THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



45 



valued timber for jilanking, for cross bars and 

 for fences, lasting much longer than any other 

 timber with the exception of cedar. These rail 

 road timbers must be replaced every few years. 

 The growth of the chestnut is more rapid than 

 most other trees of the forest. From the stump 

 of any considerable tree cut down, several sprouts 

 start up; and these in the course of a very few 

 years grow to a sufficient size to make posts and 

 rails. There are tracts of chestnut forest within 

 two miles of the river, which have grown up 

 since the recolleclion of the present inhabitants, 

 that will turn out just the kind of timber in great 

 abundance wanted for lail roads. Contracts for 

 chesnut timber for the Worcester and Eastern rail 

 roads were made two or more years ago by Gen. 

 Riddle and others. The price paid by the Nash- 

 ua road, the lowest under finished contracts, was 

 twenty-two cents a stick. Contracts liave been 

 readily made t<i furnish tho timber for the entire 

 rails from this town to Nashua at sixteen cents 

 per stick. 



But the still more important item to which we 

 would call the public attention is the cultivation 

 of the soil upon the Merrimack for agricultural 

 purposes. Gradually are the lighter grounds 

 coming into cultivation. That these grounds are 

 capable of producing, under the labor and ex- 

 pense laid out upon them, equal to the stronger 

 grounds that have been generally considered as 

 alone fit for cultivation, is our honest conviction. 

 Indeed we believe that much of the light pine 

 plain soil may be cultivated to better advantage 

 and profit than the stifFer and what has common- 

 ly been considered more fertile soil. 



The Chandler farm in Boscawen, situated on 

 the banks of the Merrimack about seven miles 

 above this town, had been owned and occupied 

 by Messrs. Richard and William H. Gage for the 

 last twenty-five years: it is now exclusively own- 

 ed and occupied by the last named gentleman, 

 and was one of the premium farms of the Mer- 

 rimack County Agricultural Society of the last 

 year. A portion of this farm is rich intervale : 

 another portion farther from the river is common 

 pitch and Norway pine plain. The owner in- 

 forms us that the best and easiest crops of Indian 

 corn have been raised ujion this pine plain, and 

 that on iiround which had been kept under al- 

 most continued cultivation for this particular 

 crop from the year 1816 to the year 1831. This 

 ground was not manured highly: there was usu- 

 ally spread in a year ten or twelve ox-cart loads 

 of mixed summer and winter manure; and from 

 twenty-five to thirty and forty bushels of sound 

 shelled corn were annually produced. The crop 

 of corn was always more stn-e upon this land 

 than upon the low intervales. This ground, 

 when laid down to grass, has produced good 

 crops of hay for two years in succession. 



The best field of Indian corn between Concord 

 and Boston a few years ago on the travelled road, 

 was on light plain intervale in Hooksett belong- 

 ing to Richard H. Ayer, Esq. 



The most satisfactory results, however, have 

 been realized by Jesse Bowers, Esq. and others 

 on the land that has long been known as the 

 Diinstableplains within the present town of Nash- 

 ua. Mr. Bowers informs us there are two kinds 

 of this pine plain which can hardly be distinguish- 

 ed from each other in point of production : both 

 are sand in much the largest proportion, but the 

 sand of the one is much finer than that of the 

 other. The two kinds are separated by different 

 plats, the one more elevated than the other — the 

 lower plat being the more fertile ground. By 

 good tilth and high manuring, Mr. Bovvers has 

 been able to procure as large crops of Indian 

 corn, potatoes, wheat, oats and rye, as are raised 

 in any part of the county of Hillsborough. Com 

 mon stable manure answers for this ground : 

 ashes, leached and unleached, are excellent: plas- 

 ter also comes in aid of the other kinds of ma- 

 nure. Saltpetre is likewise found to bo a cheap 

 and a good manure for this land. Fifty bushels 

 of Indian corn and as many bushels of oats, and 

 two tons of hay to the acre, are common crops 

 upon the laud as at present cultivated by Mr. 

 Bowers. The pine hind of old Dunstable has 

 long been considered as light nsany similar lands 

 upon the Merrimack or any of its branches. 

