THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



Ju7ie, 1842. 



thiit oiir bnlter would have sold at a pood profit 

 in England, if it had been made as good as Irish 

 butter. Strange as it may seem, when good Or- 

 ange Co. butter is selling in New York at twenty 

 eents a pound by the firkin, our western butter 

 or rather our iniserable imitation of butter is sell- 

 ing there in large quantities at eight cents per 

 jiound, and yet it takes as much milk to make the 

 bad butter a-s the good. Under the proposed re- 

 duction of the duties on imports in England we 

 may even export apples there to a profit. 



Thus while in the United States we are clam- 

 orous for a prohibitory tariflf, as the only antidote 

 to that ruin brought upon the country by the a- 

 buse of the credit system, England, sick unto 

 death of prohibitory restriction, is now adopting 

 a plan to encourage foreign trade, while it also 

 increases the revenue of the nation. 



I was about to admonish Farmers not to ex- 

 pect present prices for wheat after the coming 

 harvest, as Russia, Prussia and Germany will 

 have their Granaries filled, ready for every for- 

 eign market, and if England tshonld be once 

 more favored with a good crop, she will need no 

 foreign corn until her crops again fail ; but we 

 have now, 15th of May, every prospect of another 

 cold dry season which must seriously curtail our 

 summer crops; this, owing to a wise provision of 

 providence only increases and improves our 

 wheat crop, and its price for home use must in- 

 crease in proportion to the diminution of our 

 summer crops. 



Butter and cheese are at fair prices with the 

 prospect of an increased demand for export — 

 pork must improve as less will be made and more 

 exported, so that those farmers who live out of 

 the pale of the wheat growing region need not 

 be discouraged; let them be true to nature, and 

 nature will reward tliem. S. W. 



Waterloo, May 15, 184->. 



THE LITTLE STEP-SON. 



BY MRS. AMELIA R. WELBY. 



have a little step-son, the loveliest thing nlive, 

 sturdy boy is he, and yet he's only five ; 

 ' glow, Ilia eyes a: 



as jet, 

 And his lids .ire like two 



His days pass off in sunshin 



•buds, all tremulous and 



Is the young 1 



igs itsell' alo 

 little one, that's only five years old. 

 happy couch before the day grows 



the wind, his fiii 





He's dreaming 



dark, 

 He's up with r 

 Where'er the I 



With light locks waving 



seen. 

 Amid the whistling March winds, amid the April show- 



ns with the 



ot for the 



only five years old. 



clasp his dimpled hands in 



He cares not for the summer heat, h 



cold. 

 My sturdy little step-son thi 



How touching 'lis to 



prayer, 

 And raise his little rosy face with reverential air ! 

 How simple in his eloquence ! how soft his accents fall ! 

 When pleading with the King of kings to love and bless 



us all. 

 And when from prayer he bounds away iu innocence and 



joy 



The blessing of a smiling God goes with the sinless boy. 

 A little lambkin of the flock, within the Saviour's fold, 

 Is he my lovely step-son. that's only five years old. 



I have not told you of our home, that in the summer 



Stands in its simple modesty, half-hid among the flowers, 

 1 have not said a single word about our mines of wealth— 

 Our treasures are this little boy, contentment, peace and 



health ; 

 For even a lordly hall to us. would be a voiceless place, 

 Without the gush of his glad voice, the gleams of his 



bright face : 

 And many a courtly pair, I ween, would give their gems 



and gold. 

 For a noble, happy boy IWo ouis, some four or five years 



old. 



From the New York Express. 



Agricultural Prospects. 



In the present position of mercantile affairs and 



the great depression of business, the prosiiects 



of the coming crops naturally excites anxious 



,jattention. We have kept our renders advised 



^^ *^m day to day of the apparent condition of the 



c'^ '8r^ in various parts of the country, and they 



have been generally of the most cheering char- 

 In Virginia, all accounts concur in stating the 

 wheat crop as very promising, although there has 

 not been quite as much seeding as usual, owing to 

 the failures of two or three years past. 



The wheat harvest lias already commenced on 

 James river. For ten days past the farmers have 

 been rea|)ing the early May wheat. The crops 

 turn out well. There will be a good yield. 



