THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



105 



IJayiiisr a shilling in tlie pound, luid many oilier 

 banks tlironghout the Union are in a similar con- 

 dition. Froni the reports recently [Uililished by 

 the concressioiial coainiittue on li.iiiUiiiit, it a((- 

 [icars tliat in some of tlie banks no set oi" books 

 iiad ever been ke[)t; in others, trunks tilled with 

 ' lead, tenpenny nails, and window glass b.oken 

 into small pieces,' passed for deyjosits of specie ; 

 in some no capital stock had ever been paid in, 

 and in others counterfeit notes on othir banks 

 had been resorted to to sustain their ciiilit." 



Preservation of Meat. — The particiilais of 

 a discovery which appears to promise important 

 results, are civen in the Bulletin of the French 

 Academy of Sciences for the sittiuiiof March 22. 

 By injecting the aorta or main arterial trunk ol 

 an animal with chlorure of aluminium, the flesh 

 will he i)reserved fresh for an iudefniite period 

 without having any bad taste communicated. The 

 table of the Academy of Science, at the time of 

 reading the memoir of M. Gannal, the discoverer, 

 was covered with legs of mutton, fowls, d id ge- 

 nus omne, wljich had been preserved many months 

 by the new process. 



To THE Hon. Isaac Hill: — Having been an admirer 

 of the ^'irted productions of E. D. in the cohimns of yuur 

 worthy paper, I oiTer the following lines as a poor tribute 

 to her memory : 



Lines on the Death of Mrs. Eunice Daniels, ia(c of 

 Plalnfittd, N. H. 



Like a flower cut down in its freshest bloom. 



She is lying now in her early tomb; 



Her form is concealed 'nealh the .earth's green sod. 



Uut her spirit has yielded itself to God. 



Oh ! why must she die when that genius rare, 



Was unfolding its buds of beauty lair I 



Vyiiy must slie leave us, that gifted one, 



Ere she was crowned with the wreath she won 1 



Like a stricken deer in a lonely dell, 

 That gifted mind broke this earthly spell ; 

 Too pure, too fair, too good for earth. 

 Her spirit sought its heavenly birth. 

 Like the waning moon, like departing day, 

 Sljo gently passed from the earth away j 

 Htr lunii gone oul, her death sigh drawn, 

 Her genius wrecked in its early dawn. 



She tunes' her har|), with the an^cl band, 

 .■\round the throne in that " Spirit Land." 

 Wc will tliink of her now as an angel blest 

 In the land where the weary are atl-est; 

 Her cherub babes she now has met. 

 Her Hajiplien, and her Hesiuette. 

 Lebanon, July 18, 1841. M. 



From the Maine Cultivator. 

 Potatoes. 



Mr. Editor: — Cf all the crojis cultivated in 

 the New England States, none can eijual the po- 

 ::.toe. This root is emiihalically the " staff of 

 lile" to the New England firmer. Were it not 

 for this croji, who can calculate the amount of 

 jiaujierism, poverty and snlliMini; that must be the 

 uievilable result in our goodly land. The polatoe 

 isexcelltnl food both Ihr man and beast, and I 

 liiink it a provable fact that a greater amount of 

 nutritive matter can be produced on a given quan- 

 tity of land cultivated in this kind of crop 'ban 

 any other whatever. Some may dispute this as- 

 sertion and tell us the carrot crop will exceed the 

 ]iotatoe crop, acre for itcre, in point of nutritive 

 matter. But it must be reinenibered that ihe po- 

 tatoe crop flourishes on aliimst e\ ei'v kind of soil, 

 evenupon stiff clay, and but lew fields compara- 

 tively speaking can be foinid. at least in the State 

 of Maine, that are very will r,-.K-ii!r.ted- to raise 

 jood crops of carrots : ami ai,i;in we shoidd con- 

 sider the expense of culiiv.iiion, the carrot croj) 

 being one of the most expensive and the potatoe 

 crop the least expensive of all crops. 1 do not 

 wish to discourage the raising of oilier kinds of 

 roots, but I contend that potatoe raising may be 

 (allied to an astonishing lengili in the" Slate of 

 M.iine. 



Can you accuse me of injustice if I style the 

 potatoe the King of American vegetables? The 

 potatoe is the most certain of yielding a fair re- 

 turn of any crops cultivated ainong us. The po- 

 tatoe field does not necessarily recpiire heavy ni.a- 

 miring in order to nroduci^ a good crop. In 

 .Massachusetts it is said COO bushels jier r.cre of 

 this root have been frequently n;ised : it isthouirht 

 ihal if the soil of Maine be "carelully and skilful- 

 ly cultivated, one-third more pot.itoes per acre 

 can be rait— d than in Massachusetts. This will 



give 900 bushels per acre, which, if fed out to 

 swine and other stock of superior qualities, can- 

 not be reckoned worth less than 17 cents per 

 bushel — this will give 150 dollars. Only think! 

