152 



THE FARMER'S MONTHL.Y VISITOR 



October, 1842. 



ouv tliinl. It is li- 

 ^vljicli not one in : 

 avoid, to |iasuiie En 

 cessive iiijiny li:'.-' '" 

 two I.Mst year- li"iii 



lit,'.' season' V. ni .I'u 



.ii.~ I 



IS i-alllf aiul 

 Ml-. Ames ii 

 t nianul!icuni 

 nllivator less 

 ny tli/it we li; 



1(1 inoii' effective than 



,Wi\ 



lie offe 

 This ,,lo 

 ■■ of Biiti: 



the cast-oif iiialerials : it was |i 

 in its coiistniction, and liniii 

 and lonj: haniilrs, the small |„i.i.u,ii<ui ;; 

 cate turned point of its .-h.iie anil its dii 

 mould-hoani, seemed only lo he adapted 

 gi-onnd. Ml-. .'Vines bouirlit this jilon};!: 

 years »f;o as cast-ofT 

 pi-ie.e of five dollars. 



Ed'inh'm'-h'Eii.-veloi'.e.rm: it is nndouhleiilv the 

 4)est of iis kind <i-r |iiei.arii.- some Ian. Is; and it 

 is hoped it may he tri^d eli'.rnially herfalin- so 

 that its advaina,i.'es may l^i- ..M-crlaiij. d. 



On our entered lisl as eniHin;.' iieM in (-oinse 

 was the fiirin of Mr. Ldiaii Mnnill silnalrd upon 

 a heautifnl swc-ll of land lookiti- down upon li.e 

 Merrimack valley to the sontli and situated about 

 two miles north of the town iioiise uiui reoiri- 

 villiiu'e in Canterhin ^. 'I'heie is a I u ;;e eidiivat- 

 ed field of fortv acres, niow.ni: and plni.yhlaiid, 

 and a liandsnme oval shaped Inll nl si\ acres a 



object of our attention. The piiia-ipal ciiltivii- 

 tio'n this year is tour acres of very hanilsorne 

 corn, three acres of potatoes, si\ acres of oats, 

 three acres of wheat and two acies of winter 

 rye. The aced father oi'Mr. Morrill, now seventy- 

 five vears of afte, wlio hail l)<;eii partially crippled 

 a few years since by the fiill of a tree, had him- 

 self done the gre-rtter part of the field hoein>; of 

 the season upon the corn and potatoes: in the 

 month of Auiiust he was <;uin}.' the weeds^of the 

 cornfield their quietus after the ears had lieen 

 formed. He said his expeiienee had tauxlit liltn 

 that hoeing, so fin- from injuring: the roots, pro- 

 moted the growth of the corn. To this venera- 

 ble inun labor upon this land has been but pas- 

 time ; and if there be any merit in act|nirinf,' a 

 jj;ood estate for each oi a numerous family as a 

 beginning, and teaching all of them how to keep 

 and improve, the elders of this family, man and 

 wife, ai-e surely entitled to our praise. Bowed 

 down by the injury to which we have alluded al- 

 most to the ground, the old gentleman works 

 daily in the field from choice. 



This tiirm is iniicli improved since our visit to 

 it in 18:W. The face of it at that time was nearly 

 as perfect as it could lio. The tnasses of stones 

 taken from its surface had been disposed of un- 

 der ground in covered causeways, road-paths and 

 drains; but the two fields had grown better— the 

 crops gi-owing upon them were more rank— the 

 mowed part was of more lively green. This 

 farm is off the travelled road: it embraces the 

 greater portion of one regular swell, and the ap- 

 proach to it is up hill. At the foot of the liill on 

 the north-east is a pond of water with its south- 

 ern shore a sunken swamp. A rocky ridge at 

 the mouth prevents the drainage of the swamp 

 and pond, which cini be made valuable only for 

 the purpose of extracting mud for the manure 

 bed in the dryest season. Tliis miid spcead di- 

 rectly on upland grass is found to cause a 

 great increase of crop. Mr. Morrill has taken 

 out one bundled loads the present season, a part 

 of which he has carried to his cattle yard, and a 

 portion laid by itself to be decomposed by lime. 



