174 



(ll)C iavmcv's inontl)ltj Visitor. 



diiPiive in tlie ^'iii|)e ns to fiirnisli llie coiiiniPice 

 of tlie world aiili wines, derive their t'ei'lility 

 iVoni rlie di'i-oMi|io,sed, irudied roc;ks lln'own IVoin 

 e;n-lli"s hosoin. Rocks in ;iny and every stale me 

 the" salt of the earth" tliat |ireserves eonlinned 

 <-iii|is for the finiiier — roiitiniied feed for his cat- 

 tle npon oin- " ihonsaiid hills." Our New Eng- 

 land fnonntains appear more craggy ami bare, be- 

 cause so loni; has been the lapse of time since 

 they were the rej;ioM of the earihipiake and the 

 volcano, that tin; natin-al wear upon their steep 

 sides has cajried off" earth and soil faster than 

 the rock itself Earth will however every where 

 acciniiNlate in a position not to be worn otf' and 

 washed down by the waters; but the earth be- 

 low is constantly receiving accessions from the 

 cra^'gy rocks upon the steepest hills and nionn- 

 tains. The breaking and broken fragments are 

 silently and steadily changing into earthy parti- 

 cles, and those particles as constantly minister 

 to the ferliliiy of the ground where 'they lodge. 

 Even the wind liloning dust is an active agent 

 in this work. 



The soil upon our river intervales made from 

 sauil which has blown there, is nnich more liable 

 to be bairen fioni (h'OUL'ht than the li;;litest sand 

 waslieil directly over them from the bed of the 

 river. Tliis bed of the river sand tbrms much of 

 the subsoil of onr intervales: where the water 

 biici^s in instead of flowing over, the sediment is 

 of a textiue contaiuiiig nioie of the clayey than 

 the saiidy element ; inid in many points of onr in- 

 tervales we (d)serve sometiuies clay ami some- 

 times sand and sometimes black vegetalile nxndd 

 iying in strata below the upper soil. But even 

 where the subsoil is flowing sand, when once a 

 soil is formed upon thesurlace, which njay easi- 

 ly be effected by a comparatively iiiconsiilerable 

 ainomit of manuie, changing the complexion of 

 the earth entirely — a sward will soon fellow the 

 fiu-mation of surf ice soil, and the earth will suf- 

 fer no sooner from drought than the bard pan 

 soil : if the jiromiil shall be stirred to the depth 

 of twelve inches, little apprehension need be en- 

 tertained in either case from ordinary dry weath- 

 er. The iporiius sand, as will a bed of pebbles 

 weighing from one pound to ten, or even one 

 large rock lying within eighteen inches of the 

 surfiice^will foriu a good substratmn tVu' a fridt- 

 ful field of gi-ass or grain. It must be a long 

 drought that over these will injiue a crop. 



But there is a virtue in what appears to be 

 flowing sand from the bed of the .Merrimack, 

 whose effects greatly surprised ns : clover springs 

 up in if, and where it is suffijrod to take root, 

 grows hixiuianily without a particle of manure. 

 -\s soon as the grass once springs, the character 

 of the soil chaii;;es. Herdsgrass as tall as we 

 have ever met with elsewhere grow.> iji this riv- 

 er sandy formation, wherein we would suppose 

 that as many as ninety parts in a hundred were 

 pure silex. The fertility of this composition nnisl 

 be derived from ilisiulegralion of mountain rocks 

 brought down the river from the coimtry above, 

 and now perliap.s for the first time adapting it- 

 self to the growth of vegetation. 



Wherever we see sand thrown upon the river 

 lianks from the bed of the river, we always feel 

 a strong anxiety to see the experiment tried of 

 changing its char.ictcr by uuxing alumina or clay 

 with the sand. Such land, if cultivated at jdl, is 

 usually woi-n out by slight surface ploughing fi;ii- 

 successive crops of rye. Let the plough go down 

 double its usual depth, and let sonie one or two 

 hmulred loads of black sw.am|) muck or clay — 

 burnt clay will do the better service — be spread 

 to the acre; let these flowing .sands U|)0ii onr riv- 

 er banks undergo this process; and we bind our- 

 selves thai they will soupi present some of the 

 best and most [irofitable cultivation of our funn- 

 els. 



The Cradle of a WEsrERx Farmer's Child. 

 1 writing to his friend in Charles- 



f kl I n ,*; 1 1 1 ir / I uo.> f'i ■ .1 ..i . . ..t* .. -.■••ii[t(i 



tiiY '^,>ii ,v,uei.-<. J ne railing irt consiriii 

 the horns of bucks killed by my own bands 

 The rockers are nnde from a' waliint tree that 

 grew on my sister's plantation adjoining me. 

