THE CULTIVATOR. 
57 
or white wall, and trowel it very hard and smooth. The 
plastering should be done early in the spring, and the 
wall receive a coat of boiled linseed oil in October fol¬ 
lowing; this if well done will make the surface of the 
wall impervious to water—the only point to be gained— 
without it, the mortar will freeze off. I think no As- 
phaltum has been used in this city for covering walls. 
I saw the two pieces of pavement done with it in Broad¬ 
way, in front of Nos. 167 and 241, and think it could 
not be well laid on perpendicular walls. It is prepared 
with coarse sand, in an iron vessel, over a furnace, and 
requires a high heat to enable the workmen to mix and 
spread it. The ground received no preparation, except 
hard treading; the coat is laid on about an inch thick; 
short iron bars were laid down twenty inches from, and 
parallel with the curb stone, and the space filled level 
with the bars, which formed the line and thickness of 
the first course; and this piocess was repeated until the 
whole was finished. It is smooth, and to this time 
stands well. I have no knowledge of the expense. 
Your remarks, elicited by a former communication of 
mine, have given me new light on the value of manure 
in the west. If Mr. Osborn carted out the manure, for 
the purpose of breaking his steers, I have done him 
wrong, and ask his pardon for it. I am working a farm 
by proxy, and would like to have a few pairs of steers 
broke upon it in the same way. Yours truly, 
JOHN M. DODD. 
Great Crop of Potatoes. 
Middlefield , Mass. March 13, 1839. 
Mr. J Buel —Dear Sir—Having read with interest, 
the various experiments, as detailed by your correspon¬ 
dents, and published in the Cultivator, I thought I would 
contribute my mite, by giving you the account of an ex¬ 
periment which I made the last season in raising pota¬ 
toes. The piece of ground upon which the experiment 
was made, contained eighty-two rods, planted the pre¬ 
vious year to corn, yielding about fwenty bushels of un¬ 
sound corn. Upon this ground I spread nineteen loads 
of compost manure, and ploughed it in; I then threw it 
into ridges of three and a half feet width, planting the 
hills on each side of the ridge, thus *-_ * .. * * - * ■ *— * *- 
hills twenty inches apart. The ground is naturally dry, 
and the severe drought of last season must have contri¬ 
buted to lessen the crop. The account stands as fol¬ 
lows :— 
Dr. To carting and spreading manure,. $2 00 
ploughing and ridging,. 2 00 
11 bushels seed,. 3 75 
planting,. 2 00 
hoeing,. 2 00 
5 days’harvesting.. 5 00 
manure,..... 7 00 
Interest on land,... 1 25 
Total, $25 00 
Cr. By 340 bushels of potatoes, at 25c.$85 00 
Deduct .. 25 00 
Profit,.$60 00 
I contemplate making other experiments the coming 
season, with the different root crops, and if successful 
you may hear from me again Yours respectfully, 
EBENEZER SMITH. 
Experiments in Preserving Plants from Insects 
and Worms. 
Huntington, L. I. March 20th, 1839. 
Mr. J. Buel —Dear Sir—As the time of planting corn 
again draws nigh, we begin to think about using some 
means to prevent the destruction of the seed and young 
plants, by the grub, wire-worm, birds, &c. 
The grub was very troublesome in this section of the 
country, last season, and I believe there was no remedy 
better than hunting them out and killing them. Some 
of your correspondents recommended soaking the seed 
in warm water, strongly impregnated with nitre, from 
twelve to twenty hours before planting, and you also 
recommend a trial of this, and to be favored with the 
result. We tried it faithfully last season, but we only 
found that they loved the taste of salt as well as other 
animals. We carted on our corn ground, a load of old 
wall, strongly impregnated with lime, and ploughed it 
under. No worms troubled the corn where this was put 
on. Whilst on every side, they destroyed one-third. In 
the last May number, page 63, under the signature of 
“ A Subscriber,” from Dutchess county, feeding the 
worms is recommended, by laying heaps of mullen, 
dock, &c. about in your corn, about the time of its 
coming up. This we have also tried, with success. But 
we only caught the cut-worm. They do but little injury 
to our corn; but beans, pumpkins, cucumbers, melons, 
&c. they devour greedily ; they come to the top of the 
ground in the night, and travel till they can find something 
to feed on, when they fili themselves by eating off the 
plant near the surface of the ground. If you will take 
a lantern, and go in the field in the night, where they 
are plenty, you will see them crawling about in search 
of food. But the grub that has been so troublesome 
here, is of a light colour, with a red head, and eats the 
corn off between the surface of the ground and the ker¬ 
nel, destroying it wholly at once. 
Buckwheat, sown among turnips will not protect them 
from the fly, as recommended by “A Lady,” in the last 
March number. We sowed a patch of turnips in the 
middle of a piece of buckwheat, to protect them from 
the grasshopper; the buckwheat came up all over the 
patch, and the fly was as thick as I ever saw them any 
where. I saved my turnips, by putting Scotch snuff on 
them in the morning, when the dew was on. 
