THE CULTIVATOR. 
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION, DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
I KNOW OF NO PURSUIT IN WHICH MORE REAL AND IMPORTANT SERVICES CAN BE RENDERED TO ANY COUNTRY, THAN BY IMPROVING ITS AGRICULTURE.— Wash. 
Vol. VI. NO. 3, WASHINGTON-ST. ALBANY N. Y. APRIL, 1839. .JNo7*‘I 
Conducted by J. BUEL, 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 & 
Entvvisle, Alexandria, D. C.; Gideon B. Smith, Baltimore, 
Md.; Judah Dobson, bookseller, D. Landreith, and M. S. 
Powell, seedsmen, Philadelphia; Israel Post, bookseller, 
88 Bowery, Alex. Smith, seedsman, P. Wakeman, office of 
the American Institute, Broadway, N. York; Hovey & Co. 
Merchants’ Row, Boston; Alex. Walsh, Lansingburgh, and 
Wm. Thorburn, Albany, gratuitous agents. For general 
list of agents see No. 12, yol. v. 
The'Cultivator is subject to.comraon newspaper postage. 
IK?" The published volumes are forsale at the subscription price, or, 
if hound, the cost of binding added. The bound volumes may be also 
had of our Agents in the principal cities. 
THE CU LTIV A TO R. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOLE AND THE MIND. 
Agricultural Schools. 
We may learn wisdom from the infidel Turk, not. 
withstanding the low grade in the scale of civilization 
in which we choose to place him. Ali Pacha, the 
sovereign of Egypt, rightly appreciating the value of 
agricultural improvement in his dominions, has es¬ 
tablished, among other national schools, one for in¬ 
struction in the theory and practice of agriculture, 
and another for instruction in the veterinary science. 
When shall we become as wise in these matters as 
the Pacha of Egypt! Answer—when our represent¬ 
atives are willing to forego personal and sectional ag¬ 
grandizement to promote the common good; when 
they will make patriotism, which consults the good of 
the whole, paramount to the contracted notions which 
yoke them to the car of party—to the interests of a 
few aspiring individuals. 
Premiums for 1839. 
We offer the following premiums for the current 
year—the time for competing for the first to termi¬ 
nate on the first of September, after which the essays 
and drawings already received, and which may be re¬ 
ceived, or at least such as may be deemed to pos¬ 
sess the most merit, will be published. The essays, 
&c. for the other premiums, will be received any time 
before the tenth of January next, and will be publish¬ 
ed in the February and March numbers. 
1. For the best plan of a farm dwelling-house, of stone, 
briclc or wood, to cost from $600 to $2,000, a pre¬ 
mium of. 
2. For the most profitable acre of corn,_ 
3. For the second best do .... 
4. For the most profitable acre of ruta baga, 
5. For the second best do. 
6. For the most profitable acre of mangold 
wurzel,... 10 
7. For the most profitable acre of sugar beets, 
8. For the most profitable acre of carrots,.. 
9. For the best sample of ten pounds of beet 
sugar produced by household process, .... 
10. For the best sample of ten pounds of Ma¬ 
ple sugar, produced in the like way,...... 10 
Note .—Plans of dwelling-houses must be accompa¬ 
nied by drawings of the elevation and ground plan, 
and must comprise estimates of expense for wood, 
brick or stone. The sugar must be presented before 
next new-years’ day. To give uniformity, labor in 
raising the crops must be estimated at $2 per day for 
man and double team, $1.37| for man and single 
team, 75 cents for man, and 50 cents for every load of 
manure, when spread. The same statements of 
modes of culture, labor, expense, produce and profits 
will be required as heretofore, and the same evidence 
of the credibility of the competitor. The product of 
corn must be over 80, and of the roots over 600 
bushels per acre. 
$20 
00 
10 
00 
5 
00 
10 
00 
5 
00 
10 
00 
10 
00 
10 
00 
10 
00 
10 
00 
Useful Mode of Teaching. 
We have been very much interested, and highly 
gratified withal, by the perusal of a letter from E. E. 
Barney, principal of an academy at Dayton, Ohio, de¬ 
tailing the mode of instruction pursued with some 
classes of young men under his charge. The letter 
was not written for the public eye, but preliminary to 
a request to know at what discount we would put a 
number of Cultivators to serve as a class-book. We 
very willingly replied, that for such a noble object, 
we would discount one-third of the subscription price, 
a proposition which will be extended to any acade¬ 
my, which may choose to adopt Mr. Barney’s excel¬ 
lent example. In the letter accepting our proposi- 
2 
tion, we have permission to publish Mr. Barney’s 
mode of instruction, which follows. 
