40 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
No one tastes so good Fruits as he who raises 
them. 
This is particularly true as regards the small fruits of 
summer. The black mulberry, it is stated in the En¬ 
cyclopaedia Americana, is “in perfection only a few mo- 
mem s, and that at the time when it can be detached 
from the tree by a slight shaking of the branches.” 
“All the fruits,” says Dr. Alcott, “but more particu¬ 
larly the berries, are more o.r less subject to the same 
law.” The perfection of the strawberry and raspber¬ 
ry lasts but an hour or two ; and even the pea, bean 
and Indian corn, lose much of their freshness and fla¬ 
vor by being plucked the day before they are used. 
Those who raise fruits, therefore, may pluck and eat 
them when they are at perfect maturity, when they 
are most grateful to the palate, and most conducive 
to health. Those who buy them, on the contrary, 
must buy those that are prematurely gathered, or 
which have passed their best state, and are in the in¬ 
cipient process of decay. In general both of these 
objections lie against summer fruits which are sold in 
the market—they are gathered before they are ripe, 
and they are in the progress of decay. How impor¬ 
tant is it, therefore, that the lovers of good fruit should 
take care to have it in perfection, by selecting and 
cultivating the choice varieties, when it can be done 
at trifling expense. 
“ The juices of all green fruits,” says Dr. Alcott, “are 
very different from those of ripe ones. Their acids are 
less wholesome than at'ter they are changed by the ac¬ 
tion of the sun in ripening; nor does the addition of sac¬ 
charine substances in preparing them, at all change their 
real nature. They are still there; they are only con¬ 
cealed. The oxalic acid is still oxalic acid, cook green 
fruits as you will. No culinary process, I repeat it, 
can be substituted for, or produce the effect of solar ac¬ 
tion. The Creator, in many instances, by means of the 
sun, performs the most perfect culinary processes; and 
nature is often the best kitchen and cook.” 
The use of ripe fruits is admirably adapted to allay 
the feverish irritations of the stomach and bowels at 
the seasons when they severally come to maturity; 
but unripe fruits, or those in the incipient stages of 
decay, are calculated to increase these excitements, 
and to generate disease. Fruits should always be¬ 
come ripe in their own natural way, and eaten when 
they are in their highest perfection. 
Bone Manure. 
Since bone manure has become accessible to a 
considerable portion of the farming community, by 
the erection of bone mills at Albany, Waterford, New- 
York, Boston, and other places—and is likely to come 
into more extensive use, as its value is better appre¬ 
ciated—we propose to give some account of its fertili¬ 
zing properties, of the soils and crops which it is cal¬ 
culated most to benefit, of its mode of application, the 
quantity applied to the acre, &c. In doing this, we 
shall draw our facts principally from the report of the 
committee of the Doncaster Agricultural Association, 
a society which has rendered eminent service to the 
agricultural community, in different departments of 
husbandry, by its investigations and reports. 
With a view of collecting facts to form the basis of 
their report, the committee addressed seventeen que¬ 
ries to the most intelligent farmers of the country, 
embracing men of science, and asking answers to the 
interrogatories in regard to this manure. Forty-nine 
answers were returned. From these the committtee 
made out their report; and it is the substance of this 
report we are about to give. 
Bone manure had been used, by those to whom the 
queries were addressed, for an average period of 
twenty years. “ Our correpondents,” says the re¬ 
port, ‘‘with only two exceptions, all concur in stating 
it to be a highly valuable manure, and on light dry 
soils superior to farm-yard dung and all other ma¬ 
nures.” In copying the language of one of them in 
relation to dry sandy soils, we express the opinions 
repeated in the far greater number. “ I consider bone 
tillage one of the most useful manures which have 
ever been discovered for the farmer’s benefit. The 
lightness of carriage, its suitableness for the drill, and 
its general fertilizing properties, render it peculiarly 
valuable in those parts where distance from towns ren¬ 
ders it impossible to procure manure of a heavier and 
more bulky description. The use of the bones dimi¬ 
nishes labor at a season of the year too when time is 
of the first importance ; for one wagon load of a hun¬ 
dred and twenty bushels of small drill bones, is equal 
to forty or fifty cart loads of field manure.” 
“Upon very thin sand land,” say the committee, 
“ its value is not to be estimated ; it is not only found 
to benefit the particular crop to which it is applied, 
but extends through the whole course of crops, 
and even in the succeeding course, its effects are 
visible in the improved quality of the land, and the 
efficiency of a smaller quantity than would have first 
ensured a crop.” Numerous facts are here cited in 
proof of this declaration of the committee. Where, 
for instance, in a district of many thousand acres, tur¬ 
nips would produce only tops, and those very small, 
the use of bones alone has increased the turnip crop 
in some cases ten, and in few cases less than five fold; 
and all the succeeding crops of grain and grass were 
amazingly increased. 
