150 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
the winrow which it makes. Mr. Pudney resides at Stamford, De¬ 
laware county. 
Manual Labor Schools seem to be multiplying in every part of 
our country. They will have a most salutary influence in invigo¬ 
rating the constitution of the pupils, mostly intended for the minis¬ 
try, and in diminishing the expense of a literary education. But 
let it be borne in mind, they are not agricultural schools. Agricul¬ 
ture, we believe is not taught in them, as a science or an art, but 
merely ‘practised as a healthful exercise, and on the score of econo¬ 
my. What we want is, schools in which the theory and practice 
of agriculture shall constitute the paramount study of pupils destined 
to follow it in manhood. We want to combine with the economy 
and healthful exercise of the manual labor schools, the instruction 
in husbandry which is calculated to make good farmers and good 
citizens. 
Transplanting.- —We publish an excellent article upon this sub¬ 
ject, in this number, from the pen of Mr. Downing, of Newburgh. 
It goes to explain the principles, the why and the wherefore—the 
science of the practice which it recommends. This feature should 
mark all our agricultural writings. It teaches the head as well as 
the hands. We commend it to the notice of our Poughkeepsie 
readers, where we lately observed hundreds nay we believe thousand , 
of limbless maples, planted to ornament the high-ways and by-ways; 
and we were told, that to give these poles a more comely appear- 
anco, pains had been taken, by at least one planter, to rasp off the 
scattering buds which protruded from the naked bole, the remaining 
germs of vegetable life. 
Conmon £c tools. —A general sentiment seems to prevail, tint 
something efficient ought to be done to raise the character and use¬ 
ful ess of our common schools. Societies have been formed in se¬ 
veral towns, in furtherance of this object. The impulse comes from 
the right quarter—from the people. Tiie legislative provisions, as 
regards pecuniary aid, are already ample; and were they doubled, 
they wou : d benefit but little, without a more hearty co-operation in 
the districts. Self-dependence goes a great way here, as in most 
other matters. If we depend upon the legislature, or upon others, 
to do for us, it remains undone, or but badly done. But if we reso¬ 
lutely resolve to do our duties, they are likely to be well done. Call 
not upon Hercules till you have put your own shoulder to the wheel. 
The work of improvement is begun, and we hope every one will 
give an impetus to its motion. It needs it. 
Agricultural Fairs. —Our exchange papers from Ohio, are filled 
with the proceedings—the addresses, premiums, &c. delivered at 
their agricultural fairs; an agricultural society, we believe, having 
been organized in each of the fifty odd counties of that state, fos¬ 
tered by the patronage of the legislature. To us, the subject is one 
of deep interest, and indicates in our young sister, a healthful ad¬ 
vancement in improvement. But New-York, who prides herself 
for her liberality and enterprise in almost every sort of improvement, 
is yet pausing in doubt, whether her agriculture deserves any extra¬ 
neous aid. 
Publications on the Silk Culture. —In addition to the three perio¬ 
dicals, devoted to the silk business, which we have noticed, as hav¬ 
ing been commenced the present year, there have been published 
three volumes, or pamphlets, professing to describe the whole pro¬ 
cess of raising the mulberry tree, rearing the silk worms and reel¬ 
ing the silk. One is published by W. G. Comstock, Hartford, com¬ 
prises 100 pages, and is sold for fifty cents ; another by Russell and 
Odiorn, Boston, written by W. Kenrick ; and the third, by Sinclair 
and Moore, Baltimore. We should think either of them an impor¬ 
tant guide for a beginner—though we have not had the opportunity 
of examining any of them. 
Our correspondents have enabled us greatly to enrich our present 
number. The communication of Mr. Allen, on farm buildings, and 
the management of farm stock, is 0 f deep interest to every farmer, 
and the opinions it expresses tally generally wiih our own. We 
are not, however, prepared fully to concur with him on the propriety 
of stabling neat cattle—for the reason that it is apt to make them 
too sensitive to cold when turned out, and that they have not all 
the benefits of fresh air which they require. Our practice is to tie 
them in sheds, open on the south or east, and closed on the north 
and west, to give them a dean littered berth, and to feed in mangers. 
The number on the Emigrant Merino sheep, will tend to dissipate 
any errors that may have arisen on this head, to reconcile us to the 
Saxon branch of the family, and to induce us to endeavor to improve 
them in hardiness arid size, as we ought to do all our farm stock. 
