THE CULTIVATOR. 
J21 
Also planted in May on clover sod, in rows, a small 
piece of Mercer and kidney potatoes with good stable 
manure, a large shovel full on four potatoes ; each tuber 
Iming 15 inches apart, excepting a row of each kind in 
Which a half pint of poudrette alone was dropped on 
each potato: those last vegetated sooner, and the vines 
are stouter and more t^tifty than the others. 
From all appearances, the yield of the corn and po¬ 
tatoes on which poudrette alone has been used, will ex¬ 
ceed the others; but the final result I intend accurately 
to ascertain and communicate to you when the crops 
are gathered in the fall. 
My object in writing this communication, is to draw 
the attention of agriculturists to this kind of manure; 
which, without doubt, when properly applied, will prove 
as in France, China, and other countries, a valuable 
auxiliary to the farmer; and I hope that those who are 
better qualified many be induced to take the matter in 
hand and enlighten the public, so that the most judicious 
modes of application for the different crops and varie¬ 
ties of soil may become known. The conversion of a 
substance into a valuable manure, which in large cities 
for ages has been consigned to the river or otherwise 
dissipated and lost, and which increases the productions 
of the soil, and assists in making our land teem with 
plenty, must prove beneficial, not only to farmers, but 
to the whole community. Especially to the farmers in 
the vicinity of New-York will it prove to be of great 
benefit; for they possess not the unexhausted soil of 
the west to operate upon; they are compelled to ferti¬ 
lize their land or starve; to pay thousands of dollars for 
the sweepings of the streets and emptyings of the sta¬ 
bles, of which in consequence of the increased demand 
and facilities of transportation, it is difficult even to ob¬ 
tain a sufficiency, although the price has nearly doubled 
in the last 20 years. 
There may be some failures in the experiments made 
with this kind of manure, before the most judicious 
modes of application are ascertained; yet its final tri¬ 
umph and ultimate success may with safety be predict¬ 
ed. Yours, TUNIS G. BERGEN. 
The above communication was submitted to Mr. Peter 
Barthelemy, who is one of the discoverers of the process of 
making urate and poudrette, and who is the only introducer 
of the article in the United States, and who joined the pre¬ 
sent company for the purpose of manufacturing urate, has 
made the following remarks: 
“ It will not answer to make a compost of poudrette with 
any other manure. It must be applied to the earth or soil as 
delivered from the factory: because the poudrette will act 
immediately upon the compost added to it instead of the ve¬ 
getable matter in the soil; and the consequence is, its effect 
upon vegetation will be retarded, as long time as it will re¬ 
quire to have the other part of the compost absorbed, and the 
additional compost will be lost to the vegetation; the pou¬ 
drette being of a stronger nature will first absorb any other 
manure before fertilizing the crop; in other words, poudrette 
alone is worth more than all the additional compost manure 
added to it. P. BARTHELEMY.” 
The Wheat Fly 
Is an animal that has never attacked my grain. It 
has so happened that my neighbor’s wheat and mine 
were in adjoining fields, separated only by a fence; that 
his wheat was nearly destroyed by the fly, end not one 
discovered in mine. The only solution I can give to it 
is as follows: 
My wheat is uniformly sowed late, never until there 
has been a hard frost,—sufficiently so as to kill insects 
of that kind. I cause a strong solution of salt and wa¬ 
ter to be made, sufficiently so to bear an egg; and my 
wheat is soaked about 24 hours in it, and then rolled in 
lime on the barn floor. When that rule has been fol¬ 
lowed, my crops have been about as good as my nrich- 
bors, when their wheat was not affected with the fly.* 
Great care should be taken not to soak the wheat more 
than about 24 hours, and then rolled in lime; else the 
germinating quality of the wheat may be destroyed or 
injured. A. DEY. 
New-York, 23 July, 1839. 
How to increase the circulation of Agricultural 
Papers—Subscribers’ Duties. 
Lake C. H. Ia. July 18, 1839. 
