126 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, 



Aucrust, 1842 



JMOi: 



Paper money and paper credit were then not 

 as common us lliey have since been : in the ab- 

 sence of hard money and indeed of all money 

 as a circuUaing medium in the early settlement 

 of the interior, our ancestors made exchanges of 

 ;rtv "liich answered all their piir|)oses and 

 liLiI every want. They purchased oidy 

 where ihey had the means of paying— they stint- 

 ed themselves to their means. The poor man 

 of those days' was supplied by those who had 

 the means of [denty from the rich products of 

 the soil. The mere laborer sometimes antici|)at- 

 ed the bread and meat for his family in the gen- 

 erosilv of those who had abundance and were 

 willing to trust the honest poor man to pay in 

 labor hereafter for what labor, had before pro- 

 duced. 



Although there was little money circulatmg as 

 little monev was needed for those times when 

 mauy of th'e necessaries and all of the luxuries 

 brought from foreign countries were dispensed 

 with, yet industrious men of good calculations 

 thiived and increased in property so generally 

 in no time since as they did then. The easier 

 alluvion upon the rivers and streams presented 

 the stronger temptation and were the first to be 

 settled ; but these settlers were not more suc- 

 cessful than those who settled upon the rough 

 hills, and cleared fields of the rocks which still 

 stand in piles seeming to require almost Hercu- 

 lean strength and labor to effect the desired ob- 

 ject. A veteran farmer seventy-five years of 

 age, who still labors in the beautiful fields which 

 his own hands had cleared n»ore than fifty years 

 ago, informed us the other day that be never 

 wished to accumulate property faster than he 

 did when first clearing his lauds. He pitched 

 down upon a lot of some himdred acres; and in 

 the course of a lew years, from the surplus grain 

 and cattle, and pork, butter, cheese and wool, 

 which he raised, was he able to purchase the 

 lands adjoining until his little farm was increas<;d 

 to the size of over six hundred acres, presenting 

 him the means when his children had arrived at 

 the properage either to give each a (arm or what 

 woidd lie ut'cessary for the pin-chase of one. 



Concord, the shire town of MerriniacK county, 

 the political capital of the State, and the present 

 termini of railroad communication to the north 

 in the interior of New England, is situated near- 

 ly central in population, but considerably south 

 of a central point in territory in the State of New 

 Hampshire, which runs up from the lineof Mass- 

 achusetts in the shape of a sugar loaf with its 

 base resting on Massachusetts, and its length 

 bordering upon Maine on the east and Vermont 

 on the west. Next to the towns of Gilmanton 

 and Sandhornton, the territory of the capital of 

 New Hampshire emliiaces more acres of laud 

 and water than any other town in the Slate ; and 

 within its limits there is said to be standing at 

 this time a greater amount of wood aiul timber 

 than the newest settled town or any other of the 

 Slate posses.ses. 



Within the last month the editor of the Visitor 

 1ms visited parts of the town where he had never 

 been before; and he has been surprised at the 

 existence of extensive and often thii-k forests 

 where he had not expected to see them. 'J"he 

 opening of the navigation of the river and tiie 

 building up of villages below had much appreci- 

 ated the value of these foicsts within tiie last few 

 years. The country continuing to piosper, the 

 opening of ihe rail road gives to their value a 

 new impulse. Timber trees growing here will 

 soon be worth as much as the timber standing 

 within ten miles of the sea. There are many 

 hundreds of the ancient pines, thousands of 

 which have been wantonly destroyed or taken 

 away in old times as of little value bcyonil the 

 labor of cutting them down and transporting 

 them to the jjlace of sale, still standing within 

 the limits of the -town. The second growih of 

 white pine forest trees has been beyond any val- 

 cidalion of the first owners of the laud. At some 

 points are stately forest trees towering seventy- 

 five and a hundred feet in the air growing where 

 Indian corn or rye grew within the memory of 

 persons still liviig. The lorcsts geucrally are 

 upon lands deemed of liltlc valine for iiihivation 

 — the pines upon the liirhirr <,,iiil |il;iiM>, and Ihe 

 hard woods, the oaU, clic-nut aiiil in.,;i!f, upon 

 erounds where the soil is too ligbt to compensate 

 for the clearing away of the "nmnerous incks. 

