THE CULTIVATOR. 
51 
A matter of deep interest to tlie West. 
It appears from the report of the Commissioners of 
the Canal Fund, of the current year, that there has 
been a falling off, in the last three years, in the amount 
of wheat and flour brought to tide water through our 
canals, independent of that coming from other states 
and territories, of thirty-two thousand five hundred and 
thirty-six tons, equivalent to one million two hundred 
and fifty thousand bushels of wheat! i. e. the surplus 
crop of West New-York, was one and a quarter million 
bushels less in 1838, than it was in 1835. 
Whence this great diminution of product ? Not from 
there having been less sown in 1837 than there was in 
1834 —for it is believed that the quantity sown in 1837 
was at least one-tenth, if not one-fifth, greater than in 
1834. This was caused by a larger amount of land be¬ 
ing brought under culture, as well as from the high de¬ 
mand for this staple product. The deficiency was not 
owing to bad culture—for the culture, it is believed, 
has been gradually improving ; nor to a bad season— 
that of 1838 being at least equal to those of ordinary 
occurrence; and although a grain worm, long known 
there, committed partial depredations, the grain worm 
which has for some years been the scourge of the east, 
does not seem to have reached our western borders.— 
The cause of the decrease is the same that has been ope¬ 
rating, time out of mind, in the old settled districts of 
our country, and which has been travelling west—it is 
bad husbandry —that skinning system, which takes all 
from the soil, and returns to it nothing. 
We have often adverted to the fact, that wheat was 
once the great staple of East New-York; and that the 
district of country which formerly supplied our commer¬ 
cial capital with wheat and flour, extending one hun¬ 
dred miles north and west of Albany, does not now grow 
enough for its own consumption. The remark will ap¬ 
ply with more or less truth to most of the old settled 
country east of the Allegany range of mountains.— 
Wheat is very much like our improved Short-Horn cat¬ 
tle;—it pays well under good treatment, but soon fails 
from lack of proper food. It is the first crop to betray 
bad husbandry—that indicates a deterioration of soil. 
A great portion of the Atlantic border was once as pro¬ 
lific in wheat, and as greatly extolled for its fertility, as 
the now famed west. But our ancestors followed up 
the exclusive plough, ■pasture and meadow system—made 
annual drafts upon the riches of the soil, without mak¬ 
ing deposites to meet them—till neither wheat, nor 
hardly any thing else valuable, would requite them for 
their labor. The same inconsiderate course, we fear, 
is fast exhausting the fertility of the west. Wheat be¬ 
ing the most valuable product, it is repeated at inter¬ 
vals of one or two years, and often every year, till the 
soil, like a worn down ox, can do them no further ser¬ 
vice. Whereas, were the soil kindly dealt by—were 
wheat returned to it not oftener than once in four or 
five years—were manures faithfully applied, and suita¬ 
ble crops alternated—it would, like the well kept ani¬ 
mal, improve with use, and be a blessing to coming ge¬ 
nerations. Wheat is one of the most exhausting crops 
that is cultivated upon the farm; it requires specific 
food, of which most soils possess but a small portion; 
and although it has been grown in successive years up¬ 
on some, there are very few old cultivated lands which 
will give an undiminished crop, oftener than once in 
four or five years, under a good system of husbandry. 
The remark has been made to us by several gentlemen, 
that in the last few years, the product in wheat, at the 
west, has not been any thing like what was expected 
from the strength and appearance of the straw. In all 
primitive formations, great straw may be grown by 
making the land rich with dung; but the wheat, the 
good wheat, will be found lacking. 
We will here again allude to a fact communicated to 
us by T. Burrall, Esq. Mr. B. manages an excellent 
wheat farm in the vicinity of Geneva; he has made and 
applied much manure, and is, withal, a very observing 
and intelligent agriculturist. He kept an accurate ac¬ 
count of his wheat crops for twenty-one years after he 
began to clear up his farm. Dividing the twenty-one 
years into three equal periods, he told us that the ave¬ 
rage product of the first period was twenty-nine bush¬ 
els of wheat the acre—of the second period twenty-five 
bushels, and of the third period but twenty bushels.— 
Mr. Burrall’s error was probably the common one, that 
of recurring too often to the wheat crop. But this case 
will serve in a measure to explain the cause of the fall¬ 
ing off of the wheat crop in West New-York, a million 
and a quarter of bushels, m the short period of three 
years. 