My Friend —This is to you—I see you about to pass 
over and not read this article—you don’t like the title ! 
It an’t interesting to you, do you say ? Look again— 
look at the signature,—did you ever see my name to an 
article in this paper that did not interest you ? There 
now, you see I am an old acquaintance. No. Well, 
then you did not take the last volume of the Cultivator. 
The more’s the pity. Thousands who read that, will 
remember me right well. They will expect something 
interesting as soon as they see this article is from their 
old friend. I beg of them, as well as-of the publisher, 
a thousand pardons that I have neglected them so long. 
My conscience has not been easy for months. I knew 
I had not done my duty. For when a man, particularly 
a friend to agricultural improvement, knows that he 
has a talent to be useful and interesting in his writing- 
that by a little light labor of his pen, that he can lighten 
the labor of his fellow laborers, he neglects his duty if 
he neglects to do it. You need not call me an egotist, 
because I say that I know I have that faculty. Thou¬ 
* Our correspondent alludes to the Hessian jlj, not to the 
grain worm,-, as the latter attacks the ear, and against which 
late autumn sowing would be no preventive; but rather aid 
in the work of destruction. The grain in the early sown 
might be too hard before the fly appeared; but that sown late 
comes into head in the nick of time for the deposites of the 
fly.— Ccmd. 
sands have told me so; and I now here tell you that I 
have neglected my duty. Reader, have you neglected 
yours ? did you write a letter to your paper, and be¬ 
cause it was not published, say you would never write 
another? Did you say further, that you would never 
subscribe for the paper again? Shame on you then,— 
Oh! you was only angry a few minutes,—you’re over 
it now, and think yours the best paper in the world. 
You think you made an hundred dollars more off of 
your farm last year in consequence of taking it. So do 
I. I’ll tell you another thing that I think. I think that 
the readers of the Albany Cultivator alone, made $50,- 
000 more in their various occupations last year in con¬ 
sequence of reading it; and equally so of the New-Eng- 
land Farmer,—The Genesee Farmer,'—the Franklin 
Farmer,—the American Farmer, and so on of every 
good farmer’s paper, in just proportion. There is ano¬ 
ther thing I think; that the increased value of those 
readers’ farms is twenty times the above sum. There 
is another thing I think; think, why, I know it. I know 
it by my own feelings. I know that the increased hap¬ 
piness of those readers was worth twenty times more 
than all the increase of property. Suppose then that 
the circulation was doubled,—yes, but don’t every body 
subscribe that wants to, now? No, not half. But you 
can get them to—and it is your duty to do it; you an’t 
able to pay for any papers to give any. Who asked 
you to do it? There is your neighbor Jones that al¬ 
ways is reading yours when he can get a chance, and 
who never has a dollar that he thinks he can spare to 
pay the subscription; would be glad to take the paper 
and pay you in chopping wood. Now do you think you 
did your duty last year ? you know you had a two dollar 
bill, and it cost you some trouble to get it changed when 
you sent for yours; you might just as well have sent for 
two copies and let Jones have had one. He would’nt 
have lost them two fine old sheep if he had read the 
Cultivator; because he would have seen that ruta ba- 
gas were just what they wanted. But poor man; did’nt 
know it. There is your neighbor Williams too; you 
had some dealings with him, and he would have been 
glad to have taken the paper from you, “in the way of 
trade;” “ because that would not be paying out money,” 
though you paid it to him. Now you know that he lost 
nearly all his first planting of corn by the insects, birds, 
&c.; and then came up to your house to “get the re¬ 
ceipt out of the paper how to doctor the seed.” But 
then it was too late to replant; so he planted beans. 
Did you ever see a finer crop ? Got nicely ripe and 
pulled and hung up on the scattering corn, lugged out 
to the fence, and stone heaps, he. to put up to dry. 
