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Culture of Mustard. — Cultivation of Flowers. Vol. VI. 



land more productive, he saves labour and 

 time, and excites his neighbour to order and 

 industry; cultivates his own taste; sets a 

 noble example to his children; secures to his 

 family a thousand blessings; and prepares 

 himself to enjoy the sweetest pleasures in 

 this life, and a glorious reward in that which 

 is to come. — Agriculturist. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Culture of Mustard. 



Mr. Editor, — In addition to several ex- 

 cellent papers in former numbers of the Cabi- 

 net, recommending the cultivation of articles 

 for which we are at present mainly indebted 

 to foreign countries, I would advocate in this 

 the growth of Mustard, a crop requiring 

 neither skill in the management or additional 

 outlay of capital, either for labour or ma- 

 chinery; a small amount of practical experi- 

 ence being all-sufficient to the supply of the 

 article to any extent, and at a fair remunera- 

 tion for labour, which, by-the-bye, would be 

 found of the lightest and most pleasant kind, 

 quite within the power of lads to perform, 

 from the time of sowing the seed to the har- 

 vesting of the crop, both included. And I 

 have a strong presentiment, that the seed 

 raised amongst us would prove of very supe- 

 rior quality, our " light and heat" being 

 friendly to the development of the essential 

 oil or empyreuma, which constitutes the value 

 of this peculiar crop, as also of others, which 

 might ba named on some future occasion. I 

 find an interesting article on this subject in 

 the Cultivator, for which I ask space in the 

 pages of the Cabinet, and am 



A Subscriber. 



" It is not generally known how large a 

 quantity of the seed of the mustard-plant is 

 annually consumed in this country; it is im- 

 parted from Holland and the more southern 

 parts of Europe, and sold in our Atlantic mar- 

 kets at from three to four dollars a bushel. 

 It is also raised in England, and there manu- 

 factured for the table, in which state it is 

 exported to this country in large quantities 

 as 'real Durham mustard!' I believe that 

 those who have soils suited to the growth of 

 this crop, will find it more profitable than 

 almost any other they can raise; it requires 

 a rich, clean, moist soil, the seeds to be sown 

 about the time of other spring grains, four 

 quarts being sufficient for an acre, sown broad- 

 cast; it is, however, often drilled and hand- 

 hoed. It usually ripens unequally, and should 

 be cut while rather green, to prevent waste 

 by shelling; stacking upon canvas, and the 

 top well secured from rain ; and here it must 

 remain until properiy cured. By this treat- 

 ment, the unripe seeds will be nourished by 

 the stalk until they become plump and sound. 



If threshed abroad in the fields, it must be 

 done on canvass, to prevent waste ; and this 

 mode is to be preferred to removing it to the 

 barn, as it is very apt to shell while removing 

 to the threshing floor. Particular pains must 

 be taken in the process of cleaning, which 

 could, however, be extremely well performed 

 by the improved winnowing machine in use 

 amongst us. The ordinary yield will be from 

 ten to twenty bushels of seed per acre. The 

 firm of French & Davis, mustard manufac- 

 turers, Albany, offer to contract with farmers 

 for what they can raise, at ^3 50 per bushel 

 for brown seed ; the yellow seed is less valu- 

 able for manufacturing purposes. 



Cultivation of Flowers. 



We are happy to perceive that more atten- 

 tion is being paid to the cultivation of flow- 

 ers, and that the views of our ancestors, so 

 singularly and strangely utilitarian in this 

 respect, are rapidly giving way to sentiments 

 more liberal and refined. The generous and 

 moralizing influence which it is calculated to 

 operate upon the mind and its affections, can- 

 not, in our opinion, be too highly appreciated. 

 Flowers are alike the preaching emblems of 

 transient beauty and taintless innocence, and 

 breathe in the chaste language of their elo- 

 quent loveliness, a moral that is forcibly felt 

 and acknowledged even by the most depraved. 



What object in nature is more touching to 

 the contemplative mind, than a withered 

 flower? What an inimitable picture does it 

 present of the brevity and short-lived glory 

 of human life! 



The mind that can pass from the contem- 

 plation of such an object with no sense of an 

 uplifted spirit — of passions chastened and af- 

 fections purified, must be cold indeed. 



In the language of the German bard — 



A flower do but place near thy window glass, 

 And throiich it no image of evil shall pass. 

 Abroad must thou go? on iliy white bosom wear 

 A nosegay, and doubt not an angel is there; 

 Forget not to water at break of the day 

 The lilies, and thou shall be ftiirer than they; 

 Place a rose near thy bed nightly sentry to keep. 

 And angels shall rock thee on roses to sleep. 



We have no sympathy with those who 

 would desecrate and pare down the loveliness 

 of earth to the grade of mere utility ; who can 

 discover no beauty in the opening bud and 

 blushing flower, and whose exertions are limit- 

 ed on all occasions, by a parsimonious idola- 

 try, and a worse than idiotic privation of sen- 

 sibility to the 



" Maddening love of gold." 



[Me. Cult. 



A Young cow will often be fat on the back, 

 but seldom well tallowed within; an old cow 

 seldom handles so well, but carries most of 

 her fat within. 



