Ql{)t jTarmcr's iilcintl)li) bisitor. 



137 



new theories, and their rationality or practical 

 hearing ; questions connected with a^jriculiurul 

 reading or education ; in short, every thing hc- 

 longing 10 the farm, tlie oi-chard or the garden, 

 will he foinid a suitable and fiuitful topic of le- 

 inai'k. Such a chih should possess an agricnlui- 

 ral library, sujtported by the contributions of 

 each associate, aiul open to every niend)er ; tlie 

 books and periodicals to be subject to such reg- 

 ulations as to afford security against loss. The 

 best foreign as well as domestic works on agri- 

 cnltine and its kindred sciences might always 

 be found, and all the most valuable of our peri- 

 odicals useful to the farmer placed on tile for 

 reading or for reference. To each individual the 

 expense would he far less than if his laboi'S for 

 informaliou were alone and imaided. and the 

 mutual advantages decidedly greater. 



Another of the beneiits resulting from such an 

 association wotdd, or might be, the forinntion of 

 an agricultural museum, embi-aciiig speciuiens 

 of the various soils cultivateii by the niemlters, 

 or any of those remarkable tor their fertility or 

 otherwise ; specimens to illusti'ate the geological 

 character of the district, and show the beai-ing 

 this science has on agriculture ; specimens of 

 the various kinds of grain and cidiivated plants, 

 whether remarkable fov size, novelty, or their 

 valuable ipiaiilies ; fruits, roots, &.C., according 

 to the season ; together with all such matters as 

 are calculated to interest and instruct such a 

 !»ody of men ; the whole, as far as possible, to 

 be preserved for the benefit of all. We have 

 fuei'ely thrown out tliose few hints, in the ho|)e 

 that some of our spirited farming neighborhoods 

 may be induced to further develop them and re- 

 ilnce them to practice. Wherever, in Kurope or 

 in tiiis country, this or kindred plans have been 

 adopted, the lesults have been most happy, and 

 the cause of agriculttrre lias received a decided 

 itnpulse. — Albany CalUvalor, 



From Hill's JN. H. Patriot. 

 Correspondence of Hill's Patriot. 



A tour ill Canada East — ,<tanstcad — Fannin-^ country 

 in Canada ; soilHj seasons, iSfC. — l\iivn^ on (he St. Fran- 

 cis — S/icrbroolic^ its business and odoanta^cs — Rivers 

 iMcnipkremagog and St. Francis — Canadian French — 

 Bad accommodations for travellers; any quniitity of 

 children and bed-bugs — Canadian houses — Similarity 

 of the condition between the inhabitants and the face 

 of the country ; our correspondent's bad opinion of the 

 capacity of the Canadian French for self-;^overnmeni 

 — La Bai — Nicolct ; its college for the educati-iit of 

 priests, l^c 6yc. 



For a pleasure lour at this season ol* the year, a trip 

 through F.Tstern Canada atfords more sources of nuiusc- 

 tiieiit and instruction than perhaps any oilier region ol'the 

 same distance. In entering Canada over our iVontier, we 

 are first introduced into one of the most delightlul villa- 

 ges that this continent furnishes. Slanstead, for quiet, 

 tranquil beauty, is not surpassed by the best of our Amer- 

 ican villages. There is nottiuig mild or stnkiiigty roman- 

 tic about It. but its natural location iieln^x one continuous 

 plain, and its buildings so generally good and at such re- 

 spectful distances from one another, its landscape view 

 of' lake and mountain, all conspire to irive the place an 

 air of comfortable beauty. 



In travelling on from titanstead towards the St. Francis 

 river, through H idcy and Complon, we can see as beau- 

 tiful a farmintr country as can be found any where this 

 side of Uie Ohio. The soil is fertile and easily cultivated. 

 The se.isons are short ; but vegelalion is not. like man, 

 dilatory in pcrformin,' its work. The Etrowth is propnr- 

 tionat:;!y speedy. When winter is seen lagging till almost 

 midsummer, all things appear gloomy, and the most con- 

 tiding are well nigh led to doubt the sure promise of seed 

 time and harvest. But all at once summer is on, and 

 vegetation seems to shoot forth by maLiic ; tlie growth is 

 almost momentarily visible, audible. Seed time and har- 

 vest almost flow together ; the time intervening being so 

 short that the one is scarcely past before the other is 

 present. 



The townships of Hatley, Stanstead and (^ompton, are 

 pmbably better than a fair sample of the Eastern town- 

 ships ; but they are noted throughout for fertility of soil. 

