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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. 5, WASHINGTON-ST. ALBANY, N. yTaJJGUST, 1839. NoToT 
Conducted by J. BUEL, of Albany. 
TERMS.— One Dollar per annum, to be paid in advance. 
Subscriptions to commence with a volume. 
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Bowery, Alex. Smith, seedsman, P. Wakeman, office of the 
American Institute, Broadway, New-York; Hovey & Co. 
Merchants’ Row, Boston; Alex. Walsh, Lansingburgh, and 
Wm. Thorburn, Albany, gratuitous agents; John Thorburn, 
seedsman and general agent, St. Louis, Mo. For general 
list of agents, see No. 12, vol. v. 
The Cultivator is subject to common newspaper postage. 
The published volumes are for sale at the subscription price, or, 
if bound, the cost of binding added. The bound volumes may be also 
had of our Agents in the principal cities. 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
TO IMPROVE THE SOKE AND THE MIND. 
Eock out for another Panic. 
The New-York Times gives the following statement 
of the amount of duties paid in the district of N. York, 
during the first quarter of 1838, and the first quarter of 
1839: 
1838, .$2,407,755 78 
1839, . 4,309,500 21 
Difference,.$1,901,744 43 
Now, if we assume this as a criterion for the three 
coming quarters of the year, it will give an aggregate 
of $7,606,9^2.72, as the amount of duties upon foreign 
importations, paid in the district of New-York, in 1839,. 
over and above what was paid upon the like importa¬ 
tions in 1838. This immense sum of seven and a half 
millions of dollars, the reader will bear in mind, is not 
the cost -of the foreign articles we import, but merely 
. the duty which is exacted by our laws on their introduc¬ 
tion into bur country. And if we consider that almost 
every foreign article not coming in competition with our 
own manufactures, is imported dutyfree ; andthatmany 
other articles pay merely a nominal duty, we may with 
safety assume, that the duties payable at the custom¬ 
house do not amount to more than one-tenth of the cost 
of the foreign merchandize imported. We arrive, then, 
at this result, that the foreign goods imported into Newl 
York during the present year, will exceed in amount 
the importations of 1838, SEVENTY-SIX MILLIONS 
OF DOLLARS!!! 
And who is to foot the bill ?—who is to pay the ba¬ 
lance! Here is an extra charge against us, in a single 
port, of seventy-six millions of dollars, in a great mea¬ 
sure for articles which we can either produce within 
ourselves, or do without. We may boast of this as an 
era of commercial prosperity —we may boast that it fills 
the coffers of our national treasury—but we cannot con- 
# ceal the apprehension, that it is pregnant with future 
and direful evils to our country; that it is the prelude 
to another commercial panic, more dreadful in its effects 
than the one from which we are just recovering. Real¬ 
ly, we are getting commercially mad. Like the reck¬ 
less spendthrift, we are cumbering our patrimonial inhe¬ 
ritance, entailing upon our posterity a ruinous debt, and 
compromiting our independence as a nation, from a vain 
ostentation of buying what we do not want, or what at 
all events we are unable to pay for. 
We repeat the question—By whom and how is this 
seventy-six millions of dollars to be paid ? Paid it must 
be, if we would sustain our character for honesty and 
fair dealing. The total amount of our exports is but a 
little over one hundred millions—some millions less than 
our imports of last year; and according to the data we 
have assumed, they are likely to fall short of the imports 
of the current year from fifty to a hundred millions of 
dollars. Our state stocks have, to the amount of one 
hundred and seventy millions, been already sent abroad 
towards paying old balances; some considerable portion 
of our bank stock lias been employed for a like purpose; 
and, abstracting the exports of cotton, exclusively the 
production of the south, our exportations will not pay a 
tithe of the rapidly accumulating debt. 
What does this state of things augur to our manufac¬ 
turing and agricultural interests? This seventy-six 
millions of foreign merchandize has and will be spread 
over our country, and must and will be sold, though at 
a sacrifice to the holders; and supplant, in no small de¬ 
gree, the sales of domestic goods. Our manufacturers 
will consequently become cramped; their business will 
be contracted; many mills be stopped, and many fai¬ 
lures ensue. The evils to the agriculturist will be, the 
loss of the market, to the manufacturer, of his provi¬ 
sions and raw materials, a diminution in their price, 
and a participation in the evils of another commercial 
panic. 