The other communications will also be found to be interesting. 
Irrigation. —We have refrained from recommending this branch 
of improvement, because our climate does not require it, and be¬ 
cause it is too expensive for our scale of husbandry. Irrigation is 
essential in southern climates, as Egypt, Italy, Spain, &c. where 
rain seldom falls in summer, and where the heat is great and unre¬ 
mitting. With us, drains are far more essential to take off the ex¬ 
cess of water than to flood our lands. Systematic irrigation is ve¬ 
ry expensive, requiring the surface to be perfectly graduated, so 
that the water may be completely taken off; as well as spread over 
the surface, at pleasure. 
_Household Affairs. 
Every house-wife knows how to make herb- tea. The herbs are 
put into a cup or dish, hot water turned upon them, and they are 
suffered to steep —why not to boil 1 Because a large portion ol their 
medicinal virtues, and particularly the principal of flavor the most 
volatile property they contain, is dissipated by boiling, and the vir¬ 
tues of the tea lost. In the processes of boiling and fermentation, 
the natural flavor, and aroma of the choicest vegetable productions 
are dissipated or changed. Yet though every woman knows how 
to make herb tea, few seem to know how to make green or black 
tea, or coffee; or knowing, do not reduce their knowledge to prac¬ 
tice. A mistaken economy, to gel all the strength , induces them ge¬ 
nerally to boil the latter well, and often the former ; and the conse¬ 
quence is, that inslead of a grateful refreshing beverage, they give 
us a dull, acrid or insipid substitute, retaining nothing pleasant but 
the color and heat. The aroma, which gives to the liquor its value, 
and which should be recognized by the nose as well as the palate, is 
gone— with the steam —and with it much of the flavor. They not 
only boil out the strength, but they waste it. Now without intend¬ 
ing to infringe upon the prerogatives of the good wife, we do advise, 
that she will make her green and black, as she does her herb tea, 
without boiling; and that she will only leach her coffee, by putting 
it, when recently burnt, and fresh ground, into a strainer, fitted to 
the top of her coffee pot, and turning upon it as much boiling water 
as would suffice in the old mode. We can assure our fair readers, 
from reason as well as experience, that this is the best way, not 
only to gratify the taste, but to promote economy. Less tea and 
coffee are required in the steeping and leaching, than in the boiling 
process, and the beverage obtained by the mode recommended is 
more tonic, exhilerating and pleasant. 
CO ll ES PO N B> EN C iff. 
FARM BUILDINGS and the CONSUMPTION OF FODDER. 
Amons all the deficiencies which exist in the perfect management of 
our farms, I am sensible that none are more prominent than that of 
proper buildings. Not that I would advocate expensive or large build- 
inss, but those of ample size and convenience for all the legitimate uses 
of the farm, and of such shape and construction as shall conform to 
strictly economical calculations. 
For instance, I would not build an expensive stone barn on my farm, 
when one of wood, equally good for all ordinary purposes, can be erected 
for a sum not greater than two or three years’ interest on the cost of 
the stone one; because a well under-pinned wooden building, where ex¬ 
traordinary warmth and tightness are not required, will endure at least 
fifty years, and need shingling no oftener than a stone building. So of 
stables, sheds, outhouses, &c. But not so of dwellings. 
The desire of warmth with which human beings are sheltered, forms 
a prominent part of the comfort and usefulness of life, and therefore, 
all dwellings should be built of the best materials, and constructed in 
the warmest manner compatible with the ability of the owner. I have 
much doubt whether the occupant of an open, badly built house, does 
not pay three times the annual interest of its cost, in the extra fuel and 
labor consumed to keep its inmates comfortable; and among no class 
of people have I found so great an inattention to these very important 
matters, as among our moderate farmers; and when the annual losses 
by disease, exposure, extra labor of obtaining and preparing fuel, and 
of time in various ways, all arising from a cold and comfortless house' 
are taken into consideration, I am thoroughly satisfied, that a great por¬ 
tion of the profits of a whole family’s industry, are annually lost by the 
wretched houses they occupy. 
The great fault committed by most farmers in their buildings, is in 
the great size of their dwellings. Many who build, calculate to do it 
