T HE CULTIVATOR: 
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION, DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
ALBANY, MARCH, 1834. 
THE CULTIVATOR—MARCH, 1834 ! 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
In behalf of the society who have assumed the proprietorship of 
the Cultivator, we tender our thanks to the Post-masters and 
other gentlemen who have interested themselves in procuring sub- j 
scribers for it. So far as returns have been received, the patronage |j 
is liberal—the number from a post-office seldom falling short of 
twenty, and frequently amounting to fifty, sixty and seventy. As 
the sole object of the publication is to disseminate useful information, 
in the cheapest possible form ; and as the profits of subscription, if 
any accrue, will be applied to the improvement and embellishment 
ot the work, we hope to stand excused for repeating our request, to 
all who are anxious to promote the improvement and prosperity of■ 
our country, to aid in its circulation, by their patronage and infill-! 
ence. We disclaim any wish to lessen the patronage of other agri¬ 
cultural journals. These, so far as we are acquainted with them, are 
producing important benefits, are well conducted, and are deserving 
of a better support than they receive. But they occupy but a small | 
portion of the ground;—they do not reach one in sixty of our agri-; 
cultural population. We seek to improve the unoccupied ground, 
in order to fit it for higher products. And in the mean time we hope 
to make our paper so useful, that gentlemen will be willing to add 
this to the periodicals which they already patronize. The low price J 
at which this sheet is offered, is no criterion of what other journals 
can be afforded at. Our terms are predicated upon a large circula-i 
tion, and are intended to cover merely the expense of paper and 
mechanical labor, and the latter greatly abridged by the economy of 
a steam printing press. Other journals are subject to heavy char¬ 
ges for services which are here gratuitous. It is for these reasons j 
that we cannot employ, or pay agents, or commissions, and that we 
appeal to the liberal minded to volunteer their aid in extending the 
circulation of the paper. 
TO THE READER. 
In presenting this specimen, we have a few remarks to make to 
those for whose benefit it is mainly intended. 
To the FARMER, the Cultivator will communicate the best 
practices in farming, and afford occasional illustrations, in a plain 
style, of some of the principles upon which good husbandry is based. 
It will aim to render his labors more profitable and more respectable; 
—to produce system and economy upon the farm ;—and intelligence, 
virtue and happiness in the domestic circle. There are more than 
250,000 farmers in the state, not more than 5,000 of whom, or one 
in two hundred and fifty, it is believed, have access to an agricultu¬ 
ral paper, or possess other means, except that of casual observation, 
ot knowing the daily improvements which are making in their par¬ 
ticular business. The reasons of this are, that they either cannot 
procure such papers, or that they are unable to pay for them—nei¬ 
ther of which can apply in this case, as the cost of the Cultivator, 
including postage, is too trivial to be objected to, and the mail will 
afford a certain and regular mode of obtaining them. 
The MECHANIC is already, or expects at some future time to 
be, the cultivator of a garden, if not a farm. He will stand in need 
of instruction in his new art. This the Cultivator will afford him. 
We shall, besides, advise him of the new discoveries and improve¬ 
ments which are likely to benefit his craft; and at all times endea¬ 
vor to give him a two penny-worth of rational entertainment. 
The YOUNG MEN we would specially appeal to. You are des¬ 
tined soon to occupy the stage of public action, and to fill the im¬ 
portant stations in society. Now is the time to prepare for these 
high duties, as well as for profit and distinction in your business. 
Your characters are but partially formed, and are yet susceptible of 
receiving good or bad impressions, which are to last through life. 
It is important to you, to your friends, and to society, that these im¬ 
pressions should be for good. We will lay before you rules and ex¬ 
amples of the wisest and best men, to aid you in the formation of 
your characters—to enable you to become intelligent and successful 
in your business,—useful and respectable in society,—and beloved 
and happy in your families. Do not object that you have no time to 
read. Few young men labor more hours than did Benjamin Frank¬ 
lin, or are more humble and self-dependent than he was in his youth ; 
and yet Franklin found abundant time for self-instruction; and so 
indefatigable and successful was he in his studies, that he became 
one of the most useful and celebrated men of his age. We need 
not limit the remark to Franklin: most of the distinguished men of 
the day have risen from humble stations by their own industry and 
frugality, and have acquired a great share of their knowledge in the 
hours not adotted to ordinary business. Your winter evenings are 
your own, and may be applied usefully. They may be computed at 
one-fourth of the day, or one entire month in a year. Time is mo¬ 
ney : and the young man who appropriates this month to the acquir¬ 
ing useful knowledge, does more to add to his future fortune, to say 
nothing of his intellectual wealth, than if he received pay for this 
month and loaned it upon interest. Knowledge is in another re¬ 
spect like money: the greater the stock of it on hand, the more it 
will administer to the respectability and enjoyments of life. But 
knowledge is not to be acquired without exertion, nor is any thing 
else that is useful in life. It is the labor we bestow in acquiring an 
object that imparts to it an intrinsic value. It has been well said, 
that “ although we may be learned by the help of others, we can ne¬ 
ver be wise but by our own wisdom.” It is the humble design of 
this monthly sheet to excite a laudable ambition to improve the mind 
as well as the soil. If we succeed in awakening the latent energies 
of the former, we think the latter will follow as a natural conse¬ 
quence, and our object will be attained. 
We invite other classes of society than those we have addressed, 
to patronize this work. The subjects that relate to husbandry em- 
\ brace a wide field of knowledge, and constitute some of the richest 
jsources of intellectual enjoyment. We hope to make the Cultiva¬ 
tor a cheap source of pleasure to all.— Specimen Sheet. 
To the Executive Committee of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society. 
The Corresponding Secretary of the New-York State Agricultu¬ 
ral Society, having been prevented by indisposition, from attending 
the annual meeting in February, and making his report for the year 
1833, now begs leave to do it through its Ex. Committee. It was 
made the duty of the Corresponding Secretary, by resolution of the 
society, passed at its meeting in February, 1833, to return the thanks 
of the society to Dr. William Darlington, of Pennsylvania, for his 
able and lucid communication to the society, on the “ use of lime in 
agriculture ;” and likewise “ to Major John Adlum, of Georgetown, 
District of Columbia, for the book containing a treatise on the cul¬ 
ture of the vine, and on the manufacture of wine from the produce 
of it; and for a box containing a sample of the wine so manufactur¬ 
ed.” The corresponding secretary has, in both these instances, 
performed the duty assigned him. It was likewise made the duty of 
the corresponding secretary, by resolution of the society, that he 
“ address a circular to the presidents of the county agricultural so¬ 
cieties already organized, or which may be formed the present year, 
requesting them to transmit to this society, at its annual meeting, 
an account of their several proceedings, with their views of the 
means best adapted to improve our husbandry, and to diffuse useful 
knowledge among those who manage its labors.” The correspond¬ 
ing secretary has performed that duty, as far as the names of the 
officers of the county societies which were organized in this state 
could be ascertained, but he has received no communications from 
them in furtherance of the views of the society, and he is yet very 
imperfectly informed of the number of the county agricultural socie¬ 
ties there are in this state, who are their officers, and whether they 
are auxiliary to the state society. While he regrets that this act of 
courtesy on the part of the officers of the county societies has not 
been extended to the state society, yet he is happy to acknowledge, 
tnat in several of the counties in this state, which have organized 
societies the present year, he has had the pleasure to receive, from 
gentlemen connected with them, an account of such organization, 
and of the names of those who have been chosen its officers. To 
such gentlemen, in behalf of the society, he returns his thanks; and 
