554 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



They begin to find, or rather to realize "in the 

 light," as the Quakers say, the truth of the Scotch 

 maxim, "No cattle no manure, no manure no corn." 

 So long as our generous alluvial soils gave crops 

 without stint, the farmer only set down the- cost of 

 feeding a pair of three year olds against the small 

 sum for which he sold them ; counting as nothing 

 the manure they made, which alone prevented the 

 deterioration of his soil. But all this is changed 

 now : three year olds are sold at this time at more 

 than $50 a head, and such is their scarcity on the 

 farm, that the soil is fast deteriorating, except 

 among those thinking farmers who have bought as 

 many lean kine, as they have sold fat ones. These 

 men have grown large crops of corn, and fed it all 

 to their animals, thus realizing stall-fed prices in 

 their sales, over and above the gain in that extra 

 nitrogenous manure made from sorn fed-cattle. — 

 Rural American. 



For the New England Farmer. 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



So much accustomed have we all become to be- 

 ing whisked over hills and through valleys, boxed 

 up in railroad cars, with our eyes closed to keep 

 out cinders, and gasping for breath, amid smoke and 

 dust, that we are in danger of losing all idea of the 

 beauties of natural scenery — at least, of the pleas- 

 ures of travelling in the country. Railroad travel- 

 ling is tolerable for business excursions, and when- 

 ever dispatch is paramount to all other considera- 

 tions. But to take the cars, thinking to see and 

 enjoy the beauties of the landscape, borders upon 

 absurdity. I should as soon think of a pleasure 

 trip over the sands of the Great Desert, packed op 

 the apex of a camel's back, or of being sent or 

 drawn, nolens volens, through the underground let- 

 ter-box of the new telegraphic fixture. 



Give me the old mode of travelling yet ; a good 

 horse, a comfortable vehicle, and agreeable compan- 

 ions, a smooth road, and pleasant weather ; with 

 - such an outfit — the time, September — a man must 

 be blind, or a dunce, Mho would not meet with a 

 .profusion of objects and incidents worth recording. 

 Having recently taken such a trip through a por- 

 tion of the Connecticut valley, from Amherst, 

 Mass., to Hanover, N. H., I forward you, Mr. Ed- 

 itor^ some of my "pencillings by the way." 



Sunderland. — This little town is worthy of spe- 

 cial mention. It embraces less than six square 

 miles, about one-half of which is occupied by Mt. 

 Toby. The residue, naturally light land, is made 

 highly productive, and sustains a population of 900 

 inhabitants. There are not many towns in the 

 commonwealth, in which the agricultural reforma- 

 tion has taken stronger hold than here. A Farmers' 

 Club is in full tide of successful experiment, and its 

 good effects are visible in every part of the town. 

 During the winter, semi-monthly meetings are held, 

 when the old and the young meet and compare 

 notes, and discuss topics connected with their voca- 

 tions. In the spring, the whole field, embracing 

 agriculture and horticulture, is divided into conve- 

 nient sections, and committees are appointed to 

 make observations and experiments in each, and re 

 port to the club in autumn. This plan proves em- 

 inentlv successful, and it would be well were this 

 example generally imitated. 



South Deerfield is a place of interest, connected 



with the early history of this valley. A granite 

 monument commemorates the fall of Lathrop, and 

 most of his eighty followers, — the "flower of old 

 Essex." A marble slab lying upon the ground, 

 designates the spot where the bones of most of the 

 slain were buried. At the laying of the corner- 

 stone of said monument, nearly a quarter of a cen- 

 tury ago, there was a great gathering of the free- 

 men of this portion of the valley, and Edward Ev- 

 erett delivered an oration worthy of the occasion — 

 worthy of the Masaachusetts colony. As if con- 

 scious that he stood upon soil consecrated to free- 

 dom, that he was surrounded by a free people, he 

 gave utterance to words that breathe, and thoughts 

 that burn, touching the wrongs of the red men, and 

 the natural, inalienable rights of all to "life, liberty, 

 and the pursuit of happiness." With eloquence sel- 

 dom equalled, he extolled the wisdom of our an- 

 cestors in planting, watering and defending the tree 

 of liberty, while, with withering rebuke, he depicted 

 the blackness of tyranny. 



Old Deerfield is the garden of New England. — 

 Comparisons may be invidious ; but I have not 

 seen the town in New England, which, in fertility 

 of soil, beauty of scenery, and natural advantages, 

 surpasses this. Both the Connecticut and the 

 Deerfield rivers contribute to its productiveness 

 and its beauty. The banks of the Nile have ac- 

 quired a world-wide fame for fertility. But with- 

 out the ponderous and expensive machinery for irri- 

 gation, they never could have equalled in produc- 

 tiveness the "meadows" in Deerfield. The village 

 is charmingly beautiful. Nestling cosily at the 

 foot of Deerfield Mountain, on the east, with broad 

 fields of the most fertile alluvium, diversified with 

 the various crops of the climate, stretching far to the 

 south, the Avest, and the north, — with its long ave- 

 nue of majestic elms, which "have come down to us 

 from a former generation," — with its substantial and 

 commodious farm-houses, built more for use than 

 ornament, but combining both in a degree, — with its 

 neat white cottages interspersed, which speak of 

 modern times, — with its grove-encircled academy, 

 and neat church spires, towering above 'the elms, it 

 constitutes an object which every traveller of cor- 

 rect taste must contemplate with feelings of delight. 

 No wonder the Indian was loth to leave this spot. 

 The mass meeting of 8000 persons, recently assem- 

 bled here to sympathize with the friends of the 

 murdered Hoyt, shows that the hearts of this peo- 

 ple, as well as their village, are in the right place. 



Greenfield is a city set upon a hill ; a thriving 

 town, which owes its prosperity to several causes, 

 such as its fertile meadows, its manufactures of cot- 

 ton fabrics, joiner's tools, cutlery, and infantry car- 

 riages, baby-wagons, the enterprise of its citizens, 

 and the fact of its being the shire of the county. 

 Should the Hoosac ever be tunneled, Greenfield 

 will become far more consequential. 



Seven miles north is Be.mardslon, a fine old 

 town, with whose prosperity the name of Henry 

 W. Cushman is closely identified. From the num- 

 ber of its churches, a stranger might infer that the 

 state of morals is bad, seeing it requires the labor 

 of so many clergymen to keep the people in order. 



In Guildfiord, the second town in Vermont, are 

 extensive quarries of slate. Since the opening of 

 the C. R. Railway, these quarries have been in ac- 

 tive operation. The price of slate, at the depot, 

 varies from three to six dollars per square, or one 

 hundred feet, which is about the cost of shingles. 



