THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



AND 



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. v.— No. 6.] 



1st mo. (January?) 15th, 1841. 



[Whole No. 72. 



KI3IBER & SHARPLESS, 



PROPRIETORS AND PUBLISHERS, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 

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



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Cultivation of the Soil. 



Mr. Editor, — How little is the thorough 

 cultivation of the soil either understood or 

 practised ! We think if we turn down the 

 surface of the land, sow our seed and harrow 

 it over, all has been done that is necessary, 

 and we have a right to the reward of our la- 

 bours — which, in sooth, we are pretty sure to 

 obtain, for where but little is bestowed but 

 little can be obtained. Now I sincerely be- 

 lieve, that thorough cultivation would go very 

 far to rid us of the ten thousand ills that 

 farmers have to complain of; but by this I do 

 not mean the mere routine of replacing by 

 others the crops as they are removed, or even 

 a periodical cleaning and manuring, but a 

 systematic stirring of the soil at all seasons, 

 when we have the opportunity — ploughing 

 and harrowing for weeds, as some one has it. 



In that noble work, TuU's horse-hoeing 

 husbandry — the text-book of every good 

 farmer — we find this principle carried out to 

 its fullest extent; and the century that has 

 passed since its first publication, has added 

 the experience of a hundred years to the 

 justness of the theory : it may be, that many 

 consider the doctrine of pulverization there 

 insisted upon, as carried to the extreme — as 

 entailing an expense that the present state of 

 agriculture would not warrant, but that is not 

 the question ; it is, is the principle there laid 

 down beneficial or otherwise, to the improve- 

 ment of the soil and the growth of the crop 1 

 And I must confess that I have never met 

 with the man who considered it injurious. 

 As I say, many believe it a labour which can- 

 not be made to pay the expense ; but, so far 

 as I know, all agree in considering it a harm- 

 less employment, and, when pushed upon the 

 subject, will admit that the objection to it as 

 a system, is its expense in the operation. 

 Now if we could agree on this view, I think 

 all that is required in the way of theory 



Cab.— Vol. V.— No. 6. 



would be obtained, and we might then be led 

 to practise — to a greater extent than we now 

 do, at least — the principles which we felt con- 

 vinced were based on common sense and 

 riijht reason, without fear for the result; and 

 although I am willing to admit, that it is pos- 

 sible to buy even gold too dear, I think we 

 might go very much farther in our purchase 

 than we have hitherto ventured, without fear 

 of overtrading. 



Your pages, Mr. Editor, have of late been 

 devoted to the laudable purpose of urging 

 upon your readers the necessity of using 

 every exertion to increase, by all means, their 

 quantity of manure ; and, without it, little 

 will be done, after all that TuU has written 

 and said about it ; but I believe, sincerely, 

 that infinitely more benefit might be derived 

 from one-half the quantity of manure now 

 usually expended, if it were accompanied by 

 a double or treble portion of tillage — by 

 which I mean a thorough pulverization and 

 cleaning of the soil, at all proper intervals. 



A writer in the number of the Cabinet for 

 November, while enjoining upon farmers the 

 necessity of keeping their lands clear of 

 weeds, reminds himself of the pleasure he 

 has in store, while carrying his manure to his 

 field, a mile distant, in reflecting that one- 

 half of it will go to the support of the weeds, 

 and by which they will be so strengthened as 

 to outgrow his crop of grain — to its deterio- 

 ration both in quantity and quality — to the 

 amount of half the remainder ! And I do not 

 consider that this is an unfair statement, for 

 "the land will produce a crop of something, 

 and it depends entirely upon the farmer what 

 that shall be, whether a crop of grain or of 

 weeds." So that this view of the subject 

 makes the value of clean cultivation amount 

 to about three parts out of four ; while, by 

 removing the weeds and pulverizing the soil, 

 we prepare it for receiving the benefit of the 

 manure which we have to bestow upon it, 

 rendering it of threefold importance to the 

 present, as well as to future crops ; and from 

 actual experience, it is not considered that 

 the above estimate is more in favour of tho- 

 rough cultivation than the truth will warrant. 



Four years ago, I came into possession, by 

 purchase, of a field of five acres, adjoining 

 my present farm ; it had long been tenanted 



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