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1.54 



■ uiaaMJMinitiwa TO 



^I)c Jdriucr's iBontl)ly bigitor. 



tion : ue wi!»h we roiilil say likewise that the 

 farrnfi-s of the Granlle irtate were hjihiiiially 

 nion^ awake to their true interests than tliey seem 

 (ohe; that they did nut roiuiiiue, as they too 

 loii;; iiave l)een, iiiuh'r a paralysis in relation to 

 the ;; real indiicenieiils which otler to spur them 

 on in the cause nl' attrifultural improvement. 

 We regard airricnilnral societies and associations 

 only as the sign of the spirit of the times: their 

 effeols are felt not so much on those who imine- 

 diatelv act, as u[ion the host of industrious and 

 yajracions men who imitate every iisefid sugges- 

 tion, and who have the good sense to avoid what- 

 ever is injurious or useless. As this State has 

 been mostly settled within the last hundred years 

 by emigrants from the other New England States, 

 so the faruters here have followed the e.xample 

 of the farmei-s there whose improvements have 

 ,-dnays li«'U in advance of Ihem. 



lu'lhe interior and over the back-bone ridce 

 of New Ham[)sliire, the most of which has been 

 settled and cleared sijice the war of the revolution, 

 lliefiuiiiers have taken their examples mainlyfroni 

 Masssacliiisetts. To that State we may contin- 

 ue to look as the pioneer in those great improve- 

 ments both in agricidtnre and in all the useful 

 arts wliicli are contributing so much to the 

 wealth and comforls of New England. In all of 

 them as a State, she is nridoiditedly ahead of us ; 

 but in local and [)liysical advantages, in her soil 

 and her climate, slie is little in om- advance. — 

 jl she has not so njanyof our rugged mountains, 

 she has luore hardness and sterility of soil along 

 and aromid her lengthened sea-board. 



A piinci()al ohjecl of the eslablislimcnt of the 

 Farmer's Monthly Visitor when the editor was 

 engaged in the discharge of public duties to 

 which he bad been called by the voice of bis 

 fellow citizens, was the arousing and awakening 

 the energies of the .sons and daughters of New 

 Hampshire to new efforts for the improven)ent 

 of its physical advantaces. The virgin fertility 

 of nmcli of onr soil having been extracted, the 

 sentiment had become but too general in many 

 towns that here was no place for renewed efforts: 

 the inducements to make ]n-oi)orly by specula- 

 tion, to choose such callings as would give great- 

 er gains without labor, that would not <'.ill forth 

 the sweat of the brow, were so much more en- 

 ticing that the occupations of the fuuicM- and tlie 

 mechanic, calling forsevere|personal labor, were 

 Hist Ill-coming the neglected occupations. We 

 wished to contribute onr mite towards arresiing 

 the prevailing error. Our opinion then express- 

 ed that our sons and daughters settled down with- 

 in onr own limits might as surely succeed as to 

 wander into far countries, has since been abun- 

 dantly confirmed. Many of the most enterpris- 

 iu;; uieu of onr State have left it liir ;i supposed 

 briiililer destiny elsewhere; but of these many 

 we hesitate not now to express Ihe opinion 

 that fewer of lliem have succeeded in gaining 

 the olijccts of their search than of the ii«lusn"i- 

 ous and enterprising who remain on the 

 , ground. 



We want to see the predilections fijr a home 

 interest increase in New England. We want 

 the natural increase of onr population here to 

 remain: with this naliiral increase and llie in- 

 creased capital which onr accuslomed industry 

 brings alonu' with it, all remainiu;; here, we have 

 the elements of wealth, the m<;ans of comforta- 

 bl<! subsistence and of gtneral intelligence such 

 as no other people ever possessed. 



First in importance is onr Asricuhnre, as that 

 groat department which is the foundation of all 

 other callings and pursuits. This first calling 

 should be phu-eil at the head in the steady view 

 of the people: the steady and constant im/)rove- 

 minit of which our soil is susceptible tni'y make 

 Aiiricidturo at all liuus a safe and sure employ- 

 ment. It ought to stand so as m offur indnee- 

 riients even to th« educated young ma/l, liolished 

 bv the iearnin^' of the schools, to clieose it as the 

 profession on wbirb be relief— to enable him to 

 ,-is<nre liir himself s greater i-i;rtaini)' "f lierma- 

 nent success in life tbtin any oilier calHng. As 

 a reward for greater p^i-jtJiea'i (!ab«p', tbe man of 

 study may make bis life doubly leeful ; and the 

 .ap[iiicalion.of knowledge acquiretl to the grand 

 )iiirpose of increasing the cap;ici.y of our moth- 

 er e;irth to its greatest pood shmld become the 

 sure road to ifiat eminence wliidi is tho highest 

 jiin-jiose of earthly ambition. 



