THE CULTIVATE*: 
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. N0. 5, WASTIJNGT0N-ST, ALBANY, N. Y. AUGUST 15, 1839. _ No. 7. 
Conducted by J. BTJEE, of Albany. 
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THE CULTIVATOR. 
TO IMPROVE THE SO IE AND TIIE MIND. 
. The Crops in the West, 
Our correspondent at Black-Rock, writes, July 20:— 
“The crops all, save grass, which is tolerable, are enor¬ 
mous in this region. The world never saw, before, 
such crops in Western New-York, Ohio, and the great 
west, in the way of wheat, as this year. It will not 
exceed seventy-five cents a bushel west of this, if it is 
so much; possibly not over fifty to sixty cents. The 
millers will learn caution from their great temerity and 
losses, and the farmers, hundreds of whom are now la¬ 
menting over the last crop, for which they had refused 
high prices, will learn to take a good price when offer¬ 
ed hereafter.” 
Mr. Column’s Agricultural Report. 
There are some items in this report which we go back 
to notice; and, 
1. “ The manufacture of Charcoal .—The growth of Mount 
Washington is principally white birch and chesnut, with some 
maple and oak. A great business of the inhabitants on the 
mountain, and of many persons in the neighborhood, is the 
conversion of this wood into coal, of which 100,001) bushels 
are stated to be annually made. Two and a half cords of 
wood are required to make 100 bushels of coal. By good 
management, two cords will make 100 bushels. The wood 
standing is valued at from 50 to 75 cents per cord. A kiln 
of common size contains from 25 to 30 cords. The chopping 
of two cords for the kiln, is considered a good day’s work 
for a man. Collecting and drawing together on good ground, 
requires five days. The covering of a kiln requires three 
days’ work. The burning of a kiln is twelve days’ work. 
The coal brings 12J to 13 cents at Hudson, about 24 mile 3 
distance, or 5-1 to 6| at Riga ironworks.” 
We introduce this extract, for the purpose of suggest¬ 
ing some facts which may benefit both the burner and 
the buyer of charcoal, which has come to be an article 
of great consumption in our towns and villages. We 
have extensive ranges of mountains on the east, in 
Rensselaer, and on the west, in Schoharie, covered with 
wood, but too remote from navigable waters, and from 
large towns, to admit of the fuel being carried to mar¬ 
ket, except in the form of charcoal. When economi¬ 
cally managed, this article is made a source of profit, 
although the transportation to market may be 20 or 30 
miles. A farmer in Schoharie, living 23 miles from 
the city, informed us, that in seven years he has paid 
for a new farm, got a large portion of it under good 
improvement, and built comfortable buildings, almost 
exclusively from charcoal which he has himself made 
and marketed from wood growing upon it. 
The interests of both the buyer and seller, require 
that charcoal be properly burnt. Of the seller, because, 
if properly managed, he gets a third more coal than 
when the burning process is badly managed, and has a 
more ready market. Of the buyer, because he gets a 
far better article. The value of charcoal is determined 
by its specific weight. A hundred pounds of pine char¬ 
coal is worth as much to the consumer as a hundred 
pounds of hickory or maple charcoal, though the for¬ 
mer may exceed the latter in volume one-half. It is 
weight, p. ot bulk, that determines its intrinsic value. — 
Hence it would be a wise municipal regulation to re¬ 
gard the standard of value by weight, taking care that 
the wood is thoroughly charred. 
To obtain the largest quantity, and best quality of 
coal, it is necessary to exclude the air from the pit, 
while in the process of burning. The quality and 
quantity will depend upon this exclusion. If burnt 
without any covering, there would be little or no char¬ 
coal, and that little would be inferior. Hence it is es¬ 
sential, that not only the coal pit be well covered, and 
be kept well covered, but that the interstices between 
the wood be filled with some substance that will exclude 
the air, without retarding the burning process. Dr. 
Bull, whose excellent experiments and remarks upon 
this subject we cannot now lay our hands upon, directs, 
that these interstices be filled, as the wood is fitted in 
the pit, with the coal dust of former pits, a work ol no 
great labor; and that this will not only give more coal, 
but better coal. Coal burnt in this mode will have a 
solid and brassy surface, a sonorous sound, and compa¬ 
ratively great specific weight—criteria which the buyer 
should especially look for. Charcoal badly burnt, will, 
on the contrary, exhibit a crumbly soft surface, a dark 
color, and be comparatively light. 