 Coming on to the bank of tlic St. Francis, at'ter passing 

 through the pleasant villages of Hatley, Compton and 

 Lenniixville. we arrive at Sherbrooke. This is the capi- 

 tal of the Eastirru townships. Its situation is at the junc- 

 tion of the Mempbreinagog and St. Francis rivers. The 

 Memphremagog here furnishes one of the best water 

 privileges any where on the continent, but it is but little 

 improved at present. 



Sherbrooke is a town and has the privilege of sending 

 a member to the Provincial Parliament. Its natural po- 

 sition i?' truly picturesque; it presents every variety of 

 aspect but uniformity, of which it has none. * There is a 

 pleasing contrast exhibited in the two rivers. The ftlcm- 

 phremagog is a noisy, bustling little stream, worming its 

 way through mountains of solid rock, which overhang it 

 on either side ; its motion is quick and nervuH, and re- 

 minds one of a ymall man in breathless .igititioii laboring 

 tn accomplish some mighty task. The St. Francis on the 

 other hand is a still, passive stream, much resembling the 



Connecticut. Sherbrooke possesses more natural than 

 artiticial advantages at present : nevertheless it is a place 

 of considerable business, and it' any place this side Mon- 

 treal is fated to be a v:ity, this is it. In passing down the 

 St. Francis from Sherbrooke, there is nothing noticeable 

 except the marked fertility of soil presented every where 

 that the forest has been prostrated- The next viUage we 

 come to is Melbiurne, a pleasant and quiet place •, oppo- 

 site the river from this is Shipton, a village of much the 

 same character. 



As we pass on from Melbourne some twenty miles, the 

 inhabitants, which hitherto have been almost entirely 

 Fnglish or American, become mixed with Canadian 

 French. The latter increase until we come to the French 

 country, which is sontL' 35 or Ad mdes below Melbourne. 

 We tind the village of Drummondsville possessing a mix- 

 ed character. By the appearance of the bouses, we 

 should infer that the Frencli were the majority. It has 

 one of those most pitiful of all accommodations, a French 

 tavern. If an American unacquainted with the langnage 

 could content liimself in one of these insipid places, he 

 must be impervious to all attacks of home-sickness. If 

 good wishes and gracious smiles and most obsequious 

 bows could refresh the wary traveller, there would be no 

 lack here of sutficient entertainment to well nigh revivify 

 a dead man. But the food is so cooked as to have no 

 taste but superlative flatness. Again to see the floor 

 alive with some half a acore oi' flaxen-headed urchins 

 prating their nasal discord, seemingly a mock Babel, the 

 destitution ot all means of diversion, even to the want of 

 an alman.ack, and the numerous specimens of animated 

 nature which the beds contain, all produce an effect very 

 like a dose of rhubarb. 



The French country as a whole is a novelty. But when 

 one's curiosity has been satisHed, the novelty ceases. 

 When you have travelled five miles in the French coun- 

 try you have seen the whole. It is all a dead level, and 

 the land is apportioned into oblong lots of equal size, 

 which are held by tenants, under a segnior, by a sort of 

 Feudal tenure. Vpnu each lot is a cotUge a story and a 

 half high, bedaubed with whitewash so as to be {as Bnz 

 would say) '■ the very whitest of white." Near the house, 

 but not in it, is an oven huilt; and In many cases sepa- 

 rate from the house is a kitchen where the cooking is 

 done. At the distan(-e of the width ur length of these 

 lots (as you maybe travelling) you will invariably lind 

 the same. You can always satisfy your curiosity as to 

 whether the people are baking by noticing whether the 

 covers of their ovens are carel'ully braced up. They will 

 live with an infinitely small income, and be coinfm table 

 with a half dozen articles of furniture for quite an exten- 

 sive family. 



The country and people [uesent the aspect of a level. 

 They will neither raise themselves nor suffer themselves 

 to be raised. 'J'hey will plod on in the old tread-mill life 

 of their fathers, not only willing but determined to con- 

 demn themselves to eternal inferiority. 



Dupes of papal tyranny, they scout every soecies of 

 improvement in morals or politics, as almost a sacrile- 

 gious innovation. The sympathy which some of our 

 people manifested for them in the rebellion of 18.37 was 

 sadly misplaced. Though they may have suffered some 

 injustice during the supremacy of the Tory party, yet 

 there wa5 no sufticient cause for a separation from the 

 mother country. Kveu if the cause was sufficient, it 

 would not have been policy for them, for they are no more 

 fit for self-government, as a body, than a herd of monkies. 

 They would have been dupes of demagoiiues. In fact, 

 the body of them were led into the rebellion by a few 

 designing but unprincipled men, who controlled them by 

 representations such as self-interest dictated them to use. 