In Pennsylvania, present indications warrant 

 the belief of a heavy yield of wheat, rye, oats, 

 barley, grass, &c. Indeed, we hear from some 

 parts of the State that the prospect at this period 

 of the .season has not been so good before for the 

 last ten or fifteen years. 



In New York and Ohio the farmers are antici- 

 pating an abundant harvest of wheat. 



The prospect is equally flattering in Indiana, 

 Illinois, and in fact the whole Western States from 

 which we have heard. The wheat crop has been 

 harvested in some portions of Arkansas as early 

 as the 19th nit., and it is stated to have come in 

 very fine — fully as productive as the grain-grow- 

 ing States. 



Of some other of the great products it is too 

 early to speak with any degree of certainly. Corn, 

 for in.'itauce, has generally come up thrifty, but 

 its yield must of coiu-se depend upon the charac- 

 ter of the two or three coming months. Fruit 

 will |)rohalily fiill below the average. 



Of^ the great grain crops of the West, as is 

 above stated, we have the most cheeritig indica- 

 tions; and if the prospect now held out is fully 

 realized, it cannot fail to have a salutary effei-t 

 upon busine.-'s. There is at the present moment 

 a comparative calm in the business world. T 

 wholesale dealers in the Atlantic cities have been 

 curtailing their operations, while their agents in 

 the South and Westare em|>loyed in putting theii 

 heavy accounts there in a proper train of adjust- 

 ment. While the East is tlius looking to the 

 West for remittances, the West must, in a great 

 mea.sure, depend upon the extent of its crops to 

 obtain exchange at lair rates, and thus liquidate 

 the heavy balance due the East. 



Tho Pittsburg American estimates that the six 

 Western States will send to the seaboard this 

 year thirty-five millions of their growth and pro 

 ducts, say 



Miolugnn, $3,000,000 



Indiana, 7.000,000 



Illinois, 6,000,000 



Ohio, 12,000.000 



Kentucky, 5,000,000 



Missouri,' 2,000,000 



$35,000,000 



Capt.\in Hale and Major Andre. — Wo ob- 

 serve by yesterday's news from Washington, that 

 in the House a bill for erecting a monument to 

 the memory of Nathan liale, was read twice and 

 referred. The tragical death of Captain Hale is 

 one of the most patriotic yet melancholy episodes 

 in the history of the revolution. But few of om- 

 readers are probably acquainted with the story, 

 and a brief recital may not be inappropriate, re- 

 cording a.« it does one of the most brilliant acts 

 of self-sacrifice and devotion ever recorded in the 

 annals of any country. 



Nathan Hale was a native of t!ie town of Cov- 

 entry, in Connecticut. He graduated from Yale 

 College in the clas.s of 1773, with the highest 

 honors, and was remarkable fbr quiet and studi- 

 ous habits, and his gentlemanly demeanor. Im- 

 mediately nfler the battle of Bunker Hill, he a- 

 bandoned his intentionsof entering into the min- 

 istry, and received a commi-ssion as lieutenant in 

 one of the Connecticut regiments, commanded by 

 Major Thomas Knowlton. He was in the de- 

 tachment commanded by that gallant officer when 

 he destroyed the barracks of the British troops on 

 one of the islands in Boston harbor; and after tlie 

 evacuation of that city, accompanied the regiment 

 to New York, and was for a time stationed on 

 Bergen Heights, to keep the Jersey tories in check. 

 At the battle of Long Island this regiment acted 

 nobly — Knowlton was raised to the rank of 

 Colonel, and Hale was commissioned a Captain. 

 The regiment was taken into the line of the army 

 as a corps of light infantry, or ranger.-;. I 



After the retreat from Long Island, Gen. Wash- I 

 ington was anxious to ascertain the situation anil 

 intentions of Sir William Howe, and requested I 



Col. Knowlton to ascertain if any officer of his 

 regiment was willing to cross to the enemy's 

 camp as a spy. Col. Knowlton called his officers 

 together and related the request of the command- 

 er-in-chief. Capt. Hale at once voluntered his 

 services, to undertake the dangerous enterprise. 



