November, 1842. 



TrfE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



176 



Mr. Webster's Varm in IHassachuietts. 



A letter writer in the N. Y. Commercial Ad- 

 vertiser, who has recently visited Mr. Webster's 

 farm at Maishfield, Ms. describes it as being part 

 of tlie old estate of Gov. Winslow mid a part of 

 the estate of Mr. Thomas, a wealthy refugi-e of 

 the revolution. The Winslow mansion, bnilt 147 

 years ago, is still standing; and the mansion 

 honse of Mr. Tlioiuas built 72 years ago, from 

 which the British marched to Bimker Hill, is up- 

 on the same premises. This farm contains J300 

 acres, and is upon the sea shore, the salt spray 

 washing upon the very garden : alioiit 300 acres 

 are woodland, of which 200 acres has been plant- 

 ed by Mr. Webster, who has owned the premises 

 about ten years. Before the door of the last 

 mansion is an aged elm, with its branches reach- 

 ing to the ground. Upon a hill of former flow- 

 ing sand he has planted trees, and in the midst 

 erected n summer house, which, with the sur- 

 rounding grove, forms a beautiful picture. — 

 Through several groves there are avenues by 

 which ladies and gentlemen may take an airing 

 horseback. His orchard is extensive, giving e\- 

 ery variety of apples. He has a poultry yard in 

 which is a pond where ducks and geese sport. 

 He keeps some seventy head of cattle, n)any of 

 which he imported from England, and some of 

 them of great beauty. He has a pair of black 

 oxen of the largest size, and a yoke of red oxen 

 raised upon this (arm which are seldom excelled 

 for their good points, and especially for their 

 beauty. His Leicester sheep, imported from 

 England, are of the first order. [Two of these, 

 a weather and a buck, were sent a tew days since 

 over the Concord railroad, and were in this town 

 on their way to Mr. Webster's Franklin farm. 

 These were most perfect animals of their kind : 

 black feet and broad black faces — a most compact 

 and uniform coating of wool of a quality some- 

 wliat finer than that of the American native 

 sheep.] One of these sheep at Marshfield, call- 

 ed by the shepherd Goliah, gives in one fleece 

 sixteen pounds of wool. Mr. Webster's crop of 

 Indian corn the present year upon this farm was 

 from nine hundred to one thousand bushels. 

 The letter writer says he passed through a field 

 of English turnips in which he estimated the 

 quantity at two thousand bushels. [A gentle- 

 man at Hollis sent us two turnips, a specimen of 

 his own field from seed procured in England by 

 Mr. Webster: they were in shape like the ruta 

 bnga, but smooth and purely white.] Of hay 

 (the gentleman writes) the crop upon the Web- 

 ster farm was from three to five hundred tons, 

 and potatoes and other crops in proportion. Now 

 although Mr. Webster cannot make money, hut 

 probably loses, by attempting so extensive farm 

 operations in his absence; yet his efforts in in- 

 troducing new and valuable breeds of cattle and 

 other animals, and his example in improving the 

 soil, will have a salutary effect on the agriculiure 

 of bis State. 



October. There were 110 yokes on the grolind 

 of well matched cattle, mostly red and in high 

 condition. Twenty-one teams — 13 of horses and 

 8 of oxen — entered the ploughing match. 



The Massachusetts Horticidtural Society, which 

 since the fourteen years of its existence, " feeble 

 and unnoticed at" first," "has struck its roots 

 broad and deep," and has " changed the aspect 

 of Boston and the country round about it"— 

 o|)ened its annual exhibition at Concert Hall in 

 Boston on the 14th September. The address 

 was delivered on the evening of the 16th before 

 a large concourse of gentlemen and ladies by J. 

 E. Tesscmacher, well known as one of the most 

 scientific horticultinists and florists of the coun- 

 try. The Hall was decorated in the most splen- 

 did manner iiom the contributions of fruits and 

 flowers; and the tables groaned under the weight 

 of the grapes, apples, pears, peaches, &c. &c. 

 all of the finest kinds, heaped upon them. 



The Cultivator contains, besides the foregoing, 

 sketches of the annual exhibitions of the Rens- 

 selaer, Jefferson, Onondaga, Oneida, Columbia 

 and Cayuga Comity Agricultural Fairs in the 

 Slate of New York during the present season — 

 all showing how great is the regard of all classes 

 to improvement in the cultivation of the earth, 

 the rearing of animals, and the perfection of the 

 various manufactures. 



