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CmXIVATft! 
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION, DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
I KNOW OF NO PURSUIT IN-WHICH MORE REAL AND IMPORTANT SERVICES CAN BE RENDERED TO A NY COUNTRY, THAN UY IMPROVING ITS AGRICULTURE.— Wash. 
ToL, V. ~ NoT3, WASHINGTON-ST. ALBANY, N. Y. AUGUST, 1838. AO. 6. 
Conducted by J. DUEL, of Albany. 
TERMS. —One Dollar per annum, to be paid in advance. 
Subscriptions to commence with a volume. 
Special Agents. —L. & R. Hill, Richmond, Va.; Bell & 
Entwisle, Alexandria, D. C.; Gideon B. Smith, Baltimore, 
Md.; Judah Dobson, bookseller, and D. Landreith, seeds¬ 
man, Philadelphia; Israel Post, booksellers, 88 Bowery, 
Alex. Smith, seedsman, P. Wakeman, office of the Ameri¬ 
can Institute, Broadway, N. York; E. M. Hovey, Mer¬ 
chants’s Row, Boston; Alex. Walsh, Lansingburgh, and 
Wm. Thorburn, Albany, gratuitous agents. For general 
list of agents see No. 12, vol. iv. 
The Cultivator is subject to common newspaper postage. 
Price of the published volumes, 50 cents per vol. stitched— 
the four volumes bound together, 82.75—bounded in two volumes, 
§3—the four vols bound each separate, 83.25. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
The Crops. 
We do not remember any season in which the 
crops are so generally promising as in the present.— 
At the time of writing, July 2, the remark applies to 
every description of crop, and to every section of the 
union, so far as we have observed, and have been 
able to learn. The wheat crop has, however, two 
formidable enemies to encounter this month—the 
grain worm and the rust. The former was seen in 
our fields for the first on the 24th of June. It might 
probably have appeared as early as the 20th June; 
and the last time we were able to discover it was on 
the 20th of July—when spring wheat, sown on the 16th 
May, had been a few days in head. O’ We shall be 
obliged to any gentleman who has watched this in¬ 
sect, to apprise us of the times at which it appeared 
and disappeared. 
During a jaunt of 200 miles into Vermont, in the 
last of June, we were gratified at the highly auspi¬ 
cious promise of the crops; and not a little surprised 
to find the corn, from Bennington to Rutland, in a 
better and rather more forward state than it was in 
the upper valley of the Hudson. This we ascribe to 
early planting, early variety, and the use of long ma¬ 
nure. On the 19th of June we saw part of a field in 
tassel, at Wallingford. We planted some of the same 
kind on the 24th, and expect to see it come to matu¬ 
rity this season. 
Common School Libraries. 
We were unadvised of the fact, until we saw it 
announced in a late Jeffersonian, that the legislature 
made an appropriation at its last session, of $45,000 
per annum, for three years, for the establishment of 
common school libraries. We fully concur in the sen¬ 
timents expressed in the following extract which w T e 
make from the Jeffersonian, as to the salutary influ¬ 
ence which this judicious appropriation is likely to 
have in enlarging the sphere of useful knowledge, 
and in improving the condition of the producing class¬ 
es of the community. 
“We trust no friend of the great cause of universal 
education, no parent, no youth, no lover of his country, 
has forgotten or will forget the provision so wisely 
made by our last legislature for the establishment and 
support of common school libraries. We feel a proud 
satisfaction in contemplating the fact that New-York 
stands forth in this matter a pioneer and a glorious ex¬ 
ample to her sister states. The law making provision 
for the distribution of the annual revenue of the new 
common school fund, (arising from the deposite of the 
late surplus revenue with the states,) appropriates for¬ 
ty-five thousand dollars a year exclusively to this beni- 
ficent purpose. Each district in the state is entitled to 
draw its share of this fund, proportioned to the number 
of its scholars; and, estimating the whole number of 
districts at forty-five hundred, this sum would allow an 
average of ten dollars to each district, or thirty dollars 
in the course of the three years’ duration of the law. 
We believe this estimate is rather under than above the 
truth; and that, with a very moderate display of pub¬ 
lic spirit on the part of the people, a very comprehen¬ 
sive and most useful library may be immediately secur¬ 
ed to every school district in the state. 
