THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



155 



For the Fanner's Monthly Visitor. 

 An Experiment. 



HoN.JsAAC Hill: — About the first of June I 

 selected a smiill spot oCnboiit twelve square rods 

 (greensward ploughed the uutumii preceding, the 

 soil a strong loam) to whicli 1 applied liberally 

 tnnyard manure, harrowed it in and sowed il 

 with mangel wurlzel in drills, and as the seed 

 did not vegetate well, I sowed about three weeks 

 after, ruta baga, where it did not come up ; alter 

 which it received scarce any attention till tliey 

 were harvested which was on the 14th inst. and 

 the yield was at the rate of 34 bushels to the 

 square rod — SGOtp the acre, or reckoning 64 lbs 

 lo the bushel 35,840 lbs, nearly 18 tons. Had 

 the ground been mellow and the plants properly 

 thinned and hoed, I know of no reason why the 

 crops should not have been much larger ; but 

 the most remarkable feature of the case and the 

 one to which I wish to call your attention, is, 

 that during the whole of the long and severe 

 drought there was at no time when at the depth 

 of a single inch the soil was not quite moist, 

 nearly as much so as could be wished, while six 

 feet from where the manure was applied the 

 earth to a foot in depth was dry like dust. This 

 I think must be attributed to the pecidiar nature 

 of the manure consisting as it did of fleshings, 

 hair, and all the refuse of the tanyard, to which 

 was added horse manure and the whole incor- 

 porated by a hog Working it over and adding 

 what he found convenient. It contained I pre- 

 sume considerable salt, which I believe has been 

 found of service by its deliquescent property in 

 keeping soil moist in very dry seasons. Think- 

 ing of this it occurred to me that as pure salt or 

 chloride of sodium, as the chemists term it, is 

 not deliquescent, the effect must be owing to 

 the impiu'ities which common salt contains, the 

 principal of which is muriate of lime or chloride 

 of calcium, which has so strong an attraction for 

 water that a red heat is necessary to dry it. 1 

 then took two or three pounds of muriatic acid 

 and saturated it with lime, then added as many 

 pails full of water and applied it to some hills of 

 corn, potatoes and vines ; no immediate effect 

 was however perceived, and as rain fell soon 

 after, I am unable to .say what the result of the 

 experiment would have been ; but I think it 

 worth repeating, especially by those residing in 

 the vicinity of salt works, who might obtain at a 

 trifling expense a large quantity of bittern or wa- 

 ter from which the salt has been obtained, which 

 if I am not mistaken still retains in solution a 

 large quantity of the muriate of lime and possi- 

 bly other useful salts. I am inclined to think it 

 might prove under some circumstances a valua- 

 ble resoiu-ce. 



Saco, M aine, Oct. 1841. S. L. G. 



A good report of Coos. 



Lancaster, Oct. 5, 1841. 



Hon. Isaac Hill — Sir: — Your views of Coos 

 County, as presented in your last Visitor, are very 

 correct. During the last fifty-four years I have 

 known this country, and no drought, sufficiently 

 severe to materially injure our crops, has occur- 

 red : indeed we are more frequently injured by 

 a superabundance of rain than by drought Our 

 mountains with their absorbent power, being gen- 

 erally covered with forest trees, throw ing into the 

 atmosphere vast quantities of humidity, their 

 height being sufficient to attract and condense the 

 surrounding vapor, give us rain "in season" and 

 sometimes " out of season." 



Marcellus, the Roman General, who wished to 

 take possession of a high hill, believing he should 

 there find water for his troops, reasoned from 

 data, immutable as the laws of nature ; conse- 

 quently our " benighted region" (according to my 

 theory of a gradual diminution of water on our 

 globe) will relatively increase in value, till our 

 extensive plains become Zaharas. 



Perhaps no season has ever been more pro- 

 ductive, in the aggregate, than the last ; even our 

 early sown wheat was but little injured by the 

 weavel, while the late sown matured perfectly ; 

 corn is prime ; hay, peas and beans fair ; even 

 potatoes, for which we were alarmed in August, 

 are nearly or quite an average crop; melons in 

 great perfection and abundance : one raised by 

 Sir. Brackett weighed fourteen and a half pounds, 

 while mine, being planted on very dry soil, only 

 weighed between nine and ten pounds. My se- 

 roTul crop of beans are now as green as the first 



were in July, though the thermometer fell on the 

 second morning of the present month to 31 (leg. 

 yet a fog destroyed the effect of frost. 



