38 



£l)c /aimer's itlontljli) btsitor. 



and deeper with the surface plough in each suc- 

 ceeding annual preparation. In this way the sod 

 will grow more and more rich; tor it has he- 

 come with us almost a settled conviction, that 

 there is no ground so poor where the Buhsoil, al- 

 ter the ilue atmospheric action, welling and dry- 

 ing, freezing anil thawing, will not present more 

 virtue than will he found after a few years colli 

 vation in the upper soil. The mineral manures 

 are brought into new action by the moving nl 

 the soil lie'ovv : their effects may have been par- 

 tially exhausted in the used soil above. 



The blight and rust in the several crops and 

 the potato rot are more apparent in old ground 

 than in new : we do not believe the potato rot 

 will he found at all where there is a mixture of 

 twenty-five per cent, of the underlying sand, 

 gravel, or even marly subsoil, especially after the 

 action of frost. 



Of intervale land we have now twenty-five 

 acres subsoiled : the aim has been to reach the 

 stirring of the ground to the depth of sixteen 

 inches. The subsoiling has been in the fall: 

 the winter action has generally produced an en- 

 tire change upon the giound. The color of the 

 dark, adhesive intervale has tended to ihe choco- 

 late complexion — the whole surface of the 

 ground, from the lightening of the soil, has been 

 raised up. Twelve acres subsoiled three and 

 four years ago produced thirty-six loads of 

 herdsgrass and clover hay well dried last year, 

 which was mowed, cured and got in at an ex- 

 pense not to exceed one dollar the ton : the sec- 

 ond crop and feeding off of these twelve acres 

 was greater in quantity and more valuable than 

 the entire crop of bay had been previous to sob- 

 soiling. To these twelve acres we add for a 

 crop of grass five more acres embracing the thy 

 river sand-bank upon the Ferry plain lot : the 

 clover of the new land has a good catch. Upon 

 the remaining eight acres of intervale subsoiled 

 we had potatoes: the ground was filled with the 

 fin or witch grass, to which the subsoiling was 

 an excellent check, killing the roots of that trou- 

 blesome intruder, and lessening the labor ol hoe- 

 ing at least one half. Ol' the crop of potatoes 

 upon this ground, one and a half acre were ol 

 the new kind called New York reds. VVe had 

 from a barrel of seed raised between twenty-five 

 and thirty bushels of these the previous year: 

 twenty-two bushels were plained. The product 

 was considerably larger than our other potatoes 

 upon this giound : it was two hundred and fifty 

 bushels. Leaving us a hundred bushels of these 

 for planting this year, these potatoes have been 

 to us of the net value of a dollar the bushel. 

 We have had no experience of so great value 

 for the same amount of labor as the product of 

 this acre and a half. 



Another field of ten acres of pine plaiifnear 

 the line of Bow, which went through the pro- 

 cess of subsoiling two years ago, will be laid into 

 clover after a crop of oats. It gave US the profit 

 of thirty dollars to the acre in a crop of potatoes 

 two years ago: four of the ten acres gave us a 

 similar profit in potatoes last year: the six re- 

 maining .acres planted in corn on the first of 

 June averaged at least fifty bushels to the acre : 

 the corn stuff was worth nearly the price of the 

 labor done upon tbis land. The oats, sowed 

 down early in April, will upon this ground he 

 an almost certainly valuable crop — so will be at 

 least two cropu of grass following this season 

 without manures. 



The twfiity-tive acres, subsoiled and preparing 



IHiifiBMii^i 



for a potalo crop the present year on the pine 

 plain east of the river, we will look upon with 

 pride, as we are quite sure of eminent success. 

 When the wood was Cleared off this land a leu 

 years ago, ue had never expected (rem it more 

 than a crop of rye once in a i'ew years. With- 

 out subsoiling the muck- bed near by had made 

 a portion of this land most excellent clover pas- 

 ture for several years. Last year fifteen acres of 

 ibis laud gave in feed the pasture for half the 

 number of cows through the season. Turning 

 up the ground in the fall we observed upon land 

 where no manure other than plaster had been 

 spread, that the yellow sand had been changed 

 to blackness wherever the roots of western 

 clover abounded. The cows left much of this 

 clover growth to be turned in. What with the 

 clover, the subsoiling, the compost and the gua- 

 no, we anticipate this field in most excellent 

 condition for a crop. It will he our pride to 

 show in this field that hundreds of the best 

 farms in the county of Merrimack may he made 

 along the extended pine plains of Concord, 

 whose fine growth of wood has recently receiv- 

 ed so great diminution mainly for supplying the 

 locomotives which are whizzing in our ears 

 nearly every hour of the. day and many times 

 of a night. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 The Cottage in the Wood. 



Give me a cottage b> side llie wood land. 



Where 'h ■ nightingale Nies and ihe lall [lines stand, 



Where Ihe robin is singing all day loi g, 



The enchanting notes of his plaintive song. 



I'd envy no monarch on earth his throne, 

 Bui near my meandering brook sit down, 

 While nature '8 own hand has woven lor me 

 A carpel of moss 'mid sweet shrubbery. 



Where the stately oak and the lofty elm 

 Evtend their branches to shield me from harm. 

 And the beautiful bass, the queen of the forest, 

 Affords delight to Ihe sage botanist. 