 Besides, the English parly have the tiue interests of the 

 provinces at lieart, and are and have been active for im- 

 provement, and creating a spirit of enterprise -, while the 

 Canadians (French) have clogijed every thing of the kind. 



To hope much (rom the Canadian French, as a body, is 

 vain under the mo>t favorable circumstances. They have 

 not the elements of progression in them. They are 

 fickle, contracted, and volatile as ether. 



The principal French villages we piss in this route to 

 Port St. Francis, are La Bai and iVicolrt. Both are quite 

 pleasant locations. La Bii is noted for nothing in par- 

 ticular more than for its cliurch. This is quite splendid 

 fir such a place, ornamented within with some very flue 

 paintings, crosses, t&c. 



Nicolet is truly a beautiful spot. It is situated on a 

 small river of the same name, and on one side of it is a 

 b'jautiful pine grove. It is the seal of a college, contain- 

 ing at present ahout 300 students. The buildings arc ol" 

 stone, four stories high, and sf)aciou-i enough to accom- 

 modate all the students and teachers in the various duties 

 of stutly in g. eating and sleeping. The buildings are more 

 spacious anil imposing than perhaps the buihlings of any 

 of our INcw Fngland colleges, but show a deficiency of 

 taste in their exterior construction and location. Students 

 are taken when hoys and kept 7, 8 it 10 ye'.rs. until they 

 couie out sanctimonious, palc-visnged priests. Any one. 

 at any age. can enjoy the privileges of the colleire. F.vc- 

 ry teacher has charge of a certiiiii numl.cr, whom he in- 

 structs and watches over. He eats with ihem and sleeps 

 in the same long hall, and accompanies them in all their 

 sports. 



We passed through this village on the day of the annual 

 examination ; we saw priests going away from them in all 

 <lirections. Some dozen accompanied us to Quebec ; and 

 among the number were some young friars or priests, 

 clothed in black robes and under broad-brimmed tri-cor- 

 iiered hats, who appeared the sorriest objects my eves 

 ever beheld. They looked like living mummies. Tiiev 

 did not appear as if there could be the least glow of ani- 

 mation m their souls. 



If my readers are not too much bored with this, nt a 

 future time I will be happy to accompany them to Que- 

 bec. ZAC. 



Meteorological Journal kept at Concord 

 by A. CHANDL.KR. 



August. 



iBarotn- 

 I L'ler. 



I c'ter. [Froni. Force. From. Am'l. 



Remarks. — 3il il:\y, n fuiiii bank of Aiinira 

 this eve helwcen 8 iiriil 9 o'l-locU. — (illi, lic-ivy 

 sliower ill tlie niylit ,Miul (Irizzliii^ rain all day; 

 the imioiint (alien •■iliout ci^ht tenths ofaii iiiefi ; 

 wet the firoiiiiil from 4 to (5 inrhes deep. The 

 frmitiid had <xol to he very dry, in some ."^andy 

 soil IViiiii 2 to 3 lt:et deep. Kroin the 33ili of 

 July to the 4lli Inst, there has been, alioiit evei-y 

 other ntorninL', a very dense foj; on Merrimack 

 river, whieli has pnihalily hern of inneh servire 

 to the crops during tin.' loiiit ahsenee of rain. — 

 9lli. light rain tiiis nioniiiig. — Ulh, heavy shower 

 in the night, and light rain all day. — 12th, heavy 

 shower in the night. Sinre yesterday morning 

 the r.-iiii has fallen one and a half inches deep. 

 — l,5lh, moderate slioucr in the niglil. — ]8lli, 

 heavy shower hetween 4 and 5, P. M., accomp,i- 

 iiied by a violent gale of wind, which bloneil 

 down a iinniber of tree? and damaged some 

 hnildings; the rain tiL-ll half an inch deep in 

 ahniit half an hour. — li)lli, rained haid in the 

 night.— 50tli, began to rain yesierday bi.'tween 2 

 and3, and cnnlinncd until ahoiii 4, P. -M. ; ainonnt, 

 nine-tcnihs ol an iiicli. — "ilst, began lo rain about 

 t) o'clock, A. M. ; conliniieil lighlly all day; bard 

 in the night, and all day of llie 'i'M, ibrongli llie 

 night until ilie morning of ibe 23d; anionnt, 

 •?,85 inches. — 27ili, heavy fbowers in the I'. I\I., 

 anionnling to .87 of an inch ii)!*ne hour's time. 

 — 28tli, raiiK'd lii;hlly all day; one tenth of an 

 inch. The whole amount of rain during the 



month, / 

 inoniii. 



.">'l inches — an e.viraordinfuv hirire a- 



