100 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



ing but barberry bushes ami stunted cedars. Tlie 

 soil has been niade dee|>tr by successive annual 

 cultivation ; and from the peculiar position fac- 

 ing the south-east, where the cold north-west 

 winds are shut out, and where, from the conti- 

 guity of the salt water ocean spray exteiiding^ 

 several miles into the cotmtry, the freezing at- 

 mosphere of early spring is exchided so as to 

 permit vegetation at least a foitiiii;l!t inrli'T il.-m 

 farupthe country. Mr. Hill, ami lu- . fM mm 

 James Hill whose farm is on a siniil.M il(<lnii\ 

 of the same ridge farther south, luive generally 

 been able to carry to the Boston n>arket the ear- 

 liest green peas (or many years. Their efforts 

 are jiartially unavailable at this time by the in- 

 troduction of early vegetables from the soiith, 

 from Nevv Jersey and Long Island, by means of 

 steam boat and railroad comuiuni>jatiou. Never- 

 theless the farmers in this neighborhood, some of 

 whom obtain their thousands of dollars from 

 their premises in market money in a single sea- 

 son, consider all their extraordinary exertions 

 well paid in all the improvements they have at- 

 tempted. The price of cultivated land has con- 

 tinually been improving: it is caught up with 

 great avidity whenever there is a chance to pur- 

 chase : choice spots of arable land sell frequent- 

 ly as high as three hundred dollars the acre. 



We had time on this visit to take only such a 

 view of the beautiful garden spots and fields on 

 this part of West Cambridge as was presented 

 while riding rapidly along the road. The peach 

 orchards upon Mr. David Hill's premises were 

 planted in a rich well cultivated soil : aud in the 

 midst of the jieach trees grew all the var' 

 productions of the kitchen garden, peas, beans, 

 turnips, beets, onions, potatoes, &c., &c., the lux 

 uriant growth of which, without the too common 

 failures freijuent in country gardens, from a 

 dents in sowing, from drought or wet, iiom the 

 cutting down by worms or" insects, seemed to 

 speak that there was some magic oi'erating here 

 iij the management Between the road and the 

 Spy pond is a strip of land rising quick, a soil 

 li^ht and sandy, that for years had produced the 

 nierc'sl tritie : this was the jiroperty of a venera- 

 ble maiden lady, the daughter of the first clergy 

 man of the |)arish who died more than forty years 

 ago : on the recent death of the lady the proper 

 ty was exposed for sale and was at once pur- 

 chased by Mr. Hill for llie price which was ask 

 ed. He has this already in cultivation, and on 

 what was heretofore ajiparently little better than 

 barren sand were growing luxuriant squash and 

 melon vines which in the course of a few days, 

 in spite of drought and the invjision of black and 

 ' yellow bugs, will commence furnishing a daily 

 supply to go with the other vegetables to market. 



Mr. Hill is by no means in advance of his broth- 

 er farmers of this neighborhood : here are other 

 Hills, besides Frosts, Lockes, Wellingtons and 

 others, congregated so near each other with their 

 neat white dwellings and ample br.rns and stables 

 as to appear a continuous village for a mile on 

 the road to the Watertown line. Westward of the 

 rocky ridge in every sequestered vale, or other 

 spot capable ot being made fertile, are valuable 

 farms which could scarcely be bought of their 

 owners at any price. The quantity of vegetable 

 growth on this ground annually produced would 

 seem to he incredible : two, three and four crops 

 are taken from the same ground in a single 

 sou. Here the finest fruits, apples, pears, ])each- 

 es, cherries, quinces, &c. are annually raised: 

 the dark green foliage of the numerous trees 

 makes the whole appear like a forest when ap- 

 proaching it ; but as we come nearer the nnder 

 growth of luxuriant ve^'ctal ion, grass, ripening 

 beans, peas, potatoes, flcving corn, cabbages, 

 caauliflo'.vers, tonj;itoos, rhubarb, horse radish, 

 — every thing desirable to the palate that the 

 ground is capable of piodMcing, presents an ar- 

 ray of the beauties of nature that seems almost 

 like a region of enchantment. In the intense 

 heat of a July sun such a retreat has all the 

 charms of a fancied Eden. 



Most of the farmers when we passed of an af- 

 ternoon were busy in taking from the earth the 

 crops of hay which here seemed on the same en- 

 larged, magnificent scale as the other growth. 

 The grounds around Fresh jiond. Little pond 

 and Spy pond were formerly much of them 

 sunken meadows: these have been drained and 

 changed into natural mowing grounds that with 

 no very great manuring turn out yearly as much 



good Knglish liay as will well dry upon the 

 ground. Suamps in various ];laces are turned into 

 vegetable gardens : a greater part of the soil is 

 of the richest kind, and with the aid of arthicial 

 industry has becon)e valuable almost above price. 



