THE CULTIVATOR: 
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION, DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
1 KNOW OF NO PURSUIT IN WHICH MORE REAL AND IMPORTANT S ERVICES CAN BE R E NDERED TO ANY COUNTRY, THAN BY IMPROVING ITS AGRICULTURE Wash. 
‘Vol7vL no. 5, WASHINGTON-ST. ALBANY, N. Y. SEPTEMBER 1839._ No- 8- 
Conducted, by J. BUEL, of Albany. 
TERMS.— One Dollar per annum, to be paid in advance. 
Subscriptions to commence with a volume. 
Special Agents. —Lewis Hill & Co. Richmond, Va.; Bell 
& Entwistle, Alexandria, D. C.; Gideon B. Smith, Baltimore, 
Md. ; Judah Dobson, bookseller, D. Landreith, and M. S. 
Powell, seedsmen, Philadelphia; Israef Post, bookseller, 88 
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. E. Valentine, 
Johnson’s Springs, Va. See No. 12, vol. v. 
The Cultivator is subject to common newspaper postage. 
The published volumes are forsale 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 IMPR OVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
Our Sheet and its Price. 
The first volume of the Cultivator was published at 
twenty-five cents a year; the subsequent three volumes 
at fifty cents; and for the fifth and sixth, we have 
charged one dollar a volume. Many of our original 
subscribers have probably thought, that we have been 
extortionate in advancing our price, and that our pro¬ 
fits are now unreasonable. A plain statement of facts 
is due alike to them and ourself. 
The first volume contained no cuts. The cuts of our 
present volume will cost us, probably, $300; and the 
first volume run us in debt nearly $600. But the exhi¬ 
bit of the quantity of matter, and the price of paper— 
the type setting and paper being the prominent items of 
expense—will show something of the relative profits, 
under the different prices which we have charged for 
the Cultivator. Taking printer’s computation, and dis¬ 
regarding fractions, 
A No. of our 1st volume, at 25c. contained 50,000 ems. 
“ 2cl volume, at 50c. 76,000 ems. 
“ 6th volume, at $1,. 156,000 ems. 
while the price of the paper has correspondingly ad¬ 
vanced, until it is now$3.50 the ream; the larger page, 
and the smaHeqAype requiring stouter and finer paper. 
It will thus be'seen, that our expense for type-setting, 
paper and cuts, for our sixth volume is more than quad¬ 
ruple what it was for our first volume, and more than 
double what it was for the second volume. We gain 
something in the press-work and mailing, and ouivsub- 
scrihers gain in postage—paying no more now thaffthey 
formerly did for a quarter, or a half, of what they now 
receive. 
Comparatively speaking, the agricultural journals of 
our country are the cheapest periodicals that are pub¬ 
lished any where; and as to their superior utility, in 
promoting the substantial interests of our country, we 
entertain'not a doubt. Take, for comparison of con¬ 
tents, one of the literary quarterly journals, say the 
North American. This contains, in a number, 248 pa¬ 
ges, or 1,000 in a year, and about 1,000 ems in a page— 
giving an aggregate of 1,000,000 of ems. The Culti¬ 
vator gives in a year 1,881,000 ems, or nearly double. 
The North American is five dollars a year—the Culti¬ 
vator one dollar a year. To correspond with the price 
of the North American Review, according to the quan¬ 
tity of matter it contains, the price of the Cultivator 
should be nine dollars a year. Surely no one can here¬ 
after complain of price, however light they may value 
the matter. And we beg our readers to notice, that the 
Cultivator is now printed upon a beautiful new type. 
The Agricultural State of Scotland. 
And what has that to do with American husbandry? 
it may be asked. Much, we reply. We may learn, 
from what Scotland was, and what she is, in agriculture, 
many useful lessons in farming. We may learn our 
own errors in practice; and, if we are not too proud, 
or too conceited, we may learn, from Scotch lessons in 
farming how to correct them —we may learn from them 
how to double, at least, the products of our agricultural 
labor. The history of Scotch agriculture, for the last 
fifty years, is invaluable to, every farmer who would 
improve his practice. History is wisdom, teaching by 
example. 
We find a valuable essay in the Edinburgh Quarterly 
Journal of Agriculture, showing what Scotland was, 
and what she is, in regard to her agriculture. She was, 
in 1784, two years after the close of our revolution, as 
poor as a church mouse. She is now , perhaps, the rich¬ 
est, in agricultural products, of any portion of Great- 
Britain, at least so far as regards her arable lands.— 
The writer describes the face of the country, at the 
middle of the last century, “no better than that of a 
"bleak howling wilderness,” and well, he adds, might 
the poet at the inn window indite— 
8 
“Bleak are thy hills of north, 
Not fertile are thy plains, 
Bare-legged are thy nymphs. 
And bare-are thy swains.” 
