10 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JTI1.Y f33, 1834. 



From the AViu York Fitnticr. 

 ESTABLISHMENT OP THE SHAKERS AT 

 PITTSPIELD, MASS. 



I HAVE recently visiti^d the estiililisliinetit of tlie 

 Sliakers or FriiMnls iit I'iltsficlil, in Mussadiiisetts, 

 and enjoyed tlic; liijjliest grMlificiilion in ^vilnes^^in<; 

 their iinprovcinc^nts, and the proofs vvliidi their 

 larfie farm exhibits of intellifience, inechaiiical 

 skill, industry, ne.-ilness, and perseverance in lahur. 

 1 meddle very little wi'th the religious notions of 

 other people ; well satisfied with uiy own, I con- 

 clude they are equally so with theirs ; and hound 

 witli the golden rule to do to others as they shoktld 

 do to me, I am no more disposed to encroach u|i- 

 on their rights, than I should be to acquiesce in 

 any encroachuient on my own. If I caimot ap- 

 prove the whole, I am willing to give them lull 

 credit for any part of a systcju which produces 

 good fruits; and this industrious, peaceahle, hon- 

 est, quiet, hospitable people, think as we will of 

 their delusions, and peculiar customs, are entitled 

 to kindness ami respect. 



Their establishment consists of about seven 

 hundred acres, lying together, and is ))Ossessed by 

 three large families, containing upwards of three 

 hundred individuals, who are uidted for all the 

 general purposes of their Society ; but who iu 

 their financial concerns are separate froiri each 

 other. The land is not of the best descri[)tion, 

 being cold, wet, and unfavorable to grain ; and 

 their attention is mainly directed to the cultivation 

 of grass and garden seeds, and the keeping of 

 cows and sheep. Their first purpose is for their 

 own supply. They raise the best they can, and 

 they eat the best they raise ; and, though from 

 their temperate and careful habits their thrift is 

 ren)arkal)le, yet the accumulation of property is 

 evidently not a principal object with them. 



They have various mecbauical contrivances by 

 which their labor is abridged or lightened. They 

 have made the best use of the water i)Ower which 

 their place furnished, and husband it with care 

 and economy. They have an extensive suw-uiill 

 carried by water, and all their fuel is cut in the 

 same way. A simple arrangement, which it may 

 nppear trifling to mention, struck me for its shrewd- 

 ness and good judgment: ordinarily wood is piled 

 horizontally, and when exposed to the weather be- 

 comes water-soaked and moiddy. Their billets of 

 wood, being sawed, were stacked up in convenient 

 piles, the sticks being placed upright on the end, 

 so that any water which fell iqion it was imme- 

 diately drained oft'. Alter being sawed they were 

 neatly put up under cover. 



IJut what I most admired was their magnificent 

 barn, built of stone, of a circular form, three sto- 

 ries in height, nineiy-five feet in diaunner, and 

 capable, as W(dl as may be calculated, of contain- 

 ing from three to four huinlred tO|)S of hay. • The 

 carts enter in the second story ; tlie floor orulrivc 

 way is continued round by the wall for the whole 

 of the circle, so that the c;irt passi^s rnimd the 

 whole disiancif, and when the hay is discharged, 

 goes out at the same door at which it entered ; 

 and all the hay is deposited in the centre. Twen- 

 ly-four loadeil wagons may stand in the floor and 

 be sheltered or mdoaded at the same time. The 

 roof is n beautifid and curious specimen of car- 

 pentry ; and appears to be most securely support- 

 ed. In the centre of the floor there rises to the 

 apex of the roof a single column, as large as an 

 admiral's mast, around which a hollow frame of 

 elats is fixed, and which serves as a ventilator or 



chimney, lo discharge the steam of hay, open at 

 the top, and protected by a small cupola against 

 the rain. At the same time the hay is raised tVom 

 ihe ground about a foot by an open floor of slats, 

 so that there is, while the hay is new, a constant' 

 circulation of air up this chimney; and one of the 

 friends informed me, that the steam passing from 

 the bavin this mode was oftentimt'S so dense, that, 

 to use his own expression, you could wash your 

 hands in it. 



The arrangements for tlie cattle are in the lower 

 story, where every animal has its place and num- 

 ber, and where every cow is designated in milk or 

 otherwise. In this circular form there is of course 

 a considerable loss of room ; yet the mode of feed- 

 ing is easy, the place is ke|)t clean, the whole 

 arrangements are convenient, and the kindly treat- 

 ed animals standing around this huge mass have 

 at least the pleasure of seeing tiie good things in 

 store for them. 