The prospect before us, in regard to this great staple 
of our state, would be disheartening, but for the consi¬ 
deration, that we can do better than we have done-— 
and for the determination, which we hear expressed on 
every side, that we will do better. We have seen, in 
our day, many farms and even districts, which would 
not grow wheat, and which were reduced to the verge 
of barrenness, so renovated and enriched, by the im¬ 
proved husbandry, as to yield, at proper intervals, crops 
of twenty, and thirty, and sometimes forty bushels of 
wheat to the acre, and other products in proportion. 
What has been done, can be done again, and must be 
done, even in the west, unless our western brethren 
will profit by our errors—and act upon the principle, 
that it is better to preserve than it is to restore fertility. 
The fault of the western farmer, and it was the fault 
of the eastern farmer, is precisely that of the youth 
born to fortune. He finds himself surrounded, and he 
stops not to inquire either how, or for what purpose — 
with the means of'gratifying his grosser appetites—his 
eating, drinking, idle and avaricious propensities— 
with a rich and fertile soil—and he dashes on to the 
gratification of these appetites, unmindful alike of his 
ultimate interest, and of his duty to posterity. Wheat! 
wheat!! wheat!!! is the grand desideratum—we may 
say his almost entire reliance, for wealth and happiness. 
Like the foolish shepherd, who endangers the life of 
his flock, by taking from them two clips in a season; 
or like the silk culturist, who would kill the tree to feed 
a second crop of silk worms—the western wheat farmer 
forgets that nature has her laws, which cannot be vio¬ 
lated with impunity—and that a violation of them will 
lead alike to the death of the animal and the plant, and 
the impoverishment of the soil. So completely infatu¬ 
ated have most of the wheat farmers been, in all peri¬ 
ods of the history of our country, with the prospects of 
present gain, that they have neglected, till impelled by 
necessity, those consideralions of prudence and fore¬ 
sight, which must ever serve as the grand land-marks of 
good husbandry. What credit is due to the son of 
wealth who wastes and spends his paternal inheritance? 
What credit is due to the farmer, who exhausts the fer¬ 
tility of the soil—nature's patrimony to the human fa¬ 
mily—to subserve temporary gain? Moral turpitude 
attaches alike to both. They both pervert the mani¬ 
fest intentions of a beneficent Providence. 
We have travelled in some of the wheat districts of 
the west, and we have noticed, with painful sensations, 
the general disregard there to the maxims of good hus¬ 
bandry. Man seems to be improvident in proportion 
as nature-has been bountiful—to develop his foresight, 
his skill and his industry less, where he has the ten ta¬ 
lents, than where only one talent has been given to him. 
With, to be sure, many honorable exceptions, little at¬ 
tention is paid, in the wheat districts, to alternate hus¬ 
bandry, to the rearing of cattle, and to the economy of 
manures — the true sources not only of agricultural 
wealth, but the only sure means of perpetuating the fer¬ 
tility of the soil. 
We invite our readers of the now fertile west, to take a 
retrospective survey of the history of the land of their fa¬ 
thers—of the once fertile east—and of the east, too, which 
is itself now profiting from its past experience and past 
errors—to mark the progress of its soil in deterioration, 
and the causes of this deterioration—the errors of their 
fathers in the management of its soil—and to act upon 
the trite maxim—that “an ounce of prevention is worth 
a pound of cure.” They have a rich soil, which, like 
the princely estate, may soon be wasted by extravagance 
and folly. Let them use it—let them preserve it—let 
them live upon the interest, without impairing the prin¬ 
cipal. Then may they truly say— we are wiser than 
were our jothers. 
