474 



NEW ENGLAND ^"'ARMER. 



Oct. 



LETTER FROM MR. BROWN. 



Essex County, Aug. 29, 1857. 



My Dear Sir : — Everywhere, here, the contrast 

 between this region and that over which I rambled 

 last week, is very great. The marks of a longer oc- 

 cupation, and a more dense population, are present- 

 ed in every direction. The smooth hills, divested of 

 the forest trees which once crowned their tops, but 

 BOW clothed in the richest verdure, break the sur- 

 face into pleasing undulations, while broad salt 

 marshes, now dotted with the haymakers in their 

 ■white shirts, and innumerable cocks and stacks of 

 hay, are the vanguard to these ancient sea-girt 

 towns. In these eastern towns, and especially at 

 Danvers, where I write, leather and onions are sta- 

 ple commodities, indispensable alike to health, hap- 

 piness and prosperity. Without these, Danvers 

 "would be no more like Danvers than would the 

 play of Hamlet with the part of the prince of Den 

 mark omitted. Deprived of the sense of sight, 

 even, one might be as certain of his locality as was 

 one of the old skippers of Cape Ann, who plumed 

 himself upon his knowledge of all the New Eng- 

 land harbors, and could tell any of them with his 

 eyes shut, by smelling the mud brought up in 

 sounding. To test his skill, some wag bottled up a 

 quantity of mud from the bottom of the harbor, and 

 took it to sea with him, and at a proper opportunity 

 provoked the Old Salt to a trial. So when it was 

 somewhat doubtful where they really were, he was 

 blinded and while the man drew in the line and 

 cried "by the deep nine," the bottle was brought 

 out, and some of the mud of his native harbor, 

 quietly applied to the dripping lead. Upon lifting 

 it to his nose, he roared out, "tack ship, we are 

 running directly on the rocks in Cape Ann harbor, 

 for since we left home it has been moved five hun- 

 dred miles to the eastward." So of Danvers ; you 

 oan't mistake it even with the eyes shut. There 

 are its tanneries, its onions, and smell of burning 

 peat, — but there are, also, its thrifty intelligent peo- 

 ple, with their substantial dwellings, and excellent 

 roads, their institutions of science and learning, 

 and some ©f the finest examples of a high and 

 profitable cultivation of the soil to be found in this 

 country. Mr. Peabody, one of the sons of Dan- 

 vers, and long a London merchant, has recently 

 given the town not much less than a hundred thou- 

 sand dollars to establish an Institute, and a fine, 

 substantial brick building has been erected, and a 

 library collected, which are alike creditable to the 

 munificent donor and an honor to the town. 



In company with Mr. Proctor, one of the most 

 ardent lovers of rural life, and one of our most 

 able correspondents, we called on Mr. Ayer, a ster- 

 ling farmer, and though a gentleman of fortune, 

 one who sets the noble example of leading the 

 ■work with his own hands, and superintending all 

 the affairs of the farm in person. A pair of his no- 



ble bays were put to the carriage, and we drove to 

 Mr. Needham's, and looked at his plantation of 

 cranberries growing on high land. Last year, Mr. 

 N. obtained, from five-eighths of an acre, one hun- 

 dred bushels of fine fruit, worth about $3 per 

 bushel ; this year the crop will be but one-half that 

 amount, owing to the destruction of the vines by 

 the extreme cold of last winter. In my own expe- 

 rience of several years in the cultivation of upland 

 cranberries, I found no difficulty in anything but 

 keeping grass and weeds from growing among the 

 plants. They must be placed on soil naturally 

 moist enough to bring grass readily, or they will 

 not succeed, and in such places there is a constant 

 struggle for the mastery, in which the grass will be 

 quite likely to come off best. In pulling the weeds 

 and grass the runners of the cranberry plant are so 

 often disturbed that they fail to take root and cover 

 the ground, and therefore the labo^- of weeding is 

 excessive and expensive. I have no doubt of the 

 success of upland cranberry culture when there is a 

 sufficient stock of skill and patience to keep all grass 

 and weeds from among the plants ; but if that is not 

 done the grass will certainly be dominant and drive 

 the cranberry out. The Needhams, father and son, 

 have very extensive gardens and nurseries, amount- 

 ing to acres, sometimes in the strawberry, and oth- 

 er small fruits. 



The onion I said is one of the staples of Dan- 

 vers; the crop this season has been considerably 

 reduced by the ravages of the onion maggot, bu 

 there will still remain a handsome and profitable 

 harvesting. My friend, Mr. Ayer, has three acres, 

 and he and Mr. Proctor estimated that there are 

 now two hundred acres in onions in Danvers and 

 South Danvers. At $3,00 per barrel, the price 

 which they are now bringing, and an average crop 

 of three to four hundred bushels an acre, this would 

 bring a handsome income to these towns. 



On the town farm this year they have produced 

 one hundred and eighty bushels of rye from a six 

 acre field, being at the rate of thirty bushels an 

 acre. On some single acres they have heretofore 

 produced forty bushels of rye. On the farm of 

 Mr. Rogers, I looked at the finest field of carrots I 

 ever saw, which in my judgment will produce thir- 

 teen hundred bushels per acre. I also saw in his 

 stable the best Alderney or Jersey bull that I have 

 met of that breed. But I cannot find space to 

 enumerate the instances of high culture which pre- 

 vails in these ancient towns. The farmers are fa- 

 vored with some facilities for obtaining manure, 

 which are not commonly enjoyed, such as may 

 be found in the shops of tanners and curriers, and 

 perhaps kelp and weeds and grass from the sea. 

 They have attained a high degree of skill in the 

 cultivation of fruit, and most of the field crops, 

 which would afford excellent lessons to most of us 

 if we would but place ourselves in the way to ob- 