Oft as the soft balmy zephyr blows 

 It scatters perfume from llie fragrant rose. 

 Willi the woodbine enlwin'd around my door, 

 And a few tried friends, l'il ask lor no more. 



While the sweet evergreen — pure emblem ofHeav'n. 



Reminds ol the promise to mortals given — 



Of llie world where roses eternally bloom, 



And nought will have power to cast a deep gloom. 



There is not a boon which mortals inherit 

 Tint will so sooth the turbulent spirit. 

 As a neat, quiel cottage beside yonder brook, 

 Shaded in branches of llie fav'rue oak. 



Where the names oft hose friends who've bid me adieu 

 Are carved so deeply they yet are in view, 

 By fingers alas — long perish'd away, 

 Which still in the mem.ry had no decay. 



Then, ere I am old and decrepit with a^e, 

 Hie lo the woods and build me a cottage, 

 There can I smile al the bustle and strife, 

 For bubbles which float on the ocean of life. 



P. F E. W. 



Lancaster, A'. 11 



Care of Preserves, &c. — As the weather 

 becomes warm in spring, preserves, sauces, jel- 

 lies, &<•., are liable to become sour, if not attend- 

 ed to, unless they are composed of a large 

 amount of sugar or other preservative. B\ 

 scalding preserves, &c, occasionally, after the 

 weather becomes warm, and setting them in a 



1 1 phiee, much may be done lo continue them 



in a good condition. In some cases, it may he 

 necessary to add more sugar in order to keep 

 conserved preparations into summer. 



In scalding them, great care should he taken 

 to cover them closely before they cool, and in all 



cases expose them as little as possible to the air. 

 Mould is considered a vegetable substance, of a 

 low or imperfect order, which is propagated by 

 fine seeds floating in the atmosphere, that readi- 

 ly vegetate in numerous substances that have a 

 strong tendency to decay, as in various prepara- 

 tions of fruit, bread, cheese, pumpkin, &c, &c. 

 Heating substances that are liable to mould, de- 

 stiny s the seeds of mould, ami close covering of 

 vessels prevents their admission. — A". E. Farmer. 



A Journey of last year not yet obsolete. 



Among the interesting alone travels from home 

 which we made during the summer of 1848, that 

 which was undertaken, first lo ihe city of New 

 York on business, thence hy Albany to Buffalo 

 to attend the great Agricultural Fair of the Em- 

 pire State, thence back on the same track to 

 Cayuga bridge, from there up that beautiful lake 

 twin to ihe Seneca farther west to the village of 

 Ithaca, and thence by Owego into Pennsylvania, 

 combined much that was calculated to drive 

 ennui and even sickness away. We left our 

 home on Saturday, Sept. 1, was in llie church 

 near the Astor house, t\. Y., in both the next fore- 

 noon and afternoon after doing our errand in the 

 morning in the upper part of the city: of a Sun- 

 day evening ami night (the fair al Buffalo on 

 Tuesday requiring expedition) spent in quiet on 

 a North river steamer, with the full silver moon 

 presenting his rays, not in the golden glare of 

 the sun but in all the rich hues of ihe sylvan 

 shade, walking on the wave to reach Albany at 

 early breakfast, and from thence in a night and 

 a day passing in a long train of cars first some 

 twenty miles to Schenectady the seat of ihe old- 

 est S;ale University — thence to Utica seventy- 

 eight miles — to Syracuse fifty-three — to Auburn 

 twenty-six — Rochester seventy -eight — Attica for- 

 ty-four— Buffalo ihii ly-one — making the travelled 

 distance from Concord to Buffalo in three days 

 and three nights — resting on the way almost ihe 

 entire of two days — seven hundred and seveuty- 

 three miles nearly. 



The State of New York is a magnificent, a 

 rich, a thriving and a noble Slate : since we first 

 passed over il from ea.-t in west in 18'io, its 

 towns along the Erie canal near which the rail- 

 road now passes are flourishing under a contin- 

 ued prosperity. In that tune the ancient city of 

 Schenectady has enlarged with ihe growth and 

 increase of the surrounding country — Little 

 Falls, where the Mohawk breaks through a 

 mountain chasm, is awakened to die sound of 

 the saw, the anvil, and the loom — Utica, in her 

 staid old maiden neatness, as a pattern town 

 from the start, retains the bright lace of prosper- 

 ous trade in her calico attire — Syracuse has en- 

 larged from awkward wooden dimensions to coj- • 

 lonade brick blocks, emitting the smoke from 

 her salt-pans which have sent away, as obtained ' 

 from springs under ground, enough of ihe saline • 

 material apparently to fill and make dry land of I 

 ihe lake which extends along her western bor- .5 

 ders— Auburn too has grown beyond the size 

 which we were wont to image of llie '•lovelies,' v 

 of ihe dale" immortalized by Goldsmith, to a ,| 

 city of enlarged cupolas and spires — Geneva 

 next meets us upon ihe shore of ihe Seneca, as ' 

 elegant ill ils rural borders as in its rich close city 

 structures— Canandaigua, more beautiful il not. J 

 more flourishing than any other town, because 

 the chosen spot for earlier wealth to concentrate, 

 brought here that true style of laying out streets 

 and yards and arbors which lime can never cor- 

 rode in the eye of true taste— Rochester, young- 

 est of the several towns named, claims a lille to 

 more business from her giant flour mills pro- 





