74 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
March, 
farmer must of course pay more for all his purchased 
goods. If fifty million dollars’ worth of grain is de¬ 
stroyed by distillation, the loss cannot fail to be felt by 
the country at large; although large profits may be 
reaped by the few individuals engaged in the manu¬ 
facture, a small portion of which may be divided 
among the farmers. Yet these very farmers lose ten¬ 
fold more by the general depression in the prosperity 
of the country, occasioned by this waste, and by the 
consumption of the products of distilleries, producing 
a crippled enterprise among the consumers. Incontro¬ 
vertible statistics also prove that for the support of 
pauperism, and of criminal justice, occasioned imme¬ 
diately by this cause, requires a draught on these very 
farmers far greater in amount than all the it; profits 
from distillers’ markets, amounting to some two-thirds 
or three-fourths of all their taxes, and to many mil¬ 
lions of dollars in the aggregate annually. We have 
already published a statement showing that the de¬ 
creased reputation in Ohio pork in market, occasioned 
by the fact that a portion of it is known to be still fed, 
is not less than one dollar per barrel on the whole 
quantity raised and sold. 
No reasoning can be more erroneous than to suppose 
that one considerable portion of the people may be 
permanently benefited at the expense of another por¬ 
tion. When general prosperity prevails, and schools, 
facilities for market, and neighborhood conveniences, 
are every where provided, society at large is constant¬ 
ly benefited in a way that could never take place in 
the midst of a debased and slip-shod population. 
Many of our countrymen suffer a serious loss by allow¬ 
ing selfishness and narrowed enterprise to exert their 
constant influence over them. Could the feeling be 
more generally prevalent, that whatever promotes the 
general prosperity, never fails to re-act on individuals, 
it would certainly contribute largely to the benefit of 
all. The whole of this subject, embracing all its as¬ 
pects, is eminently worthy of the consideration of the 
farming population of this country. 
Cheap Cisterns. 
I was induced to construct a cistern on my farm 
because I was told it could be done very cheaply, with¬ 
out plank or brick, and accordingly had one made fin 
the fall of 1852, and I have found on trial that it an^ 
swers the purpose, being very convenient to the kitchen. 
The contractor agreed to make it for five dollars, ex¬ 
clusive of cement, and did so by eonstructing a funnel 
of sufficient size of red clay, wide at the top, and com¬ 
ing to a point at the ( bottom, this he coated with ce¬ 
ment. which cost in this place four dollars, and the 
eistern was done, excepting the flooring and pump, 
which wore an additional expense. 
I am told there are cisterns on some of the farms of 
this county, made in this way, which have been in use 
ten or fifteen years, and are good yet. It is probable 
they may be in use in different parts of the country, 
but many may not know that they can have an abun¬ 
dant supply of rain-water at their kitchen doors for so 
small a sum. J. H. Carlisle, Pa. 
Notes on Farming. 
Messrs: Editors —Having been under your tuition 
for fourteen years. I wish to assure you of the gratify¬ 
ing results which have followed the reading of the Cul¬ 
tivator. I came on to my farm in 1839, which was 
one of the best wheat seasons we have had from that 
time to this; yet my wheat crop that year, of six 
acres, averaged but 13 bushels per acre. In 1852, I 
cut 12 acres, which averaged 19 bushels; and in 1853, 
22 acres, which produced 263 bushels by measure and 
278 bushels by weight of 60 lbs., or nearly 22 bushels 
per acre. If 1 had sowed all Mediterranean wheat, 
the average would have been three or four bushels 
more; but I had three acres of what is here called 
“ Riley wheat,” which was badly cut by the fly; and 
2\ acres of a wheat that I would be glad to know the 
name of. It grew six feet high, with strong bright 
stem, broad leaf, light green, head broad and flat like 
barley, with long beard and large grains. It was 
eight days later than the Mediterranean, but entirely 
escaped the fly. This 2£ acres was not half thick 
enough on account of the seed having been badly bro¬ 
ken by the threshing machine. Part of this crop was 
grown on land which has been cleared forty years, and 
was considered as worn-out when it came into my. pos¬ 
session. I believe it was the best crop grown in this 
township last year on old land. John Conway had '30 
acres of wheat on new ground, which averaged 43 
bushels per aere, white wheat 
Eor wheat, I generally plow twice; once in June, 
and then in September, just before sowing. One ad¬ 
vantage of plowing in June, is that the ground is 
then soft, and one pair of horses can plow 6 inches 
deep with ease, whereas in September, if the summer 
has been dry, it is hard work to plow three inches deep. 
In a late number of the Cultivator, you instanced 
the good effects of digging clay from pits and spread¬ 
ing it over the surface. A neighbor of mine told me 
he practiced this in Ireland, with great advantage to 
the oat crop. You also stated that a man had said 
that he wished some one would haul three inches off 
the top of his land, as he knew that he had a better soil 
below. This is the opinion I had of my land, and I 
expected by plowing six inches deep, to turn down the 
three inches of worn-out top, and bring up three inch¬ 
es of a better soil. Then harrowing and plowing 
again, and harrowing again after sowing, will mix the 
two, and give an improved soil and greater depth. In 
place of hauling clay over the surface, I tell my boys, 
when plowing for wheat, to try to turn up some of the 
red clay sub-soil. 
I want to make a comparison between my next 
neighbor, who I could never get to take the Cultiva¬ 
tor. He always considered his farm superior to mine. 
He had the past season seven acres of wheat, and all 
it produced was 73 bushels. I had 14 acres of corn 
on one of the oldest fields, which produced 50 bushels 
per acre; his not the half of it. My com got 246 
wagon loads of manure. His wheat got some, but his 
corn very little. I feed all my hay and com; he sells 
nearly all of his. I cut up. all my corn, and feed fod¬ 
der in the yard; he seldom cuts up any. J ohn J. 
Craig. North Madison , Ind. 
