110 
fHE CULTIVATOR 
LEGISLATIVE AID TO AGKICULTURE. 
The subject of legislative aid to agriculture is one of 
so much importance, that we feel ourselves justified in 
occasionally referring to it. It is one which should cer¬ 
tainly be kept before the farmers of the state, now that 
the experiment made is in such successful progress, as 
the friends of agriculture should be anxious to ascertain 
fully the operation of the present law, that they may act 
tinderstandingly when the question for its renewal: or 
discontinuance shall come before them. That the legis¬ 
lature will be governed by-the will of the people, and 
that their opinion of the matter should be fully express¬ 
ed, no one can reasonably doubt. That the present en¬ 
actment in favor of agriculture has operated most bene¬ 
ficially, Vve have as yet heard no one dispute. The pre¬ 
judices of many against the measure; prejudices honestly 
indulged, and originating in former errors connected 
with similar aid granted, though on conditions entirely 
different, have been done away; and perhaps no legisla¬ 
tive act of the last five years, can be named about which 
there is so little diversity of opinion among all classes, 
as respecting the one by which a pittance of the state’s 
revenue is ilevoted to the encouragement of agriculture. 
There can be no question that the true cause of the ef¬ 
ficiency of the present law in favor of aiding agriculture, 
is to be found in that provision which renders it neces¬ 
sary'that the farmer should help himself, before he was 
entitled to expect help fiom the state. Experience in 
all matters of a similar nature, has demonstrated that 
there is no way in which the interest of individuals can 
be so soon secured, as by connecting the i rosecution of 
the object with personal contribution. By rendering it 
necessary that County societies should be organized, and 
should raise an amount equal to that to which they were 
entitled from the state, the subject was brought home to 
the agriculturist, and the benefit he was to receive, made 
dependent on his own exertions. 
There has been a strange opinion prevalent on this sub¬ 
ject of aid to agriculture, which was that while all other 
classes were receiving more or less aid or protection 
from government, the agricultural part alone were to be 
left to their own resources. The merchantsailshis ships 
and carries on his trade under the fostering protection of 
the nation; the manufacturer keeps his hammers and spin- 
'^dles active through the same influence; but it is expect¬ 
ed that the farmer, he who furnishes freight for the one, 
and sustenance for all, shall go on with no encourage¬ 
ment from the public, while he bears the burden of taxa¬ 
tion,: and keej)s the wheels of that government by which 
he is neglected, moving. This state has appropriated 
forty thousand dollars, or eight thousand dollars per 
year for five years, for the benefit of agriculture; and 
what is the result? We see associations springing up in 
every county to avail themselves of the grant. Public 
opinion is directed to the importance of agriculture, and 
a spirit of emulation and improvement is excited. Cattle 
Shows and Fairs exhibit to farmers the vast difference 
between good and bad implements, superior and inferior 
stock, and by bringing farmers in contact with each oth¬ 
er, do away those feelings of distrust and distance, which 
are top often operative where seclusion and confinement 
to the farm prevail. 
There is another reason why the state should lend its aid 
to agriculture, which is yearly becoming more efficient, 
and more deserving of attention. Scientific and practi¬ 
cal improvements in agriculture, are not a less decided 
common public benefit, than in any other department of 
life; and while no one grudges the sums expended for 
the purposes of education, as such, by the state, the farm¬ 
er can fairly demand the extension of those benefits con¬ 
ferred at the present time by the application of science 
to agriculture, through the influence of societies formed 
and fostered by the aid of the state. The sum demanded 
is so trifling, compared with the object in view, that it 
is surprising the granting the required aid should have 
encountered so much opposition; and it can only be ac¬ 
counted for by supposing that the objections had refer¬ 
ence rather to the manner in which aid was to be given, 
than to the granting of the aid in itself. 
