THE CULTIVATOR. 
51 
OPINIONS OF OUR NEIGHBORS. 
We extract the following from the Massachusetts Agricultural 
Repository and Journal. It conveys a merited censure upon the in¬ 
difference of our legislators to the great interest which feeds and 
enriches our state. It is embraced in a review of the third and last 
volume of the Memoirs of the Board of Agriculture of the state of 
New-York. We will only remark, what most of our readers alrea¬ 
dy know, that Massachusetts still keeps up her liberal appropriations 
for the support of her agricultural societies, and that she is now pro¬ 
viding for an agricultural survey of the state. 
“ The volume in question,” says the review, “ is, both in matter 
and execution, superior to most of the publications which have ap¬ 
peared in our country, on the subject of agriculture, and we feel deep 
regret in learning, that this volume will close the labors of the Board 
of Agriculture in that state. From what adverse or unpropitious 
causes, whether from prejudice, or false economy, the state of New- 
York should have withdrawn its patronage, at a moment when, from 
the volume before us, a most intelligent and enlightened spirit had 
been excited, it would be difficult for us to divine, and improper in 
us to discuss. 
“ If any stale in the union was under deep obligations to take the lead 
in encouraging a more intelligent and scientific mode of agriculture, 
New- York was certainly that state. Its means are not only much great¬ 
er, but its influence and example were of the greatest weight.” 
Vitality of seeds. —Prof. Henshaw, lately made experiments with 
seeds of an acacia, to determine how far their vitality was impaired 
by heat. He put some of these seeds into boiling water; others he 
actually boiled 11,3,6 and 15 minutes; he planted them afterwards 
in the earth, and they all germinated and grew, in half the time that 
seeds did which had not been steeped or boiled. On opening an 
ancient British tumulus, some small seeds were found in the sto¬ 
mach of , a human skeleton, which must have been eaten and lain 
there two thousand years. Some of these were planted in the hor¬ 
ticultural garden, by Prof. Lindley, germinated and have produced 
fruit. They prove to be the common raspberry. 
Cotton seed oil. —Prof. Olmsted estimates that the value of the 
surplus cotton seed of the United States, if converted into oil, can¬ 
not be less than ten millions of dollars. He also estimates that it 
is capable of producing 9,668 millions of cubic feet of g3s, more 
than enough to supply 24 such cities as London, and equivalent, for 
this purpose, to 792,000 chaldrons of coal. These discoveries are 
among the fruits of science, applied to the arts, arid to human com¬ 
fort. The cotton seed oil constitutes an excellent lamp oil, and 
serves well for painting. The oil cake is a capital feed for farm 
stock. The seed of the cotton has heretofore been considered of 
little value, except for manure. . 
To prevent abortion in fruit trees. —-A respectable gentleman as¬ 
sures us, that he has strewn plaster upon his fruit trees, for succes¬ 
sive years, when in bloom, as a means of inducing fecundity, with 
unvarying success. The discovery was the result of accident. A 
tree which had flowered freely, but fruited shyly, had by accident 
got a dusting of gypsum while in flower, and it was loaded with 
fruit. The male and female organs, in most fruits, are in the same 
flower; and it is well known, that if heavy rains or strong winds 
occur when trees are in bloom, they seriously diminish the fruit, and 
often destroy it. The reason of this is, that the pollen, which should 
fecundate the female organ, is prematurely blown away or destroyed, 
before it has performed its office. The gypsum may_prevent this. 
Harrowing Grain in Spring, is now particularly recommended, 
where the grain is not too far advanced, in order to counteract the 
effects of the recent changeable, or freezing and thawing weather. 
To the proofs already given of the efficacy of this practice, we add 
the testimony of William Merrifield, a respectable farmer of Guil- 
derland, who has followed it for six years. He says it has resusci¬ 
tated crops that promised nothing before harrowing, and rendered 
them highly productive; and that where a part of a field, and that 
the poorest, has been harrowed, the product was, in one case, five¬ 
fold that of the unharrowed part. 
Agricultural Education in France. —The king of France has issu¬ 
ed an ordonnance upon the report of the minister of commerce, di¬ 
recting the establishment of a royal conservatory of arts and trades, 
and a system of public and gratuitous instruction for agriculture. 
