THE CULTIVATOR. 
163 
contained, and which are equally necessary to the coming crop, become 
disengaged and escape 5 the rains saturate and leach the mass, and 
carrv off other matters which formed a part of the old, and which are 
also necessary to the new crop; and if fermentation is permitted to 
exhaust its powers on the mass, so as to reduce it to the form of muck, 
one-half that constituted the old crop, and which the new crop will 
want, is irretrievably lost 5 but if the dung and stocks of the old crop, 
blended and saturated as they will be in the cattle yard, are restored 
to the soil, before fermentation and rain have dissipated their riches, 
the gases and liquids disengaged by fermentation will be absorbed by 
the soil, and held in reserve for the next crop. Hence the propriety of 
applying dung before it has rotted, or of applying the dung made in 
the winter to the spring crop,- and hence the loss which ensues to the 
farmer from neglecting to convert to manure all the animal and vege¬ 
table refuse of his farm and household. Plants are cannibals ; or in 
other words, they not only live upon plants, but they thrive best upon 
their own species- Nature is constantly changing dead into living ve¬ 
getable matter, for the use of man, and it should be the business of the 
farmer to study her laws, and to co-operate in her beneficent designs. 
Many of the objections to the use of long manure, in England, lose 
their force here. Our summers are much warmer than hers, and ve¬ 
getable matters undergo a more speedy decomposition in our soil than 
in hers. The pertinent question is, does long manure decompose, when 
buried in the soil, in time to serve the crop? When put into the hill, 
or drill, we admit that it often does not; but when spread upon the 
whole surface, and properly buried, as we think it always should be, 
we believe it never fails to rot the first season, and in time for the corn 
crop. The late John Taylor, of Virginia, who was a scientific and ex¬ 
tensively practical farmer, was in the habit of burying with the plough, 
in his corn fields, the spray and branches of forest trees and shrubs, as 
means of inducing fertility, and he found benefit in the practice. 
Great Britain, besides, cultivates no crop that is so fit a recipient for 
long manure as our Indian corn, which enters so largely into our sys¬ 
tem of husbandry as to absorb, with potatoes, all the long manure of 
spring,—and which is admirably fitted to convert this long manure into 
proper food for dry crops by the subsequent autumn. We repeat here 
what we have before remarked, that unfermented dung greatly accele¬ 
rates the growth of straw and stalk—the stem, culm, or main body of 
an herbaceous plant—but that it is still suited to the perfecting and 
maturing of the seed;—that unfermented dung develops its greatest 
power during the heats of summer, when the seeds of the several 
grains are forming; that hence it is improper to apply it to these crops; 
—but that when applied to corn, or other autumnal ripening crops, it 
generates a beneficial warmth in the soil, and by the gases evolved, 
causes a vigorous growth of stocks, at a season most important; that 
fermentation subsides before the formation of the seed, and that it 
then imparts to the crop the aliment best fitted to bring it to perfection. 
The doctrines of some British writers, who advocate the use of rot¬ 
ten dung, are not therefore applicable to our climate and culture. 
CHINESE INDIGO AND MADDER. 
We have received from Gen. Tallmadge some seeds of the plant, 
noticed in a former number, as also several other varieties of seed, 
brought from Italy and from Russia, for which we tender to the Ge¬ 
neral our thanks. Among the seeds are those of the Cadiz muskmelon, 
identical with the winter melon we lately spoke of, equal in flavor to 
our citron melon, but larger, and keeping late in winter. We say this 
from experience, as we are to day, January 3d, having one served to 
bur dessert. This, with the other fruits of Spain and Portugal, are 
regularly supplied in the London market by steam-boats. Why, asks 
the General, do not our merchants supply New-York with all the ripe 
fruits of the tropics, by a like conveyance? We have some doubt 
if the Cadiz melon will attain to maturity in this latitude, but 
we have none that it would do well in Virginia and south, and might 
be brought to northern markets before the setting in of winter. We 
shall endeavor to domesticate these strangers, though we fear most 
of them are too tender for our climate 
We subjoin an extract from the letter which accompanied these 
seeds, more particularly with the view of calling the public attention 
to the cultivation of the madder crop, as one likely to insure profit to 
the cultivator, and as of moment in a national point of view. It will 
be remembered that our imports of this valuable dye have exceeded 
two millions of dollars in a year—that the home demand will increase 
with the increase of our manufactures—and that our soil and climate 
have been proved to be congenial to its growth. The facts detailed in 
Gen. T’s letter, in regard to this plant, will induce, we trust, new zeal 
in its culture among us. 
" New-York, 25th Dec. 1836. 
“ To J. Bttel, Esq.—Sir—Your known zeal in augmenting the pro¬ 
ductions of our country, and your efforts to make an additional blade 
sprout where it was before barren, gives assurance that a package of 
foreign seeds, could not be placed in better hands, than when confid 
ed to your care. I have considerable hopes from the Asiatic Indigo. 
