356 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
will do the work of three or four men. I can recommend it to agricul¬ 
turists with the fullest confidence. 
Julius Hatch, of Great Bend, Susquehannah county, Penn, is the pa¬ 
tentee and proprietor. CALEB N. BEMENT. 
Three Hills Farm, Dec. 1836. 
Salisbury Centre, Dec. 7th, 1836. 
Judge Buel —Dear Sir—As I am not a practical farmer, it may be 
(and that very justly too) my pen has no legitimate place in your co- 
lumns. Yet as I have perused that valuable publication about two 
years, I feel a pleasure in owning myself one of its votaries. 
It is a prevalent opinion that the Cultivator is alone calculated for the 
farmer ; and that for all other classes it is useless and nugatory. Ex¬ 
perience has taught me otherwise, I cheerfully confess. From the pe¬ 
rusal of this paper, and reflecting upon the subjects therein contained, 
I am convinced agriculture ought to rank as high in the catalogue of 
sciences as any of the professions; and that too, to understand it right¬ 
ly, and practise it successfully, we need the aid of an education as much 
as in law, medicine or divinity. But how is the cultivator of the soil 
to be made to believe this doctrine—he has to account to no one for the 
mismanagement of his farm—he has followed the footsteps of his father 
and grandfather, and certainly thinks he is right Now it is evident, 
if he had to account for his practice as strictly as the attorney or me¬ 
chanic does to his employer, the evil would be remedied. But this is 
not the case. He has nothing (as he sees) of a duty to call his atten¬ 
tion to the perusal of agricultural publications—to the study of philo¬ 
sophy or chemistry, &c. when all those studies are necessary in carry¬ 
ing on the business of the farm. Draining, rotation of crops, and final¬ 
ly all the operations upon the farm partake more or less of a scientific 
nature. Then when shall we find the adequate impetus? I answer, 
let the legislature appropriate an adequate sum of the surplus revenue 
to agricultui al purposes, in each county in the state, and then we shall 
see a speedy change in the face of nature. When the farmer can re¬ 
ceive as a premium a specific sum upon the amount and quality of his 
crops, cattle, &c. he will not need to be urged to take a publication 
upon the subject—we shall not see the richest portions of his soil co¬ 
vered with wild grass and water. I have already been more prolix than 
I intended; butthe subject is of too much importance to leave in a mo¬ 
ment when flour is ten dollars per barrel, and cows at $2225. 
If this is worth giving a place in your paper, it is ad libitum, and if 
you reject it, the author will deem your decision correct. Yours with 
respect. E. H. SMITH. 
BXTK.ACTS. 
MARL—( Concluded from page 141.) 
ANALYSIS OF MARL. 
The value of marl, as a manure, must of course be referable to the 
nature of the different kinds employed. It is, indeed, evident that, be¬ 
in'* intended to correct or improve the soil, its constituent parts should 
be'known, and their qualities explained, before any use can be rationally 
made of it; and, therefore, the more accurately its properties are as¬ 
certained, the more confidently may the propriety of its application be 
determined. Fanners, indeed, cannot be expected to be sufficiently 
acquainted with chemistry to be able to analyze it, though the most 
calcareous sorts may be known by means of acids, as applied to lime; 
or, the common earthy kind, when put into water, will fall to pieces, 
allowing a considerable portion of sand to fall to the bottom of the ves¬ 
sel: by which simple tests, they might often derive considerable ad¬ 
vantage. Its qualities are, however, more generally taken, by mere 
practical men, more upon trust derived from the experience of their 
neighbors than from any actual knowledge of its properties; but al¬ 
though, when thus guided, they cannot go far wrong, yet they may be 
misled by circumstances of slight apparent difference, and, in cases of 
new pits being opened, no certain estimate of its effect can be formed 
until a complete analysis has been made. This should, indeed, be done 
in all such instances; for it costs but a trifle, is easily performed, and 
without having recourse for the purpose to a regular scientific chemist, 
the object may be attained by application to any intelligent apothecary, 
by furnishing him with the following account of the modes of pro¬ 
cedure:— 
The ingredient of marls, on which their fitness for agricultural pur¬ 
poses depends, is the carbonate of lime. It is owing to the presence of 
this earth that marls effervesce on the addition of acids, which is one 
of their distinguishing characters: to ascertain which— 
“ Let the marl be put into a glass partly filled with water, which will 
expel a portion of air contained mechanically in the ma:*l, and thus ob¬ 
viate one source of fallacy. When the marl is thoroughly penetrated 
by the water, add a little mnriatic acid, or spirit of salt. If a discharge 
of air should ensue, the marly nature of the earth will be sufficiently 
established.” 