 The spring mattrass or lining is stuffed with 

 wool from my own sheep. 'J'he loose mattrass 



is also filled with domestic wool, tnanufactured 

 and lined by my own wife. The pillows are 

 filled with tiiathers from onr own wild geese, 

 they have also been nianiifactiired by my own 

 wile, with her own hands. Accompnnyinff the 

 cradle is a whistle, which was made by a friend 

 residing with me, out of the tusk of an alligator, 

 slain by my own hand, as well as a fan made by 

 the same friend out of the tail of a wild turkey 

 killed by me; accompanying the whole is the 

 hide of a panther, dressed after the fashion of 

 the chamois, the animal having been slain with 

 my own hands, and with my own trusty rifle. 

 This is for the stranger to loll and roll upon 

 when tired of his cradle." The letter from 

 which we make this extract is published in the 

 Charleston Courier. 



For the Farmer's Monttily Visitor. 

 How 'to make ^ood Ink. 



Mr. Editor. — Presuming that there are many 

 fanners' boys preparing to attenri the country 

 winter schools, and that some of them are as 

 much perplexed to obtain good ink as I used to 

 be, when I had to make it of while maple bark, 

 or go withour, I enclose yon the following recipe 

 furnished me by the late Doct. John Farmer, 

 which he thought was the best he bad ever used; 

 and his testimony in its fiivor is enough to ensure 

 it a trial without any oilier. I have put the pri- 

 ces to the materials, so it can be seen that they 

 are not expensive. 



Blue Nuigalls 2 oz. cost 10 cts. 



Gum .\rabic, 1 oz. " 4 cts. 



Sulphate of Iron. ] oz. cost 3 cts. 



Verdigris, 4 dram, cost 1 ct. 

 Pulverize them separately, niix and divide into 

 four papers. Dissolve one of the papers in a 

 gill and a half of spring water, and place it by 

 the fire for 24 hours, shaking it often, and it 

 will be fit for use. 



All writing ink should be kept in well corked 

 bottles so as not to suffer it to be ex|)osed long to 

 the air until it is used for writing, and the ink- 

 stand should be stopped up when not in use. 

 When it is kept from the air it will be very pale 

 when first written with: it will flow from the 

 pen readily wiihout clogging it up, and it will 

 strike into the paper so that it cannot be easily 

 erased. A. C. 



Ohio Vineyards. 



The vineyards of Ohio appear this year to be 

 in the ''fiill tide of successful experiment," and 

 though considering the use of wine as a beverage 

 nnnecessaiy, still, as large quantities of it will be 

 used, we are glad to notice the success of the 

 Ainerican vinedresser, as supplying an important 

 deficiency in our [jroducts hitherto, and one that 

 annually costs us larije sums of money to pro- 

 cure. Every step thus eaiued, we consider a 

 iriumph for home industry, and a nearer ap- 

 |iroacli to real practical • inde|iendciice. The 

 German emigrants from the banks of the Rhine 

 have taken tlie lead in this matter, and their suc- 

 cess would seem to be certain. Among ilie vine- 

 yards that are scattered up and down the Ohio, 

 ill the vicinity of Cincinnati, that of Mr. J. E. 

 Mottier is one of the most prominent. From a 

 description of a visit to it by the editor of the 

 Cincinnati G.izette, we gather the Ibllovvliig facts. 

 The vineyard contains about (j acres; tlie vines 

 planteil in rows 6 leet apart, and 3 feet apart in 

 the rows. They are trained to posts firmly fixed 

 ill the ground, 7-^ liiet high, and intertwined from 

 hill to iiill .Locust posts are preferred by Mr. 

 .M. as the most durable. INlr. Mottier cultivates 

 none but Ainerican varieties of the grape, and 

 they are of course hardy, anil need no protection 

 in winter. He runs a [ilougli or cultivator occa- 

 sionally between the tows, to keep the soil in 

 good order and the weeds down. He prefers a 

 northern to a southern exposure, as his experi- 

 ence tenches that the grape in that vicinity oftener 

 sufTers tiom early, or spring,tlian from late fi'osts. 

 Since 1829, he has lost but one crop from frost: 

 on the Rhine, if three crops out of five are saved, 

 the vinedresser is fbrtimate. One thousand five 

 hundred gallons of wine were made last year; 

 more vines have this year come into hearing, and 

 the wine luodiict is estimated at 4,000 gallons. 

