USA > Vermont > Orange County > Topsham > Sketches of the town of Topsham, Orange County, Vermont, 1929 > Part 10
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The deer, shy at this time of the year, are back in the hills, but when the trees shed their leaves they will come more into the open and we may see them feeding along the grassy river banks and drinking from the noisy streams.
When we look upon the beauty of our forested hills, when we see the purity of the hillside spring and hear the murmur of the merry brook and the rush of the noisy river, and when we see how the children of the wood are clothed, fed and cared for, we can more fully realize that, "Not even a sparrow falls without His consent, and that even the hairs of our heads are numbered."
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THE POPULATION OF TOPSHAM
THE OLD BEAVER MEADOW.
A half mile above Waits River village on the MeDuffee farm there is a swamp meadow of about fifteen acres. Once this meadow was the home of a beaver colony.
As late as fifty years ago there were two well-defined beaver- dams near the upper end of the meadow. Today one of these dams can still be traced partly across the meadow. And pieces of trees and branches cut by beavers can still be found along the brook which meanders back and forth throughout the whole length of the meadow. A beaver-cut limb about four inches in diameter was picked up in this brook by the writer on August 4, 1929.
Cowslips, blue flags, orchids of many colors, water lilies and many other flowers now bloom in their respective seasons where once the busy beaver built his house of mud and sticks. Gone, long ago, is the beaver, but the muskrat, another rodent, still makes its home in the banks of the brook that flows through the old beaver meadow.
Overlooking this meadow is the McDuffee home situated on what is called "Woodman Hill." The frame of the older part of this house is considerable over a hundred years old. It once stood on the left-hand side of Pike Hill road on the Corinth line. It was the home of Robert McCrillis, who purchased the land upon which it stood in 1799. Only the stone-walled cellar is left to mark the site of the McCrillis house.
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THE POPULATION OF TOPSHAM
AN AFTERNOON WALK IN TOPSHAM.
Yesterday afternoon we took a walk looking for wild flowers. It was one of those sunshiny days in spring when the earth is striving to throw off the shackles of frost and snow which have bound her hills and valleys since last November.
After walking several miles along the River Road, we left the valley and began to climb the hills. Sometimes we followed a brook fed by the melting snows farther up; again we climbed slopes so steep that often we were glad to stop for a few moments and take a breathing spell.
The birds were out in full force. Robins, three or four in a group, flew from the sumacs before us. An occasional blue bird flitted across an open space giving color to the drab of the de- ciduous trees beyond, a dash of color that was almost instantly lost in the dark evergreens, which stood solitary or in groups on the slopes above us.
After an hour's climb we reached some almost perpendicular ledges. These ledges faced the south and some of them were from thirty to sixty feet high. Scattered trees and shrubs clung to their steep sides, and growing from crevices in their rocky faces and in scattered patches of soil the Hepatica was blooming in abundance.
In colors of blue, of lavender, of pink and of white, this flow- er, the earliest to blossom in Topsham, looked down upon the banks of snow in and along the edges of the denser woods on the slopes below. Fragile stems, each bearing a delicate blossom. reared themselves from a mass of three-lobed leaves.
Far in the distance across the Connecticut River, old Moosi- lauke reared its lofty head, crowned with a mass of snow and ice, that glittered and sparkled in the afternoon sun. Finger-like pro- jections of ice could be seen extending down its sides, the whole resembling, in miniature, one of the Alps or one of the Canadian Rockies.
Gathering a few of the beautiful blossoms of the Hepatica we took our way downward to the river. Sparkling hillside brooks, songs of birds in the trees, and the noisy river, a river no longer ice-bound, spoke eloquently of Nature who is waking from her long winter sleep to renew the beauty of summer.
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THE POPULATION OF TOPSHAM
SOME OF OUR BLACKSMITHS.
