iil\)c iarmcr'is iHnntl)lij fairiitov. 



13 



were covered with a dense cloud ibr three or 

 four hours; the legislature was in session at 

 Hartford, and such was the darkness that business 

 could not be transacted without candles. Dur- 

 ing this time the clouds were tinged with a yel- 



low or faint red for hours, for which no cause has 

 been assigned. I stood and viewed this pht- noui- 

 enon witli astonishment, hut I had not any fear 

 that the world was coming to an end. 



"In the evening of March 20th, 178-3, an ex- 

 traordinary light spread over the whole hemis- 

 phere from horizon to horizon, north and south, 

 east and w^est. The waving of the light was 

 visible, and some persons heard or imagined they 

 heard a slieht rushing sound. I then resided in 

 Goshen, Orange County, New York, and stood 

 Jialf an hour on a bridge over the Wall-Kill, to 

 'witness this extraordinary phenomenon, but I 

 saw no person that was frightened at the sight. 



"In the year 1783, a great part of Europe was 

 for weeks overspread with a haziness of atrnos- 

 plieie, which caused great consternation. The 

 churches were lilleil with suppliants. The as- 

 tronomer Lalande attempted to allay the liiglit 

 by endeavoring to account for the appearance, 

 which he ascribed to an uncommon exhalation of 

 watery particles from the great rain of the pre- 

 ceding year. But at last the cause was ascertain- 

 ed to be smoke from the great eruption of the 

 volcanic Hecla, in Iceland, which covered more 

 than three thousand square miles with burning 

 lava, in some i)laces to the depth of Ibrty leet. I 

 had this account from Dr. Franklin, who was in 

 Europe at the time. 



"In a late paper, published by the Millerites, I 

 saw an article stating that the Northern Lights 

 foretell something terrible. The writer seems 

 not to know that in the high northern latitudes, 

 iu the sixteenth degree and northward. Northern 

 Lighis are of daily occurrence, and so have been 

 from tiiue immemorial. So illuminated are the 

 beavens that persons may see to read by the 

 light. 



'"These lights occasionally come so far south 

 as to ilhuniiiate the sky in our latitudes. Some- 

 times they do not ajipear for many years. At the 

 close of the seventeenth and beginning of the 

 eighteenth centuries, those lights were not seen 

 for a long period, and when they re-appeared, 

 about the year 1817, our ancestors, who had not 

 seen or heard of them, were all alarmed, and ac- 

 tually supposed the day of judgment had come. 



"During my life I have been so much accus- 

 tomed to see iiortliern lighis, falling stars, so call- 

 ed, and fire-balls, that they have long since ceased 

 to excite my curiosity. 



"Nearly thirty years ago I read an article in a 

 Vermont "paper, s"taling that the Northern Liglit 

 on a certain evening was so low as to be visible 

 between the spectator and a distant mountain. 



N. VVEI'.STER." 



tirely of cheese. One of these poor men re- 

 maining to finish his seU-allotted task, having 

 sent his children home early on account of a 

 dangerous pass, and not returifmg himself at the 

 Unw. he rt-as expected, was found the next day 

 dead of liuigue and exhaustion ; his liands Iblded 

 meekly on his breast, as if his last thoughts had 

 been resignation and prayer." 



A Swiss Hay Harvest.— A late traveller in 

 Switzerland gives the following account of the 

 bay harvest in lliat country: — 



" So completely pastoral is this district (Can- 

 ton de Vaud) that there is not a plough to be 

 fi)und in it, ami all ihe coin it produces would 

 not supply the inhabitants with a single week's 

 consuuiption. Their gardens anil orchards are 

 lelt to run wild ; yet will they gather with their 

 own hands every blade ol' grass that grows in 

 the hedges or other places that cannot be got at 

 by the scythe. It is scarcely possible to give .-m 

 idea of the exceeding im|iorlani;e attached to the 

 hay-harvests in these pastoral communes: even 

 those spots which are inaccessible to the goat-s 

 are gaiiieil by the poorer people, who risk their 

 lives by clinging to the sides of the precii)ices, 

 with iron crampons attached to their feet, to 

 give them more lirjuness in their hold. They 

 generally have hall" of what they thus gather for 

 their paiiis; they bring it all down the steep anil 

 daniierous descents on their l)ai:ks in bumlles ol 

 one hundi-ed ami fifty or two hitndred pounds 

 weight, exceiit iu some cases where they lie 

 tliem up and roll them down the side of the 

 mountain into the valley. Sometimes the cram- 

 pons of these poor people break ; iu that case 

 their falls are usually fatal ; and under the most 

 fivorahle circinnsta'nces there can scarcely be 

 anything more laborious and wretched than their 

 exertions. As long as the time ibr them lasts, 

 they generally sleep iu the o|)eu air or in cavities 

 of ihe rocks, and their i'ood consists almost en- 



Levant, Jan. 21, 1843. 

