AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
7 
THE GEEAT STATESMAN’S FAEM. 
[Notwithstanding the frequent essays upon 
Daniel Webster’s estate, the following plain 
description—written for us by a Professor 
in one of our New-England colleges—will 
be found interesting to every reader.— Ed.] 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Marshfield, Mass., September, 1855. 
While spending a few days at the old man¬ 
sion of Mr. Webster, enjoying the generous 
hospitality which has ever characterized the 
house, originating with the father, and abid¬ 
ing by hereditary descent, as the genius loci , 
with the son, I have taken occasion to study 
carefully the plans and methods adopted by 
the great Statesman in cultivating and adorn¬ 
ing his estate. Many have often inquired 
why he selected a farm so remote from any 
center of business and apparently so inac¬ 
cessible—for it must be remembered that, 
when he purchased the estate of Col. Thom¬ 
as, its former proprietor, it was not in the 
anticipation of the wisest to visit the beach 
by steam. This estate then yielded as many 
of the products and pleasures, both of the 
ocean and the land, as could be conveniently 
secured in a single locality. As a summer 
residence it is still unsurpassed. The heat 
of the Dog star is tempered by the cool sea 
breezes. The air and the water yield their 
inhabitants to satisfy the appetite. The 
ocean is in sight from the upper windows of 
the house, and from a hill about one hundred 
rods west of the house, called “Black Mount,” 
one of the finest prospects is commanded 
which all New-England affords. The site, 
with all its appurtenances, delighted the eye 
and the taste of Mr. Webster. His highest 
pleasure was in rural life and its simple en¬ 
joyments. 
Few persons are aware how much money 
Daniel Webster expended upon his estate. 
His first object seems to have been to make 
the whole landscape around him attractive. 
The native forests had been felled for fuel 
and for timber. There was a deficiency of 
trees for shade and embellishment. He pro¬ 
ceeded to plant forest trees on the lines of 
all his fences ; where his favorite walks ran 
about the old homestead, they stand in double 
rows. A large swell of land south of his 
residence, containing several acres, was, 30 
years ago, a mere sand-hill, from whose sur¬ 
face a high wind would sweep a cloud of 
dust into every door and window of the 
house. This eminence was enriched and 
planted with every variety of shade trees. 
Now it is a dense copse, with trees and 
shrubs varying in hight from five to fifty 
feet, every where intersected by narrow 
paths, and crowned upon its summit with a 
circular dome of littice-work, as a summer¬ 
house. The garden, containing several acres, 
lies between this hill and the dwelling- 
house. 
The old elm that has been so often de¬ 
scribed stands before the door, as a faithful 
sentinel, decked in a beautiful livery of green. 
This tree is probably unsurpassed in beauty 
by any upon the continent. Its trunk is 
divided about eight feet from the ground into 
numerous branches, extending in every di¬ 
rection from the parent stock, so as to form 
a beautiful ellipse, whose transverse axis is 
about 100 feet. These branches bend over 
gracefully, in a uniform curve, till their ex¬ 
tremities sweep the well-shaven lawn be¬ 
neath. 
The artificial pond of fresh water north of 
the house, is one of the most striking fea¬ 
tures of the landscape. Its bed w'as origin¬ 
ally a point of land which was covered by 
salt water when the tide was in, and formed 
a part of the marsh which stretches away 
to the ocean. This semi-circular nook was 
cut off by a causeway from the flowing of 
the tide, and it is now supplied with fresh 
water by springs from the adjacent high¬ 
lands. It is bordered by a little grove, plant¬ 
ed by Mr. Webster, divided through its en¬ 
tire length by a graveled walk, where the 
host or guest may enjoy a delicious cool¬ 
ness and commune with nature or with his 
own thoughts. Trees and flowers were 
necessary to Mr. Webster’s happiness. He 
made abundant provision for both. He had 
an eye to utility as well as to pleasure. 
Near his own mansion there is g small 
uadrangular building, with an ice cellar 
beneath, designed as a dairy. This is so 
completely embowered in trees that it must 
be sought in order to be seen. A building 
for a similar purpose stands near the cot¬ 
tage where one of his tenants who had 
charge of his cows resided. Ic is protected 
in the same way from the heat of summer. 
