104 
THE CULTIVATOR 
my other fields have been totally killed. This is indeed 
a long letter about a little thing, and just to ask you, 
sir, if you know anything about them, and what would 
be the best remedy against them? and trusting you 
will excuse the trouble of this, I remain, respectfully, 
W. S. GIBBES. 
New Husbandry, &c. 
Mocksville, N. C. June 18, 1839. 
Judge Bued— Dear Sir—In recommending the new 
system of husbandry to our farmers, I meet with two 
objections to it; one is, that we have too much cleared 
land to manage our farming in that way; and the other 
is, that when a man is in debt, and is obliged to have a 
certain amount of money from his crops every year, he 
can’t enter upon that plan, as his crops would be les¬ 
sened for some years, and therefore he could not meet 
his engagements. I think the first objection is very cor¬ 
rectly answered in the March number of the Cultivator 
for this year, in your reply to the inquiry of John Ogil- 
vie, of Virginia, as to Agricola's farm; and I would 
like to know your opinion, as to how long it would be 
before a man’s crops would yield the same return, under 
the new plan, that it now does under the old, the same 
amount of labor and capital being employed in both 
cases, taking it for granted that his crops would be less 
at the start in consequence of his tending so much less 
land, a small part only of which he could manure the 
first year.* I can add my testimony in favor of Green’s 
straw cutter. I have procured one, and it performs 
first rate; every one is pleased with it who has seen it 
perform. 
I soaked a part of my seed corn this year upon your 
plan; it came up well, and grows more rapidly than 
that which was not soaked, and was scarcely touched 
by birds or squirrels, while that which was not soaked 
and planted along side of it, was taken up badly by 
them. I don’t think soaking seed corn is so necessary 
in our climate, as it is in a more northern one. 
Will Irish'potatoes intermix, by planting differentsorts 
along side of each other?f The above is at your dispo¬ 
sal. Enclosed are $11, for as many copies of the Culti¬ 
vator for this year. Accept my acknowledgements for 
the box of potatoes and corn, which came safe to hand ; 
the Rohans were perfectly sound, the others were a lit¬ 
tle damaged. Respectfully, C. HARBIN. 
Queries and Answers Subjoined. 
Michigan, June 14, 1839. 
Mr. Buel— -Dear Sir—Being somewhat anxious to 
obtain something like answers to the following ques¬ 
tions, or queries, and being sure that I cannot resort to 
a source from which I shall be more likely to gain the 
information I so greatly desire, and believing them to 
be within the design of your invaluable paper, I am en¬ 
couraged to ask the favor of your honor. 
In rearing a nursery of fruit trees, is it best to sow 
the seeds in beds, and transplant the trees, or should 
they be sown where they are to remain until fit for the 
orchard ? Answer—Sow in beds and transplant. 
What distance from each other should they stand in 
the nursery? Ans.—One foot in the rows, and the rows 
three feet apart. 
Can all or any of the various kinds of fruit trees, be 
raised from the scions by cutting, as for grafting, dip¬ 
ping the ends cut in melted pitch, &c.? Ans — No fruit 
trees, thatwe now recollect, will grow well from cuttings, 
but several of the fruit shrubs, as the quince, currant, 
gooseberry, fyc. will grow from cuttings. The roots of 
most fruit trees, as the plum, apple, pear, fyc. if made 
into cuttings, will grow, if properly buried. 
Will the trees from the stone of the peach, plum, 
cherry, apricot, &c. produce fruit of the same quality 
as did the trees on which they grew ? Ans. — Very sel¬ 
dom. The seeds cannot be depended on to produce like the 
parent plants. 
* We mean explicitly to state, that if a man has one hun¬ 
dred acres of ordinary land, which he wants to plant in corn, 
and but three hundred loads of manure to put upon it, he 
had better bestow his manure and his labor upon twelve, 
than upon the one hundred acres. His labor will be lessened 
two-thirds at least, his products will be greater, and the 
eighty-eight acres, which is left to rest, instead of being 
further run down, will be in.some measure renovated by the 
herbage which grows and decays upon them. The herbage 
of an acre will keep alive ten sheep, will keep in good condi¬ 
tion six, and will fatten four. Would the owner, who was 
in haste to convert his sheep into mutton, and to realize the 
avails in cash, find it most profitable to feed his acre with 
ten, or six, or four sheep ? So with corn, it will live with¬ 
out manure, upon poor lands ; it will grow without manure, 
upon lands which are in tolerable order ; but it will only give 
a remunerating, or a very profitable crop, when highly fed, 
or manured. Bordley rated the average product of corn, 
upon the eastern shore of Maryland, at 15 bushels an acre. 
