148 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
tion. That to the mental improvement of youth, such as would fit them 
for the higher duties of society, such schools would superadd a know¬ 
ledge of the science and best practices of agriculture, a useful qualifi¬ 
cation under all circumstances, and a certain and honorable resource 
under pecuniary misfortune, must be no less apparent. Such schools 
would do more—they would improve the moral condition of society, by 
rendering labor more honorable and more inviting, and by winning 
from the paths of idleness and dissipation, where their examples con¬ 
taminate and corrupt, multitudes of the children of wealth, and trans¬ 
forming them into men of industry and usefulness. 
The objection has been urged to the establishment of an agricultural 
school, that but few, comparatively, can share in its advantages, and 
these would of course be confined to the rich. The like objection 
would in a measure hold good, though it is not allowed to have weight, 
against all the higher literary and professional schools and colleges, 
for all these accommodate but a fractional part of our youth. Every 
class shares indirectly in the benefits of existing schools, though they 
are not immediate participators in their instruction, because they serve 
to promote the general knowledge and improvement of society. This 
remark would lose none of its force if applied to a school of agricul¬ 
ture : for, to embrace no other consideration, whatever improves agri¬ 
culture, adds to our wealth, our commerce and our comforts. Besides, 
schools of agriculture may be multiplied, like other schools, to meet the 
wants of the public; and instruction in them can be afforded as cheap 
as it is in other manual labor schools. The great object is, first to 
make a fair experiment, and to demonstrate, in practice, their useful¬ 
ness, and their adaptation to the state of our society, and to our civil 
institutions. The defect in our existing manual labor schools is, that 
although they inure the body to rural labor, they do not instruct the 
mind in the principles which ought to regulate that labor, nor, generally, 
in the best models of practice. The pupils work to save money, and 
to promote health,—hot to learn a business which they expect to fol¬ 
low in life. Whereas, in a school of agriculture, all these objects 
might be combined. 
But the advantages of an agricultural school would be more general 
than the advantages of most other schools, inasmuch as the results of 
its experiments in husbandry, and the new plants, implements and im¬ 
proved modes of culture, which it would introduce, would become 
common property, and a knowledge of them would be diffused through¬ 
out the community, by our agricultural journals; and because the pu¬ 
pils, settling down in different parts of the state, would carry with 
them this knowledge and these improvements, and by their practice, 
render their benefits available to all around them. 
There is another consideration worthy of notice. The advantages 
of an agricultural school might be still more generally diffused, by 
making it a place of instruction for common school teachers. Who so 
well qualified to instruct those who are to become farmers, as those 
who are already farmers, both in practice and in science ? In this sort 
of normal school the future teacher would learn farming effectually, 
if he could learn it anywhere. Here he would be instructed in his civil 
and political rights, and in his moral and social duties. He would be 
accustomed to think, to investigate, to reason, and to form correct con¬ 
clusions ; and his physical pow'ers would be nerved and disciplined by 
labor. Being effectually taught themselves, they would know best how 
and what to teach others; and if the school did not.afford them an op¬ 
portunity of teaching the practice, they could imbue the minds of their 
pupils with the principles of natural science, of eminent use in farm¬ 
ing, and thus lay a substantial foundation to build a good practice upon. 
Suppose the state should adopt the policy pursued by the general go¬ 
vernment at the West Point academy—-educate a number of promising 
young men—free of charge—on condition that they should devote a 
certain number of years, say four or five, at the close of their pupilage, 
to the public service, in teaching common schools, at a fair salary ? The 
Regents of the University now dispense $3,000 per annum, towards 
educating common school teachers. This sum would maintain 60 pu¬ 
pils, with the labor they would have to perform, at an agricultural 
school. If each county should be permitted to send an indigent youth, 
of high promise, upon these terms, would not Ihe state be as much be¬ 
nefited, from this expenditure, as it is now? This, to be sure, would 
be but a beginning. But to begin right is the great point. A project 
well begun is easily prosecuted. 
Influenced by the considerations which we have sketched, a number 
of gentlemen last winter, applied for, and obtained an act of incorpora¬ 
tion to establish a school of agriculture. To evince that it was not de¬ 
signed as a matter of speculation, the stockholders are restricted to a 
dividend of five per cent per annum, upon their investment; and to 
render it a truly practical, as well as a scientific school, the law en¬ 
joins, that during the eight summer months, the teachers, as well as 
the pupils, shall appropriate one-half of their time to practical agricul¬ 
ture. Owing to the death of one of the principal projectors, John B. 
Yates, esq. and the indisposition and pressing engagements of most oi 
the others, but very little has hitherto been done towards filling up the 
stock. What will be the ultimate result of the project we do not pre¬ 
tend to say ; but we have directed the attention of our readers to the 
! subject, at this time, under the belief, that it is one of great importance 
j to the community, and in the hope of interesting the public feeling in 
its behalf. 
