THE CULTIVATOR. 
61 
abridge labor and economise expenditure ; or who practises new modes j 
of culture, manifestly beneficial to the public; in short, who makes] 
two pounds of beef, grows two bushels of corn or two tons of hay, 
with the same labor and expense, and on the same area of ground, j 
that produced or yielded but one before—becomes useful to himself, 
and country. He greatly enlarges the means of human sustenance 
and of human happiness. And so far as premiums can be made in -1 
strumental in producing these results, by exciting industry and enter¬ 
prise, and calling into action the ingenuity and latent talent of ourj 
countrymen, they constitute a useful and profitable expenditure. 
In these matters, as in most others, experience is the best teacher. 
We correct our errors only as we become sensible that they are errors. I 
The best guide, consequently, so far as climate and object correspond,] 
is the practice of societies which have been longest in operation, andi 
which have effected the greatest good. In these particulars, the High¬ 
land Agricultural Society of Scotland stands pre-eminent. It has ex¬ 
isted more than fifty years, .and increases in vigor and usefulness with 
its years. We subjoin an abstract of the premiums offered by this so¬ 
ciety the current year, as indicating prominent objects of improve¬ 
ment which might usefully engage the .attention of our agricultural 
associations. 
1. They offer a premium of 50 sovereigns, ($222,) for the best geo¬ 
logical report and map of any county and. district in Scotland., except 
those already reported. 
2. Thirty sovereigns for the best geological and mineralogical report 
upon any coal district in Scotland, not already reported upon; and a 
gold or silver medal for a second best report, if found worthy of that 
distiction. 
3. Thirty sovereigns for the best improvements on the thrashing ma¬ 
chine. 
4. Ten sovereigns for the best essay on the inflammatory diseases of 
farm horses. 
5. Twenty sovereigns for the most satisfactory experiments in feed¬ 
ing farm horses, on raw and on prepared food ; and, 
6 . Twenty sovereigns for like satisfactory and similar experiments 
in feeding other farm stock. 
7. Ten sovereigns for the best set of satisfactory experiments in feed¬ 
ing stock in close houses and open sheds. 
8 . Ten sovereigns for the best and approved essay on pruning forest 
trees. 
9. Ten sovereigns for an improved method of cleaning flax. 
10. Ten sovereigns for the best detailed and satisfactory description 
of a method of making hay, whether of meadow or artificial grasses, 
founded on personal experience, which lias secured the crop under 
every circumstances of weather, in the shortest time and most nutri¬ 
tious state. 
11. Two premiums of ten sovereigns each, one for the best essay 
on draining tile., and one for the best essay on tile draining. 
13. Twenty sovereigns for the best essay on the management of 
sheep, with a view to the improvement of the fleece ; and a medal to 
the person who rears the most and best poultry. 
16. Twenty sovereigns for the best account of the insects which are 
injurious to cultivated plants. 
17. Ten sovereigns for the best essay -on the most effectual method 
of constructing reservoirs of water for agricultural purposes. 
The essays to be predicated upon actual experiments, and to be ac¬ 
companied, when proper, by drawings or models. 
18. Gold medal for the result of the greatest number of experiments 
on different breeds of neat cattle, made with a view of ascertaining 
whether there be any peculiarity of anatomical structure which indi¬ 
cates a constitution in such cattle, disposing to fatten early. 
20. A gold medal for similar experiments in regard to the Highland 
breed. 
21. Ten sovereigns for the best and approved account, founded on 
experience, of the most successful method of preserving potatoes in good 
condition, in their natural state, for a period of not less than ten months 
from the time of their being taken up. 
22. Ten sovereigns for the best account, founded on experiment, of 
flooding or irrigating, water meadows. 
23. Fifteen sovereigns for the best mode of eradicating ferns (brakes,) 
from pastures where the plough cannot be used. 
24. A medal for the best report on the management of the dairy. 
25. Honorary gold medal for the best account, founded on observa¬ 
tion, of any useful practice in rural or domestic economy, adopted in 
other countries, calculated to be useful in Great Britain. 
26. An honorary premium for the best account of any district in 
Scotland, with reference to the present state of husbandry, and the pro¬ 
gress of rural and general improvement. 
The above constitue the first class of premiums. 
The second class of premiums are to be awarded for experiments and 
improvements in reclaiming waste lands, and rendering them productive. 
Class 3, are premiums on crops and culture;—on new plants adapt¬ 
ed to field cultureexperiments on feeding off turnips with sheep;— 
for the heaviest August oats ;—and for ploughing competitions. About 
70 sovereigns are to be awarded in this class of premiums. 