“ In the academy of this place, of which I have charge, 
I have a class in reading of forty boys. I have taken 
the Common School Assistant, one for two boys: when 
the class are called for reading, I distribute to them the 
papers, with the injunction, that no scholar turn over a 
leaf, or look at any other part of the paper, till the first 
page is read in order. Sometimes only one scholar 
reads; the rest of the hour is taken up in commenting 
on the subject read, and in answering questions and in¬ 
quiries suggested to the minds of the class, by the topic 
under consideration. Thus topics of interest, and such 
as elicit discussion, are constantly coming up. We al¬ 
ways have something new, as none are permitted to look 
upon any part of the paper, except that containing the 
lesson for the day. At the close of the recitation, the 
papers are taken away and locked up. This frequently 
happens in the midst of an interesting discussion, when 
every member of the class is anxious to express his 
opinion—(which they manifest by raising the hand, 
none speaking without permission)—and thus they 
return to the recitation with increasing interest each 
day. * * * * 
“ I have taken the Cultivator from the beginning, and 
consider it invaluable to the farming interest. Many of 
the boys in the first named class are studying chemistry. 
I have read many extracts from the Cultivator to them, 
showing how a knowledge of this science would aid an 
intelligent farmer in cultivating the soil. The result 
has been, that many of the class now view farming in an 
entirely new light. They had before looked upon it as 
only Jit for the ignorant and clownish;* but many of 
them now view it as a profession, to be studied and learn¬ 
ed, and worthy the time and attention of the most gifted 
intellect. Many who had before been hesitating in the 
choice of a business for life , begin to look upon farming as 
combining the three requisites — honor, profit and hap¬ 
piness.” 
“ At the end of the year, the papers can be bound in 
volumes, to be used again by other classes. At the close 
of each paragraph, the class are permitted and encou¬ 
raged to ask questions, on the subject read. The teacher 
also questions the class, and ascertains not only that each 
word is understood, but that the general scope and bearing 
of the whole subject is comprehended. If this course be 
adopted and carried out fully, it will enable the teacher to 
communicate a vast amount of knowledge in the most 
agreeable form, and in a way that will be treasured up by 
the pupil. And more than this, he will be able to mould 
the mind of the pupil to habits of correct thinking, to 
eradicate error, and to instil right principles—a matter 
more important than any other in education. The 
amount read, in learning to read, is of little consequence, 
—every thing depends on the manner. Again, it is of 
little service to learn to call the words correctly, unless 
the pupil be so instructed that each word is a picture to 
the child’s mind of an idea. And even the advantages 
of this instruction is problematical, unless such princi¬ 
ples be inculcated at the same time as will insure the 
right application of such knowledge in after life. 
“It is for these reasons that I have adopted the plan 
here detailed. My experience thus far most fully sanc¬ 
tions it.” f 
School-Houses. m 
We have been obligingly favored with the report 
of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Edu¬ 
cation, on the subject of school-houses. No person 
can read it without being forcibly struckt^ith the 
glaring defects which are seen to existin most school- 
houses of the present day, and some of which are cal¬ 
culated to produce the most serious and lasting evils 
upon teachers and children. Gen. Mann has dis¬ 
cussed the subject under the heads.of Ventilation and 
warming — Size — Desks, seats, cfc.—'Location of school- 
houses — Light — Windows—Yards or play grounds — 
and the duty of instructors in relation to school-houses. 
He has also submitted plans of jchool-houses; and 
subjoined letters from gentlemen of medical and sci¬ 
entific celebrity in confirmation of the opinions he has 
advanced. 
Considering the subject one of great importance to 
the whole community, and one that has been but little 
investigated, or understood, we shall attempt to give 
a brief abstract of the report, and accompany it with 
two of the plans. 