 Much of this land has been used for the last hun- 

 dred ysars for the purpose of raising but indiffer- 

 ent crops of rye, say six to eight bushels to the 

 acre, once in four or five years, resting from any 



crop during the intervals. The same land, under 

 the improved cultivation, produces twenty to 

 tvventy-fivp bushels of rye or wheat the succeed- 

 ing year after an Indian corn crop, and is followed 

 year after year by annual crops of equal value. 



There is also another kind of land on the Mer- 

 rimack that has been heretofore treated as utterly 

 without value : it is the swamp land lying in plats 

 ol from one acre to twenty and thirty. A piece 

 of this land in its improving state, may be seen 

 on the premises of Col. Farmer in GoflTstown, one 

 mile above Amoskeag village, opposite to Gen. 

 Stark's monument in Manchester. We have 

 watched the progress of the improvement of this 

 ground for several years, and have been highly 

 gratified to see crops of hay growing upon the 

 ditched morass equal to the best cro|)s we liaVb 

 ever witnessed in any part of the country. There 

 is a deep black mould two feet and upwards in 

 depth, which, when drained and mellowed by ex- 

 posure and stimulated with small portions of 

 warming manure, will be as productive as the 

 very best soil, and be as lasting in fertility as it 

 shall continue to receive kind treatment. Anoth- 

 er portion of the same kind of swamp land is en- 

 countering the reclaiming process near the resi- 

 dence of Frederick Stark, Esq. at the Piscataquog 

 village, and quantities of the black mould taken 

 from the ditches are laid out to be converted into 

 rich compost when mixed with the manure of the 

 yards. 



Taken as a whole, there is no purl of the State 

 where the lands may be made to do more for the 

 profit of labor and make a better retmn for the 

 judicious outlay of capital, than along the valley 

 of the Merrimack, where have sprung up within 

 a few yeais some of the most successful and lar- 

 gest manufacturing places upon the American 

 continent. 



"The Brown Corn." 



Speaking of the Brown Corn, Allen Putnam, 

 Esq. of Danvers, Mass. the intelligent editor of the 

 New England Farmer, says : — 



" We have raised it by the side of the Phinney, 

 the Dutton, the Parker, and various others. 

 When tried by the half bushel, this has invaria- 

 bly given a crop that exceeded any other by 10 to 

 20 per cent. The last season we had two thirds 

 of an acre planted with Parker corn, having the 

 same treatment and as good a chance in every 

 known respect as the Red Blaze, (Brown,) and the 

 latter yielded about 80 bush, to the acre, while the 

 former gave only about 65. There was no i)er- 

 ceptible difference in the size of the stalk or in 

 the time of ripening. Before harvesting, the 

 diflTerence was apparently but little. When the 

 husking commenced, a much larger number of 

 the ears of the Parker corn were small, than of 

 the other kind. The corn was thick on the ground 

 —about 20,000 stalks to the acre. 



We have a conjecture, founded upon a hasty 

 observation of different fields, that if not more 

 than 13 or 14,000 stalks are put ui)on the acre, 

 that the Parker may be as productive as the other. 

 That is, we presume that the Red Blaze will bear 

 planting thick, belter than the Parker. This is 

 an opinion founded on such limited observation, 

 that we wish it to have no other effect than mere- 

 ly to induce farmers to ascertain by experiment, 

 whether there is not a difference in the effect of 

 close planting upon different varieties of corn, 

 even when those varieties are alike as io the size 

 of the stalk and the time of ripening. We think 

 there is, and the fact, if it be a fiict, is worth es- 

 tablishing. 



Notwithstanding our good opinion of the Red 

 Blaze, we do not recommend it excepting to those 

 who have warm lands and manure well." 



{Jj^ The Editor of tho Farmer's Monthly Vis- 

 itor has fifteen barrels of the Brown Corn in 

 ears, selected from the crop of his own field of 

 1840, which ho offers at three dollars the barrel. 

 Application may be made at the Visitor office or 

 at the store of Perkins Gale & Co. Hill's Brick 

 block, Concord, N. H. 



A NEW KIND OF SpRING WHEAT. .Tohn L. 