On light loams the bones were found preferable to 
yard dung—provided they are dry—for the bones do 
not seem to benefit at all upon wet soils. 
On heavy loams and clays the experiments were 
unfavorable ; and the committee infer, that clay soils 
are in general too moist to receive any considerable 
benefit from bone manure. 
Upon peat soils, thoroughly drained, the advanta¬ 
ges of bone manure were very striking. Fifteen to 
twenty bushels per acre were found to surpass, very 
far, the ordinary dressing of farm yard dung, and even 
lime and pigeons’ dung. 
Upon gravels, the opinions of its efficacy are con¬ 
tradictory. Upon wet ones it will not succeed. 
As to its durability. Three acres were boned with 
one hundred and fifty bushels per acre by mistake. 
Fourteen years after, the land had not forgotten it, 
but was nearly half as good again as the other part, 
farmed precisely in the same way, with the exception 
of the one dressing of bones. 
To the question, do you continue to use bones 1 not 
one in the forty-nine returned an answer in the nega¬ 
tive. Their use was rapidly increasing. 
Upon grass, either for meadow or pasture, their ef¬ 
fect was favorable, the herbage being improved in 
quality and quantity. Six hundred bushels were 
spread upon twenty-four acres of a dairy larm, of dry 
sandy gravel, which had been laid down ten years. 
The effect was to produce double the butter from the 
cows depastured upon it, to those which were fed up¬ 
on like pasture not boned. 
The general application of bone dust in England is 
to the turnip crop, one of the most important in British 
husbandry ; and the opinions as to the best mode of ap¬ 
plying it, whether in drills or broadcast, are various, 
though the former opinion rather prevails. 
As to the size of the bones, the opinion is in favor 
of half inch bones. Mr. Burk states—“ If I were to 
till for early profit, I would use bones powdered as 
small as saw-dust: If I wished to keep my land in 
good heart, I would use principally half inch bones, 
and in breaking these I should prefer some consider¬ 
ably larger.” “ By using bones of a large size, with 
dust in them,” says another correspondent, “ I think 
I have sufficient of the small particles to set the crop 
forward, and sufficient of the large particles left to 
maintain the land in good condition for the last crop” 
in the course. 
In regard to the quantity to be applied to an acre, 
although the committee admit that the average of the 
returns is thirty-nine bushels, they nevertheless re¬ 
commend, as a sufficient dressing, twenty-five bush¬ 
els of the small size, and forty bushels of the half inch, 
giving to the poorer lands a greater, and to the rich¬ 
er ones a smaller quantity. 
Some of the correspondents prefer raw or fresh 
bones, and some those which have been boiled, and 
the glue and oil extracted. 
Without going into further detail, we shall close 
our notice of the report, by copying a summary of the 
deductions which the committee draw from the facts 
they collected. They are as follows :—■ 
“ On dry sands, limestone, chalk, light loams, and peat, 
bones are very valuable manure 
They may be laid on grass with good-effect. 
Oil arable lands, they may be laid on fallow for turnips, or 
used for any of the subsequent crops. 
That the best method of using them where broadcast, is 
previously to mix them up with earth, dung or other ma¬ 
nures, and let them lie to ferment. 
That if used alone, they may be either drilled with the 
seed or sown broadcast. 
That bones which have undergone the process of fermen¬ 
tation, are decidedly superior to those which have not 
done so. 
That the quantity should be about twenty-five bushels of 
dust, or forty bushels of large, increasing the quantity if 
the land be impoverished. 
That upon clays and heavy loams, it does not yet appear 
that bones will answer. 
Front the foregoing data, the farmer will be able to 
judge how far bone manure is adapted to his soil; and 
from estimating its cost and transportation, he can 
calculate the economy of purchasing and applying 
ing it. In the report before us it is computed to be 
cheaper at 2s. (44 cents) per bushel for manuring, 
than yard dung, at 10s. ($2.22) the load, the price 
the latter is stated at in Britain. The price at the 
mills in this state is $14 to $16 per ton, which would 
bring it to more than 40 cents a bushel. So that to 
manure an acre with twenty-five bushels would cost 
about $10.75, besides transportation and spreading. 
This dressing would be equal to that afforded by 
twenty common loads of manure, which ought to be 
estimated to be worth 50 cents a load, besides the ex¬ 
pense of hauling it out and spreading it. It would 
therefore seem to be cheaper than stable manure ; 
and at all events it would afford a valuable auxiliary 
where manure is scarce, or has to be brought from a 
distance. 
Bone dust is for sale at the glue factory of T. Coul- 
son & Son, on the Schenectady turnpike, Albany, 
and by R. Burt, Waterford. 