Miss Sally Farnum of this town (who should 

 be remembered as the faithful nurse of our three 

 boys and probably of some hundred others now 

 grown men and women) has woven since she be- 

 gun the work 2062 yards of domestic carpeting 

 for the use of the "maids and tnalrons" of the 

 vicinity. Those carpets have receivedjeight suc- 

 cessive premiums from the Agricultural Society 

 of this County. Miss Farnutn is now about sev- 

 enty years of age. She continues her business 

 of hand weaving, and the carpet of G. W. Dow 

 which this year received a premium from the 

 Merrimack County Society was of her plan- 

 ning and weaving. 



Cattle Shows and Agricultural Fairs through- 

 out the Nortliern States have been more general 

 and more magnificent this year than they ever 

 were before. In the States of New York, Con- 

 necticut, Massachusetts and Maine, a major part 

 (we believe) of the Counties has each itsagricul 

 tural Society. In those Comities where soeietiei 

 have been sometime organized, the turn out of 

 farmers and farmers' wives has been general — ii 

 ■ome cases in a mass. The products of the best 

 cultivation have been exhibited in profusion. In 

 the mountain region of Connecticut, olil Fairfield 

 county, five hundred and thirty-two yokes of 

 oxen in four trains, were exhibited : of these the 

 town of Fairfield seat its team of 150 yokes. 



A London Sabbath.— The following passage 

 is from a series of "Recollections of England," 

 now in the course of publication in the Episcopal 

 Recorder : — 



" The first Sabbath of an yVmerican Christian 

 in London, must always be a day of peculiar in- 

 terest. So many [ilaces of great attraction are 

 open before him, and so many preachers of whom 

 he has heard much, are around him, that he feels 

 hardly able to determine among them all, in what 

 direction he shall turn his steps, or wilh what 

 congregation of the Lord's peoi)lc he shall miilo 

 in worship. Such was the first day of May to 

 me. The suu was unclouded, and the air relrcsh- 

 ing and delightful. As I walked abroad, the 

 streets were crowded with multitudes of persons 

 in their best attire. liaMctiiiig in vari(.us directions 

 — probably, alas ! lor various purposes. But the 

 day had changed the uhole aspect of the me- 

 tropolis. The number of laborers in odd cos- 

 tumes, and vagrants of every description who 

 roam abroad upon other days, were not now seen, 

 or so changed in dress that they could not be 

 recognized. I never saw a fuller illustration of 

 Dr. Dwight's arguments for the observance of the 

 Sabbath, in the moral influence which is exer- 

 cised upon the community by the universal clean- 

 liness of attire of that day. Every body had an 

 air of respectability and tidiness which was very 

 remarkable. Universal quietness and order reign- 

 ed through all the streets. Even the numerous 

 ginshops had closed their doors and windows, 

 and acquired the decency of appearance at least, 

 of admitting their victims in a private way, al- 

 lowing none to stand around their doors. My 

 walk to church led me through the most crowd- 

 ed and some of the least respectable portions of 

 the metropolis. But the same remark was every 

 vvliere applicable. A London Sabbath, as much 

 as in any city I have ever seen, is the reign of 

 order, and cleanliness, and quiet. 



New York State Agricdltcral Si 



Nearly ten close compact pages in the smallest 

 type of that excellent agricultiu-al journal, the 

 Albany Cultivator, are filled with the account of 

 the Cattle Show and Fair of the New York 

 State Agricultural Society which was held at 

 Albany on the 27th, 28lli and 29th September 

 Says the Cultivator— " The immense number of 

 animals on the ground for premium or for exhi- 

 bition : their admirable ariaugeinenl, which gave 

 all who chose an opportunity of seeing the whole ; 

 the multitude of spectators constantly within the 

 the enclosure; the splendid equipage and crowds 

 of beaulifiil women ; and the intense feeling of 

 interest anri gratification manifested in all, ren- 

 dered the days of the Fair proud and auspicious 

 ones for the interests of Agricidture in the State 

 of New York." 



The Worcester County Fair, long established, 

 lost none of its reputation in this year's exhibi- 

 tion. Thirty ox teams contended in the Plough- 

 ing match ; and at this Fair were seen in all 

 their glory the beautiful native cattle of New 

 England, oxen, cows and steers, so justly prized 

 and so highly lauded. Hon. Levi Lincoln has 

 been President of this Society twenty-two years: 

 the fund for the support of this Society now ex- 

 ceeds $7,000. The meeting of the Society was 

 on the ]2tli October. 



