THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



47 



The quantity of maple sugar made iu the United 

 States, when unfolded by the Agricultuial census, 

 will surprise all. The "full returns are not yet 

 made out ; but iu many districts of the northern 

 States it is ascerlained to amount from 40 to 80 

 pounds to each individual. To make good su- 

 gar, the greatest neatness in every thing is requi- 

 site. The sap must be boiled as soon as possible 

 after it is drawn from the tree, as delay renders it 

 partially sour, and prevents the syrup graining. 

 If from any cause the sap when gathered, cannot 

 be boiled at once, a quart of lime to a hundred 

 gallons should be added, which will prevent the 

 acidity, and render tiie formation of good graine<I 

 sugar certain. The sugar maple is one of the 

 most beautiful as well as valuable of our forest 

 trees; and we think that for ornamental purpo- 

 ses it is exceeded by none. If therefore each 

 farmer would plant a few hundred trees, either 

 as a grove, or by the road side, but a few years 

 would elapse before he would find himself inde- 

 pendent of the Brazils or Cuba for one of the 

 most indispensable articles of domestic consump- 

 tion. 



Care of Animals. — The stock of the farmer 

 requires his utmost care and attention. In the 

 seveie climate of the north, animals are more li- 

 able to diseases iu the spring months than in any 

 other; and as it is besides the usual time of 

 bringing forth their young, additional reasons for 

 attention are furnished by this fact. Cows should 

 have daily supplies of bran or shorts iu water, 

 with roots if they are to be had, (or some time 

 previous to dropping their calves, as good nutri- 

 tive food gives them strength, and besides se- 

 cures a better flow of milk. Sheep now, es- 

 pecially the ewes, should have a good supply of 

 turnips or other roots daily, with a good portion 

 of salt, and, if not as necessary now as in the 

 summer, an occasional covering of the trough 

 with tar, will conduce to health. On the treat- 

 ment of his animals much of the farmer's suc- 

 cess in his business is depending, and it is one of 

 those things to which his attention cannot be too 

 frequently urged. Every dairyman is aware of 

 the great difference in profit there is between a 

 cow that is in good condition in the spring, and 

 one that does not recover from the effects of the 

 winter until the summer is half past. So with 

 sheej). A flock of well kept ewes will raise 

 more and better Iambs ; and their wool will be 

 ten per cent, better than that from half starved, 

 weak and feeble animals. 



The Magazine of Horticulture, is the on- 

 ly publication iu this country expressly devoted 

 to Horticulture, Floriculture, Botany, &c. and 

 .-ihould be in the hands of every ii-uit grower and 

 florist. The Feb. number contains a descriptive 

 catalogue of 107 varieties of Apples, which have 

 produced fruit in the Pomological Garden of R. 

 Manning, Esq. Salem, during the years 1839 and 

 1840, which we should be glad to transfer to our 

 pages, could we make room for it. The Maga- 

 zine is published by Hovey &. Co. Boston— $3,00 



Prize Farms. — The Massachusetts .Society 

 for promoting Agriculture, have awarded four 

 premiums for farms, as follows : — For the best 

 cultivated farm, to Abel Moore of Concord, 

 S200 — for the second best, to Paoli Lathrop of 

 South Hadley, $175 — the third premium of $150, 

 was divided between Mr. Winchester and Mr. 

 Salisbury, as was also the 4th premium of $100, 

 between Blr. Reed and Mr. Converse. 



Snow Storm in Scotland. — In January 

 1794, a snow storm occurred in Scotland, which 

 for its destructive effects has never been exceed- 

 ed. Prof. Low, in his work on British Animals, 

 gives an interesting account of it, from which we 

 make the following extract, which will give some 

 idea of the immense damage occasioned by it : 

 " A number of the rivers on which the storm was 

 most deadl}', run into the Solway Frith, on which 

 there is a place called the Beds of Esk, where 

 the tide throws out and leaves whatever is carri- 

 ed into it by the rivers, where, after the storm 

 subsided, there were found on that place, and 

 shores adjacent, 1840 sheep, 9 cattle, 3 horses, 2 

 men, 1 woman, 45 dogs, and 180 hares, besides a 

 vast number of smaller animals." 



Good Sentiments. — Agriculture is the 

 serv nf patriotism and virtue. 



Agriculture, aided by science, will make a little 

 nation a great one. 



Science must combine with practice to make a 

 good farmer. 



A wise government will not be slow in foster- 

 ing the agricultural interest. 



