THE CULTIVATOR. 
189 
it, and it weighed 371 lbs. We husked a load more, 
and Mr. Cronkhite, one of my hands, thought the corn 
was still better; we then measured another acre as 
accurate as possible in the same way, 12 rood 3 feet 
by 13 rood feet; we husked off of that 166 bas¬ 
kets, or seven loads, wanting two baskets ; we shelled 
one basket as before, and it weighed 39| lbs. of shelled 
corn; the corn was husked and thrown down, the 
wagon going round to gather; shook down the corn, 
so that the loads might have been a little larger, and 
the corn rather sounder, as there was not so much 
damage done on the second acre by crows, &c. Thus 
you see, the first acre had on it 112 bushels 23J lbs. of 
shelled corn; the second had on 118 bushels 28 lbs. 
or 118| bushels ; the second acre had on it eight loads 
of pumpkins; the stalks are well saved, and are ex¬ 
cellent fodder. I sowed turnip seed on the whole 
piece, but the corn and pumpkin vines so covered the 
ground, that the turnips are worth but little ; a few 
bushels grew to good size since the corn was cut. 
EXPENSE OF CEOP. 
10 days with team and boys at manure, .... $10 00 
5 days with young man and team do. 7 50 
Parts of days ploughing, perhaps 5,. 7 50 
1 day with drag at 12s. 1 50 
1 day planting at 6s. 1 75 
1st hoeing, went through with horse and cul¬ 
tivator, 3^ days, with 2 men and 2 boys, 
worth... 5 37 
2d hoeing, 2 men and 2 boys 2| days each,.. 3 75 
3d hoeing, 3 men and 2 boys 2 days each,... 4 75 
4£ days cutting up, with a man and boy,.... 3 94 
$46 35 
One-third of the above, is.... $15 35 
3| days husking 1 acre with 2 men and a boy, 5 25 
Whole expense of one acre,.$20 60 
VALUE OF CROP. 
118£ bushels of corn from an acre, at 6s. 6d. amounts 
to. $96 31 
8 loads of pumpkins, worth... 8 00 
Stalks would sell quick at..... 4 00 
$108 31 
Deduct expenses,.. 20 60 
Nett profit of one acre,. $87 71 
I am yours, with great respect, 
JOSEPH F. OSBURN. 
Mentz, Nov. 13th, 1838. 
This may certify, that I helped raise the said corn, or 
tend it, and measure, husk, shell and weigh it, and be¬ 
lieve the above to be true to the best of my knowledge. 
JOHN HADDEN. 
This may certify, that I helped measure the 2d acre 
as above, and husk it, and believe the above statement 
to be true. ABRAM KELLS. 
P. O. Port-Byron, town of Mentz, ) 
Cayuga county, 11 th Nov. 1838. $ 
I am personally acquainted with Mr. Joseph F. Os- 
burn, and have no hesitation in saying that his statement 
contained within, is in all respects true; and further, 
that any statement in agriculture coming from him may 
be relied on. HORACE PERKINS, P. M. & J. P. 
Legislation and Agricultural Education. 
Clinton College, Tenn. Nov. 13, 1838. 
Hon. J. Buel —Dear Sir—No subject interests me 
as much as the improvement of the soil and the mind, 
taken together, as the great business of our nation. 
And your remarks under the head of “ the crops,” in 
No. 8 of the Cultivator for the present year, are so 
full of the spirit that should actuate all Americans, 
that I must beg leave to quote them, and I wish they; 
were published again and again, in large capitals. 
“ Will the politician, the manufacturer, the merchant, 
and the mechanic pause a moment and reflect upon the 
controlling influence which the abundance or scantiness 
of the harvest has upon the prosperity of our common 
country, and upon their several pursuits ? If the har¬ 
vest is abundant the whole land is prosperous and hap¬ 
py. If the harvest fails, every class feels the electric 
shock, business becomes stagnant, embarrassments mul¬ 
tiply, and the whole land mourns. How important is 
it then, that all should feel and exert a direct influence 
in encouraging and qualifying the husbandman to in¬ 
crease the products of the soil—by legislative patronage, 
and by a system of enlightened education, calculated at 
once to make better farmers and better citizens.’’' I 
have quoted your remarks all in emphatic characters, 
because they contain an idea that should be brought 
home to the full investigation of every American. 