Fruit trees were set in great abundance in 
the grounds about the garden, all sheltered 
from the eastern winds by forest trees. 
About the year 1847 Mr. Webster set a new 
orchard of apple and peach trees, on a tongue 
of land which verges toward the salt marsh, 
north-east of his house. Some five thou¬ 
sand trees were planted. The apple trees 
are flourishing finely; the peach trees, which 
were set in alternate rows with the apple 
trees, have been blasted to a considerable 
extent by the winds that blow from the 
ocean. 
Most of the barns and out-houses which 
were reared for the accommodation of his 
imported cattle, sheep and swine, will be 
pulled down. Since the sale of the estate 
they have not been needed, and no future 
occupant of the old mansion house will be 
likely to indulge his'taste for superior ani¬ 
mals so liberally as Mr. Webster did. In¬ 
deed few farmers could afford the expense. 
It is estimated by good judges that the 
improvements annually made by Mr. Web¬ 
ster upon his farm, must have required an 
outlay of at least five thousand dollars be¬ 
sides the income of the farm of two thousand 
acres. Here he indulged his tastes without 
stint and sought relief from the harrassing 
cares of public life. No one can visit the 
scenes which his taste adorned, without be¬ 
coming a wiser and a better man. The head 
and the heart are both cultivated by the sub¬ 
stantial improvements and exquisite embel¬ 
lishments planned and executed by the first 
man of his age. e. d. s. 
The man who does most has the least time 
to talk about what he does. 
For the American Agriculturist, 
SAVING SEED. 
This is one of the most important branch¬ 
es of Horticulture, and yet none is more 
generally neglected. The man who is de¬ 
voted to seed-growing for sale, has a great 
responsibility resting upon him ; for on this 
branch of the business depends, in a great 
measure, the supply of the markets. Gar¬ 
deners in general do not grow their own 
seed, for the reasons that, they have not 
time; they have not space of ground ; or, if 
so, they crop it more profitably ; and, they 
have no place to dry seed, or implements to 
clean them with. Hence they depend chief¬ 
ly on the seed stores, the proprietors of 
which, in most cases, buy their seeds of 
persons who grow them for market, and 
from those they think reliable. In this they 
are sometimes deceived, for seeds which 
they think pure, arc often mixed by being 
grown too near the same class of plants, dif¬ 
fering only in variety. When this is done, 
both are generally spoiled. It is in this 
manner I account for the frequent disap¬ 
pointments gardeners yearly experience in 
their seeds—and in Brocoli more than any 
thing else. It is a very rare thing to get a 
half pound of Brocoli seed entirely true, for 
if one single Cabbage should happen to be 
within a hundred yards, going to seed at the 
same time as the Brocoli, the whole is inev¬ 
itably spoiled. 
Hence the necessity of the greatest care 
in the seed grower; for when this seed is 
sold, a person may plant eight or ten acres 
and not cut a hundred heads out of it; the 
rest being between a Brocoli and a Cabbage, 
will not head at all, there is a clear loss of a 
large crop, and the labor expended on it. I 
have a crop now in this fix. 
Savoys, Cabbages, Turnips, and in fact 
most vegetables, are liable to' be ruined in 
the same manner. There is a greater saving 
of expense in buying, say a pound of Tur¬ 
nip seed, for $2, that you can depend upon, 
than the same quantity for 50 cents, that you 
are not sure of. And this extends to all 
kinds of seeds. The difference of a few 
cents often induces purchases that are re¬ 
pented of afterwards. Seed, like everything 
else, must bring a price that will remunerate 
the careful grower for the trouble and ex¬ 
pense attending it. No practice is to be 
more strongly condemned than the one of 
selling to stores seeds that have been grown 
in close proximity to the same class of plants, 
or any plants with which they will hybridize. 
The only remedy I know of for the frequent 
disappointments, is to purchase seeds of the 
most reliable stores, and give the price 
asked, even if high, rather than purchase at 
a lower price from those not to be depended 
on. __ w. s ’ 
Value of Linen Thread. —A single pound 
of flaxen thread, intended for the finest spe¬ 
cimens of French lace, is valued at $600 ! 
and the length of the thread is about 226 
miles ! One pound of this thread is more 
valuable than two pounds of gold. 
Trouble like capital; is usually two-thirds 
borrowed. 
