NEW EI^GL-AN© L^'^LkiR 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED UY GEORGE C. BARUETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Warehouse.) — T. G. TESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XIV. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 15, 1835. 



NO. I. 



<S<S'aJSSiStBfS?a^SJ^^32<©•SfSa 



[Por tlie New England Farmer.] 

 NOTES BY THE AVAY NO. 3. 



G , N. JI. June 17, 1835. 



In my ride today, I liave met witli many illus- 

 trations of the roiiiaiks in my last. — But there arc 

 many good and lionorable exceptions, and I have 

 seen in my way liere many fine farms, and where 

 they are well cultivated, they seem to yield to their 

 owners rich and profitable harvests. 



To the lover of nature's beauties, this region 

 affords a rich and beautiful field. I am now 

 among the hills around Lake Winnipiseogee. — 

 To the north lies the Lake, thickly studded with 

 islands, which, I am told, are as many as the days 

 of the year — The little Belknap laden with pas- 

 sengers on their way to the White Hills, and the 

 Bturdy farmer, who wonders why people come so 

 far to see what to him, from long fiimiliarity, is so 

 uninteresting, that he scarce ever looks at them 

 except when the storm-cloud rolls lazily over its 

 giant head, or the deep toned thunder warns him 

 of the coming storm. To the east, west and 

 south, as far as the eye can reach, "hills peep o'er 

 j^lis," till you half wonder where the husband- 

 manfinds a place for his crop, or his cattje a foot- 

 iiold on their sloping.sides. To me this opens a 

 wide field for thought and new scenes and ever- 

 changing objects force themselves so constantly 

 on the mind, that I can scarce find time for sleep. 

 — The people stare when I tell them I rose at 

 midnight to see the cold moonbeams sleeping on 

 the mountains, and perha|s think I have been 

 reading Scott or Cooper, or some of our moon- 

 loving novelists. Having never been so far into 

 the interior of my native state, to me all these 

 scenes have the charm of novelty. In addition 

 to the splendor of mountain scenery and the beau- 

 tiful lake, every one seems desirous of pleasing. 

 I am struck with the general knowledge, evinced 

 by the children even, when we might imagine, 

 from the distance of their school-houses, they had 

 scarce ever seen the inside of one. We often 

 come to a school-house which looks, as one may 

 say, as if it " happened" there — dropped into the 

 midst of a wood, with the trees growing up to the 

 very door, and no house nearer than half a mile 

 or more. Out of it, if it be " intermission," will 

 rush a score of flax headed boys and girls, the hat 

 flies ofl' as if by steam, tlie knees benil as if by 

 wire work, and then ensues the .scramble for the 

 handful of coppers the liberal traveller throws 

 among them. And if we call at the door we 

 may see the "school-ma'am," as the children 

 call her, whose bright eye, round, healthy cheek, 

 and cheerful look itiay well put to blush the pale, 

 faded cheek of our city belles. I wish I coidd 

 dwell on this subject — but I must stop. It is one 

 of deep and proud interest to a New Englander 

 — they are the castles, the safeguards of our land, 

 — the watch towers of our religion — the never 

 slumbering promoters of the virtues which give us 



the name we so cheerfully acknowledge, we so 

 justly claim — "the \ai)d ol' steady habits;" long 

 may it he the worst sneer our enemies can cast 

 upon us. But to return to our subject. 



I stopped today at a handsome, neat farm- 

 house to rest my horse. On entering the " best 

 room," I saw on the talile " the New England 

 Farmer" for June 5. — I took it up, and looked to 

 see what new ideas you had been coining ; what 

 new " notions" thou badst discovered — who had 

 raised the largest calf, or any or all the news, ag- 

 ricultural or horticultural, thou hadst gathered 

 since last we met in print, and for a few minutes 

 thy very self, in all thy editorial dignity, swam 

 before my eye». — " Well, Squire," said I, in a 

 half-serious tone, " I hope you are not a book farm- 

 er — they say these book fanners are always try- 

 ing experiments and getting some new notion 

 into their heads, and want to get along easier ; so 

 at least they tell me at places where I stop." — 



" Well, Mr , I'll tell you why I take the 



Farmer, which is about the only one taken in the 

 town. A friend who had removed to Boston sent 

 me one some time ago which contained a new 

 mode of ploughing the land, the season, way of 

 manuring, &c. I thought for curiosity's sake I'd 

 try it, but had no faith in it, as I thought we farm- 

 ers knew better than the pajicr ; but as I was well 

 to do in the world,* I thought I could afford to 

 spend a little time for pleasure, even if I reaped 

 no advantage from it. I liked the success of the 

 trial, and the next season I tried it again ; and my 

 land yielded so much more than it had formerly 

 that I thought, perhaps I might find sotnething 

 else new in these Farmers — at tmy rate, I knew it 

 would be |)leasant reading them, and it was the 

 cheapest reading I could get. So 1 sent for them, 

 and 1 know, apart from my pleasure in reading 

 ihcm as they come, I have learned enough about 

 farming from them to pay me fifty times over. 