The instruction will be in three courses: 1st. on cultivation; 2d. 
agricultural construction and mechanics; 3d. agricultural chemis¬ 
try. 
CORRESPONDENCE—CONDENSED. 
ambler’s mowing machine. 
We have received a commuication from Mr. M. K. Beale, one of 
the proprietors, we believe, giving information in regard to this ma¬ 
chine. Although, contrary to rule, we are subjected to postage, we 
will give the substance of the communication, for the benefit of the 
proprietor, and the information of the public. 
In answer to queries supposed to be put, it is stated,— 
1. That the power' required to use the machine is that of two 
horses, probably from 700 to 900 pounds. 
2. That it will cut fifteen to twenty acres of grass per day, and 
may be used to cut lodged grain to advantage. 
3. That it requires but one person to tend it. 
4. That it can be readily packed or boxed for transportation. 
5. That it weighs about 500 pounds. 
6. That it is not more liable to get out of order than common 
horse powers. 
7. That it cuts and leaves the grass erect on the ground where it 
grew. 
8. That it will operate better on stony or uneven ground, than 
the revolving hay rake. 
9. That it cuts lodged grass finely. And, 
10. That the cost is $130. 
Beale and Griswold are the proprietors of the patent for all the 
country east of the Hudson, and machines, or rights, may be obtain¬ 
ed by applying to the writer, M. K. Beale, Spencertown, Columbia 
county, New-York. 
MEADOW AND PASTURE GRASSES. 
Kingsbury, March 24, 1837. 
Dear Sir, —Information is wanted with regard to the most suita¬ 
ble grasses to be sown on such a quality of soil, [flat, some of it 
wet, clay, with an occasional admixture of loam and peaty mould,] 
both for meadow and pasture. I had selected the most nutritive 
kinds from the table of grasses in your third volume, with the view 
of inquiring their fitness for my purpose, and where the seeds may 
be obtained, viz. tall fescue, spilled fescue, hard fescue, lucern, mea¬ 
dow fox-tail and sweet vernal grass. I wish also to inquire whether 
skinless oats prove profitable in this climate, where seed can be ob¬ 
tained, and at what price. JER. FINCH. 
Remarks. —We do not know that seeds of any of the fescue gras¬ 
ses named are for sale in our seed stores. The lucern may be had 
of Thorburn, in this city, and the seed of the meadow fox-tail and 
sweet scented vernal grass in New-York. The lucern will not an¬ 
swer on Mr. Finch’s soil; it requires a dry bottom and light soil. 
The meadow fox-tail and sweet scented grass, are sown for their 
early feed, which, though nutritive, is small in quantity. They give 
but little to the scythe. We should recommend the timothy, herds- 
grass, and clover, for hay, with an admixture of orchard or tall 
meadow oat grass for pasture. Although it does not suit to cut the 
clover and timothy together, for hay, the former is but a biennial, 
and will leave the ground principally to the first two kinds after the 
first mowing. The grass seeds we recommend are all for sale at 
Thorburn’s, who has also the skinless oats, which he sells at 
The public confidence in this grain has been rather shaken by the 
results of the last crop. 
1CF Mr. Alexander Smith, seedsman, and our agent in Broadway, 
New-York, offers to import, to order, any kind of foreign grass seeds 
that may be desired. 
Troy Grove, III. Feb. 23. 
Your papers are well liked in this settlement, and I have no doubt 
but hundreds in Illinois would subscribe, if they were acquainted 
with it. I wish for information on the subject of hedges, and in 
planting and raising timber. [See last volume.'] Our prairies are 
so large, that the cold winds which sweep across them kill young 
trees that are set out, but they will grow in the groves, or on the 
east or south sides of them, where the winds are less severe. It is 
frequently 20 miles across the prairies, and nearly level, and unless 
we can raise timber and live fences, our grand children will be in a 
bad fix. If you have any knowledge of the white mulberry, or any 
other kind of mulberry, making fence that will keep out cattle and 
hogs, you would confer a favor by publishing it. Mulberry, ches= 
