412 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Jimr&as, iS43. 



EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE— GLIMP- 

 SES BY THE WAY. 



J^orwidi, Conn., June 10, 184-3. 

 The railroad from Worcester to this place passes 

 through a country of little agricultural interest to 

 the flying traveller. The face of the country is 

 rough, and the natural growth upon it indicates no 

 great lertility. Here and there a garden or field 

 shows good care and promises s good return. But 

 generally, corn, grain, grass, &r., look .small, and 

 nothing indicates that even the most favorable sea- 

 son will give very ample harvests. But the south- 

 ern portion of Worcester county is watered by a 

 rapid stream or streams, which furnish many water 

 privileges. Factories of various kinds, are seen 

 all along the route, often causing the growth of 

 quite respectable looking villages. These manu- 

 facturing establishments, that spring up wherever 

 the waters have a fall, are the hope of New Eng- 

 land agriculture. The great and fertile West will 

 furnish all agricultural products that are not quite 

 perishable, or that are not so bulky as to make 

 their transportatron very expensive, cheaper than 

 we can here. It is mainly by the increase of con- 

 sumers here in our rnidst — mainly by the growth of 

 manufacturers and trade here at home, that we can 

 hope for a remunerating price for the productions 

 of our farms. Every manufacturing village makes 

 a market for s'ummer vegetables, summer butter, 

 milk, hay, &c., which cannot be transported any 

 great distance. It is by furnishing these that the 

 farmers in the immediate vicinity, may liope to 

 flourish. The more these villages multiply and in- 

 crease in size and wealth, the better will it be for 

 New England agriculture. We do not feel com- 

 petent to say what aniotjnt of duties, what tariff 

 would be best ; but we are convinced that the New 

 ' England farmers are most deeply interested in hav- 

 ing such regulations concerning the importation of 

 foreign goods and foreign raw materials, as shall 

 cause our manufacturers to take American raw ma- 

 terial to work upon. American siik and American 

 wool should be so protected as to make it for the 

 interest of New England farmers to grow wool and 

 produce cocoons. Also, foreign manufactured 

 woollen and silk goods should come in under such 

 duties that the material which the farmer produces. 



are needed in the laws, taken in connection with 

 the reduced rate of wages, consequent upon the 

 reduction of the currency in the country, is a 

 question which none but the wisest and ablest of 

 our statesmen can satisfactorily answer. All that 

 we, individually, wish is something fi.xed and per- 

 maneni agreed upon, giving just protection enough 

 to induce our farmers and manufacturers to go to 

 work in earnest. The lower the duties can be, 

 nnd yet enable ns to go on with our busin-'ss, the 

 more likely is the ivhoh country to be satisfied with 

 the duty regulations — the more likely are we to 

 have the rates of duties permanent — the more like- 

 ly are we to have a long period of prosperous busi- 

 ness without ruinous fluctuations. 



The farmers of New England are interested 

 most deeply in this matter; for all products that 

 are durable, and that admit of easy and cheap 

 transportation, will come to us from the West so 

 cheap that we cannot afford to grow them upon 

 our soils, which require high manuring and much 

 labor in the tillage. We want a large consuming 

 population to consume our butter, milk, vegetables, 

 &c., in summer. 



NewLondo.n On the steamboat deck down 1 not all of them— not the largest lots. Our host, 



the Thames from Norwich to New London, wo had [however, is the owner of a large farm, most of 



which belonged to his ancestor. Having relin- 

 quished mercantile pursuits, he now makes himself 

 almost exclusively a farmer, and seems to conduct 

 his operations with much intelligence, energy and 

 skill. He has been clearing many acres of strong, 

 rich, loamy lands of rooks, enclosiiig them with 

 substantial stone walls, and bringing them into 

 grass, which they bear abundantly. At this place, 

 sea manures are easily obtained, and the white 

 fish is laid in thousands and hundreds of thousands 

 upon the tilled lands, nnd they are found highly 

 serviceable, especially on the strong and heavy 

 soils. These fish are usually sold at about one 

 dollar per thousand on the beach. As this is the 

 season when they begin to frequent the shore in 

 schools, they must be applied to the crops after 

 they are up. We noticed that it is the custom to 

 put about two fish to a hill, and leave them unbu- 

 r.ed for a few days until they become putrid, and 

 then while hoeing, to cover them. What a stench! 

 The good people there, like the old woman's eels, 

 are used to it, and do not mind it. 



JVew Haven, June 14. 

 Locusts. — The veritable locusts — the devourera 

 of vegetation — have actually come. We saw a 

 box of them this morning, which had been brought 

 into this beautiful "City of Elms," from a neigh- 

 boring town. It is feared that their ravages in 

 this vicinity will he extensive. Here, too, we first 

 see peas and strawberries of New England growth 

 of 1843. A few of Hovey's seedling were brought 

 in for exhibition, one of which measured three and 

 an half inches in circumference. The strawber- 

 ries we had to our sugar and cream at the Tontine, 

 came from New York, but were fine, as were all 

 things else at that house. 



