174 



THEiTARMER'S MONTH L Y VI S I TO R 



November, 1842 



one dressing. Henvier doses have sometimes l 

 done injury especially in wet seasons ; a greater 

 (luantity is seldom useful. 



The best application is to spread on over turn- 

 ed green sward — to plough in with n shallow j 

 furrow a few weeks before planting; and again, 

 ploughing at the time of planting so as to mix j 

 them with the soil near the surface. | 



Weeds are perceptibly diminished by leached 

 ashes ; and the operation of ashes is nearly imi- 

 forin on five or six successive crops. 



Oats are more benefitted by leached ashes than 

 any other grain. 



Potatoes and other leguminous plants on loamy 

 or clayey sand lands are assisted by leached a^h- 

 es put on several years in advance. 



Leached ashes," on groimds dressed with ani- 

 mal manures, have an effect for twelve or fifteen 

 years. 



Ashes are most efficacious in dry seasons — 

 they have less, if not little, effect in wet seasons. 



Sandy soils part most freely with their geiiie 

 or ammonia, not by leaching but by passing ofl^ 

 in the air ; of consequence they are more easily 

 stimulated and will be benefitted by a greater 

 variety of manures. 



If the above information shall turn out to be 

 accurate, it will be worth more to many farmers 

 than tlie price of one year's subscription to an 

 agricultural newspaper. 



Lowell Factory Girls. 



Mr. Dickens, in his new work upon this coun- 

 trv, irives the following account of his visit to 

 Lowdl. 



" I happened to arrive at the first liictory just 

 as the dinner hour was over , and the girls were 

 returning to their work ; indeed the stairs of the 

 mill were thronged with them as I ascended. — 

 They were all well dressed, but not, to my think- 

 ing, above lljeir condition : for I like to see the 

 humbler cl.isses of society careful of their dress 

 and appearance, and even, if they please, decora- 

 ted with such little trinkets as come within the 

 compass of their meaui-'. Supposing it is confin- 

 ed within reasonable limits, I would always en- 

 courage this kind of pride, as a worthy element 

 of self respect, in any ))erson 1 employed ; and 

 should no more be deterred from doing so be- 

 cause some wretched female referred her lidl to 

 a love of dress, that I would allow my construc- 

 tion of the real intent and meaning of the Sabbalh 

 to be influenced by any warning to the well dis- 

 posed, founded on his hiackslidings on that par- 

 ticular day, which might emanate from the rather 

 dnubtlul iiutlmrity of a ininderer in Newgate. 



" These gii Is, as 1 have said, were all well 

 dressed, and tli;it phrase necessarily includes ex- 

 treme cleanliness. They had serviceable bonnets, 

 good warm cloaks, and" shawls ; and were not 

 above clogs and palti-rns. Moreover, there were 

 jilaces in the mill in which they could deposit 

 these things without injury, and there were con- 

 veniences for washing. They wi:re healthy in 

 appearance, many of them remarkably so, and 

 had the manners and deportment of young wom- 

 en : not of degraded hrnles of burden. If I had 

 seen in one o!' those mills (but I did not, though 

 I looked for soniethiiig of this kind with a sharp 

 eye,) the most lisping, nruicing, altected, and rid- 

 iculous young crealuii' llint my injagination could 

 suggest, I shoidd |]a\e lliought of the careless, 

 moping, slatternly, degraded dull reverse (I have 

 seen that,) and should have been still well pleas- 

 ed to look upon her. 



" 'J"he rooms in which they worked were as 

 well ordered as themselves. In the windows of 

 some there were green plant.s, which were train- 

 ed to shade the glass; in all there were as touch 

 fresh air, cleanliness, and comfort, as the nature 

 of the occupation would possibly admit of. Out 

 of so large a number of females, many of whom 

 were just only then verging upon womanhood, it 

 may be reasonably supposed that some were deli- 

 cate and tragile in appearance, no doubt there 

 were. But I solemnly declare, that from all the 

 crowd I saw in the different factories that day, I 

 CBimol recall a separate one yoimg face that gave 

 me a painful impression : not one young girl 

 whom, assuming it to be matter of necessity that 

 she should gain her daily bread by the labor of 

 her h:nuls, 1 would remove from lliose ranks if I 

 had the power. 



"They reside in various boarding houses near 

 at hand. The owners of the mills are particularly 



careful to allow no persons to enter upon the po- 

 session of these houses, whose characters have 

 not undergone the most searching and thorough 

 inquiry. Any complaint that is made, against 

 them by the lioarders, or by any one else, is fully 

 investigated ; and if good ground of complaint 

 be shown to exist against them, they are removed, 

 and their occupation is handed over to some more 

 deserving person." 