H. B. ROGERS. 
P. S. Does the Rohan potato vines require to be sup¬ 
ported up by stakes ? [Answer —No.] 
Farming—Seed Corn—Calves. 
Dear Sir —In offering a few remarks for your consi¬ 
deration, I do not wish to be considered as being actuat¬ 
ed thereto by a love of notoriety, or the mere vanity of 
seeing my name in print. The very flattering notice 
taken of the contributors to the last volume, in the last 
number of said volume, is the incentive to the present 
undertaking. Though I feel willing to give myself a 
very humble place among said contributors, yet I know 
that there must have been something worthy of obser¬ 
vation in what I have written, or you would not, to 
please one, have inflicted a penalty upon thousands .— 
Encouraged by these views, I offer again for your ac¬ 
ceptance, a few remarks on the all-important subject of 
husbandry. 
That the tillage of the soil ranks the highest in point 
of usefulness, of the various occupations of men, I trust 
there are few or none, in the nineteenth century, to de¬ 
ny. The beneficent Creator of the universe, has con¬ 
nected with this employment, the highest enjoyment of 
which human nature is susceptible, with the least cor 
roding care. Breathing a pure air, and “ catching health 
from the balmy breezes,” rising with the lark and retir¬ 
ing betimes, who so enjoys “ tired nature’s sweet re¬ 
storer,” as the farmer? He alone that tills the soil re¬ 
ceives nature’s bounties fresh from her hands; and con¬ 
sequently he only enjoys the produce of the soil in its 
highest perfection. Though husbandry is generally 
considered as the most simple of all occupations, there 
is no one employment to whose aid more science can 
be brought; nor which is more highly improved by the 
light of science. The greatest talent of the age has 
been enlisted in its behalf, and every day witnesses 
more and more of the brightest genius enrolling itself 
as its ardent admirer and most successful follower. 
It is really wonderful, that husbandry, forming as it 
does the foundation of all prosperity, should yet have 
received so little attention from the legislative wisdom o,f 
our country. Much has been done and is doing for 
schools, academies, and colleges, the object of which is 
to train the young for mechanics, merchants, lawyers, 
doctors, &c. This is well; the perpetuity of our free 
institutions depends mainly upon educating the common 
mind. But it would be better that attention were given 
to train more of the young for the healthful, delightful 
and profitable employment of husbandry. I hope, then, 
that the agricultural periodicals of the day will exert 
themselves to attain this most desirable object, and I 
have been truly gratified to find that yours has done 
much to forward it. 
I will close this article with a few practical remarks 
on the subject of this communication. My neighbors 
and I have found, without, I believe, a single excep¬ 
tion, that corn planted as it comes from the cob, with¬ 
out any artificial preparation, comes up better, and 
stands better, than when soaked in any liquid. I, one 
season, planted corn and put next the corn a handful 
of unleached ashes, not one grain in a thousand came 
up; I replanted with corn in its natural state, and it 
grew well. One of my neighbors desires to state that 
chamber-lye placed where young calves can get to it, 
will be greedily partaken of by them, and it promotes 
their health and growth in a surprising degree; I have 
not tried it. 
The system of agriculture is slowly but gradually 
improving in this vicinity. Manure in its long state, is 
more used than formerly; the use of the cultivator in 
dressing fallow crops is extending; and much more use 
is now made of clover and other grass seeds, than a few 
years back. Other improvements might be mentioned, 
but feeling that I have taxed the patience of you and 
your readers sufficiently, I close. 
E. H. YANUXEM. 
Insect Enemies. 
Last summer, just after my squash and melon plants 
put out their rough leaves they ivere completely riddled 
by the little striped flying bugs, lhat literally swarmed 
upon them. A friend who was visiting me at the time 
proposed that I should try what had proved to him an 
effectual remedy: accordingly I put some fresh cow 
droppings into a tub, mixed therewith water, until 
so thin that the liquid could be sprinkled over the plants 
with a whitewash brush. I applied it three times each 
for two days ; the bugs all disappeared from them; the 
plants soon put out a new and vigorous growth of leaves, 
nor did bugs again attack them. 
ROB. WHITE, Jr. 
Shrewsbury, N. J. 3 d mo. 20th, 1839. 
Farming in Virginia. 
Greene co. Va. March 10, 1839. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Sir—At this enlightened day of agri¬ 
culture, there are numbers of people in Virginia, who 
cut down and wear out one acre of land, to buy another 
to cut down and wear out, and so on. And finally old 
age creeps on them, and they find themselves only com¬ 
forted with but a sun of galls and gullies, the fruits of 
their youthful labor. 
“Forhis shrunk shanks, and his big manly voice, 
“ Turning again towards childish treble, scisses.” 
They are no longer able to continu e this wretch ed course; 
they are brought to rest with this bright example and 
rich inheritance for their children. Can you not, Mr. 