These worthy friends have singular advantages 

 in the amount of labor which they are able at any 

 time to command and apply lo any object which 

 they have in view ; and their establishment pre- 

 sents a beautiful illustration of the advantages of 

 well directed industry, neatness, and order. The 

 great rule of domestic economy, "a place for eve- 

 ry thing, and every thing in its place," is no where 

 more strikingly exenqilified ; and though they 

 iii.-ike no pretensions to the fine arts, and have 

 little of what is called taste, yet all their arrange- 

 ments, and the products of their labor, exhibit the 

 proofs of thoroughness, permanency, utility, and 

 substantial comfort. H. C 



ers who are not friends) are about to visit New 

 York, we say to them, Fail not to visit prince''s f 

 it will cost you but fifty cents or so, to go there 

 from the city. It will cost you nothing lo pet 

 back again, for ymi will then have no wish to min- 

 gle wilb the bustling, jtistliiig, thoughtless, care- 

 less crowd that moves in Broadway. Yon will 

 there find a ninltiforni exhibition of the products 

 of distant and opposite climes, living and flourish- 

 ing in the most hannonioius proximity. The flow- 

 ers, and fruits, and shrubs, of every Zone, from 

 the mosses and dwarf willows of La|dand and 

 Spitzbergen, to the magnificent magnolias of Flor- 

 ida, ami the gaudy family of Callus, which claims 

 the torrid hills as ils birth place. If you go to 

 New y<u'k, go and see the Garden of the Princes 

 at Flushing. — Southern paper. 



PRIKCE'S GARDEN AT PL.USHING. 



It is stated in the New York Enquirer, that 

 there is now at this place a collection of Carnations 

 in the |)erfection of their bloom, consisting of a 

 thousand plants, and more than two hundred va- 

 rieties. Such a sight would be worth a trip to 

 New York, and we should certainly gratify our 

 flor;il propensity by making it, if times were less 

 troublesome, and money a little more plentiful. A 

 thousand carnations ! What a Paradise ! an in- 

 carnation of beauty and fragrance, which Lalla 

 Rookh might dream of witli envy, and wake in 

 disappointment, though reposing in the valley of 

 Cashmere. 



By the way, there are many oiher tein|)tations 

 to a visit to Prince's Garden besides carnations. 

 His catalogue of Trees, Shrubs, Herbaceous Per- 

 ennials, &c. &c. fills near a hundred pages, and 

 embraces almost every spei'ies, and every variety 

 of vegetable production which the four quarters of 

 the wm'ld can supply. This superb eslablishment 

 covers more than forty acres of ground, and a man 

 might wander through the labyrlnihian paths and 

 avenues f<M' a week or a inonib, and still find 

 something new and beantiliil, to regale the senses, 

 or to lead his mind to a contemplalion of the all- 

 pervading power and goodness of the Creator, and 

 to attract .-md even extort his ailmiratimi td" that 

 skill which ailoriis a shrub, a flower, or a leaf with 

 glories such as Solomon was never able to rival, 

 with all his riches and splendor. A flower garden 

 is one of the most striking and lovely temples 

 which man can enict for the worship of his God. 

 '• Lorciizi)! to this heavoni^' Dt-lplios liasie, 

 Anil come back all immorlal, all divine." 



Of Prince's Garden it is hardly jiossihle to speak 

 in terms too highly enthusiastic. If any of our 

 friends or readers, (and wc hcoe we have no lead- 



•WHITE MULBERRY. 



Experience and observation have demonstrat- 

 ed that the shade of mulberry trees is not injurious 

 to the growth of grass, grain, or any other vegeta- 

 ble. — This is an important discovery, and argues 

 powerfully in favor of the means of raising silk. 



I would advise with hiniible deference, thata 

 every fanner procure mulberry seed, form a nur- 

 sery, transform all his fences into mulberry hedges, 

 and plant standard mulberry trees along all those 

 hedges, half a rod distant from each other. A 

 fiirm of a hundred acres fenced as above advised, 

 woidd in a few years yield from the fences, a crop 

 worih several hundred dollars! These fences 

 would be as chea|) as any other a farmer could 

 erect, would require no repairs, no renewal, so 

 that all the produce arising from the leaves would 

 be a clear |)iofir. One hundred [lonnds of leaves 

 would produce in this country, one pound of reel- 

 ed silk, if judiciously fed, worth from four to sev- 

 en dollars — the jirice being governed by the good 

 or bad reeling. A single tree will produce from 

 thirty to sixty pounds of leaves, depending on the. 

 growth of the tree, soil, &c. — Village Record. 



From the A'fto York Farmer. 

 WILD DEER AKD RATTLE-SNAKE. 



In the western parts of Virginia are dens where 

 the rattle-snakes and other serpents retire on the 

 approach of cold weather, into winter quarters, 

 and where in a torpid state, like others of the ser- 

 lieiit tribe they while away that dreary season in a 

 slate of insensibility to cold or hunger. In the 

 s|)ring, when the genial influence of the sun 

 quickens them into active life, they crawd forth 

 iVom their brumal retreats, and enjoy the ]deasures 

 of a renovated existence in theirown peculiar man- 

 ner. In their travels through the v\'oods and fields, 

 they generally wend their strpentine way along 

 ihe paths ]o-evi(]nsly made, and there not nnfre- 

 (piently meet v. iih travellers of a character and 

 species very difiirent from themselves. Among 

 the members ol' the .-.nimal kingdom that frequent 

 that district of country, is the wild deer, be- 

 tween whom and the rattle-snake there appears lo 

 subsist a most inveterMte, instinctive hatred. When 

 the doer in the elevated pride of his character, 

 moves gracefully along the path where the rattle- 

 snake is travelling, they both instantaneously halt 

 in their course, and prepare fi)r a combat which 

 is to terminate in the death of one or the other of 

 the combatants. The snake immediately coils and 

 pri'pares tor the fatal spring ; the deer slowly re- 

 cedes, and coming up with lofty but gradual 

 bounds, leaps with as much precision as possible 