Ebenezer Sanborn was the first blacksmith in the western part of Topsham. Mr. Sanborn settled on the middle 120 acres of Lot 64 in 1799 in the vicinity of what afterwards was called "Zion Hill." His shop was probably not far from the present home of White Brothers. He was followed by his son, Ophir Sanborn, and he by his brother, John Sanborn. The blacksmith shop at West Topsham is now owned by Merton Hayward. The present blacksmith is Ernest Monroe.
Hazen Minard was one of the early blacksmiths at Waits Riv- er. His shop was on the right-hand side of the road just beyond the cemetery. Mr. Minard's shop was succeeded by the shop at- tached to the house built by E. C. Swift in the early fifty's, now owned by Charles Dodge. It stands just beyond and west of the mill yard.
The present blacksmith at Waits River is D. J. Morrison, who began blacksmithing there in 1926. In 1927 he erected a shop on the right-hand side of the road just beyond the old "Dunbar House" now owned by Clifford Chalmers. Mr. Morrison does auto repair- ing as well as general blacksmith work.
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH.
The village smithy stands In a hollow 'mong the hills; Sturdy is its roof-tree, And staunch its wooden sills.
Wide open stands its door, As ever ancient hall; No rival has the blacksmith, So muscular and tall.
He shoes the ox and horse, Then mends a wagon wheel,
The autos stand a-waiting, Their gas pipes to anneal.
All day the blacksmith works, With sooty hands and face, To him, this man of labor, The grime has no disgrace.
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And when the day is done. And the day is growing chill, He takes the forest pathway To his home upon the hill.
And humble though it be. This toiler's hillside cot, A happy home has he, Contentment is his lot.
1
HAYING IN TOPSHAM
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
In earlier times considerable wheat and corn was produced in Topsham. A man who did not have from 100 to 300 bushels of corn in those days was not considered much of a farmer.
There were at one time three grist mills in the town. These mills did a good business in grinding wheat and corn. These mills' are gone and practically no wheat and corn are raised now for milling purposes. The story is told that the miller in one of those old mills in a rush season was grinding wheat on Sunday. The minister went to him and remonstrated with him. The surly old fellow replied: "I think I can take care of my own business."
Silage corn, oats, potatoes and hay are the chief crops today. Considerable maple sugar is made, and there are several orchards which produce good crops every year. There is no reason why every Topsham farmer should not raise enough apples for his own use as the soil is suited for this purpose.
More hay is produced than can be used by the stock now in Topsham. The cattle become fewer in number every year, and less and less hay is cut on the vacant hill farms. It seems that some of this waste land might be used in the production of wool. The hill farms would make ideal sheep pastures.
Considerable lumber is cut in the fall and winter. Among the hardwoods chiefly utilized for this purpose are the maples, the birches and the beeches. The chief softwoods are spruce and hem- lock. Other trees found are: Ash, cherry, oak, willow, elm, butter- nut, balsam cedar, hemlock and tamarack.
FORESTS.
A large part of Topsham was originally covered with forests. Many of the fields now farmed were cleared by the early settlers a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago.
The method of procedure in clearing for a hillside farm was to notch a row of trees at the base of a hill and parallel with it. Then the hewers would work up hill notching the trees deeper and deeper on the lower side as the top of the hill was approached.
When near the top a row of trees would be cut so that when they fell they would strike other partly cut trees below and thus bring down several acres of trees at once. After the trees were down they were burned. Much lumber was destroyed that would have been quite valuable at the present time. .
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Cleared fields not under cultivation have a tendency to revert to the original state. Many fields that were once farmed are now covered with trees from three to six and eight inches in diameter.
REFORESTING IN TOPSHAM.
The planting of forest trees in Topsham has been done to some extent. This reforesting of untillable lands will prove a fu- ture source of profit to the owner. Much more of this kind of work could be done.
