4 2 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
There are certain principles in husbandry, which have obtained 
among the most enlightened agriculturists. If the adoption of those 
principles has resulted from a great variety of experiments, so as 
to satisfy us that they may safely be observed in most cases, would 
it not be proper, when a satisfactory result of a different practice 
has been given to the public, by one who stands high as a scien¬ 
tific farmer, to give also the reasons for such departu r e ? With¬ 
out such explanation, the inexperienced farmer may be led greatly 
astray. Among those principles, there are no two more important, 
in my opinion, than deep ploughing, and, that when manure has 
been turned into the soil, it should lie undisturbed until the field is 
again laid down to grass, (f) Now it will strike every practical 
farmer, that without an attention to the first, the last is impossi¬ 
ble. Unless manure and sward are buried 7 or 8 inches, the cul¬ 
tivator cannot be used without disturbing them. 
I observe thy recommendation to plant corn nearer than we have 
been accustomed to do it. I think we cannot use the cultivitor (g) 
where it is nearer than 3 feet; and where wheat is to be sown, I 
am of the opinion the ground would be in better order, should that 
implement pass both ways. It is my intention to sow my corn 
ground, nolwithstand it is my opinion that it would be better hus¬ 
bandry for peas or barley to intervene. 
Many are in the practice of ploughing oat stubble twice, and 
some 3 times, but we have discovered a much better method. As 
soon as the oat crop is taken oftj go in with a sharp and heavy har¬ 
row and drag it thoroughly ; the scattered oats and weeds will 
vegetate immediately, and, turned in with the stubble by one 
ploughing, will not only enrich the ground, but it will be left in 
better order for the wheat crop, than by the old practice. 
Impressed with a belief that some legislative action is necessary, 
to induce our farmers to turn their attention to the raising of the 
mulberry, and propagation of silk worms, I would propose, that 
the Legislature should either furnish every poor-house farm, or 
compel the overseers of the poor to procure 200 mulberry trees (h) 
of good size, to furnish the infirm poor with a light and profitable 
employment. 
If any of the foregoing remarks are worth extracting for the 
Cultivator, thou are at liberty to use them. 
Thy respectful friend, Wm. S. BURLING. 
NOTES. 
(a) We subscribe to the maxim, that the deeper the tilth the more abundant 
the crop. By tilth we mean the true soil, or the stratum which the plough 
turns over, and with which the vegetable matter, the food of plants, is well 
blended. The proper depth depends on the nature of the soil and subsoil. In 
corn ground, which is properly a soil of sandy, loamy or gravelly texture we 
think six to nine inches a suitable depth. The roots strike fully to Ibis depth, 
if there is food for them ; and this serves to brace the stock, and to avert the 
effects of drought. 
(b) It is undoubtedly beneficial to press the earth to seeds, particularly small 
and light ones, with a roller ; but in planting corn our practice is to substi¬ 
tute the planter’s foot for the roller, who steps upon each lull. 
(c) All seeds should be as superficially covered as a due regard to keeping 
them moist will permit. Seeds will not germinate without the combined 
agency of moisture; heat, and air. If buried deep, they in a measure lose 
the influence of the two latter of those agents. Rolling, or otherwise press¬ 
ing the earth upon the seeds, slightly covered, tends to prevent the evapora¬ 
tion of the moisture necessary to their germination. 
{d) Mr. Stimpson’s farm, we understand from a gentleman of geological 
science, is of a peculiar kind, to which ordinary rules will not apply. It is 
principally underlaid by a porous rock, the debris of which, instead of pos¬ 
sessing fertilizing qualities, is considered deleterious. If we are rightly in¬ 
formed Mr. Stimson’s system of shallow ploughing is rather a matter of ne¬ 
cessity. His system does not answ er our turn. 
(e) The fermentation of manure, like the germination of the seed, requires 
the presence of heat and air, as well as of moisture. The fermentation may 
be retarded by burying it deep; but I have ever found, that, in corn ground, 
it does ferment, in time for the wants of the crop, at the depth of eight inches. 
(f) Upon this point we have some doubts, although the rule laid down tal¬ 
lies with the opinions of Lorrain, whose authority we highly respect. While ma¬ 
nure is undergoing fermentation, its fertilizing properties, the gaseous portions, 
rise towards the surface; but after fermentation has exhausted its powers, the 
tendency of the residuum is to sink deeper in the soil. Whether, therefore 
the advantage of having rotted dung near the surface, would or would not be 
more than counterbalanced by the wasting influence upon it of the winds and 
sun, is a question we are not prepared to deci :e. 
