62 
eept the Bible, were ever yet exempt from these defects ?— 
Yet, even the most illiterate believe books to be absolutely 
necessary to the perfection of every honest trade, profession, 
and calling under the sun. Strange then, most strange would 
it be, if that calling, upon whose prosperity even human exis¬ 
tence itself depends, should be the only one which can pros¬ 
per without books i The vainest fool that ever lived, if he 
were not an absolute idiot, would not fail to admit this, pro¬ 
vided you could prevail on him to think long enough to form 
an opinion. How shameful—how disgraceful then is it, that 
any of our fraternity who are certainly not fools, should ever 
be found among the idiotic declaimers against the study of 
books on agriculture ! This study would put him in posses¬ 
sion of one fact, vvhich of itself should suffice to animate his 
professional exertions for the rest of his life. It is, that all the 
greatest benefactors of mankind have been either practical 
agriculturists, or the devoted friends thereof—that they have 
deemed agriculture not only an art but a science, to the per¬ 
fection of which the study of books is indispensable; and, 
moreover, that to the end of time, it will always fall so far 
short of perfection, as to leave ample room for constant im¬ 
provement, even to the wisest and most experienced of our 
profession. To strive therefore with might and main after 
this improvement, and with a zeal and perseverance propor¬ 
tioned to its importance, should be deemed the indispensable 
duty of every man who presumes to call himself a friend to 
the great, the vital cause of agriculture. All who give it only 
lip service, should be ranked amongst its worst enemies, since 
tire tongue alone is worse than nothing, unless the heart, the 
hand, and the purse, unite in its promotion : nay, more, un¬ 
less this union, in the case of us Virginians, should so work 
as to obtain legislative aid to our cause. But no man in his 
senses can hope it, as our legislatures are now constituted, if 
he judges by their undeviating neglect of agriculture, from 
the end of our revolutionary war to the present time; although 
strange to say, a large majority of them have always been 
agriculturists 1 Of this there can be but one even probable 
explanation ; it is, that they must belie ve party politics to be 
much more deserving of their patronage than agriculture .— 
To cure them of this hallucination, there is only one remedy, 
and that, thank God, is still in our power, although there is 
some doubt whether we shall all be sufficiently alive to our 
own interest lo apply it. This remedy is, either to elect no 
more representatives, without clear, unequivocal pledges to 
do something for agriculture; or to instruct all who will not 
give such pledges, that they must do something, or never 
again expect our suffrages. Why this course has not been 
pursued, after so many fruitless and deeply mortifying appli¬ 
cations to our legislatures, is to me utterly inexplicable, but 
upon the supposition that the majority of us are stone blind 
to the obvious means of relief; or that those who can see them, 
and are fully aware of all their momentous bearings, want 
the courage and perseverance to combat that fearful and most 
formidable obstacle to improvements of every kind, which 
consists in a union of ignorance and asinine indifference rela¬ 
tive to our best interests. We agriculturists may, and often 
do live so comfortably at home, by industry and frugality, al¬ 
most in spite of government neglect, nay, even of govern¬ 
ment hostility, that we remain ignorant of the vast extent to 
which legislative enactments have benefited agriculture in 
other countries, and might advance our own, if we would 
only exert over them that influence, that control, which our 
constitution has secured to us. Should we much longer ne¬ 
glect to do so, all argument, all persuasion, used for any such 
purpose, will be as entirely thrown away, as an attempt to 
show how a dead man’s life might have been saved, had a 
certain nostrum been administered while he was alive. Un¬ 
less we mean “ to give tip the ship," in other words, to aban¬ 
don our good old mother, Virginia, to her aboriginal inhabit¬ 
ants, the bears and wolves of the forest, and flee to “ the far 
west,” we must insist upon the establishment at public ex¬ 
pense of a board of agriculture, or an agricultural school, or 
an agricultural survey of the state, or all three together. One 
or all of these means are indispensably necessary, if we would 
maintain among our sister slates, that relative rank and im¬ 
portance to which our soil, climate, natural resources and po¬ 
pulation, so justly entitle us. * * * * * * * 
Poudrette. 
Mr. Minor, manager of the poudrette establishment at 
New-York, has furnished us with the following ex¬ 
tracts, from highly respectable farmers, demonstra¬ 
tive of the great value of this new species of manure. 
Extract of a letter from Dr. Josiah Bowers, dated Smith- 
town, Long-Island, 14 th Jan. 1839. 
“I have used poudrette on several crops with very 
satisfactory results. On one-half of a field of corn con¬ 
taining six acres. I applied it at planting time, at the 
rate of one gill to the hill. The produce was more than 
double that of the remaining half of the field. It is 
proper to remark that the soil was clayey and cold, and 
not calculated to produce good corn without warm ma¬ 
nure. One-half of another field of ten acres, was plant¬ 
ed with a gill to the hill; the next day the remaining five 
acres were planted without manure. Both parts came 
up equally well, but that treated with poudrette, very 
greatly excelled in rapidity and vigor of growth, being 
at least twice the size of the other, at the time of second 
hoeing. At this period, I treated the remaining five 
acres, with the same quantity of poudrette per acre as 
had been put in the hill of the first, sowing it on the 
ground at broadcast, and working it in with the culti¬ 
vator and hoe. The result answered my expectations. 
