150 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



October, 1842, 



lie yet si»oke to them, iiassed out of sijilit. None 

 knew what he could do, hut all were Heterniined 

 to do something. He pnssed on, till he came to 

 the mi^'hly Mississippi, mid there he (bund the 

 canal was made! The noble steam-ships rode 

 proudly on its siu-face, and, as its waters diiniii- 

 islied, tliey were again replenished to the hrini, 

 by every mountain-spring and every stream. 

 Thus do the little rills make the streau), the 

 stream the river, till the united waters of the 

 whole pom- on their way, rejoicing, to the glori- 

 ous ocean. So is man to the mass, and llie mass 

 to the grand tide of human affairs. Each little 

 mortal, weak and weary though he he, can do 

 something in niaking up the mighty stream of 

 human evetvts, as it rolls on to the ocean of 

 eternity." 



The following stock of Durham cattle wns sold 

 at auction a few miles from Philadelphia, on the 

 SlI) inst. The sale was well attended — terms 

 cash : > 



Roan Anna, 4 yrs. old, full hlood Durham, $lr>0 

 Calf of do. 4 months old, full blond, .50 



Pocahontas, 6 vnrs old, imported 150 



do. heifer calf, 21 inos. full blond, 80 



do. bull do. 5 months, full blood, (10 



Victoria, 8 years old, imp(nted, 100 



Bull calf of Victoria, Hi months, fidl blood, lO'^i 

 Heifer do. I'-i months, full blood, 155 



Bull <lo. 6 months, full blood, 100 



Rosy Ann, 7 mouths old, full blood, 70 



Dollv, 3 years old, full blood, 120 



Yong Am. Comet, 3 months old, fidl Wood, 30 

 Young Rowand, 8 months old, full blood, 40 



The Tariff. 



Comparative rates of duty under the Tariffs of 

 1&32 and 1842, on some of the leading articles of 

 commerce : 



Nero Tariff 1812. I'ariff 1832. 



Cotton Manufactures, SOperct. 25 per ct. 



Brown or White Cottons ) „n , in . 



minimum per sq.. yd. \-'^ "''■ ^0 cts. 



Woolen Manufactures 40 per ct. 50 per ct. 



Worsted do. 30 per ct. 10 per ct. 



Silk do. S-i per lb. 10 per ct. 



Linen do. 25 per ct. 15 & 15 per ct. 



Hemp do. 20 per ct. 25 per ct. 



Iron.inplga, 59 per ton, ,<;i0perton 



Do. in bars or bolts, gl7 per ton, g\8 per ton 



Do rolled, g25 per ton, §30 per ton 



Do. common castings, 1 rt. per lb. 1 ct. perlb. 



Steel, oer 112 ll>s. gi 50 ,gl 50 



Steel i. Iron Manufactures, 30 per ct. 25 per ct. 



Brass do. SOperct. 25perct. 



Copper do. SOperct. 25 per ct. 



Tin do. SOperct. 25 per ct. 



Do. in sheets, 2^ per ct. free. 



Do. in blocks, or pigR, I per ct. free. 



Brown Sugar, 2^ cts. per lb. 21cts. lb. 



Molasses, 4| mills per lb. 5 cts. gal 



Coffee, free, free. 



Tea, free, free. 



Sole Leather, fi cts. perlb. SOperct. 



Upper do. Sets, perlb. SOperct. 



Raw Hides and SLins^ 5 per ct. free. 



Indigo, 5 cts. per lb. 15 per ct. 



Brandy, SI per gal. ^ ^^per g°f' 



Madeira Wine CO cts. per gal 50 cts. gal 



Champagne do. W cts. per gal. 22 cts. gal 



Flax, gSOperton, free. 



Hemp, S«) per ton, g 10 per ton 



Manilla do. S25 per ton, free. 



Woo], common, 5 per ct. free. 



5 3 cts. per lb. ( 4 cts per lb. 



J and 30 per ct. ^and40pr. ct 



Do. fin 



Literature of Agriculture.—Coraparative Pro- 

 duction of English and French Agriculture. 



The cultivated surface of England and Ireland, 

 to that of France, twenty years ago, was as .3 to 

 7. With an inferior soil and climate, <;ompared 

 with France, the productions of English agricul- 

 ture were nearly as 5 to 4, and the excess amount- 

 ed to 24,000,000 pounds sterling, after deducting 

 one-fourth from the English value by reason of 

 paper currency. The value of the English pro- 

 duction is considerably enhanced by the perftK:- 

 tion of every other branch of industry, and the 

 use to which provisions are applied in that coun- 

 try, the result of manufacturing prosperity. The 

 produce of equal surfiices, leaves an excess in 

 England of 20 per cent, over France. This ex- 

 cess of production results entirely from superior 

 science and skill in agriculture. So that Eng- 

 land, with the disadvantages of climate and an 

 inferior native soil, makes four superficial meas- 

 ures of soil yield as much in quantity as five of 

 the same measures in France. And the superi- 

 ority of umnufiictures and trade, give to the pro- 



duct of these four measures of English soil, a 

 value equal to seven and u half measmcs ot 

 French soil. 



