, and from 

 which he will undoubtedly gather this fall, be- 

 sides a good many bushels of the Summer Rose 

 and Early Harvest, not less than 100 barrels of 

 winter apples selected for the market. These will 

 probably be worth on the tree $1.50 per barrel, or 

 $150.00 in all — a pretty fair dividend on the first 

 cost. It requires but little mathematics to see, 

 that 200 per cent, is some better than even "one 

 per cent, a month." It should be remembered, 

 t io, that these trees have not yet developed half 

 their capabilities. 



The greenest farm we saw on our route, was 

 one in Bradford, which took last year, I think, 

 the first prize in Essex County. It is owned and 

 managed by Mr. Wm. F. Porter, who is manifestly 

 "up and dressed" and takes the "morning papers." 

 His barn is a model initself and in all its appenda- 

 ges. A man who has any intention of erecting a 

 building of this sort, would be warranted in going 

 as far to see this barn as Hume said he would 

 go t> hear Whitefield preach — a distance, between 

 you and me, which I do not now exactly recollect. 



By the way, this same old town of Bradford is 

 beginning to exhibit a good deal of taste, not on- 

 ly in its barns, but also in its houses and grounds. 

 The residence of Dr. Coggswell, and two mansions 

 recently erected, one in the style of the Elizabeth- 

 an uge, are very good specimens of architectural 

 bea ay and convenience. AVe looked at them 



through our tears ; for we thought of him, the ar- 

 tist, the scholar, the man of cultivated and elegant 

 taste, who has done so much to humanize our un- 

 couth homes, and who h,as recently been "snatched 

 from a sphere of high and beautiful utility." Poor 

 Downing! killed, ruthlessly, wickedly killed in 

 his prime, he has yet left behind him something 

 more than 



"A solitary shriek — the bubbling cry 

 Of some strong swimmer in his agony." 



The monuments of his genius and industry are 

 scattered all over the land, from the national Capitol 

 to the humblest poor man's home. Not an ele- 

 gant edifice rises by the way-side, not a country- 

 house smiles through the trees in the green fields, 

 which does not suggest the author of "Rural Cot- 

 tages and Cottage Villas." Not a shade tree shel- 

 ters the children on our lawns or spreads grace and 

 health ahout our dwellings, which does not in ev- 

 ery waving branch speak of him whose life was 

 animated with the one "wish to inspire all per- 

 sons with a love of beautiful forms and a desire to 

 assemble them around their daily walks of life.'' 

 Not a fruit tree bends under its "rich, bloom-dust- 

 ed, melting" burthen, which is not fragrant with 

 the memory of Downing. Not a garden or an 

 orchard, which is not as intimately associated with 

 his name and fame as Kenilworth Castle is with 

 Walter Scott, or as the brook of Avon is with 

 Shakspeare. A beautiful immortality even in this 

 world ! How truly in his last moment might he 

 have appropriated to himself the confident lan- 

 guage of Horace — 



"Non omnis moriar; multaque pars mei 

 Vitabit Libitinam." 



"/ shall not all die; over no small part of me death thai] 

 have no power." 



In an ancient-looking grave-yard in Bradford, 

 among other notable things we found a row of sis 

 tomb-stones standing in memory of six of the sev- 

 en wives of the late Hon. Nathaniel Kimball. The 

 first wife, Betsey, died Nov. 25, 1790, aged 34 

 years; the second, Martha, died May 12, 1799, 

 aged 32 ; the third, Huldah, died Sept. 8, 1801. 

 aged 24; the fourth, Clarissa, died Nov. 14, 1803, 

 aged 36 ; the fifth, Martha B., died July 27, 1804, 

 aged 25; the sixth, Mary, died March 3, 1808, 

 aged 27. The last wife, whose name is not yet 

 written in marble, proved too much for the discon- 

 solate husband, and so he died at the early age of 

 5G, probably of blighted hopes and a broken heart. 

 He is represented as a person of some distinction 

 in the political world, a good butcher by profession 

 and an exceedingly agreeable and industrious man. 

 This last trait of character is sufficiently obvious, 

 perhaps, from the prompt and business-like way in 

 which he despatched so long and formidable a list 

 of wives.- Very few men have had the melancholy 

 privilege of following to their graves six wives in 

 seventeen years; fewer have been "*» at the 

 death' 1 '' of four in five years ; and fewer still have 

 turfed over two in eight months and thirteen days .' 



"Thrift, thrift, Horatio ; the funeral baked meals 

 Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables." 



But as my meditations among the tombs are 

 taking an unfavorable turn, I will leave the old 

 o;rave-yard and my grey goose quill at the same 

 time. Yours truly, J. G. n. ■ 



Exeter, August 10, 1852. 