Well, there came on a long warm rain; and poor man, 
he lost the whole of them nearly, more than an hundred 
bushels. Do you remember when he came to your 
barn, and the conversation? “Did’nt you lose your 
beans, neighbor Thomas, that warm rain?” says he 
in perfect astonishment, “ I saw you pulling them the 
same day I did,—and mine were the ripest. Why bless 
me, how bright they do thrash out. Now in God’s 
name, do tell me how you saved them?” 
“Why, I read it in the Cultivator more than a year 
ago ” 
“ Good heavens, ’twould have been worth more than 
an hundred dollars to me.” 
“So it was to me—and then it’s so easy and simple; 
take a parcel of stakes,—I took old bean poles out of 
the garden,—out into the field and stick ’em round, and 
put a few stones or sticks at the bottom, and then pull 
the beans: no matter how green they are, and stack 
them up with the roots touching the stalkes until you 
get high enough; and then tie the top course with a. 
little straw ora string, and the trouble is all over ; they 
will cure as well as a shock of corn, and injure less.” 
“Welf now, I have always intended to take that pa¬ 
per,—but I never had a dollar to spare at the right 
time to send for it.” Now my friend, do you think you 
did your duty? If you had, would you not have sent 
for a paper for each of these neighbors, and in a man¬ 
ner compelled them to take them? 
I got five and twenty into circulation “in the way of 
trade;” can’t you? don’t be mistaken,—I mean you.— 
Can’t you get one ; just one more subscriber; it is your 
duty. Nothing can sustain this government but an im¬ 
provement in her agricultural branches. I don’t know 
how many hundred millions of dollars we are in debt. 
We? Yes, we. You and I, and every producer in the 
government. On that debt annual intereslmust be paid. 
Must be paid by a tax on agriculture. Let it be mysti¬ 
fied as much as it may, ’tis the only way whereby un¬ 
der heaven that it can be paid. 'Tis the farmer that 
pays for every rail-road and canal, whether useful or 
not; and when farmers are so much in debt, it is time 
they were improving the means to get out. How can 
they improve without they gain knowledge? How can 
they gain knowledge unless they read ? How can 
they read unless they are provided with papers or 
books. How can some of your neighbors provide them¬ 
selves, unless you assist them ? Then for once attend 
to this solemn duty. Don’t let your conscience rest 
one day, until you have procured one more subscriber 
to this paper. And if you can’t procure a subscriber, 
send yourself and procure another set, (20 if you are 
able,) and distribute them among your neighbors; you 
will soon see the leaven work; the corn will come up, 
the beans will be saved, and you will rejoice at the end 
of the year, as you think to yourself, “how much good 
I have done with so small a sum.” And here I make 
you a proposition. At the end of the year if you are 
dissatisfied that you have followed my advice, write to 
the publisher and your money shall be refunded to you. 
He will endorse this proposition for me I guess. 
And this reminds me, the last of my “ extra” num¬ 
bers is used up “in the way of trade;” add another to 
my list, I must keep one on hand; ’tis my duty; ’tis the 
way I make up my list of subscribers—and it is certain¬ 
ly a large list for a place so new, where all are poor 
and new beginners in life. 
But the effects are visible. There are no “'Nick 
Bradshaw’s” in this settlement. 
There are some other duties that “we owe one ano¬ 
ther,” but my letter is already too long. I shall write 
again. In the mean time think of the duties here point¬ 
ed out. Can you deny them to be truly stated? Then 
instead of thinking, be up and doing; and truly you 
shall meet your reward. Most truly your agricultural 
friend, SOLON ROBINSON. 
Holbrook’s Revolving Horse Rake. 
Whitesboro, July 20, 1839. 
Jesse Buel Esq.—Dear Sir—I have used the revolv¬ 
ing rake of Holbrook h Co. on my meadows for six or 
seven years past; and am confident that a man and 
horse can rake more than ten men with the oommon 
rake. 
Mr. Holbrook’s rake is superior to any I have seen; 
and I confidently recommend it as better than any horse 
rake now in use. Respectfully your friend and obedi¬ 
ent servant, S. NEWTON DEXTER. 
