1852. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
79 
and the sordid passions, should be, and will be shunned, 
as we would the pestilence, by everyone who is desirous 
of being a useful and respectable citizen, and of leading 
a virtuous life. The history of the past, furnishes any 
amount of the most indubitable demonstration, that 
such practices, eventually lead to wretchedness said ruin. 
What would be thought and said, if our mothers, 
wives and fair daughters, should embrace every oppor¬ 
tunity of spending their leisure hours at some public 
place of resort, in gossipping twattle, or at the chess¬ 
board ? 
There are thousands of leisure moments, during the 
year, of which multitudes make no reckoning; but it is 
astonishing to consider how much may be accomplished, 
in the way of acquiring knowledge, by appropriating 
such moments to a proper use. Moments when l have 
nothing to do, I know nothing of. When I am disen¬ 
gaged from manual labor, which occupies my energies 
summer and winter, from ten to sixteen hours a day, 
on the farm, or in the shop, if I am waiting a few mo¬ 
ments for dinner, I have something at hand to read. In 
cold weather, when I come in to warm myself, I snatch 
up the Cultivator, and in ten minutes or less, a page is 
read, which will furnish something for reflection while 
at work. In this way, I have been accustomed to pe¬ 
ruse three agricultural papers, three religious papers, 
one political, Missionary Herald, Home Missionary, a 
magazine or two, besides scientific and literary standard 
works. When I sit down for the evening, I have pen 
and ink at hand ; and when a good train of thought 
is suggested, it is jotted down. If I meet with the 
chemical name of a substance, with which I am not fa¬ 
miliar, I search it out, and learn its use in the practical 
purposes of life. Mark the paragraphs which are par¬ 
ticularly worthy of note; and read them again. Per¬ 
haps, pen a few lines connected with the subject. So 
with the botanical name of a plant: it is looked out in 
the botany; its common name, class and order, genus 
and species, &c., are laid up in the store-house of the 
mind for use, when I am “ away from books, and among 
the flowers.” 
It will doubtless be said, that t: this is rather a slow 
way of reporting progress.” Be it so. It is a sure way. 
And those who have never been favored with a syste¬ 
matic course of instruction, must, like myself, blunder 
along through the world. But none need despair, so 
long as we are favored with so many illustrious exam¬ 
ples, of what a young man may be, which have been left 
us, by many who have risen from obscurity, by their 
own exertions, to stations of eminence and distinction. 
What powerful motives are presented, to restrain us 
from habits of indolence and vice, and to inspire with a 
laudable ambition, in the history of the many wise and 
good, who are now sleeping in the dust! Stimulated by 
the success of the past, let us 
u Work on and win.” 
S. Edwards Todd. Lake Ridge , Tompkins county. 
Live Stock in Texas. 
two thousand in the county of Matagorda. Stocks of 
cattle are worth three dollars per head, all around. Pas¬ 
turage costs nothing, and beef cattle can be shipped from 
a dozen poipts on this bay to Hew Orleans, where there 
is always a ready market. Another source of profit to 
the small farmers here, is honey bees, which yield an 
abundance of their peculiar sweets with little trouble 
and no expense. Mr. Robbins has now about four hun¬ 
dred hives; they stand on the ground, and I believe have 
never been troubled with insects.” 
Fruit Trees from Cuttings. 
We have never been able to see what great advantage 
would be gained by being able to raise fruit trees from 
cuttings immersed simply 
into the soil, over the 
common practice of first 
inserting the cutting into 
a portion of root, and 
known as root-grafting— 
the former being uncer¬ 
tain at best; the latter, 
when well done, never 
failing of success. There 
is, however, a method of 
treating cuttings, not en¬ 
tirely new, which has 
been strongly recommended in some of the European 
journals, which maybe highly useful in propagating some 
kinds of trees and shrubs; and, under favorable circum¬ 
stances, may be adapted to grapes, quinces, and some oth¬ 
er sorts of fruit. It consists simply in bending a long cut¬ 
ting into the form of the letter jq inverted, the two limbs 
being immersed into mellow soil, and leaving one good 
bud at the summit, at the surface of the soil. In this 
way, the cut end, instead of becoming the seat of dry¬ 
ness, by evaporation from the open pores, is shielded be¬ 
low by contact with the moist earth. A cut surface at 
the end will throw off moisture several times faster than 
the pores through the surface of the bark, and hence the 
advantage of this method. If desired, one of the arms 
may be cut off and removed, after the cutting is well 
rooted, or two made of each one. 
The way Weeds Multiply. 
Double bent cutting-—a, surface of 
soil—i, b } new rootlets from lower 
extremities. 
A letter from a friend at Matagorda says—“ This 
portion of Texas is divided between the planters and 
stock raisers; the former occupy the rich alluvial lands 
of Caney and the Colorado, and the latter the extensive 
grassy prairies adjoining. Heat cattle here are very 
hardy, and have never been affected by contagious dis¬ 
eases. They are the descendants of the cattle brought 
from Spain and the Canary Islands by the early Catho¬ 
lic Missionaries, but they need much to be improved by 
imported stock. During our wars with Mexico, what 
between our own commissariat, and the hungry forages 
of our enemy, our stocks of cattle were nearly exter¬ 
minated, but a few years of peace under the wings of 
Uncle Sam’s eagle, have caused the cattle to increase to 
untold thousands. The raising of sheep has just com¬ 
menced about here; at present there are not more than 
Dr. Lindley estimates as a low average the following 
number of seeds from each of these four plants:— 
.... 16 j 360 plants. 
1 “ spurge “ 540 J 
or enough seed from these four plants to cover three 
acres and a half, at three feet apart. To hoe this land 
he says will cost 6s. (sterling; per acre, and hence a 
man throws away 5s. 3d. a time as often as he neglects 
to bend his back to pull up a young weed before it be¬ 
gins to fulfil the first law of nature. He recommends 
every gardener, whose vertebral column will not bend, 
to count the number of dandelions, sow-thistles, &c. on 
the first square rod he can measure off. This same 
operation may be repeated in this country, by applying 
all the above estimates to the pig-weed, burdock, mul¬ 
lein, fox-tail, chick-weed, and purslane. 
1 plant of groundsel produces 2080 
1 “ dandelion “ 2740 
1 emir lliistl#* 11 f\A(\ 
