miilHWLWf W r^.mi r ,;^' V 'fBma ! r LA i 2 - wi s emmiM s aiM 



©l)c iTarmcr's iHontl)lpbisxtor. 



no lirick liousef!, ;ui(l no n'oii niilmgs, nu<\ so 

 many dear specUled liens, and lunny little iliick- 

 cns, and kind-looking old cous, and colts, and 

 calves, and ducks, and tiiikcys— it was delicious 

 —it was eiicliaiitiii;,'— it was wortli a thousand 

 Saratou'as and Rockaways. How anybody could 

 prefei- the city to the country, was to Miss Ilamp- 

 son tiiatter of incredulous wonder. 



" Will you come into the boudoir?" asked Miss 

 Pitflit, with a languishing air, as her friend Julia 

 rose from breakfast. 



"Boudoir!" exclaimed the city damsel, to the 

 infinite delight of old Bracely, "no, dear! I'd 

 rather go out to the barn! Are you goiug any 

 where with the oxen to-day, sir?" she added, 

 going up to the gray headed old farmer, caress- 

 inaly, "I should so liiie a ride iii that great cart !" 



Epii. was still a little sus|)iclous of all this un- 

 expected agreeablencss, but ht; was natiu-ally too 

 courteous not to give way to a lady's whims. He 

 put on his old straw hat, am! tied his handker- 

 chief over his shoulder, (not to imitate the broad 

 ribbon of a royal order, but to wipe the sweat 

 off handily while mowing,) and offering Miss 

 Hampson a rake which stood outside the door, 

 be begged her to be ready when he came by 

 with the team. He and his father were bound to 

 the far meadow, where they were cutting bay, 

 and would like her assislant^e in raking. 



It was a "specimen" morning, as the maga- 

 zines say, for the air was temperate, and the 

 whole country was laden with the smell of the 

 new bay, which somehow or other, as every body 

 knows, never hinders or overpowers the |ierfuine 

 of the flowers. Oh, that winding green lane be- 

 tween the bushes was like an avenue to paradise. 

 The old cart jolted along through the ruts, and 

 Miss Hampson, standing up and holding on to 

 old farmer Bracely, watched the great oxen 

 crowding iheirsides together,and looked off over 

 the fields, and exclaimed as she saw glimpses of 

 the river between the trees, and seemed veritably 

 and unaffectedly enchanted. The old farmer, at 

 least, had no doubt of her sincerity, and he watch- 

 ed her, and listened to her, with a broad honest 

 smile of admiration on his weather-browned 

 countenance. 



The oxen were turned up to the fence, while 

 the dew dried off the bay, and Eph. and bis 

 lather turned to mowing, leaving Miss Hampson 

 to ramble about over the meadow, and gather 

 flowers by the river side. In the courses of an 

 hour they began to rake up, and she came to 

 offer her promised assistance, and stoutly follow- 

 ed Eph. up and down several of the long swaths, 

 till her flice glowed imder her sun-bonnet as it 

 never had glowed witli waltzing. Heated and 

 tired at last, she made herself a seat with the 

 new hay muler a large elm. and, v\'ith her back 

 to the tree, watched the labors of her compan- 

 ions. 



Ei)h. was a well-built and manly figure, and all 

 he did in the way of his vocation, he did with a 

 fine dis[ilay of muscular power, and (a sculptor 

 would have thought) no little grace. Julia watch- 

 ed him as he stepped along after bis rake on the 

 elastic sward, ami she thought, for the first time, 

 what a very hamlsomo man was young Bracely, 

 and how much more finely a man looked when 

 raking bay, than a dandy when waltzing. And 

 fur an hour she sat watching his motions, admir- 

 ing the strength with which he pitched up the 

 hay, and the grace and ease of all his movements 

 ami postm-ps; and, after a while, she began to 

 feel (Irowsy with faligue, and pulling n[) the hay 

 into a fragrant pillow, she lay down and It'll fast 

 asleep. 



It was now the middle of tho forenoon, and 

 the old firmer, who, of late years, had fallen into 

 a haliit of taking a short na)) before dinner, camo 

 to the big elm to pick up his waistcoat and go 

 home. As he ap|)roached the tree, be stopped, 

 ;uid beckoned to his son. 



Eph. came up and stood at a little distance, 

 looking at the lovely picture before him. With 

 one delicate hand under her cheek, and a smile 

 of angelic content and enjoyment on her fiuclv 

 cut lips, Julia Hampson slept soundly in the 

 shade. f)ne small foot escaped from her dress, 

 and oiK^ slioulder of faultless polish and white- 

 ness showed between her kerchief and her sleeve. 

