December, 1842. 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLT TlSlTOft. 



17B 



Carroll tMiiiily in whii'li it liuil Ih'RH Uroiiijlit down 

 tioin till' lords' proprietors of Mar} land. At the 

 death of its latest proprietor llie laLjd was ailver- 

 tised Tor sale. Like iiiiiih of the other land of 

 the vieinily, it had been woi ii out in tlie tohaeoo 

 cnliivalion. Some of it, lo;i;; nejilii-.ted, had 

 prowM np into new i'owsl : l\v Hw^i cleared was 

 covered with a frrouth of Imslie:; ami snialler 

 trees wherever the plou-h li.id not been eiitiired. 



road h'adnig liorii NVashinjiloii lo Alontfroniery 

 court house. It was otfereil at anction, aiul three 

 hnndred acres inehnlinj; I he Silver Spring;- was 

 hid in by a frif nd of Mr. IJIairat fourteen dollars 

 the acre. Of this laml ahont one hundred acres, 

 covered with a close growth of excellent 

 iiard wood, was on the east side of the turnpike 

 rniMiinir north ami south, and about two hinidred 

 acres on the west side, partly cleared and partly 

 ii) wood, gj'adually sloping off towards the Rock 

 creek which divides the city of VVashiniitonliorn 

 Georgetown helow the south line of Montftomery 

 comuy. Mr. Blair's purcliase is partly within 

 the District, and partly in Maryland, five miles 

 out fioni IVtuisylvania Avenue. 



Mr. B. entered upon his purchase scarcely a 

 year ago; but he has in the time performed won- 

 derful profjress towards inakinga farm. Several 

 hmidred rods of board and post and rail fence 

 enclosing fields have been made — a farm bouse 

 and stable have been erected. The most extrav- 

 a.^ant Ihini; done al)0ut the premises was the 

 erection of a marble covering in the shape of a 

 mausoleum over a portion of the Silver Spring 

 and a fancy snug suuniier house over the stream 

 below, the bottom of which is intended as a ilairy 

 cooler, and the uppiu-part as a retreat ae.d a place 

 of enteilainuicni whenever the proprietor and 

 his friemls shall come fp-om the city. Strange as 

 may seem wlien this place was thrown o|)en on 

 the morning of our visit, with the key from the 

 city; recently made sponge cakeand a fresh bot- 

 tle of wine Were there Ibnnd in company with 

 the Satinday Cornier of Pniladelphia ami one 

 or two other late newspapers from n distance. — 

 Out of pure altaclmient to the place, and to show 

 that it was our good will return, we believe we 

 left on the enchanting spot one of the two sole 

 fine cambric handkerchiefs which we have pos- 

 sessed for some dozen years, and have used only 

 on such occasions as had called at home for a par- 

 ticular change to that effect. 



Our curiosity, however, wotild not suffer us 

 long to lounge where a sofa and an easy chair 

 invited, although the day was one of the warm- 

 est of the season. We were anxious to bee not 

 only the imjuovements which a few months had 

 made on this land atnn expenditure of some four 

 or five thousand dollars from a fuinl that we were 

 glad to find most abimdant, but we had a desire 

 to wander through the valleys — to ascertain the 

 quality of the soil, and antieipale what a noble 

 productive tiirm tuo hundred acres brought un- 

 der hijih cullivali<ni might be made. 



That part of the land which has been least at- 

 tended to is the most viduable— it is the uneven 

 part or the hollows which wind around the hills 

 ill concentric circles. The cultivation of the last 

 yeiir was a single corn-field of some dozen or 

 fifteen Kcros. This land was limed only for ma- 

 nure — a portion left without lime in its diminu- 

 tive growth showed of how great value was the 

 lime where it had been applied. The course of 

 liming in Pennsylvania and Maryland is to drop 

 it in piles over the ground in given measured 

 qn.iniilies which are spread before ploughing. — 

 Twenty acres of land on wliich the bushes and 

 small pine trees had been cut, were turned over 

 by the plough with a single pair of mules. The 

 limed ground thus prepared in midsummer would 

 be well fitted either for a crop of winter wheat or 

 rye or fi)r a crop of Indian corn the next year. 



