THE CULTIVATOR. 
87 
maker, the claws of the hoof to the comb maker, the 
skins from the legs to the glue maker; and from the 
feet is extracted oil. Hogs are fattened, and manure 
made in the bargain. 
Extensive beds of peat exist in Essex; much is 
used for fuel, and sells ordinarily at $8 per cord. A 
stratum of two feet in thickness, gives 480 cords to 
the acre. 
Great improvements have been made and are mak¬ 
ing, in dykeing salt marsh, and reclaiming fresh wa¬ 
ter swamps. The prevailing opinion seems to be in 
favor of draining, though some are content with mere 
ditching salt marshes. By the former, the product 
in hay has been threbled. Breaking up of the old 
sod is considered injurious; yet grass seeds are sown 
upon it, and stable manure is sometimes applied with 
advantage. The swamps are reclaimed first by drain¬ 
ing, and then by carting on gravel or sand, and some¬ 
times stable or other dung, mixing these with the 
muck, and sowing oats and grass seeds. Some of 
these reclaimed swamps are now considered worth 
$100 per acre. So far as we can perceive, the ex¬ 
cellent plan of under-draining has not yet been intro¬ 
duced—the drains being a main one in the centre, and 
lateral ones running from it to the borders of the 
swamp. We think this latter branch of Essex farm¬ 
ing is capable of being greatly improved by a better 
system of draining, and by applying the vegetable 
matter of the swamps as a fertilizing material to the 
uplands. An extraordinary instance of improvement 
is noted upon Cape Ann. A district of 584 acres, 
which forty years ago exhibited only swamps, “ frown¬ 
ing hills of granite, and rolling boulders,” which was 
not capable of keeping a cow, without procuring hay 
for her support, from a distance of several miles, has 
been reclaimed, improved, and made to produce as 
follows: 
Hay,. 854 tons. 
Indian corn,. 690 bushels. 
Rye,. 390 do 
Oats,. 130 do 
Potatoes,. 8,635 do 
The mowing land is valued at $300 per acre, be¬ 
cause, says the commissioner, it will pay a handsome 
profit upon that price. 
We must close our notice of this excellent report, 
without adverting to many facts which w 7 e should be 
glad to promulgate. Yet before we dismiss it, we 
must remonstrate against a custom which has obtain¬ 
ed “ down east,” and which the commissioner has en¬ 
dorsed by adopting in his report—of attaching the 
significant term English, to products which are no 
more English, in any sense, than they are American 
or French. Thus they speak of English meadow, 
comprising grasses that are indigenous to the United 
States; of English grain and English turnips ; of 
English cherries, and of English strawberries, which 
came originally from our continent. The distinctive 
term, thus applied, may be very well understood at 
home, though we confess, Yankee as we be, we are 
often much puzzled to guess at precisely what it 
means. The application of it is not, however, con¬ 
formable to the language of science, or to the spirit 
of an improving age, and we think it should be dis¬ 
carded at least by those who write for a nation and 
for posterity. 
The Philosophy of Deep Ploughing. 
Our best farmers concur in opinion, as the result of 
their experience, that most sods are improved by 
ploughing them deep during a course of crops, or once 
in four or five years. We propose to state some of 
the reasons which present in favor of this practice. 
And 
First. Occasional deep ploughing brings to the 
surface the fine vegetable matters of the soil, which 
we all know, constitute its fertility, or the food of 
our farm crops, and which, by the operations of til¬ 
lage, and the force of rains, have sunk upon or into 
the subsoil. These matters, while deeply buried, are 
inert, and afford no support to our crops ; but brought 
within the influence of the sun and atmosphere, and 
within reach of the roots of our crops, by deep plough¬ 
ing, or the subsoil plough, they are rendered soluble, 
and made to exert their potent energy upon vegeta¬ 
tion—they are fitted for the absorbent vessels of 
plants, and to become integral parts of them. 
In the second place, a deep tilth enlarges the pas¬ 
ture of plants—it permits the roots to" roam more 
freely and extensively in search of food—it permits 
the surplus water to escape*—and it counteracts the 
influence of drought. A superficial tilth is much 
sooner exhausted of its moisture, by the influence of 
the sun, than a deep one. 
And in the third place, • its benefits are manifest by 
the increased product which it gives-—these being 
* Of this, we have the best proof: one piece of our land, 
when we began to improve it, was, in wet times, covered 
with water, which remained there often days and weeks, 
oince it has been tilled deep, the water never stands an 
hour upon the surface, except the soil is frozen. 
proportioned, in a measure, to the depth of tilth, when 
this depth does not exceed ten or twelve inches. See 
our quotation from Yon Thaer, in the second number 
of our current volume. 