 Ho.N. Isaac Hill— Dear Sir :—Voiu- Month- 

 ly Visitor has been a welcome guest wilh us 

 ever since its first apiiearance, entertaining with 

 its interesting details, and instrucliug us iu the 

 [lerformance of those things which our heails 

 and our "hands find to do;" and in order that 

 others might be benefitted eipially with ns, I have 

 taken some (laius to proi;ure more subscribers 

 in ;ny vicinity. 



Your frequent remarks and couuuunications 

 on the subject of draining swamps and other 

 wet lands have prompted me to the undertaking, 

 and cheered me in the execution of a piece of 

 service in that department which yields me inuch 

 satisfaction already, to say the least, and affords 

 a rational hope of profit in the end. 1 allude to 

 the draining and clearing recently of a tract of 

 swauqi or bog of three acres connected with a 

 tract of land of 140 acres bordering on Levant 

 village, all of which was until within fifteen 

 years past in a state of natiu-e when I first pur- 

 chased and entered on the premises. Sixty or 

 seventy acres of the native growth of this land 

 liave since been made to disappear before the 

 axe, and a large proportion of the last has felt 

 the ettects of the plough and other subduing and 

 smoothing instruments of husbandry wielded iu 

 some good degree by the hands of the owner 

 between intervals of using the lancet and other 

 services connected wilh the healing art. The 

 plat recently reclaimed lies but a tew rods from 

 my dwelling; it formed a shoal basin, encircled 

 in" part by a tract of intervening intervale of more 

 elevateil surlace and soil of alluvial origin be- 

 tween the swatn|i and the Kenduskeag stream, 

 which makes a sweep at this place forufmg a 

 semi-circle partly around tlie whole; the stream 

 ordinarily being some feet lower than the swamp 

 itselt; The remainder of the swamp is bounded 

 by a high and remarkable ridge which extends 

 some six or eight miles north and south, and 

 known by the name of the '■ Horse-back." Said 

 ridge being composed of jjcbbles, loose gravel 

 and sand, all the water wdiich descends from the 

 clouds over it, finds a ready passage downward, 

 and issues iu innumerable s|)ring3 of the purest 

 water all :dong ils base. A great number of 

 these issued into the bay above named, covering 

 its surface, which was an entire level, with water 

 the year lound, and sustaining a dense growth 

 of dwarf alders, water willows, and a still thick- 

 er crop of cattail flags spread all over its surface, 

 furnishing an ap|jJ'opriate luibitation for innumer- 

 able tribes of frogs of every variety of note, from 

 the veriest groiuid bass to the " highest pitch in 

 tenor;" these joining in one fiill and grand cho- 

 rus at all proper seasons of the year, sereiiaded 

 the inmates of ova- dwelling to the heart's con- 

 tent. The place had fbi'merly prodiu-ed a heavy 

 and thick growth of cedar, which liad been rear- 

 ing itself and falling down iu every possible 

 direction, and being burierl by the accmnnlation 

 of decaying vegetation " for unknown ages past," 

 mitil tliis kind of soil had attained the depth of 

 from one to two feet, resting on a subsoil of fine 

 sand with a slight mixture of clay. 



Being heartily lired of viewing this unsightly 

 spot, surrounded as it was by cnllivated land, I 

 came to the pin-pose of transforming it into some- 

 thing more agreeable, iu appearance at least, if 

 not to that which should yield some profit, and 

 my first operation woidd evidently be to relieve 

 the premises of llieir incundient water; but as; 

