156 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



MERRIMACK COUNTY AGRICULTO RAL 

 SOCIETY. 

 The following is a list of premiums awarded 

 at the late Fair of this Society, with the nameB 

 of the sticce:!sful roinpelitors : 

 Best Farm— Jeretniali Pecker, 



2tl Amos Cogswell, 



3d Samuel Cliadwick, 



Best Wheat — Amirew Taylor, 



2d Beiij. Vv'hip|)le, 



3d Fisher Ames, 



Best Corn — Jesse Kimliall, 



2d John Peverly, 



3d Fisher Airies, 



Best Potatoes— Eriooli Pillsbiiry, 

 Best Rye— Reiiheii Johnson, 

 Best Garden— Jiremiah Kimball, 



2(1 Geo. W. Nesiiiith, 



3d Enoch Coffin, 



For Plousjhinc- Isajie Virgin, 



John Farmer, 

 3d Jeremiah Gerrish, 



Working Oxen — Isaac Virgin, 

 2d Reuben Johnson, 



3d Jeremiah Gerrish, 



4th Laban M. Chadwick, 



5th Henry Farnnm, 



Yearlings — Jeremiah Gerrish, 

 2d Samuel Moore, 



Bulls— Nahum Blanchard, 

 2d A. Burhank, 



3d Jeremiah Gerri.sh, 



2 & 3 y'r ol 1 Sieers— Joseph Wliitnev 

 2d Wm. H. Gage, 



1st Henry Fai num, 



2d Natli'l. Rulfe, 



Cows — John Jarvis, 



2d Abraham Burhank, 



3d Berij. Simpson, 



Heifers — Abraham Burhank, 

 2d Jeremiah Gerrish, 



3d Wm. Hayward, 



Sheep — Wm. H.-nes, 



2d W.;.. Danforth, 



Swine- Best Sow, Geo. W. Dow, 

 2d Geo, W. Dow, 



Best Boar— Geo. W. Dow, 



2d Laban M. Chadwick, 



Ploughs— Samuel Chadwick, 



Horses — Wm. H. Gajre, 



2d Jolm Peverlv, 



3d John P. Farmer, 



Butter-F. W. Coffin, 



F. Coffin, 

 Benj. Wiiipple, 

 John Kilburn, 

 Laban Morril, 



1 Each 



$7,00 

 (5,00 

 5,00 

 3.C0 

 2,00 

 1,50 

 3,00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 2,00 

 2,00 

 3,00 

 2,00 

 1,50 

 3,00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 4,00 

 3,00 

 2,50 

 2,00 

 1.00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 3.00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 4,00 

 3,00 

 2,00 

 2,00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 3,00 

 2,00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 ],.50 

 3,00 

 2,00 

 1,00 

 3,00 

 2,50 

 2,00 

 1..50 

 1,00 



1,00 



3,0 



Best SewiuL' Silk, 



.irticles of Special Improvement. 

 James Eaton, (Rifles) 

 Asa Morrill, (Trunks and Harnesses,) 



Monthly Visitor, 

 Seth Eastman, (Silver Ware) " 



From the Cheshire Republican. 

 Reclaiming Swumps. 

 Mr. Cooke : — At the request of Samuel Wood- 

 ward, Esq., of Gilsum, I send you a short detail 

 of a piece of land which I have been cidtiva- 

 ting the past season. It contains one hundred 

 and sixty-two rod.s of swamp land. In the fall of 

 1840, it being almost covered with white moss, 

 and producing nothing but what was quite use- 

 less, I commenced ditching it. I drained it so 

 the water is about two feet from the top. I then 

 began in about the middle to turn it over — with 

 a common hay knife cut the two rows of turf 

 three feet by two and putting them together, with 

 a spade I took out about ten inches of mud and 

 put it on the turf With the knife cut anothei 

 row of turf and hauled it into the ditch and shov- 

 eled on the mud as befoi'e, thus continued work 

 ing both ways until all was done. The roots 

 and slum|)s were picked out clean and laid on 

 the surface ; when dry they were piled up. As 

 soon as there was snow sufficient, I sledded them 

 oflf and drew on twenty loads of horse manure, 

 In the spring the ditches were opened so the wa- 

 ter passed off freely. The fiist of May it was in 

 good order for planting. With a hoe I marked 

 out the rows three feet apart — hills twenty inches, 

 With a common hod placed the manure, a small 

 shovel-full in a hill. The potatoes planted were 

 ot the black kind, similar in shape to the cow- 

 horn, and covered them about three inches. 

 They were hoed but once, about the middle of 

 June, thoroughly, and received no more attention 

 till gathered. I have gathered from eighty-eight 

 rods two hundred and twenty bushels of pota- 

 toes, and the rest are as good in proportion. 

 When I gather my potatoes, I dig crosswise of 

 the rows to level it in.stead ot leveling afterwards. 

 The expense is comparatively less than it would 

 be to raise potatoes after the ground is fixed, up- 

 on upland — my potatoe vines are worth more 

 than the hay was last year — the expense of pre- 

 paring the land and raising the potatoes wBl be 

 small compared with the worth of the land after- 



best land for potatoes ; and no crop is better a- 

 dapted to renovating and subduii'g the groimd_ 

 than this valuable vegetable. The ditching of 

 most swamps will be repaid in the valuable ina- 

 ial taken from them in making manure. A 

 most valuable part of the process in many mead- 

 ows will be the cutting off near where the eilges 

 join the highland the cold springs flowing in 

 which unfit the sod for the production of the 

 best English grasses. Generally the cutting and 

 carrying off these cold springs will leave the 

 ground sufficiently drained. The draining of any 

 swamji with a deep black soil will be sure to in- 

 crease the value of the land four fold : it will 

 make that land worth a hundred dollars an acre 

 that was not before worth twenty-five dollars an 

 acre. — Ed. Visitor. 