He crossed to Long Island in disguise, was in 

 the British camp for two or three days, and, after 

 fulfilling his mission, was about to return, when 

 ho was recognized by a refiigee and carried be- 

 fore Sir William Howe. On being questioned 

 he acknowledged that he was an ofiiccr in the 

 service of his coiintiy, and proclaimed his object 

 in entering the Brili.-iii camp. A coiu't martial 

 was instantly ordered, and Captain Hale was tried 

 and condemned to suffer death next morning as 

 a rebel and spy. He received the notice of his 

 execution with the serenity of a Christian and 

 patriot, and asked that he might be allowed a bible 

 and pen and paper the evening previous to his 

 death. He wrote several letters to his parents 

 and sisters, and the morning light ushered to his 

 ear the drum beat that told his last moments were 

 nigh. 



He was taken in charge of the provost guard to 

 an orchard, where a rope had been afiixed to a 

 tree, ami was hung up like a common felon amid 

 ihe taunts and jeersofa licentious soldiery, while 

 the last sentence he was heard to utter was, "I 

 regret that I have but one life to lay down for my 

 country!'' Noble death — and glorious expres- 

 sion! Now mark the contrast. The bones of 

 John Andre, adjutant-general of the British army, 

 Arnold's victim, who was hung at Tappiin, were 

 dug up and carried three thousand miles across 

 the sea by order of the government of Great Brit- 

 ain, and they now re.st amid the ashes of Eng- 

 land's glorious dead in Westminster Abbey, sur- 

 mounted by a monument that tells in gorgeous 

 marl)le his career and his death. 



But where is the remains of the chivalrous 

 Hale ? The place of his sepulchre is unknown. 

 No marble column tells his story to his country- 

 men — the gallant soldier, the devoted patriot, the 

 noble Christian, rests almost forgotten and un- 

 known. The inhabitants of Ashford, his native 

 town, have petitioned Congress to erect a monu- 

 ment to his memory, and God speed their re- 

 quest. — Hartford Courani. 



Daniell's New Artificial Manure. 



At length we have notice of the mode in wliich 

 this new mixture is formed. The ingredients aro 

 as follow. Any wood mechanically reduced to 

 powder, in plain words, sawdust : this is the ba- 

 sis, and it is to be thoroughly saturated with bitu- 

 minous matters, of all, or any kind ; to this is to 

 be added smalt proportions of soda and quick- 

 lime, and a very small quantity of sulphur. The 

 principles on which this compound is formed, 

 appear, at first, rather obscure, but one thing is 

 apparent, it is an attempt to make an artificial 

 bituminous coal, and to kee|) this in a state of 

 slow combustion with only the substitution of 

 soda for the potash of the wood, and the addition 

 of quick-lime. The proportions arc not told, 

 nor how long the compost is to remain before 

 used, nor what the bituminous matters are ; the 

 only additional information is, that in using, it 

 sliriuld be buried two or three inches under the 

 surface of the soil, to prevent the evaporation of 

 the volatile, and valuable parts. Mr. Hall produ- 

 ced a sample of the manure — a coarse, black 

 powder having a strong smell, somewhat resem- 

 bling coal tar. Samples of the wheat grown by 

 Mr. Daniell were also exhibited ; and it was stat- 

 ed, in reply to questions, that the crops produced 

 were greater in quantity, better in quality and 

 weight, and produced with one-third the ordinary 

 quantity of seed. If this new manure will give 

 us artificial coal, which will, of itself, enter into 

 slow combustion, ami furnish vegetables with its 

 ammoniacal product, by degrees, as required, it 

 must be of immense importance to agriculture. ; 

 The value of bituminous soot as a manure has 

 never been doubted, but, like many other man- 

 ures, it has too often been applied in such large 

 quantities, or in such strong solutions, as have 

 rendered it injurious instead of beneficial. Bit- 



"tious coal contains from 13 to IG per cent, 

 of nitrogen or azote, and from 4 to 12 per cent, 

 of hydrogen. When coal is burnt, these two 

 gases unite and form ammonia; when burnt in 

 the open air, the ammonia goes partly into the 

 atmosphere, and is pai tly condensed in the soot; 





'/ol 