 draining land in this section of country was 

 r.ilher a new business, my neighbors and towBS- 

 lueii pref(M-ring hitherto to operate on land alove 

 water r ither than seek that under ils surfat'e, I 

 found it difficult to obtain the services sjf any 

 one who was disposed to enlist in the Uisiness 

 of digaing, where one must necessarily stand 

 nearlv to the knees iu mud and cold water in 

 the rnonth of Novendjer in these high latitudes 

 — this season being fixed upon as interll'ring less 

 svith tiie other business of the firm — but uo en- 

 treaty would avail, and nolhii'vg daunted, and 



with shovel and axe in hand and adopting the 

 maxim of the late apostle of peace, viz: "that 

 what ought to be done can be done," I entered 

 singly, connucncing at ibtt margin of the streiim, 

 opening a ditch of sidficicnt dciuh to carry off 

 the water, and penetrating through the first bar- 

 rier, an eud)ankment produced by alluvial de- 

 posits by the fi-tshets of the stream, into the 

 swamp, the water gushing in from the sides of 

 my ditch like that from a saturated sponge under 

 hard ()ressure, and producing a flood in my rear 

 sufiicient to turn a small mill. I soon arrived at 

 the " fiill tide of successful experiment," when 

 others, seeing my works, were induced to lend 

 a helping hand, and shapins our course "along 

 the high" lands," but being careful at the same 

 time to keep at Iheir base, cutting our way 

 tbrongh woody obstruclious with our axes, and 

 excavating with our shovels, after nuich toil, ar- 

 rived at the stream iu an opposite direction to 

 that where a commencement was made, a dis- 

 . tance of seventy rods, and opened an ample way 

 for the passage of the waters each way into the 

 stream. 



Thus by means of this and another cross ditch 

 of one half the length of the first, 1 succeeded 

 in gaining the first object. 



The next was to free the ground from the in- 

 cumbrance of alders, willows, and the genera- 

 tions of fallen timber on and in the earth, which 

 labor was reserved for another year. This was 

 accomplished in the month of December of the 

 following year without the loss of a man, although 

 at the expense of cold fingers iuid stained apparel ; 

 and the labor of eradicating alders an(l other 

 growth, root and branch, and raising huge logs 

 from beneath the surfice after cutting away the 

 frozen earth above, and piling up the immense 

 masses for burning, was a caution ; some hun- 

 dreds of cords at least. 



Last spring I succeeded in consmifmg these 

 relics of antiquity from off' the face of the earth, 

 but not without great labor .-uid tenacity of pur- 

 pose, on account of their iucombusiible state, 

 and their api)arent unvvilliugness to give up ex- 

 istence. I afterward snjoothed and mellowed 

 the surface of the ground as well as it could 

 convenienlly be done with the harrow, and put 

 in a small seeding of oats, together wilh herds 

 grass, red to|) and foul meadow se(;d, wilh a 

 small quantiiy of clover, the last by way of ex- 

 periment. The oats grew rank iu many places. 

 The grass seed took well, and even the clover 

 looked in the fdl as though it meant to [uake an 

 effort to sustain itself even on such a soil. Shall 

 I succeed iu producing any considerablo crop of 

 rass on this j^round in its present state ? I am 



not yet snttii-iently acqualiUed wilh the subject 

 to give a rational soluliou to the queslion. It 

 remains for further fune and exper'mient to tes- 

 tify. The future influences cf the sun wilk 

 doubtless do something; and if it should prove 

 too dry alter the sun iias shotie lunger upon it, 

 water is at command to sv.jtply the needed mois- 

 ture. 



The expense of this sifhievemenc is about $40' 

 the acre, allowing one dollar per day for the la- 

 bor. Whether it wllil prove a yrofilabia invest- 

 ment at the cost I inow not, but it is a fiict al- 

 ready established shat three acres of the earth's, 

 surface have bee-n. fecla'uned ; thaS ample means 

 fir supplviiig !>j.e compost keap are procured p 

 and that mot-© than Ihixc spires of grass have 

 already beoat macLe to grow where 7io7!e grew 

 before. Tite miijiie of the iiogs lias beei\ also, 

 brinight fovv, and it caunot be said they havo- 

 merely fcning their instrnuients of musi;; on tho 

 willows,. for tlic wUlows tbeuiselves have disap- 

 pear^if. 



i ftave obtained twelve subscrihirs for tlit^ 

 Visitor in addilion to the Pootniastei's list, whos(4- 

 awanies be will transmit together w'lth the money 

 \i'or the same. If you tbird; the fi)regoiug worthy 

 a place ui your vahiahje paper, it is at your ser,* 

 vice^ With UMicli rcs|ieet. 



Your obedient strvanS, 



ISAAC CABE.. 



Lev(mt, Penoiscoi Co. Me. 



■ For the- Fanner's Rlontlily Visitor. 

 John Smith and .Tohu Bi-own. 



Tliere i>rcliably never existed tv\i> more re-- 

 iimrkahle men tlum those named ul the head ot 

 this ailielc. 



JotLN Siifru has lived in several ceuuirtes, iji 



