106 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
existence hereafter, beyond our vision, but of full and 
perfect faith. 
From all these blessings, it must be evident to every 
rational and reflecting man, that all these superior gifts 
were intended to be improved and accounted for, like 
the talents bestowed by the “ man travelling into a far 
country, who delivered to his servants his goods. To one 
he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one 
_and who, after a long time, returned and reckoned with 
them.”—Mathew xxvi. 14, &c. 
Can man, on whom such great bounties have been 
conferred, fulfil all his duties, by folding his arms in 
idleness ? If he be rich in the good gifts of Providence 
—in wealth, health and intellect, shall he say that he 
has enough, as an excuse for indolence and ease? We 
read, “ to whom much is given, of him much will be 
required;” and it will be with the highest justice, too. 
But, farmers in general, have chosen to degrade their 
own occupation, by calling it a life of drudgery and ig- 
rance—thinking it enough if they know the horse from 
the ox, can plough, sow their seed, swing the axe, the 
scythe and the cradle in harvest. They should recollect, 
that the first and most honorable employment appointed 
by God to man, was to dress the flower-garden, and till 
the ground. And shall man despise this noble employ¬ 
ment, under such authority and profit, and call it de¬ 
grading? He does so, and it is because he is idle, and 
ignorant of the great gifts, of almost infinite uses of 
application in science, in the performance of the vari¬ 
ous duties of the good husbandman. 
To be a good and profitable farmer, requires the man 
to be as scientific, as to be the good and skilful physi¬ 
cian. He is to learn and understand that all vegetables 
must feed, as well as all animals do. He should learn 
how they feed, and on what aliment they thrive most 
rapidly. 
When the farmer has acquired sufficient knowledge 
in botany and chemistry for profit, to guide him in his 
husbandry, he will know that all living substances, that 
is, all organic bodies possessing the gift of life, whether 
of the animal or vegetable kingdom, must derive their 
sustenance from organized matter, that is, from animal 
or vegetable bodies in a state of decomposition after 
deatffi The earth is a scene and foot-path for locomo¬ 
tives, in seeking their food and pleasure. It is the foot¬ 
stool and support of the vegetable tribe. No animals or 
vegetables can derive nutriment from other living or¬ 
ganized bodies. The stomach of no living animal has 
any digestive power over any living animal or vegeta¬ 
ble in it. But, so soon as life is extinct, all animal and 
vegetable matters, become food, to digest and nourish 
all living organized bodies, both animal and vegetable. 
Although the human stomach has no digestive power 
on living matter, yet its own gastric secretions will di¬ 
gest even its own, the same stomach that secretes it, so 
soon as the subject is dead. The living principle pro¬ 
tects all living bodies from decomposition and digestion. 
But the moment the living principle has departed and 
become extinct, it is subject to both decomposition and 
digestion. So the vegetable feeds on decomposed ani¬ 
mal and vegetable matter, as does the animal kingdom. 
All the nourishment of animals and vegetables is de¬ 
rived from organized matter, that is, from matter once 
possessing the living principle, and that has suffered 
death, or\he cessation of the living principle. The air, 
water, lime, alkali, caloric, silex, phosphorus, carbon, 
light, oxygen, hydrogen, nitric and electric fluids, and the 
thousand other fluids and gases yet beyond the know¬ 
ledge of man, all lending their aid in promoting animal 
and vegetable life and growth, the earth being the vehicle 
and support. 
What a wide field is here opened to the vigilant and 
intelligent farmer! And will the husbandman continue 
to waste his leisure hours of morn and eve, and rainy 
days in idle talk and sleep, when his profession suffers 
so great loss from his ignorance ? 
If the farmer would begin to read, he would soon ac¬ 
quire a taste for reading more; and his thirst for science 
would urge him to notice that most valuable injunction, 
“ gather up the crumbs that nothing be lost.” How many 
crumbs of time are lost to the farmer, which, if employed 
in reading, would make him intelligent and honorable 
among men, and skilful in his occupation. Can all this 
useful knowledge of the growth of vegetables be un¬ 
derstood by the self-sufficient, but ignorant farmer ? 