Remark. —We have received, but have not yet been able 
to use, one of Mr. Holbrook’s rakes. Our grass is generally 
too heavy for a horse rake—two rakings by hand serving for 
a tolerable winrow; and our habit of making our hay in 
grass cocks superseding spreading the hay. They are for 
sale at W. Thorburn’s, Albany.— Cond. 
Principles the bases of correct Practice—A Pro¬ 
position. 
Stockport, 7th mo. 1st. 1839. 
Respected Friend J. Buel — I have long been a 
reader of the Cultivator, and have derived from its 
pages a great deal of pleasure and a great deal of sub¬ 
stantial benefit. I commenced farming without any 
previous acquaintance with the business; hence the large 
body of sound practical information contained in it, has 
been peculiarly valuable to me. I have, however, re¬ 
gretted that so many of the dicta advanced by thy cor¬ 
respondents are based on the narrow foundation of a 
single experiment. 
It is unfortunate for the progress of the science of ag¬ 
riculture, that this habit of theorising on the basis ot a 
single experiment has become so inveterate with our 
rural population; it seems tome that among other evils 
resulting from it, is the strong distaste for book farming 
which is manifested by so many farmers. 
They find in one treatise, that the phases of the moon 
should be strictly attended to in all agricultural opera¬ 
tions, because he has tried the experiment and found it 
to be so. Another author advises us to plough and sow 
whenever we are ready, without the slightest regard 
to lunar influence. He has tried the experiment and 
found that the moon had neither part nor lot in the 
matter. 
This controversy respecting lunar influence, is very 
far from standing alone as an example of the contrari¬ 
ety of opinion existing among our most enlightened ag¬ 
riculturists; indeed, there is scarcely any single practice 
recommended by our agricultural writers but what a 
diametrically opposite practice is strongly enforced by 
another, and both appeal to experiment to support their 
respective opinions. The unsophisticated farmer, puz¬ 
zled, and perhaps led astray 1 y these conflicting opinions, 
imbibes the idea that experiments are very fallible 
things; and that book farming is only fit for those who 
have plenty of money to lose: hence, he either goes on 
in the old track of his fathers, or finding that guessing 
is far easier than experimenting, and that it leads to 
results quite as definite, forms a theory of his own, and 
does well or ill, according as it approximates to truth 
or error. Now in experiments conducted by those who 
know how to interrogate nature, there is none of this 
ambiguity; the results are as certain, and the general 
laws deducible from them, stand on as firm a founda¬ 
tion as any of the propositions of Euclid; those who 
have traced the masterly investigation of the nature of 
caloric by Dr. Black, which resulted in the discovery of 
latent heat,—or that of the properties cf oxygen by La- 
vosier, which resulted in establishing the theory of com¬ 
bustion, will have no difficulty in asserting that the same 
skill and patience which were exhibited by these illustri¬ 
ous masters of the Baconian or inductive system of phi¬ 
losophy, be applied to the solution of any of the vexed 
questions in agriculture, the result would be equally 
satisfactory ; and let me remark in passing, that I know 
of no way in which thou couldst employ thy gifted pen 
more profitably, than in giving a plain and simple ab¬ 
stract of the fundamental principles of Lord Bacon’s 
celebrated system of inductive philosophy. 
It is a disputed question amongst farmers, whether 
plaister ever benefits clay land,—as usual, there are 
plenty of experiments on both sides. I have frequently 
sown it on clays without the smallest perceptible bene¬ 
fit ; but this spring, I was told to sow it at the time of 
full moon in April. I did so; and there is nearly twice 
as much grass as there was last year. This of course 
is conclusive that clay lands are sometimes benefitted by 
plaister; but it affords very little light on the far more 
important question, (under what circumstances is it 
beneficial to clay lands?) because I did not pay atten¬ 
tion to any of the collateral circumstances. 