THE APPLE ORCHARD. 
In a mistaken zeal to eradicate thd seeds of intemperance, we are 
afraid that some, by destroying their apple orchards, are not only di¬ 
minishing their innocent family comforts, but are seriously impairing 
their means of honest farm profits. We do not advocate the orchard 
on account of the alcohol its fruits afford on distillation—such a prac¬ 
tice we deprecate;—nor will we urge teetotalers to cultivate the apple 
for cider, if they deem this liquor hurtful—though we still adhere to 
the “ steady habits” of our New-England ancestry, in taking a glass 
of this racy beverage with our dinner—we will not advocate the or¬ 
chard for the liquor it affords, but for the food —the beef, pork, milk, 
&c. into which its fruit can be readily transformed. 
For the family, apples may be made to contribute alike to health, to 
pleasure, and to economy, and greatly to diminish the consumption of 
more costly food. As dessert fruits, they are surpassed but by few in 
quality, and by none in durability; while in the culinary department, 
they afford a grateful repast, baked, boiled, roasted or fried, and, to bor¬ 
row terms from the Cook’s book, may be served up, with rice, flour, 
&c. in black-cap, Charlotte, cheese-cakes, compotes, dumplings, fritters, 
I festoons, floating islands, fool, fraze, glazed, in jelly, marmalade, pan¬ 
cakes, pies, puddings, preserves, poupeton, soufflet, in water, and a la 
Turque. In all these forms, we believe the apple is perfectly guile¬ 
less ; and in most of them may be indulged in by the robust and the 
delicate, and by rich and poor. 
In the economy of the farm, apples are no less serviceable. Every 
kind of farm stock feeds and fattens upon them. They serve as a sub¬ 
stitute for corn in the piggery, for oats in the horse stable, and for 
slops in the cow-stall. They were evidently destined for the comfort 
of man ; and because they are capable of being converted to a bad use, 
shall we, for this reason, reject the many benefits they are calculated 
to afford us? Because bread-corn is convertible into alcohol, is it less 
worthy of our care and culture as an article of food ? Those alone 
who abuse the gifts of Providence, are obnoxious to public morals. 
Our orchard, although a young one, is of great value to us. The 
early droppings of fruit were gathered by our pigs, and they contributed 
much to fit them for the fatting pen; and subsequently by boiling them 
with small potatoes, for fattening hogs, they have enabled us to save 
a good portion of our soft corn, which in ordinary years has not sufficed 
for finishing our pork, say 40 or 50 bushels, to deal out to our store 
shoats. Our orchard has enabled us to dispose of some fifty barrels of 
choice winter fruit, and to manufacture nearly as many barrels of ci¬ 
der, and it is now, in the form of apple pomace, adding greatly to the 
products of our dairy. On the first of December, we began to feed the 
pomace to seven milch cows, and have continued to feed them with a 
common wheel-barrow full per diem, and the effect has been to increase 
the quantity, of milk nearly fifty per cent. The pomace has not under¬ 
gone but slight if any fermentation. 
The great indifference to orchards, we have no doubt, arises from an 
ignorance ofthe many advantages which they are capable of affording 
to the farm, and to the bad quality of the fruit which is generally culti¬ 
vated. The nutritive properties of the apple depend upon the quantity 
of saccharine matter they contain, or the specific gravity of their juice; 
and the difference in flavor, and in their cooking properties, are not 
sufficiently regarded, and not generally known. We have probably the 
finest varieties of this fruit, of any country in the world, which come to 
maturity in succession, so as to afford a supply for the family the whole 
year; and yet probably not one family in a thousand enjoy them, or 
know of the existence of the better half. 
“What is not eaten-is given to the dung-heap, ” is the excuse of the 
indolent and the prejudiced, for not cutting their cattle food. And we 
add, what is eaten goes in like manner to the dung-heap— manufactob- 
ed /or use —or, what is better, is converted into meat, milk, fyc. 
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE 
Held its ninth annual fair at New-York in October. The exhibition 
of American manufactured goods and machinery, greatly surpassed, in 
variety and extent, those shown at any former period. About 30 gold, 
and 130 silver medals were awarded for articles of excellence exhibit¬ 
ed, besides some hundreds of diplomas. About 12,000 articles were 
shown, to 70,000 visitors. The Institute is doing an immense deal of 
good, and its acting members deserve much praise for the spirit and 
perseverance which they have manifested, and which we think have 
now triumphed over public apathy and indifference. These fairs are 
to the manufacturing and mechanic arts, what cattle shows are to agri¬ 
culture-schools of instruction, and stimulants to industry, enterprise 
and laudable competition. They bring people together for useful pur- 
