THE CULTIVATOR. 
59 
feet in diameter, perfectly tight, except the door-way. The pecu¬ 
liarities of this building were, it was set a foot or more above the 
ground, and was perfectly dry, and bacon, Inins, &.c. were kept 
hanging around its walls all summer, without becom.ng damp or 
mouldy, or being injured by flies; and, in the second place, no fire 
was admitted into the bu filing, the smoke being conveyed into it 
through a tube from the outside, whore it was generated in a stove. 
Tkl Clothes-line we saw had be n six years in use, without sen¬ 
sible injury, though it had remained all this time in the open air. 
It had always been wound up, upon a small windlass, a< soon as the 
clothes had been taken from it, where it was protected from the 
ram by a roof. Several posts, with notches near their tops, were 
placed in a range upon the grass plat, upon which the line could 
be drawn and fastened in two minutes, and from which it could be 1 
loosened and wound up in as short a time. It is but a small uflliir, 
but. such small atfiirs make a large aggregate in ordinary life. 
“ 'fake care uf the cents, anti the dollars will lake care of them¬ 
selves.” 
_Miscellaneous.__ 
PLEASURES AND PROFITS OE AGRICULTURE. 
The importance of agriculture to all the substantial interests of 
mankind is so fully recognized, that it may be deemed unnecessa¬ 
ry to expatiate on the attention to which it is entitled, or to insist 
on the superior advantages which those nations must ever enjoy by 
whom it is the most skilfully practised. Some writers, indeed, 
without regarding the intimate connexion that subsists between 
every branch of human industry, have assigned to agriculture a 
superiority ow r every other art; but while claiming for it, to the 
fullest extent, pre-eminence over every mechanical trade, in all 
those considerations which mostly influence the choice of a pro- 
fes-ion, it would be inconsistent with that liberal spirit, which forms 
so distinguished a feature in the character of tlie times, not to ad- 
mi', that it has no real title to precedence before the manufactures 
of the country; the object of both is to promote the general weal, 
and it is unjust to ascribe any peculiar degree of dignity to either. 
Custom, liuwever, which often arbitrarily decides in opposition to 
reason, has decreed that individuals, even of elevated rank, may 
engage in the cultivation of the soil, without descending from their 
station—i distinction which has not alone tended to raise it in the 
public estimation, but lias also procured for it the more solid ad¬ 
vantage of inducing many persons to embark in it, whose educa¬ 
tion and iritellig nee have sugge-ted the idea, and whose fortune 
has furnished the means of making experiments upon a scale which 
co ild only rarely have been attempted by the mere farmer; and 
which, although they have not been adopted to the extent that 
might be wished, hive greatly contributed to the flourishing con¬ 
dition of the land, and the consequent prosperity of the country. 
Nationally, therefore, it is rather matter of congratulation, than 
of jea'ousy, that such a distinction has been made in favor of an 
art in the successful prose ution of which the welfare of the com¬ 
munity is so deeply involved; and, individually, it is, indeed, for¬ 
tunate for many, that, without any diminution of personal conse¬ 
quence, the independent may find an agreeable occupation, and the 
less opulent a source of additional income, in dedicating some por¬ 
tion of their leisure to the pursuits of agriculture. 
Although other avocations may offer greater prizes in the lot¬ 
tery of life, yet, if we compare the advantages of rural industry 
with those of any other of tiie common occupations to which men 
dev >te 'hemselve?, we shall find that he who is engaged in agri¬ 
culture has no reason to be dissatisfied with the lot which fortune 
lias assigned him. Its superiority, in point of salubrity, over 
every sedentary employment, is too apparent to require illustration, 
and it affords more of those common enjoyments which constitute 
much of the dements of happiness, than any other state of equal 
mediocrity. The farmyard, the orchard, and the dairy, supply, 
almost without expense, abundant means for those gratifications 
usually teimed ‘the comforts of life,’ besides many luxuries tha 
are beyond the reach of people of humble fortune. Few persons, 
indetd, a e insensible to the difference of mere animal existence, 
as enjoyed by the farmer who passes his days in the healthful la¬ 
bors of the field, and that of the mechanic or the shopkeeper, who 
wear away their lives at the loom or the counter ; but it is not in 
that alone that the advantage consists. 