J. F. Perry has set apart 40 acres of his farm in Topsham for forest and orchard. His trees consist of pines, spruces and apple trees. He already has 20,000 trees planted. 1,000 of which are apple trees. The forest trees are Scotch pines and Red pines; the apple trees are chiefly Macintosh Reds and Northern Spies. Ten thousand of the forest trees were set out in 1923, the others in 1928.
Eugene Fellows planted fifteen to twenty thousand Scotch and White Pine in 1913. In 1915 he set out 100 Norway Spruce.
The White Brothers set out 7,000 Scotch Pine in 1922 and 3,000 Red Pine in 1928.
Bert Lafoe has 200 Scotch Pine, set out in 1919.
The Julian A. Dimock Farm has 1,000 Red Pine and 1,000 Scotch Pine, set out in 1926-27.
Charles M. Colby planted 4,000 Scotch Pine in 1925.
E. S. Locke has 9.750 White and Scotch Pine. The first 1,000 of them were set out in 1914.
Gertrude M. Rowe has 3,000 Scotch Pine, planted in 1923, and 2,000 planted in 1924.
. .
Waldo Hood has 4,000 Norway Pine and 500 Spruce trees, set out about 1925.
Ryegate Paper Co. set out 10,000 Norway Spruce in 1924 and 15,000 Norway Spruce in 1925 on the "Caldwell Farm."
Thomas Farwell and John Stevens set out 28,000 Norway Spruce on the "Rowell Lot."
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
FLOWERS. 1
During the past two summers the author studied many of Topsham's wild flowers. A few of the more common ones are giv- en below. These were all found within a radius of two miles of his home at Waits River:
A.
Adder's Tongue, Dog-tooth Violet ( Erythronium Americanum. ) This yellow blossom is one of the early flowers. Its yellow, nod- ding blossom rises six to twelve inches above its grayish green mottled leaves. It is often found growing in colonies beside brooks, hence the name Trout Lily is sometimes applied to it. Early Spring.
Tall Hairy Agrimony (Agrimonia hirsuta). This plant has a group of small yellowish flowers in a head at the top of a tall stalk. The stalk is sometimes clothed with hairs. Found in August.
B.
Rough Bedstraw, Goosegrass ( Galium Aparine). This plant has a two to five-foot scrambly, squarish, bristly stem. Each small four-parted inconspicuous white flower becomes a twin-seed vessel haying many hooked bristles.
Black-eyed Susan, Cone Flower, Nigger-head, Yellow or Ox- eye Daisy, Golden Jerusalem (Rudbeckia hirta). Stem, one to two feet; tall, stout, rough, hairy, usually unbranched. Flowers, 12 to 15 orange-yellow rays, rays notched at tips and two parallel veins run their length. The center of the flower is made up of pur- plish-brown florets in the shape of a cone. Leaves, oblong to lance- shaped, lower ones on stalks, thick. hairy, strong midrib. Open fields, July and August.
Bluets, Innocense, Quaker Ladies, Quaker Bonnets (Houstonia Coerulea). These beautiful four-parted flowers are of two colors, purplish blue and white. In June they often are so thick in moist meadows as to give them the appearance of being snow-covered.
The Spring Beauty (Claytonia Virginica) in time is almost contemporary with the Hepatica. Its small flower and shrinking stem gives it the appearance of being afraid of the cold nights of April. In the year 1925 I saw the first one of these flowers on
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
April 20th. It was at the foot of a ledge on the north side of the river. Snow still lay deep in the hollows there, and the slopes on the south side of the river were covered with from one to two feet of snow, beneath which the green of the fern and the green and red of the partridge and checkerberries lay buried.
Shrinking beanties of the wood, From the rustling leaves they rise. Giving just a bit of pleasure To the fickle April skies.
Early or Tufted Buttercup ( Ranunculus fascicularis). The dark green long-stemmed leaves are deeply lobed. Flower, deep yellow. May.
Buttercup, Tall Crowfoot ( Ranunculus acris).
Buttercups of yellow hue, Underneath a sky of blue. Makes a wondrous pretty sight, Fill the children with delight.