Then, to find their composition— 
“ Pour a few ounces of diluted muriatic acid into a Florence flask, 
place them in a scale, and let them be balanced. Then reduce a few 
ounces of dried marl into powder, and let this powder be carefully and 
gradually thrown into the flask, until, after repeated additions, no fur¬ 
ther effervescence is perceived. Let the remainder of the powdered 
marl be weighed, by which the quantity projected will be known. Let 
the balance be then restored. The difference of weight between the 
quantity projected, and that requisite to restore the balance, will show 
the weight of the air lost during the effervescence, and will stand thus,— 
“If the loss amount to thirteen per cent of the quantity of marl pro¬ 
jected, or from thirteen to thirty-two per cent, the marl assayed is cal¬ 
careous marl, or rich calcareous earth. 
“ Clayey marls, or those in which the argillaceous ingredient pre¬ 
vails, lose only eight to ten per cent of their weight by this treatment; 
and sandy marls about the same proportion. The presence of much 
argillaceous earth may be judged by drying the marl, after being 
washed with spirit of salt, when it will harden, and form a brick.” 
ON POTATOES.— {Concluded from page 143.) 
PLANTING. 
We must further remark, that, whether planted whole or in sets, the 
roots should not be taken up, when intended for that purpose, before 
the haulm is withered; so as to allow the roots to reach a state of per¬ 
fect maturity. 
“The potato lying in the ground during the winter becomes perfect¬ 
ly matured, retains its juices, is preserved from fermentation, and ger¬ 
minates at the natural season; and we have found that the plant pro¬ 
ceeding from it is luxuriant and healthy. Under our treatment the tu¬ 
ber is taken up immature; it has, therefore, a greater tendency to fer¬ 
mentation, from its juices being more crude. It is heaped np in large 
quantities, in close houses or pits, and these large heaps increase the 
tendency to fermentation. The time of planting is protracted beyond 
the natural period of germination, and the tubers become exhausted by 
germinating in the pits; and when at last committed to the ground, 
they are frequently planted in mould which has become dried up, and 
not unfrequently placed in manure which is also dry and withered, from 
improper separation or neglect; and are sometimes put into the ground 
so rough and ill prepared, that the air is freely admitted to the seed, to 
dry up any moisture that may remain. If seed be perfectly sound and 
uninjured, it may be able to surmout the obstacles which improper ma¬ 
nagement at the time of planting opposes to its germination ; but when 
injured and its powers of germination weakened, it may fail to over¬ 
come them,” which views are strictly in accordance with the observa¬ 
tions of the majority of the numerous communications which have been 
recently made on the subject to the Highland Society, in consequence 
of a medal offered by them for the best treatise on the subject. 
In order also to ascertain the effect of planting the tubers and sets 
at different distances, a great number of experiments were made by the 
London Horticultural Society, with several varieties, upon pieces of 
ground of various measurement: thus— 
1. A plot of ground was divided into squares of four feet, in the cen¬ 
tre of each of which was planted a whole tuber, a single eye, a set con¬ 
taining three eyes, and the whole surface of a tuber pared off so as to 
leave the eyes safe, but to remove the centre—a practice which is not 
uncommon in Scotland and Ireland. The result of which proved to be, 
in thirteen cases out of sixteen, in favor of the single eyes as compared 
with tubers; in nine cases out of sixteen, in favor of single eyes as com¬ 
pared with sets containing three eyes; and, in ten cases out of sixteen, 
in favor of single eyes as compared with parings. 
2. Eight different whole tubers were planted in a row eight feet long 
and two feet distance from each other, and the result showed, “ that in 
those varieties which were of very strong growth, producing large 
plants, the first plan, at wide distances, was the best; but, when the va¬ 
rieties were weak or of a dwarfish kind, the lesser distances were the 
most productive. Thus it may be assumed that in every case the dif¬ 
ference will be in proportion to the vigor or debility of the variety.” 
It being, however, thought desirable to repeat the comparison of 
whole tubers and sets, for the purpose of further illustrating the advan¬ 
tages and disadvantages of close and distant cropping, by trials with 
the varieties commonly in cultivation among those who supply the 
London markets, a quantity of early Champion potatoes was purchased 
by the society in the beginning of 1834, and a piece of ground, on which 
no potatoes had been previously grown, was selected for the purpose. 
No manure was employed, nor was the soil by any means in a fertile 
state for garden ground. The following account of the experiment was 
drawn up by Dr. Lindley, who, as one of the secretaries to the institu- 
tution, attended to its management. 
“ The ground was divided into four equal parts. In one of these the 
rows of potatoes were as much as two and a half feet apart: in another, 
two feet; in a third, one foot and a half; and in a fourth, only six inches. 
Half of each division was planted with whole tubers, and half with sets 
cut to a single eye. The whole were committed to the ground on the 
