42 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Feb. 
of the same delightful home scenery which they 
had been insensibly led to admire in their pioneer 
neighbor. It was not many years before a great 
change had come over the face of the country, and 
many had learned that there was some satisfaction 
in neat dwellings surrounded by tasteful grounds. 
In the next place, every one may exert a most 
valuable and powerful influence, in leading his 
children, and those more immediately beneath his 
care, to exalted views of the scenes around them. 
It does not at all destroy or lesson one’s skill to 
manage those two refractory opponents, Cost and 
Profit, to look up occasionally from the plow-point 
before him, to the rich, varied, and magnificent 
panorama around him, 
From the blue rim, where shies and mountains meet, 
Down to the very turf beneath his feet; 
neither does it at all require the rare gifts of the 
u philosophic few” to look upon 
The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, 
The pomp of groves, the garniture of fields, 
All that the genial ray of morning gilds, 
And all that echoes to the song of even, 
with something of the eye of a painter, naturalist, 
and admirer of the wonderful and beautiful in De¬ 
sign. This study very soon becomes contagious. 
We knew a skillful cultivator of the earth, whose 
delight in reading the works of creation, had ren¬ 
dered him quite as skillful in making this study 
attractive to others; and when we have remem¬ 
bered the great numbers of young people whom 
he had fascinated into this pursuit, we have often 
involuntarily been led to contrast hini with 
“ The churl who holds it heresy to think, 
And knows no music but the dollar's chink; 
Who never found what good from science grew 
Save the grand truth, that one and one make two; 
And he, across whose brain scarce dare to creep, 
Aught but the parent pair, to get , to keep.” 
Again—every farmer may exert an excellent in¬ 
fluence in his owm neighborhood in many ways. 
By perseverence, he may accomplish much in ele¬ 
vating the character of the neighborhood schools 
—-those fountains from which are to flow the very 
life-streams of intelligence to our successors on 
the great theater of life. He may promote agri¬ 
cultural knowledge by assisting in the diffusion of 
periodicals. He may often find means to contri¬ 
bute to the happiness of those whom sickness has 
stripped of physical comforts. It is scarcely ne¬ 
cessary to point out all the ways in which a real¬ 
ly earnest, straight forward, kind and modest 
man, may benefit the community in which he 
lives, if he is not afraid of labor, although all 
and even more may be done while others may be 
idling, talking nonsense, or attending public amuse¬ 
ments—and it is impossible, from the very nature 
of things, that all this should not make a strong 
impression on those who come in contact. In his 
own family, too, his influence is still greater than 
elsewhere, either for good or evil. Domestic sun¬ 
shine or storms are very much at the command 
of the head authority. A single ill-natured re¬ 
mark will often send its poison and contagion 
through a whole household—a uniform air of 
kindness cannot fail greatly to soften the asperi¬ 
ties of life 5 and especially when, to speak collo¬ 
quially, “ every thing goes crooked,” a few words 
fitly spoken, will drop like balm into the corrod¬ 
ing irritation of bad nature, and like the atmos¬ 
phere of spring, breathe cheerfulness and sweet¬ 
ness about those within their influence. 
How, if any one believe that the accomplish¬ 
ment of these duties does not greatly increase 
one’s own happiness, to say nothing of the happi¬ 
ness of others, u then has he no human blood in 
his veins.” He is one of those chrysalids of mor¬ 
tality, whose object in living is to suffer as little, 
and enjoy as much as possible, within their own 
shell of physical selfishness. There are others 
who assent to all we have said, but who commit 
the supreme folly of chasing the rainbow of pro¬ 
mised enjoyment, by trying first to get rich! Ho 
wonder that farmer’s sons rash into the city, when 
their country homes, with the inexhaustible at¬ 
tractions which viight be thrown around them, 
are made repulsive, or at least dull. Fortunately, 
the exercise of taste in rural improvement—the 
study of the beauties of country life—the perfor¬ 
mance of neighborhood amenities—and the sooth¬ 
ing influence of kindness in families—do not re¬ 
quire the income of a duke; and he who has ac¬ 
complished all these well, in addition to the skill¬ 
ful management of his plantation, has perhaps as 
just an expectation as any one, of a pleasant eve¬ 
ning to his life, in the hope that he has not lived 
wholly in vain. —o-— 
Tull’s System of Culture. 
Jethro Tull, whose experiments, more than a 
century since, accomplished so much for drill- 
husbandry, and produced such wonderful results 
by cultivation merely, was led to adopt the notion 
that stirring the soil constantly and thoroughly, 
was alone sufficient for raising the heaviest crops, 
without the aid of manure. For a series of years 
he was eminently successful; but subsquently the 
soils which he had so long cropped, showed evi¬ 
dent signs of exhaustion. We perceive, by the 
last number of the Genesee Farmer, (in an article 
probably from the pen of Joseph Harris) that S. 
Smith, of Horthampton, England, has lately re¬ 
vived this practice, by a series of experiments re¬ 
markable for their perfection and completeness, 
and not less remarkable for the eminent success 
which has attended them. He keeps the soil be¬ 
tween the wheat drills finely tilled to a depth of 
twenty inches. He has taken seven successive 
