66 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Our extreme tardiness to adopt even what we firmly be¬ 
lieve will materially benefit us, is among the most unac¬ 
countable things in our nature; and the man who could 
cure us of it, would be one of the greatest benefactors to 
our whole class, that ever lived. The advancement of 
our husbandry, in all its branches, depends as much upon 
the removal of this obstacle, as it does upon any other 
thing' whatever. 
I agree entirely with your correspondent, Mr. M. T. 
Gehee, in his doubts as to the possibilit 3 >- of Dr. N. B. 
Cloud’s new system of planting and cultivating cotton, 
accomplishing all that he seems confidently to expect 
from it. I am perfectly willing to believe that it may be 
much better than the old, and that he actually gathered 
from a single acre, treated in his mode, the quantity 
wdiich he says he did; for that he states as a matter of 
fact, and we are bound to confide in his veracity. But 
when he expresses the belief that by his method, he can 
make from 3,000 to 5,000 weight on the same identical 
land which would yield only from 300 to 500 weight, if 
cultivated according to the present most approved mode, 
I feel myself at liberty to call such belief a most extra¬ 
vagant and incredible notion—to say the least of it. True 
it is, that the same land, after being highly manured, will 
often produce ten times as much as it did in an utterly 
impoverished slate. But that a mere difference in the 
modes of culture, could possibly produce so great a dif¬ 
ference in the product of two pieces of land, exactly alike 
in every respect, is something which must actually be 
seen to be believed. We may search the whole annals 
of agriculture, without finding a single well authentica¬ 
ted fact to Avarrant any such expectation. Still I will not 
positively affirm that such a thing is quite impossible, 
for I believe nothing to be so, but for a man to bite his 
own nose off. But Dr. N. B. Cloud, must first make, by his 
new mode, from 3,000 to 5,000 lbs. of cotton, ascertained 
by actually Aveighing the whole quantity, upon land of 
which the same quantity, cultivated according to the 
common most approved method, yielded onlj' from 300 
to 500 lbs., also ascertained by actually weighing the 
whole produce. Let him do this, and I Avill be as ready 
as any one to pronounce him a benefactor to every cot¬ 
ton grower in the United States; for he Avould well de¬ 
serve the title. 
I am very sorry that your correspondent Mr. W. H. 
Sothatn, has misunderstood the very brief remarks which 
I ventured to make on one of his former communica¬ 
tions. I certainly did not mean to “censure” the opin¬ 
ions which he there advanced; for they were given on a 
subject of Avhich I knew little or nothing—that is, the 
various breeds of imported cattle. The few observations 
which I took the liberty to offer, related solely to the 
manner in Avhich Mr. Sotham expressed his opinion. If 
that was all right, then was I all wrong; and I am very 
willing now, to cry “ peccavi” for it. 
Mr. G. B. S. is certainly right as to the identity of the 
wild and tame turkey; and that they will breed together, 
is a fact perfectly well known throughout the country 
where the Avild turkey is common. To cross them, im¬ 
proves both the size and the hardihood of the domestic 
Commentator. 
Feb. 17, 1S43. 
BLACK SEA WHEAT, &c. 
Messrs. Editors— For three or more seapns, this 
variety of wheat has been cultivated in this vicinity, and 
with universal success. I have seen the grain selected 
from the most rank and lodged portions of the field, 
threshed separate, and the yield was about one bushel to 
the shock; in fact, it has invariably given a good return, 
from 20 to 40 bushels to the acre. The grain is not as 
lio-ht colored as other varieties, but the berry is always 
pfump; the quality of flour is more harsh, and not as 
white. The great encouragement to grow this kind of 
grain with us, is that it never failed of yielding a good 
return, and in most eases a large crop, not subject to the 
rust, as other varieties have been here. 
