72 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
SELF-EDUCATION.—by john neal. 
But who are the privileged class in our country, where all men 
are equal—where we have no kings, no princes, no nobility, no titles! 
Look about you, 1 say again—look about you, and judge, every man 
for himself. Are they not the better educated, every where—and the 
children of the better educated—throughout the land ? Go abroad 
among your neighbors, let all you acquaintances pass in review before 
you—and see if those who are better off' in the world, more influential 
and happier than the rest, other circumstances being equal, are not all 
—all, without one exception, better educated than the rest! It is 
not a college-education thai I speak of here ; it is not even a school- 
education obtained before a man sets up for himself—but it is educa¬ 
tion at large, in the broadest and best sense of the term—the educa¬ 
tion that any body may give himself,— any body at any age. Again 
therefore, I do appeal to yourselves to call to mind any of your ac¬ 
quaintance who has got ahead of his brethren—who is looked up to, 
not only by them but by others—-and my life on it you find him a bet¬ 
ter-educated man, self-educated, or otherwise, I care not, better in¬ 
formed about some tilings which they do not consider of importance. 
I go further—so perfectly satisfied am I of the truth of this doctrine-— 
of the importance of things which the uneducated regard as trivia],that 
I would have this taught as a fundamental truth, namely, that if two 
persons were to begin the work! to-morrow—both of the some capacity 
—both of the same age and same character—having the same freinds, 
the same prospects and the same health—he who was the best ac¬ 
quainted with the multiplication table, would beat the other in the 
long run. I would have it generally understood as another funda- 
metal maxim in morals, if not in religion, that every sort of knowledge 
is of some value to every person whatever may be his character, sta¬ 
tion or prospects. 1 do not say that it would be of equal value to 
every person, or that every sort of knowledge is alike necessary. I 
merey say that we cannot acquire any useless knowledge. 
But, say those who appear to have understanding and judgment 
in these matters, we have no time lor study—we, the mechanics.— 
No time for study ! What! have you no time, when a huge ponde¬ 
rous body is to be lifted—no time to fix the lever and the fulcrum— 
to prepare the inclined plane or hitch the takle I Is it economy of 
time tor you to do that with your hands, which might be done with 
the simp est piece of machinery 1 Would you set your apprentices to 
work, your journeymen and yourselves, to lift and carry, by main 
strength, what a child might push forward on a roller, if you would 
but take time enough to fix the roller? What would you say of a man 
who, instead of using the plough, as others do, should persist in digging 
a lage field with a tire shovel, because he had never been brought up 
to the plough ? What if a man who, instead of splitting his logs for 
fire-wood, with a beetle and wedge, were to saw them in two length¬ 
wise, with a key-hole saw—declaring all the while, that as for him, 
he did not pretend to know much about mechanics—that a key-hole 
saw T was good enough for him—and as for the beetle and wedge, and 
other out-of-the-way contrivances, for his part he had no belief in 
them. 
Would you not laugh at him as a poor economist of time —and a ve¬ 
ry poor reasoner? and would he not be likely to continue a very poor 
man ? Yet he would say no more than you say—every man of you ; 
when you declare you have no time for reading—no time for study— 
no time to improve yourself, each in his own particular trade, by step¬ 
ping out of the circle he was brought up in. How do you know but 
there is some shorter and easier way of doing all that you do in your 
workshops and factories ? Be assured that there is a shorter and ea¬ 
sier way for all us—that there is no one thing we do, in which im¬ 
provements may not be made. Have you not the proof continually 
before your eyes ? Are not the master workman the owners and the 
employers of other men—are they not those who have made the best 
use, not of their fingers, but of their thinkers 1 
Weanling calves will not fill themselves even in the best grass, 
but look hollow, and wander about bleating, unless they have plenty 
of water. In the straw yard, cattle will be more thrifty for having 
water at command, having on account of the dryness of their food, 
need of drink several time in a day.— Lisle. 
Stalled oxen, as they grow fat, b'ing naturally very hot, can 
scarcely be kept too cool, provided they are dry. Lean cattle can 
scarcely be kept too warm.— Lisle. 
“ It is a fraud to conceal fraud.” A person concealing delinquen¬ 
cy becomes, in some degree, an accomplice. 