We say, that the average product here may be raised to 80 
bushels per acre. Charge the crop with us $25 for the 25 
loads of manure; estimate the gram at 75 cents per bushel, 
and the expense of culture at $15. The one hundred acre 
corn farmer then expends $1,500 in labor, and gets $1,145 for 
his crop—loss $355. The twelve acre corn farmer expends 
$180 for labor, $273 for manure—total $555—and gets for 
his corn—12 multiplied by 80 is 960—he gets for his crop 
$720—nett profit $165—thus showing a difference in the nett 
profits of the twelve acres, highly manured, of $520, in a 
single season, upon the data of calculation we have assumed, 
over the one hundred acres planted without manure. Mr. 
Harbin will see from this estimate, although it may be termed 
an extravagant one, that a maize crop would yield, imme¬ 
diately, a far better return “ under the new plan, than it 
does under the old.”— -Cond. Cult. 
f They will not. 
Which is the best time, (fall or spring,) to remove 
trees, say from the state of N. Y. to Michigan or Wis¬ 
consin, and how early in the fall, or how late in the 
spring, may they he taken up for that purpose ? Ans. 
—We have sent them at both seasons, in autumn generally 
by the way of Ncw-Orleccns, and in spring by way of the 
Ohio canal or Chicago. They may be removed, in au¬ 
tumn, so as to reach Cleaveland or Detroit before the 1st 
November, and in the spring as soon as the canals are 
navigable, say the 12th April. 
What are the names of the choicest apples, pears, &c. 
known in your section of the country, and where can 
either or both scions and trees fit for orchards of such 
choice fruit be had ? Ans.—A list of good pears will 
be found in the May No. of the Cultivator. A list of ap¬ 
ples and other fruit will be forwarded to our correspon¬ 
dent, when we know his address. Address J. Duel fy Co. 
nurserymen, Albany. 
An answer or an opinion relative to the above, or to 
any part thereof, will be very thankfully received by at 
least one SUBSCRIBER. 
Ground Plan of an Out-Building. 
[Fig. No. 21.] 
In this plan, the dotted line O, represents the west 
fence, or line of the road, which runs north and south, 
or nearly so; the house west of the kettles is of brick, 
and two stories high; that part east of the kettles, of 
wood, and is only one story; the wing that runs south, 
is covered with a shed, the use of which may be de¬ 
scribed in some future communication, as what I 
have here sketched is all intended to represent cel¬ 
lars and piggery. The ground rises gently from the 
road to the centre of the building spot, and then falls 
rapidly, so as to give a chance for the hog-yards, R, R. 
In the figure, A, is a cellar 14 by 15, for garden sauce 
and ruta bagas. B, potato cellar, same size, with com¬ 
munications to empty potatoes by window a, from cart 
body to cellar, with access through door b to swill ket¬ 
tle S. C, Ice cellar. D, Meat cellar, &c. E, Brick 
cupboard, fiat stone for bottom and top. F, Ashery, 
communicating with kitchen fire-place above, flat stone 
covering top and bottom of this also. G, Wash cellar. 
H, Swill room. I, Wood room, communicating directly 
with wood room above. K, Alley, 4 feet wide, where 
we feed hogs and pass out door at south end of shed. 
L, Meal room, 8 by 14, where hog meal is kept, and 
communicates by a tube or tunnel with the meal room 
above, so as to carry hog meal from door yard in front 
of the shed, into the meal room in the shed, and pass it 
through the floor into the hog meal room. M, N, Hog¬ 
pens, 14 by 16; here we have Heaton’s plan for feeding 
hogs, with a slight variation. O, Fence. P, Lead pipe, 
furnishing cellar and kitchen with water, and thus pass¬ 
ing out at east of cellar, through window a, from which 
we water our hog-yards. R, R, Hog-yards, with doors 
hung at top, so that hogs open them and their own heft 
shuts them; heighth of doors 2£ feet. S, Swill kettle. 
W, W, Wash kettles, a, a, &c. Cellar windows, with 
cast iron sash, b, b, &c. Doors. 
Perhaps it will be proper here to state, that we adopt¬ 
ed a new plan in building our cellar wall, which was 
this:—We in the first place commenced a very thick 
wall of split granite, and after carrying it to the heighth 
of four feet, or half the depth of the cellar, we made an 
offset or jog of five inches, which carried the face of the 
wall five inches further back, on the upper than on the 
lower section or half of the wall; that is, five inches 
farther towards the bank. On the offset, (for so I must 
call it, not being master of our language sufficiently to 
apply a better name,) we commenced a course of brick, 
leaving a space of one inch clear between the lining and 
wall, and carrying it quite to the top of the underpin¬ 
ning, where it was thoroughly connected and bound to 
the underpinning, which is of hewn granite; and the top 
of the lining, together with the underpinning, presented 
a surface of 17 inches wide,which was sufficient to receive 
the wall of the house, which was 12 inches, leaving 5 inch¬ 
es on which the floor timbers rest. Thus we have placed 
an effectual barrier against that enemy of cellars Jack 
Frost, and this, too, with but single glazing, giving the 
light of the sun free access to our cellars in all seasons, 
and making the swill room so warm that swill will not 
freeze in the coldest weather; and even our hog-pens are 
so warm, (being walled on the west side of the pig or 
hog-pen alley, and at the north likewise, and the east 
and south well boarded, accompanied with self-shutting 
doors, for the ingress or egress of the swine,) that it re¬ 
quires severe cold weather to freeze the swill even in 
the troughs. The two story or brick part of the house 
extends from the west end to the line separating the 
three kettles from the brick cupboard and ashery, or 
smoke-house, where the east end of the brick part com¬ 
mences, at the bottom of the cellar, carrying wilh it the 
flues for the kettles, together with the smoke of four 
fire places in the lower story and two in the upper, and 
this all in two chimneys, so that these with two small 
ones at the west end of the house, accommodates our 
whole farming establishment as to chimneys. W. C. 
