CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. 



'Those who labor is the earth are the chosen people of God, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposite for substastial and genuine virtue." — J 



VOLUME V. 



CONCORD, N. H. JANUARY 31, 1843. 



NUMBER 1. 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, 



PUKLISHEL) BV 



ISAAC HILL, & SONS, 



ISSUED ON THE LAST DAT OP EVEUY MONTH, 



At No. 3, Hill's Brick Block. 



!KrGE\CEAi. AcESTs.— B. CooK, Kecni!, N n.; Thomas 

 E. Hampton, Washington City, D. C; John Mahsh, Wash- 

 ington St. Boston, Mass. ; Charles Warren, Brinley Kotv, 

 Worcester, Mass. 



TERMS.— To single subscribers, F:fl>{ Cents. Ten per 

 cent, ivill be allowed to the p'Mson who sh'all send more than 

 one subscriber. Twelve copies will be sent for the advance 

 payment of Five Dollars; twenty-five copies for Ten Dollars; 

 si.\ty copies for Twenty Dollars. The payment in every case to 

 he m:nlt- in advance. 



^^Mo'ieij and subscriptions^ bit a regulation of the Post Master 

 Oeneral, may in all cases be remitted bij the Post Master, free of 

 postairc. 



JKr.^ll gentlemen who have heretofore acted as .\gents are 

 reqiK-stsd to continue their Agency. Old subscribers who 

 conif undir the new tenns, will please notify us of the nanus 

 already on our books. 



/^*l!- 



^l]t iHontl)Iu bisitor. 



degeneracy followiMl llie jirodiiflioii from soiitli- 

 eni seeds. T!:e apple trees also vvliicli had ac- 

 quired maturity of size in oiie-lourtli the time of 

 a iioi'thern growth, began ah'eaily to evince evi- 

 dences of early decay. But they could be readily 

 sii|i|)lied witli yomig trees by importation, and 

 the supply, thus lie maintained. 



These facts are but an outline of a conversa- 

 tion upon agriculture. If they are deemed to 

 have any interest, tliey are at your disposal. P. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Accouut of the Apple in the State of Alabama. 



About the year 1818, a young man of enter- 

 prise went from the vicinity of Boston to thecily 

 of Mobile in the State of Alabama. Mis purpose 

 was to engage in the jiurchase and shipment of 

 cotton, which lie entered upon and for a nnmbei 

 of years, while tluit great staple either advanced 

 or maintained its price in the northern and Eu- 

 ropean markets, he iucreaseil in wealth and great- 

 ly extended his business. Tempted by success, 

 his ap((etite n|)peaied to grow upon what it fed 

 on: lie strained his capital and credit to their ut- 

 most tension. His stock of cotton by contract 

 and on hand was very great, when his fair sky 

 of promise was darkened with the clouds of ad- 

 versity. Price s lell to rise no more, and in their 

 fall, all and more than all his gains were exhaust- 

 ed and swept away. Still young, despondency 

 soon was succeeded by that enerev which the 

 precepts and habits of his youth tauiht him. He 

 procured a small tract of land near Mobile, wound 

 lip bis business, and was fortunate enough in two 

 or three years to meet all his engagements. On 

 this small farm he recurred again to the employ- 

 ment of his youth, imported from New England 

 the choicest kinds of a[iple and jieach tives^, and 

 what he was enabled to produce upon his fijrm 

 found a ready sale and high prices in the cily. — 

 He handled of course less money, but uhateanie 

 in was his own : there was no dJinand upon him. 

 He related to tlie writer of this, on a visit about 

 one year since, that the apple tree in jjarticular 

 grew with unetpialled lapiilily in that climate. 

 In five or si.\ years the small frees bad become 

 large, and the Russetting, the Greening, the Pip- 

 pin, &c., which hardly attain tlieir full growth in 

 Massachusetts before they are checked by the 

 apiM-oaching winter, at Mobile ripen in August 

 and September U|)on the trees, and greatly sur- 

 pass in excellence the same fruits at the iiorlh. 