For what youngster has not held this flower under his com- panion's chin to test that companion's fondness for butter!
Tall Bellflower ( Campanula rapnnenloides). This plant has a one to two-foot stem with a nodding head of bluish flowers at its top. Flowers in July and August.
Bloodroot ( Sanguinaria canadensis ) . The early-blooming white flower before the leaves develop and its blood-red roots are the chief characteristics of the Bloodroot.
Bouncing Bet, Soapwort ( Saponaria officinalis). The two-foot stem of this plant is stout, grooved and has swollen joints. It has large rose-tinged flowers. It is usually found near the farm-house from whose garden it has escaped.
Beech Drops, Cancer-root (Epifagus virginiana). This plant having no leaves is found in the shade of beech trees. It is para- sitic, drawing nourishment from the roots of the beech tree. The flower varies through shades of purple, yellow and brown. Sum- mer.
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
- Bluet, Quaker Lady ( Houstonia caerulea ). This delicate flower has a yellow eye. Its three to seven-inch stem rises from a tuft of small leaves. June and July.
Wee flower of the wayside, With thy dainty upturned face, Giving much of summer beauty To some lonely waste place.
Sessile-leaved Bellwort, Wild Oats ( Oakesia sessilifolia) is very common in spring in the woods. Its one or two lily-like greenish-yellow blossoms droop beneath the curving 12-inch stems.
The Perfoliate Bellwort, Straw Bell ( Uvularia perfoliata) re- sembles the preceding species in many ways, but the leaves sur- round the stem and gives the appearance of a stem growing thru the leaves. May and June.
C,
Coltsfoot, Coughwort (Tussilago Farfara). The yellow dande- lion-like flower grows at the top of a scaly-bracted scape. The broadly-oval basal leaves appear later than the flowers. This plant grows in colonies and flowers in May.
Red Cohosh (Actaea rubra) and White Cohosh (Actaea alba), the former often called Red Baneberry, and the latter White Bane- berry, are found in Topsham. The Cohoshes have several charac- teristics in common, among which are numerous white flowers and bushy stems from one to two feet high. The flowers of the White Cohosh have white berries with dark spots on the ends; the Red Cohosh has rigid clusters of red berries, each berry having a slen- der stem.
The White Sweet Clover ( Melilotus alba), a tall bushy plant, is found along roadsides. The sensitive leaves of this plant fold up at night.
Bladder Campion (Silenc lactifolia) is found frequently along roadsides. It is from one to two feet high. The flower is white. Its chief characteristic is the bladder-like calyx of its flower.
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). This plant has a slender, branched stem. The red-without-and-yellow-within nod- ding flowers are five-spurred. Found in rocky woods. April to July.
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
Indian Cucumber ( Medeola Virginiana). The stem is one to three feet high with two whorls of leaves. One of them being at the top. the flowers are small and greenish-yellow. The root is cucumber-like. The flower becomes a purple berry.
Yellow or Hop Clover (Trifolium agrarium) is often found in groups along roadsides. This plant. except in the color of its blossom, very much resembles the White Sweet Clover plant.
Common Mustard ( Brassica nigra ) . This yellow-flowered plant is found in waste fields. The plant is smooth to the touch.
Charlock, Field Mustard, Field Kale ( Brassica avensis). This plant resembles the preceding one except it is rough to the touch. Charlock or Kale is a troublesome weed. Emerson defined a weed as "a plant whose use we do not know." We haven't found a use for Kale yet.
Checkerberry, Creeping Wintergreen, Spice Berry ( Gaultheria procumbens ). The glossy evergreen leaves are clustered at the top of the two to five-inch high branches. Two white tubular flow- ers hang just below the leaves in July and August.
Caraway (Caruni carvi). The seed of this two to three-foot much-branched hollow stem is flattened, ribbed and aromatic. It is often used as a spice for cookies and cakes.