6 
Our anticipations may not be realized; yet the facts 
upon which they are founded, are such as should put 
every prudent man on his guard—as should render him 
cautious of running in debt, particularly for foreign 
merchandize, and as should induce him, in all cases 
where it is practicable without a great sacrifice, to give 
a preference to domestic over foreign productions. The 
patriots of our revolution could forego the use of foreign 
goods, and their wives and daughters the use of their 
favorite beverage, tea, for their country’s good. The 
sons surely have not so degenerated, as to be unwilling 
to adopt, in part, to maintain their independence, that 
policy which their fathers employed to achieve it. 
Academies and High Schools. 
From the school returns of Massachusetts, it would 
seem that the tendency of academies and high schools, 
in the towns where they are established, has been seri¬ 
ously to impair the patronage, and lessen the benefits 
of the common schools, by compelling the districts, for 
want of funds, to employ inferior teachers at small sala¬ 
ries. “Where established,” says the secretary of the 
board of education, “ private schools and academies 
tend strongly to diminish the annual appropriations for 
common schools; they draw their ablest recruits from 
the common schools, and by being able to offer a higher 
compensation, they have a pre-emptive right to the best 
qualified teachers; while simultaneously the district 
schools are reduced in length, deteriorated in quality, 
and to the same extent bereft of talents competent for 
their instruction.” 
The same influence upon the character and useful¬ 
ness of our common schools is felt in New-York, from 
the rapicf increase of academies and select schools among 
us. These high schools are patronized and supported 
by the wealthy; and the effect is not only to withdraw 
their patronage from the common schools; but, what is 
of perhaps greater consequence, their care and influ- 
ence also. And it has become a serious question, whether 
the character and usefulness t>/ our academies are not 
impaired by an unreasonable multiplication of them— 
whether more good, to the pupils and the public, would 
not result from half than from the whole of them. 
They are designed to teach classical literature, science 
and the higher branches of an English education; but 
their multiplied numbers has so divided and cut up the 
public patronage, that even with the aid of the litera¬ 
ture fund, but a small portion of them are able to obtain 
the library, the apparatus, or the teachers, which are 
necessary to carry out the objects of the establishment. 
The consequence is, that their teachings are more in 
name than in substance; with this further disadvan¬ 
tage, that as they profess to give higher qualifications 
of usefulness to the pupils than common schools, and 
are considered the exclusive avenues to the learned pro¬ 
fessions—to fame and fortune, they absolutely spoil 
many hoys, by inflating without enriching their minds, 
who otherwise might have been more useful and more 
respectable, in the more humble, but not less honorable, 
employments of life. 
Let us not be understood as wishing to disparage the 
higher branches of learning which are taught in classi¬ 
cal schools. We are the avowed and decided advocate 
of the higher studies. But we would not teach them 
exclusively to the few, to the prejudice of the many. 
We would not unnecessarily multiply academies for the 
professions, already overstocked, to the prejudice of 
common schools, which are more particularly for the 
farming and mechanical classes. We would not pull 
down the high, but we would raise the humble to their 
level, by giving them those attainments which would 
serve to improve their condition in business and soci¬ 
ety. There is not a doubt in our minds, that the teach¬ 
ings of the higher branches of education, embracing the 
principles of natural science, chemistry and mechanics, 
would be of far more service to the community, if taught 
and applied to the arts of productive labor, than they 
can be to the learned professions. 
Under this view of the subject, we consider Secretary 
Mann correct in saying, that high schools and acade¬ 
mies, when multiplied to the extent they now are, are 
injurious to the cause of common school education. 
Were the patronage and influence which are now given 
to the high schools, brought to co-operate with the pa¬ 
tronage and influence exerted in the school districts, and 
the munificent appropriations of the legislature, for 
competent teachers and district libraries, we have not a 
doubt that many of our common schools might be raised, 
in character, to the common standard of academies, and 
greatly to excel many of the latter in usefulness—be¬ 
cause their benefits would be imparted to a whole com¬ 
munity, to the producing, as well as to the non-produc¬ 
ing classes. It is a principle which cannot too often be 
inculcated, that the prosperity and happiness of the in¬ 
dividual, depends materially upon the intelligence, in¬ 
dustry and thrift of the district. 
Horticultural Report. 
Report of the second exhibition of the Horticultural Jlsso- 
ciation of the Valley of the Hudson. 
The second semi-annual exhibition of the Horticultu¬ 
ral Society of the Valley of the Hudson was held at 
Stanwix Hall, Albany, on the 25th and 26th of June. 
The committee could scarcely have been more fortu¬ 
nate in the selection of a suitable exhibition room, as 
the lofty domical apartment, measuring 70 feet from 
the floor to the ceiling, and of corresponding width, 
when filled with fine exotics, plants, fine fruits and 
beautiful flowers, redolent with delightful odors, from 
the gardens of many of the members, afforded a truly 
charming coup d’ ceil to the eye of the spectator. 