“The Memorial, 
“ Devoted to the reduction of costs attending legal pro¬ 
ceedings in the collection of debts,” is the title of a re¬ 
spectable sheet, which we have received from Seneca 
Falls, A. Bascom, editor. Its object is to make known 
the defects of our laws, and the impositions which 
are practised under them, in regard to the legal col¬ 
lection of debts. 
We allow to the legal profession all the innate vir¬ 
tues and good feelings which are common to the other 
classes of society. But we have made them the pe¬ 
culiar subjects of temptation; and have environed 
them, by our own acts, with motives and with power, 
to become a privileged class, like the aristocracy of 
Europe. Wemake them our law-makers, ourlaw-ex- 
pounders, and virtually judges of the compensation 
which they shall receive. We have made the pro¬ 
fession of law the avenue to all the offices of honor 
and emolument, by the long practice of selecting from 
the profession most of our executive and judicial of¬ 
ficers, and a great portion of our representatives in 
the national and state legislatures. We have assist¬ 
ed to qualify them for these stations, by appropriating 
two millions of dollars of the public money to colleges 
and academies, in aid of their education. But we 
have not expended any portion of the public money 
to qualify the farmer and mechanic for like duties.— 
Hence they are a privileged class; and, like all other 
privileged classes, exercise the powers which are 
conferred upon them. Is it a wonder, therefore, that 
the profession should be crowded with candidates, of 
all sorts, for public favor 1 Is it unnatural that, en¬ 
couraged by public bounty and public patronage, and 
possessing the power to help themselves to what they 
wish, that all of the profession should not possess suf¬ 
ficient virtue and integrity to resist the desire to grow 
rich upon the labors of the middling class'! We only 
wonder that there are so many honest lawyers as we 
find. 
From a cursory examination of the Memorial, we 
think its tendency is useful, its motives patriotic, and 
its means mild, liberal and just; and we recommend 
it to public patronage. 
Among other matters, it is shown pretty satisfac¬ 
torily, in the Memorial, that where the costs on col¬ 
lecting a note are now fifty dollars, besides sheriff’s 
fees, they might be reduced, without prejudice to the 
plaintiff, to .fifty cents, besides sheriff’s fees, and yet 
afford a fair equivalent for services rendered. The 
expense and delays of chancery proceedings form a 
far greater cause of complaint than the courts of jus¬ 
tice ; so much so, that a man who has $500 due him 
on a mortgage, had better sacrifice the debt, than 
attempt to realize it by equity proceedings—if a law¬ 
yer takes an interest in keeping him out of it. 
We have had some experience in these matters. 
We became a disinterested endorser for a friend, to 
the amount of seven or eight thousand dollars, for 
which we received a mortgage upon real property as 
security. Our friend failed, and left us to take up 
the paper. We commenced a foreclosure of the 
mortgage in chancery. Although we believe our 
counsel has done his duty, the cause has been pend¬ 
ing five or six year's, and is likely to out-live us—and 
for no other reason that we can see, than to accumu¬ 
late costs—and to secure to a lawyer the possession 
of the property upon a nominal rent. 
Durham Cattle. 
Several individuals of this esteemed breed have re¬ 
cently been bought up in this neighborhood, by a gen¬ 
tleman from Kentucky. The purchaser remarked to 
us, that the climate of Kentucky appears to be much 
more favorable to this breed than the climate of our 
latitude. ____ 
Agricultural Items. 
The Penobscot Agricultural Society awarded premi¬ 
ums in October, on the following products of an acre, 
viz 42 bushels of wheat, 87* bushels ears of corn, 84 
bushels of oats, weighing 34 lbs. per bushel, carrots 
600 bushels, &c. 
Fellenbergh, pointing to three hundred pupils belong¬ 
ing to his school, said to Prof. Griscom, when visiting 
the school at Hoffwyl—“Do you see those young men? 
They are all teachers. If I do but pursue the right 
course in education, I shall revolutionize Switzerland.” 
The wmrthy patriot alluded to the agriculture, the 
schools, and the intellectual and moral character of 
Switzerland. And who would not like to see such a re¬ 
volution here ? Such a revolution we want, and such we 
might have, if we would adopt Fellenbergh’s plan. 
The difference between a working man and a teaching 
man.— The laborer asks the farmer, “Do you want to 
hire a hand, Sir?” “ Yes, if he suits me. What can you 
do ? Can you mow ? Can you cradle ? Can you drive 
a team? Can you. thrash ?” The teacher asks him, 
“ Does your district want to hire a teacher?” “Yes, 
how much a month do you ask ?” In the first case, ani¬ 
mal power and tact constitute the criterion of merit; in 