 One hundred and fiflji dollars for the produce ef a 

 single acre of land. Well, can the famous corn 

 lands of the far West produce a net income equal 

 to this ? 



[We believe it to be impossible to raise 900 bush- 

 els of potatoes on any single aci'e : we would 

 consider 500 bushels beyond the capafcity of any 

 land we have yet seen. — Ed. M. Visitor.] 



In view of these facts who that reflects well 

 upon this subject does not see that the State of 

 Maine may in due time become the best Agricul- 

 tural District upon earth ! Nothing is wanted but 

 a concentration of efforts supported and stimula- 

 ted liy the strong arm of the government, in or- 

 der to carry forward the mighty work. Com- 

 merce, manufactures, and many other occupa- 

 tions are useful to every community and should 

 receive a just share of patronage, but the inter- 

 ests of the farmer should be taken special care 

 of, for agricultural skill aud industry are the 

 great sheet-anchor of national wealth and pros- 



AN ANDROSCOGGINER. 

 Rumfbrd, .rune, 1841. 



Potatoe Culture. 



The greatest crops of potatoes on recoid, are 

 those grown by General Banium of Vernioiit, 

 which reached from 1,500 to 1.800 bushels pet- 

 acre ; and he gives it as his opinion that in a good 

 soil, and with his mode of culture, from 800 to 

 1,000 bushels [icr acre may safely be calculated 

 upon. The reports of the .Agricultural Societies 

 show that fi-oin 500 to 700 bushels per acre are 

 not uncommon. Mr. Bache, of Wellsborongli, 

 Penn., in 1839, raised 600 bushels to the acre, and 

 the crop of Mr. Morris, of Catarangus, N. Y. fell 

 but little short. The average cro|) in the coun- 

 try cannot, we think, be estimated at more than 

 175 to 250 bushels, the influence of the sea- 

 sons being more felt in this crop than many 

 others. 



The methods of planting are various. Gener- 

 al Barnum's mode, alfer a careful and thorough 

 preparation of his laud, is to plant in drill.s, 2"2 

 inches apart, ,-, 11,1 llir setts in ihr drills tni iiirli- 

 es fioni r.-.i-li oihrr. The ilrills aiv krpt rlra.i, 

 but the earth is lillcil aroiiiul the plaiil.s uiily miht 

 in the season : as he considers there is much dan- 

 ger of disturbing the young tubers by removing 

 the earth, or causing the formation of new shoots 

 or I'dbers by repeated hueings or hillings. The 

 secret of his great crops appeared to consist in 

 his liiiiigiuL'- rich frr.~li earth from the barn yaiil. 

 or the iiiumIiI ilij (i.sit.'il ill swamjis, and giving 

 each hill a shovel full, as a top diessing. He does 

 this w ith the aid of a horse and cart, the horse 

 and the wheels passing between the rovvs.^.^/6a- 

 nij Cultivator. 



Bees and their Hives. 



Bees secin to be governed by instinct, not by 

 habit— therefore, if we would makei.se of iheni, 

 we must conform to their modes of npcraliim, 

 rather than try to make them coiiliirm to utu 

 views. And to imdersiaiid tin '.r ih.nacter, wc 

 must not only observe tlicm in their hive, but in 

 theforest, where tliey :;i led their own hive ; and 

 if Ihere'be any points that are similar in the ii,-it- 

 ural hives, we should coimIuiIc llmt it is the ett'ect 

 of choice, and the ariilici.d hivi' should be made 

 to conform to those points. i\I\ upportuniiies for 

 observing the bees in the lijic-st have been limi- 

 ted, but I have found llial (iir the entrance, the 

 south and east are most lioipicntly clmscn, the 

 west occasionally, but rarely the imrtli : that the 

 main part of the cavity ncciipied is below the en- 

 trance, and only in one instance have I known oi 

 a tunnel or hollow limb being selected as an en- 

 trance, and never an instance of the cavity being 

 open at the bottom, although the cavity frequent- 

 ly extends liir fielow any part of the comb. I 

 liave observed that the iioney at the top of the 

 hive is heavier and richer than at the bottom : and 

 it is a curious fact, that when the bees are enga- 

 ged in collecting jioney in fine weather, the ile- 

 posit at the boltom is thin and watery, but if bad 

 weather comes on, this honey disappears, be- 

 ing inobably worked over again and carried up ; 

 alto, the honey which is contained in cells not 



closed or waxed over, is insipid, and probably un- 

 finished. 