That manured in the hill maintained its superiority for 
a few weeks, but it became daily more obvious that its 
rival was gaining upon it, and at the time of cutting up 
no difference could be perceived in the crop, both be¬ 
ing excellent for the season. Forty bushels per acre on 
ruta baga, produced a result beyond my most sanguine 
expectations. A large number of experienced farmers 
examined the crop on the ground, and agreed in pro¬ 
nouncing it the most abundant they had ever seen. 
“In the garden it was no less effectual, producing the 
finest melons, squashes, cucumbers, peas, beans, &c. In¬ 
deed I consider it peculiarly suitable for all annual plants, 
or such as require a rapid and vigorous growth. In ad- 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
dition to my own experiments, I have been careful to 
observe its effects, as used by my neighbors, as well as 
to ascertain their opinion of its value, in comparison 
with other manures. The best evidence of the high 
estimate they put upon its value, is the extreme solici¬ 
tude manifest in all who have used it, to secure to them¬ 
selves a future supply. J. BOWERS.” 
Extract from a Utter written by Wm. F. Blydenburgh, 
Esq. dated Smithtown, L. I. Jan. 29th, 1839. 
“ To D. K. Minor —Sir—I have used poudrette in the 
hills'of Indian corn, say a gill or handfull to each hill, 
with very decided benefit. The corn in the same field, 
manured in the hill with first quality hog-pen manure, 
for the first 60 or 90 days, appeared to be inferior to that 
treated with poudrette, at least 30 per cent; but at ga¬ 
thering time, little or no difference in the produce was 
perceptible. The quantity of hog-pen manure, put in 
each hill, must have exceeded the quantity of poudrette 
600 per cent, or more. I should prefer, for the purpose 
of manuring corn in the hill, one bushel of poudrette to 
six of the best hog-pen manure. 
“During the first thirty days, after the corn above 
named was planted, I would remark, that the part of 
the field treated with poudrette, appeared at least fifty 
per cent better than that treated with hog-pen manure. 
The beneficial effects of poudrette upon all spring crops 
are immediate, so far as I have observed. On grass 
lands, in the month of May, it has a decidedly beneficial 
effect, as a top dressing. I should think twenty bushels 
to the acre on grass, would double the crop, for one year; 
but the effects on that crop, for the second year, I should 
deem very slight. So far as I have been able to make 
up an opinion as to the value of poudrette, I should say 
a bushel of it is worth 12 bushels of street manure, 7 
of horse manure, 6 of hog-pen manure, 3 of ashes, 14 
of cow-yard manure, and |ths of a bushel of ground 
bones, for any crop, allowing all of them to be on the 
farm, or at least near to it, so that no freight is to be 
charged on either. When freight and cartage are to be 
considered, the difference in favor of poudrette, bating 
bones, is greater. I should be glad to purchase this 
season, 1,000 bushels of poudrette, at 30 cents per bu¬ 
shel. In fact, rather than not have it, I would give 
something more. W. F. BLYDENBURGHT 
Piedmontese Silk Keel. 
[Fig. No. 12.] 
The frame is 6 feet 5 inches long, 4£ by 3 inches 
thick. Distance of the upright posts A and B, 4 feet 4i 
incites. 
C, C, length of the connecting bars of the frame, 20 
inches in the clear. 
D, D, legs, 2 feet 3| inches long. 
E, E, shaft, with the cogs at each end. Cog F has 
22 teeth: cog G 25 teeth. 
H, cog of 35 teeth, with a crank on the top, 4 inches 
sweep; point of the crank '|ths of an inch from the edge 
of the cog. 
I, a moveable bar, 2 feet 10 inches long, |ths of an 
inch wide, |ths of an inch thick, playing through the 
upright posts B, K. 
L, an iron carrier, of wire No. 1, one end fixed to work 
free, by a screw in the moveable bar, 18 inches from its 
extreme end K. The other end is fixed by a burr to the 
centre of the cog on the top of the upright, K. 
M, M, two wire hooks, 7| inches asunder, at equal 
distances from the ends of the moveable bar to which 
they are attached. The hooks are 4| inches long. 
N, the reel: arms 2 feet 5 inches long; 1J inches 
wide; -^ths of an inch thick ; outer rim 20| inches long; 
2 inches deep ; ^ths thick ; one of the arms is jointed, 
to enable the workman to take off the silk when reeled. 
There ought to he an extra reel, to put in the place of 
the one taken off, to prevent the work stopping. 
O, upright support for the axle of the reel, to which 
the cogs of the reel, and of the shaft E, are fixed. 
P, an iron plate, 12 inches long, projecting 3^ inches 
from the bar, with 4 holes, through which the threads 
of the silk pass. 
Q, the copper to contain hot water, in which the co¬ 
coons are placed, when reeling off. 