The art of cultivation is less understood in 

 France, and is condii.-Ifd uiih less prii.ciiilf mtmI 

 less science, than i.i Eimhmd.and mn.st riK-icliire 



be less [ii 



-Farma-'s Ga 



From Godey'-s Lady's Bonk for October. 

 The Hour of Prayer. 



BY MISS M. A. FAIRMAN. 



1 love to steal awhile away 



.\nd spend the liuurs of setting day 

 In humbl-^, c'ratctui prayer. ^ 

 How quietly the siill lidiir of In iliglit steals on. 

 3 he sun's last golden rav, which lingered .so long 

 upon the eastern munntain, as "if parting were 

 s^weet sorrow," has (lis ippcared. 3'lie last rosy 

 lint is lading from the evening cloud. A deeper 

 shadow settles over the valley. One by one 

 '•night's unwearied watchers" shine out in their 

 " far oft' depths." 3'he bird folds its weary wing 

 "" of the bee is 



■ The 1 



The 

 im of I 



is hushed. For 



a brief space the restless world reposes. It is the 

 hour of prayer and meditation— the Sabbath of 

 the day. 



'■All is so still, so soft in earth and air. 



You scarce would start to meet a spirit there; 



Secure, that naught of evil could delight 



To walk in such a scene on such a night." 

 It breathes it own blessed quiet over the Chris- 

 tian's spiiit, and disposes him to deep and earnest 

 communings with himscli: and with his Falher. 

 The world looses its hold upon his heart ; wealili, 

 pleasures, honors, earth's vaiu array, seem now 

 but what they are — illusions, fleeting shadows. 

 Cares and vexations, which, perhap.s, too much 

 occupied his mind, and rufHed his temper diirinir 

 the day, now sink into their real insiiinificiiice. 

 lie lifts his eyes to the niagnificeni tirmameiii 

 above him, and feels he is Iitit .i speck, an aicnn, in 

 the vast creation ; he thinks of his immortal spirit, 

 and the priceless ransom paid for it, and knows it 

 outweighs the worth of worlds. 



Then seriou.s, but pleas.int thoughts possess his 

 mind ; the ra[)id flight of lime — how soon its last 

 hour shall have struck for him ; and his ransomed 

 .spirit, breathing its last prayer, and dropping its 

 frail tabernacle, shall ri.se to its bli.ssful liome in 

 heaven. Oh, what light breaks upon the tomb! 

 what an efl'idgeuce of glory beams beyond it! 

 His is indeed the common lot, "ashes to ashes, 

 dust to dust," and the clods of the valley are piled 

 upon his once living, breathing form. But what 

 then ! It is only the senseless clay which mould- 

 ers there ; death cannot touch the immortal sjiirit ; 

 that is not shrouded in the grave. 



But the twilight lades, darkness gathers, a deep- 

 ilence pervades all nature. It is to him the 



" still ; 



' of I 



Father, and I 



I raps 



his face in his mantle," and bows down in [iraye 



There is a power in the voicele.ss eloquence of 

 the hour even for the worldling. Its centle influ- 

 ence, like a messenger fi-oiii Heaven, breathes on 

 his unquiet spirit,and the warring elements within 

 are hushed. Unwonted thoughts press upon his 

 mind. The bubbles he has ju.st been so eagerly 

 pursuing, «eem now 6m/ bubbles. He throws 

 back a hasty glance to wasted weeks, mouths, 

 years, that are gone like a vision of the nialit 

 never to he recalled. Life, life, oh what a very 

 vapour 'tis; a quickly passing dream; toil and 

 care, jealousy and strife, hopes and fears, a weary 

 struggle for some unsubstantial good, have made 

 up almost its sum. Ah,how seldotn are its early 

 promises fulfilled ; and even if they were, even if 

 the world spread all its gifts before men, yet they 

 are transient as the siimiiipr cloud, and melt away 

 like the morning dew. Yes, the -Christian has 

 chosen "the better part;" his hope shall not fade 

 away. Well, well, w hen I have reached that en- 

 vied elevation, when I have gathered a little more 

 wealth, when I have brought a few more worldly 

 schemes to a successful termination, then my af- 

 fections shall loose their hold upon the world ; I 

 will think of serious things ; I will be a Christian. 