 Rattlesnake hill and other prominences iu the 



town seem to be as a continued ledge, of whicli 

 in many instances the pure light grey granite 

 constitutes a most valuable part: many of these 

 ledges are highly productive in the growth of 

 wood and will be valuable much above their esti- 

 mate for that growih alone: it is not uncommon 

 upon these ledges and upon the grounds where 

 boulders of granite out of place are found strew- 

 ed about, to find thirty, fifty and sometimes sev- 

 enty-five and a hundred cords of wood growing 

 to the acre. 



As Concord has more upland, plain and swamp 

 wood than any other town of the Slale, so there 

 is no town upon the rher embracing within its 

 limits so many acres of rich intervale. These 

 intervales tempted scalers from below in INlassa- 

 chusetls to this point before the adjacent country 

 was settled ; and the two provfncial governments 

 of Massachusetts and New Hampshire covered 

 this point with two conflicting grants which pro- 

 duced contention and expense to the original set- 

 tlers continuing for many years, and were finally 

 settled by the claitiants from under Massachu- 

 setts paying the New Hampshire grantees a stip- 

 ulated sum. 



The cultivation of the intervales at Concord 

 has been but too much neglected : they are not 

 as rich as the intervales of tiie Connecticut 

 river, l>ecause they are not formed like those 

 from waters running over limestone and bringing 

 down difierent kuids of marl. Much of them 

 may easily be made productive by artificial aid : 

 even lands considered to be worn out possess all 

 the inherent qualities necessary to restore the 

 original fertility. To do this no strength and ex- 

 pense of manures equal to the exi)ected returns 

 are wanted : little else besides a change of posi- 

 tion of loam, or clay, or even pure sand and 

 gravel, is requisite to put n new face upon these 

 grounds and to double and treble their value. 



The farm ol the Messrs. Rolfes on the bend of 

 the river at tlie extreme north point of Concord 

 where-tlie Coiitoocook river unites with the Mer- 

 rimack, ami a part of which is the island where 

 the celebrated Mi-s. Duslin sometime before the 

 settlement of the town performed the night prod- 

 igy of slaying the savage murderers of tier own 

 children, is one of the largest, and may he made 

 one of tlie most valuable in the Slale: it consists 

 of several huiuhed acres, and n large tract of 

 valuable intervale sufficient for three, four or half 

 a dozen common liirms. The owners of this 

 beauliful land have not made the lariii their prin- 

 cipal business: their alleiiliou has Ikcu ditidid 

 by the erection of mills and the tratiic in luuibcr 

 down the river for which their woodlands have 

 furnished facilities. To them the income and 

 value of their fine intervales is undoubtedly far 

 less than what it might be. They ammally go 

 over many acres to procure hay and grain. De- 

 voting a more exclusive atti;nliou to this fine 

 farm, its enterprising owi:ers might fijid iu it the 

 income of a capital iinich greater than its |)reseiil 

 e.stiuiated value. AInch of the intervale land 

 upon this river now esliuialed at lliirly, forty and 

 fifty dollars the acre, might he made to yield at 

 the present prices of hay and grain an income of 

 an estimatetl value equal to two and even three 

 hundred dollars the acre. 



Oil the oilier side of the mouth of the Conloo- 

 cook river in Ihe town of Boscawen is the inter- 

 vale portion of llie Chandler farm. This Ibrrn 

 with fine mill privileges in the litllswas punlias- 

 ed some twenty years ago by Messrs. Richard 

 and William II. Gage. The property has recent- 

 ly been divided, and the intervale fiirm now be- 

 longs exclusively to the latter. A few years since 

 this was a premium farm of the Merrimack Ag- 

 ricultural Society : we have never been over it, 

 but we are iulbrmed that its cultivation has heeii 

 improving frotu year to year, and that it has been 

 the means of <.'onstant gain to its owners. 



The original Chandler fiuin was divided many 

 years ago. The western part of it (not including 

 any intervale lands) embracing the tavern stand 

 a lilde north of the Couioocook bridge, was en- 

 tered upon twenty-four years ago, alter the de- 

 cease of its owner, by Mr. Reuben Johnson. Mr. 

 J. is a native of the adjacent iicighljorliood in 

 Concord. Wilhoiit property he couimeiiccd up- 

 on this farm as a tenant for the first three years. 

