1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



491 



"How is it," said the Southerner^ "that we on- 

 ly have to throw down the seed and give it a kick, 

 and you are obliged to shoot yours into the soil, 

 and we are poor, and you are rich V 



The Dr. answered, "thatby the additional labor 

 the farmer here obtained a profitable return. He 

 does not say to his boys and help 'Go,' but he says 

 ^Come,' and heads them himself early in the morn- 

 ing." 



The planter replied, "that if he were to come 

 to Louisiana, he would see him out early in the 

 morning (?« his horse superintending his work." 

 "Ah!" said the Doctor, "the former never gets 

 on to his horse here." 



The dinner passed off very pleasantly. 



Thursday was a clear, fine day, and, as the un- 

 favorable weather had prevented the people gener- 

 ally from visiting the great tent, where fruits, veg- 

 etables, manufactures, &c., &c., were exhibited, 

 the show there was kept open through the day and 

 evening. The officers of the society were very dil- 

 igent to make the display of articles as good as 

 possible, aware that the out-of-door attractions had 

 been small. 



We saw here a sewing-machine for the first 

 time. It wag Howe's. The article to be stitched 

 was laid upon a revolving cylinder, and upon turn- 

 ing a crank a little arm over it struck down a nee- 

 dle, which made a hole for a loop of thread which 

 instantly followed. As quick as the loop was driv- 

 en through, a little shuttle inside the cylinder, di 

 rectly under the working spot, slipped along 

 through the loop drawing a second thread which 

 fastened the. stitch. The sewing was done with 

 great exactness and rapidity. The price of the ma- 

 chine was two hundred dollars. 



Thomas Chubbuck, engraver, exhibited many 

 proofs of his skill. One was the Lord's Prayer, on 

 a bit of silver, one-fourth as large as a three di^t 

 piece. 



The show of pears and grapes was very fine. I 

 never saw finer clusters of grapes. The vine must 

 have had a sunny location, and a rich, large root- 

 bed. 



The vegetables were fair. Apples were scarce. 

 Very few apples are to be had around Springfield 

 this year. Whittemore & Co., of Chicopee, had 

 ^plows of various patterns ; but a few from Quin- 

 cy Hall, with "long rakish" handles, so easy to 

 grasp and hold, went a little ahead of them. 

 Pumps and fountains — the latter in full play — were 

 an attractive feature. Prospective housekeepers 

 looked curiously into the many stoves. Owners of 

 horses examined the saddlery. All looked at the 

 endless rows of flowers, the speaking daguerreo- 

 types and the handsome paintings. 



In the evening the tent was lighted with gas, 

 and filled with a large and gratified multitude. 



I took the cars at five minutes past 8 o'clock the 

 next morning for Mt. Holyoke. As we rolled out 

 of the great station house up the river, another 



of the morning, seemed belched forth in extraor- 

 dinary volumes from the engine. Looking back 

 upon it over the winding course we had followed, 

 it seemed a silver wall dividing the water from the 

 land. I was standing upon the platform of the 

 rear car, enjoying the fine prospect and the in- 

 creasing warmth of the bright sun, when the cars 

 entered the covered bridge which crosses the river. 

 There was no floor to the bridge, and a look down 

 upon the rushing flood was a little startling ; the 

 cars crossed at a moderate speed. The Norwalk 

 tragedy is not yet forgotten . I was soon in sight 

 of the great dam at Holyoke. The water of the 

 whole Connecticut is here checked by a structure 

 of man's ; and either turned aside into wide canals 

 to drive immense factories, or left to fall over, 

 down a distance of thirty feet. The water in fal- 

 ling assumes a wavy motion, which is communi- 

 cated to the air, so that windows in the neighbor- 

 hood rattle and shake continually. 



The company here have a capital of four millions 

 of dollars. As yet their hopes have not been re- 

 alized. The power has not been taken up as was 

 expected. The prices for privileges, it is said, are 

 high. The water-power is, probably, the greatest 

 in the whole world. 



The water set back by the dam forms quite a 

 little sea. Along the shore are immense quan- 

 tities of drift-wood, brought down from distant for- 

 ests by the great spring floods. 



I was amused with the race of the train with a 

 duck. The bird kept straight up the river, not at 

 all alarmed at the engine, but doing his prettiest 

 to get ahead. For about a mile it seemed a draw 

 game ; but when the train slackened its speed, 

 the bird shot ahead and disappeared while we 

 halted at Smith's Ferry. This is a siving ferry. 

 Not that you get into a swing, and by a good 

 push are sent across. Oh, no! Passengers go 

 on board a regular ferry-boat, which is connected 

 by a strong wire to a high mast set in a mnssive 

 stone pier, far up in the middle of the river. When 

 the boat is pushed off from the shore, the current 

 carries it rapidly towards the middle of the river. 

 A wide board is dropped into the water a few feet, 

 on the upper side nearest the stern of the craft. 

 The current, pressing against this, sends forward 

 the boat to the opposite shore. 



I was soon at Northampton, 17 miles above 

 Springfield. I lost no time in obtaining directions 

 to the far-famed mountains, and was soon riding 

 over the rich intervals towards the object of my 

 journey. I saw the fields of broom corn for the 

 first time in my life. Most of it was tabled ; that 

 is, broken or lopped down about half its height. 

 The clusters of tough spires which form the broom 

 were heavy with seed, vfhich, I was told, is ground 

 into a very repectable meal for cattle and swine. 

 The fields of Indian corn were cut up, stalk and 

 all. The ground left bare showed that the hilling 

 process had gone out of fiishion. I saw one man 



train started for Boston (East,) and a third for 'narrowing in a piece of rye on corn land. He had 

 Albany (West.) The space between them wid- t\vo stout horses and a harrow to each. One 

 ened and widened until both disappeared behind horse he drove before him with long reins, ai^d the 

 the hills. other guided by the bit ! 



The scenery along the banks of the Connecticut , I ^^f about jerked from my ^^f * /^« *^«. 7J,fJ^ 

 is unrivalled for interest and beauty. The rail-b^^P^^, "P^n the boat, which took us over t^^^ 



way, for miles above Springfield, follows the fre-k."*'*'^"* ^g?'°•.^ ^.* '''''' ^ iffn..fi nnP mothS 

 quent and peaceful curves^ of the river. I wask^^PP^^f^trng their provender ocatc one a^^^ 



particularly struck with the appearance of the k^^ M''f;'^^'''^ ""'rfw. fn Vlw T^LtP« 

 Lam, whfch, owingto the conSe^nsing frosty airl- ^^^^^^^^^ 