Science has furnished other reasons for the prac¬ 
tice of occasionally ploughing deep, or rather ex¬ 
plained to us the causes of results which were before 
palpable. Vegetable matters are only available as 
the food of plants in a soluble state, that is, when 
they are capable of being dissolved by the liquids of 
the soil, When deeply buried, these matters are of¬ 
ten not soluble; but if brought within the influence 
of the air, and heat, they soon become soluble, are 
carried by the liquids in which they are dissolved 
into the absorbent vessels, and assimilate with the 
plant. “Soluble geine,” that is, decomposed or¬ 
ganic, or animal and vegetable matter, says Dr. Dana, 
“ is the food of plants. Insoluble geine becomes food 
by air and moisture. Hence the reason and result of 
tillage.” Earths, taken from depths so far below 
the surface as to exclude the agency of heat and air, 
often abound in insoluble geine, and indeed in the 
seeds of plants, have, when submitted to a tempora¬ 
ry exposure upon the surface, developed uncommon 
fertility, and seeds have been found to grow. The 
subsoil plough, which opens to atmospheric and solar 
influence the long hidden treasures of the earth—its 
insoluble geine—is a new and important implement 
for developing the bounties of Providence. It is per¬ 
haps preferable to trenching with the spade or plough, 
inasmuch as the lower stratum is not blended with the 
upper one, until the air and moisture have imparted to it 
fertilizing properties—until they have converted its in¬ 
soluble, into soluble geine. There is reason to be¬ 
lieve, that in the great secondary formation of the 
west, the earth, to a great depth, filled as it is with 
organic remains, would be found to be fertile upon its 
exposure to the atmosphere. 
These principles, which we have endeavored to ex¬ 
plain, serve also to illustrate the advantages of alter¬ 
nating tillage with grass crops—of occasionally open¬ 
ing with the plough, to atmospheric and solar influ¬ 
ence, the inert vegetable matters—the insoluble geine 
—of dividing, pulverizing and mixing the soil, thereby 
giving a free range to the roots, and counteracting 
the influence of drought. 
We all know, that land will v/ear out under a con¬ 
stant system of cropping, unless more highly and con¬ 
stantly manured than is consistent with farm econo¬ 
my. It is equally apparent that most meadows re¬ 
quire to be top-dressed at least once in three years, 
to prevent deterioration. Well managed young mea¬ 
dows should give at least three tons of hay to the 
acre ; yet after the second or third year they will de¬ 
teriorate, if not top-dressed, until they yield but one 
or two tons the acre. Besides, if manure is applied, 
as it ought to be, in an unfermented state, and to an 
autumn-ripening corn or root crop, it will yield twice 
the benefit to a farm, that it will if spread, upon the 
surface of the soil. 
The considerations which we have suggested go to 
show the propriety of occasionally ploughing deep in 
tillage husbandry, and of alternating grain, grass and 
root crops wherever the nature of "the soil and sur¬ 
face will admit the plough. 
Vitality of Seeds. 
The following remarkable fact, showing the long 
retention of vitality in seeds when lying upon the 
ground, has been related to us by Judge Stilwell, of 
St. Lawrence, as having taken place in his immedi¬ 
ate neighborhood and under his own personal obser¬ 
vation. Twenty-one years ago, a neighbor cleared 
and burnt a piece of ground, and harrowed in grass 
seeds and turnips. The ground lay 12 years in meadow, 
and 8 years in pasture, when the plough was put into it 
for the first time, preparatory for a tillage crop. It was 
soon discovered, after the soil had been turned over, that 
it promised a crop of turnips, which must have come 
from seed grown upon the ground nineteen years be¬ 
fore, many of the roots having been then left in the 
ground over winter, and suffered to seed. A part of 
the plants were left to grow, and came to high per¬ 
fection. 
Theory and Practice. 