French, Esq. of Loudon, two years ago discover- 

 ed among his Black sea wheat growing a single 

 stalk of wheat differing from the rest, being from 

 six to eight inches taller — the head of which 

 with the hull of the kernel is of a reddish cast 

 similar to the Black sea wheat, and the kernel 

 nearly of the same color and longer but not so 



roimd. The head is longer and larger in propor- 

 tion to the increased length of the straw. The 

 kmd of wheat is unlike anv other ever seen or 

 heard of by Mr. French. From this head he 

 preserved and on the first day of June last sowed 

 the wheat. It matured and ripened in about the 

 same time as the Black sea wheat, and was as 

 httle affected by rust, which last year struck al- 

 most every other kind of spring wheat in Loudon 

 and the vicinity. The new wheat was sowed in 

 his garden, where that part of it which was not 

 destroyed by the fowls grew to a large size of 

 both straw and head. Mr. F. intends sowing his 

 product of last year, which, if it can be multipli- 

 ed, would seem to be more valuable and equally 

 certain with the famed Black sea wheat. 



We copy the following lines from the "Chris- 

 tian Intelligencer," a paper printed at New- York, 

 under the patronage of the Reformed Dutch 

 Church. The author, we understand, is a cler- 

 gyman in that connexion, resident at Somerville 

 New Jersey. — JVorthem Light. 



THIE SONG OF THE BROOK. 



BY ABRAHAM MESSLER. 



Bright daughter of the mountain shade, 



Light bounding o'er the rockiets gray, 

 As onward to the bright green glade 



Thou wanderest on thy murmuring way — 

 Blithely chaunting for the earth. 



Through all thy winding way along ; 

 Say, what prompts thy ceaseless mirth, 



And wakes thy glad and joyous song ? 



Sweet streamlet of the flowery vale, 



Lingering round each little hill, 

 The breath of flow'rets to inhale, 



" And wandering at thine own sweet will," 

 I hear thee singing all the while, 



In murmurs gentle, soft and mild, 

 Thy lingering moments to beguile, 



Like Nature's leeling, wayward child. 



When Spring with blossoms scents the earth, 



Thy song is rapid, loud and wild ; 

 And mingling with the warbler's mirth, 



Hath oft the heart of rare beguiled. 

 But summer's fainting heat subdues 



That merry song to murmurs soft; 

 Till some fresh shower thy mirth renews 



To pour its melody aloft. 



In Autumn's sere and fading time, 



When flowers are gone and birds have fled, 

 I hear its melancholy chime, 



A requium o'er the beauteous dead ; 

 But when the loud harsh Winter roars, 



And storms are thundering o'er the earth, 

 Thy voice of madness shouts and soars. 



In deep and wide resounding mirth. 



Or pise in icy fetters bound, 



Like some dull captive in his cell, 

 Where midnight reigns, and no sweet sound 



Is heard, to break the gloomy spell, 

 Silent and sad thy voice is mute, 



\yhile creeping slowly on thy way, 

 As if in agony acute, 



Thou waitestfor the Summer's day. 



Sing on, bright streamlet, in thy joy — 



A thousand voices glad as thine. 

 The hand of Time will soon destroy. 



As hearts arc rent and souls repine ! 

 But mid the dirge of death and wo, 



Thy merry song will ne'er decline— 

 Our hearts may all tlicir joys forego, 



While joy and gladness still are thine. 



Domestic Ecowo.Mr.— Few persons consider 

 the importance of small savings. The trifling 

 sum of ten cents a day saved or wasted for thir- 

 ty years amounts to ten thousand and ninetv-five 

 dollars without interest. 



The journeyman mechanic, who saves two 

 hundred dollars a year, and keeps it at com- 

 pound interest, may at the end of nine years set 

 up for himself, with a thorough knowledge of 

 his trade, and of men and business in general, 

 and with a clear capital of nearly twenty three 

 hundred dollars. 



A man who saves one hundred dollars each 

 year, from twenty one, and in like manner keeps 

 it at interest, will have at fifty-five, over ten thou- 

 sand dollars to support him in old age, dispose of 

 by will, or otherwise leave to his hens. 



Let me not be supposed to advocate unneces- 

 sary parsimony or avaricious hoarding. I envv 

 not the sordid miser— whose god is gold— thf> 

 .selfish oppressor of the poor— the friend of i"-'"' 

 resfiected by none. His heirs wish h:.- "^^''> 



and will soon nnni-i-pl nt-oi- onfl o/>.,t' • "18 aCCU- 



and will soon quarrel ovi 

 mulated hoards. He knows it, - 

 wretched than tho well fei* ■"" 



I really more 