To become a scientific and successful husbandman, 
requires more knowledge in natural science, than to be 
the most improved mechanic. Although the skilful me¬ 
chanic must learn the principles and rules of his opera¬ 
tion from the laws of nature, by reading, and the appli¬ 
cation of industry, yet his task is more easy, because 
more visible and tangible. 
The husbandman, although he cannot perfectly un¬ 
derstand the process by which his vegetables increase 
in growth, yet he sees that they have grown and pro¬ 
duced a rich load, and he reaps the most bountiful har¬ 
vest from his improved and scientific cultivation. The 
numerous reports of scientific larmers, recorded in the 
Cultivator, prove this. 
The principles of husbandry must be the same every 
where ; butdifferent soils and different climates require 
a diversity of treatment and culture. All these man 
must learn by science and experiment; for that law, that 
he “ shall eat his bread by the sweat of his brow,” has 
not been repealed. Nor will Divine Wisdom ever repeal 
that law, because it is not for man’s good to be idle. If 
he were not obliged to labor, he would soon perish in 
filth and sloth, and not learn gratitude to God, who 
gives him all things richly, in goodness and mercy. 
I must defer saying more till another opportunity, as 
this will occupy too large a space in your useful Culti¬ 
vator, to the exclusion of more interesting matter. Re¬ 
spectfully._ DAVID TOMLI NSON. 
Whitington New White Wheat. 
Albany, July 13 th, 1839. 
Mr. J. Buel —Dear Sir—In the month of March last, 
I received from my brother Geo. C. Thorburn, two 
bushels Whitington New White Spring Wheat; from 
the high recommendation the wheat received at the 
Liverpool Agricultural Society of England, and its fine 
appearance, (a large white plump grain,) I was in¬ 
duced to recommend it to our farmers, and would not 
sell over two to four quarts to any one person, (except 
in a few instances,) in order to give this wheat a wide 
circulation through our country. I have reason to fear, 
it is a winter wheat. From the circulars sent from Eng¬ 
land with the wheat, I sold it in good faith as a spring 
grain ; I never gave it any other recommendation than 
its appearance, and the testimony of the grain in Eng¬ 
land. In the April or May number of the Cultivator 
you made an extract of the qualities of the wheat, from 
an English work, and from your notice of it, I received 
orders from all parts of our country, for a few quarts of 
the wheat. No one regrets the disappointment more 
than myself, and I here disclaim any intention of prac¬ 
tising a deception on the public, and am willing to ren¬ 
der every satisfaction in my power. Respectfully yours, 
&c. W. THORBURN. 
BY THE CONDUCTOR. 
In the December number of the London Farmer’s Maga¬ 
zine, we saw advertised, “ the Whitington Neiv White 
Wheat , for winter or spring sowing, which obtained a me¬ 
dal at the Liverpool Agricultural Meeting in 1836.” We re¬ 
ceived a sample of the most handsome wheat we ever saw, 
which purported to be the Whitington ; in consequence of 
which, and of its being represented to be a spring wheat, 
we sowed one bushel, early in April. But it evidently 
is a winter grain ; as only an occasional plant shows an 
indication of producing seed at this time, July 15. We 
are satisfied that the Messrs. Thorburns, as well as ourselves, 
have been imposed upon, by the foreign advertisements and 
circular which accompanied the wheat from London. We 
purpose to mow ours, in the hope of getting a crop from it 
in 1840._ 
Observations on Magnesia as a Manure. 
Considerable prejudice exists, I believe, against the 
use of magnesian limestone as a manure. This origi¬ 
nated in the experiments of Mr. Tennant, who, on exa¬ 
mining a lime long known to the farmers at Doncaster, 
in England, as injurions to their crops, found that it con¬ 
tained magnesia. In order to certify the truth of his 
examination, he mixed some calcined magnesia with 
soil, on which he sowed different seeds; and the result 
was, that they either died or vegetated in a very imper¬ 
fect manner, and the plants were never healthy. 