After stating the astounding fact, that in July, 

 1841, nine himdred and seventy eight of these 

 girls were depositors in the Lowell Savings Bank, 

 to the amount jointly of 100,000 dollars, or £20,- 

 000, (is it possible ?) Mr. Dickens goes on to say — 

 " 1 am now going to state three facts, which 

 will startle a large class of readers on this side of 

 the Atlantic very much. 



" Firstly, there is a joint stock piano in a great 

 many of the boarding houses. Secondly, nearly 

 all these yoimg ladies subscribe to circulating li- 

 braries. Thirdly, they have got up among them- 

 selves a periodical called the Lowell Offering, 

 'A repository of original articles, written exclu- 

 sively by females actively employed in the mills,' 

 which is duly printed, published and sold, and 

 whereof I brought away from Lowell, four hun- 

 dred good solid pages, which I have read from 

 beginning to end. 



'' The large class of readers, startled by these 

 facts, will exclaim with one voice, ' How very 

 prosperous?' On my deferentially inquiring why, 

 they will answer, 'These things are above their 

 station.' In reply to that objection, I would beg 

 to ask what their station is ? 



"It is their station to v^ork, and they do work. 

 Tiiey labor in these mills, upon an average, twelve 

 hoin-s a day, which is unquestionably work, and 

 pretty tight work too. Perhaps it is above their 

 station to indulge in such amusements, on any 

 terms. Are we sure that we in England have 

 not formed our ideas of the 'station' of working 

 people from accustonnng ourselves to the con- 

 templation of that class as they are, and not as 

 they might be? I think that if we examine our 

 owii feelings, we shall find that the pianos, and 

 the circulating libraries, cvi ii the Lowell Offer 

 ing, siarlle us by their novelty, and not by theii 

 bearing upon any abstract question of right or 

 wrong. 



'• For myself I know no station in which the 

 occupation of to day cheerfidly done, and the 

 occupation of to-morrow cheerfully lookeil to, 

 any one of these pm-suits is not most humanizing 

 and laudable. 1 know no station which is render- 

 ed more endurable to the person iu it, or more 

 !i:\i\! to the person out of it, by having ignorance 

 for its associate. I know no station which has a 

 right to monopolize the meansof mutual instruc- 

 tion, improvement, and rational entertaimnent ; 

 or whicli has ever continued to be a station very 

 long, after seeking to do so." 



Extracts from " the Good and Bad." 



BV .NICHOLAS BRETON, LONDO.N 1(!1(). 



A Worthy Merchant isthe heirofadventur 

 who.se hopes hang much upon the wind; upon a 

 wooden horse he rides through the worlil, and in 

 a merry gale makes a path through the seas: he 

 is a discoverer of countries, and n finder out ot 

 comuiodities; resolute in his attempts, and royal 

 in his expenses: he is the life of traffic and the 

 m.iint.-iiner ol" trade, the sailor's master and the 

 soldier's friend ; he is the exercise of the ex 

 change, the honor of credit, the observation o 

 lime, and the understanding of thrift: his study 

 is mmiber, his case his accounts, Iris comfort his 

 coirscience, and his wealth his good rrame: he 

 fears iroScylla, and sailuclose by Charybilis, arrd 

 having beaten out a storm, rides at rest in a har- 

 bor ; by Iris sea-gain he iirakcs Iris discoverie.-i, 

 imd tVom Iris eye-observatiutrs brings the models 

 of architecture; he plarrts the earth with for-eign 

 fruits, and knows at home what is good abroad : 

 he is neat in apparel, modest in demeanor', daiirty 

 in diet, and civil in his carTiage. In surir, he 

 a pillar of a city, the enricher of a country; tl 

 furrrisher of a cr-est, and the worthy servant of 

 king. 



A Quiet Woman. — A quiet woman is like a 

 still wind, which neither chills the body nor 

 blows dust in the face; her puiience is a vir 

 that wins the heart of love, and her wisili 

 makes her wit well woi'thy regard : she fears God, 

 arrd ffieth sirr ; shewelh kindness, and loveth 

 peace : her tongue is tied to discretion, and her 



heart is the harboi'er of goodness: she is a conr" 

 fort in calamity, arrd irr pr-ospei-ity a cotnpaninrr ; 

 a physicican in sickness, and a musician iir help: 

 lier ways are the walks towai-ds heaven, aird her 

 guide is the gr-ace of the Almighty: she is her 

 husband's down bed, where his hear-t lies at rest; 

 and her children's glass in the notes of her grace, 

 her servants' honor in the keeping of her house, 

 and her neigbor-s' exaurples in the notes of a 

 goori trature: she scorrrs foi-tune. and loves virtue, 

 and out of thrift gathereth charity : she is a turtle 

 in her love, a lamb in her rrreekness, a saiirt in 

 her Irear'l, and an arrgel in her soul. In sum, she 

 is a jewel unprizeahle, and a joy unspeakable; 

 a comfort in nature unaccountable, and a wife 

 iu the world unmatchable. 