The old Berkshire Society had its thirty-sec- 

 one Fair at Pittsfield, Ms. "on the 5th and 6th 



Flowers in Religious Buildings. — We can- 

 not but admire the practice of the Church of 

 Rome, remarks the London Quarterly Review, 

 which calls in the aid of floral decorations on her 

 high festivaks. We shall not easily forget the 

 eftect of a long avenue of orange trees in the Ca- 

 thedral of St, Gudule at Brussels, calling to mind 

 as it did the expression of the psalmist, "Those 

 that be planted in the house of the Lord shall 

 flourish in the courts of our God." The white 

 lily is held throughout Spain and Italy, as the 

 emblem of the Virgin's l)urity, and frequently 

 decorates her shrines; and many other flowers, 

 dedicated to some saint, are used in profusion on 

 the day of his celebration. The oak leaf and the 

 palm branch, adds the Quarterly, have .villi us 

 their loyal and religious anniversary, and the holly 

 still gladdens the hearts of all good Churchmen 

 at Christmas. 



T. Hood vs. Ghosts. — Ghost, says Tom, be 

 hanged ! No such thing in nature ; all laid long 

 ago, before the wood pavements. What should 

 they come for ? The colliers may rise for higher 

 wages, and the Chartists may rise for reform, 

 and Joseph Slurge may rise for his health, and 

 bread may rise; but tliat the dead should rise 

 only to make one's hair rise, is more than I can 

 credit. Suppose yoiirself a ghost. Well, if you 

 come out of the grave to save a friend, how are 

 you to help him ? And if it is an enemy, what 

 Is the use of appearing to hini, if you can't pitch 

 into him ? — A*. Y. Aurora. 



Alpine Skies. — Soon after sunrise, on a fine 

 morning, when the sky, which relieves the silver 

 white of the peaks of the Alps, shows, by the in- 

 tensity of its blue, not only that its beholder is at 

 a considerable elevation, but also that there is 

 very little aqueous vapor held in suspension in 

 the atmosphere, and consequently that in all prob- 

 ablity the day will continue clear, it is no uncom- 

 mon circumstance to see their first flying wreaths 

 of clouds start suddenly into existence out of its 

 serenity — almost, in fiict, like a puff of smoke — 

 and then as suddenly disappear; so that the 

 spectator is almost inclined to iloubt the clearness 

 his vision— when having first swept the whole 

 ivens with his eye, and congratulated himself 

 on its utter cloudlessness, his glance a moment 

 after falls on a line of rafiidly increasing and ap- 

 parently low clouds— when, after the lapse of an- 

 other minute, the sky, to his astonishment, ap- 

 pears as deeply blue, as purely vaporless as ever. 

 —East India Magazine for January. 



Old Maids vs. Young Maids.— Say what you 

 will of old maids, their love is generally more 

 strong and sincere than that of the young milk- 

 and-water creatures, whose hearts vibrate be- 

 tween the joys of wedlock and the dissipations 

 of the ball room. Until the young heart of wo- 

 man is capable of settling firmly and exclusively 

 on one object, her love is like a M.-.y shower, 

 which makes rainbows, but fills no cisterns. 



Lost wealth may be regained by a course of 

 industry; the wreck of health repaired by tem- 

 perance ; forgotten knowledge restored by study ; 

 alienated friendship soothed into forgiveness; 

 even forfeited reputation won hack by penitence 

 and virtue. But who ever again looked upon bis 

 vanished honor; recallerl his slighted years and 

 stamped them wilh wisdom, or effaced 

 Heaven's record the fearful blot of 



wasted life. 



Coal and Iron —Nearly .ill the iron manunicturcd 

 in Great Britain is produced from the " rocit ore,' (car- 

 bonate of iron,) which accompanies the coal seams in 

 South W.-iles, Staffordshire, the vicinity of Glasgow etc. 

 —the whole amount of raw pig iron being about l,o00,00O 

 tons, and the capital employed in it, several years since, 

 was estimated at £7 .000,000 sterling. 



Before the discovery in England of making iron wilh 

 mineral coal, that maimlUcture had there sunk almost 

 into insignificance. The surface ol the country ha.l been 

 stripped of its wood, and in the >Mr 1710 the produntion 

 had sunk to 17,000 tons, double that amount being import- 

 ed. So imporunt was it thought before tl 



that 