The money drawn from the treasury to aid the cause 
of education, has for its object the elevation of the mass¬ 
es by the extension of knowledge, or the means of ac¬ 
quiring it, to all; it is to teach them their rights and their 
duties, and the best means of fulfilling them; to erect and 
point out to them a higher standard of moral and intel¬ 
lectual power than the one their fathers were accustom¬ 
ed to contemplate. It is to aid in the extension of know¬ 
ledge most essential to all, that the farmer claims the aid 
of legislation. That alone seems adequate to spread the 
rich results which the labors of science, and the experi¬ 
ments the principles developed have produced, before 
those who are the most interested in them. No matter 
what the subject may be, if it is one of common benefit, 
commerce, manufactures, education, agriculture, all have 
a right in proportion to their importance, and without 
■ infringing on the rights of others, to look to legislation 
for aid. If there is a pursuit more ancient, more honora¬ 
ble, or more deserving of public aid than agriculture, it 
is still to be pointed out; if there is one in which the 
same sum will produce greater or more beneficial results, 
it is still to be shown. 
We trust that in the examination of this subject, no 
person, certainly no farmer, will allow any considera¬ 
tions except such as spring from a regard to the public 
welfare, to have for a moment a place in his bosom. All 
party feelings, all narrow and contracted views, all scCt 
tional or personal jealousies, should be eschewed at once 
and forever. It is a subject in which all arc interested. 
for the cultivation of the soil and its products, constitute 
the base of prosperity to all classes. Let the operation 
of the present lawj in all its bearings and its consequen¬ 
ces, be well and carefully weighed; and when the time 
arrives for its re-enactment, with such alterations as ex¬ 
perience may suggest, we cannot believe that any en¬ 
lightened legislator will be founil among its opponents. 
NEW NOTIONS. 
Under the head of “ Cultivating gromd without ma¬ 
nure,” or “ Wonders will never cease,” an article, copied 
from the London Gard. Chronicle, has been going the 
round of most of our journals. It professes to give the 
results obtained by a Mr. Bieck of Germany, by which 
he has the art of growing the most luxuriant crop on the 
poorest lands, and at an expense so trifling, that for 
wheat or corn per acre, it will not exceed ten cents, and 
for rape, turneps, cabbage, &c. not over five cents per 
acre. Now in these days, we do not like to pronounce 
any thing impossible, unless it is to make an honest man 
out of a rogue; but the truth is, that notwithstanding all 
the certificates with which the story is fortified, we do 
not believe it, and for that reason have not before allu¬ 
ded to it. The preparation used for the seed is kept a 
great secret; but the fact that there is some preparation 
used, is demonstration that so far as any effect is produced, 
it is the consequence of manure. We are willing to ad¬ 
mit that a large proportion of many plants is derived 
from the atmosphere; but this power of absorption or 
combination is derived from the soil originally, and that 
power is conferred and perpetuated by manures. That 
manures too may be used in a highly concentrated form, 
we have the most abundant evidence; but to assert that 
ten Cents worth of even the most powerful can produce 
the effect described by Mr. Bieck, sounds* tons most mar¬ 
velously like the Multicaulis and. Chinese Ti-ee Corn sto¬ 
ries. Lord Kaimes once told his man John, ‘‘ that the 
time would cOme when a farmer would carry the manure 
for a field in his pocket.’? John shook his head. “ Ah, 
I see you doubt my assertionj” said his lordship. “ Far 
be it from me to doubt any assertion your lordship may 
please to make,” answered John: “ I was only thinking 
that if the manure was carried out in one pocket, the 
crop could be brought home in the other.” We are 
strenuous advocates of all real improvements, and such 
are always rational; but we do not advise our farmers to 
think of growing crops on flat bare rocks, or attempt the 
production of them on poor soils without manure. On 
the contrary we advise them to save and apply all the 
manure possible, a course at once agreeing with the laws 
of nature and the dictates of common sense. 
CONVERTING PEAT SOIL INTO MEADOW. 