Of all tin? feelings which we cherish, nune is dearer to us than 
consciousness of independence; and this, no man who earns his 
bread by the favor of the publ : c, can be said to enjoy in an equal 
decree with the farmer. Traders, as well as those termed profes¬ 
sional men, are rivals, jea'ous of each other’s success, and, let 
that be what it may, they still owe a deference to the world that is 
often giiling to their spirit. But the farmer fear- no competition. 
Individually, lie has nothing to apprehend from the success of his 
neighbor; he solicits no preference; and he owes no thanks for the 
purchase of his wares. His business, though subject to more ca¬ 
sualties than almost any other, is yet so divided among many risks, 
that he is rarely exposed to the hazard of total failure; the same 
weather which injures one crop, often improves another, and the 
very difficuhv of a critical reason opens a field for exertion by 
which he i« frequently a gainer.* Possessing on his land all the 
means of life, he is under no corrodmg anxiety regarding his daily 
subsistence: lie is removed from those collisions of interest and 
those struggles for precedence which rouse the worst passions of 
our kind ; and bis constant observation of the beneficent dispen.-a- 
tions of nature for the care of all her creatures, can hardly fa 1 to 
impress him with a deep sense of that religion of the heart, which 
consists in the conviction of, and reliance upon, the care of an all¬ 
ruling and all-bountiful Providence. 
Nothing tends more to enlarge the mind, and to extend the 
sphere of our rational pleasures, than the contemplati m of the 
economy of nature; and to those whom fortune has placed above 
considerations of pecuniary advantage, but who set a. due value 
mi intellectual enjoyment, the study of agriculture offers an inex¬ 
haustible fund of amusement, as well as instmetion. The same 
objects, seen under different aspects, present an infinite variety of 
feature, and the most slender stock of appropriate knowledge, if 
aided by habits of ob-ervation and re-earch, may bo eminently 
useful in asceitainmg facts hitherto unknown or unrecorded, and 
in thus illustrating a science which, however sedulously it has 
been explored, still openr a wide field for inquiry; while, even if 
not. fortunate in the attainment of any material benefit, the mere 
occupation of the mind in tracing the origin and progress of any 
novel improvement, will bp found productive of the purest gratifi¬ 
cation. It lias been well observed by Sir Humphrey Davy, that 
the frequent failure of experiments, conducted after the most re¬ 
fined theoretic views, is far from proving the inutility of such trials; 
one happy result, which can generally improve the method of cul¬ 
tivation, is worth the labor of a whole life, and an unsuccessful 
experiment, well observed, must establish some truth, or tend to 
remove some prejudice. 
The principles of gardening and of agriculture (confining the 
latter to tillage only, instead of the more extensive sense in which 
it is commonly understood) are nearly similar; both are directed 
to the cultivation of vegetable productions, and the only material 
distinction is, that the former embraces a large range, extend ng 
indeed, through the aid of artificial beat, to the whole vegetable 
creation, and demanding more minute and scientific arrangement, 
with closer attention—while the latter is conducted on a broader 
scale, and is necessarily limited to those plants which flourish in 
the open air. 
Through these arts, many herbs that were for ages regarded as 
weeds, and others that were exotic, are now cultivated among the 
most valued, as well as the most common of onr esculent vegeta¬ 
bles; while several of those now grown in the fields were, at no 
very distant period, either little known, or considered as garden 
delicacies, and exclusive confined to the tables of the rich. There 
is still extant an ancient manual of cookery, entitled, ‘ The Forme 
of Cury ,’ supposed to have been compiled about the year 139ft, by 
the master cooks of King Richard II., in which, although elabo¬ 
rate directions are given for the preparation of 1 cahaches’ no men¬ 
tion is made of any other vegetables, except peas and beans, onions, 
leeks, and rapes; which latter were probably a species of turnip. 
Hume, indeed, tells us, that, ‘ it was not until the end of the reign 
of Henry VIII. that any sallads, turnips, or other edible roots, 
were produced in England; the little of these vegetable that was 
used being imported from Holland and Flanders, so that Queen 
* “In twenty-four years’ experience, upon a considerable scale, I always 
made the most money in difficult seasons.”— Pitt's Survey of Leicestershire p 
page 53. 
