332 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Not. 



SHORT TRIP AMONG THE MOUNTArNS. 



Haverhill — A Beautiful Town — Shoe Business — The Indians, and 

 Mrs. Duston — Dr. Nichols — A New Fertilizsr — The Roads — 

 Crops — Dea, Tenney's Farm — Draining — The Country Beau- 

 tiful. 



Haverhill, Mass., Sept., 1863. 



Gentlemen : — This is a beautiful town. It lies 

 directly on the north side of the Merrimack River. 

 One long business street runs parallel with the 

 river, and is lined with stores and shops where 

 goods of one kind or another are manufactured or 

 sold. The shoe business is the leading pursuit, 

 and employs a very large capital. Other streets, 

 at right angles with that on the river bank, ascend 

 the hill, upon which many fine mansions have been 

 erected, and rising one above another and inter- 

 spersed with shade trees, give the town a charm- 

 ing aspect. From some high points, the view of 

 distant hills and towns, the rich and wide spread- 

 ing fields, and the sweet Merrimac flowing calmly 

 through the winding valley, presents a picture of 

 uncommon beauty. 



This town is celebrated as the scene of the de- 

 scent which the Indians made upon it on the 15th 

 of March, 1698, "where they took Mrs. Hannah 

 Duston, who was confined to her bed with an in- 

 fant only six days old, and attended by her nurse, 

 Mary Niif. The Indians took Mrs. Duston from 

 bed and carried her away with the nurse and in- 

 fant. They soon dispatched the latter by dashing 

 its head against a tree. When they had proceed- 

 ed as far as an island, which has justly been called 

 Duston's Island, in the Merrimack, near the 

 mouth of the Contoocook, on their way to an In- 

 dian town, situated a considerable distance above, 

 the Indians informed the women that they must 

 be stripped, and run the gauntlet through the vil- 

 lage on their arrival. 



Mrs. Duston and her nurse had been assigned 

 to a family, consisting of two stout men, three wo- 

 men and seven children, or young Indians, besides 

 an English boy who had been taken from Worces- 

 ter. 



Mrs. Duston, aware of the cruelties that await- 

 ed her, formed the design of exterminating the 

 whole family, and prevailed upon the nurse and 

 boy to assist her in their destruction. A little 

 before day, finding the whole company in a sound 

 sleep, she awoke her confederates, and with the 

 Indian hatchets despatched ten of the twelve ! 

 One of the women, Avhom they thought they had 

 killed, made her escape, and a favorite boy they 

 designedly left. Mrs. Duston and her companion 

 arrived safely home with the scalps. The general 

 Court of Massachusetts made her a grant of fifty 

 pounds, and she received many other valuable 

 presents." 



Just out of the thickly-settled part of the town, 

 I visited a fijie tract of land recently purchased by 

 Dr. J. R. Nichols, a chemist of your city, but 



who resides here. A wooded portion of it lies 

 upon a beautiful lake, and the rising lands beyond 

 were coveredhalf knee-high with uJooming clover. 

 He contemplates laying out roads on the margin 

 of the lake, and over various portions of the es- 

 tate, and bringing the whole farm into a high de- 

 gree of fertility. In the pursuit of his business as 

 a manufacturing chemist, he has had large oppor- 

 tunity to learn the nature and value of minerals, 

 and has given them much thought and investiga- 

 tion with regard to their use as fertilizers. From 

 my own knowledge of the wonderful efiects of 

 some of them upon the growth of plants, and 

 from some quite imperfect trials of a preparation 

 which he may yet introduce to the public, I am 

 satisfied that it will possess more merit than any 

 guano, superphosphate, or other specific fertilizer 

 yet used. Though crowded with profes^onal busi- 

 ness, the Doctor has long found an irresistible 

 charm in the soil, and has given much searching 

 thought in this direction, and the results which he 

 has reached, will prove of most essential service 

 to the farmer. His mind has a practical and be- 

 nevolent tendency. The device of his for heating 

 dwelling-houses cheaply and perfectly by steam, 

 will yet come into general use in cities and villa- 

 ges. I have used it five years, with economical 

 results, and with a degree of safety and comfort 

 never before realized in any other mode of heat- 

 ing. My visit to him has been one of interest 

 and improvement. I only wish, gentlemen, that 

 you could have joined us in our evening conversa- 

 tions. 



In this ramble of about a hundred miles among 

 the farmers, I went into the eastern portion of New 

 Hampshire. Everwhere on my way I found the 

 roads badly washed by the excessive summer rains 

 — for I travelled in my own carriage, with my wife 

 by my side. Men were everywhere haying, and 

 nearly as many engaged on the Jirst as on the sec- 

 ond crop. The hay is dark-colored, and the barns 

 ai'e without their usual autumnal fragrance. Oth- 

 er crops generally appear well. There will be a 

 fair crop of ajyjjles. Com has run to stalks more 

 than usual, mieat has been almost a failure, 

 wherever I have inquired about it, and rye not 

 much better. Disease has appeared in some po- 

 taioe fields, but they pi'omise a good crop, gener- 

 ally. 



I find that the practice of draining farm lands 

 is gaifting favor. Upon the farm of Deacon Wil- 

 liam Tenney, of Chester, I found some excellent 

 examples. An orchard of four or five acres, thor- 

 oughly tile-drained, was as soft and pliable as a 

 garden bed. Before it was drained, it was difficult 

 to plough it in season for any of the usual spring 

 crops. Uncle Sam's agents have found the way 

 to most of the timber lots, as I find forest giants 

 jirostrate in all my rambles. 