Class 4, relates to the improvement of pasture grounds. Premiums 
are offered for a report of the most successful management of pasture 
grounds, founded on practice—and for the greatest quantity of Italian 
rye-grass seed saved on a farm. Two premiums, 15 sovereigns. 
Class 5, specifies 112 premiums, amounting in the aggregate to 650 
sovereigns, or nearly $3,000, for improving the breeds of cattle, the 
breed of work-horses, the breed of sheep and the breed of swine. 
Class 6. 15 premiums, amounting to 45 sovereigns, for the best but¬ 
ter and cheese. 
Class 7. 10 premiums, of two sovereigns each, for the cleanest kept 
cottages; also, several premiums, to encourage, in the cottagers, the 
cultivation of bees. 
Class 8. Eight premiums to encourage the planting of timber trees; 
the saving of seeds of forest trees, and the introduction of new kinds 
from abroad. 
Class 9. A medal to the person who shall invent or improve any 
agricultural implement or machine, which, from its utility in saving 
labor or expense, simplicity or cheapness of construction, shall be 
deemed by the society worthy of public notice. 
Class 10, embraces 60 premiums, amounting in the aggregate to 450 
sovereigns, for the best cattle, of different breeds, horses, sheep, and 
swine, and on wool, to be exhibited at the general show of live stock, 
and agricultural meeting, at Perth, the current year—on the condition 
that the male animals shall be let to the neighboring farmers, at stipu¬ 
lated prices, with a view to improve the farm stock of the country. 
Fifty sovereigns are also to be awarded for extra stock, implements, 
roots and seeds. 
These premiums, it will be perceived, have in view, th e permanent 
and substantial improvement of the country; and they cannot fail to 
call into action the industry, talents and enterprise of the nation. 
Note well —Premiums are not awarded to the largest or fattest ani¬ 
mals, but to those which appear the most profitable to propagate from 
—to feed, or clip—those which are intrinsically best. 
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
It is a notorious fact, that many districts of our country, that were 
originally fertile, have materially deteriorated, and have ceased to 
yield their wonted return to the husbandman; that large sections, 
which formerly produced the finest wheat, have ceased to yield it, or 
to yield it but in diminished quantity, and of inferior quality. We turn 
to Maryland, Virginia, New-England, and many parts of our own state, 
for evidence of the first position, and to West Vermont, and some of our 
northern counties, and the valley of the Mohawk, for ample proof of 
the latter. This poverty of the soil, and its failure to yield its accus¬ 
tomed increase, has resulted wholly from bad farming—from ignorance, 
in the cultivator, of the immutable laws of nature upon the observance 
of which agriculture can alone long prosper. It is equally apparent, 
that unless a change takes place in their management, these lands will 
continue to deteriorate, and their produce to decrease. How then can 
the evil be arrested, the lands restored to their wonted fertility, and 
the inhabitants rendered thrifty and independent? That this can be 
done, is fully demonstrated by the experience of the last thirty years 
in our own country. Dutchess, thirty years ago, began to reform her 
husbandry, under the guidance of intelligent men, and we have seen 
that the products and value of her lands have increased four fold in 
consequence of these improvements—and every class of her population 
have prospered with her farmers. Other districts, and individuals, in 
every section of the state, are following in the good work. But we are 
about to show the progress of agricultural improvement in Great.Bri¬ 
tain—to contrast the present with the former condition of her husband¬ 
ry—and to point out the prominent causes of her improvements, in the 
hope, that the facts we shall detail will be both interesting and profita¬ 
ble to our countrymen. We have abstracted these facts from a review, 
in the Edinburgh Review, for January, of some recent British agricul¬ 
tural publications. 
The first evidence of agricultural improvement in Great Britain, 
which we shall cite, is afforded by the facts, that during the last half 
century, her population has considerably more than doubled,—that this 
population live far better now than they did formerly—and that they are 
entirely subsisted on the products of British agriculture, the importations 
of provisions during the four last years having been virtually nothing. 
The population of England increased in the half century from about 
seven to fifteen millions, and that of Scotland in nearly the same ratio. 
In 1760, and subsequently, most of the population subsisted on coarse 
grain, with little or no meat. Thirty years ago “small farmers, agri- 
cultural laborers and those employed in the mines, almost invariably 
used barley.” “At the end of the American war, no wheaten bread 
was to be seen in the farm houses, country villages and minor towns of 
Scotland, and but little even in larger towns. Oat cakes and barley 
bannocks were there universally made use of.” Now, every where, 
