3 09 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
I determined to give a week’s strict attention to each of the vir¬ 
tues successively. Thus in the first week, my great guard was to 
avoid every the least offence against Temperance; leaving the other 
Virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the 
faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first 
line marked T. clear of spots, I supposed the habit of that virtue so 
much strengthened, and its opposite weakened, that I might venture 
extending my attention to include the next; and for the following 
week keep both lines clear of spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I 
could get through a course complete in thirteen weeks, and four 
courses in a year. And like him who having a garden to weed, does 
not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at once, (which would ex¬ 
ceed his reach and his strength,) but works on one of the beds at a 
time, and having accomplished the first, proceeds to a second ; so I 
should have (I hoped) the encouraging pleasures, of seeing on my 
pages the progress made in virtue, by clearing successively my lines 
of their spots; till in the end, by a number of courses, I should be 
happy in viewing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks’ daily exami¬ 
nation. 
This my little book had for its motto, these lines from Addison’s 
Cato: 
“ Here will I hold ; if there’s a power above us, 
(And that there is, all nature tries aloud 
Through all her works;) he must delight in virtue; 
And that which he delights in must be happy.” 
Another from Cicero: 
“ O vita; philosophia dux ! O virtutum indagatrix expultrixque vitiorum ! 
Unus Dies bene, it ex prEeceptis luis actus, paccanti immortalitati est antepo- 
nendus.” 
Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking of wisdom or 
virtue : 
■“ Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. 
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” 
And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it 
r'mht and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this 
end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefixed to my 
tables of examination, for daily use : 
“O powerful goodness ! bountiful father! merciful guide ! Increase in me 
that wisdom which discovers my truest interest ; Strengthen my resolution to 
perform what wisdom dictates; Accept my kind offices to thy other children, 
as the only return in my power for thy eontinual favors to me.” 
I used, also, sometimes, a little prayer, which I took from Thom¬ 
son’s poems, viz: 
“Father of light and life, thou God supreme! 
O teach me what is good ; teach me thyself 1 
Save me from folly, vanity and vice, 
From every low pursuit ; and fill my soul 
With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure ; 
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss !” 
THE CULTIVAT0R-N0V. 1834, 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
ELEMENTS OF PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 
We have received a highly valuable volume under this title, from 
the pen of David Low, Esq. Professor of Agriculture in the Univer- 
vsity of Edinburgh—comprising The Cultivation of Plants—the Hus¬ 
bandry of the Domestic Animals , and the Economy of the Farm. This 
volume is peculiarly adapted to every class of men engaged in agri¬ 
culture, or who are about to engage in its labors, and particularly to 
the instruction of young men who are emulous to excel in this 
healthful and independent employment. It is so well suited to the 
wants of our country, that we avail ourselves of the earliest oppor¬ 
tunity of extracting from its pages, and intend to continue to extract 
from them as our limits will permit, such portions as seem best 
adapted to improve our practice. 
“ In describing a system of agriculture,” our author observes, “ it 
is important, that while it is one which admits of being carried into 
easy effect, it shall be as perfect as, under this necessary condition, 
it can be rendered. A rude system of practice will not serve the 
purpose of useful example. Although the agriculturalist may not be 
able to reach in all things, the model proposed to him, it is yet im¬ 
portant that this model be good in itself, so that his own practice 
may become as perfect as the circumstances in which he is placed 
will allow.” “ The attention of the reader is mainly directed to the 
essential parts of practice ; and while the connexion of agriculture 
with other branches of knowledge is carefully pointed out, this is in 
most cases done rather to show the relation between them, than to 
pursue the subject in detail.” 
« The application of science to agriculture affords the materials 
of interesting and useful study. Chemistry ascertains the nature 
and constituents of soils, the mode of action of manures, and the 
substances fitted for the nutrition of plants; Botany and Vegetable 
Physiology treat of the structure, the properties, and the use of 
plants; animal physiology and Medical Science relate to the form 
of animals, their properties and diseases; and Mechanics are ap¬ 
plied to the construction of machines and rural works.” 