Freaks or Nature. —I learned from Erastus Culver, 
of Wells, that a neighbor of his, Mr. Halsey Goodrich, 
had two heifers that brought each other to milk at one 
year old; one of them was milked three consecutive 
years before she had any offspring. Also, Mr. Joseph 
Button, now a resident of Chautauque co. N. Y., had a 
calf estray from his yard at about two Aveeks old, which 
accompanied another heifer calf betAveen four and five 
months old, and bv the constant sucking of the younger 
calf, brought the elder to milk within the space of six 
weeks. 
Signs of the Seasons.— On Friday night, 23d of 
December, we had a slight shock of an earthquake. It 
happened about midnight; was felt in different parts of 
this county, from six to ten miles from Lake Champlain. 
Whether the shock Avas visible in other parts of the state, 
I have not learned. It appeared like the rumbling of 
heavy thunder, which lasted no more than two or three 
seconds. In conversing with several who heard it, it was 
more sensibly felt where the d wellings were foumled on 
the rock, by a sudden jar, as if a cannon had been ex¬ 
ploded near by. — 
Grasshoppers were very plenty here in the month 
of January, after the snow left. They were seen in some 
parts by hundreds. One man near me, kept several un¬ 
der a tumbler without food two weeks, which fasting 
did not affect their sprightliness. S. W. Jewett. 
Weybridge, Ft., Feb. 17, 1843* 
IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL THERMOMETER.* 
Having succeeded in procuring the aid of my indis¬ 
pensable friends, Monsieur, the French chemist, and the 
sage Wampoosum, the Indian doctor, I Avas highly de¬ 
lighted in being enabled to perform the long intended 
excursion in pursuit of the precious critique, the truly 
aqua mirabilissima, for enlarging and otherwise improv¬ 
ing the thermometer. 
July was chosen as the most suitable month for the 
excursion; at this season of the year the glowing ver¬ 
dant heat had excited into action the utmost strength of 
blooming nature. The undertaking is crowned with bril¬ 
liant success—the much sought for plants have been dis¬ 
covered—the pure nectar has been distilled from the re¬ 
cently discovered rare plants, 4 drops of which added to 
the original critique, give the world the great desidera¬ 
tum—the agricultural thermometer brought to its great¬ 
est possible state of perfection. 
The form of the instrument, it will be seen by the an¬ 
nexed figure, is but a little varied from the one 
given in the last vol. of the Cultivator. 
Posthumous fame. 
Genius and science made practical. 
Genius and science combined. 
Scientific agriculture with horticulture. 
Emulation awakened. 
Profitable experiment. 
Book farming commenced. 
Industry with a desire to improve. 
Unprofitable industry. 
Industry with conceited ignorance. 
Ignorance with sloth. 
The wonderful liquid which the thermometer 
contains, appears almost to say, “ I am the spirit 
that dwells in the flowers.” It possesses such extreme sen¬ 
sibility, that, when strongly excited by recitals of well au¬ 
thenticated acts of good husbandry, it becomes slightly lu¬ 
minous, and in some extraordinary cases, emits brilliant 
sparks. And when recitals of the antiquated practices of 
the ignorant and slothful are brought to the test, the cri¬ 
tique, or liquid, contracts to about one-half its usual size, 
accompanied by a disagreeable tremulous sensation and 
faint hissing. 
The experiments now presented are few, as weave ve¬ 
ry much occupied in perfecting a Literary, and also a 
Political Thermometer, which I introduced to the Ame¬ 
rican public, in rather an unfinished state, some twenty 
years ago. With the aid of my scientific friends, I have 
great hopes of completing and making them valuable. 
The great importance of Thermometers in all the high¬ 
er branches of science and the arts, is just beginning to 
be known and fully appreciated. An article was noted 
in the N. Y. Tribune, of 22d December, 1842, taken from 
the London News, containing notices of the “Marine” 
and “ Steam” Thermometers, recently invented in Eng¬ 
land. 