Making all his manure from the farm itself, 

 much is alrea<ly done and much more is in pro- 

 gress for its improvement. As the whole culti- 

 vated ground is a i.atteru of neat and economical 

 husbandry, giving large products for the amount 

 of labor, so the buildings and yards need alone 

 be seen to bear evidence of the good farmer. A 

 rat-proof gran.iry within the barn— a dry yard 

 for the milch cow-s, with a lower wet yard to re- 

 ceivT; the drainage— u cookery lor the swine near 



ei.- plate vX l<ee]riiiL'--e()iiiplete shelter for cat- 

 • in ope n >lH.i,> sm KPiinding the yards — ample 

 iices lia .'ll I nelosnic s with safe gates for every 

 liiaiice : these ale among the improvements 

 hleh have coiitinueil to raise tlie value of this 



The close of the third day lirought us back to 

 e west parish vi!la;;e of Concord. The corn- 

 Id of iMr. George lirown, containing a heavier 

 owth upon the ijriaiiid than any we had yet 



re and .-i half of potatoes, and five acres ol tie- 

 eiidoiis oats lay in the same field. 31|-. IJri.wu's 



tav- 



and 



now ing liom one <'t iiie most poiauar lean 

 ems iiiiou the road; and upon land rece 

 these repeated dressings we must expect a , 

 jiroduction of the vegetable world — corn 



lint acmidsilN disemers itself on the lot where 

 .Mr. l!i-owi:'s corn sn.oil, which goes to prove that 

 Ins land is more valuable in itself tlinu it has 

 generally been consiileied. The corn field is 

 upon the high plain at some seventy-five feel 

 elevation above a spot of a few acres of very 

 productive intervale upon the Merrinlack river. 

 To this lower intervale a sideral pathvvtiy for 

 bringing away the crops had been dug out many 

 Mars ago. Gradually the water had undermined 

 llie gidiind at this pathway until it had become 

 nil l.in^rr a path, but a broken gap through the 

 sleep side: hill, widening and extending at every 

 siii-e< eding lidl of rain. The space of ground 

 already liidken away upon the easterly side of 

 Mr. Brown's field at this time covers" at le.-ist 

 ihieeai-res. The wliole body taken out lesem- 

 hl 



down the river, and forms a part ol that rich 

 sediment which, backed in by the river ti-esbets, 

 coiiiiibiiies so much to the growth of hay upon 



Ml. John .larvis' garden, entered for premium, 

 lies oppo.site the tavern of Mr. Brown ujion the 

 home lot owned by the late iMr. Abner Farnum. 

 Mr. Jarvis had succeeded in ibis garden in throw- 

 ing an immense giovvtb ol vegetation upon the 

 groimd.s. His onions, carrots, sugar beets, riita 

 baga and cabbages — bis cucumbers and peppers 

 — his potatoes with their tops covering the ground 

 — proved him, in this very difKcnlt year for ope- 

 rations upon the garden, to be skilful and deserv- 

 ing of any premium that our society might award 

 him. 



But scarcely less merit is due to the cultivation 

 of friend Levi flulchins, in his near neighbor- 

 liood, on a garden and plat of land of larger 

 e.xtent than that of Mr. Jarvis. Mr. Hutchins, a 

 pensioner of the revolution, at tlie age of 81 

 yeai-s, has done nearly the whole work to his 

 sround himself; and this only a part of the busi- 

 ness he has attended to. Mr. Hutchins' onion 

 bed is 20 by 27 li^et : these- with cabbage.s, seed 

 onions, beets and carrots in the same enclosure, 

 were very flourishing. The carrot cultivation 

 extended to almost lialf an acre. To that extent 

 we have seen no carmt bed in our travels of the 

 pre.«ent year that was its equal. 



So ends the three first days' travel and labor 

 of the Merrimack Committee on Farms. The 

 other two days [iresented fewer objects, and must 

 be dispatched within a bricftir space. 



Only ihi-ee of the committee attended the first 

 part of the third day. As we had travelled over 

 the high lands at the north-east side of the comi- 

 ty, so we took on the second expedition the higher 

 grounds of Dunbarton and Bow on the south- 

 west line of the county. 



Seven miles out of Concord we passed that 

 part of Dunbarton which has been settled and 

 remained in the family of Page .learly a hun- 

 dred years. That land, w hieli rises to no consid- 

 erable swell here, is n-inesented lo have been 

 originally very fciiile, piodiiciiig food for man 

 and beast in great alumdaiice. Good, but not the 

 most productive fiirms, still remain upon it. Less 

 than two miles south-west of the residence of 

 the late Judge Page is that of his nephew, the 

 late Maj. Caleb Stark, whose remaining family of 

 two sons and two daughters, all unmarried, are 

 now the owners and occupiers. That remains n 

 farm of great value, embracing fine orchards of 



graficil fi-nit. Near the mansion bouse and op- 

 posite to it stands the liuinble store of n single 

 story, not yet divested of its shutters, where Maj. 