 Ah, how many have such promises, and sucli 

 reasonings, beguiled of heaven ! 



The first coinage in England was under the 

 Romans, at Camutoduntim, or Colchester; and 

 forty varieties of it are to be found in Cabinets. 

 The Britons had no coinage, and, as a substitute 

 for gross barter, paid metal by weight. 



Five days ramble among the Farmers of Mer- 

 rimack. 



(Conduded.) 



The evening of the second day at sundown 

 briinght us to the "cilyset upou a hill" in the 

 iiiid.^t of an agricukural and producing commii- 

 niiy, the United Brethren of Canterbury, under 

 who,|-e hospitable roofs wo have always met 

 siniling faces and a hearty welcome. 



'I'lie lower or Church family were only visited 

 oil this occasion. The Botani.st and Fanner, 

 Willi.im Triplinie, is at the head of the out-door 

 esialdislinieiii. As the older generation, the men 

 who liuve ti:nis:iiMcd the hnsiiipss of that indiis- 



llig into the " Mie ;hiiI \elloH le.-il" — as some of 

 them sleep u ill; the liilliis ulio have gone be- 

 fore them in that reiiository of the dead where 

 the natiies and the ages of the deceased mem- 

 bers of the liiiuily have recently been placed in 

 durable stone nionnments— soothers from the 

 lowest walks of lile have been taught in that 

 community to walk in the footsteps of their in- 

 structors. 



So great has been the demand for the various 

 articles manuttictured at the Shaker seltlements, 

 that at Canterbury the cultivation of the land has 

 become comparatively a secondary business. The 

 bread stuffs there consumed are almost exclu- 

 sively ptirchased from abroad. They find it more 

 profitable to turn their tilled fields into mowing 

 grounds than to attempt the extensive production 

 of Indian corn. Their lands lie upou highland 

 swells more rocky and rough in their natural 

 slate lh:iii much of the same kind of ground on 

 the hill.s of other towii.s. After these lands had 

 been cleared at great labor and expense, it is 

 found that frequent ploughing makes them too 

 heavy for the production of corn. In conse- 

 quence they keep their larger fields in pasture 

 and in the continued growing of hay : upon 

 these fields they spread directly over the surface 

 the larger portion of their manure which is man- 

 ufactured compost — turning every refuse article 

 in the end to that object. 



The evening of our arrival at Canterbury was 

 the day on which the hay had been taken to the 

 barn from a heamifnl field of twelve acres lying 

 on the right as you pass the road directly above 

 the church village. This field had not been 

 ploughed lor twenty-seven years; yet it produced 

 this year fully two tons of hay to the acre, being 

 a crop far greater than was to be found on simi- 

 lar land elsewhere. It was the best hay crop, 

 being herd.sgrass, redtop and clover. Twenty- 

 three full loads were taken fi-oin this field in one 

 afternoon, and all of it pitched tipon the carts 

 by Mr. Triphuie and one other person. The 

 pitching off was done by horse power into the 

 bay of probably the largest barn in the State ; 

 find the whole process of taking up and deposit- 

 ing the load over the high beams of the barn 

 was performed in from three to five miriutes. 



With the Shakers the haying season is a pas- 

 time for the whole able bodied male population. 

 All hands usually employed in the gardens, in 

 tlie preservation and preparation of herbs and 

 in the manufacturing establishments, then go in 

 a body to the hay ground ; and when the weather 

 is good field after field falls before the scythe of 

 the mower in the morning of one day — is gather- 

 ed wilh the horse-rake the same afternoon — 

 spread and turned on the morrow, antl in the af- 

 ternoon goes into the barn. All this is consider- 

 ed to be but light work: it is generally so laid 

 out and timed that before sundown of each day 

 the whole company of iiay makers is at leisure 

 after having partaken of the evening repast. 



In the morning, when leaving after breakfast, 

 we passed the field of twenty-one mowers and 

 four spreaders. They ware ranged according to 

 strength and size, the youngest and smallest 

 coming last in the train : boys of eleven to fif- 

 teen years had their scythes suited to size and 

 strength. Tlie whole range was taught how to 

 become good mowers by having the best in ad- 

 vance. The smooth fields were soon laid bare 

 under the hand of such a troop. The .mowing 

 grounds of the Shakers this year exhibited a 

 larger growth of hay than most of the farms we 

 had visited : the reason was, their hay fields had 

 not been fed down, as had almost every other 

 field, during the drought of the previous sumtner. 

 They have very extensive and ample pastures, 

 whero tho plough has never touched owing to 