I have taken this statement from Sir Humphrey Da¬ 
vy’s Agricultural Chemistry; and you will find that 
while he concedes the correctness of Mr. Tennant’s opi¬ 
nion, he at the same time gives sufficient reasons for be¬ 
lieving that magnesian limestone, or carbonate of magne¬ 
sia, may prove fertile. One of the most fertile districts 
of Cornwall, the Lizard, is a district in which the soil 
contains mild magnesian earth. 
Still, the prevailing opinion down to the present day has 
been unfavorable to magnesia, and this in the face of the 
well known fact, that most good soils contain a suitable 
proportion of it. It has lately been announced by Pro¬ 
fessor Giobert, that in the vicinity of Castellmonte, (in 
Italy, I presume,) this earth is abundant in the soil 
which is most fruitful. And he adds, that there are nu¬ 
merous localities in Piedmont, of a similar description. 
He hence infers, that native carbonated magnesia is not 
injurious to vegetation ; and again, that in consequence 
of the solubility of magnesia, in an excess of carbonic 
acid, this substance may exercise a fertilizing power si¬ 
milar to carbonate of lime. 
If these facts be correct, it is reasonable to suppose, 
that magnesia is taken up by plants, and an Italian 
chemist named Abbene, has actually detected it in the 
ashes of such as had grown in magnesian soils. 
The practical deduction from these observations is the 
following :—If the magnesia in the soil, or the magne¬ 
sian limestone, after being burnt, appears too caustic, 
add compost sufficient to furnish the needed carbonic acid. 
And the sterility of magnesian soil is to be attributed to 
its cohesion and want of proper mixture of other in¬ 
gredients, rather than to the peculiar earth. 
These observations are condensed from a French pe¬ 
riodical of January, 1839, in the hope, that they may 
be found useful to some of your readers. T. R. B. 
Extirpation of Garlic. 
Montcalm, Va. June 21 st, 1839. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Sir—The extirpation of wild garlic 
has been regarded rather as an object to be desired by 
the agriculturist, than one to be successfully accom¬ 
plished. An experiment, made by myself, not with that 
view, however, will at least point out one mode by 
which this unpleasant plant may be destroyed. In one- 
third of a field of about twenty acres, it had become 
very thickly set. In the summer of 1836, the wheat 
grown on this part of the field was so filled with it, 
that I was induced to keep it separate from the rest, to 
prevent its injuring the sale of the whole. The next 
spring, 1837, I planted the field in corn, and in the fall, 
having a large number of hogs to fatten, and no time or 
labor to spare to gather corn for them, I turned the whole 
of them into this field. (This is sometimes done in this 
part of Virginia.) They remained here till they had 
nearly consumed all the corn, when they were removed 
into small pens and fed. I then turned all my store 
hogs into the field, to finish what was left, where they 
remained till late in December. In the mean time, as 
their food decreased, I commenced feeding them once, 
and afterwards twice a day, during the winter. They 
were permitted to have access to the field for half the 
winter. My feeder, in December, told me that they were 
eating the garlic. In the spring, I sowed the field in 
oats and clover. The oats were good; the clover was 
destroyed by the burning drought of last summer; thus 
leaving the field entirely naked. I then determined, 
(last fall,) although the fourth crop in succession, to 
sow it in wheat, which I did, and this spring in clover 
and timothy , a full quantity of each. Now, sir, I have, 
in the last fortnight, repeatedly and carefully searched 
for the garlic, and found two stalks only, where thou¬ 
sands stood before. The garlic is now in full bearing, 
and may be easily detected. 