All the energy of the hero and all the science 

 of the philosopher, may find scope in the culti- 

 vation of one'farm. ^-*'-' 



If you separate science from agriculture, you 

 rob a nation of its-principal jewel. — JV. E. Far- 



NAVAL BATTLES AND SURVIVING N.WAL 

 HEROES. 



Tlie recent decease of Commodore Sterens has led us 

 to ascertain the list of the dead and living commanders 

 who shed so much lustre upon our national Hag in the last 

 war. War was declared in June, 1812. Peace was sign- 

 ed at Ghent, Dec. S*. ISH, and proclaimed by the Presi- 

 dent, Feb. 18, I8I5. 



There were fifteen naval actions between British and 

 American vessels of war. In eleven battles fought by 

 single ships, the Americans conquered ; in four only the 

 British triumphed — two of whicii were by single ships, 

 viz : Chesapeake, of 47 guns, taken by the Shannon, 52 ; 

 and the Argus, IG guns, taken by the Pelican, 20. The 

 other two Britisii captures were two to one and four to 

 one against us. 



During the war, there were captured from the British, 

 on the ocean, three frigates, and fifteen sloops of war, and 

 smaller ships ; and on the Lakes, thirteen, several of them 

 frigates and sloops. The whole number captured by the 

 Americans were thirty-one. The British took from us, 

 and destroyed at navy yards, but twenty-three armed ves- 

 sels, viz : three frigates, (Chesapeake, President, and Es- 

 sex.) twelve sloops and gun brigs, and eight schooners. 



Of the commanders who fought the naval battles, there 

 have died — 



Decatur, who took the Macedonian, Oct. 25, 1812. 



Bainbridge, who took the Java, Dec. 29, 1812. 



Lawrence, who took the Peacock, Keb. 24, 1813. 



Burrows, who took the Boxer, Sept. 5, 1813. 



Blakely, who took the Reindeer, June 23, 1811. Also 

 the Avon, Sept. 7, 1814. 



Perry, of the Lawrence ; Almy, of the Somers ; Conk- 

 lin, of the Tigress; Senatt, of the Porcupine; and T. 

 Holdup Stevens, of the Trippe, of Commodore Perry's 

 squadron that captured the British squadron of six ships 

 on Lake Erie, Sept. 10. 1813. 



Macdonough, of the Saratoga, and Henley, of the Ea. 

 gle, of Commoilore Macdonough's squadron that captured 

 the British squ.idron of four vessels on Lake Champlain, 

 Sept. 11, 1841. 



Allen, of the Argus, taken by the Pelican, Aug. 14. 1813. 



77ie survii-ing Naval Commanders in tiie last war, who 



chieved \ 





Isaac Hull, who took the Guerriere, Aug. 20, 1812. 



David Porter, who took the Alert, Aug. 13, 1812, and 

 fought the ships Phffibe and Cherub, at Valparaiso, March 

 28,1814. ' V , 



Jacob Jones, who took the frolic, Oct. 18, 1812. 



Lewis Warrington, who took the Eparvier, April 29, 

 1814. 



Charles Stewart, who took the two sloops Levant and 

 Cyane with the Constitution, Feb. 20, 1815, 



Jesse D. Elliot, who commanded the Niagara in Perry's 



Daniel Turner, who commanded the Caledonia ; 



Stephen Champlin, who commanded the Scorpion. 



Stephen Cassin, of the Ticonderoga, in Macdonough's 

 victory. 



Of the surviving commanders, all are Post Captains ex- 

 cept Commander Champlin and Captain Porter. 



There are many survivors still on the list of our gallant 

 naval officers who were distinguished by bravery and con- 

 duct, in the war, under the command of superiors; but 

 the above are all the survivors of those that had immedi- 

 ate commands. The catalogue presents thirteen deceas- 

 ed and nine living. — Boston 'Moryiing Fast. 



ilow to make a Hen-house. 



A hen-house should be a building for that pu 

 (lose exclusively ; and for the accommodation of 

 fifty hens and their progeny, in size about 10 by 

 19 feet, and seven to eight feet height of walls; 

 with a door in the centre of the south or east end, 

 made to shut as close as the doors of our dwell- 

 ings ; and a small aperture near the door, about 

 8 by 10 inches, and 9 feet from the ground, for 

 the admission of the fowls. In each gable end a 

 window hole 18 by 30 inchesj with a lattice, so as 

 to exclude ravenous birds, (md a shutter inside to 

 be closed tight in winter, but to be kept open in 

 the summer for the pui-pose of ventilation. The 

 inside of the house shoidd be plastered and 

 vvhitewaished as thoi-oughly as a farmer's kitchen. 