For centuries since the Settlement of New England, 
thousands, we may say hundreds of thousands of acres of 
bog, swamp, or peat lands, have been unreclaimed, re¬ 
ceiving annual depositions of fertile matter from the 
neighboring hills or streams, yet returning nothing to 
the owner, and considered the most worthless part of 
the farm. Attempts were indeed made at times to sub¬ 
ject some of these places to cultivation, but nine times 
out of ten the effort was a complete failure, and the 
ground was finally surrendered to the dominion of the 
coarse water bog grasses and the bushes that usually ac¬ 
company them. More or less such lands are found along 
the whole sea board of the northern and middle States, 
and have been, as a matter of course, until within a few 
years, consigned to barrenness so far as any valuable 
product is concerned. 
At last, science came to the aid of the farmer, and 
taught him the composition of soils and the best method 
of remedying their existing defects. It taught him that 
those spots which had so long been eye sores to every 
lover of agriculture, could be converted into the most fer¬ 
tile parts of the farm; that when relieved from the sour¬ 
ing eflects of stagnant water, and prepared by the mix¬ 
ture of other and firmer earths, a new and valuable 
ve°'etation would succeed to one that was worthless, and 
thus the productive capabilities of the country be vastly 
increased. This process is now yearly going into ef¬ 
fect; and the heaviest crops of fine English grasses, 
roots and grain are now grown on lands that from time 
immemorial have been quaking bogs, or dangerous quag¬ 
mires. We have rarely met with a better illustration of 
these facts, than in the report made by Col. A. Mooee, 
of Concord, Mass., to the Massachusetts Society for the 
Promotion of Agriculture, and who received the pre¬ 
mium offered on farms in that State. 
The first object of Col. Moore,on taking possession of 
his unpromising farm in 183-5, was to drain his peat and 
bog meadows, and this he accomplished; but he found 
the ground did not become solid, that there was a ten¬ 
dency to allow the return of coarse grasses, and that at¬ 
tempts to burn the surface, though partially successful, 
endangered the destruction of the whole peat meadow. 
In this dilemma he commenced drawing on sandy loam 
from the sand hills that bordered the swampy lands. 
« This answered the purpose. The ground became firm, 
the grass seeds took, and the yield was altogether be¬ 
yond my expectations.” The process pursued by the 
Colonel is as follows. The land is first ditched and 
drained; the bushes cut off, or if large, pulled up; the 
soil well levelled, and about 400 cart loads of sandy loam 
spread iipOn a-n acre; 20 cart loads of compost manuie 
are added, and thoroughly mixed by harrowing. On 
this, in the month of September, half a bushel of herds- 
grass, and half a bushel of red-top grass seeds are sown, 
harrowed again, and the whole rolled smooth with a 
heavy roller. The Colonel says;—“I have now from 
20 to 25 acres which have thus been reclaimed. The 
success I have had may be juilged of by the value of the 
crops produced. Every year since this land has been 
reclaimed, whether wet or dry, it has produced on an 
average not less than three tons of English hay to an 
acre, which brings the highest price in market. In 
1838, at the request of Mr. Colman, the Agricultural 
Commissioner, I weighed the first crop of hay on one 
acre of this land, and it weighed 7,610 lbs. About three 
acres of it during the present season, I have no doubt, 
produced five tons to the acre. It was mowed twice, 
and the second crop was so large that it was considera¬ 
bly lodged. One other fact may be stated. A few years 
ago I built a barn 30 feet by 40, and some of my neigh¬ 
bors laughed at me for it, and said, ‘ it is a good barn, 
but what are you going to fill it with?’ That barn, to¬ 
gether with one I have since built, 40 by 80 feet, as well 
as my others are now full, and I shall hat e to build more 
or stop reclaiming meadovrs.*****‘I verily believe that 
the two first crops, have, in every instance, repaid the 
whole cost and expense of reclaiming.” 
Such are the results obtained bj^ a skillful application 
of labor, and following out the system of mixing soils 
as pointed out by nature, and so clearly indispensable to 
productiveness. What has been done by Col. Moore 
may be done by others, and the annual produce and pro¬ 
fits of similarly constituted farms be thus very greatly 
increased. 
