12 



&l)c .farmer's iHontljlij Visitor. 



often buy horses of the whites : Judge Phelps 

 has sold as many as a dozen since I have lived in 

 this country to them. It is a common thing to 

 see ladies cooling themselves in hot weather with 

 turkeys' tails, a good substitute, better than paper, 

 for fans. Some of the western women make 

 their own dresses from cotton of their own rais- 

 ing lit to he seen in a parlor. 



I must forbear writing more at present, and not 

 write all in this, and hope you will not procrasti- 

 nate writing to your friend and servant, 



ELI CHASE. 



Mr. Amos E. Wood. 



letter IV. 



Lewisiown, July 19lh, 1828. 



Dear Sir: — I received your letter directed to 

 my brother, bearing date June 12th, on the 14th 

 inst., and I am always glad to hear from my old 

 friends and neighbors, although we may have 

 some disagreeable intelligence. 



A few days previous to receiving your lines 

 we had the melancholy intelligence of my brother 

 Eli's death : he departed this life the 21st day of 

 June last. He was at the lead mines on Fever river, 

 about one hundred and fifty miles from home, 

 where lie went last April in order to make some 

 money more readily than he could at home, and 

 was taken sick soon after he got there. II is sick- 

 ness, as we bear, terminated in dropsy. He 

 wrote a letter home to his fiimily a few days be- 

 fore his death, although we did not receive it 

 until after we heard of his death, with the pleas- 

 ing account that he had found the pearl of great 

 price, and with an "exhortation" to his family, 

 which is truly affecting. We have received a 

 letter from Sumner Phelps, his daughter Phebe's 

 husband, which gives us intelligence of his dying 

 in the triumphs of faith — praying and singing 

 until his last; for which reason wo readily give 

 him up, accounting our loss his gain. 



Dear Sir, the correspondence which you have 

 had with my brother has always been pleasing to 

 me as it was gratifying to him, for my brother 

 always would forward the lines to me fur perusal ; 

 and if you feel a freedom I would he glad to keep 

 up a correspondence, although 1 do not think that 

 1 can fill my brother's place. 



The account of Asa Averill in yours is truly 

 sin prising. May the good Lord have mercy on 

 him. As it respects the account you gave of 

 William Morgan, it was no new thing to us in 

 this part : and I fully believe with you that it is 

 to answer electioneering purposes: hut all in 

 vain. The Presidency is the topic of the day as 

 election draws on : there is quite a division here. 

 ; -unity— (he Methodists are the most nu- 

 merous ami appear to have lively meetings: there 

 are Baptists, Presbyterians, Christians, and Cum- 

 berland societies iiere. As for my own princi- 

 ple, it is the s;;me at! when I left you. 1 feel to 

 unite ami can worship with all that worship in 

 spirit aik-l in truth. The New Church doe- 

 trines whir!: you mention in yours 1 am unac- 

 cpiahued with. I should he glad to learn the 

 principles and belief of that society. I agree 

 with you in respect to ll«« fulfilment of the scrip- 

 tures wl+e« I nuti.ee the perilous times and eom- 

 MMtieuti in the earth. 1 look forward with pleas- 

 ing hope that soon the last enemy will be de- 

 stroyed, and the peaceable kingdom of our Lord 

 will <•<«««. 



Crops ul" wheat are it-rv goad, and com looks 

 %n -oniisiug, although it is vtry dry for the want ol 

 cain. 



B\ '.!k> Messing of i leaven my family unjoys a 

 tolerable Male of health. Bernini Haekiifs and 

 •ins faiuil),' are well and request me tn pass their 

 1: ie ■■ ;:• i u ■ ai«l it is his request, if you 

 please and do know anything «Oucer g Ins pa- 

 rents, broil iw, or child, whir h lie left With Mr. 

 i ii us be tons Ibrgotien his 

 ren name, an.' has u i f.i.'i: t.j his connexions 

 ami .gel* !►:> :ii*w r. i' ,'d inform him 

 ', [in. Plea** give my compliment* 

 -i, \ .i lii ;ncle iacu\t,su*d Ehenezer, Na- 

 thaniel, ftr. Wibh.wL Mr. /rutins, your brother 

 . itud uM in |'i:iri-:. i wo:il<! Im ul.nl lu hear 

 }'i-f in -iii the »W neiglihora. Mywwh is for the 

 ,-ikig welfitreof -.1'. 