R, the furnace to contain charcoal, to keep the water 
of the proper and uniform heat. 
The copper bason is feet long, 1 foot broad, and 
% inches deep. 
Note.— B. F. Pomeroy, turner, corner of Dock and 
Walnut streets, Philadelphia, will make Reels, at $10 
per piece, upon the plan of the one given above. 
Address, by J. J. Viele, Esq. 
Delivered before the N. Y. State Agricultural Society, 
February 6, 1839. 
Gentlemen —Among the many objects, for the at¬ 
tainment of which associations have been formed, there 
is none more laudable or philanthropic in its design— 
none that promises greater utility iu its results, than 
that which has for its purpose the improvement of our 
agriculture. Whether we view it in its effect upon the 
welfare.and prosperity of the great mass, composing 
the nation, or whether we have reference only to its 
effect upon individual happiness, we inevitably arrive 
at the same conclusions. To ameliorate the condition 
of mankind—to multiply the blessings of Providence— 
to increase the productions of our country—to beautify 
the face of nature—to develop new sources of wealth— 
to diffuse knowledge, and promote the great cause of 
universal education—in short, to augment the nation’s 
wealth, and promote the interest and happiness of 
individuals, is the great object of our association. 
In the early ages of the world, it is supposed that 
mankind lived mostly by fishing and hunting, upon 
herbage and fruit, the spontaneous productions of the 
earth. The first step in improvement, was to the 
pastoral life, or the rearing and keeping of flocks and 
herds. As mankind increased in numbers, they began 
gradually to cultivate the earth, and in a measure, to 
obey the injunction of High Heaven, requiring them 
“ to eat their bread in the sweat of their brows.”— 
This employment however, was not considered the 
most honorable, and was mostly performed by slaves 
and females, while the males devoted themselves to the 
pursuits of war,, and the chase. With the advance of 
civilization, agriculture became more lespected, and 
began to be considered of more importance; but it has 
always been viewed by many, as a servile and menial 
employment, and those who pursued it, have been 
subject to oppressive exactions, to manlain an indolent 
and corrupt clergy, to defray the expenses of war, and 
support the administration of the affairs of State.— 
Land became the property of the successful chiefs, 
and was considered among the legitimate “spoils of 
victory.” This was parcelled out in large tracts, 
among the favorites of the conqueror ; and in their turn 
subdivided among their servile followers, on condition, 
and with the most solemn asseverations, “ that they 
would, from that day forth, become their man, faithful 
of life andlimb, and terrene honor.” Here is the origin of 
the feudal system, under which Europe has groaned for 
centuries, and a landed aristocracy has been built up, 
and engrafted upon their governments, which the ad¬ 
vance of civilization and free principles, has as yet in 
vain endeavored to shake off. Grants of large tracts by 
the crown, to particular favorites, entailed upon their 
posterity in perpetuity, and by them leased to a degrad¬ 
ed and oppressed peasantry, borne down by tithes and 
oppressive taxation, are among the causes, if not the 
principal, why agriculture has slumbered in ignorance 
for ages and centuries, while the other useful arts and 
sciences, have advanced with a rapidity only equalled by 
the march of time itself. 
But thanks he to the spirits of our forefathers, that 
we can congratulate ourselves that our lot has been cast 
in a land of free and equal privileges, and that we have 
“ a goodly heritage.” By the constitution and laws of our 
country, estates entail, and in perpetuity, have been abo¬ 
lished, & there is no intermediate being requiring homage 
and fealty, between man and his God. Yet, as our po¬ 
pulation and laws were originally derived from coun¬ 
tries where unequal laws prevailed, and where, through 
their influence, great and wide distinctions had grown 
up in society, based not upon merit, but upon govern¬ 
ment favor and patronage—the accident of birth, or the 
influence of other adventitious circumstances, we could 
not at one blow, entirely throw them off, and rid our¬ 
selves of their baneful influence. The established prin¬ 
ciple, however, is working admirably, and it needs not 
the eye of prophecy to foresee that the time is not far 
distant, when our farmers, hitherto despised by the 
“ ruffle-shirt" or “ blue-stocking ” gentry, shall have aris¬ 
en from the low, degraded, and ignorant state of the op¬ 
pressed peasants and serfs of the old world, to the first 
station in the ranks of a highly civilized and enlighten¬ 
ed nation. This desirabe result is not to be produced 
by the flattering appeals of noisy demagogues, and can¬ 
didates for popular favor, but by the action and combin¬ 
ed efforts of the agriculturists themselves, seconded and 
aided by the eo-operation of an enlightened and liberal 
government. 
The United States of America, extending from the 
twenty-fifth to the fiftieth degree of north latitude, em¬ 
braces a greater variety of soil and climate, than any 
other nation; and is capable of producing in perfection, 
almost every article of necessity or luxury, now afforded 
by any part of the civilized globe. Yet, notwithstand¬ 
ing these advantages of climate, soil, and government, 
our agriculture has been suffered to languish and de- 