 The fiict is, I find they contain not only the theo- 

 retical ideas of many, but that many praclical 

 farmers send the Editor accounts of their cultiva- 

 tion — such as "D. C." and " W. B." whom I 

 know from report to be among the best farmers in 



" This" well to do in the world" may sound coun- 

 tnjfied to cars polite, but this is the phrase here to de- 

 note one who makes a good living, and is somewhat 

 fore handed, to use another local phrase. Speaking of 

 plirases and expressions, our country friends use some 

 expressions which it is rather hard to comprehend — 

 e. g. I accosted a man as [ was riding along, who was 

 at work in a corn field with " My friend, can you tell 

 me how far is it to the Iron Woiks?" " Well, I don't 

 know exactly — but it is considerable of a piece" I — Hav- 

 ing obtained this very concise idea of the distance to the 

 Iron Works, and being afraid that he would take ofFqnce 

 if I asked him how large a piece it might he, I inquired, 

 " What kind of a roadisit?" — "Well, it's rather a 

 roughish road" — which I found by sad experience con- 

 sisted of hills half a mile long and up which my good 

 horse and myself were obliged to fare alike — each foot- 

 ing it " on his own hook." 



Massachusetts. I can tell you, sir, no money goes 

 with a freer will than the two dollars and a half 

 I send Mr Barrett every year." An<l the thriving 

 appearance of his farm showed that wherever he 

 hail got his theory of farming, the school was a 

 good one. 



At one of the places where I stopped to rest 

 my horse today in looking around, I noticed th^jk 

 very thrifty appearance of the fruit trees. And^^ 

 this seems generally to he the case : the soil appears 

 to be suited to the growth of fruit trees, and their 

 hardy looking and fine forms showed that they 

 might yield to the owner a bountiful supjdy of 

 fruit. I did not ascertain whether they raised 

 many cherry and plum trees, but should imagine 

 the soil that bears the apple will also sustain 

 these. I was not a little disap])ointed, however, 

 to ascertain that nearly all the fine looking trees 

 I saw around me were the original, miserable, un- 

 improved fruit — and could not but look on it as 

 an abuse of the bounties of Providence. The 

 reason, as they informed me. why there were not 

 more trees grafted was, the distance they general- 

 ly lived from any large market, and the difficulty 

 of procuring good scions fbr grafts. Neither of 

 Ihi ss objections, as it seems to me, is of much 

 weight, as the difference between the increased 

 price of good fruit, and the total unsaleablencss 

 of that now produced would amply pay all the 

 trouble and expense of transportation. And by a 

 nuniber uniting and sending fiir a package of sci- 

 ons, the e.xpense would be vcu-y sniall. Our 

 friends Kenrick or Winslii]) would furnish a lib- 

 eral supply for a trifle. But the shoe jiinched 

 somewhere else — I fouiul they were too apt to be 

 disciples of the uieMcnowg'/i school, and so long as 

 the pigs and the children did not break their teeth 

 in eating them, or die of dysentery, it was "well 

 enough," and there was no use in indulging in 

 luxury. There were ruanv good and excellent 

 exceptions to these remarks, some of which I shr.ll 

 mention hereafter. I found great numbers of 

 trees growing along by the stone walls, oc- 

 cupying room which would otherwise gen- 

 erally lie idle, and which as your corresjion- 

 dent " W. B." very well observes, " throws only 

 half its shadow on the farmer's ground," although 

 1 imagine they are seldom so well cultivated or 

 managed as his orchard. 



Your friend, RusTicus in Urbe. 



[For the New England Farmer.J 



EXPEDIENT PKOPOSED P.OR INCIlE\SINCi 



KODDEIi I.M THE ENSUING IVI vTEK. 



Whatever may be the fate of our hay crop 

 this season, it seems certain that iu geiK 

 eral there is little left in our bar^s from the 

 liay crop of last year : and that many of our 

 farming animals and horses are likely to be 

 brought into a low condition by the scarcity of 

 fodder in the ensuing winter. It will bo impor- 

 tant, therefore, to extend the experiment of chop- 

 ping straw which promises not to be deficient' this 

 year. On some of the stage lines this expedien 



