250 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Aug. 
THE FARMER’S MOTE BOOS. 
To Farmers.—No. III. 
No greater inconsistency is presented in the whole 
system of our Common School education, than in the 
want of studies suited to that part of our population 
engaged in Agriculture. Three-fourths of the whole 
number attending our Common Schools, eventually re¬ 
sort to Agriculture as the business of life, and nine- 
tenths are either directly or indirectly engaged in far¬ 
ming or gardening at some period of their lives. And 
yet, in most of these schools not a single study is adapt¬ 
ed to prepare the scholar, or inform him, upon sub¬ 
jects immediately connected with this pursuit The 
whole instruction appertaining to this subject, usually 
obtained by our farmer’s sons, before called upon to act 
for themselves, is that derived from the labor exacted 
from them at home, during their minority, and their 
knowledge of farming is generally limited to the expe¬ 
rience and the practice pursued by their parents and 
guardians. Too often now, it is to be feared, the child 
looks upon the employment, as a mere servile labor, 
rather than a pleasant occupation, and one of all others, 
best suited to his happiness. Being entirely ignorant 
of the first elements of Agriculture, as a science, he 
scarcely knows for what end his labor is bestowed.— 
“ As the twig is bent the tree is inclined.” Were this 
maxim properly acted, the first efforts would be to give 
children early instruction in some simple and appropri¬ 
ate studies, suited to the business of Agriculture, so 
that they might labor understandingly, in whatever 
they should be called upon to do in these pursuits, when 
young. The effests of such education would soon be¬ 
come manifest, and the instruction so acquired, would 
be of incalculable service to them in after life. With 
the knowledge of the necessary means to be used to 
make, and keep, their lands fertile, a large increase of 
produce might be realised from the improvement of 
them, and the increasing demand for market, be more 
certainly met and' supplied; and we should see fewer 
persons willing to leave their present comfortable homes, 
and encounter the hardships incident to the removal to 
a new country, in anticipation of improving their con¬ 
dition. An Agricultural education is daily becoming 
of more and more importance to all who remain in the 
older settled portions of our country, to enable them to 
compete with the surplus productions of the rich land 
of the west. As a means of judging of the capability 
of many of our lands to produce a very large increase 
upon what they now do, let any person look into his 
own neighborhood and he will find no difficuly in select¬ 
ing fields producing from two to three tons of grass 
per acre, while perhaps the adjoining field, no less ca¬ 
pable of producing the same amount with proper cul¬ 
ture, now scarcely yields a ton per acre, and so of oth¬ 
er crops. In the reclaiming of low and wet lands, by 
means or draining, a large amount of productive land 
might be added to that now cultivated. There are not 
wanting many examples in our own state where, by 
means of judicious draining, large tracts of land have 
become among the best of our farming land. Part of 
the land formerly known as the Canastota Swamp, is 
a marked example of this kind. The renovating of old 
and worn out lands, that have been plowed for a long 
succession of years, by deep tillage and proper manur¬ 
ing, would be another means of greatly increasing the 
agricultural productions of our farmers. Many instan¬ 
ces of this kind are familiar to those acquainted with 
the lands along the Mohawk river. When our farmers 
shall generally be so educated, that they can with a 
knowledge of the Science of Agriculture, put forth their 
energies to accomplish the end desired, we shall be dis¬ 
appointed if the results anticipated by such an educa¬ 
tion, do not fully meet the most sanguine expectations 
of its most zealous advocates. Oneida. 
Spare the Spider. 
I like the spirit of the article which appeared in the 
June Cultivator, inculcating kindness and attention to 
birds and toads for their usefulness in the garden. I 
desire to say a word in behalf of another useful friend 
of man, but whose friendship is met with almost unri¬ 
valled enmity and ingratitude. I mean the Spider. I 
do verily believe that, without his ceaseless vigilance, 
his untiring alertness, his wary cunning, his sagacious 
ingenuity, his fierce daring, and his voracious destruc¬ 
tiveness, it would be impossible for man to get enough 
out of the earth to save himself from starving! Look 
at your garden and your fields, and see the endless va¬ 
riety of them, and their countless numbers, constantly 
in pursuit of prey, which they devour with unappeasa¬ 
ble voracity, and say where would be the end of the ra¬ 
vages of pernicious insects if it were not for their re¬ 
lentless war upon them. And yet, there is not one man in 
five hundred, on finding one of them in his way, who, 
instead of touching his hat to him and giving him the 
walk, will not waste strength enough to knock down a 
steer in smashing him out of existence. They are sa¬ 
cred in my household, spiders are. If they accept the 
invitation of open windows, and walk into the parlor, 
and set up shop to the blemishment of good housewife¬ 
ry, they are considerately taken upon a broom and wait¬ 
ed upon to the door, with thanks for their good inten¬ 
tions and regrets that their services were not wanted 
in that department, and a friendly suggestion at parting 
that they can do abetter business elsewhere. But they 
are tolerated in the kitchen in a sly way, on account of 
the love they have for the society of that enticing little 
creature, the house-fly. I teach my children to destroy 
ruthlessly, almost every other creeping or winged in¬ 
sect, but to spare the spiders. 
There is the large, round bodied spider, who suspends 
his circular net vertically in every angle about the 
house and out houses—a lazy old fellow to look at, but 
woe to the flutterer that touches his toils. The house¬ 
fly is the special object of his regard, and hence he is 
seldom found far from dwellings. There are many va¬ 
rieties, large and small, which adopt his mode ot en¬ 
trapment. Splendid specimens, in size and variety of 
decoration, abound in the woods and meadows, whose 
nets are almost tenacious enough to hold a bird. The 
largest kind of bugs and grasshoppers fall an easy prey 
to these. 
Then there is the garden spider. —so called, I sup¬ 
pose, because he is found indiscriminately and abun¬ 
dantly around every dwelling, and barn, and wood, and 
field—with long slender legs and body, the latter faint¬ 
ly striped with buff down the sides. He spreads a com¬ 
pact sheet, horizontally, with well formed tubular ave¬ 
nue leading to his dungeon, at the entrance of which 
he grimly awaits the approach of some thoughtless 
wayfarer, who is dragged into it with inconceivable ra¬ 
pidity the instant he alights upon the tempting surface. 
He is not particular in his diet. 
One of the most interesting of the race, is the small 
transversely-striped spider; very properly, from his 
appearance and mode of seizing his prey, called the ti « 
ger spider. You have seen him on the sunny side of a 