Yellow Clintonia (Clintonia borealis). The nodding cream- colored flowers of this plant become blue berries. The plant was named after DeWitt Clinton, an early Governor of New York state.
Chicory, Succory, Blue Sailors (Chicorium intybus) . This plant is found along roadsides. Its stiff angular one to two-foot stem has many blue flowers with strap-shaped petals. The root is used as an adulterant in coffee.
D.
White Daisy, White Weed, Ox-eyed Daisy ( Chrysanthemum. Leucanthemum) is a habitat of fields and roadsides. During June the meadows are often snowy white with this daisy. Maidens of- ten tell their fortunes by pulling the white ray flowers as they re- peat: "Rich man, Poor man, Beggar man, Thief, Doctor, Law-yer, Mer-chant, Chief" or "He loves me, he loves me not, He loves me, he loves me not."
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
Dicentra, Dutchman's Britches, White Hearts, Eardrops (Di- centra Cucularia) has a white inflated heart-shaped flower. The name "Dicentra" means two-spurred. The leaves of this plant are much cut up on slender stems. May and June.
E.
The Pearly Everlasting, Early Everlasting, or Mouse-Ear ( An- tennaria plantaginfolia) comes with the early spring flowers. Patches of this white-flowered plant often whiten the dry hillside- pastures in May.
Pearly Everlasting, Silver-leaf, Cotton weed (Antennaria mar- garitacea) has sage-green leaves that are woolly beneath: This plant and the Sweet or Fragrant Everlasting (Graphalium poly- cephalum) are often dried and made into wreaths for winter. The Pearly Everlasting flowers about a month earlier than the Sweet Everlasting, their fiowering seasons being in July and August.
F.
Blue Flag, Blue Iris, Fleur-de-Lis (Iris versicolor). This tall beautiful six-divided blue flower variegated with yellow is often found growing in wet open places in June and July.
The For-get-me-not ( Myosotus laxa) has a sky-blue, one-sided curving flower-cluster. It grows in moist meadows after early May. The flower is symbolical of true love and constancy. A Persian legend told by the poet Shiraz runs as follows: One morn- ing in the long ago a beautiful maiden sat by a river twining For- get-me-nots in her hair. An angel from Paradise saw her and fell in love with her. Because of his love for an earth-maiden the angel was banished from Paradise till she whom he loved should plant the Forget-me-not in every corner of the earth. The angel went hand-in-hand with the beautiful maiden throughout all the earth planting Forget-me-nots. When the task was finished the two entered Paradise together.
Firewood, Great Willow Herb (Epilobium' augustifolium) is a tall plant from four to seven feet high found along roadsides. The purplish-pink flowers nod. Its leaves are sometimes used for greens. July.
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
G.
Blue-eyed Grass, Eye-bright (Sisyrinchium augustifolium ) has a bluish-purple flower with a yellow center. It opens only for a day and then only in the sunshine. June till August.
Several species of the Goldenrods are found in Topsham. Among these are the Blue-stemmed Goldenrod (Solidago caesia) ; the Sweet Goldenrod or Blue Mountain Tea (Solidago odora) : the Canada Goldenrod (Solidago Canadensis) and the Zig-Zag or Broad-leaved Goldenrod (Solidago latifolia). All of the above are characterized by their yellow flowers and by their seed being tipped with fine feathery hairs which enable the wind to scatter them everywhere. The seed are eaten by birds in winter. When the Goldenrods are covered with snow the birds often go hungry.
FEED THE BIRDS.
The birds go hungry When the cold winds blow.
When the ground is hidden By the ice and the snow.
Unless we scatter Some crumbs here and there,
Protected and sheltered From the cold winter air.
Then quickly they come From the snowy trees,
The nuthatch, the chickadee, Old bluejay the tease.
They twitter, they chatter As they hurry to eat, Oft holding a piece Between their bare feet.
These birds are made happy By the crumbs they find, And to them we should be Ever gentle and kind.
