<fm:m£r% jlWtlflg tesiixrr. 



CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. 



Those who laBuk in the e.uith ake the chosen people ok God, whose bre*st) hb has Made his pelcliui deposite fob substantial and genuine virtue." — Jefferson. 



VOL. 11. NO. 7. 



CONCORD, N. H., JULY 31, 1849. 



WHOLE NO. 127. 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, 



PUBLISHED BY 



JOHN F. BROWN, 



ISSUED O.N THE LAST DAY OF EVERY MO.NTH, 



At Ayer's Block, Concord, N. H. 



5^P*Gem:kal Agents. — John Marsh, 77 Washington St. 

 liostun, Mass.; Coolev, Keese & Hill, 191 Broadway, New 

 York City ; VVm. M Morrison, Pennsylvania Avenue, Wash- 

 ington City; H. A. Bill, Iveene, i\ 11.; Thomas Chandler, 

 Bedford, N. II. 



TERMS.— To single subscribers, Fifty Cents. Ten per 

 cent', u ill be allowed to the person who shall send more than 

 one subscriber. Twelve copies will he sent for tne advance 

 p;i> nienl Of Fire Dollars; twenty rive copies for Tea Dollars; 

 sixty copies for Twenty Dollars. The payment in every caseto 

 be made in advance. 



ffZfMoney and subscriptions, by a regulation of tin- Post Master 

 Qencrat, may in all cases be remitted by the Post Master, free oj 

 posta ■ < . 



55-AII gentlemen who have heretofore acted as Agents are 

 requested to continue their Agency. Old subscribers who 

 come under the new terms, will please notify us of the names 

 lreadi on our books. 



The Dying Gold-Seeker. 



The sun was slowly sinking behind the west- 

 ern horizon, and cast its last rays upon the ex- 

 tended surface of a desolate and dreary plain. 

 One wide unlimited waste, as far as ihe eye 

 con !il reach, alone tell upon ihe vision of a soli- 

 tary individual, who lay reclining at full length 

 upon ihe earth. His cheek was wan and pale, 

 and his haggard countenance bore Ihe marks of 

 disease legibly stamped upon it. His eyes were 

 sunk fir back in his head, and emitted a wild 

 unearthly gleam, such as is often seen in the 

 glance of a person on the brink of eternity. His 

 limbs were shrunken and dried up, and every 

 thing betokened a speedy dissolution of ihe soul 

 and body. 



Wi 1 a powerful effort he raised himself upo'i 

 his elbow, and gazeil long and steadily around 

 linn, until his eves grew dim with ihe painful- 

 ness ol the look, and his form trembled like an 

 aspen leaf from ihe over exertion. 



"Yes," be at length bitterly exclaimed, "they 

 have gone and left me to perish alone — may Ihe 

 bitterest curses of a dying man follow forever. 

 Oh ! why did 1 ever leave my home, dragged off 

 by Ihe cursed thirst of gold to perish miserably 

 here r" and a shade of mortal agony gathered 

 upon his pallid brow. 



Again he glanced his eye round the plain, mid 

 far in the distance, just where (he sun seemed 

 sinking into the earth, the form of a man mount- 

 ed on horse-hack, came out in bold relief for an 

 instant against Ihe sky, and then disappeared. 



" It is Hueston, he is coming back to me," 

 muttered the dying man, as be shaded his eyes 

 Willi his emaciated hand, and strove again to 

 catch a glimpse of the distant horseman. "No, 

 I must have been mistaken, they are gone, and 

 he too among the resl, and J must perish', die like 

 a doe;, unwept, uncared for, anil alone — why 

 should I complain — did I not tear myself from 

 home against the wishes of my friends and rela- 

 tives, and tell my gray-haired mother as she 

 pressed me for the last lime to her bosom, that 1 

 would soon return laden with gold from these 

 Western mines, and how I scoffed at ihe lears of 

 my own Edith, as she told me 1 might never re- 

 turn '- And here I am quivering upon Ihe thresh- 

 hold of eternity — with every fibre prostrated by 

 disease, and dying inch by inch in the desolate 

 wilils of a western prairie — fool, fool that I was, 

 why did I seek for riches and wealth ? why did 

 1 peril life, health and happiness, by venturing 

 in search of such an idle bauble, or follow until 

 too hue to repent it, ihe wild and liital delusion?" 

 and, overcome by Ihe power of his emotion he 

 sank exhausted upon the ground. 



