THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



AMERICAN HERD-BOOK, 



DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



" The Productions of the Earth will always be in proportion to the culture bestowed upon it." 



Vol. VI — No. 10.] 



5th mo. (May,) 15th, 1842. 



[Whole No. 88. 



JOSIAH TATUM, 



PROPRIETOR AND PUBLISHER, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA, 

 Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last page. 



Notice. 



Having transferred our interest in the 

 Farmers' Cabinet to Josiah Tatum, who has, 

 for some time past, been our principal agent 

 in the management of its concerns, and who 

 is personally well known to a large number 

 of our subscribers, wo may be allowed to 

 commend the publication to the continued fa- 

 vour of all who are interested in the vastly 

 important operations of agriculture, and in 

 the dissemination of the numerous agricul- 

 tural improvements of the day. 



It appears to us a question of grave import, 

 whether a work of this character shall be 

 well sustained by the public. To the practi- 

 cal agriculturist, who plants, and nur.^es, and 

 gathers his crops with his own hand, literally 

 eating his bread in the sweat of his face, it is 

 obviously important that he should keep pace 

 with others of his craft, in the amount and 

 variety of his information. To the citizen 

 also, who, for amusement or profit, gives a 

 portion of his time and his care to his small 

 lot, or his more extended farm, it is of conse- 

 quence that he should be able to avail him- 

 self of the experience of others, and thus 

 avoid the disappointments attendant on the 

 prosecution of visionary theories ; as well as 

 the losses consequent on injudicious expendi- 

 tures. To persons thus engaged, the several 

 volumes of the Cabinet afford an amount of 

 practical information, which we believe is not 

 to be met with elsewhere, at the same price. 



In retiring from the proprietorship of the 

 Farmers' Cabinet, we flatter ourselves that 

 we shall not be charged with viewing our 

 own labours with undue complacency, if we 

 express the hope that our subscribers are pre- 

 pared to acknowledge, the pledge given two 

 years ago, " that no reasonable exertions 

 should be wanting on our part, to render the 

 work worthy of the notice and support of the 

 agricultural community," has been amply re- 

 deemed. We pass it into the hands of one, 



Cab.— Voju VI.— No. JO. 



who, we believe, will do for it all that our- 

 selves could do, and whose exertions will be 

 untiring to make it creditable to himself, and 

 useful to those for whom its pages are more 

 particularly designed. 



Josiah Tatum will collect the arrearages 

 from sub.scribers, who will bear in mind, that 

 though the sums due from them individually 

 are small, the aggregate is of very considera- 

 ble amount. We invite them to remit the 

 small sums due by mail. We owe much to 

 the kindness of postmasters, in franking such 

 remittances, and we have pleasure in making 

 the acknowledgment. 



KiMBER & ShARPLGSS. 



4tli mo. 15, 1842. 



This being the first number of the Farm- 

 ers' Cabinet, issued since it came into the 

 hands of the present proprietor, it would seem 

 proper that he should give an assurance to 

 the subscribers, that no exertions on his part 

 will be wanting, to make the work "credita- 

 ble to himself, and useful to those for whom 

 its pages are more particularly designed." 

 Regularity in its appearance from the press, 

 and promptness in its distribution, may also 

 be relied upon. 



The proprietor is entirely impressed with 

 the belief, that in the publication of an agri- 

 cultural journal like the Cabinet, he is spread- 

 ing among his fellow-citizens a work, that 

 may challenge comparison with those of the 

 most useful class that issue from the periodi- 

 cal press. 



The whole population of the world — "a 

 thousand millions of men, are dependent for 

 their very sustenance," upon the productions 

 of the earth. Two hundred millions, proba- 

 bly, expend their daily toil in pursuits closely 

 connected with the operations of agriculture, 

 — the parent, and prpcursor, and most import- 

 ant, of all other arts.* Nine-tenths, perhaps, 

 of the fixed capital of all civilized nations, is 

 embarked in this one great pursuit. The 

 proprietor of the Cabinet would perhaps, then, 

 be excused, if he should hope he was not al- 

 together undeserving of public regard, while 

 giving his feeble aid to the multiplication of 

 these productions, so essential to the subsist- 

 ence of man. That in making two blades of 



* See Johnston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, 

 Lect. 1. 



(297) 



