THE CULTIVATOR. 27 
piness. We have no boundary mark, yet my boys stay at home: 
we interfere not with their pleasures, yet they cling to their duty. 
“ Within this enclosure is my eldest daughter’s poor school for 
girls. She has .about a hundred under her direction, who are fed 
and clothed by the establishment. To these she devotes her entire 
time. They learn all that in after-life will be of service to them 
to clean the house—to cultivate the garden—-to sew—to make all 
those little necessaries which are of so much importance in the cot¬ 
tage ; to read, to sing—to be cheerful and to be happy. Unless 
our women be brought up in modesty, and with industrious and re¬ 
ligious habits, it is in vain that we educate the men. It is they who 
keep the character of men in its proper elevation. 
“Here is my school for the middling classes—here all instruction 
has reference to practical purposes. Man was born to have domi¬ 
nion over the earth and to subdue it, but it is by the intellect alone 
that he can do so. His unassisted strength, what is it 1 To conquer 
Nature, he must understand her. Look in here, and you will see 
the laboratory of the chemist, and the lever and the pulley of the 
mechanic. 
“ In these two buildings are my poor schools for boys, who are 
boarded and clothed by the establishment. And well they earn their 
maintenance, for the little fellows work ten hours a-day in the sum¬ 
mer; and the expense that I incur in their behalf is nearly repaid 
by their exertions. They study for two hours each day, and this I 
consider sufficient. The case here is the reverse of the Institute, 
for bodily exertion is the labor and study the recreation. The ha¬ 
bits I bring them up with are those which I desire should continue 
with them through life; they consequently have reference to their 
probable position in society. The habit of continued study would 
ill-become a person destined to gain his livelihood by his hand. Al¬ 
though there are now one hundred boys assembled here, mine were 
but small beginnings. I had but one pupil at first. It was long be¬ 
fore I could find a master in whom I could confide. Do you observe 
those little patches of garden ground 1 Each poor lad has one to 
himself; and the produce belongs exclusively to him. They usual- 
ly dispose of it to the establishment, which either pays them the 
money at the time or lodges it for them in a little bank I have found¬ 
ed. Many of them have very considerable sums there. It is here 
that they obtain a habit of passing the greater portion of their time 
in continued and patient labor; they become acquainted with the 
value of labor by the produce of their little gardens. The instruc¬ 
tion that I give them, although somewhat more elevated than what 
is generally obtained by persons of their rank in life, is directed to 
the rendering perfect the senses and reflection—to make them bet¬ 
ter practical men; drawing, the sciences of arithmetic and geome¬ 
try, a useful selection from the other sciences, all taught in the 
most unostentatious manner: the history of their native country, 
and an acquaintance with the different natural objects around 
them, together with music, form the extent of their literary in¬ 
structions. 
“ Religion is inculcated in every way. Public prayer, both at 
church and at school, is regularly performed in common with the 
schools of other countries. Besides this, these poor lads are taught 
to see the Creator in his works. When their admiration is roused 
by a natural object, they are accustomed to direct their thoughts to 
its Maker. 
“But here,” said my venerable companion, “is the engine upon 
which I rely for effecting the moral regeneration of my country (and 
my attention was directed to the men whom I had before seen in the 
morning;) these are masters of village schools, come here to imbibe 
my principles and to perfect themselves in their duty. These men 
have six thousand pupils under them; and if, by the blessing of God, 
I can continue the direction of them, success is certain.” 
To insure success M. de Fellenberg spares no pains—no expense. 
There are no less than thirty-two professors solely devoted to his 
establishment, who inhabit a house to themselves upon the premi¬ 
ses. 
In all, there are about three hundred and fifty individuals in this 
little colony. Despite of his enemies, the spirit of De Fellenberg is 
spreading throughout Switzerland; and after having seen the pa¬ 
rent institution, I visited several of his establishments in some of the 
remotest cantons. 
A week closed my short sojourn at Hofwyl. I quitted it with a 
heavy heart; and the recollection of the moral beauty of what I 
there witnessed will remain riveted on my memory for ever. 
Tillage Husbandry. 
REMARKS ON PUTTING IN SMALL GRAIN ON STUBBLE GROUND. 
