THE CULTIVATOR: 
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION, DEV OTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
ALBANY, MARCH, 1835. 
THE CULTIVATOR—MARCH, 1835. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
In commencing the second volume of the Cultivator, and before 
the farming operations of the season have commenced, we are de¬ 
sirous of drawing the attention of our readers to some prominent 
objects of improvement in their farming operations. We know the 
distrust which farmers generally entertain to new practices in hus¬ 
bandry, and are fully apprized, that what we are about to offer 
forms already a part of the practice of many who will peruse our 
remarks. Yet if we should be instrumental in inducing a few, by 
adopting our suggestions, to improve the condition of their farms, 
and to render their labor more productive, our object will be effect¬ 
ed, and we shall be satisfactorily compensated for our trouble.— 
All we ask is, that our recommendations may have a fair trial, suf¬ 
ficient merely to enable the experimentor to judge of their utility, 
and on a scale that shall involve neither great labor nor expense. 
And we shall offer nothing which we have not ourselves tested, and 
believe beneficial. We will begin with 
MANURES, 
Which are the basis of all fertility in the soil, precisely in the 
same way that forage, grain and roots are the basis of fatness in 
our farm stock. All animal and vegetable manures have once been 
plants, and are capable by a natural process, of being converted 
nto plants again. They should therefore be husbanded with care 
and applied with economy. Every crop taken from a field dimin¬ 
ishes its fertility, by lessening the quantity of vegetable food in 
the soil. Unless, therefore, something in the form of manure is 
returned to the field, an annual deterioration will take place until 
absolute barrenness ensues. This fact needs no other illustration 
than is afforded by every bad managed farm. The object of the 
husbandman should be to increase the fertility of his farm, because 
upon this materially depends the profits of his labor. To do this, 
we advise that cattle yards be made dishing, so as to collect the 
urine and liquids in the centre, and that these be kept well littered 
with straw, stalks, and the refuse vegetables of the farm, to take 
up and preserve these liquids, which are a valuable part of the ma¬ 
nure:—That these yards be thoroughly cleaned in the spring, and, 
their contents, together with the manure from the stables and pig 
pen, applied to hoed crops, as corn, patatoes, beans, See., before 
fermentation has progressed far;—that it be spread broadcast, 
ploughed in as fresh as possible, and the ground rolled or harrowed 
before planting. Thus all the manure will be saved, the hoed crop 
greatly benefitted by it, the weeds destroyed, and as much fertili¬ 
ty left in the soil for the grain crop which is to follow, as the same 
manure would have afforded had it lain in the yard till after mid¬ 
summer, and been then applied. But if manure has rotted, it may 
be applied to the turnip or small grain crop. In these cases it 
should not be buried deep, and may with advantage, at least on 
dry soils, be harrowed in with the seeds, where it serves frequently 
a beneficial purpose in protecting the young grain from the seven¬ 
ty of winter. 
DRAINING. 
It is necessary, for the perfection of most crops, that they should 
enjoy all the benefit of our summer heats. When a soil is satu¬ 
rated with spring water, though water does not appear on the sur¬ 
face, the roots of the crop which grow upon it, penetrate the wet 
part, which may be supposed to possess a temperature never above 
60 degrees. The crop consequently fails for want of the neces¬ 
sary heat in the soil. Decomposition of vegetable matter, the 
food of the crop, is also seriously retarded by this cold tempe¬ 
rature. Stagnant waters are as unhealthy to cultivated crops as 
they are to animals. We have now in our mind an expensive in¬ 
clined plane, which we examined last summer, of more than half 
a mile slope, embracing 70 or 80 acres, and possessing a rich soil, 
one-fifth of which was rendered unfit for tillage or the finer grasses, 
in consequence of springs which burst forth near the top of the 
plane, the waters of which passed down its whole extent, and 
principally in the soil, in gentle depressions or hollows. We are 
confident the evil here might be remedied at a slight expense, 
which would be remunerated in a single season, by draining.— 
Grounds habitually wet, either from springs, or water stagnating 
in the soil, for want of declivity of drains to carry it off, will not 
produce good crops. Draining is an effectual cure for the evil. 
Open drains will alone answer to carry off surface water, and in 
situations where much water may occasionally pass. These should 
hardly ever be less than 3 feet broad at surface, and two feet deep; 
the sides sloping so as to leave the bottom 8 to 12 inches broad. 
A greater depth and breadth are ofen requisite. Long experience 
has convinced us, that good drains, in the end, are always the 
cheapest drains, and that when they are well constructed, they con¬ 
stitute one of tiie most profitable improvements of the farm. But 
we consider under-drains, in soils which are habitually wet, cheap¬ 
er, better and more profitable to the proprietor, either to carry off 
stagnant water from flat surfaces, or to arrest that proceeding 
from springs, than open drains. They are more efficient, because 
they generally lay deeper, and are not so liable to be choked up. 
They are more economical, because they seldom, if well made, 
require repairs, and do not waste any land. They are beneficial on 
all flat surfaces which have a retentive subsoil, and upon all slopes 
rendered wet by springs. They are wanted wherever water, at 
midsummer, rests upon the subsoil, or saturates the soil, within the 
reach of the roots of cultivated crops. We do not here mean to 
discuss the principles, or describe the mode of draining, as we have 
published much upon this subject, and design to publish more, 
with such pictoral illustrations as shall serve to render the subject 
perfectly familiar to the readers of the Cultivator. A very simple 
means of determining whether a field is likely to be benefitted by 
under-draining, is, in June or July, to dig a hole, like a post-hole, 
say two feet deep, and the presence of water at the bottom, and 
the height to which it rises, will at once decide whether the land 
is to be benefitted, and to what extent, by under-draining. Drain¬ 
ing effectually is almost an untried experiment, with us. We are 
not familiar with the process, and startle at the expense: yet if we 
compare the cost with the advantages which will accrue for a suc¬ 
cession of years, we shall find the operation to be a very economi¬ 
cal one. 
N. B. Well drained grounds may be sown or planted ten to fif¬ 
teen days earlier in spring than those which want draining, and 
the crops are much less liable to be injured by heavy rains. 
clover 
Will grow on pretty much ail soiL that have been laid dry by 
good drains. It is the basis of good farming, on all lands suscepti¬ 
ble of alternate husbandry. Its benefits are threefold: it breaks, 
pulverizes and ameliorates the soil by its tap roots, and it furnishes 
a cheap food for plants as well as animals. A good clover lay is 
worth to a crop, by the food which it affords, as much as five tons 
of manure to the acre. To ensure a good lay, at least ten pounds 
of seed should be sown to the acre, and the ground well rolled.— 
Its value, as food for plants, depends more upon the quantity of 
roots than upon the luxuriance of the stems, though the abundance 
of the latter will depend in a great measure upon the number of 
the former. To obtain the full value of this plant, we must culti¬ 
vate it as a food for oi& crops, as' well as our cattle; and in this 
case we should use it as such the first or second year before it has 
run out. There is economy in always sowing clover with small 
grains, though it is to be ploughed in the same or the next season. 
Ten pounds of seed costs upon an average one dollar—the labor of 
sowing is comparatively nothing. Its value to the next crop can¬ 
not be less than quadruple that sum, to say nothing of the feed it 
may afford, or its mechanical amelioration of the soil. We can¬ 
not avoid again urging a trial of the method of making clover hay 
in cocks, as we have heretofore recommended, notwithstanding the 
rebuke we have had upon this head from our esteemed friend and 
correspondent, Mr. Perkins. We have followed the practice twelve 