Of a 1 ! the citizens of the U. States, perhaps, eigh¬ 
teen-twentieths are farmers, and if these do not pros¬ 
per, the other classes cannot. The merchant cannot 
sell his goods, nor the manufacturer, nor the me¬ 
chanic his labor, because the farmers who are their 
customers are unable to buy. The physician cannot 
prosper, because eighteen-twentieths of his patients 
are farmers, and unable to pay him liberal fees. The 
lawyer can not prosper, because eighteen-twentieths 
of his clients are farmers. The minister of the gos¬ 
pel cannot prosper, because eighteen-twentieths of 
his hearers and congregation are farmers. The po¬ 
litician cannot make his nation prosperous, because 
eighteen-twentieths of those who support the trea¬ 
sury are indigent farmers, and money is necessary to 
carry into effect the measures of the nation. From 
all tliis, which must be evident to every one, it ap¬ 
pears to me, that our politicians, both of the Union 
and of the states, have always been legislating at the 
wrong end of affairs. Roads, banks, schools and 
commercial facilities, seem to have engrossed their 
whole care. It is true that these are all desirable 
blessings, but they are the result of wealth, much 
more than the cause of it. Roads and colleges can¬ 
not be made without wealth, and banks are useless 
when they have no money to represent their paper. 
If the states would adopt a course of legislation that 
would bring all the talents in them to bear upon their 
soils, wealth would soon be so abundant that roads, 
and colleges, and banks would be made wherever 
they are needed. Fluctuations in the money market 
would be less frequent and less distressing; for the 
money in the country would only keep pace with the 
wealth in it, and there would be less fictitious bank 
notes created by legislative authority without money 
to redeem them. But instead of all these blessings, 
we have none of them to a great extent. Thus it is 
that one radical error in the community produces a 
thousand errors and difficulties. Nature made our 
country principally for agriculture, and the neglect of 
it, throws every thing else into confusion and distress. 
Heaven has made no two countries precisely alike 
and for the same purposes. Then if the inhabitants 
of any country direct it to the end for which it was 
created, that nation will be prosperous ; but if any 
country be directed to a different purpose from the 
one for which it was created, then disppointment and 
poverty must be the consequence of such perversion 
of Heaven’s laws. It is vain to legislate for the ob¬ 
jects which complete a nation’s happiness, when the 
whole country is crippled in its operations by being 
diverted from the very end for which it was created. 
Let us have a universal system of scientific agricul¬ 
ture, practised every where in our country, and the 
observance of the laws of nature (Heaven) in that one 
branch of business, will soon give us a sound curren¬ 
cy, good roads and good schools, as well as all other 
blessings we desire. Had nature made our country 
exclusively for manufacturing or for commerce, then 
there would be great good sense in directing the ef¬ 
forts of our government and our people to commerce 
or manufactures. In such a case it would be superb 
folly to make agriculture our absorbing care, to the 
neglect of the very purpose for which our country 
was created. But suppose our country were mainly 
created for agriculture, and provided with fertile soil, 
congenial climate and facilities for exporting our pro¬ 
ducts to every part of the world, what would you 
think of our government, if it were to direct its efforts 
to the fostering of commerce and manufactures ex¬ 
clusively, while agriculture was neglected? Would 
you not say, that as a nation we have reached the 
summit of foolishness] But precisely such, (shall I 
say it? O ! shame for boasted U. States !) the truth 
must be told, precisely such is a true but imperfect 
picture of our country, and of the movements of our 
government. Has Heaven made such a variety of 
salubrious climate, and such an immensity of the 
richest soil in the world, to be thus neglected, or thus 
frolicked away ] How long will our people suffer 
themselves to be intoxicated by the political buzz 
and party spirit, which our politicians perpetually 
keep up, while they overlook—proudly forget—and 
even spurn to condescend to the true, the vital in¬ 
terest of the country. It is high time for us to rise 
and assert our rights. Let us vote down at the bal¬ 
lot box every puffed politician who would lead us 
away from our main interest, by filling our heads ex- 
culsively with Van Burenism, Clayism, Websterism, 
Whiteism, Harrisnnism, Jacksonism, or any other 
mere partyism. Let us make them speak out and 
act out for the interest of our country or leave them 
at home, and select other lawgivers who will study 
this vital blood of our nation. It is vain to disguise 
any longer; to this point we must come at last. Our 
soil is every day washing from under us, and he is no 
patriot, no friend to the people, who would make them 
forgetful and drunk enough, on a mere ism, to frolick 
away their homes. It is high time, too, that the 
newspapers, which so pervert and poison the com¬ 
munity, shall be commanded to stop their mad—then- 
whirlwind—their baneful—their ruinous career. No 
man can study the sober interest of his country or his 
farm, if he reads them, while they are thus full of 
everything that is slanderous, intoxicating and poison¬ 
ous. Newspapers are very useful, so long as they 
are conducted with sober truth, and patient good 
sense; but when they are ever ready to sacrifice 
truth, philosophy and the vital interest of the country 
for mere party purposes, they are vile scourges to 
any nation. Let us then induce them to a season of 
sobering and reflection, till they become decent things. 