Fairlie, Orange co. Vt. June 22, 1839. 
On the Application of Manures. 
Fredericksburgh, Va. June 18th, 1839, 
J. Buel —Dear Sir—In your paper for the present 
month, I have read the following intimation; “ a sub¬ 
scriber wishes Mr. Garnet’s opinion of the best method of 
applying manures to land;” and presuming that I am 
the person meant, I avail myself of the earliest oppor¬ 
tunity to evince my willingness to gratify him. But as 
no man’s mere opinion on such subjects, is worth any 
thing without the facts and reasons upon which it is 
founded, I shall take it for granted, that he desires to 
hear both, and will therefore state them together. 
Whether your subscriber means by the term “ma¬ 
nures,” all things commonly so called, or only putrescent 
substances, I have had but one opinion for a long time, 
in regard to their application, and this has been con¬ 
firmed by all my subsequent experience, each year ad¬ 
ding something to the great mass of consantaneous 
facts. When my attention was first turned to this sub¬ 
ject, some thirty-five or forty years ago, I had adopted, 
but without examination, the notion then most common 
amongst us, that it was best to let all putrescent ma¬ 
nures be well rotted first, and next, to bury them deep, 
either by the plough, spade, or hoe. This notion, like 
the common law, was so old, that “ the memory of man 
extended not to the contrary ;” hut happily for us all, 
the revolution had broken the entail of opinions as well 
as of landed estates, and left us at liberty to think and 
act for ourselves. The natural consequence of this in¬ 
creased freedom was, the introduction of many new 
practices in the arts, as well as in government; and ag¬ 
riculture came in for some small share of these benefits. 
Among them, was the application of putrescent ma¬ 
nures to the surface, and in a much less fermented 
state than had ever been tried before. But so dread¬ 
fully afraid were the first experimenters of the for¬ 
midable laugh of that once numerous family, “The 
Goodenoughs,” that they made their trials, as it 
were, by stealth; and consequently, the results re¬ 
mained, for a long time, unknown, except to a few. I 
happened to be among the number, and could not long 
resist the evidence of my senses, although I must con¬ 
fess, that at first, it seemed to me a sort of sacrilege, 
even to doubt, and still more to act, in direct opposition 
to an opinion which, for aught I know, had descended 
from Triptolemus himself. By degrees, however, my 
courage waxed stronger and stronger every year, until 
I felt myself brave enough to commence the following 
experiment, which several old farmers in whose ve¬ 
racity I perfectly confided, had assured me they had 
often tried, and always with the same result, as that 
which I am about to report in my own case. 
I began penning my cattle late in the spring, and con¬ 
tinued it until frost, in pens of the same size, moved at 
regular intervals of time, and containing the same num¬ 
ber of cattle during the whole period. These pens were 
alternately ploughed, and left unploughed, until the fol¬ 
lowing spring, when all were planted in corn, imme¬ 
diately followed by wheat. The superiority of both 
crops on all the pens which had remained unploughed 
for so many months, after the cattle had manured them, 
was just as distinctly marked as if the dividing fences 
had continued standing : it was too plain to admit even 
of the slightest doubt. A near neighbor, a young far¬ 
mer, had made the same experiment, on a somewhat 
different soil, the year before, but with results precisely 
the same. Similar trials I myself have made and seen 
made by others with dry straw, alternately ploughed in 
as soon as spread, and left on the surface until the next 
spring. In every case the last method proved best, as 
far as the following crop would prove it. The same 
experiment has been made by myself and others of my 
acquaintance, with manure from the horse-stables and 
winter-farm pens, consisting of much unrotted corn of¬ 
fal ; and without a solitary exception, either seen by 
me, or heard of, the surface application, after the corn 
was planted, produced most manifestly, the best crop. 
Upon these numerous, concurrent, and undeniable facts 
my opinion has been founded, that it is best to apply ma¬ 
nures on the surface of land; and “I guess,” (as bro¬ 
ther Jonathan would say.) that it is not likely to change, 
unless indeed, I should hear a still greater number, 
equally well authenticated, on the opposite side; al¬ 
though I must say, that up to the present time, I have 
not heard a solitary one. True it is, that I have read 