“ In 1784, a few gentlemen, full of zeal for their country, 
and it may be a little love of society, formed themselves in¬ 
to a sort of hole and corner club, in a coffee-house called the 
Exchange, situated in the court of that name, near ‘ the 
market cross of Edinburgh.’ Here, in the enjoyment of 
agreeable conversation and a good supper, did those wor¬ 
thies talk over plans for the amelioration of the Highlands, 
and from this nucleus arose the now widely extended and 
powerful Highland Society.” * * * “ To say what was 
the state of agriculture in Scotland, at the date of the forma¬ 
tion of the Highland Society, would, to treat of it minutely, 
require greater scope than the limits of a periodical admit.” 
* # * * 
“But, to take one sweep over hill and dale, corn-field and 
meadow, we may at once pronounce the agriculture of Scot¬ 
land, at that period, to have been wretched—execrably bad 
in all its localities ! Hardly any wheat was attempted to 
be grown; oats full of thistles was the standard crop, and 
this was repeated on the greater part of the arable land, 
while it would produce twice the seed thrown into it;—tur¬ 
nips, as part of the rotation of crops, were unknown; few 
potatoes were raised, and no grass seeds or clover were sown. 
The whole manure of the farm being put on a little bit of 
ground near the farmstead, and there they grew some barley 
of the coarse sort, termed ‘here,’ wherewith to make ban¬ 
nocks, broth and small beer, or peradventure, if the farm lay 
at the foot of the Grampians, to brew a portion of ‘moun¬ 
tain dew!’ Since the writer can recollect, a great part of 
the summer was employed in the now fertile shire of Fife, 
in pulling thistles out of the oats, and bringing them home for 
the horses, or mowing the rushes and other aquatic plants 
that grew on the bogs around the homestead. Such was the 
state of Scotland, with but little appearance of amendment, 
up to 1792.” 
The general outUne of this picture of wretched hus¬ 
bandry is suited to the present condition of many dis¬ 
tricts on the eastern borders of our country, though the 
filling up of the picture would require to be somewhat 
different. 
“Time, with her ‘ceaseless wing,’ had now brought in 
another century, and on the arrival of the nineteenth, the 
richer part of the low country had put on another aspect.— 
Beautiful fields of wheat were to be seen—drilled green crops 
and clean fallows every where abounded—the bogs had dis¬ 
appeared—-the thistles no longer existed. In the Lothians, 
all this was carried on to a great extent. The farmers for¬ 
got themselves—they were coining money, and ‘light come, 
light go,’ was their motto. They went on in the most reck¬ 
less manner—they began to keep greyhounds, to be members 
of coursing clubs, subscribed to the ‘ silver cup,’ or ‘ puppy 
stakes,’ and yelped the same note of folly as their betters in 
birth, their equals in extravagance and vice. Then followed 
yeomanry races—the good sturdy nag that would be of use 
at a time in the operations of the farm, was exchanged for a 
blood weed, and on market-day, instead of rational conversa¬ 
tion about matters connected with their own calling, they be¬ 
gan to talk ‘ knowingly ’ about the turf. At this time, that is, 
from 1810 to 1814, the agricultural horizon was the brightest; 
the gas was fully up, the nation was alive, all was activity 
and business.” * * * 
But at this time the battle of Waterloo came, and 
with it peace and low prices. Farmers could not sus¬ 
tain their extravagance—they had been unable to bear 
prosperity—and their farms fell into the hands of more 
prudent managers. We have seen much of the same 
routine of industry, extravagance and poverty, among 
the farmers of our own country. Not willing to “ let 
well enough alone," they have embarked in speculation, 
or in pursuits to which they were strangers, and have 
gone into extravagances and follies, to ape the great, 
which their means did not warrant, and which neither 
their comfort nor the welfare of their children required. 
The consequence often has been, that, like the indis¬ 
creet Scotch farmer, their lands have come into the pos¬ 
session of more prudent managers. 
But though Scotch farmers failed, from not knowing 
how to bear prosperity, Scotch husbandry did not retro¬ 
grade. 
“In 1815, the turnip husbandry had got a firm hold in the 
country—the benefit accruing from it was so apparent, that 
no convulsion in the market prices could make the farmers 
forsake it.” 
Yet the culture was limited, owing first to the want 
of manure to feed the turnip crop, destined to fatten the 
farm stock; and 2dly, to the expense of driving their cattle 
to a distant market. Two discoveries removed these 
impediments. The first, “the most important,” says 
our author, “ that ever occurred in the annals of agri¬ 
culture, viz. that of bone-dust ,” and the second, the ap¬ 
plication of steam, by our countryman, Fulton, to the 
propelling of vessels, which enabled the Scotch farmer 
to transport his fat animals to Smithfield market, at a 
moderate expense. “So palpable was the benefit to be 
derived from the use of bone manure, that in a few 
years there was not a farmer who did not avail himself 
of it. The farmers could now grow turnips to any ex¬ 
tent, and the bare fallow was exploded.” We have bone- 
dust, and poudrette, and other newly discovered means 
of fertility, which the farmer is shy of buying and using. 