The worst system in cultivation in common practice seems to be 
stubbiing in ; or annually putting in crops of small grain on stubble 
grounds. This is too generally practised every where, but especial- 
ly in the back-woods, until weeds and poverty of soil united, reduce 
the product so much that the crops fail far short of remunerating the 
cultivator for the labor bestowed on them. When this happens, he 
generally resorts to a naked fallow. This is too often badly execut¬ 
ed. Still, many of the weeds that would have choked and robbed 
the plants of much nutriment, are destroyed; consequently, the pro¬ 
duct is increased in proportion to the food remaining in the soil, and 
the cultivation bestowed on it.— Loraine . 
A DEGREE OF MERIT IS JUSTLY DUE TO A NAKED FALLOW EXECUTED 
IN THE USUAL WAY. 
A naked fallow is certainly a very laborious and injurious practice. 
It is also equally certain that any soil may be much better prepared 
for a succeeding crop of wheat, or any other small grain, by a fallow 
crop properly ordered. Still, a naked fallow should be allowed all 
the merit justly due to it; especially by those who mean to contro¬ 
vert that practice. 
When it is well executed, the soil is finely divided. The animal 
and vegetable matter, which was before locked up m the hard clods 
of earth, impervious to the roots of the plants, is brought into more 
immediate use. The enriching and fertilizing matter floating in the 
atmosphere is more freely absorbed, and better secured, by an open, 
free soil, than when it rests on one of a contrary description. The 
roots of the plants are also enabled to dip deeper and spread wider 
through the soil in search of the nutriment provided for them. It is 
true, if the ground be very sandy, a naked fallow, by opening the 
texture, makes it less fit for the roots of plants, and causes much in¬ 
jurious evaporation from it; likewise, when an adhesive clay has been 
finely pulverized, heavy rains, succeeded by a hot sun, or drying 
winds, causes it to bake, and become impervious to the roots of 
plants; but, except the advantage derived from the shade of the fal¬ 
low plants, the same happens both in clay and sand, when the soil 
is prepared for small grain by a fallow crop cultivated in the usual 
way. 
Jethro Tull, the ingenious inventor of the drill husbandry, grew 
exhausting crops annually on the same ground, without the aid of 
manure, although his soil seems to have been thin. 
Sir H. Davy says, “Jethro Tull, in 1733, advanced the opinion, 
that minute earthy particles supplied the whole nourishment of the 
whole vegetable world; that air and water were chiefly useful in 
producing these particles from the land.” If Sir H. had quoted the 
words of this truly great, but very mistaken agriculturist, the ques¬ 
tion would have been determined. Some years have elapsed since 
I read Mr. Tull’s book on agriculture. If my memory be correct, 
he atttaches more consequence to the depositions from the atmos¬ 
phere than Sir H. seems to imagine ; and appeared to believe they 
were conveyed to the soil by the dews. However, Mr. Tull’s prac¬ 
tice alone is sufficient to determine, that vegetation is greatly pro¬ 
moted by finely dividing the soil; particularly when the cultivation 
is extended to the growing crops. The practice of ages clearly 
shows, that much more is to be expected from a naked fallow than 
too many advocates for fallow crops seem to believe. Still, if Mr. 
Tull had lived until he had divided the soil sufficiently often to have 
extracted the animal and vegetable matter that the undivided clods 
contained; also, to have decomposed the hard vegetable substances 
which are always more or less seen, in greater or smaller quantities, 
in all soils; his opinion respecting enriching manures would have 
been greatly altered; as was that of Mr. Duhamel, a distinguished 
agriculturist ot the same school, but who lived long enough to see 
the fallacy of this inconsiderable theory, and also to abandon it.— lb. 
THE DISADVANTAGES ARISING FROM THAT PRACTICE CONSIDERED. 
Having candidly stated every advantage that seems to be derived 
from a naked fallow, I will enumerate the very serious disadvanta¬ 
ges and injurious consequences arising therefrom. 
It is an expensive practice, First, the loss of one full year’s rent 
of the soil. Secondly, it must be frequently ploughed, harrowed and 
rolled. After this, it often happens that much manual labor is ne¬ 
cessary to break the clods, especially when they are firmly bound 
together with the roots of the grasses and weeds. These are push- 
