^498 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
could we not do much to enlighten and raise the charac¬ 
ter of American husbandry, by making its principles a 
branch of study in our district schools ? This know¬ 
ledge would seldom come amiss, and it would often 
prove a ready help under misfortune, to those who had 
failed in other business. What man is there, who may 
not expect, at some time of life, to profit directly by a 
knowledge of these principles? Who does not hope to 
become the owner, or cultivator of a garden or a farm? 
And what man, enjoying the blessing of health, would 
be at a loss for the means of an honest livelihood, whose 
mind had been early imbued with the philosophy of ru¬ 
ral culture—and who would rather work than beg? 
An early acquaintance -with natural science, is calcu¬ 
lated to beget a taste for rural life and rural labors, as 
ft source of pleasure, profit, and honor. It will stimu¬ 
late to the improvement of the mind—to elevate and to 
purify it,—to self-respect, to moral deportment. And 
it will tend to deter from the formation of bad habits, 
which steal upon the ignorant and the idle unawares, 
and which consign thousands of young men to poverty 
and disgrace, if not to premature graves. A knowledge 
of these principles, to a very useful extent, can be ac¬ 
quired with as much facility in the school, or upon the 
farm, as other branches of learning. Why, then, shall 
they not be taught? Why shall we withhold from our 
agricultural population that knowledge which is so in- 
dispensable to their profit, to their independence, and 
to their correct bearing as freemen? Why, while we 
boast of our superior privileges, keep in comparative 
ignorance of their business, that class of our citizens 
who are truly the conservators of our freedom? I know 
of but one objectionthe want of teachers. A few 
years ago, civil engineers were not to be found among 
us. The demand for them created a supply. We have 
demonstrated that we have the materials for civil engi¬ 
neers, and that we can work them up. We have mate¬ 
rials for teachers of agricultural science, which we can 
also work up. Demand will always ensure a supply. 
The enumeration of the foregoing obstacles to agri¬ 
cultural improvement, sufficiently indicates the means 
which will be efficient in removing them. The means 
consist, so far as I now propose to notice them— 
1. Ih giving a professional education to the young far¬ 
mer, which shall embrace the principles and the practice 
of the business which he is designed to follow in life, 
and 
2. In diffusing more extensively amonct those who 
have completed their juvenile studies, and are better fit¬ 
ted to profit by the lessons of wisdom and experience, 
ft knowledge of the same principles, and of the best 
modes of practice which these principles inculcate, and 
which experience has proved to be sound. 
We have professional schools in almost every busi¬ 
ness of life, except in the cultivation of the soil, one of 
the most important and essentia! of them all, and one 
embracing a larger scope of useful study in natural sci¬ 
ence, and in usefulness to the temporal wants of the hu¬ 
man family, than any other. The policy of monarchs, 
and of privileged orders, has been to repress intelligence 
in the agricultural mass, in order to keep them in a sub¬ 
ordinate station. But neither the policy nor the prac¬ 
tice should be countenanced by us. Our agriculturists 
are our priviledged class, if we have such. They are 
our sovereigns, because, from their superiors numbers, 
they must ever control our political destinies, for good 
or for evil. And the more intelligent and independent 
we can render them, the more safe we make our coun¬ 
try from the convulsions of internal feuds, and the dan¬ 
ger of foreign war. 
I put the question to fathers—Would you esteem that 
son less, or think him less likely to fulfil the great du¬ 
ties of life, who had been educated in a professional 
school of agriculture, with all the high qualifications 
which it would confer for public and domestic useful¬ 
ness, than him who had been educated for the counter, 
the bar, or other high professional callings? On which 
could you best rely for support and comfort in the de¬ 
cline of life? Nay, I will venture to carry the appeal 
farther—to the discriminating judgment of the unmar¬ 
ried lady—Would you reject, as a partner for life, the 
student of such a college, coming forth with a sound 
mind, deeply imbued with useful knowledge, and a hale 
constitution, invigorated by manly exercise, whose cares 
ond affections were likely to be concentrated upon home 
and country, and whose precepts and examples would 
tend to diffuse industry, prosperity, and rural happiness 
around him? The father’s response would be, I think, 
«n unhesitating no, to the first question; and the lady’s 
after due deliberation, I verily suspeet, would be a half 
articulate amen 1 I pretend not to the spirit of prophe¬ 
cy, yet I venture to predict, that many who now hear 
me, will live to see professional schools of agriculture 
established in our land, to see their utility extolled, and 
to be induced to consider them the best nurseries for re¬ 
publican virtues, and the surest guarantee for the per¬ 
petuity of our liberties. They should be established— 
they will be established—and the sooner they are es¬ 
tablished the better for our country. 