The moth entirely destroyed my bees, although 

 I tried all the different ways recommended to 

 save them. Watching their operations very close- 

 ly, I found that they commenced operations be- 

 tween sun-down and dark, continuing until late 

 in the evening— their object being, to enter the 

 hive imiTiediately in the rear of a bee, folding 

 their wings clo.-c, and assuming as nearly as pos- 

 sible the form of ;i Imc, :iii,l fullowing their flle 

 leader into t!ie !ii\c, srhhmi being detected, un- 

 less the bee in front tninnl to the right or left to 

 allow H bee that was coming out a free passage, 

 when, being met, he was driven back, or caught 

 and punished for his temerity, with death ; and 

 when the intruder is .seized by a bee, others will 

 rush to its assistance, and both rnolh and bees 

 will tumble together to the ground. The eggs of 

 the moth are deposited at the boltom of the hive 

 withinside, in some dark corner. When hives 

 have been cracked from bottom to top, I have ob- 

 served that the bees will enter mostly at the top 

 and come out at the bottom ; those entering at the 

 bottom, will frequently stop to rest before they 

 enter, while those that enter at the top, descend 

 immediately. — Unioji Jig. 



EcONOJiy IN A Family. — There is nothing 

 which goes so far towards placing young people 

 beyond the reach of poverty, as economy in the 

 management of their dniiusiic affairs. It matters 

 not whether a man furnish little or much for his 

 family, if there is a leakage in his kitchen or in 

 the parlor, it runs away lie knows not how, and 

 that demon waste cries more, like the horse- 

 leech's daughter, until he that lias provided has 

 110 more to give. It is the husband's duty to 

 bring into the house, and it is the duty of the 

 wift; to see that nothing goes wrongfully out of 

 it — not the least article, however unimportant in 

 itself — to establish a ]ireccdeiit ; nor under any 

 pretence, for it opens the door for ruin to stalk 

 in, and he seldom leaves an opportunity unim- 

 proved. :\ man gets a wife to look afler his af- 

 fairs, and to assist liini in his journey through life, 

 to educate and pie|p;iie his ciiildreii for a proper 

 station in life, ninl not to dissipate his property. — 



and her greatest ainbititiuii should carry her no 

 father than his well-ire or happiness, together 

 with that of hercliiiilien. 



This should he her sole aim, and the theatre of 

 iie- exploits in the liosom of her family, where 

 she may do as much towards making a fortune as 

 ^le can do in the work shop or the counting 

 room. It is not the money earned that makes a 

 man wealthy — it is what lie saves from liis earn- 

 ings. A good and niiideiit husband makes a de- 

 positeofthe fruits of his labor with his best 

 friend ; aud if the tiieiid be not true to him, what 

 has he to hope ? If he d,-iie not place confidence 

 in the companion of his bosom, where is ho to 

 [ilace it ? A w ife acts not for herself only, but 

 she is the agent of the man she loves, and she is 

 bound to act lor his good, and not for her own 

 gratification. Her hushaiid's good is the end to 

 whieh she should aim — his approbation is her re- 

 ward, .'•elf gratification in dress, or indulgence 

 in appetite, or nioi-e company than his purse can 

 well entertain, are equally pernicious — the first 

 adds vanity to e.\travagan(-e — the second fastens 

 a Doctor's bill to a long Butcher's account — and 

 the latter brings intem[)erance, the first of all ev- 

 ils, in fls train. — Sunhur}j Armr. 



We have in the United States, 0,657 Distille- 

 ries ■t"fl tf'e number of gallons distilled, in the 

 year 1S40, was 36,843,236 — or more than two gal- 

 lons to evei-y man, woman and child, whether 

 'i eeniaii or slave, in this country. There are more 

 Distilleries in North Carolina, than in any other 

 State — the niiiuber being 2,798. Virginia has 

 1,450, aud Tennessee 1,381. But in the quantity 

 distilled, Pennsylvania has the bad pre-eminence ; 

 and with Massachusetts and New York, in this 

 particular, go far beyond the South and the West. 

 The 707Di'stilleriesof Penn. turned out 8,784,138. 

 gallon.s. Massachusetts with only 37 Distilleries, 

 manuhictm-ej 5,177,910 gallons ; and the 38 Dis- 

 tilleries of New York, send out 4,008,616 gallons. 

 New Hampshire had 5 Distilleries, and the quan- 

 tity dii^tilled in this State, in 1840, was 31,2-14 gal- 

 lons.— Breto- JSTewsklkr. 