Clover may always be sown upon small grains with profit. We 
sowed clover upon four acres of rye and two of barley last spring, 
and notwithstanding the dry weather, it took well. After pasturing 
the rye stubble some ten or fourteen days, the autumn feed was sold 
for $12.50. The barley ground has afforded an abundance of fine 
feed. Say the six acres required a bushel of seed, at $6, and that 
the fall feed was worth $18, there will be a profit of $12, or $2 per 
acre. But the clover lay will furnish at least 30 tons of vegetable 
food to the next season’s crop, if turned under the first of May, 
which will be no inconsiderable increase to the profits. These lit- 
tles will make up a handsome aggregate upon a farm in a few years ; 
and there is no economy of this kind which should be considered 
beneath a farmer’s notice. “ A penny saved is as good as two-pence 
earned,” as Poor Richard says. 
There is one strong reason for using long or unfermented manure 
for hoed crops, which chemistry furnishes: When the manure be¬ 
gins to rot, it affords to plants moisture as well as food. Unfer¬ 
mented manure consists principally of carbon, oxygen and hydro* n, 
in a solid form; and these simple substances, too, are to become the 
constituents of the new plant. But ere they can be incorporated 
with the new plant, they must be separated from each other, and be 
reduced to a liquid or gaseous state. As soon as this decomposition 
begins, two new compounds are formed by chemical process; a part 
of the oxygen unites with the carbon, and this always in certain 
proportions, and forms carbonic acid, the principal food of plants. 
The remainder of the oxygen unites with the hydrogen, and forms 
water, which serves as a medium to convey this food to the mouths 
of plants. Thus the whole of the dead plant is transmuted into the 
living one. Hence soils in which manures are undergoing decom¬ 
position, suffer least from drought; hence moisture always abounds 
under a decomposing mass of straw ; and hence I have raised upon 
a dry sandy soil, and during the last very dry and hot summer, a fine 
crop of melons, on a layer of 18 inches of straw, deposited dry in a 
trench, and covered with six inches of earth. The straw became 
completely decomposed. We would apply these remarks to hoed 
crops, because long manure is apt to be prejudicial to all the small 
grain crops, by causing too rank a growth of straw ; but it is pe¬ 
culiarly adapted to Indian corn, potatoes, ruta baga, and all the crops 
raised for the stock or root. We would also admonish against using 
long manure, especially in a dry state, in hills or in drills, for if the 
season is dry, decomposition does not take place. But spread, and 
ploughed under, it will take place in due time on the sandy, gravelly 
and foamy soils adapted to corn, ruta baga, &c. 
To test the quality of Gypsum —for there is a material difference in 
this mineral—there are two modes recommended, both within the 
reach of the common farmer. One consists in putting a quantity 
of it pulverized into a kettle over the fire, and when heated it gives 
out a sulphurous smell. If the ebullition, or bubbling, which takes 
place, is considerable, the plaster is good ; but if not, it is consider¬ 
ed indifferent: and if it remains motionless, like sand, it is thought 
to be hardly worth any thing.—( Parkinson .) The other test of its 
goodness is obtained by putting the powder alone into an iron pot 
over the fire, and when it bubbles, like boiling water, it will admit 
of a straw being trust to the bottom without resistance. 
Transplanting. —I have often smiled with incredulity, at Cobbett’s 
suggestion, that plants of cabbages, strawberries, &c. may as well 
be put out at meridian of a hot sunny day, as during a rain; but 1 
begin to concur with him in opinion, provided the plants are first 
grouted, and well watered at evening following. Yesterday and 
the day before, (August 6th and 7th,) the thermometer ranging 
at 85 to 92 degrees, the sun constantly shining, and during an 
extremely severe drought, my gardener was employed in plant¬ 
ing out strawberries and cellery, the plants being first divested 