THE CULTIVATOR—AUG. 1834 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL ANP THE MI*> T U. _ 
~ RIBBON GRASS. “ 
The ribbon grass of our gardens, (Phalaris Americana ,) is likely 
to become of great value in our husbandry: it has been found to be 
better adapted to wet, boggy grounds, than any other species of 
grass ; to propagate rapidly, either by its seeds or by its roots; to 
yield a very large product in hay or pasture, and to be well adapted 
to -farm stock. Tne first suggestion of this fact, came to us in a 
letter from Abednego Robinson, of Portsmouth, N. H., who says the 
discovery was accidental. 
“A neighbor,” he says, "wishing to get rid of some of the roots 
which incumbered his garden, threw them into a bog, where they 
took root, and spread over a large space of ground, excluding every 
other plant. The water flows through the roots at all seasons.— 
The turf has become so solid as to bear a cart and oxen. I walked 
through this grass when in bloom, and never beheld a more hand¬ 
some and luxuriant growth. It stood perfectly erect, full of large 
leaves, even, and from four to five feet high. It will produce two 
good crops in a season, and springs up immediately after the scythe. 
It produces excellent food; cattle feed it close, and appear to be 
more fond of it when made into hay than any other grass. I have 
spoken for one-half of the roots of the patch, and have ground plough¬ 
ed in my meadow, into which I intend to transplant them, at about 
the distance of corn hills.” 
On a recent visit from the Hon, E. Goodrich, of Hartford, we 
were happy to receive, from that gentleman, a confirmation of 
the good opinion of the phalaris, which had been induced by Mr. 
Robinson’s letter. It has been found as beneficial in Connecticut 
as in New-Hampshire. Not recollecting the particulars narrated, 
we would beg of Mr. Goodrich, when he sees this, to forward them 
to us, in order that we may publish them correctly. The subject 
merits further attention ; and if our anticipations are not irrationally 
founded, the Phalaris Americana will yet become the gama grass 
of the north. It is truly perennial, spreads rapidly, and may be ino¬ 
culated in the manner suggested by Mr. Robinson, especially in a 
soil saturated with water, with great facility, and at a trifling ex¬ 
pense. 
Hops .—There are, according to the Quarterly Journal of Agricul¬ 
ture more than 47,000 acres appropriated to the culture of hops in 
Great Britain. The duties paid to the government upon this crop, 
in 1826, amounted to £269,331, or $1,195.830—a small item of tax¬ 
ation which the American hop grower is exempt from paying. 
M. Payen has made a discovery that may be of use to the farmer : 
It is, that polished instruments of iron and steel may be preserved 
from rust by keeping them in solutions of potash, soda or even lime 
Thus, one part of potash or soda, in two or three thousand parts of 
water, will preserve from oxidation, bars of iron, &,c. immersed in it. 
Lime water will do the same. 
We learn from Mitchell’s recent agricultural tour in Holland, that 
one of the laws passed during the reign of the present sovereign, 
obliges each student of divinity to attend a two years course of lectures on 
agriculture before being licensed. Such a regulation is highly calcu¬ 
lated to increase the usefulness of the clergy, and to impart to them 
a salutary influence over the habits and manners of society. 
~ THE GRAIN WORM. 
The injury to our wheat crop, this season, by this minute but de¬ 
structive enemy, surpasses by far all former years. Spring as well 
as winter wheat is attacked by it, and it has been found in rye grow¬ 
ing among wheat. We have taken from the sheath of a kernel of 
wheat, half a dozen of these worms. Although we do not pretend 
to accuracy, we should judge, from the information we have receiv¬ 
ed, that, the product is likely to be reduced one-half in this neigh¬ 
borhood, by their ravages, the present season. We do not learn 
that the grain worm has extended itself more than fifty miles west 
of this city, though there is reason to apprehend that it will too soon 
he known m the western section of our state. The evil which is al¬ 
ready felt, and more so that which is to be feared, renders it a mat¬ 
ter of the first importance to learn the character and habits of this 
insect, the better to be enabled to guard against its depredation.—- 
With this view, vve invite correspondents to communicate any facts 
or observations which may tend to throw light on the subject. 
