NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



421 



For the Tfew England Farmer. 

 GLANCES AT NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



BY II. F. FRENCH. 



My Dear Brown: — In common with "the rest 

 of mankind" who arc not under bonds to remain at 

 home, I have, during the hot days of July, made 

 sundry little excursions of mingled business and 

 pleasure, in this Switzerland of America, — a State 

 in which, whatever may be said of our other pro- 

 ducts, we have no difficulty in finding most ac- 

 ceptible candidates for the Presidency, whichever of 

 the three parties may be in search of one. And 

 by the way, the fact, that men of energy, of clear 

 heads and noble hearts — of persistency — the qual- 

 ity which, of all others, best ensures success in all 

 pursuits, and in all times and places, the fact that 

 such men have oftenest their origin among the 

 rugged hills and the driving snows of the North, 

 is worthy of consideration by northern men and 

 especially by' northern farmers. It is an agricul- 

 tural fact, for like the crops themselves, it grows 

 out of the soil ! 



lie whose recreation it has been in boyhood, 

 whose discipline it has been in youth, and whose 

 business in manhood, to breast the snow drifts in 

 winter, breaking wild steers and colts, or working 

 in a 1 >gging swamp with the thermometer at zero", 

 aid again in summer, to mow the swath with the 

 rest of the boys, under a July sun that would 

 make r'io wool of a southern negro smoke — has 

 some idea of the vicissitudes of life, and is not 

 likely to be turned from his path by fear of hard 

 work. 



Last summer, in July, just before the wheat har- 

 vest, I passed twice through the whole length of the 

 State of New York, and, amid those fields of wav- 

 ing grain stretching away in almost unbroken 

 masses, for miles, it seemed as if the granite hills 

 of New Hampshire were scarcely worth the toil of 

 cultivation; but I looked in vain, among the fertile 

 valleys, for New England thrift and New England 

 homes', and the fact shown by the census tables 

 that the crop of wheat throughout that great State, 

 has been by a false system of husbandry reduced 

 from an average of about thirty to less than fifteen 

 bushels to the acre, in a single generation, brouo-ht 

 up the reflection that they had not even kept faith- 

 fully the ten talents committed to them, and that 

 the blessing upon those who had "been faithful 

 over a few things," belongs rather to the true 

 hearts which have, by severe toil, wrested from 

 the unwilling hills of New England a competent 

 support and happy homes. 



Between Exeter and Concord, as indeed every- 

 where else in the State, indications were observed, 

 early in July, of a severe drought. The hay crop 

 will not, it is thought, exceed two-thirds of the 

 amount of last year's product, and this fact, with 

 another, which I think may be relied upon— that 

 very little old hay remains on hand— furnishes 

 matter for serious reflection among those of us 

 whose farms are fully stocked with cattle. 



The price of all hay-eating animals has been 

 high, for the past two years, and an unusually 

 large number of them, in consequence, have been 

 raised. The failure of one-third the usual amount 

 of fodder, must compel many to sell, while the 

 demand is in no wise increased. A very little re- 

 flection, will enable the readers of the Farmer so 

 to arrange their affairs, as not to be compelled to 



buy hay next spring at twenty dollars a ton, to 

 keep out a stock of cattle, whose appetites have 

 always seemed to me to increase very nearly in 

 proportion to the price () f the hay I have purchased 

 for them. 



At Concord, I visited the Asylum for the Insane 

 and the State Prison, places at which we would 

 not, perhaps, naturally expect to find much of ag- 

 ricultural interest, for it requires il sana mens in 

 corpore sano,"* to cultivate the soil, and good 

 farmers are not to be looked for, in mad-houses and 

 penitentiaries. 



But luckily, our accomplished friend, Dr. Mc- 

 Farland, the superintendent, whose recently pub- 

 lished "Loiterings by the Way," in- Europe, evince 

 so much refinement of taste in all matters pertain- 

 ing to the fine arts, is not only "a scholar and a 

 ripe and good one," not only a thorough master 

 of the various branches of professional knowledge, 

 which enables him so skilfully to "minister to a 

 mind diseased," but judging him "by his fruits," 

 he has also an excellent perception of what belongs 

 to good husbandry. The Asylum stands on an 

 eminence which commands an extensive and beau- 

 tiful view of the valley and surrounding highlands 

 of the Merrimack. A good set of farm buildings, 

 an extensive field under fine cultivation, and some 

 of the best specimens of thorough bred cattle in 

 the State, bear witness to the idea winch is fast 

 gaining ground among the intelligent minds, that 

 some practical attention to improved husbandry 

 is by no means inconsistent with the most studious 

 pursuit of professional life. 



At the last State Fair, two or three premiums 

 were awarded to the Asylum for the best exhibi- 

 tion of Ayrshire cattle, and I think, from the slight 

 attention I had time to bestow- upon it?, that the 

 Asylum farm may soon successfully compete with 

 the best in the State, for the first prize. Scientific 

 knowledge, in agriculture, everywhere makes its 

 record on the green hill-sides, and the waving 

 grain-fields of the valley. We are happy to enroll 

 the name of Dr. McFarland, who is the presiding 

 genius of the whole establishment, within and 

 without, in the list of scientific cultivators of the 

 soil. 



At the State Prison, for various reasons, agri- 

 cultural pursuits are not much in fashion. In the 

 first place, very kw intelligent farmers go there, 

 the paths of good husbandry not leading in that 

 direction, and then it would be altogether too 

 vgrecable a pursuit for the successful candidates 

 of the third house, at the Capitol. 



Formerly, land attached to the prison was cul- 

 tivated by the prisoners, but, as the warden in- 

 formed us, the force requisite to guard the gang 

 while at work, could accomplish twice the labor 

 in the same time, and so the poor wretches are 

 shut up from the green fields, and the gentle air of 

 Heaven. They have little care, however, for such 

 matters, and never had, or they would now be in 

 the enjoyment of them, with their liberty, like 

 other men. Deprivation of liberty seems not to , 

 impair the health, for not one of the whole hundred 

 was ill, or had been for weeks. And the warden, 

 Mr. Dow, Avho seems admirably to fulfil the duties 

 of his responsible position, informed us, that there 

 was seldom a prisoner received, who could not 

 read or write, and none was ever discharged, with- 

 out being taught those branches, at least before 



A sound mind in a sound body.— Ed. 



