716 



FARMERS' REGISTER— THE CULTIVATOR— VEGETATION, &c. 



Hence we find builders most anxious to undertake 

 this kind of work in company. 



THE " CULTIVATOR. 



We have received tlie two first numbers of a new 

 agricultural periodical, which will be issued monthly at 

 Albany, New York. It is published by the New York 

 State Agricultural Society, under the imniediate direc- 

 tion ofii committee of publication, composed of Messrs. 

 J. Buel, J. P. Beekman, and J. D. Wasson. Thus set 

 on foot by the patronage of government, and sustained 

 by editorial talents of the first order, and bestowed 

 gratuitously, the "Cultivator" is furnished at the re- 

 markably low jDrice of fifty cents a year, or eft twenty- 

 five cents each, for a subscription for twenty or more 

 copies. The monthly sheet has sixteen pages, large 

 octavo. Its matter, so far, is good — and it cannot well 

 be otherwise, while it has its present zealous and able 

 conductors. We will take pleasure in receiving and 

 ti'ansmitting subscriptions for this work. 



The price of this publication is fixed at this very low 

 rate, for the purpose of inducing, if possible, every tiller 

 of the soil in the state of New York to buy, and to 

 read it. This is a noble object — and the steps taken to 

 reach it, cannot but have consequences highly useful to 

 the agricultural community. But while this acknow- 

 ledgment is made, and notwithstanding the high opinion 

 expressed of the work, and the abilities of its conduc- 

 tors, we will venture to add our fears, that this good 

 will be eflTected by the destruction of another of equal 

 if not of greater value — the excellent agricultural papers 

 already established in the western part of New York, 

 by individual enterprise and capital, and which have 

 rendered essential service to agriculture, at a very cheap 

 rate — though not so cheap as to be able to compete with 

 the Cultivator. It remains to be seen, whether this is 

 the best mode of aiding the diffusion of agricultural 

 knowledge, even putting aside the consideration of all 

 losses of individuals. We are decidedly in favor of "free 

 trade" — and consider that it is as unjust, and as imjDolitic, 

 for government to injure any employment of capital 

 and industry, by competing with, and underselling indi- 

 vidual laborers or traders, as it is to commit the more 

 common error of enabling them to make exorbitant 

 profits, by indirect bounties, or restraints which destroy 

 fair and general competition. 



Besides — however great the amount of talent, zeal, 

 and influence, with which the Cultivator is now con- 

 ducted, it cannot be expected that such services are to 

 be retained in steady operation, without the incentive 

 of reward, or emolument. The conductors would be 

 more than men, if they can toil without flagging, in so 

 humble a vocation, merely from the impulse of patriot- 

 ism. And if, indeed, they should become weary, it will 

 take place after all the other agricultural papers of 

 New York have sunk, and the whole business of peri- 

 odical instruction will be to re-construct. 



It may be thought that our fears are, in truth, for the 

 Farmers' Register. This is not the case— for, though it 

 may be mistaken, it is our opinion, that no periodical 

 publication in New York, can lessen the circulation of 

 ^ one in Virginia; nor can the latter injure one of the 

 former. Any good agricultural journal, will be found 

 instructive and useful to fiu-mers of every other country : 



but- still, the climate and system of husbandry of the 

 state of New York, differ so much from those of Virgi- 

 nia, that no such injurious competition can be maintain- 

 ed, no matter by what difference of prices. On the con- 

 trary, the circulation of any such journal in a distant 

 region, will increase the readers' inclination for similar 

 supplies nearer home, and more generally suited to 

 their wants. We should be pleased if the Cultivator 

 could be seen and read by every farmer in Virginia : 

 and believe, if such was the case, that but few subscri- 

 bers of the Farmers' Register would be thereby induced 

 to give up the latter work — and very many others 

 would be induced to become subscribers, by learning 

 from so good a work, the great value of an agricultural 

 journal, more particularly suited to their wants and 

 habits. 



VEGETATION OF THE PAMPAS OF S. AMERICA. 



From Captain Head's Travels. 

 The great plain of the Pampas, on the east of the 

 Cordilleras, is about 900 miles in breadth, and the 

 part which I visited, though under the same lati- 

 tude, is divided into regions of different climate 

 and produce. On leaving Buenos Ayres,the first 

 of these regions is covered for 180 miles with 

 clover and thistles; the second region, which ex- 

 tends for 450 miles, produces long grass ; and the 

 third region, which reaches the base of the Cordil- 

 leras, is a grove of low trees and shrubs. The 

 second and third of these regions have nearly the 

 same appearance throughout the year; for the 

 trees and shrubs are evergreens, and the immense 

 plain of grass only changes its color from green to 

 brown: but the first region varies with the four 

 seasons of tlie year in a most extraordinary man- 

 ner. In winter, the leaves of tlie thistles are large 

 and luxuriant, and the wliolc surface of the coun- 

 try has the rough appearance of a turnip field. 

 The clover in this season is extremely rich and 

 strong ; and the sight of the wild cattle grazing in 

 full liberty on such pasture is very beautiful. In 

 spring, the clover has vanished, the leaves of the 

 thistles have extended along tiie ground, and the 

 country still looks like a rough crop of turnips. 

 In less than a month the change is most extraor- 

 dinary; the whole region becomes a luxuriant 

 region of enormous thistles, which have suddenly 

 shot up to a height of ten or eleven feet, and all in 

 full bloom; tlie road or path is hemmed in on both 

 sides; the view is completely obstructed ; not an 

 animal is to be seen ; and the stems of the thistles 

 are so close to each other, and so strong, that, inde- 

 pendent of the prickles with which they were arm- 

 ed, they form an impenetrable barrier. The sud- 

 (ien grov, th of these plants is quite astonishing, and 

 though it would be an unusual )nisfbrtune in mili- 

 tary history, yet it is really possible that an invad- 

 ing army, unacquainted with this country, might 

 be imprisoned by these thistles before they had 

 time to escape from them. The summer is not 

 over before the scene undergoes another rapid 

 change ; the thistles suddenly lose their sap and 

 verdure ; their heads droop, the leaves shrink and 

 fiide, the stems become black and dead, and they 

 remain rattling with the breeze one against another, 

 until the violence of the pampero or hurricane 

 levels them with the ground, where they rapidly 

 decompose and disappear ; the clover rushes up, 

 and the scene is again verdant. 