2. Marble quarries. —Upon the eastern border of 
Berkshire, we meet with that extensive marble forma¬ 
tion, which extends, in a direction nearly north and 
south, from Long-Island Sound to the northern bounda¬ 
ry of Vermont, at Swanton; and the quarries of Shef¬ 
field, West-Stockbridge, Hancock, &c. are extensively 
worked. The marble for the Girard College, at Phila¬ 
delphia, is obtained from the first named town; and 
blocks weighing from seven to thirteen tons, have been 
transported across to Hudson, 24 to 26 miles, by oxen 
and horse teams. ^ 
3. The agricultural capacities of Berkshire are great. 
With a district highly congenial to the rearing of cattle, 
and the extension of the dairy; within a short distance 
of navigable waters, and great facilities for transporta¬ 
tion to market; and a soil highly favorable to root crops 
and coarse grains, on which to fatten them, the agri¬ 
culture of Berkshire admits of great improvement.— 
The more cattle, the more manure; and the more ma¬ 
nure, the higher may be the condition of the land, and 
the greater the return in arable crops. 
4. Domestic Economy .—“ In looking over my returns,” says 
the commissioner, “ 1 was struck with the remarks of a 
man of much practical wisdom, and one of the best farmers 
of the commonwealth. He says, ‘ that a farmer should pro¬ 
duce upon his farm, all those supplies for his family, which 
the farm can be made to yield.’ ” 
This is true in regard both to the individual farmer, and a 
nation of farmers. The more either subsist upon the pro¬ 
ducts of their own labor, the more independent they are, and 
generally the more prosperous too. Mr. Colman remarks 
upon this good rule of olden times:— 
“ In his case this is done, within doors and without ; 
for there the spinning-wheel has not forgotten to turn round, 
nor the shuttle to speed its flight. In this cottage, [we sup¬ 
pose the commissioner means farm-house ,] whose neat and 
beautiful arrangements cannot be surpassed, the clothing, 
the bedding and the carpeting, were all the product of their 
own fields and flocks. I shall not soon forget the unpretend¬ 
ing and hearty hospitality of these enviable dwellings. I 
have slept many a time under a silken canopy, and trodden 
many a carpet as soft as the pride of eastern luxury could 
make it; but never with any thing like the sentiment of ho¬ 
nest pride and independence with which I saw here the floors 
spread with carpets made from their flocks, which for fine¬ 
ness and beauty the foot of a princess need not disdain; and 
on a cold night slept in woollen sheets from their looms, as 
soft as the shawls of Cashmere, [rather high colouring;] and 
wiped my face with towels spun with their own hands, from 
their own flax, of a whiteness as transparent as the drifted 
snow. In such beautiful examples of domestic management, 
it is delightful to see with how limited means the best com¬ 
forts and luxuries of life maybe purchased. Nor were these 
instances few. The county of Berkshire abounds with ex¬ 
amples of this domestic comfort and independence. Much 
to be regretted will be the change, which has already invad¬ 
ed many parts of the state, where, under the pretence of 
superior cheapness, these household fabrics shall give place 
to the more showy but flimsey products of foreign industry; 
and the healthy exercise of domestic labor and household 
cares shall be deemed degrading in our wives and daughters, 
and exchanged for the idleness and frivolities of pride and 
luxury.” 
5. Composts and Liquid Manures. —The commissioner 
urges increased attention to manures, as “ the very si¬ 
news of agriculture; its food; its life-blood.” He re¬ 
commends that manures be mixed with earths, in the 
form of composts, in order to preserve their gaseous and 
liquid properties. In this way, he says, the amount of 
manure is greatly increased. 
The subject of composts is one of calculation. If ma¬ 
nure ferments in the yard, or upon the surface, a great 
portion of its fertilizing' materials are undoubtedly 
wasted. It is no less true, that if the fermentation 
takes place while the dung is in a commingled state, 
with earthy matters, that the earths will absorb, in a 
measure, the gaseous and liquid portions of the ma¬ 
nure, and hold them, and when applied to the land, give 
them off' to the growing crops. Judge Hecoek, a former 
professor of agriculture, contends, that these composts 
should be in the soil of the field where the manures are to 
operate. That by this mode, the expense of carting the 
earth to the yard, and afterwards to the field is saved. 
Mr. Colman thinks they should be formed in the yard. 
Our opinion coincides with Judge Hecock’s. We can 
have no more of the cat than her skin. The earths 
can only gain what the dung loses; and if the change 
takes place in the soil, the double expense of transport¬ 
ation is saved. 
We contend, that all the dung of the stable and cat¬ 
tle yards should be applied, in spring, to hoed crops. 
If it has been spread over properly constructed yards, 
which retain the liquids, and the yard littered with the 
refuse vegetable matters of the farm, no hurtful fer¬ 
mentation will ensue before the dung is wanted for the 
hoed crops. But will this dung rot in the soil, it will 
be asked, in time to give food to the growing crop ? 