 The Catawba urape makes a white wine, resem- 

 bling the Rhenish Hock, and in good repute. 

 The Cape grape makes a red wine, more like 

 Burgiinrly. The wine sells readily at $1 per 



gallon. l\Ir. Mottier is also largely engaged in 

 the culture of other fruit.s. His strawberry beds 

 are very productive, and he sold last spring 5,000 

 quarts. His peach and apnie orchards were la- 

 den with the finest fruit. — Albany Cultivator. 



A Caution to Boys. 



Boys, in their " fiin," often violate this com- 

 mandment, namely: bearing "false witness" — 

 telling what is not true, in order to deceive. I 

 have known serious consequences attend mi.schief 

 of this kind. Two boys, who were roving about 

 the fields while the grass was long, look the idea 

 of tying the gia«^s oyer the "short-cut" path 

 which led to the village, and was much frequent- 

 ed by loot pussenger.s. "Satan finds mischief 

 still, lor idle hands to do." As soon as they had 

 iiccomplished their purpose, they bid themselves 

 close by, so as to witness the sport. They had 

 not waited long, when they saw a man running. 

 " I'll warrant it," says one, "that fellow is run- 

 ning for a wager; and he'll not see the grass tied, 

 and fall. He passed swiftly by them, struck his 

 foot against the erass, and fell. "That's fun," 

 said they, and were going to laugh; when they 

 saw that the man was not able to rise. Trem- 

 bling, they went to help liini, when he said : 

 "Some bad boys have tied the grass over this 

 |)ath, and 1 have fallen, and put my thigh out of 

 joint, so that 1 shall not be able to walk for n 

 moiilli. I was going for a doctor for a sick man." 

 They looked at one another, when one of them 

 said : " who is this sick man ? we'll go tor a phy- 

 sician." "You cannot run as fast as I should,"if 

 Pd not had this dreadful fall; he lives at yonder 

 white house : I'm afiaid he will not live for you 

 to get back." Well did they wish the grass had 

 not been lied ; for the sick man was their own 

 father, who had been taken suddenly and dan- 

 gerously ill. Whether lie got well or not, I do 

 not know : but of this I am certain, that they 

 never engaged in any like fun afterwards. 



There was a gentleman and bis lady, who liad 

 spent many years in India, returned lo their na- 

 tive land with a son and little daughter. Tho 

 little boy was constantly engaged in some mis- 

 chievous trick, notwithstanding the frequent ad- 

 monitions of his parents. One day, he told his 

 sister to hide under the bed. Then he went lo 

 the window, and screamed out, " Sis has fallen 

 out of the window." His mother ran to the 

 window, and not seeing her, was rushing down 

 stairs, when she fell. She was taken up, and 

 laid upon a bed ; and in a few hours died .' Thus, 

 this little boy was deprived of his excellent 

 mother, whom he tenderly loved, through his in- 

 ordinate desire of " fun." 



I could relate many other stories of the same 

 kind; but these are enough to show the evil ef- 

 fects of a love of mischief, or fun, as some boys 

 will have it. Christ will not love that child who 

 is engaged in mischief; and then to think of the 

 misery that awaits the one engaged in it in the 

 world of woe, 1 should think would be sufficient 

 to detir any one. 



I "ill merely add a few texts of Scripture, 

 which I hope every one will carefiilly consider : 



The wicked "devisetli mischief upon lii.i 

 bed: he seitetli himself in a way that is not 

 good." — Pstdm xxxvi. 4. 



"He that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto 

 him." — Proverbs xi. 27. 



"The wicked shall be filled with mi'Dc/nV/"."— 

 Proverbs xii. 21. 



".A wicked messenger falleth into mischief." — 

 Proverbs xiii. 17. 



"The wicked shall fall into mischief — Prov- 

 erbs XXIV. 16. — Er. Paper. 



Grafted Apples from the New Hampshire Hills. 



Hox. I. Hill — Dear Sir: — I send you n small 

 box of apples, as a samiile of some of the fruit 

 growing in my orchard, of two hundred graft- 

 ed appletrees. This year for the first time I have 

 sent one ton of apples to the Boston market ns 

 an experiment, via railroad. They netted me a 

 handsome profit. .And as ] understand that 

 Farmer Hill takes quite an interest in such mat- 

 ters, I hope he will excuse me this liberty. 

 Yours, &c. 



HENRY PHELPS, Jr. 



Groton, November, 7, 1843. 



(J^ The specimen of apples, sent as above, 

 were received in good order ; they were as fine 

 ns any apples we have ever seen. We tliink 