To those who have passed to manhood, and who have 
made up their minds, from necessity or from choice, to 
till the ground, the means of improvement—of studying 
the principles of their business—and of becoming ac¬ 
quainted with the most approved and modern practices 
m husbandry,—the opportunities of acquiring useful 
knowledge, are abundant and cheap. One of these 
mearns, and a valuable one, is proffered him through the 
exhibitions and publications of these societies. Another 
is the perusal of books upon agriculture and rural eco- 
tvkict should form a part of social and rural li¬ 
braries. And another facility of acquiring this useful 
knowledge, is afforded by the agricultural periodicals of 
our country, which, besides containing much that is in¬ 
structive in the philosophy of farming, are a record of 
the best modes of practice, and of much that is new 
and important, in the various departments of rural and 
household labor. A volume of the Cultivator, of which 
I can speak with accuracy, contains about as much mat¬ 
ter as five or six volumes of the popular novels of the 
day, and twice as much as four numbers of our literary 
quarterly journals. The price of the Cultivator is one 
dollar per annum. I verily think, that if the farmer 
would divide his patronage between political and agri¬ 
cultural journals, he would be a manifest gainer, in his 
fortune and in his family—would be more happy in his 
business, and domestic in his habits—a better manager, 
and a more useful citizen. 
Time will not permit me to go into the details of mo¬ 
dern improvements in husbandry. These improvements 
are great, and afford the brightest hopes to the philan¬ 
thropist and the patriot. No one who can carry back 
his memory forty years, can withhold his wonder at the 
astonishing improvements which have in that time been 
made in the manufacturing and mechanic arts, by rea¬ 
son of the aids of science; and those who can scan the 
future, will have no less reason to rejoice, in the antici¬ 
pated advantages which are in prospect, from an im¬ 
proved culture of the mind and the soil, consequent up¬ 
on a better system of education to the agricultural po¬ 
pulation, and the general diffusion of useful knowledge, 
which is likely to result from it. 
I will merely further remark to the farmer, that if he 
would prosper in his business, he should study, practice 
and adopt, the better system of husbandry which is 
abroad in the land, and which has already greatly pro- 
fitted thousands, so far as his soil and circumstances 
will permit;—that he should drain his wet lands, eco¬ 
nomize his manures, and apply them with judgment;— 
to cultivate well, what he does cultivate;—to alternate 
his crops;—to extend his root culture; to increase and 
improve his stock, as the products of his farm will per¬ 
mit;—and to substitute fallow crops for naked fallows. 
In conclusion, gentlemen, permit me to express my 
hearty wish, that success and honor may crown your ef¬ 
forts to improve the condition of your country, industri¬ 
al and moral, associate benefits almost as intimately 
connected, as cause and effect—and that you may long 
live to enjoy the blessings which are promised to him 
who truly loves his neighbor, and reveres and worships 
his God. 
CORRESPONDENCE, 
Tropical Florida. 
[Lat. 24°, 48', N. long. 80°, 55' W.] ) 
Indian Key, T. F. 12 th Nov. 1839, > 
[Ther. 80° Fahrenheit.] ) 
To Jesse Buel, Editor of the Cultivator, 
Albany, Neiv-York. 
Sir —As none of the Cultivators for the last year were 
received until all the numbers came together a few days 
ago, via the remote part of Key West, I could not, of 
course, previously observe in your February No. at p. 
187, the paragraph in which m y name is connected with 
opposition to the Mulberry-selling speculations and silk 
producing calculations of the Northern States. Permit 
me then to repeat, that my written opinions of the silk 
business in the Northern States, are conformable to your 
printed opinions on the same subject. I have always 
maintained, that in those wintry regions this rural in¬ 
dustry can only become a collateral branch of common 
farming—a temporary occupation of household indus¬ 
try—in short, what it has been in Connecticut ever since 
its first introduction, fifty years ago. I have, therefore, 
always sustained the positions, that the advantages of 
the extension, over the Northern States, of the combined 
propagation of Mulberry plants and the bona fide pro¬ 
duction of raw silks, should not be calculated on the 
false hypothesis that this new branch of rural industry 
would yield greater profits than the common products of 
common farms ; but that the benefits should be estima¬ 
ted from tlje important facts, that the Mulberry trees 
can best be grown on the poorest, and otherwise least 
productive, lands; and the raw silk can best be produ¬ 
ced by the feeblest, and otherwise least productive, 
hands. As a temporary collateral branch of farming, 
then, I admit that it may be desirable to employ six 
weeks annually in the production of raw silk by the 
feeblest hands on the poorest lands of even the Northern 
States. But the agricultural statesman for the whole 
country, will readily convince himself of the relative 
superiority of the old Southern States for the profitable 
production of raw silk as a collateral branch of their 
planting industry. The great superiority of the old 
Southern States over the old Northern States, and even 
over the new Western States, is easily shown by the 
irrefutable facts, that their vegetating seasons are much 
longer; that their poorest lands are much cheaper, and 
that their unproductive hands are more numerous and 
more controlable. In other words, it can be thus de¬ 
monstrated that the old Southern States can afford to 
sell raw silk at two dollars and fifty cents per pound, 
and yet gain five dollars per acre nett profit for their 
poorest, unproductive lands, and will also gain fifty cents 
per day gross wages for their feeblest" unproductive 
hands. As a temporary collateral branch of planting, 
then, I contend it will be much more desirable to em¬ 
ploy twelve weeks annually in the production of raw 
silk by the feeblest hands on the poorest lands of the 
old Southern States. But, Sir, in relation to the perma¬ 
nent production of raw silks in the United States, the 
most important facts which should again be presented 
to the whole community, are those irrefutable facts by 
which I have long since demonstrated the superlative 
superiority of South Florida for the profitable production 
of raw silk! 1 . That it enjoys a tropical climate pecu¬ 
liarly favorable tohuman health and to vegetable growth 
the whole year round. 2. That the morus multleaulis, 
being a tropical plant from the Tropical Phillippine Is¬ 
lands, has hence returned to its native climate on the 
tropical Florida Keys. 3. That in this tropical climate, 
the Manilla Mulberry is an evergreen tree, which does 
reproduce its bulky leaves, and which can be propaga¬ 
ted by its numerous buds in every day of every year. 