We answer, yes. There is not a question that green 
vegetable manure undergoes a speedy decomposition 
when buried in the soil; and it is almost as apparent, 
that vegeto-animal manures, a term which Chaptal pro¬ 
perly applies to the dung of animals which feed upon 
hay and like forage, will almost as speedily decompose 
under like circumstances, if saturated with the liquids 
of the yard, or other moisture, when buried. Judge 
Hecock made an experiment with dry straw. He bu¬ 
ried it in a trench, and after covering it with earth, he 
planted melons, and had an uncommon fine crop. In 
the autumn, the straw was found to be perfectly rotted. 
We repeated his experiment, and with a like result. 
We have hardly a doubt, that where long manure is 
applied broadcast, and buried with the plough, it will 
rot, and feed the crop growing on it; and if not so effi¬ 
cient in the early part of the season, it will be more 
efficient towards the latter part than fermented dung. 
We manured a field of corn, part with manure which 
had been drawn out in the winter, and had undergone a 
partial fermentation, and part with coarse unfermented 
manure from the cattle yard, upon which fermentation 
had hardly commenced. The old manuie gave the 
earliest growth, hut the new manure gave the strongest 
after-growth, and at least one-fifth the greatest product 
in corn. Hence we consider all composts, made with 
manure which can be applied in a fresh state to hoed 
crops, as involving a useless expense of labor, without 
any corresponding return. 
Where manure is drawn to the field sometime before 
it is to be used, or where it is not wanted for the spring 
crop, Mr. Colman’s recommendation of mixing it with 
earth, or at least of coveringit with earth,is undoubted¬ 
ly proper. Again—where it is desirable to bring inso¬ 
luble matter, as peat earth, into an available condition 
for crops—and where this cannot be sufficiently done 
by bedding the cattle yards with it, its admixture with 
unfermented manures, in the form-of a compost, may be 
highly proper. 
With regard to liquid manure, we have hardly yet 
begun to learn its value. The commissioner recom¬ 
mends the construction of water-proof vaults, or cis¬ 
terns, under or contiguous to cow-houses. We have 
added contiguous, for we should prefer the outside ra¬ 
ther than inside, of the building, for the convenience of 
pumping the liquid into carts, when wanted, and for 
the greater convenience of conducting to it, from all 
the stables and sheds, the urine of the animals which 
they shelter. We do not like the suggestion, however, 
of housing cows during the summer months, with the 
view of saving their urine. It will be saved in the 
yard, if this is made concave, and kept well littered. 
Cows do not do so well in confined stables, nor so well 
tied, at a season when they are tormented with flies. 
“Doubling our manures,” says the commissioner, “is 
quadrupling our crops.” 
Under the head of Machinery, Mr. Colman notices 
the Drill-barrows of Mr. Bushnell, of Sheffield, and of 
Mr. Metcalf, of Lenox; a Thrashing Machine made in 
Hinsdale, N. Y. and the smoke-house of Mr. Spicer, 
which has two apartments, one for the fire, and the 
other for the meat which is to be smoked. 
In regard to smoking meat, our common mode is a 
bad one. We half cook it, as well as smoke it. The 
Dutch, and no people have better smoked meats, make 
their smoke in the cellar, and apply it to the meat in 
Ihe garret. We do not want heat, but merely smoke, 
or the pyrolignic acid which the smoke contains, to dry 
and cure our meats. The desideratum, therefore, should 
be, to obtain the smoke without the heat, and this can 
only be well affected by employing separate apartments 
for the fire and the meat, and by conducting the smoke 
to the latter by artificial means 
Water-Works. —This is a contrivance, on the farm of 
Mr. Bassett, of Lee, for forcing up the water from a 
brook to the barn, similar, we presume, to one construct¬ 
ed at our neighbor's C. N'. Bement. A three-foot head 
of water is raised in a small stream, which serves to 
turn a wheel, which carries a horizontal pump, and 
which latter forces the water, through pipes connected 
with it, up a hill of some sixty feet elevation, and dis¬ 
charges it into a tank. 
There is subjoined to Mr. Colman’s report, an ap¬ 
pendix, containing several matters of interest, which 
we have not now sufficient room to notice. Among 
other things is an experiment, on two trials proving 
successful, of A. C. Metcalf, of Lenox, for preventing 
the ravages of the Borer on the locust tree. 
The remedy is simply to wash the bole of the tree, in 
the early part of the summer, with spirits of turpentine. 
The trees soon lost the sickly appearance occasioned 
by the borer, assumed a healthy hue, and afterwards did 
well. Mr. M. thinks, that on a large scale, the spirits 