On the way from Clinton to this lovely place, 

 through Guilford and East Haven, we found better 

 lands and those under higher cultivation than any 

 others we have seen since we left Worcester. All 

 along the coast of the Sound winter rye isj the 

 moit common grain, and it looks tall and thick, and 

 its heads are,long. There is every promise of an 

 abundant harvest. The fi-ih, we were told is au 

 excellent manure for this crop. 



When within a few miles of New Haven, wo 

 came to the rcrf soil lying upon the red sandstone 

 formation. This soil must be warm and fertile, so 

 far as the springing crops and the grass and trees 

 at this season of the year give evidence. We 

 have no where else seen the corn so large — (here, 

 in some fields, it appeared to be 8 or 9 inches high, 

 as it stands) — no where else on our route have we 

 seen grass so forward. It is not often one meets 

 with a better looking farming district than that 

 which stretches ten or twelve miles east from New 

 Haven. Here we noticed that the cattle are near- 

 ly all of a deep red color and well formed. The 

 slock looked better than often meets the traveller's 

 eye. We think that New Haven county would be 

 able to make as good a cattle show as any county 

 through which we have ever passed. 



Hartford, June 15 In the rushing cars, we 



could only see that all the soil was red — some- 

 times clayey, sometimes loamy, sometimes sandy. 

 Generally it was good, and well cultivated for the 

 vicinity of a railroad. The frost in this vicinity 

 on the 2d of June, was quite severe — killing beans, 

 vines, &c., and cutting down corn and potatoes. 

 Many of the forest trees looked badly frost-bitten. 



a view of pleasant banks, often bold and generally 

 verdant. But the agricultural operations were too 

 far ofTand too much hidden, for us to take note of 

 them. One incident related by the captain of the 

 boat, may be worth recording. Y'estcrday, while 

 making his trip, a lady dropt overboard a letter en- 

 closing eleven dollars. Though the boat was a 

 quarter of a mile or more from the letter before the 

 captain heard of the misfortune, he put back and 

 found letter and money. 



Crossing by stage from New London to Lyme, 

 near the mouth of the Connecticut, we saw a more 

 rough and a less cultivated country than we sup- 

 posed existed any whore along the shores of the 

 Sound. The people there had much rather keep 

 geese and drag shad seines, than to use the plow 

 and hoc. No great wonder : for the soil is forbid- 

 ding until you get near the river : there (in Lyme,) 

 its appearance is good. 



June 12. — Crossing the river, we passed through 

 Saybrook to Clinton, formerly a part of Killing- 

 worth. Here the soil is better than along the road 

 we trav.j'!ed on Saturday. Here, and all along the 

 Sound, the fruit trees are free from devouring 

 worms of all kinds. The foliage is rich and fair, 

 excepting upon the peach and the buttonwood. 

 The peach h^re looks sickly audits leaves are bad- 

 ly curled. The buttonwood is a very common tree 

 in the forests, and both there and where it has 

 been set for shade and ornament, it is nearly leaf- 

 less, and looks as though destruction had nearly 

 come to it. This is a great loss hero, because 

 this tree has been more frequently planted by the 

 roadside and by buildings, than any other orna- 

 mental tree. Since we left Worcester county we 

 have hardly seen a caterpillar's nest — or, in Con- 

 necticut dialect, a '^bng ivorins" bag. The quince 

 here is much more common than in Massachusetts, 

 and it looks much more thrifty and vigorous. We 

 should judge that the shore of the Sound might 

 supply New York, Providence and Boston markets 

 with an abundance of quinces in a few years, were 

 a little pains taken to plant out orchards of them. 



Clinton, June 13. — Here we have been hospita- 

 bly entertained by Gen. Ely A. Eliot, great grand- 



may be here profitably wrought. What changes I son of Rev. Jared Eliot, of Killingworth, wlio near 



ly a century at!0 published several valuable essays 

 upon husbandry. Our readers may remember that 

 we have frequently quoted from these writings of 

 Eliot, and noticed his labors, both in the reclaim 

 ing of wet meadows and in the tillage of light 

 plain lands. His principles of tillage and his views 

 as to the worth of peat and bog lands, are as good 

 as v;e have found in any writings of any age. We 

 learn that Mr Eliot, who was a grandson of "the 

 Apostle Eliot," of Roxbury, was an extensive med- 

 ical practitioner, a smelter of iron from black sand, 

 and an extensive farmer. He was minister, doc- 

 tor, manufacturer, and farmer — and in each of 

 these pursuits his labors were extensive. We 

 were curious to see the lands which ho reclaimed 

 a century ago. They have been neglected for a 

 long time ; the ditches are filled up in part, and 

 large portions are covered with trees or with wet 

 meadow grasses. But the marks of his doings are 

 still there, and the lot which had long been a 

 "pond for keeping cattle from miring," is now so 

 firm that the cattle have been upon parts of it this 

 season, and fed it down. Those meadow lands are 

 not now in the possession of his descendants, or 