 They ripen as it were in succession ; the fruit 

 most e.xposed to the sun and air first reaching 

 matnrit} , and are gathered and sold as tliey ripen. 

 He assured the writer, that such was the supe- 

 rior flavor, size and excellence of these apnles, 

 ripened on tlio tree, that they could not be iden- 

 tiliedwith the .same kinds oY northern growth. 

 His little orchard bad averagftd him a return cipial 

 ,Jo fifty dollars per tree for a number of years. — 

 5J 'J'lie ground was kept ploughed constantly, and a 

 ■^ light top dressing of mamire was laid on each 

 r-~ successive spring. The efTects of climalo wronoht 

 ^^^ this change upon the liuit, and was not less 

 ^^ sinking in vegelable.s, e.si,eci;dly the potato. The 

 seed, and also the seeds of the beet, the carrot, 

 Q-&.C. he imported every year from the north, and 

 O_foi- tlie first crop they surpas.sed in size and qual- 

 ^rity, the norlheru origiurds. But he found that 



For the Farmer's Montlily Visitor. 

 ludian Tradition. 

 Ejfects of judicious crossiw^ of Breeds of Cattle. 

 No doubt can be entertained that there is great 

 room for improvement in the various breeds of 

 our domestic animals. With all the importations 

 into the country made with a special view to im- 

 provement, how very few, compared to the whole 

 number of our stock, are found of even good 

 qualities. If all were good of each kind, viz: our 

 horses, neat cattle including cows for the dairy, 

 and sheep, what an immense difl^erence in the re- 

 sults of a single year would there not be ? One 

 good horse is equal to two of inferior qualities; 

 one good ox, to two poor ones; and a first rate 

 cow equal to three or four ; and yet the same food 

 and pasturage is required, head for head. If all 

 our animals were equal to some specimens, or 

 even approached them, would not the diflference 



be equal in a win^lo yetir to tlio debts of all the 



States in tlie Union put together? 



The stock of our animals as they now are is 

 susceptible of a ra[>id improvement, without hav- 

 ing recourse to England, and merely by care and 

 attention in preserving the best, and judiciously 

 crossing to iiiqirove what is termed their valua- 

 ble (mints. In this manner, we are told, all the 

 fine breeds in England have been obtained. 



A recurrence to our Exhibitions, and agricnl- 

 tuial reports will show thtit among our own stock 

 have been found specimens equal to any of the 

 ini|>nrted improved breeds. And if fiirmers would 

 but select the best cows, the best pigs, horses, 

 &c., notice the deficient points, and cross to sup- 

 ply the defects, would not a rapid and most ad- 

 vantageous inqn-ovement take place? 



For our beef cattle, the northern and north- 

 western States appear to have advantages in soil 

 and climate over the other and warmer portions 

 of the country ; the cattle are generally larger, 

 and improve belter. There is, however, along 

 the whole Alleghany nmgo of mountains reach- 

 ing almost to the Mississip|)i, excellent pasturage, 

 the cool moist ranges of the mountains being al- 

 most equal if not superior to the north. Erom 

 ibis range is produced the fine beef found in the 

 Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Wash- 

 ington markets. And here is a country too, most 

 favorable for sheep, as yet but thinly settled, and 

 a climate for its healthiness no where surpassed. 



There appears to be less room for improve- 

 ment in our swine than in the other races of our 

 animals. The breeds in the west, in particular, 

 can scarcely be expected to improve ; some of 

 their largo hogs weighing from one thousand to 

 fifteen hundred pounds. 



