THE CULTIVATOR. 
127 
ed to the columns of the Cultivator, which I have 
taken from the commencement. 
There are many things practised by the good peo¬ 
ple of this country, which I should like to mention hit 
would be proper so to do; such as the neglect, by 
many able farmers, of their outside fences, by letting 
bushes, briars, weeds, and thistles grow along them ; 
the irregularity of their division fences—laying out 
their lots in all manner of shapes—crooking this way 
to leave a piece of moist land in the meadow, (which 
by cutting a few trenches and filling them with small 
stone, might be converted into good and dry land for 
the plough,) and then that way, to get a patch of dry 
land into the plough land, &c. &c. Another error is, 
their leaving their barn yard full of manure through the 
summer, to be drenched by every shower, and exposed 
to the intense rays of the sun for two or three months ; 
thus wasting and destroying in value, as well as in quan¬ 
tity, to say nothing of the inconvenience of getting an¬ 
cle deep in filth, every time you have occasion to go to 
the barn. Another, which I think equally reprehen¬ 
sible, is the practice with many, of feeding hogs in 
the highway; to the total loss of all the manure they 
make or could be made from them, besides their lia¬ 
bility to be run over by carriages and horses travel¬ 
ling the road. It oftimes requires considerable skill 
in the driver, to avoid being upset, or killing, or 
wounding a porker or two—for in riding past some 
rich farmers’ door you will find in the summer sea¬ 
son, perhaps a half dozen “mother pigs” with a host 
of young ones, quietly reposing in the middle of the 
street, totally regardless of the law which requires 
them to give half the road. If you keep the “ even 
tenor of your way,” you will be as like as not to 
maim, or disable for life, some one or more of the 
gentry, which is painful to a person of humanity, be¬ 
sides the anger which you are sure to incur of the 
owner. The best you can do in the case, is to waive 
your “ right of way,” and “ pass by on the other 
side,” and leave them undisturbed in their glory. 
I wish you could persuade these breeders of swine in 
the highway, to abandon the practice ; don’t you 
think it a bad one 1 
Yours respectfully, p****. 
Clinton, Dutchess co. July 4, 1838. 
Why are our Dutchess correspondents shy of giving their 
real signatures ? Not certainly because they are deficient in 
practical knowledge. The very date, Dutchess, is a passport 
to notice ; but we are sure that the writer of the above w ould 
Slave lost nothing, while the public would have been gain¬ 
ers, by the substitution of letters for stars, in the above sig¬ 
nature. 
Successful Application of Lime in repelling the 
Grain-Worm. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir—As the least informa¬ 
tion relating to farming, may be interesting to those 
engaged in the business, I state, that Mr. Hardy 
Bundle, a respectable farmer of Greenville, in this 
county, informs me that last fall he sowed six acres 
of land with winter wheat, and fearing that the wee¬ 
vil might destroy his crop, he was induced to try the 
experiment of sowing slaked lime. He says, that 
while the wheat was in blossom, he sowed while the 
dew was on, all the field with slaked lime, except one 
corner, which corner the weevil have nearly destroyed; 
and that the remainder of the field is so heavy that 
he is now looking for sickles to reap it with. 
Respectfully yours, C. SEELY. 
Athens, July 25, 1838. 
Renovation of old Meadows. 
Winchester, Ct. 18 Lit July, 1838. 
Sir —I have a meadow which has remained undis¬ 
turbed by the plough ten years; the grasses have 
degenerated, and it has become turf-bound, (if that 
is a proper expression ; if not, it will probably give 
you my meaning.) It is a great object with me, and 
also with some of my neighbors, like situated, to re¬ 
generate the English grasses, and increase the quan¬ 
tity, without ploughing and re-seeding ; as ploughing 
would produce a resurrection of small stone, which 
would cost $10 per acre to clear off. I have heard 
that meadows of this description might be benefited 
by a sort of scarification of the sward. I shall feel 
indebted for any information which you can give me 
on this subject; whether there is any approved ma¬ 
chine or instrument for this purpose, the best season 
of the year, and the modus operandi. I am young in 
the business of farming, and anxious to learn. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
W. S. HALABIRD. 
Answer. —Top dress with 15 or 20 loads of barn-yard ma¬ 
nure or compost to the acre— spread and sow grass seeds— 
immediately scarify with Concklin’s Press Harrow; then hush 
the whole well, and sow plaster. Do this in the month of 
April. Ashes may answer as a top-dressing.— Cond. Cult. 