But a truce with the prefatorr remarks result- 



ing from a consideration that the mere politiidans 

 bail this year thrown in the way of our agricul- 

 tural associations discouragements for wliieli it 

 bad become necessary to apologize. Politician as 

 we have been from onr first most youthful aspi- 

 rations, we feel no disposition to disparage at this 

 time of litii the cause of Agriculture : it is a topic 

 at all limes to converse (Ui which, where we can 

 gain information, we will ijuit political consulta- 

 tion with our friends. To contend vvitn political 

 adversaries was never to us either profitable or 

 pleasant. 



Prevented by almost constant illness from 

 those perambulations among the farmers which 

 have beretolbre given great satisfaction, the ed- 

 itor of the Visitor had during the past summer 

 been disappointed in anticipated jomuies. Hav- 

 ing found a renjedy which woidd render bis 

 nights tolerable and increased strength coming 

 along with that remedy, as the last oppoitunity 

 of the present season, the editor of the Visitor on 

 the 8th of October started on a journey to Mass- 

 achusetts with the view of attending the Coun- 

 ty and State Agricultural Fair and Exliihiiions 

 at Worcester, vvliieb were appointed for the 9th, 

 10th and llth of that month. He had wished to 

 effect this object by a jomney in bis own open, 

 one borse vehicle across the country, through 

 the vallies and over the hills which make the 

 great agricultural county of Worcester in iMassa- 

 chusetts and old Hillsborough of onr own State, 

 almost identical as relates to their aspect and 

 soil — both of them containing the back-hone 

 ridges which divide the streams running east and 

 West into the Merrimack and Conneciicut. It 

 was not safe to make this attempt; so we took 

 the quicker mode of the Railroads romid by Bos- 

 ton making a journey of one hundred and twen- 

 ty miles in seven lionrs of what in the direct 

 shortened distance of less than eighty miles 

 would have required the steady jog of a (iearhorn 

 waggon the daylight of two full Octobei'days. 



Tlie Worcester County Agricultural Society 

 has been in existence twenty-four years. Under 

 the constant patronage which it has enjoyed from 

 a provision ol" the law of Massachusetts which 

 grants a sum to each county agricultural society 

 raising a like sum from the contribution of its 

 members, the Worcester Agricultural Society 

 has aniassed abundant limds with the State aid 

 to etTeet all its objects — to offer premiiuiis and 

 present such inihicements as will assure every 

 year an exhibition houorahle to the farmers at 

 the "heart of the Coimnonwealth." With a 

 rougher aspect and less fertility than some other 

 counties of the old Connnonwealth, it is believ- 

 ed Worcester is in advance of all others in Mass- 

 achusetts in its agricultural iuiprovemcuts. ftlnch 

 of this is undoiditedly due to the interest which 

 a|ioitiou of tile firmers in all sections and al- 

 most every town of the county have taken in fm'- 

 theriug the olijei-ts of the County Agricultural 

 Society. 



On three previous occasions we had made it 

 convenient to be present at the Worcester Cattle 

 Show and Fair. The object which callijd us 

 to that town having been removed nearer 

 tons, made the Society at this time the only in- 

 ducement. We had seen, not only the intelli- 

 gent farmers and mechanics of ttiat great and 

 iiohle county, but some of lier eminent profes- 

 sional men taking so deep an interest in this mat- 

 ter — so civil to stranger visitors, so generous and 

 attentive in all Ihe hospitalities which make one 

 at home — that we would not resist the tempta- 

 tion of alone taking the journey and travelling 

 again over the ground which had given us so 

 much [ileasure. 



The Show ofl830(bow soon five years fly over 

 our heads I) was the last we attended; yet in all 

 the movements of the Agricultural Society there 

 was a reseiidilance that existed no where else. 