Suddenly the iramp of a steed echoed over the 

 spot, and an Indian warrior galloped up to the 



side of the prostrate man, and bounding from 

 his steed, drew a tomahawk 'i'om his bell, arid 

 bending over him, raited the glittering weapon 

 in the air. As it flashed in the sunlight, the 

 sick man again struggled to his elbow, and rivet- 

 ed his gaze with a steady look upon the eye of 

 the savage, while a smile stole over his ghastly 

 features. For an instant the savage contempla- 

 ted bis feeble foe, then slowly lowering bis 

 hatchet, exclaimed — 



" Pale face warrior weak — much sick — me no 

 kill him — Indian kill strong man," and lie point- 

 ed to a fresh scalp hanging at his girdle. 



" While warrior here — me shoot him — lake 

 scalp — lake gun — see," and he pointed a rifle 

 strapped to his saddle. 



The eyes of the dying gold-seeker followed 

 Ihe direction pointed out, and rested upon the 

 well-known rifle of bis friend. The truth flash- 

 ed instantly upon him — Hueston had attempted 

 to return to bis aid, but was waylaid and shot by 

 ihe prowling savage. 



VV ill) a deep groan he sank back for the last 

 time to the earth, his lips trembled for an instant 

 with a convulsive movement, the limbs stiffened 

 slowly out, and quivered for a single instant, the 

 under jaw fell, the eyes became set in his head, 

 and as ihe Indian bent his keen eyes once again 

 upon him, they rested upon the icy face of a 

 corpse ! 



Thus perished one who, buoyant in life and 

 health, was allured by the inducement held out 

 to view, to seek for riches in the New Eldorado. 

 Ye who are bound for the same land, ponder 

 well before ye go, upon the fale of The Dying 

 Gold-Seeker. 



From the Journal of Commerce. 

 Good Farming. 



Mr. John Johnston near Geneva,had on his farm 

 a cow, which probably gives more milk ihan any 

 cow in the United Slates. Through ihe mouth 

 of June, 1848, she gave 42 quails per day; and 

 for five days she gave 45 quails per day ; which 

 is probably without any parallel in this country. 

 From the cream only, they made 144 lbs. butter 

 per week. Had they churned from ihe milk, 

 they would have got more butter. The cow was 

 milked three times a day. The only feed she 

 got, was grass in the pasture. She is of a roan 

 color, half Durham and half native breed, and 

 is seven years old. She is finely formed, and a 

 handsome animal. She was raised by Mr. John- 

 ston, who says she will be a good cow al twelve 

 years or more. He has eight cows in his pas- 

 lure of clover up to their knees, all fine animals, 

 which it is a pleasure to look at. 



Mr. Johnston is a Scotch fanner and glazier 

 of great celebrity, and sells many fat catlle for 

 New York. He has a farm of 30ti acies, in one 

 compact body of laud, on the easl side of Sene- 

 ca lake, about three miles from Geneva, in fields 

 of eight to eighteen acres, all in the best condi- 

 tion. One field of eighteen acres of Indian 

 corn, last year yielded eighty-lhree bushels of 

 shelled corn per acre. One field of eight acres 

 yielded ninety-one bushels and forty-five lbs. of 

 corn per acre — and a field of wheat, of sixteen 

 acres, yielded forty-five bushels per acre. Mr. 