I have been thus particular, that those who re- 

 side on arid sand or gravel, may know our " huge 

 paws" have a great supply of the necessaries of 

 life, except cash, which at the present moment is 

 a rare article, owing to want pf buyers of beef, 

 which is plenty and good for grass fed ; and the 

 fact, that our pork, butter and cheese are not yet 

 ready for market. 



With high respect, I am, sir, 



Your obedient ser\'ant, 



JOHN W. WEEKS. 



Our friend furnishes us facts in relation to the 

 incomparable mountain region of New England 

 that are highly interesting to us as admirers of 

 the " Switzerland of America." In addition to 

 his information we are able to say that we passed 

 from Fryeburg in Maine to Concord on Monday 

 and Tuesday Oct. 11 and 12: the higher moun- 

 tains, with Mount Washington peering above the 

 rest, were brought to our close view, although at 

 the distance of about thirty-five miles, by reason 

 of the snow that covered their tops. The sur- 

 rounding mountains to the height of three thou- 

 sand feet presented no snow, nor did the liigh 

 moimtains themselves below that reach : the cap- 

 piug of these high mountains above has a sur- 

 prising effect in nearing their apparent distance — 

 it brings them, as it were, close to you. Doct. 

 Barrows of Fryeburg, who rides many times in a 

 year into the towns of Albany, Bartlettand Jack- 

 son, whose settlements run far up the valleys of 

 the mountains, informs us that he has seen the 

 snow upon Mount Washington while travelling 

 in the town of Jackson, at the distance of fifteen 

 miles on a direct line, brought so near to the vi- 

 sion in the month of June when all was green 

 and gay below, as to be seen moving and whist- 

 ling around the rocks at an elevation of fiill five 

 thousand feet above where he stood. Here the 

 vision was brought so near by a clear atmosphere 

 as to bring minute objects as distinct to the eye 

 at the distance of miles, as ordinarily is realized 

 in an equal number of rods. 



The Saturday previous to our visit at Fryeburg, 

 Doct. Barrows was in the valley settlements of 

 New Hampshire among the mountains ; and 

 reivarkable that in that region, eight days after 

 the frost had stricken down all similar vegetation 

 eighty and one hundred miles .south in the valley 

 of the Merrimack, the potatoe vines were as green 

 as they had been at any time of the summer ; and 

 later than this, to the middle of the ensuing 

 week, (Oct. 14) a gentleman who visited the town 

 of Bartlett tells us every thing was then greet 

 that was not turned by ripening. 



The highlands of New Hamjishire, up to and 

 including the Indian stream settlement beyond 

 the 45th degree of north latitude, are not as fros- 

 ty as many points in the lowlands that may be 

 found two or three degrees further south : Indian 

 corn in that country has been raised and ripened 

 this year without difficulty. 



What renders the upper parts of the old 

 ty of Strafford, now constituting the counties of 

 Carroll and Belknap, peculiarly valuable as i 

 corn-producing country, is the freeness from ear 

 ly frost in many of those towns;. The towns of 

 Gilford, Alton, Wolfeborough, Tuftonborougli, 

 Moullonborough, Centre Harbor and Meredith, 

 situated on the shores of the Winnipiseogee, and 

 the towns of Sandwich and Holderness near tli 

 Squani lake, with Sandbornton being a peniusidu 

 between bays and the two main branches of M 

 rimack river, are perhaps equally valuable for the 

 production of Indian corn with the best towns in 

 New England. A gentleman residing on the 

 west shore of Squam lake infoi-ms us that he 

 raised a good crop of corn in 1816 when corn 

 was generally cut off by frost : so il will be found, 

 when the forests upon the sides of the moun- 

 tains of Graf\on and Coos which are fast falling 

 under the woodman's axe shall disappear, that 

 the territory in the northerly half of NewHam| 

 shire free of injurious frost, will many years 

 hence sustain an immense population by its agri- 

 cultural products alone. 