Mr. Blair was, with a team of horses, steadily 

 pursuing the business of taking daily a load of 

 (iiaiiure — generally lime — from the city, and re- 

 turning with c\ load of wood, the carriage of 

 which was worih nearly the expense of the team. 

 The wooil is cut from that part of tlie second 

 growth intended to be cleared off. 



A judicious* expenditure upon this ground will 

 not fail in the course of a few years to make it 

 one of the finest farms in the District — far more 

 satislactory to its owner from the fact llitit it is 

 made from worn-out land reclaimed. With a 

 Jwiiee tliat shall not cost over $2500, and with 



barns tind out-houses corresponding to the an- 

 nual production — with moderate expenses in 

 iiiatteis to gratily the taste and the tiuicy — Mr. 

 Blair, we ivill suppose, may at almost any time 

 realize a prolit on the inveutaienl which he has 



all cultivated fields that their, 

 shall be constantly increased. 



Each 



ill b' 



■y to tliC hoiith increases 

 in the relieclion that the 

 Is of that re-ion are des- 



bleofsus 



bull 



rge 



up. 



.support the busiii 

 the lands around them shall continue their in- 

 crease. 



The editors of the Albany Cultivator, whose 

 extensive correspondence and commendable dil- 

 igence in digesting ami arranging information 

 present a more e.Ttensive view of Agriculture in 

 the United Sl^iies than any other publication, give 

 what they are pleased to term a " flattering" view 

 of the "southwest part of the State of Missouri," 

 in a letter tiom a correspondent of that State. — 

 This letter, as an inducement to eastern emi- 

 grants to come there, says the country possesses 

 " many advantages" over any other which the 

 writer has seen— that its climate is temperate 

 (lat. 37 degrees north) and healthy — the soil very 

 fertile — that the country is populating and im- 

 proving rapidly^that they want there settlers of 

 an "enterprising, industrious, temperate and 

 moral class, as for such it presents strong iiiduce- 

 meiils," &c. Among these strong inducements 

 to go there the writer should not have mentioned 

 that " wheat is 25 cents per bushel, corn lower." 

 He says there is much land there not yet taken 

 up, and that •' those who choose can have choice 

 improvements, in some cases lower than they can 

 be made." It might be worth a while that the 

 writer in his next communication not only to in- 

 form us what would be the price of land where 

 the " choice improvements" have been made: 

 and we inigbl then be able to judge bow very 

 flattering would be bis gains on the maximum 

 product of forty bushels to the acre. Tiie gov- 

 ernment lands there sell, it is to be presumed, as 

 they do every where else, at the rate of one dol- 

 lar and one-fburth per acre ; but what must be 

 the wages which the owner of such lands could 

 afford to pay tlie laborer to subdue the land 

 where there had been no improvements for the 

 purpose of raising wheat to sell at 25 cents a bush- 

 el and Indian corn at a lower, if a field of wheat 

 was standing on the ground ripe lor the harvest, 

 in this part of the country the farmer would 

 hardly be able to pay his hireil help for harvest- 

 ing, threshing out and drawing for the price of 



25. 



tSj 



ler bushi 



better must it be for every man 

 who is anxious to do some'.hing as a farmer, than 

 to be letn|itc(l 1800 or 2000 miles away froiii the 

 place of nativity, pi-rhaps to inherit disease in a 

 "very fertile" siiil under a change of climate, lo 

 settle down either upon our ohii lands not yet 

 settled, or even to take upon himself to reclaim 

 some of the lands which have been exhausted 

 by a system of bad cultivation ? 



Ample pi oof has been furnished in the former 

 numbers of our Visitor of the success which has 

 attended some men who have reclaimed exhimst- 

 ed lands in New England. There are many ex- 

 amples of success in the worn out lands of Ma- 



rvlaiid and Vi 



a. E 



very 



iber of Con- 



gress at Washington has it in his power in one 

 hour's lime to satisfy himself that capital may be 

 well investeil in the cultivation and improvement 

 of the older poor lands in the Atlantic States. — 

 The difference in prices of produce in all places 

 near the market which requires a constant sup- 

 ply will be found iiiiich greater than the differ- 

 ence in the (|uality of the soil. 