This is iully sufiicient, and quite e([iial to our 

 expectations or our hopes, and would reach our 

 imaginings unless we should give rein to some of 

 the Indian traditions west of the Mississippi to- 

 wards tlie Rocky Mountains, where are found 

 those wonderful skeletons of animals, of a form- 

 er age. "Sitting in the wigsvam of an old Pawnee, 

 (says a late traveller,) one fine evening, smoking 

 the pipe of fricnilship after a supper of grouiid- 

 nntsaiid the dried tongue of a buffalo, I inquired 

 what had become of the race of animal.- whose 

 great bunes are ibiind in the neighborhood. — 

 These animals, said the old chief, afler pulling 

 bis pipe fiom his month, were the gilt of 

 the (Jicat Spirit to our Fiithcrs in hapjiier days, 

 before the heel of the white man had marked 



our shores, and while we lived in brotherhood 

 with one another. They were then the slock of 

 these wide iirairies around us, they dp voured the 

 evergreens of the rocky bills in the winter; in 

 the summer and aiunmii they fed on these plains, 

 and grew fat ujion the cane brakes of the shores 

 of the rivers. They were no other than the pres- 

 ent race of the buffalo increased in size by se- 

 lecting the largest cows, for a thousand or more 

 years. When this began these plains were cov- 

 ered with wood : in time all the young timber 

 was devoured by the cattle. The old growlh 

 died, the new eat down, and hence tlie.se wide 

 ranges. At length war arose among us, the Great 

 Spirit left ns to our fate, the cattle were turned 

 loose, and no longer cared fijr ; they grew small- 

 er and smaller, until they became, as they had 

 been at first, and what we now sec thera." P. 



From the Philadelphia Fanners' Cabinet. 

 Belgian Husbandry. 

 In no part of the world has the cultivation of 

 the soil attained greater perfection, than in Bel- 

 gium ; and the numbers of a work devoted to a 

 description of the husbandry of that country, 

 and the manner in which, by [lerseveriug indus- 

 try, its btirien sands have been converted into 

 the most fertile of soils, are not the least val- 

 uable of the series published by the London So- 

 ciety. 



FiArmors in tliis country, spG.ak of the impolicy 

 of extensive outlays in improving their farms; 

 "It will not ])ay the expense," is the objection 

 most frequently made, and one which is the most 

 forcible, in reply to those who urge upon thein 

 .systems, for the permanent meloration of their 

 soils. We have sometimes been disposed to 

 consider Ibis feeling of regard to immediate ex- 

 pense or profit, more as the natural result of that 

 restlessness of character, which is said to belong 

 to ns as a people, and which leads ns to suppose, 

 with reason, tiiat what will not pay note, may be 

 lost to us forever, as from our known migratory 

 propensities, it is scarcely (irobable our lands 

 will remain in our hands, or those of our child- 

 ren, fir any considerable time, rather than of any 

 disinclination to encounter the labor which an 

 improved husbandry requires. The benefits of 

 a good system of farming, or the evils of a defec- ^ 

 live one, can only be fully seen and appreciated 

 in a considerable term of years; on such lands 

 as the greater part of those in this country are, 

 when brought under cultivation, what may bo 

 called the skianins;. or scoiirghit; system, in which, 

 repeated crops, with little labor and no manuring, 

 ;ire taken off, may be the most |irofitable for the 

 time, although fatal to the soil and the prosperity 

 of the fanner in the long run; but when the 

 perniaueiil value and productiveness of lands are 

 taken into consideration — w hen it is remembered 

 that it is much easier to keep lands in heart, than M 

 to restore them when reduced to sterility; and 

 that the eventual agricultural jiroponsily of a 

 country is depending on a correct system of man- 

 agement, the imiiortance of selecting the best 

 models, and conducting our farming operations 

 with reference to future results, as well as present 

 profits, becomes perfectly evident. 



To illustrate the eftects of the two systems of 

 firming, or rather, to show the results of the im- 

 proved one, as compared with that generally 

 practised with us, we give a few extracts from 

 the papers on Belgian fanning; and the first is a 

 description of a firm of one hundred and forty 

 acres, on the river Lys, Courtnay. 



'■Of this farm, near twenty acres ai-e in fine 

 meadows along tjie river, occasionally flooded in 

 winter, but not irrigated. About ten acres are 

 rich, heavy land, adjoining the meadows, in which 

 beans and wheat thrive well: all the remainder, 

 about one hundred and six acres, lies in a oblong 

 fiirni, bounded by a hedge-row; at one corner of 

 which, nearest the river, stand the fiirm build 