On entering the hall, the rich groups of verdure which 
encircled it, composed of the most beautiful exotics, af¬ 
forded the finest possible hack ground to central tables, 
where the numberless bouquets of choice cut flowers 
and the finest specimens of early fruit were exhibited. 
One side of the apartment was devoted to the display of 
the many excellent and well grown vegetables. One 
hundred and forty superb bouquets of cut flowers deco¬ 
rated the chandeliers, the columns, and various other 
parts of the room; and during the second day of the 
exhibition the numerous company of visitors assembled 
were entertained with the performances of a fine band 
of music. The middle of the central table was occupi¬ 
ed by a beautiful “ Temple of Flora,” from the Albany 
Nursery, the floor of which was paved with dahlias and 
other fine flowers, the columns enwreathed with a vari¬ 
ety of phloxes, and the dome covered with a rich vari¬ 
ety of roses and Paisley pinks. Among the most strik¬ 
ing of the fine greenhouse plants, were some magnifi¬ 
cent Roman myrtles, orange and lemon trees, with a 
great variety of other fine specimens from the Manor 
House, Albany, which were kindly contributed by Mrs. 
S. Van Rensselaer. We also noticed a very large spe¬ 
cimen of yucca gloriosa, 10 feet high, with equally fine 
specimens of the India rubber tree, (ficus elastica,) 
fuchsia gracilis and protea argentea. The oriental cy- 
press of the Levftnt, the nandina domestiea of China, 
and the fragrant jasmines of the south of Europe, were 
also conspicuous for their size and beauty. An admi¬ 
rable variety of fine vegetables was contributed by the 
horticulturists of the counties bordering the Hudson, as 
well as from the neighborhood of Albany. Gentlemen 
distinguished for their zeal in horticultural and rural 
improvement were present from nine of the different 
river counties, all of whom expressed the warmest inte¬ 
rest in the future prospects and success of the society. 
The early period at which the first semi-annual exhibi¬ 
tion is held, necessarily prevents a large show of fruits, 
the autumnal exhibition being more especially devoted 
to pomology; but the cherries, strawberries and melons 
sent were highly deserving commendation. 
- ,L At the meeting of the members, on the evening of the 
25th, the annual election of officers of the association 
took place; when, the former president declining a re- 
election, the Hon. Edward P. Livingston, of Clermont, 
Dutchess co. was chosen president; A. J. Downing, 
Esq. of Newburgh, corresponding secretary; Theodore 
Allen, Esq. of Hyde Park, recording secretary; and 
Wm. Thorburn, Esq. of Albany, treasurer. A vice- 
president was also elected for every county on the river, 
and executive committees for each place where it is 
proposed to hold exhibitions. 
The next autumnal exhibition of the association will 
be held in New-York on the 12th day of September 
next, when contributions are solicited from every sec¬ 
tion of the Valley of the Hudson. 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EXHIBITION. 
From Mrs. S. Van Rensselaer , Manor House, Albany. 
—Euphorbia splendens, protea argentea, 8 feet high, 
lagerstraemia indica, diosma encoides, ericas, several 
fine species, ficus macrophylla, ficus elastica, daphne 
variegata, several beautiful geraniums; a number of 
fine large orange trees loaded with fruit of different va¬ 
rieties; jasminum of different sorts, a large century 
aloe, yucca gloriosa, fuchsia gracilis, calceolarias, splen¬ 
did myrtles, &c. &c.—all in pots. Also, several beauti¬ 
ful bouquets of cut flowers, roses, pinks, &c. also a bas¬ 
ket of ripe melons, the finest cucumbers, two varieties 
of straw berries, very large gooseberries, &c. All these 
were of the finest description, and reflect credit upon 
Mr. Leonard, the gardener at the Manor House. 
Jas. Wilson, Albany.—Luxumburgh moss rose, scar¬ 
let moss rose, white do., village maid do., La Furturelle 
do., Wellington do., two varieties new petunias, twelve 
varieties fine heart’s ease, a splendid plant of Fuchsia 
Globosa, and a fine new South American calceolaria 
in full bloom; one large orange tree, loaded with fruit! 
with many othei greenhouse plants, and blooms of the 
following dahhaspurple perfection, globe white, li¬ 
berty, Durant’s invincible, rose imperialis. 
■ E-Holbrook, Hyde Park.—Bishop’s orange strawher- 
lies, 4| inches m circumference ; Keen’s seedling and 
Hautboy s do. all of large size; white smith, crown hob. 