It is a good rule, and one that ought to prevail where 
local circumstances will permit, that manure enough 
shall be made by the farm stock, from the straw, stalks, 
hay, and other resources of the farm, to manure one- 
fourth of it annually. After a few years’ culture of 
new lands, good arable crops cannot be calculated upon 
without manure. If we should see an occupant of a 
Dutchess county farm, which has been brought to a 
high state of fertility by a good system of husbandry, 
cropping his grounds continually, without applying ma¬ 
nures or alternating with grass—until they were ex¬ 
hausted of fertility—we should think him a bad farmer, 
and many would consider him a bad man. And yet 
wherein would his case differ from the reckless farmer 
upon new rich lands. The fertility, in one case, is the 
gift of Providence ; in the other, it has been restored by 
the prudent industry of man: in both cases it is annihi¬ 
lated by his selfishness er his folly, and in both cases 
are the community alike sufferers. 
The late Gen. Humphreys, of Connecticut, speaking 
of the improvements in agriculture, which have stood 
the test of practical and scientific investigation, enume¬ 
rates the following, which we beg to commend to the 
notice of all, whether on new or old land, who would 
“ thrive by the plough .” 
“ 1. The system of farm-yard manure, wherein every de¬ 
composable matter, animal and vegetable, is stored, to be used 
on the fields in regular succession. 
“ 2. The modem practice of using all manures as recently 
as possible. It is now well understood, that plants are nou¬ 
rished by the gases and juices formed during the gradual de¬ 
composition of manure, all which are lost in the old plan,” of 
summer yarding. 
“3. The practice of farm-yard feeding, and sheep-folding, 
connected with the turnip husbandry. 
“4. In the substitution of fallow crops for fallows. It is 
true that fields are sometimes so foul with weeds that a fal¬ 
low is necessary. In England, where a farmer is compelled 
to fallow a field, helots the weeds grow into blossom, and 
then turns them down: in America, a fallow means a field 
where the produce is a crop of weeds running to seed, instead 
of a crop of grain. 
“ 5. In the more spirited husbandry of turnips and potatoes 
[and beets,] for feeding cattle, and of carrots in sandy lands. 
“6. In never permitting two grain crops to succeed each 
other. A fallow crop (that is, a horse hoed crop,) or a grass 
crop, always intervenes. 
“7. In selecting for pastures and meadows, those nutritive 
grasses that do not destroy each other, and that spring up at 
the same season. 
“ 8. In the great attention paid to agricultural machinery: 
to thrashing mills, to chaff-cutters, to drills and drill ploughs, 
to scarifiers, tV: c. 
“ 9. In cultivating plants of obvious profit, as madder, 
weld, [woad,] &c.” 
We will only add, that when Gen. Humphreys wrote, 
1812 or 1814, the improved system of draining was not 
practised, nor had the culture of the Swedish turnip, 
mangold wurzel, or sugar beet been introduced. 
The Privileged Classes. 
We have, in the United States, say the journals of 
the day, eighty-eight colleges, twelve law schools, ninety- 
six medical seminaries, thirty divinity schools, and some¬ 
where about one thousand academies, more or less sus¬ 
tained by legislative bounty, for the almost exclusive bene- 
fitof the lehrned professions, which donot comprise, pro¬ 
bably, one-twentieth part of our population. We have not 
a single college, seminary or school, for the particular im¬ 
provement of the other 19-20ths of our population—the 
farmers and mechanics—who earn our wealth, pay our 
taxes, and fight our battles—although,—we speak it in 
the spirit of truth,—the country would be more benefit- 
ted, in its wealth, in its morals, and in its politics—far 
more benefitted—by extending to the laboring classes a 
higher standard of learning, in what especially concerns 
their business, than it is from the aid which it now gives 
to the non producing classes. It is a republican maxim, 
that all should participate alike in the public bounty. 