 Slark traded forty yeai-s ago, and from which 

 more than half of the goods then vended in all 

 the northerly stclion of Hilishorough county 

 were sent forth. On this farm is the remnant of 

 a tmiipiked rn„d mad,- by ,'\laj. S. through his 

 own lain], liir \% Ineli 1m- peiniuiici the Legislature 

 in vain lo i.i' exti'iidi d intn ilie ei.iinlry towards 

 Coiineclii-nt river. \ e.xed at the Irealmeiit which 

 be leeeivi-d, the Major caused the Legislature to 

 be posted by a placard in tiie hall of the State- 

 House wiiii-h was thill ihe lower part of the pre- 

 seiil eouiity court-hniise. His eldest son having 

 teslilied that he wrote and copied the ofTensive 

 cani, the sergeant at-arms was ordered to take 

 Maj. Slark in ciisindy : and the wiseacres and 

 wits who usually aili nded on tlie Legislature 

 ivere amused by ihe speetacle of seeing the re- 

 cusant riding n|iuii a lieet horse from diiy to day 

 through the town, e\adini: the arrest "until it 

 pleased him lo i-,ii:ie inio ihe presence alter the 

 anger of the -enlle.ted wi-iloiu" had abated! 



In the ceiiielriy, claikened by the growth of 

 pines, an eminenee lorn eriy an island, upon one 

 side of whii-li the waters have partially receded, 

 repose the remains of Maj. Slark and the deceas- 

 e<l members of bis family: the father and the 

 son, liaving acted their parts as men of great en- 

 terprise and successful business, lie there — other 

 brothers and sisters with the mother repose by 

 llieir side, all of whom were in aclive life since 

 our remembrance as but a few days ago. The 

 spot is truly an iulere.sting one — lonely and out 

 of sight of the dwelling. Unlike the grave of 

 Priestley, which we once visited at Noriiiumber- 



the Stark cemelery is of convenient approach by 

 a causeway and ascending and desccndiiig stefis. 

 The monuments, with interesting inscriptions, 

 arc of pure white marble. 



Maj. Caleb Stark wa.s the eldest son of the 

 veteran John Stark, whose burial ground and 

 granite monument overlooks the railroad at no 

 very great distance aliove the village of'AIanches- 

 ter, N. H. Tho son died in Ohio about two years 

 since: bis remains were brought from (Jhio in 

 the year 1841 by bis surviving children, and in- 

 terred at the family cemetery. A marble block, 

 at an expense of about $500, has been erected 

 over his body. On one side of this block is the 

 following inscri(ition : 



" He entered the army at the age of sixteen as 

 Quarter Master of the First New Hampshiro 

 Regiment, was afterwards Adjntani of the same, 

 and sul)sequently Brigade Major and Aid-de- 

 Camp to Gen. Stark. He was present at the bat- 

 tles of Bunker Hill in 1775, Trenlon in 177G, and 

 those of September 19 and October 7, 1777, 

 which preceded the surrender of Burgoyne." 



Some fifteen years ago a mulberry ordiaid was 

 commenced upon the Stark farm: litlle has been 

 done to it in the last ten years. In passing we 

 observed that tlie trees had made better progress 

 ilian had been supposed. Enough of the mul- 

 berry trees is now growing on that ground to 

 manufacture many pounds of silk. 



Dunbarton meetiiig-lion.se is situated upon one 

 of the highest elevations of the county, and is 

 two miles south-easterly from the Stark fiirm and 

 three miles on a more direct road southerly from 

 Page's corner. Near the meeting-hoiise, upon 

 the high ground is the farm of Benjamin Whip- 

 |de, Esq. whose crops we were called to ex- 

 amine. 



The farm of Mr. Whipple consists of one liuu- 

 dren acres, all high ground, with a rocky hard 

 pan. It is in ftill view of the Monadnock and 

 intervening mountains at the soiilh-weslerly cor- 

 ner of the State, and of the Wliite Moimlains in 

 the northerly section of New Hampshire: lie cm 

 look upon the coiniliy all aiouiid him for the dis- 

 tance of fiill fifty miles. Tlie greater part of the 

 work upon this farm he has done with his own 

 hands: be has lost in the time in debts paid for 

 others $400, and given to his two daughters a 

 handsome setting out in fiiriiitnro at the time of 

 marriage, tmd is now as independent in his cir- 

 cumstances as the most wealthy man in the Stale. 

 In the thirty years he has never purchased a 

 pound of broad-stufl" for family use; yet tiis 

 bread has always been from the fiour of wheat, 

 of which he has every year raised from twenty 

 to eighty bushels. He commonly sows about 