We have tried them all, and are satisfied both of their 
utility, and the economy of their application, especially 
upon naturally dry or well drained soils. They add 
much to the products of agricultural labor, without any 
thing like a corresponding outlay. The Scotch farmer 
could now grow turnips to any extent. He could fatten 
upon these his stock': and he could send this stock to 
market at a trivial expense, for the “steam engine had 
become his drover.” 
But another—a third improvement followed, which 
we have yet to learn the value of—we mean furrow 
draining, on flat and tenacious soils. Hear what our 
author says upon this subject:— 
“No man holding land ought to be ignorant of the thorough 
or Deanston drain. Mr. Smith, deeply engaged in the cot¬ 
ton spinning trade, could not procure a fall of water on the 
river Teith, ten miles west of the castle of Sterling, without 
renting along with it a considerable portion of very bad and 
wet land. Not liking to have a heavy rent to pay for such 
trash, Mr. Smith turned his powerful mind to the subject, 
and perceiving the folly of throwing away large sums of 
money on deep and useless drains, with all the stuff of tap¬ 
ping and boring, to catch the water as it were a wild beast 
for which gins and traps must be laid, hit on the idea of mak¬ 
ing drains in parallel lines in the hollow of every ridge, cut¬ 
ting them to the depth of thirty inches, filling them with 
small stones half-way to the surface, above this putting a 
green turf reversed, and replacing the mould. Following up 
his first discovery by ploughing deep, he has now a farm of 
the finest land ever seen; and so convinced is the writer of 
the utility of this mode of draining, that each year he has 
been increasing the quantity he has made, and during the 
last twelve months has put in above fifteen miles. Nor is 
the Deanston drain confined to those parts of the country 
where stone or gravel can be procured;, the same system 
can be and is followed with the same .effect, by using the 
Marquis of Tweeddale’s tile; or even the poorest farmer, 
who has not capital to undertake costly improvements, can 
fertilize his farm by making the thirty inch drains and filling 
them with brushwood. It is perfectly wonderful to behold 
the mighty change this thorough-drain system is making in 
the different parts of the country where it is in operation: 
wet land is made dry, poor weeping clays are converted into 
turnip-soil, and even what would formerly have been ac¬ 
counted dry is advanced in quality. Whole parishes in the 
vicinity of Stirling are completely transformed from unsight¬ 
ly marshes into beautiful and rich wheat-fields, and where 
the plough could scarcely be driven for slush and water, we 
see heavy crops per acre and heavy weight per bushel, the 
quantity and the quality alike improved.” * * * 
“It is the greatest quantity produced at the cheapest rate 
that will ever make a prosperous trade. If wheat is low in 
price, the farmer must bestir himself.” * * * “Let him 
remember that if he can but grow one or two quarters more 
per acre, he will be in a better position, even with the low 
price, than he was before.” * * * 
In speaking of the Highland Society, the writer enu¬ 
merates the following means whieh that society adopted 
as contributing largely to the mighty advance of the 
agriculture of Scotland:— 
“In the days of its youth and feebleness, the Highland 
Society sent the leaven of the turnip husbandry into all th.6 
glens and straths of the north, by offers of small prizes to cer¬ 
tain Highland parishes; and the same may be said as to the 
growth of clover and the finer grasses. As it advanced in 
strength, (as to numbers and as to cash,) attention was turned 
to premiums for stock; then came offers of reward to men of 
science to discover better implements and machines, to dimi- 
nish friction amlconsequently draught, such as in the thrash¬ 
ing mill and other parts of agricultural machinery. Still ad¬ 
vancing in the scale of intellect and of science, premiums 
were offered for essays to bring to light the facts connected 
with chemistry and natural philosophy; and, under the auspi¬ 
ces of the society, was set up the Quarterly Journal of Agri¬ 
culture, a work which has been the vehicle of conveying so 
much useful information to the agriculturist, that, we humbly 
venture to say, it ought to appear on the table and book¬ 
shelf of every farmer's parlor. After this, the great stock- 
shows were resolved upon, as another link of union between 
the society and the practical farmer, at the same time throwing 
aside all paltry feeling, and making them open to stock from 
both sides of the Tweed, [i. e. from England as well as Scot¬ 
land.] How well they have succeeded, let the last one at 
Glasgow bear witness. [This was the most splendid show 
of fine cattle ever exhibited.] Nor has the society forgotten 
the beauty of the country, as the premiums offered in regard 
to planting trees and such-like subjects fully testify; and to 
sum up all, it may be said, the Highland Society has been a 
‘point d’appui,’ a rallying point, to which the agriculturists 
of Scotland might look, and a fostering mother to all who, 
although strong in talent, were weak in interest to make it 
public. An ardent lover of the plough and all that can speed 
it, the writer of this article would advise the society of En¬ 
gland [and all other agricultural societies who would be use¬ 
ful to their country,] to look into the annals of the Highland 
Society, and from them to cull whatever may be of use 
in the advancement of the delightful science, the culture of 
the fields. 
-—-“ ‘ the men 
Whpm nature’s works can charm, with God himself 
Hold converse; grow familiar day by day 
With his conceptions; act upon his plans, 
And form to his the relish of their souls.’ ” 