Whatever practical benefit England, and other coun¬ 
tries, may derive from these new applications of the 
thermometrical principle, it can hardly be expected that 
the “ marine” and “ steam,” will ever successfully com¬ 
pete with the “ agricultural” thermometer, either in re¬ 
gard to celebrity, or to real, practical utility. There¬ 
fore, in respect to the novel applications of the great 
principle of expansion of liquids by heat, our own nation 
must still maintain a decided ascendancy. To our own 
country and times, has been reserved the distinguished 
honor of making and applying the important discovery, 
that at least one liquid—the ./iorwOT »er,tar americanum—is 
subjected to expansion by intellectual heat, and that by 
tried rules and degrees of measurement, it as clearly in¬ 
dicates the degree of such heat, as the mercury expand¬ 
ed by atmospheric heat, shows its degree and intensity 
in the centigrade, Farenheit’s, or any other thermome¬ 
ter. The analysis of rare plants that led to the improve¬ 
ments, strikingly elucidates the workings of nature, and 
points to “ an inexhaustible field of new combinations 
and most valuable results.” Your readers will find in the 
particulars of the experiments now to be detailed, new 
illustrations of the great discovery that the “ nectareaus” 
fluid is expanded by intellectual heat, and may safely be 
trusted as a proper measure of the “ fire of genius.” 
Having completed my improved thermometer, and 
wishing to prove its correctness by the sei'eresttest, 1 had 
two motives for giving its first experiment to the wri¬ 
tings of 
Commentator: first, because he had suggested the 
improvement of making it detect errors, and second, be¬ 
cause if it could detect a fault in him, it would be the 
greatest possible evidence of its infallibility. 
On applying it to his article, on page 52, vol. IX, of 
the Cultivator, the critique rose at once to the tenth de¬ 
gree, and stopped perfectly still, as if conscious of being 
at home; which confirmed what I hail suspected, that 
that degree indicated the highestmeritof a living writer. 
But gentle reader, jmu can form no conception of my as¬ 
tonishment, when it began to move irregularly at short 
distances up and down, like a hound at fault, accompa¬ 
nied with a tremulous thrilling motion, and even a slight 
hissing sound, the critique beginning at the same time to 
settle very slowly and with seeming reluctance. 
I was upon the point of dashing the instrument to 
atoms, when my friend the doctor, and wonderful che¬ 
mist, seizing my arm with all his might, exclaimed— 
“ Begar sair, you must not braky de instrument, ven I 
have had de grand labor to maky de composition; de 
* See vol.IX, pages 20 and 114. 
instrument cannot lie sair,, de composition will always; 
tell de true; Monsieur Commentatair be von man; het 
may maky some leetil mistake. Suppose you read de 
article, den you see.” I then read the article till I came 
to the white daisjq when the doctor again exclaimed— 
“ Dere noAV sair, I will tell you de mistake. Dere be 
two sort of de vite daisy; von sort be very good for cat¬ 
tle, de Oder da will not eat. Monsieur Commentatair aver 
see only de villain sort—de good, he hav not see.” While 
this explanation was going on, the critique resumed its- 
station at the tenth degree; this satisficed me of the perfect 
correctness of my thermometer. 
Before completing the improved agricultural thermo 
meter, I felt some little misgivings, lest, by increasing 
its length, it might excite some slight jealousies among 
the different contributors to the subject; but upon due re¬ 
flection, I cannot believe that any of those gentlemen, ac¬ 
tuated as they must have been, by the deepest and purest 
feelings of philanthrop 3 q can be affected by any selfish 
views, and I have the further satisfaction to find that the 
instrument will not indicate any living merit above the 
10th degree. That being the climax, those who reach 
it can have no fear of being outdone. With these views 
of the subject, I ventured to apply the instrument to a 
copy of the address, before the Agricultural and Horti¬ 
cultural societies of New Haven co.. Sept. 30, 1840, by 
Henry Colman. The various phenomena exhibited, 
were, as I had anticipated, truly singular. The critique 
rose suddenly from the bottom of the instrument to the 
7th degree, Avhere it made a stop, and becoming slightly 
luminous, at the same instant threw out some bright 
scintillations. It then became seemingly quiescent for 
a moment, and gradually settling down to 6, as if to take 
a new and fair start, rose with a quick motion, two de¬ 
grees, to 8, where it stopped as before, going through 
the same operations, with a little increased brilliancy; it 
continued this course, alternately settling one and rising 
two degrees with increased splendoi', until it reached 
the 10th degree. 