Mr. Stevenson, the able conductor of the Franklin 
Ky. Farmer, has commented, at some length, upon 
our article in the April Cultivator, “ The new lands of 
Kentucky wearing out and we are very happy to 
perceive, that in the main, there are no essential 
points of difference in our opinions. We made the 
quotation from his. paper, not so much to give the 
character of Kentucky'farming, much of which, we 
are aware, is excellent, but to show that, under bad 
management—under common management—the best 
lands will soon become poor; and while we concede 
all the advantages which he claims from science, we 
must persist in the opinion, that neither the mero the¬ 
orist, nor the mere practitioner, are so likely to suc¬ 
ceed, in profitable husbandry, as the man who posses¬ 
ses both a theoretical and practical knowledge of the 
business. We have no schools that combine the two 
requisites; and hence we suggested the propriety of 
practical farmers instructing themselves in the sci¬ 
ence. 
Account Current. 
Thrifty farmers are in the habit of making out a 
balance sheet for each year, in order to ascertain 
what they have made or lost by their farming opera¬ 
tions, and with a view to profit from their errors.— 
Now Uncle Sam is at least nominally a farmer, and, 
like all other farmers, can only expect to prosper in 
proportion as his sales exceed his purchases ; and, at 
all events, if we find that he has not raised his own 
provisions, we may set it down as certain, that he 
does not work it right, and that unless he mends his 
ways, he must ultimately fail. The business of this 
nation, to be independent and prosperous, should be 
to provide breadstuff's, not only for its own population, 
but a surplus, sufficient to pay for the foreign commo¬ 
dities which we consume. Such would be the course 
of the prudent farmer ; and we should think little of 
the shoemaker, or the hatter, who should be obliged 
to buy shoes or hats for his family. 
In striking the balance of Uncle Sam’s account, 
we would premise, that our estimates embrace only 
breadstuff's, the great staples of the northern and 
middle states, and which constitute the principal 
means, in these states, of paying for the foreign mer¬ 
chandize which we consume. 
By a statement from the treasury department, it 
appears, that the importations and exportations of 
grain, flour and meal, during the year 1837, were as 
under stated, estimated in dollars. 
Articles. 
Imported. 
Exported. 
Flour,. 
$122,691 
$2,987,269 
Wheat,. 
4,154,325 
27,206 
Rye and rye meal,. 
333,695 
165,467 
Corn and meal,. 
3,918 
911,634 
Other grain, bread, &c. .. 
8,837 
325,077 
Deduct exports,. 
Bal. against Uncle Sam,.. 
$4,623,466 
3,416,653 
$1,206,813 
$3,416,653 
in the commodities which it is his business to raise 
and sell, and which he never ought to be obliged to 
buy. 
If we add to this balance of.$1,208,813 
the amount which the old gentleman paid 
last year for foreign silks, viz. 14,352,823 
and for foreign sugar,. 12,514,504 
It will show an annual balance against 
him, of. 28,074,140 
Twenty-eight millions of dollars, in articles which 
it is either his professed business to raise, or which he 
can produce by his own labor, and from his own soil. 
This balance would however be reduced by the value 
of the silk and sugar which he exported in 1837, to 
about twenty millions of dollars. If these facts were 
applied to the affairs of an individual farmer, we 
should naturally suppose that his boys were either 
too proud or to lazy to work, and perhaps both. And 
wherein does the analogy fail between an individual 
farmer and a nation of farmers. A diminution of 
crops was among the causes of the late national em¬ 
barrassments ; and our surplus products have been 
relied upon to pay the foreign balances against us. 
What would be the conduct of the individual farmer 
who should find his affairs thus going to ruin ! Would 
he not instruct his boys in the science and practice of 
his business, and stimulate them to labor, by rewards, 
that the farm might produce enough and to spare, to 
pay off his debts, and keep something on hand for a 
wet day! And if such would be the politic course in 
the manager of a farm, why would it not be wise in 
the managers of a state, or of a nation ! They give 
millions annually to aid those who add nothing to our 
national wealth, and which tend to elevate the idler 
above the man of industry 1 Why not give for in¬ 
structing the farmer and mechanic how to double the 
profits of their labor! We- insist, that the higher 
branches of learning, when blended with practical in¬ 
struction in the useful arts, and particularly in the bu¬ 
siness of agriculture, are more profitable to a state, 
than they are when applied to the learned profes¬ 
sions. 
Advantages of Draining. 
Make your lands dry, if not the first, is the second 
precept in good farming. We have many thousands 
of acres of swamp lands, scattered over our country, 
which are rich in the elements of fertility, and which 
would yield them readily to our use, if freed from 
their surplus water. We have other vast tracts, 
which have been subjected to the control of the 
plough, but which make a scanty and precarious re¬ 
turn,, by reason of their level surface, and the water 
which settles and remains upon their impervious sub- 