The Silk Business—A Partner Wanted. 
I have 1,800 morus muiticaulis roots, with the 
growth, (most luxuriant,) of this year, for cutting and 
setting out next winter. I have any quantity of the 
morus nigra and alba, native mulberries. I have in 
progress of construction, a silk-house, 25 by 32 feet, 
12 feet pitch, with a ventilator at top. My location 
is high and healthy, 60 miles north of Augusta, Ga. 
Land plenty and rich. This is to beg of you to make 
a contract with some man or woman acquainted with 
the business, to go and take charge of the whole af¬ 
fair for me, on the usual terms of joint copartners, in 
such business. I want to go into it largely if we find 
it advisable. My water power is improved and inex¬ 
haustible, and right at the spot; the soil suited by 
nature to the growth of the mulberry. The living is 
cheap and the country healthy. Rocks, granite and 
quartz—water, free stone. Yours truly, 
J. W. D. WATKINS. 
Potato Washer. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir—Having seen in your 
publication of July, a description of a potato washer, 
I beg leave to submit the following sketch to your in¬ 
spection. It is intended to represent such an one as 
is used in some parts of England, where a great ma¬ 
ny potatoes a*re grown, both for the supply of London 
markets with the article itself, or indirectly in the 
shape of pork and beef; and for a cheap article for a 
farmer’s use in this country, (the cost would not ex¬ 
ceed $5, if so much,) would answer every purpose 
for potatoes and apples, if not for turnips. 
[Fig. No. 48.] 
LFig. No. 49.] 
The water tight cylinder, C, fig. 48 and 49, ought 
to be made about 6 inches larger in diameter than tiie 
inner one, which is made say 2 feet in diameter, with 
round bars of l£ inches, and with spaces of 1 inch be¬ 
tween, and is hung on two moveable bars, A, Fig. 48, 
which when the cylinder is to be emptied of its con¬ 
tents, are to be turned over, as in fig. 49, on a pivot 
at each end at d, and a small door, formed by a few 
of the bars being fastened together with end pieces, 
hinged and hasped as is represented in fig. 48. 
The hole B, is used for emptying the larger cylin¬ 
der of water, (in which the filled small cylinder is 
turned, till the contents are sufficiently clean,) when 
too dirty for farther use. I am your well wisher, 
Lockporl, Aug. 1, 1838. J. E-D. 
EXTRACTS. 
On the Best mode of AppljTng Manure. 
[Ittakes a long time to eradicate deep-rooted prejudice, 
or to change long established practices in husbandry, 
however inconsistent they may be slioivn to be, with 
sound sense and experience. The unreflecting or un¬ 
enlightened farmer knows, that a certain process, to 
which he has been long accustomed, is likely to pro¬ 
duce a given result. All beyond this is, with him, 
doubt and uncertainty; and he is extremely tenacious 
of old practices, lest any change should subject him 
to the charge of previous ignorance, or of copying 
after those who he is loth to admit are wiser than 
himself. It is to these considerations that we impute 
the reckless indifference which yet prevails in regard 
to the economy of manures. The old system was, not 
to regard this primary source of fertility; or, if ap¬ 
plied to the soil, to allow at least a moiety of the 
value of it to be wasted by fermentation and ex¬ 
posure, before it was incorporated with the soil, or 
fed to his crops. The first innovators upon the old 
system, Young, Cooke, &c. aware of the strength of 
prejudice, and afraid of innovating too far at once 
upon old customs, ventured to recommend only a par¬ 
tial fermentation of yard dung, before it was applied 
to the soil; thus allowing a considerable waste of its 
fertilizing properties. The writer of the article in¬ 
serted below, Mr. John Baker, of Nassau Cottage, 
Leeds, Eng. has had the courage to break through 
all the trammels of prejudice at once, and to apply 
his dung in its most recent state; and from an expe¬ 
rience of twenty-five years, he has been able to de¬ 
monstrate, from experiments upon a broad scale, that 
he doubles its value to his lands by the practice. 