 The town of Worcester since that time bad he- 

 come a city compared with ils former village as- 

 pect: the neatly painted dwellings had extend- 

 e<l themselves at all points of the amphiiheatn- 

 of which the railroad depots were the central or 

 lowest point. At the soulli-east,tlie magnificent in- 

 stimiiun u liich does honor to the State,and v, liich 

 should immortalize the name of the man who 

 more than any other has demonstrated that the 

 miseries of confinement in a., madhouse may be 

 snhstitnted by comlbns and enjoyments at least 

 equal to masses who are considered to be ration- 

 al, but who associate without system and without 



discipline ; at that point, the grand edifice has ex- 

 tended its wind's for the convenient accommoda-"' 

 tion of atjont five hundred jiatients where room 

 at first existed for only about one hundred and 

 twenty. 'I'his stalely edifice, built entirely of 

 brick, faces toward the west the compact settled 

 part of Worcester. At no very great distance on 

 the right is the entrance to the town of tlie rail 

 road from Boston, which comes into the valley 

 through a ledge cut to a great depth and in some 

 considerable distance through tlie solid rock. — 

 Further to the left in successive swells rise the 

 grounds on which are situated several fin-m- 

 boiises with their appendages of large barns and 

 sheds. Still fiirther to the left, in the midst of a 

 community almost exclusively of the Protestant 

 denomination, has been erected a splendid brick 

 Roman Catholic edifice intended as a seminary 

 for the education of youth. As this country is 

 open to all religious sects, and as perfect tolera- 

 tion has been found the best road for the spread 

 of true Christianity, we ought not to be alarmed 

 at the efforts made by any denomination to es- 

 tablish themselves in this land of freedom. — 

 Even erroneous opinions may be safely tolerated 

 where reason is left free to combat them; and 

 the building of a Catholic college in tt»e midst of 

 a Protestant community may be the means of 

 contributing to that generous Christian s[)irit 

 which in this country leaves the mind tree to en- 

 joy its own convictions in the opinions which di- 

 vide the world into various sects. In the south- 

 west of the amphitheatre Inst filling up so as to 

 become soon an extended city nearer to the Cath- 

 olic seminary, [lasses the track of the Norwich 

 railroad, which soon finds the stream, being an 

 extended liranch of the Thames down whose 

 valley this road runs hy a succession of manu- 

 facturing villages employing several millions of 

 capital, to the city of Norwich in Connecticut. — 

 Further to Ihe northwest is the lower ground 

 through which the great western railroad leaves 

 Worcester. Before these two roads were eom- 

 structeil, no one could have dreamed of the great 

 nun;ber of |iassengers and merchandize which 

 at all limes of day and night find their way 

 through the heart of the hollow in which Wor- 

 cester is situated. If millions in wi^ight and mea- 

 sure [lass through as on the wings of the wind, 

 enough is lodged here and comes in on either 

 hand by the ordinary modes of conveyance, to 

 make of Worcester imeofthe must liu.sy anil 

 business places of the interior perhaps within the 

 limits of the United States. 



Looking to the right frontiiig tbe Insane Hospi 

 tal we have a nearer rise or swell of ground ex- 

 tending east and west, near to the loot of which 

 is the main street on which ihe old village, inclu- 

 ding the public houses, stores, court house, and 

 meeiiug houses, long stood without siiy consider- 

 able addition. Among the dwellings ^till left is 

 the ni:insion of the lale Mr. Salisbury who resi- 

 deil here while long in parinership with a broth- 

 er in a Boston mercantile firm which half a cen- 

 tury ago had accumulated what was then deem- 

 ed a princely fortune. Still further norlh-east, 

 and now more out of town, was the family I'esi- 

 ence of the Lincoln family. Farther west, on 

 ground elevated above the road, is the new Court 

 lioiise, which although of comparatively iiKidern 

 construction, is old enough to be substiinted by 

 an edifice now building of Quincy granite, of a 

 style more chaste and beautil'nl than any other 

 building of the kind in New England, [^arger 

 on the sroiind than the granite Stale capitol of 

 New Hamnshire, ilie new Worcester county 

 court house has been constructed at a cost of 

 sixty thousand dollars : it proves the ability of 

 that agriciiliural district and the industry of 

 those who have converted its numerous streams 

 into the means of creating villages in nearly ev- 

 ery town, that they are able to erect exclusively 

 lor county liurposes a building which, being fire 

 proof, may stand as the monument of true taste 

 in archilrclnie for many .'ises. 



It mi;;lit have been mentioned that between 

 ihe height of the Hos|iiial and that on which the 

 new court house stands is the valley down which 

 courses the stream from the foot of Mount Wa- 

 chusett on the north, the feeder for the Black- 

 stone canal which communicates with iho wa- 

 ters of the Rhode Island hay at Providence. — 

 Not satisfied, with that as an outlet of communi- 

 cation, the project is entertained of soon com- 

 mencing a rnilroud along this valley and canal, 