Editor, stop them in this wretched system? Can they 
not be brought to reflect, that their money-purse has a 
hole in both ends, and that their cash runs out as fast 
as poured in? Cannot you convince them, that land 
can be kept at its virgin state, yea, and improved far 
above it, and at greater profit or saving of labor? I 
know a number of farms that will not, upon an ave¬ 
rage, produce two barrels, or ten bushels, of corn per 
acre, and I overshoot the mark at that. This would 
appear to you hardly credible, but it is too true. — 
They certainly do not believe that land can be kept to 
its primitive state—nor can they believe this exhausted 
soil can be entirely restored. The new husbandry is what 
they lack—they do not know how to get out of this old 
way into the new one. You have the means, and the 
talents, too, to set them right. This, too, it seems would 
be a work without faith, for some of them have many 
fine examples of good farming before them—but some 
lack enterprise, and others too selfish to take the advice 
or pattern after others, particularly their neighbors.— 
And perhaps, Mr. Editor, by its perpetually flowing from 
you, a foreign and an intelligent source, it may eventu¬ 
ally have the desired effect; time will remove the pre¬ 
judice. For instance, I know a very old gentleman in 
Albemarle county, who, at one time, (when I was a boy 
I heard it spoken of,) ridiculed the idea of sowing clo¬ 
ver seed—though his land was, I think, then rather un¬ 
der medium quality; but about fifteen years ago, he 
turned the somerset, and I think I hazard nothing in 
saying, he is now one of the best and most prolific far¬ 
mers in that county; his last crop of wheat, I have 
been credibly informed, was the best in that county— 
and from the quantity he made, I think two-thirds was 
the result of the restoration and improvement of his 
farm. These land killers can see this. Can you not 
induce them to believe, that it is cheaper to work one 
acre of land than it U three ? I say three, because I 
think the average crops of new land in Virginia, would 
be about six barrels per acre, and much far above it. 
This they would answer as a very simple question.—• 
Why, then, do they work three instead of one, for the 
same number of barrels? Simply because they have so 
impoverished their land by this wretched old way.— 
Persevered in,it takes three acres to produce what they 
formerly cropped-off of one, and in the latter, the expense 
increased three-fold in every way—labor and money— 
and but the same result—how large a hole, too, does 
this make in the profits. The profits are proportioned 
by the expense. For instance, a few years ago, when 
I commenced farming, I had a small parcel of flour sold 
in market at $4 per barrel; here the expense was one- 
fourth. My last crop of flour was sold at $8, one dollar 
deducted for carriage; here the expense was one-eighth, 
which is less than one-half of the expense when sold at 
four—though apparently the same, but obviously less 
than half, for when sold at $4, I had but $3 left, and 
now sold at $8, I have $7 left, which is more than dou¬ 
ble of $3, for the same expense. Hence it is plain, that 
as the profits increase, the expense diminishes, and by 
this rule I work the renovation of the soil. As the land 
increases in production, in the same ratio the expense 
diminishes, or even keeping it in statu quo, increase of 
expense is prevented. 
In the above, Mr. Editor, farmer like, I have given 
you the true practice of many tillers of the soil amongst 
us; and if you think it might have a stimulating effect 
in sliding some out of this bad old way into the new one, 
and preventing others from getting into it, it is at your 
pleasure or not, to honor it with a place in your journal, 
which paper I recommend to every brother farmer. 
I have now just finished hauling out my manure.— 
From my horse stables, in February last, I hauled and 
spread twenty-two four-horse wagon loads of dung up¬ 
on meadow land. From my barn-yard, one hundred 
and upwards, of well mixed, unfermented compost, up¬ 
on the field I intend for corn, which will be spread only 
as fast as ploughed under. My manure yard is made 
in the form of a basin, to prevent the liquid from run¬ 
ning off. What straw I generally have left, (which will 
be nearly half this season,) after wintering my stock, 
&c. I haul out and spread upon my thinnest land one or 
two years previous to cultivation. This mode of im¬ 
proving land, from experience, is much faster than 
ploughing the straw under forthwith. Hence I have 
come to the conclusion, that the additional improve¬ 
ment gained by covering, over that of ploughing under 
immediately, is caused' by the nitre produced by the 
shade, and hence I have settled down to give my fields 
two years successively in clover, previous to fallowing 
for wheat, or ploughing for corn. The above states 
ment of manure is not given to vie with you northern 
farmers, nor many in Virginia, but to inform your read¬ 
ers what some of us are doing here, and as a criticism 
upon some of our soil butchers, who only haul out some 
eight or ten loads of manure, of the old year’s making 
upon a little piece of land, for tobacco. In former days* 
in Virginia, he who cut down and wore out his land the 
fastest, was said to be the greatest man of business— 
but the dawning change now cocks up his nose at such 
a one. T. G G 
Much that is to he Commended. 
Maryland, March 21, 1839 
Mr. Buel I notice with a peculiar concern and inte¬ 
rest, the statement of the condition and circumstances 
of “Agricola’s” iarm. His is not a solitarjrcase—there 
are hundreds of such, and a system that will help them 
