NEW 
“ TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND.” 
SERIES. 
VOL. III. 
ALBANY, JULY, 1846. 
No. 7. 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Is published on the first of each month, at Albany, N. F., by 
LUTHER TUCKER, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 
ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 
Seven copies for $5 —Fifteen copies for $10,00—all payment 
to be made in advance, and free of postage. ITT 5 * All subscriptions 
to commence with the volume. 
OFFICE IN NEW-YORK CITY, AT 
M. H. NEWMAN’S BOOKSTORE, No. 199 BROADWAY, 
where single numbers, or complete sets of the back volumes, can 
always be obtained. 
gy “ The Cultivator” is subject to newspaper postage only. =0 
REPORT ON FARMS, 
The New-York State Agricultural Society offered for 
the year 1845, three premiums on farms, under the fol¬ 
lowing specifications: 
“ For the best cultivated farm, of not less than fifty 
acres, exclusive of wood-land and waste-land, regard 
being had to the quantity and quality of produce, the 
manner and expense of cultivation, and the actual 
profits: 
First Premium,. $50 
Second Premium,. 30 
Third Premium,. 20 
A series of questions was propounded to which the 
claimants of premiums were required to submit written 
answers. 
The report of the committee appointed to consider 
the claims and statements offered to the Society under 
this head, embraces a very large amount of valuable in¬ 
formation. It was submitted by the Hon. J. P. Beek- 
man, and is published in the Society's volume of 
Transactions for last year. The report states that nine 
several communications were received in answer to the 
queries proposed; to the authors of three of which 
the Society’s premiums were awarded, and to the au¬ 
thors of the remaining six, were awarded full setts of 
the Transactions. The statements of the successful 
competitors are published in full, appended to the re¬ 
port, and an abstract is furnished of the other state¬ 
ments, embracing the most important facts which they 
contained. J 
We make the following extracts from the abstract 
of the statements furnished by the competitors who did 
receive premiums. 
Daniel Gates, of Sullivan, Madison county, obtains an 
average yield of 55 bushels corn per acre; sows 3- 
bushels peas to the acre; yield about 56 bushels per acre. 
His hogs generally weigh about 370 lbs. each. He de¬ 
stroys the Canada thistle by plowing first in September, 
and then four or five times the succeeding season, and 
sowing wheat. His fences are stone, costing a dollar 
and five cents per rod; stone topped with cedar, ninety- 
three cents per rod; stumps ranged in line about forty- 
five cents per rod; and rail fence costing about seventy- 
six cents per rod. 
William Capron, of Macedpn, Wayne county, culti¬ 
vates 107 acres—pursues a regular rotation of crops, so 
as to come round once, in six years. Begins with sum¬ 
mer-fallow, followed by wheat; next corn; then bar¬ 
ley, followed by wheat, seeded with 61over. Sows two 
bushels of wheat to the acre; leaves his summer-fallow, 
after plowing, ready to sow in ridges; sows and har¬ 
rows lengthwise, so as to have the growing wheat as 
much as possible in drills; sows early in September— 
if sown too early, there is danger of the Hessian fly—- 
if late, it is liable to rust. Soaks his wheat in brine, 
and mixes it with slaked lime, oefore sowing; has 
never had any rusty wheat. Wheat crop generally 
averages about 25 bushels per acre—never less than 20. 
Sows three bushels barley to the acre; average crop, 
30 bushels to the acre; manures for corn 50 to 60 loads 
to the acre. Sows clover and timothy, from 7 to 10 
lbs. per acre; meadows yield about 2£ tons to the acre. 
He salts his hay, one peck to the ton, if any way damp— 
if perfectly dry, does not use it. 
N. S. Wright, of Vernon Centre, Oneida county, 
thinks the Devons mixed with the native breed, are the 
hardiest animals and easiest kept. Keeps 209 sheep; 
his wool averaging about 3 lbs. per fleece, and sold the 
largest portion for 62| cents per lb. His hogs at nine 
months, average 390 lbs. 
Rufus S. Ransom, Perryville, Madison county, made 
the following experiment with potatoes. On one row 
he put on each hill a teaspoonful of plaster; on the next, 
an equal quantity of lime; and on the third, the same 
quantity of salt. The first row yielded 281 lbs.; the 
second 300 lbs.; and the third2821bs. The fourth row, 
where nothing had been used, yielded 273 lbs., and the 
row immediately before the first, 274 lbs. According 
to this experiment, the lime would have increased the 
product 16 bushels per acre. 
The soil vegetable mould mixed with clay, gravel, 
and a slight proportion of sand; subsoil clay and shaly 
slate. 
The Committee awarded the first premium to George 
Geddes, of Camillus, Onondaga county; the second to 
William Buel, of Gates, Monroe county, and the third to 
Wm. Garbutt, of Wheatland, Monroe county. 
In connexion with the report, the Committee submit 
some remarks which we deem of so valuable a charac¬ 
ter that we transcribe them at length 
The first series of questions to which answers were 
required, are, C( The kind of soil cultivated, and the 
manner of doing it.” The answers to the first branch 
of this subject are such as any ordinary intelligent far¬ 
mer woilld make, and which were tolerably well under¬ 
stood, perhaps enough for practical purposes. Indeed, 
the committee found it so; but the second branch of 
inquiry, viz : “ What is the best mode of improving the 
different kinds of soil on your farm?” admits of great 
latitude of remark, inasmuch as it is universally conceded 
that the different kinds of soil, such as clay, sand, 
gravelly loam, alluvial, or a mixture of two or all the 
different varieties, must, to be profitable, be cultivated 
somewhat differently. 
The committee will not go into this extensive inqui¬ 
ry. They will take up only one important part of it, 
and that is the query, es What depth do you plow, and 