So far as a twenty years experience has enabled us to 
judge, unfermented dung, applied in the spring, spread 
broad-cast and buried in the soil, and to an autumn¬ 
ripening crop, either in the field or garden, has never 
failed (but once, in a protracted drought, applied to 
a ruta baga crop,) of prolong beneficial—we think as 
highly so as an equal quantity of muck dung; while 
we feel confident, that by applying it in this state, we 
have doubled its intrinsic value, over what it would 
have been if it had summer-rotted in the yard. We 
cannot but indulge the hope, that the perusal of Mr. 
Baker’s communication will induce some of our old 
fashioned farmers to adopt his plan, or at least so 
far as to test its utility.] 
u rom the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.] 
PARTICULAR MODE OF APPLYING FARM-YARD MANURE. 
By John Baker, of Leeds. 
“The present depressed state of agriculture through 
the kingdom, invites the serious attention of all con¬ 
nected with that important branch of industry ; it be¬ 
ing a lamentable fact that, whilst the most splended 
discoveries in science are daily applied to the improve¬ 
ment of our trade and commerce, agriculture, as a 
science, remains almost stationary, notwithstanding 
individual and national prosperity are so deeply inte¬ 
rested in promoting its welfare. For more than twen¬ 
ty-five years I farmed from 500 to 1000 acres in the 
county of Norfolk, during which time my attention 
was carefully directed to the consideration of every 
method or system of farming which was calculated to 
increase the productiveness of the soil, and to im¬ 
prove the condition of that numerous and industrious 
class of persons who are dependent upon it. The 
proper use of manure is amongst the most material 
improvements which 1 have discovered. By the com¬ 
mon, I may say general, mode of managing it, only 
half the benefit which ought to be conferred on the 
crops is given, whilst the system which I have adopt¬ 
ed doubles the value of all the manure made, and at 
the same time it really lessens the expense ; and it is 
to this point that I will confine myself in this paper. 
That “the muck-cart is the best farmer,” is a max¬ 
im as fully acknowledged as it is oft-repeated, and be¬ 
having that upon the proper use and application of 
it the success of the farmer mainly depends, I have 
never failed to attend to this important branch of hus¬ 
bandry. Having experienced the practical advanta¬ 
ges of my system, as well upon land under my own 
cultivation in Norfolk, as upon farms belonging to my 
relations and friends in that countjq where it had 
been introduced at my suggestion, 1 am induced, at 
the earnest recommendation of many gentlemen who 
have also witnessed its beneficial effects in Yorkshire, 
to invite the attention of agriculturists generally to 
the subject. Manure of almost every description is 
carried from the place where it is made and deposited 
on a heap for four, six, or eight months, where it fer¬ 
ments and becomes a soft., black, cohesive mass; it is 
then put on the land and ploughed down, after which 
the crop is sown; this may not always be done, but 
something resembling it is the prevailing and general 
practice in every part of the country. My method, 
the success of which have been proved by numerous 
experiments, is to spread the dung on the land as soon 
as convenient after it is made, except in winter; the 
manure made at that period of the year remains in 
the fold-yard till the spring, where it does not fer¬ 
ment. The whole is taken in the spring, summer, 
and autumn, fresh to the land ; if in fallow, it is plough¬ 
ed in with a thin furrow ; the land is harrowed and 
ploughed again in a fortnight, and in a fortnight after, 
harrowed and ploughed a third time ; after which the 
muck, however long it may have been, is reduced, 
and the soil will be in as fine and friable a state as 
the land is capable of. From the time the dung is 
put on to the last mentioned ploughing, nothing can 