An U.NiiUiET Woman. — An irnquiet woman is 

 the misery of man, whose denreanor is not to be 

 described but in extremities : her voice is the 

 prickirrg of an awl, her eye the poison of a 

 cockatrice, her hand the claw of a crocodile, and 

 her heart a cabinet of hoiior : she is the grief of 

 nature, the wound of wit, the t/-oirble of reason, 

 and the abuse of tirrre : her pride is insupporta- 

 ble, her anger unquenchable, her will unsatiable, 

 and her malice unnratchable ; she fears no color-s, 

 she cares for no courrsel, she spares no persons, 

 nor r'espects any tirrre : her command ismust, her 

 reason will, her r-es(dution shall, anil her satisfac- 

 tion so : she looks at no law, and thinks of no 

 lord; adrrrits no corrrnrand, and keeps no good 

 or-dcr : she is a cross, but not of Christ ; and a 

 wor-d, but irot of grace ; a ci'eatnr'e, but not of 

 wisdonr ; and a servant, btrt not of God. In 

 sum, she is the seed of tr-ouble, the liiiit of 

 travail, the taste of bitterness, and the digestion 

 of death. 



A ViRGii'J. — A vir-gin is the beauty of natur-e, 

 wlrerr the spirit gracious makes the creatur-e glori- 

 oirs : she is the love of virtue, the honor of reason, 

 the gr'ace of youth, and the comfort of age; her 

 study is holiness, her exercise goodness, her 

 grace humility, and her love is charity : hercoiin- 

 tenanie is modesty, her speech is truth, her 

 wealth is gr-ace, and her fame constancy : her 

 virtue continence, her labor patience, her diet ab- 

 stinence, and her care corrscience : her con- 

 ver'satiorr heaveirly, her rrreditations angel-like, 

 her pr-ayeis (Icviiiri, and her hopes divirre: her 

 parents' j..y, Iili- kiiidoil's horror-, her countr-y's 

 fiiiiie, and her owrr lilicity ; she is the blessed of 

 the highest, and the nearest to the best ; she is 

 of cr-eatur-es the rarest, of woman the ehiefest, 

 of natur-e the purest, and of wisdom the choicest ; 

 her life is a pilgrimage, her death but a passage, 

 her descr-iplioii a wonder, and her iianre air hon- 

 or-. In sum, she is the daughter of glory, the 

 mother of grace, the sister of love, and the be- 

 loved of life. 



A Young Man. — A youirg man is the spr-ing 

 of tirirc, when nalirr'e in her pride, shews her 

 beauty to the woi-ld. He is the delight of the eye, 

 arrd the stuily of the nrind ; the labor of instrrrc- 

 tion, arrd the prrpil of reasoi< ; his wit is irr mak- 

 ing or marring ; his wealth in gaining or loosing ; 

 his honor in advancing or decliiring; arrd his life 

 in abridging or incr'easing; he is a bloom that 

 either is blasteil in the bud, or grows to ii good 

 fruit, or a bird that dies in the nest, or lives to 

 make use of her wirrgs; he is a colt that must 

 have a bridle, er-e he be well managed, and a fal- 

 corr that must be well manned, or he will never 

 be r-eclaimed ; he is the dar ling of nature, and 

 the charge of reason, the exei-cise of patierrce,and 

 the hope of charity ; his exer-cise is either study 

 or action, and his study either knowledge or 

 pleasure; his disposition gives a gr-eatnoteof his 

 genei-ation, and yet his br-eeding may either bet- 

 ter or wor-se hirrr ; though to wash a blackmoor 

 white, be the loss of labor, and what is br-ed in 

 the bone, will never out of the flesh. In sum, till 

 experience has seasoned his rrnderstanding, he is 

 rather a child than a man, a pr-cy of flattery, or 

 a praise of Providence ; in the way of grace to 

 prove a saint, or in the way of sirr to prove a 

 devil. 



Appetite — A relish bestowed upon the poor- 

 er classes, that they may like what they eat, while 

 it is seldom enjoyed by the rich, because they 

 nray eat what they like. 



Breath — Air received into the lungs by many 

 young men of fasliiorr, lor the irrrportant purpose 

 oi' smoking cigar-s, and whistling a tune. 