Co.MPARATivE Table, showing the money value of 

 the Asricultural industry of the several States of 

 the Union. 



In the September No. of Hunt's Merchants' Mag- 

 azine, is a 'able furnished for publication in that 

 jourr.al, by the Sec retary of State, showing the 

 amount, in quantity, of the agricultural products 

 of the Uifion. This table does not, however, in- 

 clude Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan, Wis- 

 consin, or Florida. Kentucky and Middle Flor- 

 ida had not sent in their returns ; and the aggre- 

 gate from the Southern States had not been made 



With the aid of this table we have made an 

 estimate of the money value of the several pro- 

 nets, and have placed the result side by side 

 .ith the population of the State respectively, to 

 show the yield i)er head, in rouiul numbers. 



Value. Population. Per Head. 



2d 

 3d 

 4th 

 5th 

 F. Coflin, 

 J. Jarvis, 1 



A. Ames, } the 



J. West, 



E. H. Pillshury, J Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 



Cheese— F. W. Colli M, 3,00 



Benj. Whipple, 2,50 



Wm. II. Gage, 2,00 



J. L. C,)uch, 1,50 



.Yecdle u-ork. 



Veil-Mrs. S. A. Peverly, 1,.50 



Collar— Miss P. Corser, 1,95 



Cape— " Caroline Baker, 1,00 



" Elisabeth W^ Dow, 75 



Lamp mats- Mi,<s Christian W. Renton, 50 



Apron— " M. L. Wilson, 25 



Fulled Cloths and Cassimeres. 

 Wm. H. Gage, 2.00 

 Chase Fowier, 2,00 

 Wtn. Haves, Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Carpets— Mary E. Webster, 3,00 

 Joseph Emerson, 1,00 

 Rugs— Miss S. Coffin, 75 

 Blankets— Miss Caroline Kimball, . 2,00 

 " Ami Kimball, 1,50 

 " E. Blown, 1,00 

 " P P. Gise, 1,00 

 " S. S. Gaae, ,50 

 Linen— Miss Sallv C. Moore, 1,.50 

 " Betsy Webster, 1,00 

 Woolen Hose— Mrs. Joseph Pingrey, 1.00 

 " Saml. Chadwick, 75 

 Miss P.Msis Little, 50 

 Lin(Mi Hose— IMis. Lnl.nn Chadwick, 1,00 

 Flannel— Laban M. CI.,L(lwick, 2,00 

 Silk— Mrs. Nath"! Kimball,— best manufac- 

 tured SilU, L.'-.n 



wards. The e.ipense so 

 For ilitchiug 

 For turning over 

 For manure 

 For seed planted 

 For planting 

 For hoeing 

 For harvesting 



far will be i 



(follows: — 

 $700 

 25 00 

 20 00 



5 00 



5 00 



2 50 

 10 50 



75 00 



The crop this year is four hundred bushels of 

 fine i)otatoes, at 25 eta per bushel worth 



$100 00 

 75 00 



25 00 

 Making an aggregate of $25, free from all ex- 

 pense. The land will now (where it was worth 

 nothing before) pay the interest of a himdred 

 dollars per year for ten years to come without 

 any further expense. I have several acres fixed 

 in the above way, which has done it. Such lands 

 as these are worth cultivation. They are the 

 most profitable for grass, hearing from two to 

 three tons |)er acre — such is the worth of lands, 

 which were once thought useless for anything 

 more than to constitute a part of the earth. 

 With respect, 



DAVID COREY. 

 Jaffrey, October 11, 1841. 



The above operation of Mr. Corey claims a 

 general record, and for making the experiment 

 he deserves to be set down among those who 

 jiromote the country's best good. We are glad 

 to see in all directions in our own State, in Mas- 

 sachusetts and Maine where we have lately trav- 

 eled, the reclamation of swamp land. If all 

 would do it to as good advantage as our Jaffrey 

 friends have done it— if all had the tact for this 

 business tliat has been exhibited by Messrs. Co- 

 nant and Corey— what wonders might not be 

 complished in'the Agricultm-e of New England ? 

 Low swamp land that can be drained is the very 



States produced more than $100 to each head of 

 the population — viz: Vermont, Mississippi, Ar- 

 kansas and Louisiana. Of these Vermont takes 

 the lead ; and must certainly be considered the 

 most enterprising, industrious and thrifty agri- 

 cultural State in the Union. 



Massachusetts is lowest in the scale ; but that 

 State is engaged extensively in commerce and 

 manufactures. 



The states most devoted to planting and far- 

 ming, or whose products are chiefly agricidtural, 

 are mostly the southern and western. All the 

 New England and middle States, as also Ohio 

 are very con.siderable manufacturers, and the most 

 of them have n large commercial and navi- 

 gstion interest — causes which operate to draw 

 away hands from agriculture. 



The average productions per capitem is $77,50. 

 — Fourteen mend)ers of the Union rise above this 

 average, the remaining ten below it. 



We hope it will not be long before the public 

 is favored with complete corrected statement.^, 

 showing the results of the whole productive in- 

 dustry of the country. It will furnish a mass of 

 facts, which, in many points of view, may well be 

 considered as invaluable. The difterences which 

 may be visible between the productions of the 

 several States will perhaps have to bejaccounted 

 for by something besides disparities in popula- 

 tion. In other words, the homely question may 

 come up: — " Do they work it right .'" And the 

 answer may be of some service. — Civannati Ga. 



