vol.. XVII. NO. !JI. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



187 



"Tliey will increase the national wealth. 



« They will be not only calculated to elevate the 

 laracter of agriculture, but the standard and spirit 

 ' education ; for as men increase in knowledge 

 l;en of a useful character, aspirations to a higher 

 landard in everything else, are enkindled. 



" They will furnish essential aid to the legisla- 

 ire of a state. 



"Tliey will greatly increase live stock, in purity 

 f blood and quality. 



« They will increase labor saving modes of cul- 

 vation, as well as labor saving machines." 



As intimately connected with the improvement 



engrafted instruction in agriculture upon her sys- 

 tem of common school education ; and even in 

 what wo have hitherto considered the benighted 

 regions of Prussia, and among the oppressed of 

 Ireland, we see evidences of wisdom, and the dawn 

 of a brighter day, in the establishment of agricul- 

 tural Bcliools. Our sister state, Massachusetts, has 

 been foremost among us to adopt a liberal and en- 

 lightened policy toward this her primary branch of 

 industry. She has disbursed large sums from her 

 state treasury, annually, to sustain and encourage 

 county agricultural societies ; and when the law 

 making those appropriations, was about to expire, 



f husbandry, which thi^ society is specially formed by its own limitation, so well satished was her 



, promote, permit me earnestly to recommend an 

 irly attention to the (Sstablishment of Common 

 chool Libraries. The improvement of the mind 

 ,ust precede the improvement of the soil. Physi- 

 jl power belongs to the brute, as well as to man ; 

 at the application of intellect to aid and control 



legislature, of its utility, that the law was renewe 

 with great unanimity. That state has also provided 

 for an agricultural survey of her territory, which 

 has been two years in progress, with a view of 

 bringing before her whole agricultural population 

 all that is found excellent in the business of her 



at the application ot intellect to am ana coiaroi an uiai is lounu cauuuchi, wi i... 



lis power, is the peculiar prerogative of man ; and farming population. How far New York will pro 



requires no argument of mine to show, that in- fit by these examples of usefulness— or when she 

 ■llect is efficient and potent, in husbandry, as it is will begin to imitate them, will depend very much 

 [ the other business concerns of life, in proportion ■■"-" »>"- f- .„,;„„■ n„n„lntinn. What thev demand 

 3 it is brought under good culture ; — that a well 

 ultivatcd mind, like a well cultivated soil, can be 

 mdcrcd far more productive in usefulness, than 

 ne that has not received the advantages of culture, 

 lommon School Libraries will not only be useful 

 1 the particular business of farming, but in all the 

 ■lations in life in which we or our children may 

 e called upon to perform a part. All the grada- 

 ons in society, from savage life, to the highest 

 tate of civilization and refinement, have princi- 

 ally been owing to the greater or less cultivation 

 f the human intellect. Useful reading not only 

 onfers positive benefit, by the instruction and ad- 

 lonition which it imparts, but it often avurts posi- 



ve evil, by keeping us from loose or bad company, 

 nd thereby preventing the formation of idle or 

 ad habits. The youth who finds pleasure in read- 

 ig, and has the opportunity of storing his mind 

 rit'h useful knowledge, will seldom be driven to 

 he haunts of vice and dissipation, to indulge his 

 ;rosser appetites. And the mind too, like the soil, 

 rill o-row weeds and briars, thistles and thorns — 

 f not made, by good culture, to produce that which 

 s comely and useful. The liberal appropriation 

 )y the legislature, for the establishment of Common 

 School Libraries, if seconded, as [ trust it will be, 

 )y the public at large, will form a new and auspi- 

 :ious era in our history, and contribute essentially 

 ;o render us, what we ought to be — a more intel- 

 agent and virtuous— that we may longer remain a 

 Tse and independent — people. 



The judicious cultivation of the soil is now 

 Jeemed so essential to national prosperity, that it 

 ■las become the settled policy of the most enlight- 

 ened governments, to take a direct and efficient 

 interest in the improvement of its agriculture. 

 Schools of scientific and practical agriculture, in 

 which youth are taught the best modes of practice, 

 and instructed in the principles upon which that 

 practice is based, are continually multiplying un- 

 der governmental patronage on the old continent. 

 National societies have been established for re- 

 warding those who benefit the state by their im- 

 provciiients and discoveries in husbandry, and for 

 diffusing the useful information which is thus 

 brought" to a common centre — and the rewards as 

 welllis the service of those who are thus engaged 

 in promoting the common weal, are in most cases 

 paid from the public treasury. Prussia has wisely 



potatoes necessary in order to insure the most pro- 

 fitable crop, and of the desirable size. This ex- 

 periment seems to have been conducted with un- 

 doubted precision, and carried to an extent that 

 speaks well of the zeal and patience of the culti- 

 vator, Mr Moore, Jr. of Trenton, near Utica, New 

 York. 