A desire to witness the prosperity of the old 

 thirteen States has prompted to the" remarks we 

 now make: a conviction that just such improve- 

 ment as the country needs is practicable and cer- 

 tain, induces us to repeat "line upon line, pre- 

 cept upon precept" under this head. Seeing that 

 every thing depends on effort, and that every able 

 bodied man, while health is continued to him, 

 has it in his power to command success, and that 

 many men of thiscliisscombined may put a new 

 face u|ioii an extended country, we will excuse 

 ourselves to our readers for this extended article 

 by insistini; on the importance of so inqiroving 



leir capacity to produce 



From Hill's N. H. Patriot. 

 ' And lie tnnk hiT by tfie hand, and called, sayine. Maiden 



Luke viil. 41,42. 



Th, 



: again and straightway BJie i 



ilii-l- ,:f tliL ilyii 



iface 



•.ri-rl.y:- 



lil|,lU, 



Her lips half parted — ay about to say to earth 

 Farewell ! — her eye flashing a wild unwonted brillianoe, 

 And o'er her breast her sculptured fingers 

 Tightly crossed. 



A gray haired parent sat beside the child, 



His furr 



lite flutter of her quickened i 



The maiden breathes her last. So quietly she 

 t^anlt tn rest that one would scarcely i 

 The saddening tlianee. 



■ herSaviournear; 

 d arose. 



HELEN. 



Nov. 



Great Ox. — The Albany Cultivator presents 

 the engraved likeness of the Syracuse Ox exhib- 

 ited at the New York State Fair at Albany Sept. 

 28, 1842, and then said to weigh 4,200 lbs. He is 

 eight years old: his live weight Feb. 18, 1841, 

 was 23G0 lbs. Jan. 16, 1842,"lie had gained to 

 the weight of 3,400 lbs. In eight mouths after- 

 wards he gained 800 lbs. An animal of this kind 

 of the most beautiful proportions — with flesh and 

 fat BO laid on as to leave but a mere trifle of offal 

 when the animal comes to be slaughtered — with 

 a glossy skin whose feel is like that of soft silk 

 plush — a delicate head and horns — an eye so 

 mild and intelligent as to assure us that he is an 

 ox of sense and good^ feeling — presents to the 

 amateur fitrmer of wealth ample pay for rearing 

 and attending him even though he may have 

 never earned his livelihood in that labor to which 

 other fiiithfnl oxen of less body and less beBiity 

 are destined. 



Prepahation of Night Soil. — The value of 

 night soil, and its pre|)aratioiii<, coiisisis in tho 

 great quantity of ammonia or nitrogen it con- 

 tains, in which it exceeds all other animal sub- 

 stances, bones excepted. The follov\ ing, which 

 we find in the Farmers' Magazine, is a plain and 

 easy method of preparing Uiis manure, in such a 

 manner that its value shall be fiilly retained, while 

 the offensive odor is effei-tuallv destiove.l :— " To 

 every 100 lbs. of night soil.ad'd 7 lbs. of sulphate 

 of lime (gypsum,) in powiler; ii double decom- 

 position will ensue, and the result will be, instead 

 of sulphate of lime and carbonate of ammonia, 

 carbonate of lime and sulphate of ammonia, the 

 latter a soluble salt that cannot be volatilized. It 

 may now be mixed with other couiposi, or dried 

 any way thought proper, and applied to the roots 

 of the vegetable, to be again transformed into 

 bread, butter, cheese," &c. It is jirobable that 

 the mixture of the gypsum, as recommended 

 above, thoroughly with the night soil, and then 

 incorporating it with compost, will be found the 

 best method in which it can be used by the 



CONSEQUENXES OF GAMBLING. — The following 



tale of a gambler is told by the editor of the 

 Philadelphia Evening Courier:— 



In the year I84-, a number of individuals were 

 arrested for keeping a gambling house on Chest- 

 nut street, near Independence Hall. The coun- 

 sel for the prosecution was sitting in his ofiice 

 one day, when a voutii: man of genteel exterior 

 and good address entered, and the following dia- 

 logue ensued : 



"I have been summoned, to appear to-morrow 