For truly these crumbs That from our hands fall
Are helping the One That cares for us all.
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
Wild Ginger, Canada Snakeroot ( Asarum Canadense ) . This peculiar plant has lobed, long-stemmed, fuzzy leaves. The flower is a dull purple and so close to the ground as to be partly buried in the litter about its base. Th stout rootstock of this plant lias a ginger-like flavor and it was once considered a remedy for deafness and headache. It is said that the rootstock now yields an oil which is used in making perfumery.
Two leaves, aromatic, Heart-shaped, deep green, Hide a dull-colored flower Which is only seen, Close down to the ground, Where eyes must be sharp Or it will never be found.
H
Orange Hawkweed, Devil's Paint-brush, Grim the Collier ( Hieracium aurantiacum ). This orange-red weed, a recent emi- grant from Europe, is becoming a pest, even greater than the Tall Buttercup or the Ox-Eye Daisy in our meadows. It blossoms from June till August. The plant gets its name from the word "hierax," a hawk, because people once believed that the hawk sharpened its eyes by feeding on the leaves of this plant. "Grim the Collier" is the common name for the plant in England. It is so called be- cause of the sooty appearance of its stalk.
The Hepatica or Liverwort ( Hepatica triloba) is the earliest flower to bloom in this locality. It is found rising from its brown last-year leaves upon hillsides that face southward. The very earliest of these flowers spring up amid the mosses on the faces of precipitous ledges. Many of these ledges still have deep snow- drifts at their bases. This dainty flower, blue, purple, pink or white, or often a blend of two or more of these four colors, has an individuality marked not only by its beautiful colors and its early arrival, but by its liver-shaped leaves and its fuzzy buds which give it the appearance of still being dressed in its winter robes.
Blue as the sky above, White' as the stripes we love, Mixed with purple and pink, These dainty flowerets link Old winter, its snows and gloom With warmth, with summer and bloom.
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
American White or False Hellebore, Indian Poke ( Veratrum viride). This plant is found in swampy places in early spring where its rank growth of leaves is very noticeable. The stem is stout and very leafy. It is from two to four feet high. The leaves are strongly plaited, lance-oval, the lower ones being from 10 to 12 inches long. Odor, disagreeable. Rootstock, thick and poison- ous. Flowering season, June and July.
Herb Robert, Red Robin, Red Shanks (Geranium Robertian um). The forked slightly hairy stem of this plant reaches a height of from one to two feet. Its strong scent when crushed and its ยท resemblance to the common house geranium characterizes it.
Hemp Nettle (Galeopsis Tetrahit). This plant has a slanting, hairy, branched stem swollen below the joints. Its small purple flowers streaked with white are found at the axils of the leaves. August.
1.
Ice Plant, Indian Pipe, Corpse Plant, Ghost Flower ( Mono- tropa uniflora). The chief characteristics of this peculiar plant are its wax-like four to eight-inch leafless stem and its white nod- ding flower. It is a parasitic plant and was once used by the In- dians as a lotion for the eye.
J.
Jewel Weed, Spotted Touch-me-not, Wild Balsam (Impatiens fulva). Its colored branching stem grows from two to three feet high. Its orange-yellow flowers are spotted with brown. August.
Joe-Pye Weed, Trumpet Weed, Purple Boneset (Eupatorium fistulosum). The stem of this plant is from three to six feet high, purplish, stout, leafy and hollow. The flowers are of a dull-purplish color and form umbrella-shaped heads.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Indian Turnip (Arisaema triphyllum). Ev- eryone knows this quaint little preacher, a little preacher that in the fall becomes a group of bright red berries. The Indians boiled the berries and ate them. They also ate the corm or enlarged base of the stem when it was boiled.
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THE PLANT LIFE OF TOPSHAM
L.
Ladies' Tresses (Gyrostachys cernua). The flower somewhat resembles the Northern White Orchis except it is more delicate and has no spur.
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