He planted potatoes of the same kind in each 

 case, and the same soil, all manured exactly alike, 

 in eleven different methods, as exhibited in the fol- 

 lowing table : 



No. potatoes, tbs. oz. 



1st. Planted one eye in a hill. 



9 

 14 

 14 

 12 

 25 

 34 

 24 



upon her farming population. What they demand 

 will be granted. Hut little need be expected for 

 the promotion of agricultural improvement from our 

 public councils, while the farmers themselves gen- 

 erally manifest a reprehensible indifierence in the 

 matter. 



In the brief remarks I have made, I have endeav- 

 ored to show the practicability of improving our 

 agriculture, and of thereby raising the character 

 of our agricultural population ; and have suggested 

 some of the means by which the desired improve- 

 ment may be brought about. I have already tres- 

 passed too far upon your patience, I fear, to go into 

 any of the details of improved husbandry. Let it 

 suffice to say, that they embrace a better economy, 

 and more general application of manures — a system 

 of thorough draining — the introduction of improved 

 labor saving machines and implements — the im- 

 provement of f\irm stock— the exclusion of impure 

 seeds — the extension of root culture — the alterna- 

 tion of crops where practicable — the improvement 

 of our common roads — the introduction of system 

 into all the departments of farm and household la- 

 bor — the cultivation of as much land as can he cul- 

 iioa^cd WELL— and the keeping of as much farm 

 slock as call be projitahly fed and fattened — and no 

 MOKE. All those improvements have been made, and 

 we maK)!^, elsewhere. They can be made here ; 

 they will be made here, by the intelligence, the en- 

 terprise, and the laudable competition, which this 

 society will diffuse and call into action, if its labors 

 are judiciously persevered in. 



I am liappy to recognize, gentlemen, in the form- 

 ation of this association, a disposition in its mem- 

 bers to aid in the work of agricultural improve- 

 ment. The object is a worthy one, because it aims 

 to enlarge the means of human sustenance and the 

 measure of human enjoyment ; and by encouraging 

 and honoring industry, tends to advance the moral 

 character an"d substantial prosperity of the country. 

 I hope you may prosper in these public spirited 

 efforts, and that Fulton county, may become as 

 distinguished in the annals of agricultural improve- 

 ment, °as the individual whose name it bears, is al- 

 ready renowned in the history of steam navigation. 



2d. " two eyes " 



;3d. " three eyes " 



4tli. " two sets of 2 eyes each 



5th. " " 3 



Gtli. '■ " 4 " 



7th. " 3 sets of 2 " 



Sth. « " 3 " 27 



9th. " " 4 » 24 



10th. " " 5 " 32 



11th. " whole potato, 11 eyes, 21 



Tlie size of the potatoes in No. 1 was as nearly 

 of the same size as could well be — in No. 2 were 

 good size, even — in No. 3 were some very large, 

 and othei-s smaller — No. 4 were mostly of the same 

 size ; but all below were a great number of very 

 small size. 



10 



THE TURNIP FLY, 

 Has been uncommonly destructive this year to 

 the ruta baga crop. It seems now to be confidently 

 afiirmed, in some of the European agricultural 

 joutnals, that sulphur, or brimstone, may be effect- 

 ually employed as a preventive. One mode of 

 using it is, slightly to moisten the seed and roll it 

 in sulphur, previous to sowing. The other, to keep 

 tlie seed for some time in sulphur, and to sow 

 the sulphur with the seed. It is affirmed, that the 

 young plants in this way become so strongly im- 

 pregnated with the sulphur, that the fly will not 

 touch them. Sulphur is so extremely subtile, that 

 it is known to dift'use- itself, in a very short time, 

 through the vegetablS', as well as the animal sys- 

 tem ; and it is known to be obnoxious or destruc- 

 tive to the whole race of insects. The turnip seed 

 imbibes it, and imparts it, with the sap, to the 

 young plumule, or stem. Although the prescription 

 is now out of seasgn, it should be laid by for Uial 

 at the sowing season. — Cultivator. 



Potatoes. The following experiment copied 



from the New York Farmer, contains very useful 

 instructions to us in regard to the quantity of seed 



Large Vegetables. — A correspondent at Noith 

 Bridgton, Maine, writes that some vegetables raised 

 there, beat " by a long chalk," some mammoth 

 productions named in the papers, and inquires how 

 mucli better they can do in Illinois. Mr Ithamar 

 Brighara raised a beet weighing thirteen pounds, 

 otliers were raised from six to nine pounds each. 

 R. S. Bailey Esq., raised a Ruta Baga Turnip 

 weighing twentyflve pounds. I\Ir David P. Knee- 

 land of Harrison, raised the following produce on 

 an acre : eightythree and one half bushels of corn, 

 ten bushels white beans, four loads pumpkins. 



Two children were burned to death, a short time 

 since, in Bedford, Cuyahoga county, Ohio by the 

 house taking fire. The parents of these children 

 barely escaped ; they could render no assistance to 

 the little sufferers. 