I beg your personal care and judgment for this package. Mr. Clay, 
the American charge, at St. Petersburgh, translated what has appeared 
in the Journal ofthe American Institute, and he was under the full be' 
lief this indigo plant might be useful for his country. 
“ I had & package of madder seed, which 1 brought from Avignon, on 
the Rhone. It is but a few years since France purchased from Holland, 
&c. the madder used in her dyes. Her production of madder now sup¬ 
plies her oWn demands, and furnishes a new agricultural product for ex¬ 
tensive exportation. France, I believe, supplies this country with 
madder for ourdyes. Its growth is suited to our climate, and to the 
rich lands on our rivers. The attention of our farmers should be turn¬ 
ed to this as a new and very profitable crop. A few years of peace in 
Europe, an.d the agricultural and mechanic labors of its subjects will 
surcharge ourmarkets with their productions. It is a duty to supply, 
from among ourselves our own wants. We have every variety of soil 
and climate. <c I am, Sir, very truly yours, &c. 
“ JAMES TALLMADGE.” 
CHINESE HUSBANDRY. 
The almost illimitable extent to which the soil may be rendered tri¬ 
butary to the wants of man, is no where better illustrated than in China, 
There necessity is truly the mother of invention. Crowded with an 
immense population, mostly depending for subsistence upon the pro¬ 
ducts of the soil, every expedient to induce or perpetuate fertility is re¬ 
sorted to. While we talk of worn-out farms and exhausted lands, 
caused by the reckless management of the husbandman, in districts 
recently wrested from the fertilizing hand of nature, the soil of China 
has been made, by the art and industry of man, to yield an undiminisfr 
ed product for thousands of years. While we are accustomed to waste 
two-thirds, and often all, of the materials which Providence has provid¬ 
ed to sustain the fertility of the soil—there every vestige of these mat¬ 
ters—every animal and vegetable-substance—is sedulously husbanded, 
and judiciously restored to the earth from whence it sprang, where it 
is speedily transformed again into food for the human family. Here 
we leave grounds to rest, and to regain fertility, as though they were 
endued with the properties of animals; there the soil has no rest—it 
is constantly under tillage and is made to yield two or three crops in a 
season. 
We find in the Farmer’s Register, some notes on Chinese husbandry, 
extracted from the travels of a philosopher. We do not notice them 
under the expectation thatthe Chinese modes of husbandry are to be 
immitated among us, or that they are generally adapted to our condi¬ 
tion ; but as matters of curiosity, and as affording, withal, important 
suggestion to cultivators every where. 
The secret art of the Chinese, says our author, of multiplying the 
grain and provisions necessary for the nourishment of their immense 
population, consists principally in manuring their fields judiciously, 
ploughing them to a considerable depth, sowing them in a proper sea¬ 
son, turning to advantage every inch of ground which can produce the 
most inconsiderable crop, and by preferring to every species of culture 
that of grain, as by far the most important. They have no meadows, 
natural or artificial—insisting, that a field sown with grain, will yield 
as much for the nourishment of cattle, in the straw it grows, as it 
would have produced in hay. Fallows are unknown among them, as 
they are considered an abuse, destructive of plenty and population. 
All the grounds in the northern provinces, yield annually two crops, 
and in those towards the south, often five in two years, without one 
single fallow season, during the many thousands of years that they 
have been converted to the purposes of agriculture—and yet they fail 
not—because all that is taken from them, after it has subserved the 
purposes of man, is restored again to their bosom. They employ salt, 
lime, ashes, and all sorts of animal dung, but above all that which we 
throw into the rivers: they make great use of urine, which is carefully 
preserved in every house, and sold to advantage; and occasionally reno¬ 
vate fertility bytrenching the ground with a spade, thus bringing to the 
surface a new soil, enriched with the juices of that which descends itl 
its room. Every inch of ground is cultivated—even the most precipi¬ 
tous hills and mountains are cut into terraces, and sown with grain, 
and the waters of rivers and canals at their base, are raised from ter¬ 
race to terrace, even to the summit, by means of a simple portable ma¬ 
chine, which two men with ease transport and put in motion. And 
finally, agriculture is nurtured and dignified there, as it ought to be 
every where, as constituting the first and noblest pursuit of man, by 
the government of the empire. The Emperor himself, goes annually 
to the field, and turns the first vernal fallows 
EXPERIMENTS. 
James M. Garnet Esq. president of the agricultural society of Frede ; 
ricksburgh, Va. gave, in a late address to that society, the results of 
some of his experiments in farming, a part of which we here insert, as 
matters of general interest. 
1. He ploughed a part of his corn ground in the fall, and another 
part just before planting, ( the character and condition of the soil not 
