THE CULTIVATOR: 
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION, DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
Vol. IY. ALBANY, MAY, 1837. No. 3. 
PUBLISHED BY THE N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
J. BUEL, Conductor. 
CP Office No. 3 WasMngton-street, opposite Congress Hall, 
TERMS.— Fifty Cents pek annum, to be paid in advance. 
Special Agents .— Judah Dobson, Philadelphia—Messrs. HoveY, Boston— 
Israel Post & Co. Booksellers, 88 Bowery: Alex. Smith, Seedsman, Broad¬ 
way, and G. R. Garretson, Seedsman, 111 Fulton-street, New-York.— 
Alexander Wai.sh, Lansingburgh, gratuitous agent. Any gentleman who 
will enclose us $5, free of postage, will be considered also a special agent, and 
will be entitled to every eleventh copy, or its equivalent, as commission. 
ITT * The Cultivator, according to the decision of the Post-master General, is 
subject only to newspaper postage, viz: one cent on each number within the 
state, and within one hundred miles from Albany, out of the state—and one 
and a half cents on each number, to any other part of the Union. 
__ THE CULTIVATOR. 
TO IM PROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND._ 
THE HARVEST PROSPECT, 
So far as regards winter grain, is gloomy, as much so, we fear, as 
it was twelve months ago. Our accounts from Virginia, from the 
middle states, and from the wheat districts of our own state, are all 
but favorable. The autumn was unfavorable, and the grain did not 
get its accustomed growth, and good hold of the ground. The 
spring has been equally unfavorable. The variable, or alternate 
freezing and thawing weather, has seriously iftjured the wheat and 
rye. We are yet to learn what injury this grain has to suffer from 
the Hessian fly. If we add to this, that the grain worm may be 
expected to extend its ravages south and west, probably into Dutch¬ 
ess and Ontario, we shall have little cause to expect a better wheat 
crop than we had in 1836. To show that the crop of 1836, fell far 
short of our consumption, it is only necessary to state, that there 
was imported into New-York alone, from Europe, in 1836, half a 
million bushels of wheat, and in the current year, up to the 19th of 
April, eight hundred and fifty-seven thousand bushels, making in 
the aggregate about one million three hundred and seventy thousand 
bushels of wheat, besides rye and other grain—thus drawing from 
the country some millions of dollars for bread stuffs, our great sta¬ 
ples, which we have been in the habit of exporting to a large amount. 
Much of this grain came from the Baltic and the Black seas. 
Admonished by these startling facts, and by the general commer¬ 
cial distress of our country, which has hardly begun to develope its 
worst features, it behooves the farmer to husband all his labor and 
his means, and diligently to employ them in augmenting his summer 
crops, of grain and of roots. The price of meats have been so 
high, and the scarcity of forage so great, that our live stock has 
been greatly diminished, and prudence and good management are 
necessary to replenish our herds and flocks. Much, inlhe present 
and coming years, will depend upon the industry, sagacity and firm¬ 
ness of the yeomanry of our country. 
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. 
A number of distinguished gentlemen, belonging to different states 
of the union, formed themselves into a society, in October last, un¬ 
der the above style, somewhat on the model of the British society 
for the diffusion of useful knowledge. The officers of the society, 
consist of a president—(Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer,) thirty-three 
vice-presidents, distributed among the states, a board of thirty-nine 
directors, an executive committee of twenty-three, chosen by the 
board of directors, a secretary and treasurer. Members of the so¬ 
ciety are required to contribute $5 annually ; $ 100 within any one 
year, constitutes the donor a life member ; $500 a life director, and 
$1,000 a life member and an honorary member of the executive com¬ 
mittee. 