} (.t:l>- i.r-A' a'.Te tir«t'.i '■■■'■-. 



arv.tiiKK CHASE. 



f;Jr. Amoc E, Wood. 



X. 6. Please to direct yo:n>. M Lewi-lev. p, 

 .Fulton Co., Minots. 



THE EXHORTATION. 



The advice and counsel of a father to his chil- 

 dren on the settlement of his estate on them and 

 the closing up of his domestic business: 



My Dear Children: — Having a strong desire 

 not only for your present but future and eternal 

 welfare, I would hereby recommend to you to 

 embrace religion — not a religion of mere words 

 and sounds, but a religion in use and practice; 

 loving God your Creator, Redeemer and Saviour 

 supremely, and your neighbor as yourselves; do- 

 ing unto him as you would he should do unto 

 you : strive to divest your minds of the love of 

 self, and the world as of a mere selfish nature. 

 I would therefore recommend the New-Church 

 doctrines for your perusal and reception, as the 

 most in accordance with Scripture and reason. 

 And in regard to your ordinary business in life, I 

 would also recommend and exhort you to be in- 

 dustrious, economical and prudent: in all your 

 business transactions be upright and just: in all 

 your dealings with all men always possessing a 

 free, generous, liberal spirit, as prudence may 

 dictate. Keep clear from debt, never violate 

 your words, or tell an untruth. 



Always cultivate and cherish kind and friendly 

 feelings with each other; and may true love pre- 

 vail between yuu all at all times. Neither would 

 I wish for those friendly feelings to be wholly 

 confined to and within yourselves, but let them 

 extend to all around you. Never injure any one. 

 Avoid jealousy as you would a venomous ser- 

 pent. 



I would further recommend and advise that if 

 you should be fortunate and accumulate some 

 money that you can spare, to loan it for good se- 

 curity, having your lawful interest annually; but 

 never take up nor go into the practice of what is 

 called shaving — of buying obligations at a dis- 

 count. If you buy obligations, buy such as are 

 good, and then pay their just value. And final- 

 ly, let not a mere selfish and worldly spirit gov- 

 ern yon ; but let all your acts and dealings be 

 done from a spirit or principle or benevolence 

 and use, having a direct view to God your Crea- 

 tor, Redeemer and Saviour therein. 



1 wish all my children to have free access to 

 my Library while and so long as they are so sit- 

 uated as to he convenient. Often settlements on 

 all accounts, by attention to it, you will find pref- 

 erable. And finally you will ever bear in mind 

 that those small presents you receive at my hands 

 were to remind yon of all your father's counsel 

 and instruction, whether verbal or written, that 

 is woithy of your reception. Also, his example, 

 as fir as the. same has been worthy of imitation. 



Is Snow useful to Farmers 1 



Numerous farmers are strongly impressed 

 with the idea that lands are injured by lying bare 

 through the winter, and that a good covering of 

 snow is a fore-runner of a fruitlul season. It is 

 probable that this impression or notion has its 

 foundation in long experience ; though it is not 

 very obvious to all that snow is of much service 

 before it melts, unless it is wanted in the high- 

 wavs to save the use of wheels. 



We may be permitted therefore to speculate 

 and theorize a little on this subject without fear 

 of being opposed by any known facts, or con- 

 clusive experiments. Snows in the mouths of 

 April and May are called the poor man's ma- 

 nure. They fill gently on the earth compared 

 with showers of rain, and they are not in such 

 haste to run away into hollow.; and gutters as 

 rain from a sudden thunder cloud. 



Here we may conclude without a great stretch 

 of the imagination, that snows are belter than 

 rains. For showe/s of rain beat the ploughed 

 ground down and leave it heavy and then hasten 

 into goiters and leave the high knolls without 

 enough to slake their thirst ; we have now two 

 arguments for snow in preference to rain. 



A third argument is, that as we shall probably 

 have much rain in winter when there is but lit- 

 tle snow, and rain too on ground that is not 

 much frozen Oil the surface at the time of its 

 coming, the soil is washed down from the high- 

 lands into vallies and into slreams, where it is 

 often useless to the owner, and the loss of which 

 is a serious detrimont to his farm. 