COST OF FENCING. 
The Peoria Press contains a paper op fences by' a 
Peoria farmer, which, although more particularly appli¬ 
cable to western farming, contains some hints which we 
deem worthy of abridgment for the Cultivator. His 
remarks relate to sod fences, hedge fences, picket fences, 
and rail fences. To the first he objects for the follow¬ 
ing reasons:—1st. Cattle anil the frost will throw them 
dow'n^—2d. They would be no defence against hogs and 
sheep if they s;ood—3d. Grass will not form a sward on 
an inclination so steep that cattle cannot walk up it; and 
4th. They are immovable. He advises farmers, if they 
wish to lose their labor and their crops, to trust to a sod 
fence, and they will effectually do it. In his estimation 
they are not worth a groat. His objections to a hedge 
fence, are—1st. They are a stationary fence, and not 
suitable where the boundaries of farms change as fre¬ 
quently as in this country—2d. A prairie fire would to¬ 
tally destroy them—3d. The evpo«>oco of trimming and 
repair would quadruple that of a rail fence; 
and 4th. It would cost as much to make a fence to pro¬ 
tect the hedge, as to protect the crop. Picket and rail 
fences are the ones now in most common use in that sec¬ 
tion of the country, and he estimates the expense of each 
as follows, which we think a pretfy fair allowance: 
“ Cost of picket fencing for 80 rods in length, calcu¬ 
lating you can get timber within six miles, so as to mako 
two loads per day. 
133 posts, 10 feet apart, at $1 50,*. $2 00 
264 flat rails, at $‘2 per hundred, . 6 28 
3,300 pickets, at $4 per thousand,. 13 20 
100 pounds nails, .f .. ® 
Hauling 8 loads of rails, 4 ot posts, 7 of pickets, at $i, 19 00 
Sharpening pickets, dressing rails and putting up fence, 30 00 
Wi1 4S 
Cost of 80 rods rail fencing. 
1,600 rails and stakes,...'. 16 00 
Hauling 48 loads, 33 to the load,. 48 00 
Staking and putting up at 31 cents per hundred, •••••.. s 00 
69 00 
The Peoria farmer maintains that rail fence is the 
cheapest and best of any of the fences, as it costs the 
least in the first place ; is most easily repaired or remo¬ 
ved; is not liable to be blown down, or thrown out by 
frost; and should it be so, is easilv put up again. Where 
there is a scarcity’ of timber (and that is the great diffi¬ 
culty in fencing at the west,) he proposes the cultivation 
of the locust. The following are his directions on this 
point: 
“Plow and prepare your land as for com; draw fur¬ 
rows each way three feet apart, quite shallow; then 
drop in the hill two or three black locust seed, having 
previously well scalded them, and cover with the hoe 
about an inch deep, pressing the dirt on the seeds; keep 
the weeds out the two first years, then let them grow, 
and in five or six years you may have as many rails 
made in such a piece of timber as you may choose. 
There is no trick or mystery about the matter, they can 
be as easily grown as corn. The late Jesse Bowles, of 
Adams county', grew one of the finest locust groves in 
the State, Which would at five years growth have cut 
two rails lengths to each tree. If y’ou are afraid the roots 
of the grove would spread, dig a ditch round it and the 
locust roots will not cross.” 
An acre planted in this way would produce 4,840 trees, 
but we presume that in actual planting, it would be found 
better to place the frees at a greater distance. They 
would not only grow better, but the timber would be 
sounder, and more durable. Locust is a tree, we are 
well aware, of most vigorous growth in favorable loca¬ 
tions; but we think that an average of ten years would 
be a time sufficiently limited for the growth of two good 
rails on one tree, and that if they can be produced in 
sufficient numbers in that time, the prairie fanners will 
find them chea per than any other. _ 
Cattle should have access to salt at all times. 