Ventilation and warming ,— The importance of pure 
air to health, we have particularly explained in an 
* It is feared that farmers who seek to elevate their sons 
and themselves, by sending the former to the liberal or mer¬ 
cantile professions, as well as the statesmen, who neglect to 
foster this great business, have the same contracted notions 
of a business which pats in requisition our best and noblest 
faculties. 
article upon that subject, in another column, the pe¬ 
rusal of which we think will satisfy every reflecting 
mind, that children in a crowded school, especially in 
winter, suffer seriously, and often fatally, from the 
confined and vitiated air of school-rooms. Dr. Wood¬ 
ward has stated, that in a close room of thirty feet 
square, and nine feet high, fifty scholars will so poi¬ 
son the air by breathing, that in forty minutes it is 
wholly unfit for respiration. One of the strongest 
cases cited, of the destructive influence of air which 
has become vitiated by breathing, is that of the Black 
Hole in Calcutta, a room eighteen feet square, into 
which one hundred and forty-six persons were thrust, 
and kept confined for ten hours; and although there 
was one aperture for the admission of air and light, 
one hundred and twenty-three had perished at the 
end of that time. Only twenty-three survived, and 
several of these were immediately seized with the 
typhus fever. 
To obviate the evils incident to foul air, there is 
wanted, the secretary observes, “ a current of fresh 
air flowing into the room, while a current of the re¬ 
spired air flows out of it; both to be equal to the 
quantity required for the occupants. Under such 
circumstances, if there be but little motion in the 
room, the poisonous part of the air [carbonic acid gas,] 
will Settle towards the floor as soon as it is cast from 
the lungs, while the other part of it, being raised al¬ 
most to a blood heat in the lungs, will rise to the ceil¬ 
ing. In the ceiling, therefore, should be an aperture 
lor its escape. The carbonic acid will tend to flow 
out under the door, or when it is opened. If the 
ceiling be concave or dome-shaped, only one aperture 
will be necessary; if horizontal, and the room be 
large, several may be required. These apertures may 
open into the attic, into the side walls, or into the 
chimney; and the flues to conduct off the impure air 
may have valves, or dampers, to be opened or closed 
at pleasure. For the introduction of fresh air, the 
report recommends, that a cellar be constructed un¬ 
der the school-house, for the deposite of wood, and 
the construction of a furnace, the brick or soap-stone 
top of which may be level with the floor, and one or 
two orifices will admit a constant stream of heated air 
from the cellar into the school room. If a stove is 
employed, it should be enclosed by a sheet iron case, 
rising from the floor on three sides of the stove, and 
bending over it; not, however, so as to close over its 
top, but leaving an openi-g in the case greater or less, 
according to the size of the stove and the room.— 
The fresh air to be introduced into this case from out- 
of-doors, by a conductor through the floor. A ther¬ 
mometer should be kept in the school room, and the 
temperature made to range from 65 to 70 Q . 
Size .— In the improved penitentiary system, at 
Charlestown and Philadelphia, 171 in the former, and 
1,300 in the latter, cubic feet of air are allowed to 
each prison cell. In a room thirty feet square, and 
twelve feet high, thore would be 10,800 cubic feet, 
which, divided among twenty inmates, would afford 
to each 540 cubic feet, double the amount allowed to 
a Massachusetts convict, but less than a half that is 
allowed to one in the Pennsylvania penitentiary.— 
The cases are greatly dissimilar; and the advantage 
is altogether in favor of the school room, in conse¬ 
quence of its greatly superior facilities for the ad¬ 
mission of fresh air. Yet the comparison will serve to 
show, that even in punishing the wicked, we are not 
disposed to withhold from the convict, this first bless¬ 
ing of heaven—pure air—towards the enjoyment of 
life. Our school-houses are undoubtedly too small, 
and too low, in general, for the number of scholars 
which they are intended to receive. In our estimate, 
we calculate rather how many we can pack, than how 
many we can accommodate. By a narrow, short¬ 
sighted parsimony, we endanger that which we are 
most desirous to preserve—the health of our children. 
A school room should be so large, as to afford room 
for all the seats and desks for the pupils, arid to leave 
an “open space all round the walls, at least two feet 
and a half in width, besides room for the common re¬ 
citations and the teacher’s desk,” with anti-rooms or 
halls for the children’s hats, bonnets, &c. 
Desks, seals, <fyc .— A level floor is recommended, as 
increasing the space for air, and as promoting an equi¬ 
librium of temperature. “The seats with desks 
should be arranged in parallel lines, lengthwise of the 
room, with aisles between, each seat to accommo¬ 
date one scholar only. Eighteen inches is perhaps a 
suitable width for the aisles. Each desk should be 