 A beautiful granite factory was erected about 

 tours years ago near this tavern stand with tlie 

 benefit of an ample wiiter power: thi.s fiictory 

 has never been filled wiih machinery until late- 



ly. Near it is one of the best grist mills in the 

 comity. Above it in that part of Concord called 

 the Borough are numerous saw and shingle mills, 

 and below it are other saw mills on both sides of 

 the river" owned by Messrs. Rollins and Gages: 

 these saw mills turn out imuieiise quantities of 

 pine and other lumber, which are carried down 

 the river and sent to other points finding a ready 

 market. The extensive water power on the Coii- 

 toocook near Johnson's tavern and farm will, if 

 all business shall not lidl away, build up n village 

 there within a few years, which cannot fail to raise 

 the value of the properly around it. 



Mr. Johnson'st'arui was entered for premium 

 the present year and was the first visited by the 

 committee of the Merrimack Agricullural Socie- 

 ty. Every one passing the main road through 

 Boscawen will have remarked the rocky or ledge 

 part which extends from the Plain or lower vil- 

 lage north and south westerly of the road. His 

 predecessor as taverner and farmer, the late Col. 

 Chandler, had other interrales which he cultiva- 

 ted : Mr. Johnson took the tavern with the rough 

 part of the farm commencing on the south end 

 of the rocky ledge. That portion of this farm 

 which had been previously cultivated consisted 

 of upland which had been worn out without the 

 benefit of manure. The farm has been made 

 what it is by recent superior culture. Mr. John- 

 son usually cats fifty tons of hay from twenty- 

 five to thirty acres of land. The most of his hay 

 is herdgrass and clover cut from high ground.-— 

 He breaks up his fields anew once in five or six 

 years ; laying a portion down to grass every year. 

 His stable and bams were well stored with hay 

 the present year taken in a large burden from 

 the ground :" he failed of eight acres of hay on 

 ground prepared last year (iom the loss of grass 

 seed, of which ihere is so general complaint. — 

 Mr. J. has tbuiid a considerable portimi of 

 of the means of replenishing his ground with 

 manure from the stables of his public house. His 

 tavern is a place of resort for the accommodation 

 of the great teams which are the carriers of mer- 

 chandise and produce to and from the interior to 

 the seal)oard: he has sometimes |)ul up a hundred 

 horses in a night. He found upon this place when 

 he came upon it no stone wall : he has made this 

 permanent fence to the extent of three miles, 

 clearing his fields of obstructions which stood 

 much ill the way of the laliorer. His yards and 

 buihliiigs are fiiriiished with the pure water of 

 the high grounds above brought in logs and lead 

 pipes, which never fiijl. He has iu length 750 feet 

 ol buildings from ten to forty feet in breadth 

 upon the ground. His main stable is 33 by 80 

 feet, and (iom the sides exposed to the streets 

 are attached ample open sheds affording a con- 

 slant covering to carriages in storm.s of rain or 

 snow. His principal barn is 00 by 40 feet and 

 It) feel post: to it is attached an extensive cow- 

 yard, the ground (idling away (iimi the edges to 

 ihe centre, in which he has the materials and 

 will make this year in addition to his .stable nia- 

 mire one hundred loads of compost. He has 

 this year 10 acres of land sown with 2.3 bushels 

 of oals to be laid down to hay. His improve- 

 ments, barn, stable, &c. are all nearly new: the 

 house is new in part and well adapted for a 

 coiiulry tavern. These improvements with the 

 bilMgiiig up of the land, fencing, lertilizing and 

 clearing it, Mr. J. has been enabled to make fi'om 

 llic proHts which he had gained, besides assist- 

 ing olliers to a support to whom he Celt an obli- 

 galion, and losing to the amount of some thou- 

 sands in the speculations where some less for- 

 tunale tlian himself were deprived of their all. 



In a plat of land recently sold by Mr. Johnson 

 and fnintiug his house and garden, the (Commit- 

 tee examined a garden belonging to the Secreta- 

 ry of the Agricultural Society, Mr. Jeremiah 

 Kiiiihall. This garden shows iiow great may 

 be the efiect of manure and tillage on a soil to 

 all a]>peaia:ice very poor after an exhaustion of 

 years. The celebrated Cobbett in his work on 

 gardening presents the plan of trenching gar- 

 dens, by which the [iroduct of the soil is won- 

 derfully increased. The ground is dug down 

 and lightened to the depth of two feet or more. 

 The soil is taken from the surface down to the 

 subsoil, and laid aside: the subsoil to the desired 

 deplh for the first trench is al.-o moved : a sec- 

 ond trench is then made hiyiu!.' llir: subsoil at the 

 lio'tom and Ihe mould u,,:.ii the top until the 

 whole ground is gone through with. Whether 