When the ground is covered wilh deep snows 

 in winter, all the rich particles of the farm re- 

 main as tin".' were before winter; and on the 

 inciting of the snow in spring the earth be- 



comes saturated with sufficient water though 

 none may fall from the clouds. 



It is often suggested by farmers that the soil 

 is injured by hard freezing, and that this is a 

 reason for wishing it to be covered well with 

 snow, as snow is known to protect it aud to pre- 

 vent its being frozen very hard. 



But we cannot assent to this theory; we have 

 never seen any evidence to prove that soil which 

 escapes freezing is better than soil that has been 

 frozen deep through the winter. 



On the contrary, we incline to think that hard 

 freezing is quite useful to grass fields, if to no 

 others. All know that grass fields need to be 

 stirred up once in a few years, or they become 

 tight bound and yield but half a crop. In the 

 operations of freezing and thawing every parti- 

 cle may be supposed to be loosened and to 

 change position. Thus we see the grass more 

 ready to start in the spring of the year than in 

 the fall, when the temperature is the same: a 

 subterranean harrowing has taken place, and 

 new life is imparted by a change of the particles. 



Those of our readers who are better pleased 

 with facts than wilh theories, are invited to in- 

 quire whether lands that are annually frozen are 

 not better for grass than lands that never feel the 

 winter frost —whether the New England States 

 do not produce more hay, acre for acre, than the 

 Carolinas and other countries as warm as they. 



Hay has been shipped the last year from Maine 

 to Mexico — from Bangor to Vera Cruz. And it 

 is annually carried from our most northern States 

 to those farthest south. The great Mississippi 

 cannot bear enough on her waters to supply 

 New Orleans, and States that have the longest 

 winters and need the most hay, have to furnish 

 that article annually to our southern cities. 



Thus we may see how Providence takes care 

 of all. Cold weather and frost are mode use of 

 to render more productive those climes that have 

 most need of great supplies of fodder through 

 our long winters. These, in addition to the 

 hardiness which labor imparts, enables us to 

 spare of our abundance to those who would 

 seem to need nothing of this kind from our 

 stores. — Muss. Ploughman. 



Urine. — Sir John Sinclair, speaking of the 

 value of urine as a fertilizing agent remarks: — 



" Every sort of urine contains the essential el- 

 ements of vegetables in a state of solution. — 

 The urine of a horse being so much lighter, 

 would be more valuable than its dung, if both 

 must be conveyed to any distance. The urine 

 of six cows, or horses, will enrich a quantity of 

 earth sufficient to top-dress one Enlish acre of 

 grass-land ; and as it would require 4/. worlh of 

 dung to perform the same operation, the urine 

 of a cow, or horse, is worth about 12 shillings 

 per annum, allowing eight shillings per acre, as 

 the expense of preparing the compost. The ad- 

 vantages of irrigating grass lands with cow urine 

 almost exceeds belief. Mr. Hurley, of Glasgow, 

 who keeps a large dairy in that town, by using 

 cow urine, cuts some small fields of grass six 

 times; and the average of each cutting is 15 

 inches in length.'' 



Farmers should exert their utmost efforts to 

 economise this substance, and apply it to their 

 crops of hay, corn, rye, bailey, oats, potatoes, 

 &c. It is a most efficient fertilizer, and amply 

 worth all the care requisite for its preservation. 

 —HallowM Gnzelte. 



Audubon. 



It is said that when this distinguished natura- 

 list arrived ill the city of Cincinnati, his poverty 

 was so extreme that he humbly requested permis- 

 sion of a drayman to pull a few hairs from his 

 horse's tail. The novel request was granted, and 

 these hairs Audabon manufactured into rings, 

 which he disposed of for a few cents, and thus 

 laid the foundation of fortune and success in life. 

 Lord Bacon has beautifully remarked in some of 

 his works that " if a man be courteous to strang- 

 ers, it shows he is a citizen of the world — that 

 his heart is no island cut off from the rest of 

 mankind, but, on the contrary, a continent that 

 joins them." By small acts of kindness, great 

 good is sometimes effected, as in the case of the 

 drayman, » ho gave graciously, and with the true 

 kindness of •' Nature's Nobleman," that which, 

 while it did not impoverish him, was the means 

 I of making the recipient rich indeed. — Hall. Gaz. 