When the Agricultural Survey of Massachusetts was 
tested, the critique resumed its former station at 10, at¬ 
tended with glowing heat, and at the same time sending 
up brilliant light, and many sparks. Mr. Colman makes 
“the fields his study, and nature his book.” 
The motion of the railroad cars, when under way, has 
a tendency to make me drowsy. The other day, while 
enjoying a pleasant fit of di’owsiness. in a train of cars, 
running from this place eastward, I was awoke by a dis¬ 
agreeable hissing and a tremulous sensation of the ther¬ 
mometer, which was snugly stOA-A'ed aAvay in an inside 
pocket of my jacket, where it is sure of being found in 
all my excursions from home. The cause of the hissing, 
was a dialogue in progress between Mr. William and 
Mr. Thomas, two of our passengers. 
William. —You call me a farmer of the antiquated prac¬ 
tice: I know not what you mean sir, by this lingo. I 
have been a farmer these forty years, and learned the 
practice from my father, and think I have a good right to, 
know something about farming; yet I do not pretend to 
know more than my father, for why should we “ under¬ 
take to be wiser than our parents.” I am satisfied with 30 
bushels of Indian corn to the acre, and think it barely 
possible to produce more from the best land. And with 
regard to all your humbuggery of book farming about 
root crops, draining, &c. &c., it is of a piece with your 
lOO bushels of corn to the acre. 
Thomas. —Why should you be satisfied with 30 bush¬ 
els of corn to the acre, when the highest authenticated 
facts Avill go to prove beyond all cavil, that in many in¬ 
stances, and in various parts of the country, 80, 90, and 
100 bushels have been produced on one acre, and in some 
instances, 130; and Earl Stimson of Saratoga, has raised 
his 150 bushels from one acre. What you sneeringly 
term book farming, I must remark, that a little attention 
to that subject Avould be of great value to you, not only 
by enabling you to double your crops, but to learn the 
vast importance of roots, draining, &c. 
jiooTS.—Turnep Townsend, as Lord Townsend, the 
introducer of the turnep culture into England, was sneer¬ 
ingly called, by the fools that vegetated in the precincts 
of”the court, has added by that root alone, it is estimated, 
not less than 60 millions annually to the value of Eng¬ 
lish agriculture. The introduction of the potatoe into 
general use as an article of food, has only equaled the 
benefit conferred, by the establishment of the field cul¬ 
ture of the turnep; and in regard to 
Draining Land. Thirty years since, occasional at¬ 
tempts were made to open drains, but they were without 
system or skill; were principally confined to the worst 
swamps, and frequently failed to produce the desired 
effect. The light which geology has thrown on the na¬ 
ture of springs, and the effect Avhich chemistry applied to 
agriculture, has shown must be the result of stagnant wa¬ 
ter or wet soils on the cultivated plants, has demonstrated 
the best method of draining, and its necessity, and ren¬ 
dered fertile millions of acres that were wholly Avorthless 
before. Draining, is one of the most valuable of modern 
agricultural improA'ements. ^ ^ .... ■ ^ 
While William Avas exhibiting his intimate acquaint¬ 
ance with antiquated farming, the instrunaent was noted 
in the greatest possible confusion, the critique much con¬ 
tracted in size, exhibiting a disagreeable tremulous sen¬ 
sation, with faint hissing, casting a dark shadow on the 
entire instrument, with the exception of deg. 0,1, and 2. 
When Thomas commenced spreading out his well au¬ 
thenticated facts, the shadoAV was changed into prismatic 
colors, which settled Over 9, accompanied with some 
heat. ... 
It is gratifiying to learn that those practicing on the 
antiquated modes, have been much reduced in numbei-s 