Let those who spend $20 a year for newspapers to 
heat their blood, curtail their reading of this kind, and 
spend $5 for agricultural papers that will make them 
prosperous, and their children—and their country, hap¬ 
py. But few men can in truth affirm that they have 
warrantee deeds to their farms while they confine 
their reading exclusively to party newspapers; be¬ 
cause their soil will depreciate and wash away to the 
gulfs and oceans, and thus leave their deeds located 
upon sterile clay or sand. Then let us unite upon 
those measures which will save and improve our 
country, by bringing the individual and national mind 
to bear upon and develop all the natural advantages 
of the soil. The literature of our country needs re¬ 
modeling. Though I am not old, I have spent most 
of my life, thus far, in teaching science, with a farm 
under my care. And I am ashamed, that so little of 
our boasted learning is practical—tamed—domesti¬ 
cated, and familiarized to the avocations of men. 
When the young man graduates with honor, he is 
then unfit for any occupation—ho has still to learn 
his profession. Whereas, the college or university 
ought to fit young men at once for the occupations 
they are to follow. To promote these ends in agri¬ 
culture, I propose to add $20 to the premiums offer¬ 
ed by Mr. Solon Robinson and yourself for the pub¬ 
lication of certain agricultural books, as described in 
the 8th number of the Cultivator. I also unite with 
Mr. Robinson in petitioning for an American Agricul¬ 
tural Society : and I join with him heartily in the pro¬ 
posed national petition to congress for the establish¬ 
ment of a National Agricultural School. And I would 
suggest that the Smithson bequest, lately received 
by the U. States, of £100,000, i& the fund which 
should be set apart for that purpose, provided there 
is nothing in the will of the liberal Mr. Smithson to 
forbid it. Your ob’t servant. 
F. LI. GORDON. 
P. S. A convention of delegates from the societies 
of agriculture in our state takes place at Lebanon on 
Monday next. 
Hoeing Wheat. 
Hector, Tompkins co. N. Y. Nov. 27, 1838. 
J. Buel —Dear Sir—I have seen an article in your 
paper, headed “ Wheat on Clover Ley." I have been 
in the habit of growing wheat on clover ley, for nine 
or ten years past, and find great benefit resulting from 
it. The only difficulty that I find resulting from this 
mode of farming is, that on moist ground, after an un¬ 
favorable season for preparing my ground, grass has 
grown with my wheat in such quantities as to destroy 
say from two to four or five bushels of wheat to the 
acre. In 1837, 1 attempted to plough in about three 
acres of clover; at the time of ploughing, the season 
was dry, and the ground so hard, that when I finished 
ploughing it, I considered that about one-third of the 
ground was left unbroken by (he plough ; this ground 
was a part of the same field where I had corn then 
growing; I could not improve it any as a pasture; I 
ploughed this ground again after the middle of August; 
the season had continued dry, and the clover had not 
rotted, and my plough drew up the clover into heaps, 
like ploughing in straw, and when I had finished 
ploughing this time, much of the ground remained yet 
unbroken by the plough. I sowed this ground with 
wheat, I believe the 9th day of September; it was 
so badly prepared, that I think I should not have been 
disappointed if some part of it had not brought five 
bushels of wheat to the acre. Early the next spring, 
this wheat appeared to promise a good crop, but I soon 
found plenty ot grass growing with it. I soon visited 
this wheat again and took along my hoe, and began 
to hoe up some of the grass sods, placing some on 
stones, and others in the place where I had taken 
them from, with the roots of the grass upward. I soon 
found that I did not disturb the wheat much, the roots 
of the wheat not being interwoven with the grass 
roots. I continued hoeing this wheat at intervals un¬ 
till I had hoed it twice over, and some part of it three 
times. After this wheat was fully grown, one of our 
best farmers, knowing that this ground was badly pre¬ 
pared, examined this wheat, and found it so clean from 
grass and so good a growth, that he gave it as his 
opinion, that if it should fill well, it would bring me 
twenty-five bushels to the acre, or nearly that. This 
wheat, like most of the wheat the past season, was 
not well filled, and was not kept separate from my 
other wheat, having no intention at the time of tilling 
of communicating this beyond my immediate neigh¬ 
borhood ; I kept no accurate account of the time spent 
in hoeing this wheat, but concluded at the time, that 
it amounted to about one day, or a little more, on each 
acre ; and at the time of harvesting, concluded that 
this ground had brought me, in return for hoeing if, 
about eight bushels of wheat to the acre. Although 
I cannot ascertain the ex*ct benefit resulting from 