It is manifest that this method of destroying this pest 
will not generally answer. But the idea may be im¬ 
proved on. If a farmer have but one field of corn, and 
garlic prevails in it, he may gather nearly the whole of 
it, and instead of seeding it, as is the usual practice, 
let him turn in all his hogs, that are to be kept over to 
the next year, and they will soon get hold of the roots, 
&c. He will then put in a spring crop with grass seed. 
So well satisfied am I with the result, in this case, that 
I shall pursue the same plan in respect to two other 
fields, in which there is a good deal of garlic. It will 
occur to you, that the ground being light and mellow, 
from the recent cultivation of the corn crops, the hogs 
have no difficulty in finding the bulbs, which they will 
not attempt in a field well set in grass or stiffened with 
a sod, although abounding in garlic, and this for two 
reasons: they have a plenty to eat, and with less labor. 
Yours, &c. JAS. McILHANY. 
EXTRACTS, 
Diseases of Sheep. 
The surgeon who operates upon the human system, is 
presumed to know, and ought to know, something of 
anatomy, in order to enable him to discover the seat 
and cause of disease, that he may more readily apply 
the needful remedy. The structure of the brute is near¬ 
ly as complicated as that of man ; and the same degree 
of professional skill is often as necessary in managing 
rightly the diseases of the one as the other. There are 
more quacks in the veterinary art, than in the profes¬ 
sion of surgery; and it therefore stands the intelligent 
breeder in hand, to qualify himself to become, in some 
measure, his own cattle doctor. To aid him in this use¬ 
ful study, we make the following extract. A vast 
many sheep are lost by diseases of the foot. The na¬ 
ture and seat of these diseases, are pointed out with 
such plainness, and the modes of prevention and the 
means of cure are so briefly described, that any intel¬ 
ligent sheep master may make the whole subject fa¬ 
miliar to his mind, and be able to practise with confi- 
dence and success upon his flock.— Conductor. 
[From the Library of Useful Knowledge, Farmers’ Series.] 
DISEASES OF THE FOOT. 
The dreadful and too frequent disease termed foot-rot 
belongs to the present chapter. There are two varie¬ 
ties of it, or rather there is a disease of the foot, properly 
speaking, and of the fetlock and pastern-joints. 
DISEASE OF THE TASTERN, OR BIFLEX CANAL, AND 
FETLOCK-JOINTS. 
The fetlock of the sheep, like that of the ox, is a very 
complicated joint. There are two pastern-bones in each 
leg, articulating with the canon or shank-bone. The leg 
bone itself is double in the fcetus, but the cartilaginous 
substance between the two portions of it is afterwards 
absorbed, and they become one large bone. The lower 
bones, however, continue separate, and each division 
has its own ligaments and tendons, and is covered by its 
own integument. The whole of the fetlock-joint is 
weakened by this division, and each of the pasterns be¬ 
low is also materially weakened. 
At the portion of the skin immediately over the point 
of bifurcation of the pasterns, there is found in the 
sheep and in the goat a small orifice called the biflex 
canal, because it is common to both of the pasterns. It 
is formed by a fold of the skin, and immediately within 
the skin it bifurcates, and a canal or tube runs down on 
each side over the inner face of the pastern, reaching 
to the coronary ligament at the commencement of the 
hoof. It contains a great number of follicular sebace¬ 
ous glands, which secrete a yellow strong-smelling mu¬ 
cous fluid. At the bottom, this canal curves upon itself 
and terminates in a blind pouch or cul de sac. The su¬ 
perior orifice, always open, is marked by a little tuft of 
hairs growing from it, and often agglutinated together 
by the perspiration of the part, or by the adhesive dis- 
charge from the canal. The function or use of this sin¬ 
gular pouch has never been satisfactorily explained. It 
may answer two purposes—it may contribute to the sup¬ 
pleness, or freedom of motion of the pasterns, and ena¬ 
ble them to adapt themselves to the irregularities of the 
ground and share the weight of the animal equally be¬ 
tween them, or it may secrete a bland and evaporating 
fluid which will be in contact with the pastern and 
joints of the foot in cases of sprain and injury. 
