THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 



Vol. I. 



Pliiladolpliin, 1%ovciiilM>r 1, 1S36. 



]¥o. §. 



Publislicil Ijy 

 MOORE & WATERHOUSE, 



J\'o. t)7 Snnth Second St. Plula. 



J. Vail <;(i!iit,Priiit'.'r, 18 Mmket >licet. 



The Cabinet is published on or about the first 

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THE r ARMERS' CABIITET . 



[We bespeak for the following communi- 

 cation the careful and candid consideration 

 of our reader's, as the subject is one of great 

 moment. The author, Mr. Ronaldson, is 

 well known as one of our most respectable 

 and enterprising citizens. He is the same 

 gentleman who succeeded in directing the 

 attention of our citizens to the culture of the 

 B^ot Root for tlie f.ibrication of sugar; (see 

 Cabinet No. 4. vol. 1,) and his object in this 

 t^'i'erprise, like that just referred to, is toben- 

 1 lit the community without any reference to 

 pecuniary gain.] 



To the Farmers of the U. f^tates. 



That care and skill have improved fruit 

 tmes, vegetables, and our domestic animals, 

 arc facts known to all classes of Imsbandmen; 

 and the advantage of rearing cattle from the 

 best breeds is now well understood all over 



America. The advantages that accompany 



procuring the best grain for seed is as yet 

 but partially understood and very litttle at- 

 tended to. 



Repeatedly sowing some kinds of grain 

 on Mie same land, is m many cases followed 

 by an evident decline in tiie quality, still this 

 it must be observed is not a uniform con- 

 sequence; there are many and well authenti- 

 cated instances where the change to a new 

 soil and clunatc is accompanied with a de- 

 terioration, and in others as great an improve- 

 ment has taken place. 



As it is known tiiat grains, &c. in some 

 climates and soils degenerate to a minimum, 

 sometimes in quality, in others in quantity, 

 and frequently in both; a practice calculated 

 to remedy tiiese disadvantages is of great im- 

 portance to the agriculture of the United 

 States. On the present occasion it is our ob- 

 ject to point out what may be done liere, by 

 showing what is done in other countries, and 

 under circumstances fiir less favourable to the 

 husbandman, or to the operations of hus- 

 bandry, than in America. In Scotland, for 

 example, the climate is cold, wet and stormy; 

 yet by care and industry crops are produced, 

 remarkable both for quantity and quality 

 Tliere the greatest attention is paid to the 

 changing of seed. The low countries pro- 

 cure their seed potatoes from the hij_h dii- 

 tricts at great expense of money and JaLor. 

 The whole oat crop of some districts is 

 bought for, and sowed for seed ; this is the 

 case with a portion of country called Blains- 

 ley, that lays south of Soutria Hills. In no 

 country has the culture of clover been more 

 beneficial, or attended with better success 

 than in Scotland, yet the climate is so unfa- 

 vorable to the ripening of clover seed, that 

 nearly the whole has to be procured from 

 England or Holland. The farmers of that 

 country frequently change the wheat seed, 

 and procure the best that is to be had, paying 

 very little respect to price, and the greatest 

 attention to quality. 



It would appear that the principle by which 

 the Scotch farmers are guided to the results 

 they obtain, is to select their seed from those 

 districts where it is grown in the greatest 

 perfection, from the climate and soil being 

 best adapted to the plant. Thus they choose 

 seed oats and potatoes of their own growing, 