A WI>D-rALL IN AN ICEBERG. 



But as if there was no change to the good for- 

 tune of the industry which l.as been so long suo- 

 ii»j'iil in this fiivored spot.it is recently discover- 

 1(1 ih It the acres of water coiii|>o.?ing these jkmkIs 

 .III- hilt less valuable than tlte best culiivaiid 

 lands around them. The ownership of the land 

 upon the s' ores by the common law will extjnd 

 to the centre of the pond, the ice formed upon 

 which is destined to become an article of com- 

 merce of almost boundless extent. Railroads are 

 now constructing to convey this ice from the bo- 

 som of the ponds diiectly to the wharves in 

 Charlestown, where ship after ship is freighted 

 to carry this to the many ports of a more south- 

 ern climate as an article of luxury, convenience 

 and health. The railroad was first chartered for 

 Fresh pond which is nearest the place of em- 

 harkment; but it was found thaf it might be ex- 

 tended to the West Cambridge ponds on the 

 same level, whence immense masses of ice 

 have already been taken. A building spot on the 

 shore of Spy pond which gives of course the sur- 

 face of the pond to the centre to the width of the 

 lot already commands a price like that of a build- 

 ing lot in some central town or village. Im- 

 mense reservoirs lor i)reserving ice on the shores 

 of these ponds are niade by means of board 

 walls filled in w itli tan : from these reservoirs 

 the ice for a full ship's cargo may be taken, 

 when the rail roads shall be comjdeted, at all 

 seasons of the year. Ice retailed at New Or- 

 leans, at the Havana and in the West Indies, at 

 the price of half a cent a pound, is destined to 

 become an extensive article of commerce. To 

 the north of the West Cambridge ponds are the 

 i\Ii-(iroiil and Woburn |H)nds coming near to the 

 Lowell r.iilniad, from some of which large qiian- 

 titii s oi' ice are annually taken. 



Tlie farmers of West Cambridge, the original 

 farmers who have made themselves what tlj<-\ an- 

 on this groutid, are not in the habit of bestowing 

 their labor at a loss. Whether it be that their 

 w ork is intended to recover acres of swamp 

 whose useful vegetation had been precluded by a 

 superabimdance of water, or to convert the thin 

 soil of some rocky, hard side hill into a fruitful 

 fieUI by divesting it of hundreds and thousands 

 of lo::ds of rocks and diving the pick or the 

 plough deeper into a hardened and all but im- 

 pervious subsoil, none of theirs is labor expended 

 in vain, or labor thrown away. They make eve- 

 ry effort tell — they make every particle of manure 

 do its work. With a skill almost imknowii to inte- 

 rior cidtivation they have a second crop of a new 

 article nnder way while the first crop is perfect- 

 ing on the same ground ; and by an easy, natural 

 routine during the season from the early month of 

 April to late in November, they are taking contin- 

 ually from the ground some culinary market veg- 

 etables adapted to the season. 



THE MOST EXPENSIVE GARDENING AND FARMING 

 IN NEW ENGLAND. 



Scarcely more beautiful to us appeared that 

 wonder of nature, the artificial garden of J. P. 

 Cl'shing Esq., at Wateitown, which we visited 

 and on which we tarried for a simple half-hoin' 

 in the same rapid afternoon ride, than did the cul- 

 tivated fields and garden plats, the apple, peach, 

 cherry and quince orchanis of our West Cam- 

 bridge friends, whose own sweat of the brow has 

 always had part in perfecting the highly improv- 

 ed cultivation at vvhich they have arrived. 



Mr. Cushing's garden is a most enchanting and 

 delightful spot : 'it is the same spot, two and a 

 half miles south of West Cambridge centre, upon 

 i:ie heights of Watertown, which half a century 

 ago was the farm aud residence of the late Col. 

 Bond. All the vaiieties of vegetable cultivation, 

 shrubs, trees, fruits and flowers of all the various 

 climates may here bo foimd. Tropical trees and 

 fruits, oraiiges and lemons, figs and dates, 

 piiie apjiles, tlie coffee and tea plant, the cinna- 

 mon and the alspice — indeed, many more than 

 we know how to name, much less describe — may 

 be found here. The establishment of this garden 

 alone must be kept up at an animal cost appalling 

 to the purse of the most wealthy men of the 

 coinnry: thrown upon the hands of the man 

 ilh an income often thousand a year, the cost 



of such an establishment as the garden would 

 make him shrink from the idea of fixing it among 

 the perniauent amusements of his life. 