 Her slight waist bent to tho swell of the hay, 

 throwing her delicate and well-moulded bust into 

 high relief; and all over her neck, and in large 

 clii-ters on the tumbhnl hay, lay- those glossy 



brown ringlets, admirably beautiful and luxu- 

 riant. 



And ns Eph. looked on that dangerous picture 

 of loveliness, the passion, already lying jxrilu in 

 his bosom, sprung to tho throne of heart and 

 reason. 



(We have not room to do more than hint at the 

 consequences of this visit of Sliss Hampson to 

 the country. It would recpiire the third volume 

 of a novel to describe all the emotions of that 

 month at Bracely f\rm, and bring the reader, 

 lioint by point, gingerly and softly, to the close. 

 We must touch here" and there a point oidy, 

 giving the reader's imagination some gleaning to 

 (io after we have been over the ground.) 



Eph. Bracely's awakened pride served him the 

 good turn of making him appear simply in bis 

 natural character during the whole of Miss Ham p- 

 son's visit. By the old maifs advice, however, 

 he devoted himself to the amusement of the 

 ladies after the haying was over ; and what with 

 fishing, and riding, and scenery hunting in the 

 neighborhood, the young people were together 

 from morning till night. Miss Pifflit came down 

 nnwillingly to plain Meg, in her attendance on 

 her friend in her rustic occupations, and Miss 

 Hampson saw as little as possible of the inside of 

 the boudoir. The barn, and the troops of chick- 

 ens, and all the out-doors belongings of the liirm. 

 interested her daily, and with no diminuiion of 

 her zeal. She seemed, indeed, to have found her 

 natural sphere in the simple and affectionate life 

 which her friend Margerinc held in such super- 

 fine contempt; and Eph., who was the uatuial 

 mate to such a sj)irit, and himself, in his own 

 home, most imconsciously worthy of love and 

 admiration, gave himself up irresistibly to his 

 new passion. 



And this new passion became apparent, at last, 

 to the incredulous eyes of his cousin. And that 

 it was timidly but fondly returned by her elegant 

 and bii;h bred friend, was niso very apparent to 

 Miss Pifiiit. And after a tew jealous struggles, 

 and a night or two of weeping, she gave up to 

 it trani]uilly — for, a city life and a city bnshand, 

 truth to say, had long been her secret longing 

 and hope, and she never bad fairly looked in tlie 

 face a burial in tho country with the " pigs and 

 chickens." 



She is not married yet, Meg Pifl^it — but the 

 rich merchant, Mr. Hampson, wrecked complete- 

 ly with the disastrous times, had foimd a kindly 

 and pleasant asylum for bis old age with his 

 daughter, Mr.s. Bracely. And a better or lovelier 

 farmer's wife than Julia, or a happier farmer than 

 Eph., can scarce be found in the valley of the 

 Susquehannah. 



For tho Farmer's Mont'.iy Visitor. 



From the Dyind of Columbia. 



Lime o;i Clayey Soils. 



Mr. Hill: — In a late number of the Visitor 

 you mention the use of lime upon the soils here, 

 and the increasing inter 'St felt in this vicinity 

 uiion the subject of Agriculture. There is per- 

 haps no part of the Union tliat offers to youth, 

 industry and enterprise a more sure i-cturn than 

 the District, and adjacent counties in Maryland 

 and Virginia. A climate very healthy, and most 

 agreeable temperatin-e, to every reflecting mind 

 are important considerations, as so large a por- 

 tion of the happiness of life di-pends upon health, 

 in a good climate. When a fair allowance is 

 made i\<r the prices of produce, lands are not 

 higher here than in the West, society is good, 

 and all the comforts and conveniences of an old 

 settlement are at once entered upon and enjoyed. 

 These are weighty matter.s, if our object be the 

 pursuit of virtuous happiness. 



1 was one of those who looked upon the Ches- 

 apeake and Oliio Canal as the great inslmnient, 

 that in addition to the capital it will create w hen 

 the coal mines are fiiirly reached is to change the 

 whole character and appearance of the liorflers 

 of this great thoroughfare, the District of Colum- 

 bia, and the adjacent shores along the river Poto- 

 mac. I expected this change from the use of 

 lime as a cheap and permanent basis of a fi-rlile 

 soil. This mineral abounds along the borders of 

 a large portion of the canal, and already wo not 

 only supply ourselves for building pur|)0sps, but 

 we have excluded the lime from the State of 

 Maine, on the slitn-es of the Chesapeake Bay. — 

 Lime, wherever founO is always attended with 



productiveness of soil. There are no exceptions 

 that I am aware of whether applied by the hand 

 of man or found as belonging to the soil by na- 

 ture. On the .shores of tiie lakes in Ohio, and 

 Indiana, it is I'oiind in quite small particles mixed 

 with the soil, and every year's cultivation seems 

 to increase the ferlility. The ex|)osm-e to the at- 

 mosphere by the plough adds more than is sub- 

 tracted by the crops, even a crop of Indian corn. 