(^) We plant 3 by 21 feet, and work the cultivator but one way; but were 
we disposed to have rows both ways, our Cultivator would readily pass be¬ 
tween them, as its cutting breadth may be contracted to 20 inches. We think 
this would be an improvement, by keeping the surface more mellow and clean, 
matters of no little moment. 
(h) It would save expense were this matter undertaken by the overseers, 
without legislative provision. An ounce of mulberry seeds would cost, at 
the extent, but 50 cents, and, if managed with care, would produce from 
two to three thousand trees, which would afford the material ior silk almost 
as soon as large trees. And besides, we are afraid that any appeal for legis¬ 
lative aid to agriculture will be altogether disregarded, unleash can be made 
to subserve political party purposes. 
ON IMPROVING BREEDS OF STOCK. 
Trumbull Co. Ohio, Feb. 1st, 1835. 
J. Buee, Sir.—In reading the Cultivator, I noticed your invita¬ 
tion to the subscribers to communicate their own observations or 
experience on any subject that comes within the object of your 
publication. Not accustomed to write for the press, I have no ex¬ 
pectation of producing any thing worthy to be presented to the 
public, for its grammatical correctness, or elegance of composi¬ 
tion ; but if my observations shall bring the talents of abler wri¬ 
ters before the public on the subject selected, it may be highly 
beneficial to the community. 
In the first number of the Cultivator, pages 8 and 9, is found 
an epitome of Mr. H. Cline’s method of improving the breed of 
animals by putting females of a larger variety, to males of a smal¬ 
ler. The same ideas were several years past copied from agri¬ 
cultural papers into political ones in this section of the coun¬ 
try. If I had not seen the evil effects of the theory when re¬ 
duced to practice, I should not have troubled you with my ob- 
I serrations on the subject. For forty years I have been no inat¬ 
tentive observer of breeding and rearing of our domestic animals. 
;Mr. Cline’s ideas may be applicable in Europe, but they are direct¬ 
ly the reverse of my observations in this country. It is not a lit¬ 
tle surprising that the example he gave of the ill effects of the 
Yorkshire farmers putting their stallions tomuch larger mares than 
usual, did not lead him to doubt the correctness of his theory. 
He in another section says, the great improvement in the breed of 
horses in England arose from crossing native mares with the di¬ 
minutive Barb and Arabian stallions. But may it not be reasona¬ 
bly supposed, that the improvement w r as rather the result of beau¬ 
ty of form, and the extraordinary muscular powers of the animal, 
than of his diminutive size? May it not be reasonably presumed, 
that those horses had much depreciated from their natural size on 
the fertile fields of Judea, in the days of Solomon, by passing 
through a tho sand generations in a country and climate less con¬ 
genial to their attaining their natural size ? It appears to be a fact, 
that these horses have attained a much larger size in England, 
since they were brought there, less than two centuries ago, not 
by crossing with native mares, but crossing the Barb with the 
Arabian. And the purity of the breed of the present English blood 
horse is ascertained by tracing his pedigree on both male and fe¬ 
male side, to pure oriental blood, and a cross of the east breed 
twenty generations back would ruin his character. It is also ad¬ 
mitted that no improvement has been made in England within the 
last one hundred years, by importing Barb, Arabian, or Turkish 
stallions. 
The theory of Mr. Cline, that the larger flow of blood from the 
large female to the foetus, and the natural effect to produce a larger 
extension of the heart and arteries, with an increased growth of 
the surrounding bones, muscles and appendages, is admitted: and 
that the larger quantity of air, brought in contact with blood in 
the lungs in each inspiration, serves to produce an increase of ap¬ 
petite, is not doubted; but that the powers of digestion are pro- 
portionably increased, is not quite so apparent. It is apprehended 
that the digestion of food so as to change its nutritious parts into 
chyle, to be taken up by the lacteal veins and carried into the cir¬ 
culating fluids, fit to be incorporated into parts of the living sys¬ 
tem, is only secondarily dependant on air received into the lungs: 
but primarily on the viscera of the abdomen or belly. It does not. 
appear to be a fact, that those animals that consume the most, food 
in proportion to their size, fatten the most readily. It is believed 
that those animals whose chests are disproportionably large, are 
as remarkably deficient in their hind quarters; are usually large 
eaters, but slow to fatten, and are such as are not readily pur¬ 
chased for the market. Such has usually been the product of both 
cattle and horses, as far as I have had the opportunity of seeing 
the result of a small variety of males put to large females, and the 
greater the difference in the variety, the greater disproportion be¬ 
tween the fore and hind parts of the offspring. My own observa¬ 
tions on breeding from large mares and small horses haF been—- 