“The great advantages of this noble enterprise to 
that very large proportion of our citizens who are una¬ 
ble to buy large collections of books cannot be over-es¬ 
timated. Not alone to children and youth will its bene¬ 
fits be dispensed. Parents and others of mature years 
can readily avail themselves of the fund of useful and 
instructive reading which is thus brought to their doors. 
Even should the library consist of but fifty volumes at 
first, each family in the district may draw one volume 
from it per week for the whole year, returning it at the 
week’s end for another; and thus enjoying a supply of 
information and entertainment for the whole period 
without the cost of a cent. At the end of the year, a 
new instalment of the appropriation will be doubled, 
and another year’s reading commenced. We firmly be¬ 
lieve that in this way the library will be found a great 
auxiliary to the school, by creating a new interest in its 
management and its welfare. Should the district con¬ 
clude to have a little gathering every Saturday evening, 
or some other evening, to exchange books, or re¬ 
turn and draw again, a lyceum, or association for 
mutual improvement, would soon grow out of it, and 
still greater benefits be realized. Each parent and scho¬ 
lar would feel that he had a personal interest in the li¬ 
brary as well as the school; and thousands would spend 
their leisure hours in reading, which would otherwise 
be given, almost of necessity, to frivolous if not cor¬ 
rupting amusements.” 
Thus far our quotation. But we are not prepared 
to go farther with the Jeffersonian—in its approbation 
of the selection of books designated and recommended 
as the basts of common school libraries. The Messrs. 
Harpers, to whom we accord great credit for their en- 
terprize and industry, have printed, we are told, under 
the direction of the American Society for the diffu¬ 
sion of useful knowledge, a series of 50 handsome vo¬ 
lumes, of uniform size and appearance, to be com¬ 
prised in a neat case, and furnished at twenty dollars. 
These books, of which a list is given in the Jeffersoni¬ 
an, treat mostly of foreigners, foreign lands, and of 
matters foreign to the great pursuits of our country. 
They are the lives of Bonaparte, Alexander the great. 
Peter the great, Oliver Cromwell, of celebrated tra¬ 
vellers and female sovereigns; ancient and modern 
Europe, the Holy Land, the Crusades, Arabia, the 
Chinese, voyages, travels, &c. We see but eight 
volumes that seem from their title to relate particu¬ 
larly to our continent, and but about the same num¬ 
ber that are written by Americans. But we do not 
recognize one, among these books—which are designed 
almost exclusively for an agricultural community—we 
do not recognize a single volume on agricultural che¬ 
mistry, or on agricultural botany, or on agricultural 
geology—or on the mechanics of agriculture, the great 
modern lever which simplifies, abridges, and at the 
same time augments the products and profits of human 
labor; we see nothing on the veterinary art, or the 
management of cattle—nothing upon practical agri¬ 
culture or horticulture—and little, if any thing, upon 
the moral, relative and political duties of life. The 
studies to which we have last alluded, ought to form 
the foundation, the basis, of a rural education; those 
selected might become auxiliary, or supplemental; 
or, the two classes might be blended like brick and 
mortar in the walls of a building, to give beauty, as 
well as solidity, to the structure. 
It needs no argument of ours to convince any rea¬ 
sonable man, that the proper study of youth, is the 
business which is to employ them in manhood. Thus 
we give to the law student elementary books in the 
business which is to constitute his living; and to stu¬ 
dents in divinity and physic, the elementary books 
suited to their several professions ; and we require a 
four years’ study in these elementary works, in order 
that the student may fully understand the principles 
upon which he is to preach or practice, before we 
permit him to put on the toga of manhood, and to 
take rank with his profession. And shall not the stu¬ 
dent of agriculture, whose business embraces a wider 
range of useful science than either of the before men¬ 
tioned classes, be permitted, during his minority, to 
study the elementary principles of his profession ?— 
to store his mind with the precepts and practices of 
eminent men in that profession? We say, lay the 
foundation in usefulness—in that knowledge which 
will tend to make intelligent, useful and contented 
farmers, and good citizens, of the boys of our common 
schools. You may then build whatever superstruc¬ 
ture you please upon this solid foundation, and em¬ 
bellish it to your taste. 