But the maxim has not as yet been adopted by our le¬ 
gislators. __ 
It is not too late to plant Trees, 
About the dwelling, or upon the farm. “ The shade 
of trees is highly grateful to man, whether reposing 
under a single tree, or in a state of recreation under the 
shadow of a row, or in an avenue, grove or woodland 
path.”— Loudon. “Shelter is not more useful in cold 
seasons, than the shade of trees is gratifying to cattle 
in hot ones. In an exposed open field, and under a 
burning sun, the torture which cattle often endure, is 
truly distressing.”— Lang. “In a country so eminently 
favored as this, by the vast number of the beautiful and 
magnificent varieties of trees which embellish our fo¬ 
rests, compared to those which are indigenous to Eu¬ 
rope, it is not a little surprising, that a deeper interest 
has not been developed, for rendering them tributary 
to the health, comfort and pleasure of the people, by 
considering them as indispensable to the completeness 
of a country residence, and the public edifices, squares, 
grounds, and highways, as are any of the appendages 
which are deemed useful, ornamental or agreeable in 
either.”— Gen. Dearborn. There is no man, who plant¬ 
ed a single tree in his youth, which lives and thrives, 
but looks back to that act of his youth with pride and 
self-gratulation; and there is hardly one such that does 
not regret that he had not planted more. 
Moisture, Air and Heat, 
Are all indispensable to the germination of the seed, 
and to the preparation, in the soil, of the vegetable 
food; and, with the further aid of light, are alike in¬ 
dispensable to the growth and maturity of the plant. 
A great object of tillage, and of keeping the surface 
mellow in hoed crops, is to admit these agents freely in¬ 
to the soil. Organic or animal matter may remain in¬ 
soluble for years, when buried in the soil, and deprived 
of one of these agents; and seeds may lay dormant for 
centuries, it is believed, when deprived of their agency. 
Hence the first rule in ploughing is to expose the great¬ 
est surface to atmospheric influence; and this is done, 
not by laying the furrow-slice flat, when only the upper 
surface is exposed, say ten inches, if the furrow is so 
broad, but by lapping the furrows on to each other, by 
wlfich more than twenty inches are exposed to.atmos¬ 
pheric influence ; with this further advantage, that with 
the flat furrow, an excess of water stands upon and in¬ 
jures the soil, while every lapped furrow-slice forms a 
conduit for passin g it off. _ 
“ Teaching by Example.” 
C. Harbin, Esq. writes us from Mocksville, N. C. 
March 14, as follows: 
“ I am much pleased with the private letter published in 
the February number, from your Hartford correspondent, 
and think that much can and ought to be done in the way he 
suggests, by those who feel interested in the great work of 
agricultural improvement. I met with the same difficulty in 
recommending the reading of agricultural periodicals to a 
certain class of our farmers, who, although industrious, hard¬ 
working men, and possessing some degree of general intelli¬ 
gence, reject every thing in the shape of book-farming, and 
hang on to the good old way, as they call it. Such prejudi¬ 
ces can only be removed by the perseverance and industry 
of those around such men, by a frequent interchange of opi¬ 
nions with them, and occasionally reading to them such arti¬ 
cles as may be most likely to make a favorable impression, 
and as fast as possible induce them to take an agricultural 
paper; because whenever a man will begin to read, I think 
his prejudices willbegin to totter, and finally fall to the ground. 
You may set me down as a gratuitous agent for your paper at 
this place, and I hope to reap my reward for the interest I 
have taken in the work, in seeing a gradual improvement 
among the farmers of my neighborhood. The mind must be 
very dark that rejects the whole of the light thrown out 
through the columns of the Cultivator, and the other perio¬ 
dicals now published upon the subject of agriculture; and I 
think that by continually knocking at the door, some light 
will finally enter, and ere long the whole become lighted up. 
F/nclosed is your subscription paper, upon which you will find 
forty-seven names ! for the sixth volume.” 
Cedar Quarries. 
On asking a friend from Oswego, the other day, Who 
used this term, what it meant., he informed us, that 
much of the cedar which comes from Lake Ontario, is 
absolutely dug out of the soil. On some of the islands 
in that lake, which furnish great quantities of this valu¬ 
able timber, there has not been growing a single tree for 
many years. Generation has apparently succeeded ge¬ 
neration of this timber, and fallen, and been successively 
covered with earth, and is now dug out for rail-roads, 
fence-posts, &c. in a perfectly sound state. 