 Our soil here is or baa been in past time greatly 

 reduced by cro|)s of tobacco and wheat. But it 

 is found that lime produces clover, and clover 

 turned-iu, results in fertility. In Pennsylvania the 

 application of lime has "driven out," as express- 

 ed by one of her farmers, the jioor land from en- 

 tiro counties, where the laud is quite sinfilar to 

 the soil here. It has not only changed the char- 

 acter of the soil, but the change is permanent. — 

 Fresh slacked lime acts most powerfully upon a 

 growing crop, especially of corn or clover. Lime 

 in this state decomposes vegetable matter and 

 with water becomes the best food for plants. 

 When lime has been exposed for some time to 

 the atmosphere, it again absorbs the carbonic 

 acid gas, expelled by burning, and in this state 

 rather retards than quickens vegetable decompo- 

 sition ; hence persons are frequently disappoint- 

 ed in their expectations upon the application of 

 lime composts, or after exposure, but in this state 

 a permanent fertility is given. 



An old Scotchman, and very worthy neighbor 

 of mine, ploughed in some oysier shells upon a^ 

 poor hill many years ago. The spot, about half 

 an acre, has ever since been distinctly marked : 

 the grass is earlier green : it keeps green in dry 

 seasons, and is always re-sorted to by the cattle 

 in the iiastnre within which it lies. Every year 

 it appears a small portion of the shells are dis- 

 solved by the moisture, and thus imparts fertility. 



One of my neighbors, who, by the by, is a 

 daughter of the late Commodore Truxton, and 

 causes her fields to be plonshed with no less rep- 

 utation than he jiloughed the seas ! this fair 

 Farmeress is admitted by the neighbors to be a 

 .sort of model, and to stand as number one for 

 skill and energy. It was on her field of corn some 

 three years since that I witnessed the astonishing 

 effects of lime. It was fresh slacked lime, and 

 the crop was a pattern one that only found a ri- 

 val in the accomplished proprietor, anrl since that 

 time this field has produced five crops of clover.^ 



Some of the farmers of the fertile county of 

 Prince George's, Maryland, as I am credibly in- 

 formed, find lime, or plaster and clover, a much 

 less expensive mode of emiching their large corn 

 and tobacco fields than even the manure of their 

 own stables. It will hardly pay for hauling and 

 spreading upon their fields, when put in compe- 

 tition with clover, lime or (ilaster. These renew 

 the soil, again and again, after these exhausting 

 crops. 



Lime, then, in our opinion, is to regenerate 

 the worn-out soils here. Population must 

 come in, the rivers and rail-roads at band will 

 take the produce to ready maikets, and at no dis- 

 tant day, expanding upon the capital which the 

 coal mines will give to ]{altimore, she bids fair 

 to become the rival of the " London of America," 

 New York. SYLVANUS. 



January l.'i, 1843. 



A Farmer of Olde.n Time.— The American 

 .'Vgriculturist has a very entertaining notice of an 

 old work on farming which recently fell in the 

 way of the editor, and which bears the following 

 title : 



" Foore Bookes of Hiisbandrie, collected by 

 "M. Conradus lleresbachius, Counsellor to the 

 "hygh and niightie prince, the Duke of Clue; 

 "coineyning liie whole arte and trade of Hus- 

 " bandrie, with the antiquity and commendation 

 "thereof. Newly Englished and increased, by 

 " Barnaby Googe, Esquire. Genesis iii. 19 : ' In 

 "the sweate of thy face slialt thou eate thy bread, 

 "tyll thou be turned agayne into the ground; 

 "for out of it wast thou ti'ikcn : yea, dust thou 

 " art, and to dust shalt thon return.' At London : 

 "printed for John Wight, ir)78." 



The contents of this volume would seem to be 

 as curious in phraseolosiy and spelling as the ti- 

 th-. Tho finthor says that " under the North Pole 

 it is reported the ground is so fertil,//i«( they sowe 

 in the morning (mil reapc at Tioon." Of manure, 

 he states that there are three kinds, "the first of 

 Poultrie, the next Human, the third of Caliel. 