But we are reminded, that we are treading on hal¬ 
lowed ground; that the society for the promotion of 
useful knowledge, with Gov. Marcy at its head, have 
sanctioned the selection that has been made, and, as 
if to silence every doubt, that Gen. Dix, superintend¬ 
ent of common schools, has also given it his approba- 
bation. Without wishing to derogate in the least, 
from the high character of the gentlemen who con¬ 
stitute the society, or to depreciate their efforts to 
do good, we must be permitted to doubt their pre-emi¬ 
nent qualifications for selecting a suitable library for 
an agricultural community. Most of the gentlemen, 
we believe, belong to the learned professions, or to 
the mercantile class; and we are willing to award to 
them a high standing in literature and general science ; 
yet few of them, we apprehend, know much of the 
practice or theory of farming, a business which stands 
first on the roll of usefulness, and which it is the inte¬ 
rest of every class of the community to enlighten and 
improve ; and they are therefore not exactly best qua¬ 
lified to promote this great object of national prospe¬ 
rity, be their intentions ever so patriotic. Or at least 
so we are obliged to infer, from the catalogue of books 
which have been published. And as for our highly 
respected secretary of state, he is no doubt well qua¬ 
lified to select a law or literary library, or to thread 
the mazes of politics—yet we should not venture to 
trust him, with all his qualifications, to select our li¬ 
brary, or manage our farm. Would these gentlemen 
trust an association of farmers, however intelligent, 
to select their professional libraries? We think not. 
But perhaps we are going too far: something on 
agriculture is promised in the next series, and we ar¬ 
dently hope it will be furnished. 
After all, it may be said, and will be said, and by 
thousands of farmers too, that agriculture wants no 
auxiliary aids ; that it has done well enough, hereto¬ 
fore, without the aid of books or of science—and that 
it can continue to do so. How would such a remark 
apply to the other arts of labor ? Look at the cotton 
factory for instance—a yard of cotton goods may now 
be purchased for half the price which was paid for 
barely weaving a yard thirty years ago. The mani¬ 
pulations in most of the other arts have been so abridg¬ 
ed by machinery, and the processes so simplified by 
science, that the fabrics produced by these labors are 
greatly lessened in price. In these arts, the improve¬ 
ments of the age are speedily registered and promul¬ 
gated in books and periodicals. Mechanics and ma¬ 
nufacturers know how to appreciate this sort of book 
knowledge ; and it enables them to keep pace with 
the improvements of the age. Not so our farmers 
generally. They have little intercourse with each 
other; they have no access to agricultural hooks, and 
many are too old or too prejudiced to seek for or re¬ 
ceive information. The consequence is, that we are 
making slow progress in agricultural improvement, 
while agriculture is being made to double, treble and 
quadruple its products upon the old continent. Youth 
is the appointed time, and the only time that can be 
relied on, for implanting the knowledge and the princi¬ 
ples which should guide and govern in the business of 
manhood—and of laying the foundation for good citi¬ 
zens and intelligent prosperous farmers. 
The Strawberry. 
As the present month and the beginning of Sep¬ 
tember, is the best season for making strawberry beds, 
some remarks as to varieties and the mode of culture 
may not be unacceptable. 
The fruit of the strawberry is almost universally 
esteemed ; and is prized as well for its delicious fla¬ 
vor, as for its tendency to promote health, and for its 
efficacy in mitigating or curing certain diseases.— 
The berries are almost wholly soluble in the stomach, 
and neither there or elsewhere do they undergo the 
acetous fermentation. They dissolve the tartareous 
incrustations of the teeth. They promote perspira¬ 
tion. When used largely, they have given relief to 
those afflicted with the gout; and Hoffman states, 
that he has known consumptive people cured by them. 
The principal species and varieties are— 
1. Wood, with oval serrated leaves ; the fruit round 
and small, and white and green. Native of Britain. 
2. Scarlet, with leaves like the preceding, round¬ 
ish and scarlet coloured. Native of North America. 
Varieties: early scarlet, Wilmot’slate, common late, 
Wilmot’s scarlet. 
3. Roseberry. A Scotch seedling. The plants have 
few roundish leaves, larger fruit than the scarlet, and 
are very prolific. Continues bearing till August. 
4. Downlon. Fruit large, irregular and coxcomb¬ 
like ; leaves large ; plants hardy ; and although pro¬ 
lific in England, has not proved so with us. We 
have grown a berry that measured 5 3-4 inches. 
5. Carolina, or Boslock. 
6. Musky, or Hautboy; with oval, rough, javellin 
edged leaves, the fruit large, of a pale red. 
7. Chili; with large oval, thick hairy leaves and 
large flowers ; the fruit large and very firm. A na¬ 
tive of Chili. 