seed was taken from a tree that grew in my Iti- 

 ther's orchard at Hancock. This tree flourished 

 for some twenty-five years, and produced fiom 

 one to three bushels annually of such fruit as you 

 see this to be. If you like it you can plant these 

 seeds about one inch deep this fall ; put them in 

 a place not very dry nor wet, but on the north or 

 west side of a bill if convenient, and put a quan- 

 tity of chip manure or old tan around the trunk 

 of the trees in the fall to preveul the sap from 

 starling too early in the spring. Experiments 

 have taught me that the freezing or chilling of 

 the sap after starting in the siiring is what kills 

 the peach or rareripe trees in this cold section of 

 the country. You can obtain fruit within five or 

 six years fiom these seeds, if you will be at the 

 trouble to take proper care of them; and the best 

 method to make them grow quick is to place 

 them on dry ground and pour the soap suds fiom 

 the wash tub as you have opportunity around the 

 ts of the trees. I consider the prevailing opin- 

 of our New Hampshire farmers that peach 

 and rareripe trees cannot be reared and preser- 

 ved in this cold section of country to be a great 

 mistake. With a little trouble any farmer may 

 have the satisfaction of gathering a rich harvest 

 of the best and most wholesome fruit that this 

 country affords. 



Very respectfully yoiu-s. &c. 



BENJAMIN PRIEST. 



With the foregoing we received half a dozen of 

 the old fashioned rareripes, being the largest and 

 most beautiful of any fruit of the kind we have 

 seen this year. If these peaches can be raised 

 in open ground in Hancock and. Hillsborough — 

 if they can stand the severe winters on the high- 

 est and coldest ridges between the large rivers 

 so far north — we are quite sure that they may be 

 raised in nearly all of our towns. 



It has been thought that peach and oth- 

 er fruit trees grew better, lived longer aud 

 were more productive near the seaboard than 

 they were farther in the interior and beyond the 

 reach of the eflect of a salt water spray from the 

 sea. It had been mentioned to us thiil pench 

 trees would thrive better and live longer w hen 

 situated near the sink spouts and in yards where 

 the refuse of the kitchen is thrown. The recom- 

 mendation of Mr. Priest to throw soapsuds at the 

 roots of peach trees comes in aid of this theory ; 

 and we are inclined to believe the plan of laying 

 tan and chip-dung around them previous to the 

 shutting in of winter, to be an exceedingly good 

 one. ~Ed. Visitor. 



Hillsborough Centre, Oct. 8th, 1841. 

 Hon. Isaac Hill — Dear Sir — I send you a spe 

 cimen of the productions of my front yard (viz.) 

 a half dozen of the old fashioned Rareripes. The 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Harvest Hymn. 



raiTTEN IN 1839 by the late mrs. e 



DANIELS. 



6od of th» rolling year.' to thee 



Our songs shall rise — whose bounty pouri 

 In many a goodly gift, with free 



And liberal hand, our Autumn stores ; 

 No firstlings of our flocks we slay — 



No soaring clouds ot incense rise — 

 But on thy hallow'd shrine we lay 



Our grateful hearts in sacrifice. 



Born of thy breath, the lap of spring 



Was heap'd with many a blooming flowe 

 And snTiling summer joy 'd to bring, 



The sun-shitie and the gentle shower j 

 And Autumn's rich lu.xuriance now, 



The ripening seed — the bursting shell, 

 And golden sheaf, and laden bough, 



The fullness of thy bounty tell. 



No menial throng, in princely dome, 



Here wait a titled lord's behest. 

 But many a fair and peaceful home 



Hath won thy peaceful dove a guest; 

 No groves of palm our fields adorn — 



No myrtle shades or orange bowers — 

 But rustling mpads of gold«n corn, 



And fields of waving grain are ours. 



Safe in thy care, th« landscape o'er, 



Our flocks and herds securely stray ; 

 No tyrant master cl.iims our store — 



No ruthless robber rends away — 

 No fierce volcano's withering shower — 



No fell simoon, with poisonous breath — 

 Nor burning suns, with baleful power, 



Awake the fiery plagues of death. 



.And here shall rise our songs to thee, 



Where lengthened vales and pastures lie 

 .\nd stroams go sinking wild and free, 



Beneath a blue jNew England sky ; 

 Where ne'er was rear'd a mortal throne, 



Where crown'd oppressor never trod, 

 Here — at the throne of Heaven alone, 



Shall man. in reverence bow to God. 