 Johnston drains his land by underground drain- 

 ing, and has some miles of earthen pipes (made 

 at Waterloo) which he has been laying the last 

 eight years. From the rich feed in his pastures, 

 the cattle are all in the best condition, lie does 

 not feed his grass down to the ground. This he 

 calls had farming — as ihe roots get scorched hy 

 the summer drought, and frozen in winter. Bui 

 a covering of grass protects Ihe roots from both, 

 and also keeps the cattle in good condition. He 

 has large barns, and yards and sh^ds for the cat- 

 tle. In the yards the cattle make lame quanti- 

 ties of manure — from wheat straw. He carts no 



mud from meadows into his barn-yard. He puts 

 the manure on Ihe laud in (he fall, spreading 

 and ploughing it in at once, and not letting it re- 

 main for the sun and wind to dry up. 



He observed lo the writer of this, that he never 

 saw laud loo highly manured, bin he had seen 

 much land loo little manured. Land will always 

 give a return for till that is put upon it. The 

 best proof of ibis is, that in ihe* Inst twenty 

 years, he has [nought his farm from what was 

 called worn-out land, to ils present superior con- 

 dition, not by borrowed capital, lint solely by 

 the proceeds of the firm itself, obtained by his 

 practical knowledge of good farming, combined 

 with industry and economy. 



" A TRAVELLER. 



Power of the Soil to ahsorh odors. — It is well 

 known that onions, if buried in ihe earth fur a 

 few days previous to being cooked, will have lost 

 much of their rank flavor. Wild ducks, which 

 are often too fishy in flavor lo be good, may be 

 rendered much more palatable by being wrapped 

 in absorbent paper and buried in ihe ground for 

 a few hours. Dried codfish loses much of its 

 austerity of flavor [if we may coin a term) by 

 similar treatment. During the plague, in Eu- 

 rope, clothing was often buried for a lime lo dis- 

 infect it. This absorbent property of the soil is 

 due lo the presence of carbonaceous matters ; 

 for clean sea-beach sand will produce no such 

 results, while, pulverized charcoal will act with 

 much greater energy (han common soil. On 

 this principle, animal matters coaled with un- 

 leached ashes, and then buried in pulverulent 

 peat or muck, will not only decompose without 

 giving offensive odors, but the muck will also, 

 by absorbing the resulting gases arising from 

 decomposition, be. rendered highly valuable as a 

 fertilizer. Dr. Dana says that a dead horse, if 

 cut in pieces and treated as above, will render 

 twenty loads of muck equal in quality to Ihe 

 best stable manure. — Working Farmer. 



Advice for Summer. — Hon. Maj. Noah says: 

 " Don't gormandize. We bate a glutton at "all 

 times, but especially in summer. Il is monstrous 

 to see men, when the mercury is up to 90, cram 

 a pound of fat meat down their throats. Don't 

 you know that animal food increases the bile? 

 Eat sparingly, and be sure and masticate well 

 what you eat. Don't bolt your food like an ana- 

 conda. Take exercise in early morning. Ah ! 

 what fools we are lo sweat in bed when the cool 

 breezes of the morning invite us forth, and the 

 buds and the dew, and the streams are murmur- 

 ing, in their own quiet way, pleasant music, 

 which arouses a kindred melody in the soul. 



"Be good na tu red. Don't get into an angry 

 discussion on politics or religion. There will be 

 lime enough to talk the former over when the 

 weather becomes cooler, and as for the latter, 

 the less you quarrel about it (he belter. Religion 

 is n good thing, but when you fight in its name, 

 yod show yourself ignorant of ils principles, and 

 unswayed by ils influence. 



" Bathe often — three limes a week — every day. 

 The expense is nothing to the benefits derived, 

 If you would enjoy health, have a clear, a sweet 

 stomach, a cheerful disposition, put your carcas- 

 es under ihe water every day, and when yon 

 emerge use the brush vigorously for five minutes. 

 There is nothing like the pure bracing water. 

 We never dip beneath its surface without thank- 

 ing God lor having placed such a health-promot- 

 ing element within our reach." 