Mr. Cushing, now passed but little beyond the 

 middle iiLi-, is understood to have acquired dur- 

 ing a re-i,;ei ee of Several years asa f.'ictor in the 

 v.: >[ liHli:i 11, (le, a fortune which as yet has been 

 (li-eiiM n i\ without bounds. He commenced hi.s 

 nien-aiilile raicer at the east imderlhe patronage 

 ol'Col. TiuniAs II. I'F.itiiiNS of Boston, who has 

 obtained, mm h of it in tlie same East India trade, 

 a magnificent fortune, enabling him to contrib- 

 ute tens of thousands to various charitable and 

 useful institutions, and who has an establish- 

 ment (we believe at Brooklinc) a garden, graper- 

 ies, hot houses and flou ers, almost as splendid as 

 that belonging to M\: ('nsliing. 



Thefarmof Mr. ('. inehuling the walks and 



the garden, eo\cis alHUit sixty acres: inde- 

 pendent oC tlie i;arileii tlie whole is in a high 

 state of ciiliivaiion. 'ihi- (|uantity of hay upon 

 the acre is immense. Filteon hands were em- 

 ployed hard at haying on the day of our visit: 

 ten hands are the minimum number employed at 

 all seasons upon the farm ; and five men, the 

 most if not all of them trained European garden- 

 ers, are kept constantly eniployed in the garden. - 

 Such of these as have fiunilies find their doincil- 

 iu a brick house of many aparlmeiits forming 

 the rear part of the wall which surrounds the 

 garden. The garden consists of two or more 

 acres, and in its centre is a splendid fountain and 

 vase from which we iiresmiie the whole may be 

 watered at all times. The sides ol the close 

 brick walls upon either hntid, as u ell as the lattic- 

 ed fences on the margins of the various walks, 

 were decorated with fruit trc's, apricots, peach- 

 es, i)ears, &c. which had been taught to grow in 

 the shape of an open fpn with the branches ex- 

 tended ill those directions which would compel 

 all the linilis to stanil as the side of a panel, and ' 

 thus enable the light and the sun to strike both 

 the tree ami its frnit directly upon the side oftiie 

 wall. Although this jiosition of the trees did not 

 leave them to the iieedom of nature, yet the gar- 

 deners inl'ormed us that the.se trees bore better 

 and more fruit than when lel't in a natural posi- 

 tion. (Clusters of ripe grapes were hanging in 

 this garden on the 12tli of July: these were 

 forced by means of artificial heat ; but there were 

 many early fruits, such as peaches and pears, 

 that were nearly ripe. 



Mr. C. is erecting near the front of the garden 

 a brick d Arelling house, vvhich will vie in expense 

 and inli'rior and exterior elegance and conveni- 

 ence with any other house jn-obably in the coun- 

 try. 'J'his house has already been three years in 

 building and preparation : the work exhibits a 

 perfection in material and arrangement greater 

 than any structure we had ever before seen : it ia 

 supposed one if not two years more will be ne- 

 cessary to complete it. If the advantage possess-' 

 ed by a man of boimdlcss wealth be to require 

 five years to build him an house in which he can 

 enjoy no more comfort than the man who can 

 build the bouse in vvhich he desires to live and die 

 w ithin the space of five weeks — nay, not as much 

 comfort as the pioneer of the forest enjoys in his 

 log cabin, the work of five days — may we not 

 suppose a deficiency in the arrangement of Prov- 

 idence which leaves the man of great wealth no- 

 more time to enjoy his possessions than the man 

 of moderate property, and even less time than 

 the hardy settler takes in the enjoyment of the 

 fi-ee air which surrounds him and the abundance 

 which the new-tilled mother earth affords him. 

 Natural happiness is the enjoyment of the con- 

 tented poor man: artificial happiness, enjoyments 

 costing more than they are worth, may be the 

 destiny of the rich. It was from consideraliotis 

 of this sort that ive looked with more delight on 

 the exuberance of the elegant farms and fields 

 vvhich lie at no very great distance from him, than 

 upon the beautiful fields, gardens, trees and 

 shrubbery, arbors, avenues and walks, which com- 

 prise the premises we have last described. 



P2very thing is done on Mr. Cushing's farm to 

 gratify the taste — nothing is done with a view to 

 making money. Mr. C. will consume every thing 

 raised upon his farm if he can. To make ma- 

 nure, he keeps some hundred and fifty hogs : 

 finding no other practicable use for the meat of 

 ihe.se, his overseer was obliged, as we were in- 

 lormed, to send to the Boston market some eigh- 