 There must be no ground floor, but a tight floor 

 on three sides, 3 feet wide, and well jointed to the 

 wall, about four feet from the ground. Above 

 the floor place the roosts, two on each side, the 

 outer one 12 inches from the wall, the other 15 

 inches from that. The roosts, if practicable, 

 should he sassafras poles, with the bark on, as 

 this wood is found to be a slow conductor of 

 best, and is thought to be 1pss> liable to ha infest- 



ed with lice than most other kinds of timber, ow- 

 ing to its peculiar aromatic smell. Under the 

 floor place a row of boxes for nests, 2d feet from 

 the ground. The boxes to be 10 by 12 inches, 

 and 9 or 7 inches deep. In the bottom of the box 

 put half of an inch of fine lime or ashes, and 

 then fill nearly full with fine straw. The interior 

 of the house should be thoroughly cleaned and 

 whitewashed early in the spring, and the ground 

 well covered with slaked lime or ashes. In cold 

 weather put a little fine straw on the ground. It 

 at any time the house becomes infested with lice, 

 clean and white-wash as before directed. On 

 the ground place your feed boxes, which should 

 not be very deep, but of sufficient capacity to 

 hold half a bushel each, and keep them well sup- 

 plied, the year roimd, with corn, buckwheat and 

 oats, or other kinds of grain, having one box for 

 lime and gravel in the winter. I am satisfied that 

 whoever will adopt the above plan and regula- 

 tions, will soon find themselves well paid for the 

 expense. — Mhany Cultivator. 



The Roller. 



This is an agricultural instrument that ought 

 to come more extensively in use. On dry or wet 

 ground the eflect of the roller is said to be saluta- 

 ry. Ploughed and prepared for sowing, dry land 

 is much helped by a heavy roller : the blades of 

 grass spring up sooner and retain a firmer 

 hold in the earth. In a season of drought rolling 

 has saved the crop where without it the seed 

 would have never sprung from the ground. In 

 wet and heavy ground, it is believed the roller, 

 smoothing and hardening the surface, will leavo 

 the soil immediately beneath the surface in a bet- 

 ter condition to generate the seed. On grass 

 ground that has been hoven with frost, the 

 roller has an excellent effect in fixing the roots. 

 A lot of recently laid down gi-ass ground, soon 

 after the frost leaves the ground, covered with 

 pebbles, may be passed over with the roller, and 

 the small stones will be better disposed of by sink- 

 ing them into the earth than by gathering them into 

 I)iles or carrying them away: the stones will lighten 

 and warm the earth, and make it more productive. 

 Rolling the ground is also good where the land 

 was laid down imevenly the previous year. Roll- 

 ers with spikes are sometimes advantageously 

 used on grass land partially bound ont where 

 manure has been spread. 



We saw in Cambridge, Mass. a few days ago, a 

 roller with the apparatus, which seemed to be 

 iiiade to do an effectual business : it had a spire 

 like that upon a strong wagon or cart. The 

 roller in the shape of a cylinder was at least five 

 feet in diameter, and was so constructed as to be 

 loaded in the interior and made either heavy or 

 light. 



Rollers are sometimes constructed of granite: 

 and such an one would he very well if the same 

 weigiit should always be wanted — or a light gran- 

 ite roller might be inade heavier. We are told 

 that a granite roller has been made and is kept at 

 the N. H. State Prison, which it might be well for 

 practical farmers to examine. 



The Scotch Centenuarian. 



The venerable Samuel McGuinn of Aiidover, 

 N. H. who was noticed in a number of the Visi- 

 itor of 1839, now one hundred and seven years old, 

 made oath to his papers, and received dniing the 

 present month his semi-annual pension of forty- 

 eight dollars at the Pension Agency in Concord. 

 His friend, Israel W. Kelley, Esq. who gave us 

 our first information, now informs us that he ob- 

 tains all the scanty menus of living from the 

 ninety-six dollars which he annually receives ; 

 that, although he is no longer able to walk, he 

 has been removed within the last year three 

 times from neighbor to neighbor, and his mind is 

 yet active and playful. 



It will be recollected that oiu- former notice of 

 M'Guinn stated the fact that he "was horn at a 

 place called Wick in Scotland ;" that he was im- 

 pressed and put on boaid the British shipArabel, 

 of Greenock, in Scotland in the year 1775, when 

 in his fortieth year; that he was taken prisoner, 

 and afterwards voluntarily entered the American 

 service, and had never returned to or correspond- 

 ed with his relations in Scotland. 



Mr. M'Guinn was much pleased to receive 

 through the Post Office a few months since, a 

 copy of the " John O' Groat Journal," published 

 in hi.« native city (the same ropy being now be- 