4. That hence, in this tropical climate, the silk worms 
can be fed, and their silk cocoons can be spun on every 
day of every year. Very respectfully, your obedient 
servant. HENRY PERRINE. 
P. S. I still repeat that the morus multicaulis is a 
splendid humbug; but I shall rejoice at its continuance, 
provided its energies be exerted in the only district of 
the Union where the greatest possible number of plants 
can be propagated in the least possible time, and where 
the greatest possible quantity of silk can be produced 
at the least possible expense. If only ten of the weal¬ 
thiest speculators had been established two years in 
these Florida Keys, the whole United States would have 
been roused by their clamorous proclamations certifi¬ 
ed facts of their infinite superiority for the continual 
propagation of Mulberry buds, for the continual repro¬ 
duction of Mulberry leaves, and consequently for the 
continual feeding of silk worms, and for the continual 
production of raw silks!! 
Comparative contrast of the opposite climates of 
Southern Mississippi and Southern Florida. 
1838.— Natchez, Miss. —Clear days, 43; cloudy 192; 
rainy 93 ; foggy 27; hazy 5; snowy 3 ; sleety 2.—Hot¬ 
test day 94° ; coldest day 18°, or 14° below the freezing 
point of Fahrenheit’s scale. 
Indian Key, T.F. —Clear days 314; cloudy 15; rainy 
38.—Hottest day 90°; coldest day 50°, or 18° above the 
freezing point of Fahrenheit’s scale. 
Add for Indian Key the fact, that the greatest change 
in one month was 33°, and the greatest change in one 
day was 14°, and you will readily conceive the incon¬ 
trovertible reality, that Tropical Florida enjoys the most 
delightful weather, with the most healthy climate in the 
whole United States. 
You know that the slanderous charges of deadly sick¬ 
ness against South Florida are solely derived from the 
detracting reports against the only port of Key West. 
But supposing that near the southwestern extremity of 
this reef at the remote island of Key West, the village 
itself should be a sickly locality at all seasons of every 
year; nevertheless, you will perceive that it is separa¬ 
ted by seventy-eight miles of latitude and longitude in 
the open sea from the nearest point of the healthy main¬ 
land at Cape Sable! HENRY PERRINE, M.D. 
at Indian Key, Tropical Florida. 
Manufacture of Maple Sugar. 
Rutland, Vt. 24 th Nov. 1839. 
To the Conductor of the Cultivator, 
Albany, New-York. 
Sir —Understanding that Mr. Henry Mussey, of this 
town, is a competitor for a premium offered by you in 
the month of April last, “for the best sample of ten 
pounds of maple sugar, produced by household pro¬ 
cess,” the arrival of whose sample was announced in 
the September number of the Cultivator, and that his 
standing in this vicinity for reputation, truth and vera¬ 
city, should be vouched for by some person known to 
you, I have great satisfaction in giving my testimony 
in behalf of Mr. Mussey, as being one of our best far¬ 
mers—one of our most substantial and reputable citi¬ 
zens—and whose representations as to bis method of 
manufacturing the sugar in question, or, indeed, upon 
any other subject, wouid receive in this community, the 
most implicit credit. 
I am, very respectfully, your obd’t serv’t, 
JESSE GOVE. 
Rutland, Nov. 26, 1839. 
Mr. Jesse Buel—Sir —As a competitor for the pre¬ 
mium offered in the April number of the Cultivator, 
sometime in August I sent your deceased father ten 
pounds of maple sugar, the receipt of which was ac¬ 
knowledged in the September number, with a request 
for the mode of manufacture and the estimated expense, 
which I will endeavour to give. 
1. Scald the buckets clean. 
2. Boil the sap as soon as possible after running from 
the tree, in the old burning process, that is, in fireplaces 
or between logs, (although we endeavour to burn as lit- 
tie as we can, and wash the kettles once a day,) down to 
thin syrup. 
3. Settle over night, and draw off clear. 
4. Cleanse with a pint of milk to 50lbs. sugar, and 
sugar off in the common way, leaving it so thin that 
some molasses shall stand on the sugar: and, 
5. After drawing molasses twenty-four hours through 
a hole in the bottom of the tub, (our tubs hold from 
100 to 300 gallons,) spread a double cloth over the top 
and lay on clay about two inches thick, of the consis¬ 
tency of thick milk porridge; after three or four days, 
take off the clay, and if the sugar is not sufficiently 