The object of this association, is, as its title imports, the diffusion 
of useful knowledge, in all its various departments, among the mass 
of our population, in a chasie and cheap form ; or, to adopt the lan¬ 
guage of the prospectus, it is, “ to elevate the character of our na¬ 
tional literature, and raise the standard of morality, by the introduc¬ 
tion and more general diffusion of works of intrinsic merit, in belles- 
lettres, in Christian morals, in the arts, in science, physical, intel- 
NO. 3 —VOL. IV. 
lectual and moral;—to promote the improvement of our common 
school education, by providing standard sets of books of instruction 
for schools, and by procuring and publishing statistics and facts, cal¬ 
culated to illustrate the condition and prospects of education m our 
own and other countries ; to provide suitable works of entertain¬ 
ment and information for children and youth;—to furnish the means 
of elementary instruction and genera] knowledge, in their own lan¬ 
guage, lor resident foreigners and their children ;—to cherish the 
general interests of literature, education and religion ; of agricul¬ 
ture, of commerce, and of the arts, by preparing appropriate stand¬ 
ard libraries of useful knowledge, embellished with illustrative en¬ 
gravings, and embued with a Christian spirit, for families and schools, 
for the farmer, the mechanic and the merchant, the seaman and the 
settler in the west,” &c. &c. 
The society purposes to commence immediately the publication of 
a district school library for the United States, to consist ultimately 
of from 50 to 100 volumes of instructive works on various subjects, 
calculated to interest and benefit the young; and to follow this soon 
with a library for mechanics, another for farmers, another for sea¬ 
men, one for children, &c. 
The plan of the institution is excellent. The means of carrying 
it into operation, are expected. to be derived from annual subscrip¬ 
tions, donations and bequests; and, if we are to judge from the great 
good which there is reason to anticipate from its labors, they will be 
liberal and abundant. 
Common school and social libraries, comprising books judiciously 
selected for their tendency, and for information in the arts of pro¬ 
ductive labor, are among the surest and best means of diffusing 
useful knowledge, of rendering labor more honorable and more pro¬ 
ductive, and of advancing the great moral and political interests of 
our country. The economy that the society is likely to effect, in 
the price of useful books, is matter of no little consideration—as the 
prices will, from the heavy editions required, and from preliminary 
arrangements with the publishers, be reduced one half from the or¬ 
dinary standard, at least for the use of common schools. The socie¬ 
ty invites, and we trust will receive, the hearty co-operation, of libe¬ 
ral minded men in these projects of improvement. 
' TILLAGE HUSBANDRY. 
BARLEY. 
Summer barley is the only species cultivated in the United States. 
Of this there are several varieties, of which the “ chevalier,” and 
still more the “ Annat,” are found superior in Scotland. The naked 
barley is but partially cultivated here, though it is extensively grown, 
and highly esteemed on the continent of Europe. It unites very 
commendable qualities, being hardy in its growth, strong in the 
stem, tillering with great vigor, and producing abundant crops ot 
very superior grain. It is also well adapted to the making of pearl 
barley, a process which is now gone into to some extent among us, 
particularly in Vermont. The quality of the straw is better than 
that of any other kind; it requires, however, to be sown earlier than 
any other sort, and only succeeds if grown in a rich and well tilled 
soil. Von Thaer considers it equal, both in weight and quality, to 
rye; and its nutritive properties have been found, on analysis, to be 
even superior. 
Soils. —Barley requires a rich, friable and mellow soil. The best, 
according to Von Thaer’s scale, contains 20 per cent of clay, 67 of 
sand, 3 of lime and 10 of humus; good barley land 38 clay, 60 of 
sand and 2 of humus ; and ordinary from 48 to 68 of clay, from 30 
to 50 of sand, and 2 of humus, or vegetable mould. In lands more 
sandy than above indicated, the crops is liable to suffer from drought. 
Cultivation. —Turnips or potatoes, or even Indian corn, are a good 
preparation for the barley crop, as it requires a well-worked clean 
soil. In Essex, England, it is sown upon a fallow, which receives 
the seed furrow in the spring. The seed should always be sown up¬ 
on a fresh-stirred soil. 
Seed and sowing. —It is recommended to steep the seed twenty- 
four hours in soft water, that the grain may all germinate at the 
same time, and ripen equally. This is deemed more important when 
the sowing is late. Light soils may be sown earlier than those 
